Rubber City Review

RCR checks in with our good friend Gunnar Menzel at iCrates – the Berlin-based online magazine and phone app for vinyl lovers everywhere.

T.Q.: We’re big fans of the iCrates online magazine. It’s a great place for vinyl lovers to share their latest finds. Now tell us about the iCrates phone app.

G.M.: The idea of the app came to us while we were on one of our usual Sunday digging trips around the Berlin flea markets. I was always upset by the fact that there was no possibility to listen to the stuff at most of the flea market stands and if so, you always had to fight with a bunch of guys over the one crappy record player. So I was always looking up stuff on my iPhone – checking releases on discogs, prices on eBay and, last but not least, looking up the songs of the stuff I was craving on youtube. This was a time-consuming thing, so one day when I told a colleague about this, he broke down laughing and admitted that he had exactly the same experience… A few beers later, the idea of the iCrates app was born.

While lots of extra functions were developed along the way, it’s pretty much the thing we dreamed of two years back in that Berlin cellar bar. An iPhone app that would give us the ability to access all possible information on the record we were holding in our hands, quickly and simply. We also could listen to it track by track just like a record as well as find information on pricing and rarities. So the flea market guys couldn’t rip us off anymore. Haha.

LP sales are way up, and big-name acts are rolling out new releases on vinyl first… Why are records making such a strong comeback?

I think it is a rejection of the hyper-digitalization of everything else. We now have a generation that doesn’t want to lose touch with physical objects, and fortunately it coincides with retro being cool. It might even have been helped by the internet, through which you can discover so much old music. But I think it’s best described by what I refer to as my “Pink Floyd Incident.”

Back in the day, I used to DJ with vinyl. But then the mp3 revolution was going strong and I went all mp3. I stacked all my vinyls in the basement and didn’t touch them for over 10 years. I had become an mp3 junkie, just trying to get all the music I could possibly get. I wasn’t even listening to all the gigabytes of music I had, but was just getting more and more. Music became an endless stream of accessible data for me. Nothing was worth worshiping anymore. All the musical creations of Pink Floyd were just one folder on a hard disc. Nothing more, nothing less. And with Pink Floyd my awakening began. One day I wanted to listen to Pink Floyd again, so I plugged my iPod into my stereo, made myself comfortable, and waited for Pink Floyd’s characteristic sound to kick in. But it didn’t happened. I was stunned. What was it? Had I completely lost my feeling for music? Was my stereo broken? So I went down to the basement, got my Pink Floyd albums out, bought myself a record player, made myself comfortable and there I was… floating in the warm sound of Pink Floyd. Since then I’ve been hooked all over again.

We loved meeting you and your crack staff in Berlin, which reminds me of what New York City was like in the ‘70s – lots of great energy and some of it dangerous. Was I really close to getting my ass kicked at that Russian bar? (By the way, I want to move into the Michelberger Hotel.)

Oh my god, don’t remind me of that night… We were all suffering for days. I don’t think you were that close, but maybe you shouldn’t have made fun of Ivan Rebroff. Besides that, it was all fine… They always ask about you when we go there! But seriously, Berlin is at the moment a very free and open place. It attracts a lot of great individuals and has a great music scene. A very good place to make and create new stuff and make the iCrates magazine happen. It’s just in the air around here.

You seem like a fairly normal guy… How did you get into all this vinyl mania?

Thanks, that’s also what the girls back in high school always used to say to me. About the vinyl, ummmm… I don’t really know. I guess if you put one and one together, add the app, the magazine and me being vinyl addicted again since my “Pink Floyd Incident,” it just had to happen this way.

You do quite a bit of DJing in Germany. What albums seem to work the best at getting people on the dancefloor?

That always depends on the situation, but I would say there are three absolute DJ Weapons that never fail me, even if I totally try to avoid them whenever I can:

1. Michael Jackson: Billie Jean
2. Wham: The Wham Rap
3. Sugarhill Gang: Rappers Delight

Gunnar takes control

For all of our gearheads out there, tell us what system you use to show off your best vinyl.

I go with the good ol’ wheels of steel Technics SL 1210 MK, with quite average Ortofon Pro S Systems; and in terms of speakers, nothing ever beats the warm, powerful sound of a pair of vintage Yamaha Ns 690.

A friend of ours down in Cincinnati organizes Vinyl Nights at local bars. Everyone brings an armful of records, then each person gets up and describes a favorite album before playing a song or two. Sort of like group therapy for vinyl addicts. Do you have anything like that going on in Berlin?

Its funny you ask since we do the same with iCrates every third Tuesday at the Multilayer Laden around the corner. We play one record completely through and talk about it afterwards. The cool thing is that not only is the Multilayer Laden cozy, but they also provide headphones for each guest, so you can always decide if you just want to listen to the record in a bar atmosphere with all the conversations or if you want to have the full package.

Your online magazine seems to be a good barometer of what crate-divers are searching for. What’s hot in vinyl right now? And what are your personal favorites?

I guess what’s hot is a very personal thing. For example, within our magazine we have so many different characters with so many different musical tastes, it’s always funny when they all come together and start telling each other about their latest acquisitions. That can easily range from early jazz shellacks of Turkish folk funk (yes there is such thing) to Berlin underground minimal techno, with all the stuff in between. But one thing  is clearly on the rise here in Berlin right now, and that’s Disco. So for me, I’ve been into Disco big time for about a year now and I would say my personal favorites (for DJing) right now are:

• Bionic Boogie: Feel Good for a While
• Macho: I’m a Man (17: 38 Min Full Version… I just played that last night, and everything after minute 9 is amazing!)
• Ferrara: Love Attack
• Kano: It’s a War (nothing more to say)
• Tyson: Die on the Dancefloor (yeaah, I love the new disco stuff)

What’s your idea of a “Holy Grail” album – something very rare and valuable?

I guess that would be the Beatles “White Album” with the number 0000005, which is the most valuable record right now I guess, but I don’t care that much about prices… The music and the sound is what gets me.

You guys like to tweet your Record Cover of the Day… What’s your all-time favorite?

My personal favorite is Munich Machine:

In terms of the other folks at iCrates, I can’t tell… Ask 20 different people, get 20 different answers.

That’s one wild-ass cover – but I’m not sure I’d give it a spin… Are we really welcome to come back to Germany any time, or were you saying that just to be nice?

Haven’t you booked your ticket yet? Like they say in Germany, “you still have a suitcase in Berlin” and a couple of lunatics will take care of it till you return. We are honestly looking forward to it (the Russians from the Kvartira 62 Bar too by the way).

Some links from Gunnar you might like:

My Dj Team: 

http://soundcloud.com/schwipp_schwapp

https://www.facebook.com/SchwippSchwapp

My Partycollective:

http://funksportkollektiv.de/

My Website:

http://www.gpunk.de/

Here’s a great video with neo-soulman Mayer Hawthorne, currently featured in iCrates:

And here’s Mayer pursuing his favorite obsession, crate-digging:

Every year I get together with five or six of my high school buddies – as well as assorted spousal units and special guests – for a party at my friend’s alpaca farm just outside of a small town in southern Ohio.  Now this town is a good three-plus hours away from our alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron.  In fact, it’s a good distance from just about everything.  One of the running jokes on the morning after the party involves asking for the Sunday Times and a cup of Starbucks joe (although I’ve been told the frozen breakfast burritos at the mini mart are actually quite good).

But our relative isolation allows us to reflect, in a somewhat impaired manner, on all things Seventies.  And for me, of course, it’s all about the music – which is why I’m in charge of coming up with a five-hour playlist that draws from that awkward era between the hippies and the punks.

Several of the activities don’t require musical accompaniment.  There’s the shooting competition led by Officer Tony.  And then there’s the obligatory golf-like event organized by Fern, the honorary Mayor of Batavia.

But the main event of the weekend focuses on the making of sausage, using a century-old stuffer and several miles of entrails.  Over the years, this has become a highly synchronized activity involving wine, accompanying dishes, exotic spices, Seventies music and near-constant bitching from all of us about how much ground red pepper to put into the pork.  This bitching dissipates somewhat as the evening progresses – which is why we need special containers, originally designed for the nuclear industry, to hold the late-night sausage (note to self: rephrase that before posting).

Dazed and confused…

I thought that coming up with a playlist for this event would be fairly easy.  After all, I burned through what seemed like several thousand dollars in my youth buying albums by the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers Band, J.J. Cale, Little Feat, Taj Mahal, Steve Miller Band (before he was the Joker), Fleetwood Mac (before they were a joke), Savoy Brown, and so on.  Now I could’ve referenced other Seventies acts like prog-rockers Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and the ubiquitous city/state bands like Chicago, Boston, Kansas, Duluth, whatever… but I hate that shit – and unlike most other DJs, I don’t take requests.

I also could’ve mentioned the most iconic album (and image) of our high school years, “Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd. But that’s like saying the baseball game kicked off with the Star Spangled Banner.  It’s safe to say that no other generation has had such an omnipresent soundtrack.  Of course, this was back before the music industry was such a fragmented mess, when it was possible for huge masses of people to share the same musical tastes and sources.  I heard “Dark Side” so many times during the Seventies, both intentionally and otherwise, that I’m not sure I can work up a visceral reaction to it today.  I won’t question that it’s one of the most important musical achievements of the 20th Century.  Just don’t play it for me, ever again.

A lot of stuff I grooved on in the Seventies sounds pretty lame today.  I’ll start with the musical moment that defined every young man who came of age in that era – the arrival of Led Zeppelin’s first album in 1969.  How can that be, you ask?  Well, first, Led Zeppelin may have landed in ’69, but they rocked every high school kid in America in the early Seventies, period end of story.  And second, this is my blog, so I’ll pretend it was released a year later to make my point.  And that point is… oh yeah, lameness.

There are many moments of great power and majesty in Led Zep’s first – which completely altered my reality when Brother James’ friend Bill Austin first brought it over to the house, holding it carefully like the small explosive it was – but this next little number ain’t one of them… You Shook Me/Led Zeppelin

Everything up to that point actually works pretty well, but I just can’t get beyond Robert Plant yelping like some crazed, rabid blues hound in heat.  I’m reminded of a capsule review I once read about ”Apocalypse Now” – two hours of great drama, leading up to a cameo by Don Rickles.

A lot of other stuff on my playlist holds up much better.  And, once again, I’ll cheat a little – by picking an album that was recorded in late ’68.  I really don’t consider Taj Mahal’s “The Natch’l Blues” part of the Sixties anyway… it’s not the least bit psychedelic or mind-expanding, and the lyrics are fairly straightforward (except for something about painting a mailbox blue).  “The Natch’l Blues” is a rootsy collection of mostly blues-based songs – eight originals and four covers, and only one extended jam.  Taj is a triple threat with his gritty voice and perfect touch on harp and national steel.  But the album’s secret weapon may be guitarist Jesse Ed Davis – an American Indian from Oklahoma with an endless supply of slippery, soulful licks.  I’ve listened to this album regularly since it showed up on my radar screen in the early Seventies… hard to believe it was recorded more than 40 years ago. Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue/Taj Mahal

Another notable album from that era is “Live!” by Bob Marley and the Wailers, recorded on July 18, 1975, at the Lyceum Ballroom in London.  This was Marley’s third tour of England, and you can tell by the crowd response that he’d become a major phenomenon.  One of the great pleasures of the album is hearing this steady roar in the background – the same sound you typically hear at World Cup Soccer matches… in other words, the sound of many delirious people shouting and singing at the same time.  And, unlike some other live albums, it seems like the crowd’s quasi-religious fervor was more than warranted.  It may be one of Marley’s best performances, live or studio, and certainly better than some of the slick recordings he made late in his career.  Here’s the raucous opening to Lively Up Yourself… Lively Up Yourself/Bob Marley

I also have a weak spot for Steve Winwood and his band Traffic.  Winwood started his career (and might be ending it) as kind of a slavish interpreter of American soul.  Not to take away from tunes like Gimme Some Lovin’ and Roll With It, but I like the fact that in most of his work with Traffic, Winwood isn’t afraid to sound, well, British.  To my ears, early-Seventies classics like “John Barleycorn Must Die” and “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” sound very organic – what you’d expect when three hugely talented Brits hide out in a countryside cottage, experiment with god knows what and explore their own roots for a change.  It’s really genre-bending at its best – not quite jazz, not quite blues or folk, and certainly not sea chanteys… just an oddly familiar-sounding mix of influences that these guys seemed incapable of screwing up.  Here’s part of an extended jam that closes out “Low Spark”… Rainmaker/Traffic

None of the tunes on these albums would ever show up on a “Classic Rock” playlist.  But I’ll spare you from my usual rant about this dreadful format (if it were a form of torture, I’d cave right away).

Instead, I’ll use this opportunity to thank Mark, Francis, Sophie and Sadie for graciously welcoming the Mongol Horde from the North to their beautiful home in the country… by giving a shout-out to the Sausage Party regulars – wife Laura, Jim and Martha, Fern and Patty, Pat and Mary, Don and Donna, Tony, Mickey, and assorted hangers-on… and by leaving you with this quick list of a few other Superhits from the Early Seventies (or at least the version that would exist in a parallel universe).  I purposely left off my favorite funk and soul of the era – that’s a subject for another post.

A little gem from ZZ Top’s best album, “Tres Hombres” (released in 1973) – Low Rider meets the Texas Hill Country: Sheik/ZZ Top

Another great live album that I completely wore out, “The Allman Brothers At Fillmore East” (1971): Statesboro Blues/The Allman Brothers Band

I’m a proud veteran of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 concert at the Akron Rubber Bowl (yes, I was five years old), and this was the song of the summer: Tumbling Dice/The Rolling Stones

From Bonnie Raitt’s first, back in 1971 – still her bluesiest album: Finest Lovin’ Man/Bonnie Raitt

So much J.J. to choose from… Why not start at the beginning, “Naturally” (1971)? Crazy Mama/J.J. Cale

Before Rod became irrelevant, he fronted one of the great rock ‘n roll bands of all time… Also evidence that Ron Wood could play. Bad ‘N’ Ruin/Faces

Ry Cooder reinvents a song by zither-strumming evangelist Washington Phillips, from 1974’s “Paradise and Lunch”: Tattler/Ry Cooder

Still the greatest soundtrack album of all time – made even better with the “Deluxe Edition” treatment in 2003: The Harder They Come/Jimmy Cliff

On the video front, I’d love to post the party scene from the movie “Dazed and Confused.”  It’s almost as if the director, Richard Linklater, were a documentary filmmaker at half the parties I went to in high school.  Instead, I’ll offer this prime example of what ethnomusicologists have labeled “stoner rock,” featuring one of the great voices of the Seventies, Paul Rodgers.