text:
Lucky dip: compilations
A last post rounding up some recent compilations before a few weeks of belated summer holidays. And fear not, Cabeza de Vaca is coming, only once I get back. The technicians were away on vacation, so the final fixing of the first show has been delayed, but we will be on air soon.
Various – Jerome Derradji Presents: 122 BPM - The Birth of House Music [Still Music, 2012]
Another retro-house compilation to sit alongside Rush Hour's "Gene Hunt presents…" from last year and the recent "This Aint Chicago" on Strut (see below). Don't need another one? Well maybe this one is worth it, especially for the history buffs. Collecting together the prime cuts from the catalogues of Mitchbal Records and Chicago Connection Records, it tells the story of Nemiah Mitchell Jr. and his son Vince Lawrence and their contribution to the genesis of house. The rather quaint liner notes tell the story of Mitchell acquiring a PA and recording a New Wave track under the name Mitchbal, half for Mitchell and half for [Dave] Baldwin, one of Mitchell's label signing and fellow musical contributor. While the track was a moderate success for his fledgling label, it was his son who really bridged the gap to the clubs like the Warehouse, Power Plant and Music Box where the seed of house would germinate. Lawrence, recording as Z-factor, followed up the also-New Wave track "(I like to do it in) fast cars" with "Fantasy", made with the help of Jesse Saunders who's subsequent "On and on" is widely considered the first house track. However, if the notes be believed, "Fantasy" was recorded earlier and its release only delayed, but nonetheless the two tracks appeared at around the same time in 1984 and the rest is history. An important feature of the compilation is that it gives a more practical insight into the shift from New Wave electronic pop, to the more austere and functional dance floor sound that we now know, something that not many compilations have managed to do. The vinyl version has only 8 tracks, whereas the triple CD has 32 tracks, but even on the vinyl there are plenty of gems beside the aforementioned tracks, though "On and On" is not included, presumably because it came out on the Jes Say Records label and wasn't licenced. Mitchbal and Larry Williams "Do dat stuff" is a cracker, Jeanette Thomas's "Shake your body" easily seduces whereas the mythical track "The Jackin Zone" by Risque Rhythum Team adds an air of mystery and essentialness.
Various – Richard Sen presents This aint Chicago: The underground sound of house and acid 1987-1991 [Strut, 2012]
While the house sound on this set does stray more towards acid, there is still not a whole lot of difference between the music here and the other Chicago-esque compilations around (see also above). That is not to say it is derivative or without interest historically, but perhaps it arguably reflects a less critical moment in the genesis of dance music, while still being essential for capturing the broader changes in dance culture and importantly the view from within the clubs. Indeed, the excellent liner notes by Dave Swindells give an enlightening first hand impression of the historical context and an inside view of the clubs themselves, working as a nice companion to several of the early acid house documentaries.
Music wise, the CD/digital version has the peculiarity of actually being a bit too long. There are one or two tracks in there that could probably be stripped out as they don't really add much except quantity. This is perhaps the first occasion where I am happier that the vinyl has less tracks than the CD. This is one of my gripes about buying vinyl, as well as different run orders between vinyl and CD scuppering any idea of artistic "work" in a fixed sense. In any case, your entry fee for the vinyl will get you the acid mix of SLF's "Show me what you got", which is easily the stand-out track, Julian Jonah's "Jealousy and lies" and Julie Stapleton's "Where's the love gone" are refreshingly down beat and decorated with elegant and catchy vocals. Ability II's "Pressure dub" is also another killer, almost a nascent IDM sound and spread over 10 minutes it's a languid, hypnotic bomb. The compilation also sees the welcome return of Baby Ford's "Crashing", a bona fide classic.
Tangent: New Order's "Blue Monday"
One of the CD/digital only tracks of this selection is Jail Break's "Mentality" originally released on the Catt Records label in 1989. While not a particularly outstanding track, it does nonetheless have the distinction of being a late 80s house take of New Order's "Blue Monday", originally released in 1983. This version lacks something of the dynamism of the original, but is a curious side show.
This of course isn't the only version of "Blue Monday" doing the rounds. This week a choir version of the track was recorded by the Brythoniaid Male Voice as part of a commission for Festival No.6. The video is set in the Portmeirion, in wales, location for Festival No.6 and once the site were the mythical TV show The Prisoner was filmed. Another festival might not be exactly what the world needs, after the recent disaster of the Bloc Weekend at London's Pleasure Gardens and the restructuring of All Tomorrow's Parties (ATP).
The rock/pop line-up looks decent enough, with New Order (of course), Spiritualized, Jessie Ware and Primal Scream, but the electronic side of things seems a bit old fashioned with Derrick Carter, Andrew Weatherall and Francois K.
The other day I also heard one of those awful café versions of the track, done in one of those now ubiquitous hipster jazz styles. God knows how many of those CDs there are now, your whole record collection turned into lame cocktail jazz for the ironic and bored youth. The novelty wore off a long time ago.
I am also reminded of a story from many years ago. I was on my summer vacation in the sleepy fishing town of Jurien Bay, about 300km north of Perth in Western Australia. We used to go there several times a year as my mother's partner was living there at the time. The beaches are nice, but the wind comes in too early, earlier even than the Fremantle Doctor that comes knocking like clockwork every afternoon in Perth. It's always windy and the drinking water came from a huge rainwater tank on a nearby hill and tasted disgusting. I was in my teens and there with my sisters and mother. Probably it was 1988, maybe 1987. The local hall next to the pub had been converted into a teenage Blue Light Disco, essentially a soft-drinks only police-run daytime disco. They used to hold them in the suburbs of Perth as well, but for country kids like these, where there was not much contact outside town and still only four TV channels, limited or no internet and no mobile phones, they were probably the only chance to experience anything remotely connected with dancing and popular music in a group setting. The pub there was not even putting cover bands on.
There had been a strange little buzz around the town before the disco started. All the kids you met riding around on your bike would ask each other if they were going. Everyone was. Apparently.
My sisters and I cycled there sometime after it was half over. We had chickened out of going inside in the end, like most of the kids, and we remained on our bikes out the front, parked with some other kids and grandparents. Most of the people inside seemed no more than 13 years old, many younger still jumping around with their parents. The DJ was playing some kind of standard 80s rock or pop track and at the end of one track he started to fade in New Order's "Blue Monday" or the "Beach" as many of us also knew it by, in reference to the remix.
As soon as the squelchy synth and drilling kick drum intro began the kids began to boo. We watched them walk away from the dance floor. The DJ tried pumping and raising his arms to lift the crowd, but they weren't having it. "Blue Monday" had cleared the floor. Barely was the introduction over and the DJ wisely slipped over to something else, probably something like Poison or Cheap Trick. My sisters asked what the song was.
"The Beach" I said. I thought of my school chums who had started to play it alongside Joy Division. What were they doing for their holiday back in the city? I wondered. "Let's go to the beach," I said to my sisters and we rode off leaving the kids to dance again.
Various - Fame: Jon Savage's Secret History of Post-Punk 78-81 [Caroline True Records, 2012]
This release, alongside Trevor Jackson's "Metal Dance" set of industrial and EBM classics (see below) is another essential release for 2012. There are plenty of obvious artists here, like Wire, Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire and the like, but the choice of lesser known tracks alongside more obscure gems make it a less predictable journey than it would seem. In addition, the jumps in fidelity between tracks and the wide shift in instrumentation add to the thrills. Thus, despite being a diverse compilation, it somehow feels more like a manifesto whose message has not dimmed with the passage of years. Stand out tracks are all-women Swiss group Kleenex and their simple, but thrilling angular punk hit "Aint you", A.C. Marias' atmospheric "Drop" resembles the music of current starlets Lucrecia Dalt and Julia Holter and Maria Minerva. The Method Actors "Do the method" is also a classic early indie guitar gem. The presence of Pere Ubu and their magnificent "Heart of Darkness" and Chrome who had a recent run of re-releases on Russian label Lilith is always welcome.
Caroline True have generously provided a mix by none other than Jon Savage himself.
It is also worth checking out your news stand for the latest issue of Mojo which features a Jon Savage penned article about the influence of electronic music, in particular Krautrock, in the development of David Bowie's sound from "Low" to retirement. The issue also comes with a CD of tracks selected by Mute label boss Daniel Miller. While as always with commercial magazine samplers, there is a certain bias towards the more palatable side of the things (LCD Soundsystem's "Losing my edge" and Moby's "Honey", for example), you also get early Photek drum n bass (see my last post!), Pan Sonic, DAF and the incredible last track, the confronting and dangerous "Total War" by Boyd Rice's NON.
By coincidence I am also reading Jon Savage's exceptional "England's Dreaming" history of Punk music. I was struck by one description of the conditions in England at the time:
"The postwar economic boom that had provided the foundation for this fantasy had ground to a halt as early as July 1966, when a six-month wages freeze was instituted and the pound devalued. The economy began its long decline: by 1972 inflation was running at thirteen per cent, and in January of that year unemployment went of the 1 million mark for the first time since the 1930s."
It sounds very familiar to now and one wonders when society will at last start to produce our punk music.
Various – Trevor Jackson Presents Metal Dance - Classics & Rarities 80-88 [Strut, 2012]
Like Jon Savage's set above, this one also crosses some pretty rough and bumpy ground, but it's a ride that's well worth it.
Even though the two time periods cross over, there is clearly a bigger bias for electronic sounds on this compilation, compared to Savage's more pop and protest collection. The influence of disco and dance music can clearly be heard on classics like Severed Heads' "Dead eyes opened", Cabaret Voltaire (again), Jah Wobble and Alien Sex Fiend who's "Under the thunder (ignore the dub)" samples from Australian entertaining legend Rolf Harris and a track that also had some influence on Spacemen 3's Sonic Boom as it was included on the "Space Lines" compilation. If anything, the sound of Metal Dance is not quite as Industrial as you might like it to be, in that there is less approaching the heavier sound of the Wax Trax label, for example. The biggest gripe of the compilation is again the difference between the vinyl and the CD versions. The double CD is definitely the way to go as the vinyl misses key tracks, while to get John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's disco excerpt from the "Escape from new York" soundtrack you also have to fork out for an additional 12".
Posted by floatinghead / Cabeza de Vaca at 12:03 PM 1 comment:
Labels: Acid House, Caroline True Records, Chicago, house, Industrial, Jon Savage, New Order, post punk, Still Music, Strut Records
Rumble in the jungle: Drum n bass watch
We predicted here in the end of year round up that 2012 would see the return of drum n bass to the consciousness of dance music. While it hasn't quite been the second coming yet, there has been plenty of murmurings and rumblings from the genre in several media outlets. Now all we need is that one killer album to open the floodgates. While we wait, a quick roundup of some of the recent activity.
One of the coups of the year may have been FACT magazine promoting and streaming Photek's "Modus operandi" set from the recent Hidden Depths of Hospital Records night held at XOYO in London at the end of July.
While the streaming of Photek's set does not appear to be archived yet, a promotional mix for the event can be found here:
The FACT website subsequently ran an extensive feature on Photek and the recording of the 1997 Classic album with an excerpt from a classic interview from back in the day.
As well as some promotion for the new single "Levitation" which was one of the new and exclusive tracks from Photek's otherwise disappointing "DJ Kicks" mix on !K7 from earlier this year. The above interviews promise a new album, but from all the recent singles it is unlikely to be drum n bass, although Photek's productions still transmit enough character and quality to suggest it may still be a classic.
Over at RA there have been several features and reviews to also stoke the fires a little bit.
Those following the RA Exchange podcast series will have heard RA editor Todd L. Burns talk up the qualities of New Zealand "drum n bass" producer FIS (Olly Peryman) in the mid-year round-up. However, here, DnB is used rather loosely, with Todd himself confessing that the genre association is more by default since he encountered FIS through DnB channels, but the music often bears little resemblance. FIS received a fascinating Breaking Through feature earlier in the year. Sound wise, the names Burial, Actress and Shackleton are thrown around, whereas I would also tend to add in Emptyset and Frak as well: a fierce, heavy metallic sound dominates rather than the lither sculptural creations of Actress, for example, but still, it's not DnB as we know it.
Keeping the New Zealand connection via the Samurai Red Seal label was the recent album "Out of sync" by prolific and diverse producer James Clements aka ASC who we recently bigged up for his ambient album "Decayed society" with Sam KDC. The album is another master class of sound design, but as well as pure ambient noise, Clements throws into the mix a menagerie of beat styles, from IDM, to techno and of course some skittery 21st Century drum n bass.
Also getting a feature article was producer Thomas Green aka Rockwell who has just signed a deal with Shogun Audio to release his debut album. Rockwell has already demonstrated some serious production ability on his earlier singles including his much celebrated "Aria EP" which combines classic drum n bass tropes with more leftfield IDM. What takes it to the next level is a rich sense of progression within the same track away from the ordinary: spidery production becomes heavy kicks, while sinister moods become dormant aggression.
As Rockwell says himself in the interview: "I obsess over micro-genres in music outside of drum & bass and that's where I get my influences from." This has been something of a critical dogma for the reshaping of DnB in general, as it has been the rules and regulations governing the sound and its presentation that have limited it for several years. Andrew Ryce even lays this idea down straight in the opening gambit of the article
"It's understandable if you don't view drum & bass as the most forward-thinking or experimental dance music genre anymore. It's become an insular scene largely dominated by the same big names who held sway 10 or even 15 years ago, governed by formula and convention."
However, whether Rockwell's upcoming album due for 2013 release will be the crossover DnB is waiting for remains to be seen. He himself confesses "The album's not really sounding very drum & bass right now. I've probably got about three downbeat housey things. I've got a lot of stuff which is about 85 BPM, Eskmo sort of vibes but with bass line. I'm going to be working with a lot of vocalists and there's going to be a lot of song structures in there as well." Much like FIS, perhaps it is the distortion of the periphery that will allow space for changes to occur at the core.
Young producer Stray aka Jonathon Fogel also had a Playing Favourites feature dedicated to him. Music wise, Stray has had two 12" s this year, the first on the acclaimed Critical Recordings and the most recent on Heath Looney's Warm Communications.
Review wise, there has been little else. Fracture's "Get Busy" with Dawn Day Night and its kooky zombie video received a great score and a lot of attention. It seems to make more sense the more it goes on, with the cry "Get busy" inculcating as it is applicable to the frenetic programming.
One album that didn't get a review at RA at least was "Fabriclive 63" mixed by Digital Soundboy System, a rough and ready mix of drum n bass, dubstep and reggae-influenced styles.
Arguably the man who delivered one of the best Fabric mixes and a drum n bass one at that was Marcus Kaye aka Marcus Intalex who has been getting a lot of attention everywhere lately for his house project Trevino, but sadly not as much for his drum n bass which is perhaps indicative of the obstacles still facing. Nonetheless, Intalex's Trevino Eps have enjoyed some excellent critical reviews and appear in the type of critics charts that you would trust, as opposed to the generic DJ charts you can find around.
Incidentally, this is not Intalex's first foray into house of course. This leads us back to the beginning and Hospital Recordings and Intalex's fantastic cut "Taking over me" with S.T. Files from 2000.
One thing I forgot to add in when posting yesterday was also to flag the excellent Resident Advisor Exchange with drum n bass legend Doc Scott (Scott McIlroy). Scott comes across as refreshingly honest and positive and his tales of the early days and what it was really like cutting dubs make it an essential listen for anyone who wants to get a bit closer to the history.
One of Doc Scott's first releases was this tasty nugget of hardcore on the Absolute 2 Records label.
A year later he was still toying with hardcore sounds while gradually bringing the breaks to the fore on his first release for Reinforced.
After a short production hiatus, but intensive DJing, McIlroy returned in 1994 on Metalheadz firmly entrenched in the drum n bass scene where he would go on to become one of the greats.
Posted by floatinghead / Cabeza de Vaca at 1:26 PM No comments:
Labels: ASC, Doc Scott, Drum n bass, Exit Records, FIS, Hospital Recordings, Marcus Intalex, Photek, Rockwell, Stray, Trevino
Ricardo Donoso: The morning criminal
A short post this week redirecting to a longer work, an interview I did with Brazilian-born, US-based musician Ricardo Donoso for Cyclic Defrost while he was in town for Sonar. Was great to have a few beers with him as well after the show. The article focuses on all his different projects, but for various reasons I will just flag up the more electronic side of his work.
Ricardo's debut solo work for Digitalis, "Progress Chance" was an extended, beatless techno work out inspired by the memories of beach trance raves in Brazil. A follow-up is due imminently and keenly awaited as "Progress Chance" really satisfies a certain hunger for more hypnotically-edged electronica as we saw recently with a post about Donato Dozzy and Neel's album "Voices from the lake". "Progress Chance" is almost the perfect bed partner for this album, although given the different time signatures I am not sure if they would be easy to mix. Ricardo even confesses that the music confuses people and promoters: booked to play more a club setting and people won't dance, yet in an ambient/experimental environment people dance too much. Certainly the crux of the music is like an endless drug pinnacle in a club, an extended break down where one can imagine dizzy clubbers waiting endlessly for the beat that will never come.
Thanks as always to Bianca de Vilar for great photos.
Labels: ambient, Digitalis, Ricardo Donoso, Sonar, Techno
Summer dreams – Deep House rises
The beginning of the year seemed a strangely quiet time for the major quartet of deep house labels Drumpoet Community, Freerange, Dial and Smallville. Of course there were a few scattered releases, but it wasn't until clocks changed to summer time and May warmed up with the first promises of festivals and beaches that the releases started to flood out on all labels. Perhaps just as surprising is that some of them slipped through the cracks of the usual channels for whatever reason.
John Daly – Sunburst [Drumpoet Community]
Of all the releases getting covered here, it is perhaps Irish producer John Daly's fourth album and first for Drumpoet Community that best sums up the hunger of deep house for summer. Strange, as I don't remember much sun in Galway, but a run through the track list suggests that "Sunburst" is a kind of concept album for outdoor parties. The names give the game away, as does the consistent medium tempo that runs from beginning to end, perfect for grooving without breaking too much of a sweat on long hot nights. Ironically it is also the consistency that tends to reign in the album as a whole, especially when stacking it up against Manuel Tur's more uninhibited album discussed below. This is not to say that it is a poor effort, not by any means, merely that as a listening experience it can lack a jolt or a run of curves and hills to wake you from the hazy dreams it so effortlessly invokes. More so since all the tracks seem aimed at the floor rather than the stereo. There's no ambient filler, no down tempo tracks, no experimental leanings, just suave and catchy house. In many cases this might not work at all and could be just a tedious dirge, like a beautiful woman who talks too much without saying anything. But Daly's strength are in seductive melodies that are never overblown or overused and, just as importantly, his dub leanings give him plenty of dynamic range and textural spaces to play with even when working with a relatively narrow palette of synths and pads. The stand out track is the appropriately named "Deep heat" though honourable mentions also go to the tougher rumble of "I got bells" and "All night", both of which use vocal samples and epitomise the labels signature sound.
Manuel Tur – Swans reflecting elephants [Freerange]
Manuel Tur's 2009 debut album "0201" for London's Freerange was a disjointed affair and was something of a letdown after such a long run of great singles that has still gone unabated. His latest full-length "Swans reflecting elephants" is perhaps the album everybody had wanted, elegant and also eccentric, drawing inspiration from surrealist Salvador Dalí not only in the title, but, in a way, also in the stylistic shifts from track to track that make it such a fascinating listen. But why it should have failed to make a mark on the usual websites is also strange. Perhaps one reason is that so far it has only been released as a CD and download, with no vinyl or lead singles to stoke interest, only a single 12" of remixes. In any case, "Swans…" opens with the charming, but almost girly pop of "Back to me" that could be a dangerous sign of things to come if it was not directly followed by "Phantom ride". Here, the fragile innocence of the female vocals become the inner voice caught in a circular question, tormented by a heavier kick drum and clusters of high piano notes the rattle over a menagerie of menacing sounds. So from track one to two you have an abrupt shift in style and psychology. By the time the powerful drive of "High needs low" kicks in you realise that Tur has really opened himself up on this album and that there is plenty to be afraid of. The rest of the album ranges from the dark piano licks of "Feel", to the vocal-driven disco drone of "Maybe next time" and the beautiful down beat crawl of "Just love" with vocals by Elina Monova. One final highlight is the melancholy and exotic ambient piano vignette "Mirrors" which is also a track that further emphasises the differences between Tur and Daly's albums, in that Tur sacrifices some of the party mood for something altogether unexpected.
If you want more, check out the excellent compilation of tracks collected under the "Fingerprints" title on Manuel Tur, Dplay and Langenberg's Mild Pitch label.
Small People – Salty days [Smallville]
There was one deep house long player that DID get a review and ironically, for me at least, it was probably the weaker of the three. Small People is the duo of Julius Steinhoff and Just von Ahlefeld and their "Salty days" debut on their own Smallville imprint bares more than a similarity to Moomin's "The story about you" and arguably its predecessor "Asper clouds" by Christopher Rau. Here, maybe the issue is not so much that they sound familiar, but they feel familiar and even share a template to some degree. This is not surprising since they all come from the same label, but for me at least, I find it hard to get caught up in the hype that seems to engulf these releases, elevating Moomin to near the summit of last year's album polls (position 12), for example. My criticism of the music goes not so much against its quality, but its homogeneity. "Salty days" and "The story about you" are both great releases, especially for DJs. Faultless in the sense that they have no dud tracks, no cringeful moments and they drift along just fine. Yet in a blind test I would find it hard to pick them out of a crowd or extract them from the flow of a set. But give me John Daly and I would tell you who it is. Give me Manuel Tur and I would want to know who it was. I mention feeling and here the depth of feeling seems muted sometimes in favour of control and a sort of dressy ambience. Indeed, one of the biggest problems with Small People and some similar artists is that they sometimes seem to wear the same clothes: they use samples and a palette that doesn't stray far enough from the safety zone at the centre as if they were all buying their clothes in the same mall. The high hats on this album for example, sound just like high hats and follow traditional patterns. There are a few gurgling bass lines that sound Chicago enough, but don't really threaten to break the mould. Perhaps one reason for this is that they prefer not to let loose, giving you little to distract you from the details. In fact, the spaciousness of the music asks you to look at it and this is where the problems lie. In fact, the two highlights of "Salty days" work in the opposite way, giving you something to unburden the pressure on the mechanism of the music. "And you and you" is easily the most atmospheric track of the album, working the wistful synth line into a lost moment of recollection. "Black ice" seems to have been most people's favourite and for good reason, with a more rugged tangle of bass and high hats, and a moody synth line that demands you watch over your shoulder for surprises and not stare into the music. This is perhaps a harsh criticism to make of ostensibly a solid album, but given the sheer volume of dance music, it sometimes seems a bit unfair to take attention away from the innovators, the ignitors of the flame, and give it only to those who keep it burning.
Bon and Rau – Morning funk [Smallville]
Speaking of Christopher Rau, he has had a relatively prolific time of late, releasing the "Cat litter" EP on Japan's Mule Musiq, "Just love baby" on Brooklyn's Thema, a track "First haza" on split 12" for new label Ava. Last but not least was the "Morning funk" single on Smallville as Bon and Rau with Jacques Bon. The latter is of interest if only for its sampling of Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember's spoken word introduction to "How does it feel?" from Spacemen 3's "Playing with Fire". The track itself doesn't really stand out as a classic otherwise, just a decent lazy day house track full of cosmic synths and bustling, crisp rhythm section that does the job.
John Roberts – Paper frames EP [Dial]
Far more interesting is the new 12" from John Roberts on Dial. Silent since the critically acclaimed album "Glass eights" in 2010, also on Dial, the return of Roberts is something of a second coming given the material on offer. The four tracks on two sides are all short; two of them would be almost incidental if they weren't so interesting. "Untitled II" is almost like Gamelan music the way it is arranged. Piano and percussion mix with stabs of string and less recognisable sounds. "Untitled IV" is similarly dissonant and more spacious, the melancholy piano brought directly to the foreground and the overlapping noises breaking the introversion like a thought that cannot be erased. The two remaining tracks aim more for the dance floor, but still clock in at around 5 minutes and work from similar palettes. The title track weaves chimes and jazzy samples with crunching break beat percussion that couldn't be further from typical deep house if you tried. The longer "Crushing shells" works a similar avant-garde angle, cutting and pasting different plucked string and more chimes and cello into a fractured melodic landscape all underpinned by an off kilter four-four beat. Everything on this release is a little striking, making it one of the most original releases of the year so far.
B.D.I. Paper tears [Running Back]
B.D.I.'s "Decoded message of life and love" is already nailed on as one of the tracks of the year despite sneaking out in the cold light of December 2011. His follow up single for Gerd Jansen's Running Back label is quite a different affair, however. Not as heavy or industrial, it fits more the quieter label aesthetic of Running Back than "Decoded…" would have. Indeed, the fractured vocal neatly merges with the almost synth pop textures, making it almost a John Talabot-style track. Yet B.D.I.'s mark is all over it: sounds coming in and out of focus, repetitive drums that are given just enough EQ to bring them up or pull them down and a lasting dizziness after it has all gone. The "Tribal tears dub" is a nice contrast too, bringing the polyrhythms and veiled ethnic elements to the fore.
R.A.G. – Black Rain EP [M>O>S. Deep]
Delsin's new house label seems to be struggling a bit, having been unable to garner many overtly positive reviews so far without ever having delivered a real turkey, although Andy Vaz's new single did get a caning. However, Aroy Dee's label M>O>S Deep which is essentially feels like a Delsin sublabel at times seems perpetually able to find a winner. R.A.G.'s "Black Rain EP" is certainly a case in point. Opener "The Fog" sounds bleepy and in many ways retro, with the Ghosts and Goblins-style theremin and the hazy production that gives it that, well, foggy edge. Put another way, it is an almost Workshop sound on offer, which is no bad thing. The ambient and analogue remixes of the title track are also sublime. The latter lays down a traditional Chicago house back bone and then smears it beneath menacing analogue noise and more retro horror movie sound effects. The ambient mix takes the same and strips away the rhythm section, but its inherent tension gives it a lot of potential for creative DJs to weave it into a mix. This release may straddle the line between techno and house more than the other releases here, but worth a mention for quality and originality.
Bicep & Ejeca – You [Aus Music]
Playing off old rave archetypes now seems one of the most staid features of "modern" dance music, with faux rave sounds and post-Burial stretched vocals seemingly everywhere. However, Northern Ireland duo Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar with collaborators Ejeca and Omar Odyssey show that there is still life and freshness in this blend on their latest 12" for Aus Music. "You" in particular is a slow burner, not jacking the house, but simmering and drifting like a lost flame. The vocals in particular cut both ways, at once hopeful and mournful. Steffi's remix picks up the pace a little, but without losing the ethereal qualities while the second track "Don't" is a little more straightforward, with a heavier, spongy beat and nice dub decals to decorate.
The Reboot Joy Confession – Absolute II Way Harmonious Enterprise [Philpot]
This is perhaps one of the most surprising albums of the year for a lot of reasons. Foremost amongst these is its arrival from way out of left field. This is a genuine headcase of a an album, eccentric, diverse and very self-conscious, forged somewhere between DJ Shadow's "Entroducing", classic deep house, more experimental house a la Mathematics and goofy break beat. Its spread over two records with each side lovingly sequenced into a greater collage with humourous and surreal interludes, field recordings and weird electronics. That's not to say its all superficial entertainment without genuine sentiments. There is a bit of everything here, but always leaning towards the unexpected or less obvious sounds. This album teaser gives some idea of what to expect and features the track "Awake or sleeper" from the second side.
House wise, there are a few little pearls here, like "The Rise" from the first side and "Bless you so high" which opens the third side in classic Philpot style. The album is also interesting for what it suggests about the geography of house music. Although Philpot is a German label, the sound is more distinctly "American", like Mathematics, with links into spiritual and transcendental jazz being very important. The ancestors may be Chicago, as always, but they are not the neo-Chicago favoured by the Dutch artists. The aforementioned skeletal deep house of Dial and Smallville has brushes with jazzy sounds, but more cocktail and cool jazz than jazz with religious connotations. Drumpoets Community almost feels like a strange exception then, being somehow more overtly "electronic" than either.
Labels: deep house, Dial, Drumpoet Community, Freerange, house, John Daly, Manuel Tur, Philpot, Smallville


Owned by Algonquin Power Co.
The project includes 10 wind turbines, which each generate 2.3 MW of power.
Each turbine tower is 79.5 meters high.
The rotors are 113 meters in diameter.
The turbine blades are 55 meters long.


About - DeDe's Rentals & Property Management, Inc.
"To be the real estate investor's first choice for marketing and managing desirable, well-maintained rental housing to responsible tenants throughout Santa Rosa and greater Sonoma County."
Property Management in Sonoma County, CA just got easier. Whether your property is in Santa Rosa, Cotati, Windsor, Sonoma, Oakmont, Kenwood, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, or Healdsburg, as a landlord, you count on your property manager to care for your rental properties. You want a property management firm to qualify responsible residents for your rentals, monitor and increase the cash flow as appropriate, anticipate and prevent challenges that may arise, all in a professional and prompt manner.
As a rental applicant, you look for fair treatment in your search for desirable, well-priced and well-maintained property rentals in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, CA. You want clear explanations of both the application process and the obligations of a contracted tenant. As a resident, you expect to be treated professionally and courteously; your requests and needs given reasonable and appropriate consideration.
That's why we're here. DeDe's Rentals & Property Management, Inc. (DeDesRentals.com), is committed to providing professional and effective property management in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, CA and rentals' services for applicants for all properties in Santa Rosa, Cotati, Windsor, Sonoma, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Oakmont, Kenwood, or Healdsburg, Sonoma County, CA.
For over 40 years, DeDe's has been a top-ranked real estate property management agency in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, CA. We specialize in property management, house rentals, tenant screening/placement, and investor consultation.
To qualified applicants we offer a choice selection of single-family houses and home rentals, duplexes, condominiums, and multi-unit apartment complexes. We provide property management and tenant placement services for rental residences in and around the following communities: Healdsburg, Windsor, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Oakmont, Kenwood, Rohnert Park and Cotati, Sonoma County, CA. Our management office is centrally located, directly off Highway 101 in Santa Rosa.


This is the third talk in the series on "Hardwiring Happiness", based on my new book. To listen to the other talks in the series, go here.
This talk was given at the San Rafael Meditation gathering on September 25, 2013.


text:
Sade Williams
Sade Williams and her twin brother Samir attend the Children's Clinic.
Sade has a knee problem which came to light when she was doing work experience and her knee locked. She had been doing conservation gardening and was in such pain that she had to attend A&E, but was sent away without any treatment and had to wait several weeks for physiotherapy, which she found ineffective. Sade has been visiting the clinic for the last year and attends every two to three weeks. She is a very fit and active teenager, but finds pain starting up after netball matches. She has also experienced shoulder problems after constant practicing for her Grade 8 Piano Examination.
Samir is an athlete competing at national level who started coming to the clinic after experiencing tightness in his hamstrings. The treatment he receives brings him relief, and the day after his first treatment he competed in 200m and 100m sprints in Youth Development League Races and achieved his best ever time.
Their Mother regularly attends the clinic for relief from her lupus and Sade has been referred to the rheumatology clinic at the suggestion of osteopaths.
Sade says: "I wouldn't be able to attend unless it was free. I didn't find the physiotherapist as beneficial – they just provided me with stretches. They did kindly write to the school to request rest breaks for me, which has been vital for me, though. I find osteopathy gets to the root of the problem and helps with the pain."
Find out more about the Children's Clinic.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As impartial trusted media advisors, we offer clients a consultancy service which covers all aspects of the media process from briefing to review of media plans, buying, purchasing controls, and setting relevant KPIs.
We help clients understand the business value they are getting from their media investments.
Is my plan consistent with my communications objectives?
Should I use one medium or more?
How should I be measuring my online advertising success?
How can I objectively evaluate sponsorship opportunities being presented to me?
Can you advise us on our annual TV negotiations?
Do you have a question that needs answering?


text:
Testing the NFL Zero RB Draft Strategy
We have pitched and tested several draft strategies over the years, but for fantasy football veterans, the zero RB strategy is almost sacrilegious.
For those not familiar with Zero RB, it is exactly what the name suggests. Zero RB was introduced by Shawn Siegele a few seasons back, but really started gaining traction last year.
As with most draft strategies, we can make Zero RB as complicated as we want, but the premise behind the strategy is quite simple. Wide receivers are the most valuable position in PPR/flex leagues, and running backs are the toughest to project and offer the widest variance between ADP and production.
Each year it seems like early-round running backs hit at about a 50% rate, while your top 15-20 receivers remain steady. How many consecutive years have you seen Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, AJ Green, Odell Beckham, Dez Bryant, and Jordy Nelson go in the first 15 picks? The top receivers in fantasy are just far more consistent than the top running backs.
How to Identify Late Round RB Targets, and Why It Is the Key to Your Fantasy Draft
Essentially the zero RB strategy can be broken down as taking guaranteed production in the early rounds, and calculated risks in the later rounds. Barring injury, we have a really good idea of what point range each of the WR1's in rounds 1-6 should finish the season with.
That fact holds true week-to-week as well. It will be easier to project your top level receiver production on a week-to-week basis than trying to decide if Gurley vs Seahawks is a better matchup than Tevin Coleman vs the Saints.
Once we have those guaranteed points from the top of the draft, we turn our focus to finding potential break out players in the later rounds. We all know this can be difficult, but if you know what you are looking for it can be easier than you think. Here are three types of players that should catch your eye:
The Bounce Back Year
While a top round player , like Shady last season or Gurley this season, can be a bounce back player, these players can be found in the mid-to-late rounds as well. Last season it was DeMarco Murray, Melvin Gordon, and Jay Ajayi.
You have to look at players that were either injured or extremely disappointing last season, but have the potential to carry a featured back role this season. Our favorite bounce-back candidates for this season: Matt Forte, Carlos Hyde, Jamaal Charles, and Duke Johnson.
The Surprise Rookie
Last year's surprise rookie was Jordan Howard, the year before was David Johnson. These are generally players drafted in the middle of the draft, that appear to be in a time share, but don't have a ton of talent in front of them. You should be able to better identify these players by the middle of the preseason, but we really like the situation these rookies find themselves in: Samaje Perine, Kareem Hunt, Jamaal Williams, Joe Williams, and Marlon Mack.
The Second Year Breakout
How many of these guys have we seen over recent years? In no particular order: Devonta Freeman, Melvin Gordon, Jay Ajayi, Mark Ingram, Lamar Miller, Tevin Coleman, C.J. Anderson, Spencer Ware… All of these players were nearly written off after a lackluster rookie season, only to bounce back to monster sophomore years.
Whether players need a year to learn the system, or a year to win the trust of the coaching staff, there seems to be a large number of year 2 RB surprises.
Last year's rookie class was by no means loaded, but there are several names to keep on your radar including: Derrick Henry, Paul Perkins, C.J. Prosise, Kenneth Dixon, Wendell Smallwood, and Jonathan Williams.
The key with any of these players, whether you draft them or pick them up as a flyer free agent, is to try and find players with a potentially large workload. This workload could come from simply winning the job, an injury to the starter, a scheme or coaching change, or simply an expanded role in a committee.
Admittedly, these mocks were done half-heartedly in early June, but I tried to somewhat stick to the zero RB strategy and our current player rankings.
In my opinion, if you draft in the top 3-4 spots and have the chance to draft either Bell, Johnson, or Elliott, you do it. There are a clear top 3 players in this draft, and barring an unforeseen injury, I believe they will finish 1,2,3 in some order this season.
However, if you ask who the fourth best RB on the board is you may very get well get back one of several names back: McCoy, Gordon, Freeman, Murray, Gurley… So this is where the zero RB strategy officially kicks in.
Assuming you don't draft one of the big three running backs at the top of the first, let's take a look at how your draft may shape up. In the second example from above, I drafted 10th over all and my first four picks were receivers: AJ Green, T.Y. Hilton, Alshon Jeffery, and Allen Robinson.
Admittedly, I intended on drafting Larry Fitzgerald or Jordan Reed with my 5th round pick, but by the time I was on the clock I was convinced the #12 spot was going RB/RB and didn't want to end up with Abdullah going on that turn. That would have left me with Lacy as my RB1 and he doesn't fit the criteria I had established for identifying mid-to-late round RB targets. More on that later.
Luckily Fitz (our 44th rated player) fell to me in the 6th, and I got the player I wanted after all. I have already done enough mocks to know where players should be slotted, so heading into rounds 7-10 I knew I wanted to target Tyler Eifert in round 7 and Marvin Jones in round 10. I wait until after round 10 to even consider drafting a QB, so this left 8 and 9 as RB rounds.
I ended up with my preferred pair here, Henry and Forte, but would have been fine with Prosise or Gore swapping in for Forte as well. Round 11 is generally QB1/Matthew Stafford time, but given that I took Stafford in round 11 in the first mock, I decided to try something different and drafted another RB, Duke Johnson.
If you employ our strategy of waiting until the later rounds to draft 2 or 3 QB's to play matchups, you better have an understanding of where every QB in the 12-20 range should fall off the board. I knew I could get Wentz in the 12 and either Tyrod Taylor or Blake Bortles in the 13th. We have borderline QB1 grades on all three guys, so if you play matchups right you will have a QB1 every week, and won't have to feel handcuffed to your solo QB1 when he has an awful matchup.
I took Jamaal Williams in the 14th, and love that pick, but at this point there was still plenty of RB value left on the board. We will break this down when we get into what we are looking for in a late round RB target, but I have a draft-able grade on Jamaal Williams, Joe Williams, Jacquizz Rodgers, Alvin Kamara, Marlon Mack, Rex Burkhead, and Chris Thompson.


text:
Race Preview 3 years agoby Sam Wiebe
Team Set to Defend Six Year Win Streak at North Star Grand Prix
Successful Season Provides Momentum for Hometown Race and Tour de Beauce
Rally Cycling heads into its hometown race, the North Star Grand Prix, and Canada's Tour de Beauce with strong momentum after dominating the North American calendar for the first half of the season. To date, the men and women of Rally Cycling have tallied 37 wins, including two stages of the WorldTour ranked Amgen Tour of California, and stepped onto the podium on 78 occasions. Most recently, Erica Allar took three straight podiums, including a win, at this past weekend's Tulsa Tough in Oklahoma.
After consistently landing on the podium throughout the first half of the season, the team gathers in Minneapolis for the North Star Grand Prix, June 14-18. The event has a rich history for the Twin Cities community and the team. First held in 1998, the North Star Grand Prix has become one of the top stage races on the US calendar. As the team's hometown event, Rally Cycling returns home motivated to race in front of family, friends and local team partners Borah Teamwear, HED, Kinetic and Park Tool.
The 2016 North Star Grand Prix podium: Brad Huff, Evan Huffman and Tom Zirbel
Last year the team dominated the North Star Grand Prix, holding the leader's yellow jersey from start to finish, taking three stages and sweeping the podium with Evan Huffman, Brad Huff and Tom Zirbel. This year, the team will look to keep its win streak alive with a strong team led by defending champion, Huffman. Junior World Time Trial Champion Brandon McNulty and Danny Pate will join Huffman on the start line as general classification contenders. Targeting individual stages will be National Criterium Champion Brad Huff and Colin Joyce. Lead-out specialist, and recent Minneapolis transplant, Tom Soladay will deliver them to the line.
"I'm excited to head back to the North Star Grand Prix as the defending champion, and hope to repeat my overall victory," said Huffman. "I've had a nice break at home after the Tour of California, relaxing and recovering after all the team's success, so I'm ready to get back to racing."
Erica Allar returns to lead Rally Cycling and defend her Queen of the Hills title
The dynamic trio of Erica Allar, Kirsti Lay and Emma White will lead the women of Rally Cycling in Minnesota. Allar is coming off a strong showing at Tulsa Tough, and although known as a sprinter, will head to North Star looking to defend her Queen of the Hills title from last year. Another rider with a notch in the win column is White, who earned her first UCI stage victory at the Tour of the Gila in May and will relish North Star's time trial and three criteriums. Climbing sensation Sara Poidevin and fellow Canadians Allison Beveridge and Katherine Maine will join them. The North Star Grand Prix will see the return to competition of Sara Bergen, who suffered a broken collarbone at the Tour of the Gila. Caitlin Laroche completes the roster.
"The North Star Grand Prix has always been one of my favorite stage races," said Allar. "It doesn't cater only to climbers, as there are plenty of stages offering opportunities for various types of riders to do well. It was the race where I first received recognition as a member of the first collegiate all-star team while attending Penn State. I placed second on the Cannon Falls stage that year, so this race holds a lot of personal value for me. I am feeling strong and confident coming into this event, especially after three podium finishes in Tulsa. This race is a huge goal for our team, and we have the perfect combination of riders to have a great week."
Rob Britton will lead the team north of the border at the Tour de Beauce
As Rally Cycling defends its home turf in Minneapolis, the other half of the team will be north of the border competing in the 32nd edition of Quebec's Tour de Beauce, directed by three-time Canadian Olympian and 1995 Beauce champion, Eric Wohlberg. The team will take to the start line with five riders capable of winning the general classification. Headlining the squad is Rob Britton, who is coming off an incredible Tour of California that saw him finish second to Huffman in stage four, power the breakaway in stage seven and ignite the race with a bold solo move in stage five. His efforts in the race's fifth stage garnered him the Most Courageous Rider jersey, which he wore for three days. Matteo Dal-Cin, Adam de Vos, Sepp Kuss and Emerson Oronte will join Britton as riders capable of claiming overall victory. Sprinters Eric Young and Quebec native Pierrick Naud will round out the roster.
In addition to overall victory, Kuss will be looking to repeat his win from last year on the infamous Mont Megantic. Kuss's stunning win added to the team's long history of success at the Tour de Beauce. The team took overall victory in 2009 with Scott Zwizanski and has claimed several stage wins along the way including an unlikely KOM jersey via former team sprinter Ken Hanson. In 2014, future Rally Cycling rider Britton finished second overall and was eighth in 2015. The team will look to build on its impressive record in the 2017 edition.
North Star Grand Prix Stages
Stage 1: St. Paul Time Trial (8 km)
Stage 2: St. Paul Criterium (W: 28 laps / M: 40 laps)
Stage 3: Cannon Falls Road Race (W: 104 km / M: 146 km)
Stage 4: Minneapolis Criterium (W: 45 min / M: 60 min)
Stage 5: North Mankato Road Race (W: 98 km / M: 130 km)
Stage 6: Stillwater Criterium (W: 14 laps / M: 23 laps)
Men's North Star Grand Prix Roster
Brad Huff
Evan Huffman
Colin Joyce
Brandon McNulty
Tom Soladay
Women's North Star Grand Prix Roster
Erica Allar
Sara Bergen
Allison Beveridge
Caitlin Laroche
Katherine Maine
Sara Poidevin
Tour de Beauce Stages
Stage 1: Saint-Georges - Saint-Georges (185 km)
Stage 2: Lac-Mégantic / Mont-Mégantic (170 km)
Stage 3: Saint-Georges (19.7 km)
Stage 3b: St-Georges - Beauce Art (77 km)
Stage 4: Ville de Québec (70 km)
Stage 5: Ville de St-Georges (122.4 km)
Tour de Beauce Roster
Rob Britton
Matteo Dal-Cin
Adam de Vos
Sepp Kuss
Pierrick Naud
Brandon McNulty Powers to Victory in North Star Grand Prix Opener
Three Podiums for Erica Allar at Tulsa Tough


text:
Canon EOS 6D Mark II and New Canon DSLR Will be Announced in 2017
We know that Canon EOS 5D Mark IV will be announced in late August and showcased at Photokina 2016 in September and Canon is indeed working on the new Canon EOS 6D Mark II DSLR camera. According to the rumor coming out of CanonRumors, the new Canon EOS 6D Mark II full frame DSLR camera is expected to be announced in the first half of 2017 and it will have it's own sensor. The previous rumors said Canon 6D Mark II will move upmarket "slightly" and it will be "Slightly" more professional & expensive than the Canon 6D. Currently, the Canon EOS 6D body retails for only $1,399 at Amazon, and the price of new Canon EOS 6D Mark II camera body is expected to be around $1,500.
Canon EOS 6D Mark II Rumored Specifications:
24mp Full Frame CMOS
1.5 stops better than Canon 6D at higher ISO
Low-light autofocus (centre point) at -5 EV
More AF points than the current Canon EOS 6D
First Android-based camera from Canon.
Dual-pixel autofocus technology
Touchscreen, LCD size same as current Canon 6D
Built-in GPS
Built-in NFC
Wireless battery
Price around $1,500
Official announcement around February, 2017
In addition, Canon will announce a completely new EOS DSLR lineup in 2017. But we still know nothing about this new Canon DSLR: Full Frame DSLR or APS-C DSLR?
Note: You can now follow Canon EOS 6D Mark II on facebook and join the Canon Camera Users Facebook Group to share your Canon photography and advice, ask and answer questions that arise and help each others!
Canon EOS 6D Mark II Rumored Specifications
Future Cameras Prediction: Canon 5D Mark IV, 6D Mark II, Sony a9, Nikon D820 & more By Tony Northrup
Canon PowerShot SX620 HS and IXY650 Cameras to be Announced Soon
CANON CINEMA EOS C700 COMING IN September, 2016 !
tagged with Canon, Canon Cameras, Canon DSLRs, Canon EOS 6D Mark II, Canon Rumors
« Nikon D5 Firmware Update Version 1.10 Released
The Price of Sigma sd Quattro: $799, Release on July 7 »


text:
Mala Fama, Buena Vidha is het tweede studioalbum van de Mexicaanse rapper Dharius. Sony Music brachten het in 22 juni 2018 uit op cd en als download.

Tracks
 "Mala Fama, Buena Vidha" - 4:30
 "Te Gustan Los Malos" - 4:06
 "Mala Vibra" - 3:46
 "Hey Morra" - 3:53
 "Es El Pinche Dharius" - 3:01
 "La Durango" - 4:10
 "Me Voy A Poner Bien Loco" - 4:23
 "Alla Por Cd. Juarez" - 3:46
 "Ando Bien Amanecido" - 2:57
 "Un Camion Lleno de Esas" - 3:48
 "De Party Sin Ti" - 3:14
 "Perro Loco" - 3:31

Muziekalbum uit 2018
Muziekalbum van Dharius
Hiphopalbum

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The SMARTEMP Circular Nozzle, type CNW-AD, provides side-blow discharge from walls or bulkheads. Supply air is discharged as a jet with substantial momentum, due to the high discharge velocity, thereby creating a stable trajectory over extremely long throws.
The nozzle of the CNW-AD is housed in a truncated sphere that may be swivelled by up to 30° in any direction (manual adjustment only) from its central location, providing an arc of rotation of up to 60° (figure 2). Swivel adjustment is manual, with self-acting thermostatic element, or electrically powered. The latter is typically used to swivel the nozzle upwards in cooling mode and downwards in heating mode.
If the nozzle is equipped with a self-acting thermostatic element, the total arc of rotation is attained by setting the range of rotation to one of the following arcs: -30° to +10°, -20° to +20°, -10° to +30°. The nozzle may optionally be equipped with a swirl element to reduce throw. The CNW-AD provides throws of up to 50 m and may be operated at a supply-to-room temperature differential of up to -12 K when cooling and up to +10 K when heating.
High velocity jet for long horizontal throws, with optional swirl element for shortened throws.
Suitable for discharge from walls or bulkheads.
Discharge direction adjustable over an arc of 60° (±30° from the central axis).
Discharge direction adjustment is manual.
Round discharge aperture with surrounding circular face.
Function The SMARTEMP Circular Nozzle (CNW-AD) is an eyeball nozzle with adjustable discharge direction suitable for long horizontal throw applications when discharging a jet, or medium horizontal throw applications when discharging a swirl pattern. Suitable for installation in walls or bulkheads. The aluminium nozzle of the CNW-AD diffuser is housed in a pivoted aluminium sphere, which may be swivelled over an arc of 60° (ie 30° in any direction from the central axis). Swivel adjustment is manual, electric or thermally powered. Discharge direction adjustment is up/down only for electric and thermal discharge direction options. Thermal or electric adjustment are typically used to swivel the CNW-AD nozzle upwards in cooling mode and downwards in heating mode. The self-acting, thermally powered actuator option adjusts discharge direction as a function of the supply air temperature, thereby eliminating the need for controls and wiring. The bias of the mechanism is adjustable from a +10° to -30° range to a +30° to -10° range. Discharge direction is relative to the horizontal. Electrical discharge direction adjustment provides stepless control from +30° to -30° to the horizontal via a 24 V AC/DC power supply and 2-10 V analogue input control signal. The aluminium components of the eyeball jet diffuser may optionally be powder coated. The stable discharge characteristics of the CNW-AD eyeball jet nozzle, operating at substantially constant airflow over a wide range of supply air cooling differentials of ΔTsupply-room ≥ -8 K, ensure enhanced levels of comfort over horizontal throws of ≤ 60 m and typically achieve an air diffusion performance index (ADPI) in excess of 80%. The SMARTEMP CSW-AD Circular Nozzle is available in selected markets as the LTG Weitwurfdüse ILW.
Electric adjustment: Discharge direction adjustment (upwards for cooling; downwards for heating) by means of electric actuator with 24V AC/DC power supply and 2-10 V control input. Well suited to supply-to-room temperature differential control for optimised cooling and heating performance, providing effective downward heat penetration and draught-free operation year round. Thermal adjustment: Self-acting thermal wax-bulb up/down discharge direction adjustment – no external power source or controls required. Cool supply air is directed upwards providing draught-free air motion. Warm supply air is directed downwards for effective penetration of heat to a low level. The discharge direction bias is manually adjustable. Radial swirl vanes: Recessed black radial swirl vanes reduce throw.


Our monthly newsletters feature our latest projects, screenings, events, and updates on our collaborators and fellow socially minded creators.
Want to be on the list? Sign up here.
Cat's Big News! DFC is going places!...and more.
Toronto, Houston and TV (and more)! Oh, my (October 29, 2014)!


For more than 20 years PROCENTEC works with distributors all over the world to sell its products. Orion Energy Technology Corporation is partner of PROCENTEC in Taiwan.
Delivering products with a special quality is vital for Orion Energy Technology Corporation. But the friendly service we consider as the highest priority. We certainly do not limit ourselves to selling a product. Orion Energy Technology Corporation supports you in the engineering of your project and, if necessary, when commissioning by material offered to us.
Through a lasting and close collaboration with PROCENTEC, Orion Energy Technology Corporation has managed to build an extensive customer base, ranging from machine manufacturers, engineering companies, industrial contractors, end users and public institutions.
Support in programming systems or advice when replacing certain components may occur locally by us. The measurements or institutions, testing and/or auditing, our employees are a key element in the customer-supplier relationship.


Appearance: white granular crystal 5.Solubility: easily soluble in water, ethyl alcohol, and glycerin. Breaks down in contact with heat, and reacts violently with strong oxidant.
The product can be used as reducing agent in pharmaceutical, food, chemical plating and other fields.
The product is packed by fiber drum, lined with PE plastic bag and aluminium foil bag, 25kg/bag. Handle with care. Keep in cool and dry place.


text:
Luxembourg, by H. Hondius - J. Janssonius. 1641
The Hondius Family.
Jodocus Hondius the Elder (1563-1612)
Joost d'Hondt was born at Wakken (Flanders) in 1563. Two years later, his family settled down in Ghent, where young Joost displayed a great gift for drawing and calligraphy. By study and lessons, he developed his talents and became an engraver with a good reputation.
Due to the circumstances of war, he moved in 1584 to London where he settled down as an engraver, instrument-maker and map-maker. In 1587, he married Coletta van den Keere, sister of the well-known engraver, Pieter van den Keere (Petrus Kaerius); some years earlier his sister, Jacomina, had married Pieter van den Berghe (Petrus Montanus). Joost, who had latinized his name to Jodocus Hondius, closely co-operated with his two brothers-in-law.
The political situation in the Northern Netherlands in 1593 was such that Jodocus seemed to be justified in establishing himself in Amsterdam, where so many Antwerp printers, publishers, and engravers had gone. In this new centre of cartography, Jodocus Hondius set up his business "In de Wackere Hondt" (in the vigilant dog), this name being an allusion to his birthplace and name. Here he engraved many maps and published atlases and many other works such as his continuation of Gerard Mercator's Atlas.
He suddenly passed away in February 1612. The publishing firm of Jodocus Hondius was continued by his widow; later on by his two sons Jodocus Jr., and Henricus, and by his son-in-law, J. Janssonius.
Jodocus Hondius II (1594-1629) & Henricus Hondius (1597-1651)
After the father's death, the widow with her seven children continued publishing the atlases under the name of Jodocus Hondius till 1620. The firm was reinforced by the very welcome help of Joannes Janssonius (1588-1664), who married 24-year-old Elisabeth Hondius in 1612. After 1619 Mercator's Atlas was published under the name of Henricus Hondius.
One of the most dramatic events in the early history of commercial cartography in Amsterdam was the sale of Jodocus Hondius Jr.'s copper-plates to Willem Jansz. Blaeu in 1629, the year of his death. At least 34 plates, from which Jodocus II had printed single-sheet maps for his own benefit, passed into the hands of his great competitor. Immediately after that, his brother, Henricus, and Joannes Janssonius ordered the engraving of identical plates.
During a long period, Henricus devoted all his energy to the publication of the Atlas. He saw its growth up to, and including, the fourth part in 1646; after that, his name does not figure any more on the title-pages. After 1638, the title of the Atlas was changed to Atlas Novus; it was mainly carried on by Joannes Janssonius.
The competition with the Blaeus dates from 1630. In 1630, Willem Janszoon (=Blaeu) made the first attack with his Atlantis Appendix. In 1635, Blaeu completed his Theatrum orbis terrarum in two volumes with texts in French, Latin, Dutch, and German, which prompted Henricus Hondius to speed up the enlargement of his Atlas.
The Janssonius Family
Joannes Janssonius (Arnhem, 1588-1664), son of the Arnhem publisher Jan Janssen, married Elisabeth Hondius, daughter of Jodocus Hondius, in Amsterdam in 1612. After his marriage, he settled down in this town as a bookseller and publisher of cartographic material. In 1618 he established himself in Amsterdam next door to Blaeu's book shop. He entered into serious competition with Willem Jansz. Blaeu when copying Blaeu's Licht der Zeevaert after the expiration of the privilege in 1620. His activities not only concerned the publication of atlases and books, but also of single maps and an extensive book trade with branches in Frankfurt, Danzig, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Koningsbergen, Geneva, and Lyon. In 1631 he began publishing atlases together with Henricus Hondius.
In the early 1640s Henricus Hondius left the atlas publishing business completely to Janssonius. Competition with Joan Blaeu, Willem's son and successor, in atlas production prompted Janssonius to enlarge his Atlas Novus finally into a work of six volumes, into which a sea atlas and an atlas of the Old World were inserted. Other atlases published by Janssonius are Mercator's Atlas Minor, Hornius's historical atlas (1652), the townbooks in eight volumes (1657), Cellarius's Atlas Coelestis and several sea atlases and pilot guides.
After the death of Joannes Janssonius, the shop and publishing firm were continued by the heirs under the direction of Johannes van Waesbergen (c. 1616-1681), son-in-law of Joannes. Van Waesbergen added the name of Janssonius to his own.
In 1676, Joannes Janssonius's heirs sold by auction "all the remaining Atlases in Latin, French, High and Low German, as well as the Stedeboecken in Latin, in 8 volumes, bound and unbound, maps, plates belonging to the Atlas and Stedeboecken." The copperplates from Janssonius's atlases were afterwards sold to Schenk and Valck.
Ducatus Lutzenburgensis Nova et accurata Descriptio.
Category: Antique maps > Europe > Luxembourg
References: Van der Krogt 1 - 3380:1B.1; Van der Vekene - 3380:1B.1
Antique map of the Duchy of Luxembourg, by Henricus Hondius.
Carte ancienne du duché de Luxembourg, par Henricus Hondius.
Date of the first edition: 1633
Date of this map: 1641
Copper engraving, printed on paper.
Size (not including margins): 38.5 x 49cm (15 x 19.1 inches)
Verso text: French
Condition: Original coloured, excellent.
References: Van der Krogt 1, 3170:1B.
From: Nouveau Theatre du Monde ou Nouvel Atlas comprenant Les Tables et Descriptions de toutes les Regions de la Terre. Amsterdam, H. Hondius, 1641. (Van der Krogt 1, 412)
Luxembourg by J. Janssonius 1657
Luxembourg - Lutzenburgum, Ducatus eiusdem ...
[Item number: 9528]
Luxembourg by A. Ortelius 1601
Lutzenburgensis Ducatus Veriss. Descript.
Luxembourg, by L. Guicciardini. 1609
Lutzenburgensis Ducatus Veriss Descript.
Luxembourg, by Joan Blaeu. 1659-72
Lutzenburg Ducatus.
Luxembourg by Ludovico Guicciardini 1581
Luxembourg, by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg. 1649
Lutzenburgum.
Luxembourg by Braun & Hogenberg 1596-1640
Lucenburgum Urbs eiusdem nominis Ducatus primaria ...
Luxembourg by A. Goos - Janssonius 1631
Ducatus Lutzenburgicus.
Luxembourg by P. Kaerius (Van den Keere) 1617
Luxembourg by N. Visscher II. 1683-1696
Luxemburgensis Ducatus, tam in ejusdem Minores, ...
Luxembourg by A. Ortelius. 1598
Luxembourg, by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg. 1581-88
Luxembourg by C. Merian. 1659
Prosp. der Statt Lüzemburg.
Luxembourg and Trier, by Gerard Mercator. 1623
Trier & Lutzenburg.
Luxembourg, by Joan Blaeu. 1649
Luceburgum.
[Item number: 105]
€1450 ($1754.5 / £1290.5)
Luxembourg, by Pieter Van der Aa. 1713
Le Duché de Luxembourg.
Lutzenburgu(m) Ducatus eiyusde(m) nominis, vetus ...


text:
Island Realty is the oldest family owned and operated property management company on Isle of Palms. We are proud of our rich history, and believe our longevity has played an integral role in forming close relationships with the islands and surrounding community.
While initially established as a Vacation Rental Management and Real Estate sales company, the business has since expanded to include a very successful Long-Term Rentals Department including corporate rentals, homeowners association and regime management, and Isle Watch It, a property monitoring service. In recent years, Island Realty has also opened a subsidiary company, Isle Clean It, which serves as Island Realty's housekeeping arm and also includes the Isle Fix It division for maintenance.
/contact-us
Nav Item Desc
/faces-island-realty
Learn About Our Dedicated Team of Professionals
/history-island-realty
Learn About The Oldest Family Owned and Operated Property Management Company on Isle of Palms
/community-outreach
https://www.islandrealty.com/employee-directory
/employment-opportunities
/island-realtys-professional-organizations


The AICTE and UGC approved MBA program is a reflection of our commitment to being at the forefront of providing the best of current and evolving practice of business management education and the teaching methodology mirrors the realities of the marketplace. We are one among the top Bangalore MBA colleges.
Apart from acquiring working knowledge and skills in the basic disciplines and functional areas of management, you become industry ready and employable with updated curriculum in tune with industry requirements. Case Study Based Specializations and dual Specialization make the MBA at Adrash a complete Entrepreneurship program with hands on experience and projects assignment in association with NEN. Research Orientation, Career counselling, mentoring are a part of the course curriculum. Adarsh also offers Certification courses as per industry requirements and Free Certification Programs like SAP, DIBP(Diploma in Business Proficiency), PGPM (Autonomous Certification), Six Sigma, Employability Skills, Ethics & Social Responsibility, Stock Market, Digital Marketing Certification, Advanced Excel.
Once completed application is submitted, our admission officers will get in touch with the student within three working days to schedule an interview. Candidates can opt for Personal Interview/Telephonic Interview based on convenience. The date of interview will be scheduled & the same will be informed to the candidate.


Barford Rock Crusher Vietnam - vinnarasiin SBM Heavy Industry is professional in manufacturing jaw crusher barford sc55 big jaw rock stone crusher price pictures .
Trona Crush Barford Rock Crusher Crusher Mills, Trona Crush In UK Crushing Gold Ore Impact Mill Grinds Gold Bearing Quartz Rock 13 , barford rock crusher vietnam .
barford rock crusher vietnam - antriksharaliasorgin Used Aveling Barford Dump truck for sale - , Buy used Aveling Barford Dump truck on baupoolcouk at the best .
hot sale pf series iron sand impact crusher in , barford rock crusher vietnam - imorgin Stone crusher Equipment- Vietnam worldcrushers Iron ore crushing plant .
barford rock crusher vietnam - fifbowlingpw Aveling-Barford Portable rock crusher machine for sale kenya,portable stone crusher Learn More stone crusher .
barford rock crusher vietnam fifbowlingpw gbg gold mines in gauteng contact details previous post barford rock crusher vietnam next post brutal force vibratory .
crushing machine, complete crushing plant china crushing machine, complete crushing plant, good stone rock pe jaw crusher pe 800x1060, high output .
barford rock crusher | Mobile Crushers all over the World , barford rock crusher vietnam Grinding Mill China Chat Online; Have questions? We're here to help: .
rock crusher aluguer de south australia; barford rock crusher vietnam in vancouver | D11T For Sale - 48 Listings erops, air conditioner, ripper: single sh, .
You may like it >>barford rock crusher vietnam in vancouver >>customized rock crusher stone rock crusher rock crusher >>crusher crusher plant in saudi arabia .
avelling barford goodwin jaw crusher mphplcrorgavelling barford goodwin jaw crusher crusher for sale barford rock crusher, vietnam office address address room 502 .
rock crushing plant veitnam - Menghancurkan Peralatan barford rock crusher vietnam mini batching plant ready mix manufacturing determination of grain size of .
allis chalmers 1 1 2 cone crusher swamisoftwarein used cone crushers for crushing rock for construction and mining vietnam 350 400tph cobble crushing plant .
avelling barford goodwin jaw crusher mphplcrorgavelling barford goodwin jaw crusher crusher for sale barford rock crusher, vietnam , crushers made in vietnam and .
lootcoza sitemap9781401044831 1401044832 capitol rock 9786610106264 6610106266 between sace and desire national identity and the governing of femininity in .
, plant price in vietnam rock crusher in vietnam sher rock crushing , 11 the company war running a rock crushing facility barford rock crusher .
Barford Rock Crusher Vietnam rock crusher vietnam - crusherasia Rock Crushers Used in Vietnam Mining - Rock crushers,rock Iron ore crushing plant and coal .
barford rock crusher vietnam - fifbowlingpw Cone Crushers For Sale In Gauteng - indianbabynamcoin More details Barford rock crusher, Read more crusher for .


For most people, the completion of an income tax return is a yearly chore but a necessary one. The UK tax system is becoming more complex, with the onus being placed on individuals to provide HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) with accurate tax returns and figures for tax due. The HMRC has increased its investigative powers, and failure to provide accurate and timely information leads to penalties and interest charges that can be onerous.
However there remain many opportunities to reduce the burden of personal taxation by the use of innovative and tried-and-tested income tax mitigation strategies. The starting point for good taxation planning is the accurate preparation of your personal income tax return and an understanding of your personal requirements.


text:
CommunityCrime
Three Years After Her Parents Death, Daughter Has No Faith in the Justice System
Evelyn Prince seeks answers after Michael Vance killed her parents
dawnshelton Follow on Twitter Send an email December 11, 2019
Evelyn and News 9's Dana Hertneky during their interview.
Part Two: Three years since the murders of Kay and Ronnie Wilkson of Luther, their daughter, Evelyn Prince, is continuing her quest to find answers about their deaths and the crimes associated with it. We shared part of her story, in her own words, on the third anniversary of their deaths in October.
She is on a mission to honor her parents' lives and legacy. Evelyn shares a heartbreaking look into the aftermath of the unimaginably horrific experience – the grief, the loss, the fractured relationships, the questions, and the frustration. As a result of Evelyn's quest, Oklahoma City television station KWTV is picking up the story and it is expected to air December 12 at 10 pm.
The Wilksons are buried at Luther Cemetery
Click here to read the first of Evelyn's story.
Answers for My Parents, A Daughter's Quest
Part Two: No Faith In The Justice System
By Evelyn Prince
Evelyn and Cody's wedding day. Pictured with her parents. Photo provided.
Getting Answers
For the last three years, we have asked Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater for the evidence in my parents' case, and had a meeting to discuss what happened with other law enforcement. I left the meeting with more questions and had the same result after talking to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Wellston Police Department, Lincoln County District Attorney, OSBI and FBI. It has been a vicious circle with no help.
Three years later we are running into everyone saying "statute of limitations;" the morbid details of our parents' murder leaked out before our family was even told what happened. Oklahoma County leaked to the media and the rumors started about my parent's testifying against Michael Vance in Lincoln County. All of this, I feel, was to cover the negligence of the law enforcement agencies due to what I believe is and was lack of training and following protocol at the initial shooting in Wellston/Lincoln County. Law enforcement could have prevented or caught him long before he was gunned down by a REAL HERO Oklahoma Highway Patrol Officers Costanza and Officers Clay Sanders. The full amount of justice for my parents will not be served until a full thorough investigation of all agencies involved has been done. I have been told by all of these agencies that we need to accept that the man that killed our parents is dead … and move on.
Ronnie & Kay Wilkson.
photo provided.
My parents gave me life and thirty-two years of theirs. If I have to fight the rest of my life for their justice, I will. I will take this cover up all the way to the President of the United States if that is what it takes. My parents did not deserve what happened to them and we did not deserve being treated the way we were during the worst time of our lives.
My youngest son spent his thirteenth birthday saying goodbye to both of his grandparents. At a time we rely on our law enforcement, they failed us. When calling 911 dispatch for records, I was told to get a subpoena but they said, "just to let you know, we only keep those records for two years" when I asked her for the numerous 911 calls from that night. I then spoke to someone who hung up on me. No surprise. Most of my calls end in a hang up. When I asked about Vance making a Facebook Live video thanking his sister and niece for their help, no answers. When I told them his sister told my sister she told Vance to go to my parent's house but don't hurt them, I was told, "well that's all speculation now, since there was no investigation." When Wellston and Lincoln County were contacted about the investigation, I was told there was no investigation because Michael Vance was killed.
Was the motive money?
In June 2016, we lost my oldest brother's daughter to a drowning. My mom had gone to take out a loan for my brother to get an attorney to fight for custody of his other daughter so she would be safe. Vance's sister worked there and I believe that was the money she told Vance to go get and said "but don't hurt the people." I have had three years of therapy to deal with the PTSD, Anxiety, Panic attacks, and depression from all of this.
I spoke with the Lincoln County DA with this information and was told to speak to the sheriff's office; they didn't investigate it. When I told him I had already spoken to them and was getting nowhere, he said, "well, it is three years later and I do not have any formal complaints." When I call private attorneys, we are told unless we could prove negligence, they would not take the case and with multiple agencies involved. Every day I dedicate myself to bringing justice for my parents and for my family that law enforcement drug through the mud after the worst nightmare we had ever experienced and the emotional damage they caused with all of the rumors they started.
After we decided to leave the night of the murders in 2016, I walked to my family standing at the power plant parking lot near my parents' home. I told my sister Cassie, brother Donald and Aunt Janet that I had to get out of there. We passed Triple X and Covell as I looked at the medical examiner's vehicle backing into my parent's driveway. I was in shock, crying, confused and had so many emotions. I came home; my boys had stayed with their other grandparents that night until we could figure out how to tell them their adored Grandma and Papa were gone. I cried all night, sick to my stomach, on the phone with my siblings, trying to make sense of what was happening. The next morning, my sister called and said the news was saying horrible things. I told my sister to turn off the TV and unless you hear from law enforcement, believe nothing. So that day, my sister got an investigator's number and called him. He confirmed that it appeared Vance tried to dismember our mom and decapitate my dad.
We started the process of planning our parent's funeral. We were off and on the phone talking to others in the government to figure out what was going on since we were watching rumors online and on the news. People called saying he had a "hit list" and my two brothers were on it, and that my parents got killed because they were set to testify in Vance's molestation rape case. Furious that we knew this was crap, we set out to find out who was starting the bogus rumors and leaking them to the media. At a vulnerable spot, we depended on our government agencies but they only caused more emotional damage to our torn up lives.
What do I want?
Here's what I want. Help me figure out why all of this negligence took place. Can we have the evidence because we were told about a shot being fired through my parent's screen door that hit my dad? We are not sure if he was outside and ran to help my mom or if he was running out. Going into my parent's house that was always clean, the couches were pulled out to the middle of the floor, the house was ram-shackled and I didn't know if this was from Vance or law enforcement investigating.
The detective said, "it was both." That day we went back over to my parents with my siblings, standing next to the front door, I noticed a hole in my parents' built-in entertainment center, so we looked on the other side of the wall, in the bathroom. We looked at the shower, three layers of shower curtain and in and out the other side of the shower through the other wall at an upward angel was a smaller hole than the one in the door going through the roof. I asked if they checked for fingerprints to see if anyone else was there.
He said they believed he acted alone.
I can't go to Walmart without fear of what if it isn't over? After the last year of therapy, I am slowly starting to gain back my life. When I asked authorities how many other family members do we have to worry about, the answer was, "hopefully none."
How does that give anybody faith in our justice system?
Ron & Kay Wilkson
Support The Luther Register
Thank you for reading. If you enjoy reading The Luther Register, and learning about your community in and around Luther, please support our work and place value in community journalism. You choose the amount right for you, whether it's $5 or $10 a month or more. It's the cost of lunch or admission to a Luther sporting event, your support helps the Luther Register be there to cover news for your town.
Thank you for supporting The Luther Register
What type of donation would you like to make?*
Thank you for supporting "news for our town."
One-time Donation*
This option will bill you one-time.
Monthly Recurring Donation*
This option will automatically bill you the same amount each month.
Dana Hertneky Evelyn Prince KWTV Lincoln Count Sheriff's Office Lincoln County District Attorney Michael Vance Oklahoma COunty District Attorney OSBI
Independent Voters Can Vote With the Democrats, Not the Republicans
Eastern Oklahoma County Snubbed for 911 Funds
EOC Toll Road: Emails Announce Design Phase
Main Street closes for Trunk or Treat
Oklahoma Covid-19, Monday numbers
OTA Seeks $90 million Line of Credit
Luther Bank to sell to Bancfirst


"This bread is probably the best thing I make. Just finished making it and half a loaf is gone already while it was cooling. Using the bread machine to make the dough makes it so easy!"
Place milk, eggs, 1/4 cup butter, bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast into a bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer, select the dough setting, and start the machine. When dough cycle is complete, transfer dough to a floured work surface and punch down. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
Mix walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl.
Divide dough in half and roll each half into a rectangle about 9x14 inches. Spread 1 tablespoon softened butter over the top of each dough rectangle and evenly sprinkle dough with half the walnut mixture. Roll dough rectangles, starting from the short ends, and pinch seams closed.
Grease 2 9x5-inch loaf pans. Fit the rolled loaves into the loaf pans with seam sides down. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Bake loaves in the preheated oven until lightly golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped, about 30 minutes. If loaves brown too quickly, lightly cover with aluminum foil for the last 10 minutes of baking. Let bread cool for 10 minutes before removing to finish cooling on wire racks. Sprinkle tops of each loaf with 1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar.
This is good. I coulding get the bread to go in 9x14 rectangles, so the swirl was more like a blobs but the two loafs did go fast. Will make again.
Stellar! I didn't have walnuts, and kids don't like them anyway. I just used the cinnamon/sugar mixture and it was still fantastic.
This recipe is awesome ! I'm new to baking bread but this was easy, came out great and tasted awesome.


text:
Acumen Fund
Report: Beyond Investment: The Power of Capacity-Building Support
Acumen Fund, a nonprofit impact investment fund, raises charitable donations to make equity investments in early-stage companies that provide a product or service to the poor.
Acumen Fund, a nonprofit impact investment fund, raises charitable donations to make equity investments in early-stage companies that provide a product or service to the poor. It invests across the agriculture, education, energy, and healthcare sectors in several geographies, including Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.
Capacity-Building Objectives
Acumen uses capacity-building support to add value to its portfolio companies across three broad themes: governance, operations, and finance. Within these areas, Acumen focuses specifically on five core aspects of investees' operations:
Sales: Customer segmentation, creating an effective sales team, and developing effective marketing strategies
Talent: Executive coaching, group trainings for senior and middle management, building organizational culture, and recruiting/retaining staff
Technology: Adopting systems and processes to scale the business
Finance: Managing cash, structuring capital, and raising funds
Impact: Measuring, communicating, and improving impact
Acumen developed these objectives based on historical data regarding over 50 investments across a 10-year period. Through its research, it has found that, in most cases, investees have needs in all five areas at some point during the investment period and that companies with the same business model (i.e., product vs. service companies) tend to face similar challenges at each stage of business growth. For example, an early-stage clean cook stove company in East Africa and an early-stage water pump company in India will face challenges identifying viable customer segments, building and training a sales team, and establishing distribution channels.
Sample Capacity-Building Project Goals
Increased Sales
To improve a renewable energy company's understanding of its target customer segments, Acumen conducted a brief survey via mobile phone using its Lean Data methodology. The survey provided the income distribution (USD 1.25 to USD 8 per day) of the customer base, along with their respective value drivers, product usage patterns, and product satisfaction ratings. The investee used these data to refine customer segmentation, tailor marketing and sales messaging, and improve customer service. Acumen measured success by management's actions in response to customer feedback and customer ratings over time.
Improved Technology Infrastructure
To strengthen an agricultural company's infrastructure and ability to scale, Acumen helped the company find an IT consultant to identify and implement a migration from simple accounting software to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that integrates different aspects of the business, such as inventory, sales, finance, and human resources. The investee used this system to consolidate financials and streamline reporting, and it updated its standard operating procedures to leverage the new technological infrastructure. Acumen measured success by staff adoption of the new technology and improvements to EBITDA margins over time.
STEP ONE: IDENTIFY CAPACITY-BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES
During due diligence of prospective investments, the Acumen deal team assesses the company's capacities across governance, operations, and finance. Needs identified during due diligence often help define key milestones that must be reached before releasing further investment tranches. Once a company is in the portfolio, the Acumen portfolio team conducts annual reviews, revisiting the company's governance, operations, and financial performance to identify further gaps that could be filled by capacity-building support.
STEP TWO: DESIGN A CAPACITY-BUILDING PROJECT
Acumen has developed two project structures:
When a company's capacity or management gap is discrete and non-recurring, such as an ERP implementation, Acumen facilitates introductions to consultants that deliver cost-effective support specifically for early-stage social enterprises.
When a company's capacity or management gap is fundamental and recurring, such as developing a recruiting and retention strategy, Acumen takes a long-term approach to support the investee's development. These projects typically begin with data collection to understand the company's specific needs. Acumen then provides ongoing coaching to improve skills.
Regardless of the project type, Acumen initiates discussion of these projects at the Board level to create an environment of dialogue and accountability amongst key stakeholders.
STEP THREE: IMPLEMENT THE CAPACITY-BUILDING PROJECT
Acumen implements capacity-building support through a combination of their own in-house staff, external consultants, and group training programs (see table below):
In-house staff provide support when the task is recurring and fundamental to an organization's business model. To build the organization's capacity, Acumen works across multiple teams to collect data, develop insights, and provide coaching over a period of three to 12 months.
Consultants are used when the task is discrete and nonrecurring or when a consultant has specific expertise focusing on early-stage social enterprises in emerging markets.
Group trainings bring senior or middle managers from portfolio companies together to learn from other participants using a curriculum developed by Acumen and its regional partners. Acumen has found that attendees from the various investee companies share practical insights from their daily work, creating a learning network that extends beyond the trainings.
STEP FOUR: MONITOR AND ASSESS THE PROJECT
Acumen monitors its investments by tracking the progress against milestones set annually. As a company achieves these milestones, Acumen releases further tranches of investment or decides to allocate additional capital to the company. Acumen assesses the success of a capacity-building project based on key indicators established for each project. Over the long term, Acumen hopes to define a return on investment for capacity-building projects, as well as a total return on investment including the cost of capacity-building support at the point of exit.
The funding model for capacity-building support at Acumen has evolved over time. Acumen initially worked with probono consultants but found that the level of service provided failed to meet investees' expectations, and investees lacked enough stake in the project to ensure its implementation, since they had not paid for the consultant. Next, Acumen funded its capacity-building projects through a pool of grant capital. Portfolio companies applied for support to receive grants up to USD 50,000 each. The companies were required to cover a minimum of 20% of the direct costs of support and to manage implementation of the projects. Acumen found that this model had several undesirable features:
raising capital for this type of support was difficult;
larger companies garnered an unfair advantage in the grantmaking process, having more resources and staff to apply for grants and share the costs of capacity-building support; and
Acumen found it difficult to define and measure the effectiveness of the projects while being removed from the design and implementation process.
In its current model, Acumen sets aside 10% of the total capital it has raised for capacity-building support to fund its inhouse staff. Portfolio companies can access Acumen's in-house resources free of charge because, in Acumen's view, these services attract investment pipeline. In addition to the in-house team, Acumen has built relationships with a short list of high-quality consultants offering tailored products for early-stage social enterprises in emerging markets. Pre-negotiated fees for this support are paid in full by investees using part of their investment capital from Acumen. Over the first two years, Acumen subsidized executive and manager trainings for participants while proving the model; these trainings will now be offered to investees without subsidy.
Capacity-building support, or technical assistance, is a versatile, widely-applicable tool that offers multiple direct benefits to both investors and investees.
The GIIN's issue brief, Beyond Investment: The Power of Capacity-Building Support, provides an in-depth look at capacity-building practices in the impact investing industry. The report documents how capacity-building support can contribute to the impact that investors seek to achieve, and surfaces three key insights about the current state of such support in impact investing.
This project was funded in part by generous support from the DOEN Foundation.
Other case studies
GIIN Initiative For Institutional Impact Investment
MN is a fiduciary asset manager that carries out the pensions administration for almost two million people in The Netherlands. MN has 129 billion euro assets under management and aims for both financial and social return and long-term value creation for its stakeholders, the large metal schemes PME and PMT, as well as the pension fund for the merchant navy. MN sees the integration of climate-related opportunities and risks in investment decisions and processes as its fiduciary duty. MN has engaged in impact investing since 2016. The current impact investments total 1.9 billion euro at the end of 2018. For more information, see www.mn.nl.
Prudential Financial, with operations in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America, provides its customers with a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, and investment management.
The Salvation Army is a registered charity that operates in 128 countries worldwide running charity shops, shelters for the homeless and coordinating disaster relief and humanitarian aid to developing countries.
Climate Investing Track
SunFunder Beyond the Grid Fund
Founded in 2012, SunFunder aims to drive a global energy transformation to provide universal access to energy and mitigate the environmental impacts of energy production and distribution to limit climate change.
Energy Access Debt Fund
responsAbility Investments AG is an asset manager in the field of development investments and offers professionally-managed investment solutions to private, institutional, and public investors.
Gender Lens Investing Initiative
Glenmede is an investment and private wealth management firm founded in 1956 with a long history of partnering with its clients to align their social and environmental goals with their financial objectives.
Phatisa is a Mauritius domiciled, sector-specific African private equity fund manager located in and operating across sub-Saharan Africa.
Report: Scaling the Use of Guarantees in U.S. Community Investing
Healthy Neighborhoods Loan Pools I and II
Healthy Neighborhoods promotes community revitalization through property acquisitions and renovations in distressed Baltimore neighborhoods.
The Collaborative for Healthy Communities
The Collaborative for Healthy Communities lends to federally qualified health centers, which provide healthcare to medically underserved communities.
M-Pire Pilot and Green Rewards
M-PIRE was a collaborative pilot between the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC) and Fannie Mae that helped Fannie Mae develop green mortgage products.
Report: Catalytic First-Loss Capital
California FreshWorks Fund Term Debt Facility
The California Endowment's goal with the FreshWorks Fund is to increase the availability of healthy food options in areas where there is limited access, particularly low-income communities.
Peak II (Providing Employment and Knowledge)
Peak II engages in equipment finance lending in Tanzania.
Democracy Prep Charter School
Civic Builders aims to provide affordable charter school real estate, and it has done this by providing protection to more senior investors investing in dozens of schools nationwide.
Report: Lasting Impact: The Need for Responsible Exits
Lok Capital's Exit from a Microfinance Company
Lok Capital ("Lok") is a private equity fund manager, founded in 2004, that focuses on fostering financial and social inclusion in India.
Beartooth Capital's Exit from Montana Ranchland
Founded in 2005, Beartooth Capital is a real assets investment firm that has acquired nearly 25,000 acres in the Western United States with the intent to restore and rehabilitate degraded wildlife habitats, waterways, and ranchlands.
LeapFrog's Exit from Express Life
LeapFrog Investments is a private equity firm founded in 2007 that invests in financial services and healthcare companies targeting underserved and low-income populations, primarily in Africa and Asia.
responsAbility Investments AG
responsAbility, a Swiss asset manager, has been active in impact investing since 2003. Its aim is to drive the growth of development-related sectors—namely finance, agriculture, and energy—through return-seeking debt and equity investments.
Medical Credit Fund
The Medical Credit Fund (MCF), a nonprofit impact investment fund within the PharmAccess Group, provides loans in partnership with local financial institutions primarily to private health clinics and pharmacies across sub-Saharan Africa.
Business Partners International
Business Partners International (BPI) is a fund manager providing debt and equity financing to small and medium-sized enterprises in East and Southern Africa.