DJ Travel Tales: Kris Menace Keeps It Clean (interview)
“I really don’t like to travel fancy. I don’t care if I get an economy flight or business class flight; as long as everything is clean I’m down with it.”
As well as running his acclaimed electronic labels Work It Baby and Compuphonic, German electro-tech star Kris Menace remains prolific as a producer, collaborating with the likes of Rex The Dog (Pow!) and Tracid (buchla 200e) and working via his own multiple personas.
Currently finalising two new albums (as Kris Menace and Big Black Van) he’s also set to release a new single Starchild (with Adam Shawn) in between DJ gigs all over the world.
“As far as flying is concerned, I do prefer to fly with Lufthansa though,” he qualifies, “but that’s more because i don’t trust other airlines and I appreciate the German precision. My ex girlfriend is a Lufthansa pilot and therefore I know how stringent their security standards are.”
James Palumbo on Tancredi’s End Time (interview Part 2)
“It’s a sort of everything crisis, isn’t it. It’s not just banking; it’s politics, it’s the way we run our health service, a social crisis. What started as the collapse of a bank is becoming the collapse of a nation.”
Ministry of Sound founder James Palumbo chatted to Skrufff last week to promote his second novel Tancredi, an apocalyptic Gulliver’s Travels style yarn that starts from the concept that ‘humankind has become so riddled with the disease of short-termism that it ignores its fate.’
“Tancredi decides to make it his mission to save them”, the book’s accompanying press release explains and, chatting to Skrufff today in the café of his South Kensington gym, James admits he shares more than a few preoccupations of his latest fictional character.
“Where a few people were inconvenienced before because Lehman Brothers collapsed now we have houses burning on the street,” he notes, speaking softly but intensely.
“One can sound very shrill and extreme talking about these things (saying that) the world is coming to an end: which isn’t a good look. But it’s difficult to see quite where it’s going to end,” he sighs.
Tancredi: click for more
While his debut novel Tomas (published soon after Lehman Brothers collapsed) dealt with themes of ‘bloated bankers, Russian roubles, salacious socialites and filthy footballers’, Tancredi dissects celebrity culture, in particular today’s short-termism and idiocy of reality TV. Writing it, James admits, was a tougher task than for Tomas.
“I think second books are problematic. The first one is a leap into the dark whereas with the second you’ve had more feedback,” he muses.
“How do I feel about how critics will respond to this one? I’m a little nervous and excited,” he says.
“What I noticed with Tomas was that it mainly attracted five star or one star reviews, and I didn’t mind the one star ones, shredding me (saying things like) “this is the infantile ramblings of a teenager’, ‘not worth the paper it’s written on’. That’s just fine, those reviews actually say as much about the reviewer as the author. The killer reviews are those which ‘this was a reasonable effort, but . . .’
“That’s what I’m watching out for. I’m wondering whether Tancredi will elicit such extreme reactions because it’s less dark than Tomas.”
NYPD- Sweating Clubbers Could Be Bombers
New York cops have issued a new ‘Best Practices For Nightlife Establishments’ guide for nightclub owners, which includes a detailed section on how staff should identity suicide bombers.
As well as looking out for ‘two or more people communicating and trying not to be observed’, staff are advised to be suspicious of clubbers in fancy dress (‘individuals who are obviously disguised’) and ‘individuals whose speech includes stuttering, mumbling or chanting, or are hesitant or unresponsive’ (‘like every buzzed nightclub patron’ as the Smoking Gun puts it: http://bit.ly/ngyKLV ).
“There are many factors which may create suspicion of this activity,” the police guide continues.
“ (Such as) individuals with obvious signs of extreme stress or nervousness, such as bulging veins in the neck, profuse sweating, shaking hands, touching the face continuously, involuntary motions, apathy, distant stare or unfocused gazing, feeling the body continuously.”
Click to play Suicide Bomber
