Airdrop Records, Agency & Blog

One of the events AirDrop likes the most in Buenos Aires is called ‘La Bomba de Tiempo’. It happens every Monday night in Konex Cultural Center, which used to be an old textile factory. La Bomba is a drum ensemble, uniting a dozen percusionists who count amongst the most talented in Latin America, and who are all part of the Buenos Aires Drum School. The difference between La Bomba and any other drum ensemble is that it includes its own conductor: Santiago Vazquez. He is considered to be the best percussionist in Latin America and as the evening envelopes our hearts, he gives different rhythmic orders to the different drum groupings, whether hand drums, big drums, and other accompanying percussions. The result is explosive! Each and every Monday, about 2000 people come to hear La Bomba, and believe me, even if you drink water all along the event, you will not feel the same way when you leave Konex. A very particuliar ambiance takes all of the attendees back to a realm that belongs at the root of all civilizations: the Beat and the trance it entails. You can just judge yourself by watching this video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1OYTki_k8Q]

We are still very very happy about the existence of our AirDrop Podcast: AirPod (go to the link to subscribe to it, or wait a few more days to see it come up in the iTunes Store). To celebrate it even further, Episode 2 was given to the young Ira Oksman. Ira lives in Toronto but she grew up in Russia.

She is now 20 years old. Ira Oksman’s first DJ gig was in the age of 15 performing a drum’n'bass dj-set to a small crowd in the place called “Territory” (Moscow). She then continued playing in various Moscow clubs on a weekly basis mainly spinning jungle/drum’n'bass/liquid funk. A year later she joins the widely known Russian DJ’s: Groove and Dan. She had opened a variety of sets for luminary names of jungle/drum’n'bass music such as John B, Brian G, Loxy, Nicky Blackmarket, Ray Keith, etc…

A couple of years down she becomes a regular resident in one of the oldest clubs in Moscow “Garage” and performs there on weekly basis. At that point she also starts moving towards a straight 4×4 beats with increased interest to house music. As her knowledge of house music evolves, she starts moving towards more artist-like minimalist sounding going through the stages of disco soulful house -> deep house -> tribal -> progressive house -> tech house electro -> minimal techno/micro house.

Ever since moving to Toronto, Canada, Ira have had various of gigs around the city in spots like Insomnia, Labyrinth Lounge, Chinadoll, Chelsea Lounge etc… At this point, however, her prime consideration is falling towards the music production/development. As Ira note, her prime goal at this point would be a development of a new concept in electronic music (particularly in minimal techno), which would hopefully make a difference in today’s electronic music scene.

Playlist:

Ozy – Sugar – Sutemos – 2005
1. Dilo vs Gurtz – Moscovitas (Dapayk rmx) – Einmaleins – 2007
2. Marc & Oliver Hain – Laid Back – Logical – 2007
3. Bvoice & Khz – Hippopotanzen (Pheek Remix) – Alley P.M – 2005
4. Sarah Goldfarb – Where’s Didier Lambing ? – Treibstoff – 2006
5. Gaiser – Breathe Here – M_nus – 2006
6. Pan-Pot – Lancelot Von Camelot (Barem Remix) – Einmaleins – 2007
7. Digitaline – Flocon Fraicheur – Cadenza – 2007
8. Bruno Pronsato – Our Holiday Clothes – Hello – 2006
9. Receptor – Siete Vidas ([A]pendics.Shuffle Mis Vidas Locas Remix) – Adjunct – 2006
10. Polder – Numbgum – Remote – 2006
11. Pheek – Magda Had A Little Troll (Gurtz Remix) – Clever – 2006
12. Barem – Cilindro – Foundsound – 2006
13. Nicholas Sauser & Ditch – Of All Of These (VS. Ira Oksman – Bitabruno) – Minlove – 2006
14. Franco Cinelli – f2 (Bruno Remix) – Adjunct – 2007
15. Dominik Eulberg – Ein Stelldichein des Westerwälders Vogelchores – Traum – 2007

The We Float parties on Wednesdays at Levitar are reaching their goal of becoming a place where music, art and different cultural forms come together. In December, we have been welcoming itinerant DJs from Spain, England, Belgium, Germany and France in addition to all the local vanguardian elite.

The January Line-Up is now official and we have some amazing dates coming up:
Dilo (Einmaleins, Produkt Schallplaten) will be playing the 2nd of January, Seb on the 9th,
Violett (Telegraph, Einmaleins) on the 16th, Jalid on the 23rd and Waltie on the 30th.
Super Super Exciting, innit?!

We will be curating both live and online art shows over the next year starting January. If you would like to participate in any of our online, New York City or Buenos Aires exhibits (More locations TBA) you must submit your work for it to be considered and approved. Your submission must include pictures or videos with descriptions of the work as well as an artist bio.We prefer that you submit your file via the internet using such services as Sendspace and then email the link to henry@airdropmedia.com . The first AirDrop art shows will be announced January 15th.

AirDrop is proud to host its first major event in New York City!

Globalization has a profound impact on our existence, so much so that is a recurring theme in much of modern and contemporary art. From Andy Warhol to Banksy, many artists have created art by hijacking brands and Ron English is one of my personal favorite hijackers. He has found fame in part as a billboard vandal, but continues to play around with cultural icons and create his own. Not only does he have creative and thoughtful art, but the detail and painting techniques he uses are unparalleled. One has only to see some of his art parodies, where he creates a work based on renowned masterpieces such as Guernica or works by Van Gogh such as his “Starry Night”

I have not put a picture of his most recent “Grade School Guernica,” because it is a work so impressive that it must be seen in full dimension as it dominates the surface of any wall (currently it is for show and sale at Opera Art Gallery in New York City)

We are very excited. Very Very Excited! But also proud to announce that our Podcast is officially alive!
For those of you who don’t know yet what a podcast is, well simply imagine getting your favorite radio show and newest music automatically on your iTunes and on your iPod as soon as the show is released. This means new music with you at all times. As far as the quality of the music is concerned, well, we know you trust our expertise.
As I said, I have been contemplating this moment for so long, and only after a couple days we already have a nice nice amount of subscribers. This is how you can become one of them too.
AirDrop’s Podcast is so fresh out of the press that it will appear on iTunes in only a few days. Meanwhile you can find it at this link, and subscribe to it by selecting: “Add to iTunes”. It will add itself automatically to your favorite music player. Ready to listen, taste and even see, since we added the album covers for each track. It’s that simple.
In terms of content, the first three Episodes will be dedicated to Electronic Music, followed by an Indy Rock Series with selections made by the singers of our favorite bands! I mixed the first Episode and called it SloNo. It’s a blend of soothing and slow Electronic music. A treat to be listened to at all times of the day, and that will fit any of your moods. Oh, and I nearly forgot. We named it, AirPod! Enjoy!

Playlist
1. John Tejada – Genetical Love – deFocus – 2001
2. Dante & Dhula – The Basics (Smokin’ Posties Remix) – Itiswhatitis – 2007
3. Matthew Dear – Neighborhoods – Ghostly International – 2007
4. Mouse on Mars – Pinwheel Herman – Thrill Jockey – 1999
5. Pole – Achterbahn (Shackleton Remix) – scape – 2007
6. Autechre – Slip – Warp – 1994
7. Till Von Sein – Gestern – Morris Audio Citysport Edition – 2007
8. Louis Encontre – Ocean in the Space – AirDrop White – 2008
9. Thomas Fehlmann – With Oil – Kompakt – 2004
10. Lephtee – So Far Back (Nova Dream Sequence Remix) – Buzzin’ Fly – 2006
11. Dapayk & Padberg – Black Beauty (Dapayk’s Afterhour Edit) – Mo’s Ferry Prod. – 2007
12. Agnès & Ripperton – Deep Force – Sthlmaudio – 2007
13. Chelonis R. Jones – I Don’t Know (Lopazz Remix) – Get Physical – 2004
14. Tobias Thomas/ Michael Mayer – Über Wiesen – Kompakt – 2007

What a Tuesday night!! Layo & Bushwacka took Cielo beyond skies to a cosmic journey. The evening began with high quality and upbeat minimal techno but as the hype and crowd grew, it was time to throw in some funky beats into the mix. I was able to capture two 30 second clips of one of my favorite moments of the night. I really like the minimal and dance remixes of Green Velvet’s LaLaLaLaLa. (We will be upgrading our video production soon enough!)

[video 3805 w=400][video 3807 w=400]

SixFeet is a really cool street-wear brand here in Buenos Aires. I have been hanging out a bit with Nacho who takes care of the shop near my house. They have a total of four shops in the city and in addition to their collection, each season they invite local artists to put their designs on SixFeet T-Shirts. Last year, they also did a special series paying tribute to the like of Basquiat and Keith Haring.

SixFeet has helped pave the way for the artistic duo RunDontWalk. Street artists for over a decade, RunDontWalk have many projects, visions, and identities going on at the same time. You gotta know the whole story to tell if that stencil next to your building entrance is theirs. RunDontWalk are everywhere in the city, and now they’re even included in the AirDrop art collection! A while ago, they did this series all over town dedicated to monkeys and serialism, a recurrent theme in art when dealing with animals in danger of extinction. Check the pics here.

A very happy surprise fell in my hands a couple weeks back. My friend Ingrid told me she wanted me by her side at the controls of her We Float parties (see flyers in Photo Section), on Wednesdays at Levitar (Buenos Aires). I played there as a guest at about the same time and it was a blast, especially since all my peeps came to groove.
Yesterday I did the warm-up for DJ Largo. Of Spanish origin, Largo has been living in London for more than a decade, and founded Beiak Records, which features a couple releases, of which, one with a remix of Techno superstar Dave Angel. After Largo, Seb closed the night, and Seb is sick! The last time Superpitcher (Kompakt) played here, he opened for him.
By the way Superpitcher is coming to B.A along with Jesper Dahlbäck on the 15th of this month, and its happening in the Stadium of the Juniors… the team who just won the Argentine Football Cup. Although the party will happen on the grass with 3000 people, just to give you an idea, the stadium has a 25.000 people capacity and is one of the smallest in town. Imagine the heat in the 60.000 heads ones.
Anyway back to our subject, at the end of the month, I am proud to receive the young Juan Deb (Minibus), who acts a lot for the scene here in Buenos Aires with his Ups! parties. I met him the first week I arrived here as he brought the worldwide aclaimed Ripperton (Connaisseur, Systematic) to town! And he is bringing Agnes (Resopal Red, Einmaleins) to play on the 21st as a Xmas present!
Below is the line up for our We Float parties at Levitar in December:

5th: Seb + DJ Largo (Beika, London)
12th: El Libre (Belgium) + Sasha Raichel (Germany)
19th: Rubents + Max Donatto
26th: Juan Deb (Ups!, Minibus)