Interview with Luke Ford from Sydney band Many Machines On 9, impossible to classify but happily so. How has metal reinvented itself over the past decade of so and do you think a lot of what passes as metal these days should be labelled something completely different? ‘I actually find it interesting you would ask us that question as I don’t think Many Machines On Nine fits very comfortably into that genre. I think the Music Oz Awards summed it up best when we we’re nominated for best dance electronica and best metal hardcore act! We don’t really fit into either so it’s a little tricky for us at times. In answer to your question though, I think metal is currently borrowing greatly from a lot of European styles that have been around for years and mixing that influence with new school hardcore. I think it’s definitely still metal’. The name Many Machines On 9 refers to? ‘It refers to a sci fi movie, a toilet in a pub, and I know it sounds cliché, but it really just means that it doesn’t matter what your band’s called as long as the band can breathe life into it’. You weren’t tempted to take the Spinal Tap route and go to 11? ‘No, we’re all very much on our way to becoming members of the hearing impaired club already thank you very much!’ How would you sum up the new recording in a sentence? ‘I’ll have to give you two. Prosthetic Blvd is a snapshot of the transition from where the band began to where we would like it to go. Prosthetic refers to the organic melding with the artificial and Boulevard represents the journey to get there’.
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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In a city full of run-down buildings, bum fights, carved names on stone walls and burnt down cars after a victorious Phillies game, you can find artist: Alex Lukas. McJAWN pays homage to this Philadelphia-based artist for turning something considerably ugly into something mysteriously beautiful. Read more
Elliot Buford’s drawings and sketches are quick visual one-liners that are in turns hilarious, completely absurd, and even occasionally poignant. His drawings inspired by spam emails is particularly entertaining. Read more
Artist David Shrigley’s animated music video for Blur is so simple, so sweet, so perfect. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it, yet it still makes me cry every time.
Located in heart of Louisiana, the Six Flags fun park has lain in ruin since Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans in 2005. There had been talk that the park would be transformed into a Nickelodeon-branded water park, but that has still yet to eventuate. Read more
Woohoo! Another flash game that actually tests your cognitive abilities. LightBot is a difficult, but satisfying game in which you direct a little robot using a system of simple commands in order to light up various squares on a grid. The first few levels guide you through the seemingly easy process, but when there are multiple sets of directions requiring you to write what are essentially codes, it can get pretty hairy.
Baltimore’s Teeth Mountain create pulsing, shamanistic, tribal-sounding tracks from a bunch of floor toms, cello, mandolins, keyboards, saws, and whatever else they can get their hands on. The chaotic music they make is noisy, roughly-hewn, and impulsive-sounding, but that seems to be the point. They’re trying to evoke a sort of post-apocalyptic primitivism. It will be interesting to see where this collective takes their aesthetic.
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I received a Kobe Beefcake t-shirt today and I’m already in meat-lover’s heaven. Who’d have thought all those funky shapes are actually cuts of meat? This new label from Kobe Japan is an insider’s (and meat-lover’s) treasure.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Michelle Blade’s psychedelic artwork
Michelle Blade’s washed out paintings are deceptively simple, her washy acrylics creating psychedelic textures and conjuring ghostly figures from the past. Read more
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
Francoise Nielly’s Yellow series
Parisian visual artist Francoise Nielly brings technicolour to the forefront in her latest series, Yellow. Featuring thick impasto palette knife strokes and trippy neon hues, Nielly captures the vulnerable expressions of her muses to a tee. Read more
Never ever, ever, ever, ever park here
Some friendly advice for the neighbours, who simply don’t get it, or street art? You decide which one it is.
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.
Sometime in 2010, the folks behind Dirty Dishes had the slightly silly idea of using cheeky vintage photos and putting them on dinner plates. After doing lots of research, talking to lots of people, and receiving loads of positive feedback, they wondered if this idea was so silly after all. And thus Dirty Dishes was born. Read more
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Athan-Jon said | 10 April, 2007
Many Machines On 9 are from Austalia , and I couldn’t be any more proud. An Athan-Jon design was worn in the “New Chemistry” video. The black and white dress was originally made as part of an Advante Guarde Fashion Production by Benn Jae . SIRCUS- Where fashion creates the urban freak. One of 7 designs paraded with that theme in mind. The Athan-Jon take was “Cloned Sextuplets”. Six synethetically identical brunettes strutted out . The sixth model’s dress joined to the skirt of a another blonde mirror like model, Elise Guy. A freaky ” in the cloning design process” artistic vision. The dress from the clip was first photographed By Jesse with make up by Samantha Lyttle in Brisbane the night before the event on model Siannon Pallister. The dress now beginning its artistic journey bringing success to hairdressers for photoshoots and competions. The design featured in Athan-Jon’s 2004 entry in the Mercedes Start Up Finals for Queensland. Paraded as one of six designs at the Powerhouse. This collection was more in the direction Athan-Jon was hoping for, with advante guarde exclusive peices mixed with commercial peices. The collection was diverse and an evolution in the design process. The dress does justice to this day. Captured in the video and with a life of its own.