So-called 808 Day isn’t until later this week, but Roland has announced two upcoming collaborations already. Bingo cards out: this year it’s “New Balance shoes” and “Twitch livestream with Grandmaster Flash.” And the real news here is that 8.08 Day will kick off a big change for Twitch DJs.
Gotta be the shoes
First, the New Balance sneaks: that’s Tiago Lemos NM808 x Roland sneaker, so think skater culture and the Brazilian skateboarder. I know a few techno skaterheads who will in fact get a kick out of this (unintentional pun, sorry). 90s this up, San Fran to Oslo to the Big Apple to, naturally, São Paulo.
If shoes aren’t your thing, there’s also a capsule collection with NB and Roland Lifestyle covering hoodies, tees, and hats.
Honestly, very few pieces of gear could work like this apart from the 808, and Roland seems set on taking advantage of that.
On that note, here’s Tiago modeling the shoes with Cut Chemist:
The shoes drop 12 AM 8.08, Bronx time:
Twitch does DJs on 808 Day
Shoes aside, the other news here is Roland partnering with the Twitch DJ program. It’s not just Roland that stands to benefit – Twitch has just unveiled their new Twitch DJ program, which will work with licensed music, and a new dedicated DJ channel. DJs had already taken to Twitch during the pandemic, with numbers quadrupling since early 2020. Unlike other pandemic evolutions, this one shows no particular signs of stopping – perhaps because club DJs, like gaming, work well as continuous background-streamed content for lots of audiences. The only issue had been that licensing matter; now DJs can opt-in without impacting their revenue, and you should see both less silenced tracks and more revenue going back to producers. (Hi there! Papa needs to buy some new 808 shoes, so much appreciated!) See the program details; more on that soon.
8.08 Day is now the launch day for the DJ Category – and it’ll continue all week, through August 14. (August 14, naturally, the day true Roland nerds celebrate the official day of the SR-JV80-14 World Collection “Asia” wave expansion board.)
And whoa, the lineup – Grandmaster Flash, DJ Roueche (Official DJ of the Los Angeles Lakers), Skratch Bastid, and DJ Melo-D (of the Beat Junkies) in the Roland lineup and accompanying LA event.
No pressure, Twitch streamers; next week, you just have to look good DJing online alongside the guy who invented the slipmat and shaped a whole lot of DJ technique as we know it.
Different Roland, but this is perfect:
Okay, sure, Flash’s most famous track “The Message” is Oberheim DMX, not Roland. But then there’s “Scorpio” with TR, which just covers all the bases at once:
Skratch Bastid has been doing cool things with streaming, too, and focusing on live practice:
Of course what we don’t have yet is anything really drum machine-related for 808 Day.
But don’t put away those bingo cards yet. This is Roland, and they have been known to drop unexpected news last-minute.
Me, I’m happy; I’ll actually be on the FLASH Recordings Twitch channel on Saturday and after listening to Grandmaster Flash, I think I have to bring along a TR-8S to celebrate.
More shoe shots
Glamour shots incoming. (Shoe images courtesy New Balance)
