one small seed » skateboarding | one small seed

Schemes of Love and Rubbish | Coco Bryce Q&A

one small seed — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 07:07:48 +0000

Dutch producer/DJ and label-owner, Coco Bryce, is known for his eclectic dubstep, hip-hop and skweee DJ sets and productions, as well as his collaborations with and/or remixes for artists like SLUGABED, Kr∆mpfh∆ft, Pixelord & Kelpe. On Club Tropikana, released via Fremdtunes in March 2013, Bryce indulges in the sort of musical alchemy that sounds like a recipe for disaster on paper, yet as the album unfolds the concoction Bryce proves potent and addictive. Apart from his beats, his SoundCloud message – which reads: ‘For bookings, remixes, donations and love letters mail me’ – left us feeling highly intrigued and prompted the sending off of a little letter of our own. He was kind enough to return the love…

image: todaysart.org

The Acid House: An acid trip and a bolt of lightning result in amiable schemie Coco Brice exchanging bodies with the baby of a middle class couple. (Wikipedia)

Your moniker, Coco Bryce, does that have anything to do with the character Coco Brice in Paul McGuigan film, The Acid House, which was adapted from Irvine Welsh’s short story collection?

Yup, that’s exactly where I got my name from.

On the Fremdtunes bio, it says you’re a ‘dadistic omnivore’. Naturally, we had to look up dadaism again.

Dadaism: A European artistic and literary movement (1916-1923) that flouted conventional aesthetic and cultural values by producing works marked by nonsense, travesty, and incongruity.

Right… What’s your take on ‘flouting conventional aesthetic and cultural values’ in terms of the work you produce? Would you say this is what you aim to do?

Well I hope my tunes don’t all come across as nonsense (laughs), though, funnily enough, I did actually make two tracks a little while ago which both had the word ‘travesty’ in their respective titles.

As far as an ‘aim’ goes, I don’t think I really have one, except for making tunes I like to play and listen to myself. I don’t set out to flout anything, it’s just that I’ve always listened to all kinds of music, never just one particular style, and I always end up making stuff that doesn’t fit 100% into a certain genre. Except for perhaps some of the bootleg crunk remixes and breakbeat rave stuff… those are pretty straight forward.

To be honest, I don’t really know why the Fremdtunes lot call me ‘Dadaistic’… I should probably give Rogier a call and tell him to stop talking shit about me on the Fremdtunes page (laughs).

You started DJing nearly 20 years ago. What was the scene like then and how did you get involved?

Back then I was mainly a hardcore and breakbeat DJ; I don’t really go to any hardcore parties anymore, so I couldn’t tell you the difference even if I wanted to. I do know, however, that by the time I stopped going to those kinds of nights, it was all starting to get a lot more racist, but that’s also a long time ago, so I don’t have a clue what it’s like right now.

The parties and festivals I play nowadays seem a lot more open to different kinds of styles. It seems like a lot of the kids today actually love to hear all kinds of stuff as opposed for example a straight-up drum ‘n bass set or non-stop hip-hop. You have to switch things up a bit, keep it interesting, which, needless to say, is exactly my cup of tea. But that’s just my experience you know. I bet there’s still tons of people that just want to hear techno 24/7, which is fine, just not my thing, I like some variety.

I started DJing because, well, I loved music. A couple of friends from school already had a set of turntables and the rest of us would just chill and hang out with them and take turns trying to mix records. I loved it right away, convinced my parents to let me plunder my savings account, and got myself a pair of really shitty belt-drive turntables.

The transition to producing, was this a natural step for you and how has being a DJ influenced/helped you as a producer?

Yeah I think it all came about pretty naturally. When you’ve been DJing for a little while, you’re going to want to make some tunes yourself as well at some point. At least I did.

I’m not sure any of it’s ever really helped me, being a DJ first, but it most definitely influenced the way I produce tracks.

Especially in the first couple of years I used to always make sure my tunes had a mixable intro. More often than not I’d start out with nothing but beats you know, just for mixing. Now, I don’t focus on making them ‘mixable’ as much as I used to, I just want my songs to sound nice from beginning to end. But I think it’s still evident even to this day, that I’m also a DJ. I was talking to my homie Jukka (aka Skweee producer VC) about this the other day. He never DJ’d and his stuff is just so damn hard to mix (laughs). I told him to make his stuff more DJ-friendly, but I don’t think he cares, he’s too real to be concerned about stuff like that.

Coco Bryce – “Club Tropicana”

Some have suggested that artists like Skrillex are the reason for dubstep’s so-called ‘demise’, or it moving from underground to mainstream. What’s your take on this?

Who even cares about dubstep? I never liked any of the early dubstep stuff anyways, I always thought it was incredibly boring and I didn’t even get into it until Joker and Zomby and them guys started releasing records. As far as Skrillex goes, I think he’s super good at what he does. It’s not necessarily my cup of tea, but I have nothing bad at all to say about Skrillex. If anything, in my opinion he only made dubstep better, because it couldn’t have gotten any worse than it was when it first started out. All the hating, it’s just jealousy. You can’t blame someone for being successful you know, if they do it with passion it’s all good, whether I’m a fan or not. It’s what the youngsters like to hear and dance to. I mean, I used to listen to Gabber when I was 16, so I’m pretty sure I’d listen to Skrillex and that kind of stuff as well if I were that age right now. It’s loud and has a lot of energy to it. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. And I think there’s still a ton of guys making the shitty ‘old school’ dubstep stuff, so if you don’t like Skrillex, then go and listen to that other stuff instead. Don’t hate on the dude just because there’s a lot of people who like his tunes.

Is there even such a thing as underground anymore when it comes to electronic music?

Skweee is still pretty underground. And it’ll probably stay that way as well. Mainly because it sucks balls, but also because a lot of it is only released on vinyl.

Besides that, I reckon there’s still a lot of stuff barely anyone knows about. A lot of music has become much more accessible because of the internet, but you still have to know where to look. The only difference is that you don’t have to rely on the record stores anymore to keep the weird shit in stock in order to come across it. If you really want to find new music it’s a lot easier to do so currently, but you still need to dig.

You teamed up with Tokyo native Emufucka for a collaborative 7” on Fremdtunes under the moniker Cocofucka. Any South African artists you’d like work with from across the seas and will Cocofucka be releasing any new stuff in the future?

Hmmmm… well, the only South African artists I know of are DJ Mujava, Die Antwoord and Jack Parow. I’m up for a collab with either one of them! No doubt there’ll be some more Cocofucka stuff in the future, I just don’t have any idea yet as to when this is going to happen, but we definitely have plans to do some more remixes and collabs.

In a 1982 Keyboard Magazine review of the LinnDrum it indirectly referred to The Roland TR-808 as sounding like marching anteaters. What do you think it sounds like?

I think that’s a pretty apt description. I love the sound of marching anteaters. It makes me want to dance.

Keen to collaborate with any trap music producers, maybe Waka Flocka or Gucci Mane?

I’d definitely be up for that yeah. Though I’ll stick to bootlegging them for now. No pressure.

Girl Skateboards – Mouse from ekkun on Vimeo

I read that you also skateboard. I’ve discovered so much music from watching skate videos. What’s your favourite skate video? Have you seen any of Pontus Alv‘s films, such as In Search of the Miraculous?

Ahhh yeah, I think three quarters of my musical education came from skate videos , especially in the ’90s. I’ve discovered so much brilliant stuff watching those. My all-time fav is Mouse (Girl Skateboards/Chocolate), everything is just perfect about that video, they had the illest teams back then, the dopest songs and it wasn’t as mega super big as it is right now.
I haven’t actually seen any of Pontus Alv’s videos, though I remember watching his parts when he was riding for Mad Circle, which by the way is one of my fav companies that’s now out of business, along with the almighty 101. I still have this Mad Circle jumper laying in my closet. Classic.

Rogier (Fremdtunes) and Mashville formed the SEE-A-SOUND organisation. If someone had to send you your track ‘That’s Life’ off Club Tropicana and ask you to illustrate it… What would we see?

Probably just all kinds of different textures, keep it a bit abstract. I think that particular tune features a good blend of organic and digital sounds, like the synths in that one sound really nasty, in-your-face and electronic, which is contrasted by the Asian vocal snippets and crunk-influenced blunt beats. So, I’m thinking metallic-looking textures for the synths, and then maybe a couple of Asian girls chanting the chopped-up lyrics. Abstracted Asian girls though, else the first part of my answer would not make any sense (Dadaism).

What was the production process like for Club Tropicana? What keeps you inspired during the long hours?

I just make tunes whenever I have the time for it and never really set out to work on a certain project beforehand. Club Tropicana, like my first album Boesoek, is basically just a collection of songs which I’ve made over the years preceding its release. I try to make my albums as coherent as possible though, but the selection is only done after all the tracks are finished. I don’t usually make songs with a certain release in mind. I did maybe two tracks with my album in mind, but funnily enough both of them didn’t even make the cut. Inspiration usually just comes from listening to other music.

The colourful, swirling, mashing, mixing low-fi video Club Tropicana – is this an apt insight into the album’s overall sound and mood?

I don’t know, you tell me. It probably is for the biggest chunk of the album, but if you take ‘All Day’ for example, that one has quite a different mood, much more laid back.

What are some of the sonic differences we can hear in Club Tropicana in comparison to your first album?

Club Tropicana is much more diverse. My first album was basically just hip-hop. A weird, electronic kind of hip-hop, but still pretty much everything on that first one was just my version of boom-bap. This one has all kinds of stuff I’ve always done a lot of different styles and genres, but I think at the time of my first album I kind of felt like I should stick to Hip Hop stuff as far as the releases under my Coco Bryce moniker went. Now it’s all over the place.

What did you dream of being when you were a child?

Older.

Tell me something about yourself that we cannot find on the internet?

Motëm and I are actually the same person.

Plans to ever visit South Africa?

If anyone books me a gig there! I’m always broke, so if I’d have to go there on my own expenses I don’t think it’d happen any time soon.

What’s on your playlist today?

Milk & Honey by Cohenbeats. It’s a free album on Bandcamp, you should definitely cop it. The concept has been done to death: pick a country, get records from said country and make beats with the samples, but this album is so well executed, even the lesser tunes on there are super nice. It’s been on repeat since I downloaded it a couple weeks ago. I’ve also been listening to that fake Jai Paul album a lot. And then there’s always a couple of light club songs and old rave breakbeat tunes in my playlist. Can’t go without my daily dose of pianos and pitched vocals now can I?

The most inspiring experience you’ve had this year (not on the internet!)

Don’t know yet about this year, but last year was definitely this gig I played in Zürich. So nice.

The dodgiest thing you’ve ever seen? (on the internet!)

Hmmm… probably a U2 music video.

Coco Bryce & DisPjutR at Next Level Shit w/ Om Unit, 123MRK, Zes & more

Give some of your own love to Coco Bryce:

SoundCloud
Bandcamp
Blogspot
Facebook
Twitter

Interview: Sarah Claire Picton
Images: Coco Bryce, Next Level Shit, 20shotsequence, todaysart.org

A Tribute to Gonz

one small seed — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 08:12:43 +0000

Mark ‘Gonz’ Gonzales has been a member of the adidas Skateboarding family for 15 years. Inspiring, developing and nurturing the skateboarding program, Gonz single-handedly revolutionized the world of street skating in awesomely unalterable ways over the past 15 years. To honour his inspirational lifestyle adidas Skateboarding and AREA3 in Joburg are displaying the art of six photographers from 6 July to 6 August 2013 who have documented Gonz in various lights. After he was given the title ‘Most influential skateboarder of all-time’ by Transworld SKATEboarding magazine, we at one small seed couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give Gonz a metaphorical salute for just being… well, himself! Here’s a video, an interview and a selection of images at the exhibition… Enjoy!

You have lived in so many places and have friends that live far and wide. Where is home? What makes a place home?

I’d say home is the birthplace in which I was born. My idea of what makes a place a home is not so easy to explain. I would like the place where I was born to be a place where I can go to relax and be with friends and family.

Which are your most memorable photographs from the exhibition and why?
The one Benjamin took where my pants are ripped and my board is broken is a pretty memorable moment! I can remember trying to get in a positive mode, but everything negative Firstly I ripped my pants, then I broke my board but eventually I was able to pull what I was going for. Ultimately it was memorable because it was both good and bad.

You have spent a lot of time with each of the photographers in the exhibition. Can you briefly describe each of them?

I shot with a lot with Gabe when I was living in SF. He reminds me of a non-nonsense kind of guy. If you’re going for a trick, he will stay there until you make it. But he doesn’t just want you to waste his time by just posing. He doesn’t want to mess around.

Gaberman is really cool and likes skating a lot. When he is shooting photos, I feel like I want to skate with him instead of shoot photos – it’s a trippy situation. You know he skates and you want to skate with him and see all the moves that you saw him do in the skate mags, but you know he’s taking photos so it’s kind of a catch 22.

Joe always makes you feel comfortable and you never feel under pressure to make moves.

Whenever I go out to shoot with Skin it’s almost certain that I will take a gnarly spill and more chances then not, I’ll end up getting up right away and acting like it was nothing.

Sem is very easy to shoot with. You just skate and he snipers off shots from a distance and you barely know he’s there.

Benjamin is really fun to shoot photos with. The reason that it is so fun is because, no matter how ridiculous the thing is that you want to do, he’s willing to photograph it. The circle board at the Trocadaro in Paris is a perfect example.

What was the drawing factor to becoming part of he adidas family all those 15 years ago?

I had the idea to make it red white and blue and then heavy on the black much like the wardrobe of the 1700’s of France, like Louis the XIV.

Sem Reubio, Skate Photographer, on the Gonz:

Well generally he makes you smile whenever he is having fun, which is pretty much all the time. If he’s not having fun, he’ll be gone in two seconds, that’s for sure. Something that still makes me laugh is this funny shaking he does sometimes when he is skating – like totally freaking out. He does it for the laughs of course. He did that in Melbourne while trying to skate a bank in the middle of a crowded street. I still laugh when I think about it and the look of the people that passed by.

“15 Years of Gonz and adidas” exhibition | Video from adi three leaf on Vimeo

Photo by Sem Rubio

image: Joe Brook

image: Skin Phillips

image: Gabe Morford

image: Benjamin Deberdt

Photo by Brian Gaberman

Images: Sem Rubio, Benjamin Deberdt, Gabe Morford, Joe Brook, Skin Phillips

Interview c/o adidas Skateboarding

| Q&A | Skate-Home: Skateboarding X Interior Design

one small seed — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:20:00 +0000

Skate-Home is an innovative Spanish design company that brings together skateboarding and interior design. They say that family business is risky business, but husband and wife Manuel Llorens and María Tamarit team up to re-create their passions. Llorens brings the knowledge and culture of skateboarding and architecture, while Tamarit fuses the two together in minimalist modern designs of furniture – such as stools, shelves, hangars, and much more! Their products are cleverly branded as ‘skateboarding tricks’ and their aesthetic is shown in their words: ‘We loved the idea of showing your passion for [skateboarding] in your own home’. Read on for our short Q&A with them and to see some examples of their creations…

Why skateboard furniture?
ML: I’ve been skating since 1987. I was only 10 years old when I got an skateboard. I’ve never stopped skating since then. When María married me, she also married a skater’s life style. We travelled all over Europe together to attend skateboarding competitions.

How did the idea of skateboard furniture come up?
MT: I came up with the idea of making a shoes shelf for our kids using skateboards. After seeing the result we decided to make other designs. I used to run my own home decor business so I had many ideas in my mind. That’s how we brought together our two passions in life (skateboarding + interior design).

Who designs your products?
ML: Ourselves. We make a sketch first and then draw the product to scale with design software to create a prototype. Then, if it works, we start the assembly process.

When did you make your first skateboard furniture?
ML: My wife and I made a shelf for our children in 2011

Did it look like the items that are for sale now? Or did the aesthetics of the current items take a long time to develop?
ML: Yes, but we have improved designs

How did you realise that it was the right thing to do? Did you have doubts when you started?
ML: Yes, We had doubts because it was very new

What is the creative process behind developing your product designs?
ML: Maria is an interior designer and has very good ideas

Is there a way of telling when there is more of your or your wife Maria’s influence in some of the designs?
ML: The designs are 100% María.

What sort of an atmosphere would you like your products to bring into their new homes?
ML: This type of furniture combines into any lifestyle.

LINKS:

Skate-Home: Website; Facebook; Pinterest; Twitter

| Competition | Maloof Money Cup 2012 – HAMPER GIVEAWAY!

one small seed — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:52:25 +0000

The Maloof Money Cup will return to Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province for its second edition from 28 – 30 September 2012. We have a massive hamper worth R3000 to give away to one lucky reader… Simply read on to find out how to enter this awesome competition!

Considered to be the world’s premier showcase for professional and amateur skateboarding, the Maloof Money Cup SA world skateboarding championships is also tagged as the richest event of its kind with a prize purse of R4, 000, 000! The three-day event will be hosted at the Kimberley Maloof Skate Plaza in Kimberly and will feature some of the top skateboarders from around the world on the magnificent street and vert sections of the world class state-of-the-art course. Top professional contenders as well as South African amateurs will battle it out for the word champion titles in the various disciplines.

According to Joe Maloof, founder of Maloof Skateboarding and owner of The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, they are delighted to return to South Africa. Maloof says: ‘We were absolutely overwhelmed by the positive reaction from the South African public during the first event in 2011. The government and people of the Northern Cape Province embraced the concept and we were amazed by the incredible hospitality. We were especially proud of the reception we received from the local skateboarding community and the wonderful natural talent and enthusiasm expressed by skateboarders across the country.

This year’s world championships, the biggest skateboarding contest in the world, promises to be bigger and better than ever and we can’t wait to return to sunny South Africa. (Joe Maloof)

Images: c/o oldschoolproductions.co.za

The 2011 Maloof Money Cup was the first time that the event left American shores and proved to be the biggest sporting event ever to be hosted in the Northern Cape. The capital of Kimberley was literally invaded as thousands of spectators and skateboarding enthusiasts descended on the town for the contest. The event made a significant economic impact on the regional economy as accommodation facilities, restaurants and tourism attractions were filled to capacity.

Following the unprecedented success of the inaugural event, Maloof Skateboarding this week announced that they have extended their contract with the Northern Cape as hosts of this exhilarating event to five years. This will arguably transform Kimberley into the skateboarding capital of the world as professional skateboarders have proclaimed the state-of-the-art skate plaza as the best of its kind in the world.

Hosting the Maloof Money Cup formed a crucial part in the repositioning of the Northern Cape Province as the prime destination for adventure and extreme sports in SA, but also gave the provincial government the opportunity to engage with the youth of the province. John Block, of the Northern Cape MEC for Finance, Economic Development & Tourism, says:

The 2011 Maloof Money Cup was undoubtedly a huge success in terms of global media exposure and economic benefit to the province, but the impact we had on the youth of our province was unbelievable. The Maloof Money Cup presented to them a lifestyle alternative that is accessible and affordable and could be the catalyst for huge socio-economic changes.

Images: c/o oldschoolproductions.co.za

During the run-up to the event, the provincial government will continue to take the message of skateboarding to the streets with the Skateboarding for Hope community outreach programme. In addition, skateboarding road tours and public qualifier events will be hosted across the country to identify budding skateboarding talent. Three Pro Tours will feature some of the top riders in the world and will help in creating awareness of skateboarding as one of the fastest growing sports in the world amongst local communities.

The Competition

The Hamper:

Full Maloof Skate Board Set Up @ R1, 000
Maloof Money Cup Diamond Bobble Head @ R750
Maloof Money Cup Tees @ R500
Maloof Money Cup Peak @ R350
Monster Energy Pack @ R250
Maloof Money Cup Sticker Pack @ R200

Total Hamper Value @ R3, 000

How to win:

To win the hamper you need to complete ALL THREE steps:

1. Drop us a Tweet, remembering to mention the competition – #MaloofSA – and tagging: @onesmallseedSA, @MMC_SAfrica, @Ultimate_X_ and @maloofmoneycup

2. Like both Maloof Money Cup SA Facebook Page & onesmallseed Magazine & TV Facebook Page.

3. Leave a Comment at the bottom of the post, telling us why you should win this prize and the hipster (aka wrongboarder) next to you shouldn’t.

The winner will be announced Thursday, 20th September. Book your tickets now and for more information about Maloof SA, click here.

Skating the streets of New York, 1960

one small seed — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:08:38 +0000

Photojournalist Bill Eppridge has shown the world a lot through his lens. He has covered wars, heroin addiction, political campaigns, the summer and the winter Olympics, the arrival of the Beatles in the United States and even the assassination of senator Robert Kennedy. Right now the spotlight is on old school images taken in New York. ’60s kids cruising the streets without any hassle of being reprimanded by cops. (Cape Town city council take note.)

The photos were taken by Eppridge for LIFE Magazine, a magazine he already read as a young boy. ‘When I was ten, I waited for the mailman to deliver LIFE Magazine every week and I always enjoyed the photographs by David Douglas Duncan, Robert Capa and Henri-Cartier Bresson. I was fascinated by this work and I felt that it affected the people who looked at these pictures.’

Over the years, I thought there was some power with this medium. If you can do a couple of good things for people in your life, then you’ve lived a good life. (Bill Eppridge in an interview with www.photoworkshop.com)

In the interview with www.photoworkshop.com, Eppridge gave some advice to photographers starting today. ‘I believe our world is at a time right now in which it should be documented completely.’ He says we should all be protectors of our environment and heritage. ‘If we can influence people with photographs, maybe we’ll be able to maintain our planet.’

Source Images: http://interweb3000.blogspot.com/
Interview originally published on: http://www.photoworkshop.com/

Ultimate X 2012

one small seed — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:24:42 +0000

one small seed TV presenter, Dene Botha, chatted to some of the guys taking part in the action that day, including wakeboarder, Craig Eygenberger; skateboarder, Dlamini Dlamini (the youngest of the three Dlamini brothers) ; and fmx-rider, who holds the world record for the highest jump on a motorcycle, Alastair Sayer. Length 06:33 (18 February 2012)

Ultimate X 2012 from one small seed on Vimeo.

Dene also got up close with Daniel from Mob ink and Tino, the event vehicle driver, who was in charge of keeping those beats pumping and a good vibe flowing. Good job on that one Tino!

Screenshot