A weekly update on all things music, advertising, and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: MIOMBO (SAM SURE COWBELL DUB)
It’s not every day the DJ at a wedding also played Burning Man. And it’s not often that you Shazam every other song the DJ plays at same wedding. And it almost never happens that you hear one track that literally blows your mind. Miombo (Sam Shure Cowbell Dub), by Israeli musician, Haim Laroz, taken from the album of the same name is the perfect way to kick off your Covid-lock-down-fourth-wave-Zoomed-out-working-from-home-wanna-get-away-from-London holiday. The epic trance track is 6 minutes long, but the section I have highlighted at 3:11mins is a breakdown of only cowbells, cascading like waterfalls and then miraculously bouncing back up, defying gravity before the hypnotic beats pulses back in and the dance floor erupts into pure ecstasy (without the drug – so 80s). A bit of desk research on Laroz, who now calls Australia his home, reveals a prolific producer with an eclectic resume. His most famous album might be the classic “Laroz is a Rose”. But this track stands just as tall. It is a floor filler and the perfect way to kick off your summer.
@laroz #laroz #planetdog #avex #bne #erosgreek #petshopboys #batsheva #israelimusicsawards #star69ny #mwmmusicmanagement
AD OF THE WEEK: MATTRESS FIRM
The classic mattress retailer has enlisted Ray Donovan actor Liev Schreiber and Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas in a new national ad campaign urging Americans to ditch their poor sleeping habits.
Mattress Firm, the retailer that has been promising Americans a better night’s sleep for 90 years, today debuted a new national ad campaign headlined by actor, director, and producer Liev Schreiber. Debuting just two days before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games, the spot also stars Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Gabby Douglas. In the new spot, Mattress Firm takes on ‘junk sleep’, which it equates with ‘junk food’ – the poor quality of sleep that makes you feel more tired rather than well-rested. This is nice work from Droga5, even though Donavan has put on a few more pounds since Season 5!
US GOVERNMENT SELLS WU-TANG CLAN LP MARTIN SHKRELI PAID $2 MILLION FOR
The US government has sold the only existing copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’ LP to an unnamed buyer for an undisclosed price.
Obtained by Martin Shkreli in 2015, the limited edition album was sold by the government in order to fulfil debts in the drug firm executive’s ongoing securities fraud case.
The record was originally purchased for $2 million and proceeds from the government’s sale will contribute to the settlement of an outstanding $7.36 million judgement. According to acting US Attorney Jacquelin Kasulis’s statement, Shkreli’s deal has now been paid in full, though a confidentiality agreement with the new buyer means prosecutors cannot share how much the album was sold for.
The notorious ‘Pharma Bro’ was ordered to forfeit assets, including the Wu-Tang record, in 2018 after being convicted of defrauding investors. Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison.
‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’ is the seventh studio album by Wu-Tang Clan. The East Coast hip hop collective started working on the project in the late 2000s, before releasing a single copy in 2015.
FKA TWIGS HAS DIRECTED A SKATEBOARDING FILM IN LIGHT OF THE TOKYO OLYMPICS
FKA twigs has directed a skate film to commemorate the Tokyo Olympics and the first year that skateboarding has been included in the games.
Created for Facebook and creative agency Droga5’s new global campaign ‘We Change the Game when we Find Each Other’, the two-minute film features choreographed performances by dancers on longboards. twigs’ video is one of four presented by the campaign, each aiming to highlight global communities united through skating.
Titled Longboard Family, the artist designed the short film to show how the longboard community have used a Facebook group to share moves and grow their family.
Watch Longboarding Familly below.
A-TRAK AND RANE ANNOUNCE NEW BATTLE MIXER COLLAB
A-Trak has teamed up with RANE on a new Signature edition of the Seventy battle mixer. The DJ and producer teased the mixer on his socials last week, which is a re-branded and re-plated version of the flagship and popular Seventy mixer. According to RANE, “A-Trak himself played an integral part in the mixer’s creation, handpicking the features, signature sound, and look of what he considers to be the ultimate mixer for the future of turntablist performance.
Where A-Trak made his mark is on the new Fader FX, where up-fader from each channel can be assigned to control FX, with the fader being used for filters and tone generators to play the mixer like an instrument. He’s also tweaked the mixer’s sonic response, adding a “deeper low-end response”. A-Trak and RANE have also added aluminium capped rotaries to the top of the mixer.
More features that remain from the Seventy include dual USB connections for b2bs, dual mic inputs and dedicated sync buttons.
The RANE Sevety A-Trak Edition comes in at £1,699 and is available now. Find out more here.
Written by Anthony Vanger
Additional research and reporting by Adam “Badger” Woolf
Additional Artist of The Week research and review by Rose Farman-Farma
Artwork by Gustav Balderdash
To join This Week In Music please send me an email: anthonyvanger@gmail.com