Illustration / Dear in the headlights
Legend has it that Paul McCartney hated the line from Hey Jude - ‘the movement you need is on your shoulder’ - so much that he was going to scrap it until his partner in grime John Lennon told him it was the best part of the song. So it stuck. And it still sticks to this day, imbued as it is with all the mystery and pathos that a memorable line should possess. It makes me wonder how many other great thoughts have been scrapped in the cold hard light of the morning sun. How many inspired ‘moments’ have been lost to the brutal touch of logic. There’s something to be said for spontaneous creation; for the hurried gift of a great idea. It’s the unexplainable, the intangible; that bustling cosmos of thoughts and dreams. Keith Richards is convinced of it. He claims to be a receptor to it all, a human divining rod, picking up on the riffs and melodies that drift by unobtrusively. Which probably explains his remarkable capacity for musical expression but not his taste in tie-dyed bandanas. No, that can be put down to a lifetime of hard drugs. But I digress … there’s a wonderful line in the Crowded House song Fingers Of Love: ‘Colour is its own reward’. I love that. Colour is its own reward. Simple, intelligent and profound yet wrapped up in the tight parameters of a gently rolling, minor key catharsis. Just like all great ideas should be. [illustration by Jillian Tamaki]

Also by ZOLTON
TV On The Radio poster and vinyl
Happy, happy, joy, joy! We have a TV On The Radio poster designed by Tunde, as well as Dear Science on vinyl, to give away to a randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscriber who leaves a comment under this post telling us why they simply must have it.
Ok, so it’s 3.30 on Thursday afternoon and I’m sitting in a Brooklyn cafe, tapping away as fast as two fingers possibly can. As I look around, discreetly to my left and then more openly to my right, I cannot see a single person in this warm and friendly place wearing a more stylish and comfortable scarf than the one that I have wrapped around my neck. Yes, as my grandfather would say, it’s a very ‘handsome’ scarf — a soft, playful, ‘handsome’ scarf. And you know what? There’s not a single damn person in this room who can compete with it. Ha! That feels good. That feels very, very good. Mind you, it is 76 degrees outside, and I’m starting to sweat, so perhaps I’m just a little … ummm … over-dressed.
Fujiya & Miyagi discuss their album, Lightbulbs
The new Fujiya & Miyagi album, the aptly titled Lightbulbs, is a typically crackling collection of songs, ‘a pulsing antidote to the ordinary’. Formed in 2000, the electronic duo of David Best (guitars and vocals) and Steve Lewis (synths, beats, programming), have since added bass player Matt Hainsby to the mix (in 2004), and now have an album in their catalogue which is ‘littered with fragmented images, anecdotes from the sublime to the ridiculous, blurry stories that you feel you shouldn’t have overheard’. The guys have given us the inside word on each track from the album, starting with the opener, Knickerbocker: ‘A vibration of words that sound good, touching on lost innocence, child star Lena Zavaroni, the very first tragedy of X Factor-style excess, and the joy of multi-storeyed ice cream sundaes at Woolacombe Bay. Knickerbocker mixes my sister’s and my memories of watching Lena Zavaroni on TV, whilst eating ice cream as children’. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (4)
Zac said | 4 August, 2006
Hi Janey, why not submit (http://www.lostateminor.com/how-to-submit-work/) some of your work to Lost At E Minor? Would love to run it…
Zolton said | 7 August, 2006
Neil Finn is full of insightful lines. One of pop music’s few true geniuses.
Lost At E Minor: Music, illustration, art, photography and more » James Jean, a portrait of a young man as an artist said | 19 July, 2008
[...] work, but I look forward to seeing great things from him in the future. I always enjoy the work of Jillian Tamaki, Josh Cochran, and Frank [...]
HAVE YOUR SAY
Oh man, the work of New York based artist Inka Essenhigh is so good it makes my eyes water. Read more
I usually steer clear of anything smelling of disco-breaks: the thought just bores me. But with Padded Cell’s new release, Night Must Fall, I see a bit of a U-turn on the horizon. There’s something really interesting going on here: it’s a cocktail of 80’s swank laced with woozy narcotic undertones and flecked with snappy drum loops: weird, undeniably dark and ominous, but nonetheless pretty damn satisfying. Read more
Australian group Pivot have recently signed with the mighty Warp label and — even better (well, for us anyway) — have written a fun Secret Playlist for us. You can see where the many disparate influences have seeped into their latest recording, the beautiful and colourful, O Soundtrack My Heart.
We have a bunch of new playlists up on our sister site, My Secret Playlist, a music discovery website and weekly email publication in which we invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. Over the past few weeks, acts such as The B52s, Team Genius, Pivot, Jukebox the Ghost, Moby, Katy Perry, and the Dandy Warhols, among many others, have written about the music that inspires them. To sign-up to receive the weekly My Secret Playlist publication, just enter your email address into the website’s subscription box.
There was a lot of fuss about former Arab Strap frontman Malcolm Middleton’s recent single, We’re All Going to Die, and the timing of its release around Christmas. We asked him if it was a publicity stunt, a reality check, a coincidence, or all three wrapped up into a two minute fifty slice of classic, introspective pop. Read more
We have reported on Danish firm, JDS Architects, before. And here their memorable work continues. This glorious design for the Holmenkollen Ski Jump in Oslo is the result of an international competition and is to be completed in time for the 2011 World Championships. Read more
If only we could swap out every ubiquitous North Face jacket that sits tight on the weather-beaten frames of far too many Manhattanites for one of these wonderful creations by Japanese artist, Kosuke Tsumura. The city would be that much more of an interesting place. Called Final Home, this parka has 44 zippered pockets and is part of Tsumura’s collection of ‘post-apocalyptic streetwear’, designed as a respite — and insulation — from the stresses of modern urban living.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
I love the sense of intimacy about the work of Chicago-based photographer, Brian Ulrich. His retail project Copia ‘is a long-term photographic examination of the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live’. We interviewed him recently and asked him what camera he uses once he gets inside a store he’s photographing: Read more
Located on a mountain in country outside Mudgee, in New South Wales, Australia, a permanent camp designed by Casey Brown has been set. A timber structure clad in copper has been designed to have a closed state and an open state. From the closed position, the flanks of copper are hoisted and capture views across the valley. With an imagery of structures, materials and mechanics of old, there is something romantic about this foothold on the hill.
I’m so digging the work of Santa Monica artist Andrew Hem. Painting seems to have become relegated in the illustration world these days, so I’m pleased to see Hem rocking it in a big way. His bold brushwork, lush colors, puppet-like figures and painted type make for a body of work that really hits the painted spot.
The Grind 2.0, a charity auction show to fund construction of the Swift-Cantrell Skatepark in Atlanta, opens on Friday, October 10 at Atlanta’s The Rabbit Hole Gallery. The show features more than 60 hand-painted skate decks painted by some of today’s top underground artists from across America and Europe, and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of it! Other artists include Amy Sol, Dave Kinsey, Chris Stain, Jason Limon, Tara McPherson, Tessar Lo, and many more. The gallery is even offering an online bidding through their website.
This is Mike Bertino and his work absolutely wonderful. He’s got this original, almost lo-fi Tim Biskup thing going on and it makes me really want to grab a beer with him. I love when artists give their pieces names like Knuckle Inferno and Man Beard. It just makes them that much better. He keeps a blog where he publishes his latest work and lets you know where they’re available for purchase, so go check it out. I think I’m going to ask him to be my BFF. Well, at least one of them. Not the only one. Cause, you know … I have more than one. 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
Happy, happy, joy, joy! We have a TV On The Radio poster designed by Tunde, as well as Dear Science on vinyl, to give away to a randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscriber who leaves a comment under this post telling us why they simply must have it.
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janey said | 2 August, 2006
“Colour is it’s own reward” - that’s wonderful. I almost lost my eyesight a few years ago and now I see color in everything and it is wonderful. And when I color my drawings I only have one rule - color everything as bright as I can.