Music / Lightening blue eyes
So I interviewed Bianca, one half of Coco Rosie, the other morning. Love their music: very dramatic, almost operatic in its scale yet imbued with a sense of sonic unease that carries the divine melodies well beyond their maudlin minor key progressions. I’ve got a mild cold — and it’s early on a chilly day in Sydney anyway — and I’m talking to this very talented, creative gal while she’s walking around the backstreets of New York City, giving me a guided tour of her surrounds. And all the while I’m thinking that my voice is sounding a very nice shade of husky — kinda like Michael Douglas meets Sean Connery after he’s gargled whiskey and rubbed his tonsils with grade three sandpaper. ‘Yes, dammit, I’m the man, and I have the deep-throated coarseness to prove it’. So I’m on a bit of a roll, enjoying the sound of the rich vibrato booming out of my voicebox, when she suddenly interrupts me mid-sentence, her high pitched falsetto cutting through my baritone like drawl, and says with a hint of insolence: ‘Hey, you’re sounding a little sick, by the way. have you got a cold?’ Talk about bringing me back to earth. Sigh. Please let this boy soar. Have I got a cold? Really. Really?! No, it’s called resonance sweetheart. And it’s all goooooood! [paintings by Andrew Hem]
Tagged: New York bands
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I love the blissed-out electro funk of New York band Ratatat. They’ve been kicking around for some years now, and toured with the likes of Mogwai and Daft Punk, but only now are getting attention on the UK festival scene. Why they took so long over here, it’s hard to say. The music is perfect for those heady summer days, clutching a can of cider and wistfully mincing around in a field: just two (sometimes three) guys, a guitar and some heavy synth. The recent album, LP3, takes a slightly more ambient turn but still retains that f-ing cool swagger so addictive on their past releases.
[audio:http://radioexile.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/ratatat_shempi.mp3]
Part time poet, part time musician, Stewart Lupton fronts surly New York rockers The Child Ballads. Their latest release, the Cheekbone Hollows EP, is a mesmerising, at times powerful trip through Lupton’s lyrical wanderings, backed by some great songwriting. There are moments in the music reminiscent of the intensity of Nirvana’s Unplugged in New York sessions: the vocals often carry the same agonised weight to them, the sound of someone perhaps too bent on introspection and escaping into their own world. Their performances are often interspersed with readings of Lupton’s poetry, just to lighten the mood. Ahem.
New York vintage rockers Young Lords release their debut full-length album, Rodeo Songs [title track below], on October 7th. Since forming two years ago, the band has toured with The Fratellis, The Willowz, and VietNam, as well as landing in John Varvatos’ Converse ad campaigns and in iTunes ads — as those dancing silhouettes (no joke!) All without a label. Go figure!
[audio:http://www.onesevensevensix.com/younglords_rodeosongs.mp3]
Also by ZOLTON
Will Cotton would have to be about the most appropriately named artist around. On this cold, windswept New York evening, I just want to crawl inside one of his saccharine sweet compositions and nibble on one of the clouds. Read more
Third Drawer Down teatowel giveaway
We have three Arlene Textaqueen designed tea-towels from our friends at Third Drawer Down to give away to randomly selected subscribers who leave a message under this post telling us why just have to have one.
We asked New York illustrator Christopher Neal about the inspirations behind his work: ‘Each job is different. Sometimes looking through old books and artist monographs will spark something. Other times, its just putting pen to paper until I get an idea. Things like music videos, movies, trips to the museum all seep in and resurface later in my work. For my personal work, a lot of it comes from my sketchbooks’. Read more
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A new idea has emerged in Norway that we think could be the precursor to things to come in the way our societies interact and develop. The general gradual demise of traditional gathering places such as town halls, community centers and churches has seemingly gone in hand with a generational shift and sharp increase in online virtual communities. However, humans still need to rub shoulders at some point to get things done, until, say, we perfect the sensitive hologram. Read more
‘Some people call me the space cowboy, some call me the gangster of love, some people call me Maurice, cause I speak with the pompetus of love’. The pompetus of love?! Really. I don’t know what the heck Steve Miller was on the day he wrote that, but I could sure do with some now. Read more
The Australian film collective behind the sci-fi spoof, The Time That Time Forgot, perfectly capture the look and feel of awkward, low-budget rip-offs from the ’70s – the psychedelic lighting, bad dubbing, and amazing hair. One almost wishes Italian Spiderman was for real.
If you’ve ever wanted to work your alter ego’s dark side without looking like a total emo, now’s your chance. New kid on the block Ben Pollitt is shaking things up with his label Friedrich Gray. And the best part about it? Pollitt’s androgynous range has a little something something for everyone. Read more
Given the amount of talent he has, it’s a mystery why German producer Pantha Du Prince not received more attention than he has. His minimal tech soundscapes are surprisingly melodic and moody, as reflected on his epic track, Asha, as good a starting point to the music of this German electro whiz as any.
Summertime at McCarren Park in Williamsburg is picturesque. It’s often filled with a mix of people, old and young, picnicking or sitting in the shade, running along the track or playing soccer (or football, depending on where you’re from). It’s also connected to a now defunct McCarren (swimming) pool which transforms into an outdoor concert space on Sundays during the summer. In the past, performers such as Leslie Feist, M.I.A., The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Broken Social Scene have performed. Read more
DJ Spooky — That Subliminal Kid — is just about the deepest crate digger around, trawling the barrels of long-lost record stores for choice vinyl to spin in his wickedly dubby sets. He gave us the inside word last week on his eight favourite songs right now via our sister website, My Secret Playlist. This is what he had to say about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Panic in Babylon: ‘If there’s anything that the twenty-first century has told us, it’s that dub is the real original hip-hop. Lee Scratch even had to make it clear in 1965 by adding “Scratch” to his middle name. Take that, Grandmaster Flash!’ Read the rest of DJ Spooky’s Secret Playlist.
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David Holmes’ The Holy Pictures
David Holmes’ fourth solo album has been a long time in the making. The man who is best known for his scoring of films such as Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13, and remixing for bands like U2 and The Manic Street Preachers, took just over ten years to make his latest album. Read more
Adult Hotel opens in Nanning, China
State-controlled news outlet Xinhua reports that a new ‘adult hotel‘ is opening in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Province in southern China. Apparently state censors think homosexuals and tattoo parlors sully their nation’s image, but not establishments aimed at facilitating heterosexual unions. The owner is apparently worried his business will be perceived as a brothel. Hmmm. In any case, the photos of a staff member demonstrating the, uh, equipment is caption-worthy for sure.
Florida-based artist, Andy Espinoza, studies at the Ringling College of Art and Design, majoring in Illustration. His paintings are beautifully conceptualised, rich in narrative and technically impressive. Of his work, he says: ‘I see each human figure as a unique challenge. I am coaxed to find the unique relationship between the shapes and tones that give the particular subject its subtle appeal and unrepeatable vitality. My paintings are not photographic representations of my subjects, but rather are my elaboration of what I find to be of value in them’. Read more
The Japanese sure know how to think outside the box. The country that brought us Takeshi’s Castle has come with this equally genius take on modern sport, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
People are always looking to push the boundaries of street art, perhaps fed up with seeing the same (wild) style of graffiti over and over again. So, like Blu and Dan Witz, Julian Beever came into our lives like a breath of fresh air. His work is stunning, mind-boggling stuff: he manages to create a world ‘inside’ a pavement with his 3D pastel illustrations, tricking the eye into believing a dimension exists right below our very feet. Read more
Based around the iconic album cover, With the Beatles, this tee from Klaus Industries suggests that ‘the Beatles were not only ahead of their time, they were ahead of ours.’ Printed on American Apparel, we’re selling the t-shirt in our online store for just $30. Read more
We have three Arlene Textaqueen designed tea-towels from our friends at Third Drawer Down to give away to randomly selected subscribers who leave a message under this post telling us why just have to have one.
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Lost At E Minor: Music, illustration, art, photography - from Australia and beyond » Kenzo Minami said | 19 August, 2006
[...] With recent credits including Nike, Flaunt magazine and International Deejay Gigolo, Kenzo Minami is simply one of the hottest illustration and design talents around right now. [See also: Sophie Toulouse; Yoshi Tajima] [...]