It doesn’t take much to make me feel stupid. Trying to find the words to describe the debut album of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti at 4AD is just one of many examples I could give you. To me, ‘Before Today’ sounds like an album that Kevin Barnes could be recording if he loved goth bands more than funk ones. Or like the cold wave genre entering a multicoloured psychedelic stage instead of glazing at it's own depression. Don’t mind my threadbare examples; this is the album that will make it onto every interesting top 10 of the year and you don’t wanna miss it.
I can't resist (probably overpriced) basics-with-a-twist. My wardrobe, full of T by Wang, Oak, Bassike and yes, American Apparel is proof of this; and since in Australia, a new favourite has emerged in the form of Nathan Smith. His selection of supersoft tees, tanks and dresses have sucked me into buying multiples of a number of styles in different colourways. You just can't go wrong with these though! Addictively and endlessly wearable - and not in actual fact, overpriced in the slightlest - Nathan Smith is the way forward for your wardrobe.
I don’t think any series will treat teenagers the same way that Freaks and Geeks did almost 10 years ago. Although relying on every teen American cliché they could, this series was the closest thing to reality you could get whilst still being something fun and interesting to watch – cause, you know, life is boring. With bands like The Who, The Clash and XTC being either part of episodes or the soundtrack, this 80’s based cult show was short-lived (only 18 episodes), but long enough to enrich the careers of some young actors (i.e. James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Busy Philipps and, erm, Linda Cardellini) and is greatly missed. Can we have a movie about them meeting again in the 00’s?
Once, a friend of mine wanted to take me to this 'cheap Chinese restaurant', situated in the heart of Liberdade, a Japanese neighborhood in São Paulo. When we got there the place was packed, but because it looked cheesy and kinda poor, I didn't want to wait it out. It took another friend for me to go back there and fall in love with it. Now, every time the mood for some freshly made noodles (you can watch the chief making the noodle dough through a window) framed in some horribly painted pink walls takes me, I go for Rong He. Did I mention the food is also incredibly generous and cheap?
The ultimate in peeping tom into other, cooler, more fashionable, richer, quirkier and more-hipster-than-thou lives is Todd Selby's The Selby. Having previously been an internet only voyeur's dream, Todd has just last month released The Selby Is In Your Place, a book the coffee table tome full of twee drawings, colourful interiors and people showering. Half of the images in the books are favourites from the website and the other is stuff he hasn't published online yet. So go check it out, maybe buy it if you can to make your crappy coffee table in your crappy apartment that little bit cooler with pictures of someone else's cool stuff.
Monday // May 31, 2010 at 15:45 // filed under Music
Yoii Big Boi!
Lately I've been having this mad renaissance with types like Aaliyah, Janet, Outkast, and TLC all making appearances once more in my play lists. So I've been in exactly the right mood for the likes of those re-emerging with new stuff, like Kelis, Janelle Monae and Big Boi, who's also back on the scene with his latest single 'Shutterbug' taken from Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (which, last I heard after multiple delays, is due out on July 6th).
'Shutterbug' exercises Big Boi's signature flow, which sits forward of the thuddingly fat beat - that combined with the little fluttering notes at the top end make for a thoroughly too-cool-for-school jam.
The video delivered goes all comically augmented scenes and characters, Muppet heads, Tron type peops doing Rihanna-rude-bwoy type moves and an epic mountain of red plastic beer cups. Amongst the usual booty girls. And other cool/weird stuff. Look, if you haven't seen it already:
Shutterbug by BIG BOI
And here's Big Boi in collabo with Miss Janelle Monae in the uber catchy
number that is 'Tightrope', with Monae working some real classy attitude. I am (still) a fan (of both).
Wednesday // May 26, 2010 at 15:15 // filed under Music
Hiya Twin Shadow
photo by Andrew
Strasser
Say hello to my new favourite of the week, Twin Shadow, aka George Lewis Jr, whom prior to this week, I hadn't caught on to. This Brooklynite de-camped hipster-town to the straßen of Berlin in search of inspiration, and found a 'cinematic experience' to break the damn on his creative flow. On his return to the USA, Lewis Jr churned out a bunch of songs, the cream of which are being released on Chris Taylor's - of Grizzly Bear fame - record label, Terrible Records.
'Castles In The Snow' is one of the two tracks that were released back in March on 7". It's an odd feeling track; haunting and lilting but with a catchy-as pop hook. I adore the layering of the vocals and instruments; the way the top end croons and rattles along in the chorus, the way the guitars thrum in the verse alongside organic percussions and handclaps before it gets stripped back to the low lone buzz of a synth bass and a vocal.
'Yellow Balloon' is more floaty and less spooky but another gem of a track; dreamy, with softly icy synths, and a little guitar on distortion in there to rough things up a little bit.
My favourite thing about these two tracks are Lewis Jr's ability to engineer subtle and smoothly changing soundscapes that are like travelling on a train whilst watching the scenery whizz by, your eye catching on many of the interesting details along the way whilst still being taken in by the entire view.
Here's Twin Shadow with flouncy, bouncing, voluminous hair, showing his downright pop side, looking for all intents and purposes like some 70s rocker, strumming away onstage at his Brooklyn Bowl performance:
Twin Shadow
Here's the Twin Shadow's 'Twins in Heaven' remix of Bear In Heaven's 'Lovesick Teenager':
And most recently, off of Lemonade's Pure Moods EP, 'Lifted' got a turn in Twin Shadow's capable hands to deliver a brilliant remix of the track, taking the eerily tropical original to the next level, driving it to deeper, darker, more expansive and less tropical place without losing that Lemonadey effervescence. Excellent.
Wednesday // May 26, 2010 at 13:30 // filed under Music
photo by Elvira
Wilkinson & Mitchell Wright
I'm sure the comparison has been made a hundred times before, but if Beth Ditto were younger, cuter, less aggressive, slimmer and a part of CSS, it would sound like Operator Please's latest catchy catchy piece of sour candy pop 'Back and Forth'.
The second single from their forthcoming sophomore release Gloves, coming out at the end of this month, the Australian quintet still look pretty fresh faced even after having been around since 2007 It's kinda refreshing to see a young band acting their age in this rather adorably simple art deco styled video for 'Back and Forth'...Though after having said that, I *swear* I read somewhere that one of the original members i.e. no longer in the current line-up, ran
off and became a pornstar or something (oh wait! I did read that).
Wednesday // May 26, 2010 at 12:20 // filed under Music
There ain't nothing quite like a girlfight - except a TRANNY buffy beat down against pumped up body builders in slow motion! Foals take us there in the new video, directed by Dave Ma, for track 'Miami'; borrowing a little from David LaChapelle, a little from the drag race scene (ha!) in Grease and a whole lotta oiled up bodies, featured transgender personalitiesCalpernia Addams and Glamourous Monique. Check it:
Tuesday // May 25, 2010 at 19:00 // filed under Music // Etc
Interrompemos a programação desse blog para fazer um post em
português. Uma de nossas bandas favoritas, o trio inglês We Have Band, está prestes a fazer show único no Brasil - mais especificamente
no club paulistano Hot Hot. A festa que será uma palhinha do que virá na nova
casa noturna de São Paulo, o Estudio Emme, contará com a presença dos nossos
amigos do blog Dominódromo (Karen Kopitar e Fernando Araújo) e a dupla Database,
conhecidos da geração Hype Machine, abrindo e fechando o show.
O motivo deste post estar em português é que nós fomos
agraciados com um par de convites para sortear para os leitores brasileiros
desse blog. E como nós estamos em cima da hora - a casa abre a partir dàs 23h -
vamos fazer uma promoção relâmpago no nosso twitter.
A primeira pessoa que responder corretamente no twitter (tem
que seguir o IM//UR, é claro) o nome da primeira música do trio que entrou na
coletânea Kitsuné leva. E se você não for rápido o bastante, vai lá e paga a
entrada que não tá caro, vai. Cinquentinha pra ver ao vivo uma das melhores estreias
do ano é ok.
Friday // May 21, 2010 at 18:05 // filed under Music
VillA
was responsible for that amazing remix that opened our first ever mix,
so you
know how much we like them. If you don't know VillA, they're a Belgian
trio
that makes disco music with a dark side - because sometimes a good bass
line and
an energetic percussion are just not enough. If you still don't know
them, you'll surely find some familiar ground in their management - who
actually who looks after Aeroplane and Mighty Mouse. Don't
miss this.
Friday // May 21, 2010 at 17:33 // filed under Music
I have
to say that it took me a while to pay attention to Mighty Mouse. A
bad choice of name is not only an easy point, but can often get more
press than a compliment on the internet; but when I finally
did check them out, I wasn't disappointed. The British answer to Aeroplane
slowly won
me over with their latest remixes (the Gorillaz one is so good)
and now with
their latest mix, (horribly) named Dark Side of the Cheese, might
be the
missing piece for love. Not true love, though - I like to mess around.
Friday // May 21, 2010 at 16:44 // filed under Music
This
week, I went to a terrible party and the only way for me to bear the
pain of staying there was by getting completely wasted. So I drank a
whole bottle of champagne (how fancy of
me), went to an after party and ended up with a face full make up on and
poking random
people on Facebook. Needless to say that I swore to myself and my unborn
child that I was
never going to drink again. Then, a day later, I listened to Aeroplane's
May Chart Mix and all
I can think of is going out. Take Aeroplane (and alcohol) away from me,
for my own
health!
