We’re pleased to welcome music writer Ari Stein to the Lost At E Minor fold. In our humble opinion Ari has the best set of ears in the music biz and he will be writing regular installments for us about the acts that we should all know a bit more about. He has great credentials for it. The Future Anthems compilation that he put together last year is full of choice cuts dragged kicking and screaming out of the underground. Fittingly, his first column looks at some of his favourite releases of the past year: ‘I listened to so many records this year – some good, some bad, some average. But when it came down to it, there were some shining moments of brilliance in hip-hop, electronica, jazz, opera, rock and metal. Anyway here’s to a great year in music. My advice is to seek out these records and buy them! 1. Johann Johannson – IBM 1401 Users Manual. When I heard this I couldn’t believe a human had made it. Totally sublime. An amazing invention of operatic and post rock music moulded together. 2. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time. The Sub Pop record label seems to be giving us the goods year after year. When it wasn’t The Shins’ turn – basking in the ‘Garden State’ limelight – it was these guy’s fusion of My Morning Jacket, The Band and wistful country anthems that was doing it. A true pop gem.
3. The Whitest Boy Alive – Dreams. I saw these guys on a whim in Munich and was so pleasantly surprised. They were great. I can’t remember the last time music actually made me feel happy. Erlend Oye can do no wrong. First he took Kings of Convenience to the top, now he makes geeky white funk truly melodic and picture perfect. Beautiful songs for a sunny day. 4. Bird N Bee. Their album won’t be released worldwide until 2007 [through Blue Note/EMI], but I have been raving about these guys all year. I can’t say enough about them. Burt Bacharach meets Cibo Matto. 5. Midlake – Trials of Van Occupanther. A favourite on a lot of critic’s list at the end of 2006. The label boss Simon Raymonde played me this album at his house many months before it was released. It was as special hearing it then as it is now. They touched on something truly special and unusual on this sophomore album. As good as anything Fleetwood Mac ever recorded. 6. Serena Maneesh – Self-titled. A shiny raw Norwegian rock album, full of flesh eating riffs along with some very tender moments. I love this album. Drain Cosmetics is one of my top ten tracks of the year’. [we'll run more of Ari's favourites over the next few days]
Also by ZOLTON
Maths explains the origin of superhero characters
I love the colours and simple reasoning in this clever series by Scottish illustrator Matt Cowen, which uses basic maths equations to explain how certain pop culture icons came to be. Read more
Star Wars Uncut: a fully crowdsourced version of Episode IV
The project of creative technologist, Casey Pugh, this full length version of the George Lucas masterpiece was created from multiple 15 second segments recreated from the original movie and submitted by thousands of Star Wars fans, which were then spliced together by editor Aaron Valdez to form the final product. Genius, as both a commentary on contemporary pop culture trends (there are references to LEGO, stop motion, memes and the like) and on the power of tapping your audience for quality material.
Filmmaker creates LEGO stop motion to propose to girlfriend
Now, this is one for the ages: back in 2010, Atlanta film-maker Walter Thompson created a jaw-dropping LEGO stop motion to propose to Nealey Dozier, his girlfriend of four years. The video took 22 hours of shooting and some 2,600 pictures to splice together, a small sacrifice to pay for years of happiness together. Right? Right! Oh, and she said yes. Bonus.
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Berlin-based artist Jeong Hwa Min evokes a dream-state version of lonely, subtly ominous modern, urban life and its geometric environments. Read more
Designer Mac Funamizu has really hit the jackpot with this. His latest invention, the cryptically named Sophie, is an iPhone case which prints photos just like a Polaroid. Simply take the picture, then print the photo out the bottom of the case. Genius! Now, who will start mass-producing this concept so we can buy one? Read more
This clip had such an impact on me when it first came out, back in the day. There’s just something so poignant about the idea that some people you pass on the street everyday have a little bit more insight into their world — our world — than we could ever imagine. It’s beautiful and confronting, and it’s all set to the most wonderfully evocative music.
These twin sixty-story towers to be built in Malaysia feature a combination of ‘continuous, flowing, double-curved perforated surface with a flickering, crystalline, transparent single-curved surface that is triangulated on an enormous scale’. The design by New York-based architectural firm, Asymptote, includes a 400,000 square foot retail section and the Penang Performing Arts centre.
We have a thumping track by Chicago-based rocker Tom Fuller [above] available for free download in the Music Download section of Lost At E Minor (pssst, it’s in third column of the site), along with new tracks by Five O’Clock Heroes, Fujiya & Miyagi, and Madlib. Read more
Describing their sound as ‘nihilist suicide pop’, Rome-based quartet Spiritual Front draws immediate comparisons to Nick Cave, but their approach to dark themes have a hint of irreverence — they inject unexpected doo-wop flares and new wave bombast to their atmospheric neofolk. Their latest album, Armageddon Gigalo, is a beautiful and catchy masterpiece for fans of Death In June, Sol Invictus, and even latter-day Duran Duran.
Keep it simple stupid. That’s the idea behind this design. Fashion label Eleventh Commandment wanted to created something that was as far away from the Ed Hardy ‘cram as much shit onto one shirt’ approach as possible. Voila. This singlet is 100 percent premium 150gsm combed cotton and is made in Australia.
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Mathematics? Leave me out. Fashematics? Now you’re talking! This gem of a site is a runway equation that adds up to a whole lot of wonderful.
Baltimore Mural by Josh Van Horne
My friend Josh Van Horne, a local Baltimore artist, did this amazing mural in our neighborhood that depicts the history of this warehouse-laden area.
Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more
Pencils made from recycled newspaper
The problem with awesome things like these pencils made out of recycled newspaper is that you almost don’t want to use them.
Cookie Boy’s creative cookie designs
I don’t eat cookies, so good thing Cookie Boy’s cookies are little pieces of art too pretty and cute to eat. Read more
Inside this sea urchin shell is an organic perfume made from grapefruit and basil essential oils. This bottle, designed by Stephanie Simek, is refillable and is packaged in a wooden box decorated with a satin photograph and padded with slices of exfoliating loofah sea sponges. The Honeymoon-themed fragrance is all natural: made from plant-based oils and contains no alcohol or chemicals. We like. Read more
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