A brilliantly insightful interview from a few years ago between 2 long-time friends and musical pioneers. You can catch Calibre playing at The Ulster Sports Club, Saturday 4th March along with Chris Frieze to celebrate the launch of his Mystic Arts Record label, with NN on warm up duties.
We are very honoured to have Noel present a mix for us. It’s hard to put into words to be honest, if you don’t know Noel, you should. Best just to read his interview with Bill Brewster on RBMA, or watch his interview from the 2014 RBMA Belfast weekender to get a small indication of just how influential Noel, his brother Maurice and his peers were throughout the 80s and 90s. Punk, Sex, London, Malcolm Maclaren, Demob, Illegal warehouse parties, Wild Bunch, Nenah Cherry, CDG, Street Sounds, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, Delirium, Tom Dixon, Andrew Weatherall, Basquiat, Rammellzee… the list goes on. He helped pave the way. Thank you Noel!
https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2019/01/noel-watson-interview
Setsumasa Kobayashi was born in Tokyo in 1961 and worked with numerous brands as a freelance shoe designer before launching his own brand GENERAL RESEARCH in 1994. It was born out of his love for outdoorswear, transcendentalist philosophy and punk music. After deciding that General Research wasn’t specific enough he shuttered the brand and in 2006 he began to present his products on a particular theme as a part of the …..RESEARCH project of which Mountain Research is the core of the project but also includes the likes of Prisoner Suit Research, Horse Blanket Research, War Field Wear Research and more. Each item for the project is designed based on the careful researches on existing products related to each theme.
The General Research Parasite jacket is being reissued as part of a two-piece collaboration with fellow Japanese label IS-NESS.
IS-NESS has been around since 2001, with designer Tomomi Kishita recently refocusing his designs from neo-hippy outdoor gear into trad-inspired balloon pants and buffalo shirts along with his IS-NESS MUSIC line, inspired mostly by electronic music genres with a collegiate spin.
Tomomi and Setsumasa have now linked up make these reworked classics, a jacket style that’s captured the minds of archival collectors such as Constant Practice, some of whom are selling original 1998 General Research Parasite jackets for upwards of £5,000.
Our selection is online here.
Image 1 – Setsumasa Kobayashi
Image 2 – Original 1998 Parasite Jacket featured in an editorial for SMART Magazine
image 3 & 4 – Setsumasa’s mountain retreat (read the article on his home here – https://www.alpinemodern.com/inspirations/a-platform-for-living
Rest of the images from our collection, online now.
Check out a great interview with Setsumasa here – https://yourfashionarchive.com/setsumasa-kobayashis-eternal-research-from-punk-shows-to-the-chichibu-mountain-range/
For AW22 Pop Trading Company enlisted Graffiti legend Delta to design a custom camo pattern which has been used to make a Parka.
This video from a few years gives some background on the artist and highlights his influence.
It’s been a while since our last guest mix but it’s worth the wait. Here we have one of the most adventurous and varied selectors around. Brian not Brian grew up in Antrim and cut his teeth with residencies and guest spots in Belfast’s most respected hip-hop, funk, soul and disco nights throughout the mid to late 90’s. It was the spirit of growing up in Northern Ireland and his experiences in Belfast that saw him bring his own style and flavour to London at the turn of the millennium. Armed with a heavyweight record collection and a solid crew of close musical friends, Brian co-ran the now infamous ‘Special Needs’ parties that lasted almost 8 years at various venues around the city, all while holding down semi regular slots at Horse Meat Disco and other high profile events and even providing the soundtrack to prestige events for Stüssy, Carhartt, Wieden+Kennedy and Villa Arson amongst others.
In more recent times Brian has travelled the world playing music with gigs in Australia, Brazil, the USA and Canada as well as regular trips all over the UK and Europe. These global excursions have no doubt been bolstered by the record label that Brian set up with his longtime friend Salik Z – Going Good. An open-minded and sonically adventurous imprint that has achieved worldwide acclaim in it’s decade long existence and through the tireless championing of underground and fresh music from all corners of the globe, all delivered with a consistent and considered attitude towards releasing records. Brian’s schedule continues to see him travelling far and wide with sets at festivals like Dekmantel, Meadows In The Mountains, Farr Festival and a yearly residency at Kala Festival in Albania, alongside numerous international and domestic club gigs each and every year. Brian has managed to gather an impressive selection of different music from across eras and spectrums, his typically longform DJ sets are able to cross genre boundaries with ease, taste and sensitivity.