Cold War Kids
The hottest indie act around right now? Perhaps. Fullerton, California’s Cold War Kids not only have the slickest name going, but they have a batch of songs that are so good it’s frightening.
Tagged: indie bands, rock music
- 0
- 2
RELATED
Having played South By South West over the past couple of years, Golden Bear have just released a souped up new EP, Everest, which sees the Texan rock band playing together like they would at a rehearsal or a show. Says frontman Chris Gregory: ‘I was a little anxious about being able to approximate the sound of our live show in the first place, but I figured to hell with it-let’s give it a shot. And I’m glad we did. There were no endless nights of playing the same song 150 times, no overscrutinaztion, and in all honesty, no hitches in the plan whatsoever. It was loose, rowdy, and rewarding, just like our shows’. You can download the Golden Bear track, All The Stars [listen below], for free via the Music Download section in the third column of the Lost At E Minor site.
The Dark Was The Night compilation
The crew at 4AD, watching over perhaps the hottest artist roster of any independent label in the world, have put their collective minds together and come up with an album that holds every potential of being the finest release of the year. The formula is simple: you grab a batch of the hottest bands and artists around at the moment (take your pick from Arcade Fire, Yeasayer [pictured above], Bon Iver, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens; the list continues without the slightest dip in quality), throw in David Byrne for a touch of that priceless musical wisdom, quickly hammer together a few inspired duos, like Gillian Welch and Conor Oberst, or The Books and Jose Gonzalez, name it after a seminal Blind Willie Johnson track, and then get the brains behind one of the great bands of the last few years, The National, to produce it. Finally — take a deep breath — all the proceeds go towards the fight against AIDS. Dark Was The Night isn’t released until February 16th, but the scent on the wind is good. David Byrne and the Dirty Projectors’ opening track (listen below) is brilliantly fresh, while Yeasayer have channelled their wild spirits into a song textured as intricately as a Peruvian silk skirt, with a rainstick for effect.
The music behind the new Howling Bells album, Radio Wars
The last time I caught up with London-based, Australian band, Howling Bells, was in New York in early 2007 when they played a show at one of the many seedy Lower East Side bars. Since then, they’ve recorded a new album, the aptly named Radio Wars [listen to their song, Treasure Hunt, below], a remarkable follow-up to their 2006 self-titled debut. I checked in with guitarist Joel Stein to find out what music the four-piece had been listening to around the time the album was written: ‘The Byrds’ Eight Miles High always sounds so futuristic to me. It has one of the best guitar sounds ever and really moves me with its color and power. Every time I hear the Tortoise track, I Set My Face to the Hillside, I instantly get transported to the ocean. Beautiful! Joy Division’s Isolation is incredible. I love the intro keyboard riff, in particular (the keyboard was self-built). It expresses urgency and truth. And then there’s Neu!’s Hallogallo, a truly inspiring instrumental track that I always want to go on for longer. Its fuzzy guitars are so warm and vibrant. Perfect!’ Read frontwoman Juanita Stein’s Playlist of inspiring songs.
Also by ZOLTON
The vision of South Korean design consultancy Heerim Architects, the 35 story Hotel Full Moon is being built in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the west coast of the Caspian Sea.
Benjamin Johnson and Vince Agostino
I like the retro colours and subtle detail that permeates the work of Australian illustration and design duo, Benjamin Johnson and Vince Agostino.
Crazy chairs from the Campana brothers
Who said chairs had to be boring? Or practical? This range of chairs from designer brothers, Fernando and Humberto Campana, nicely blurs the line between form and functionality, art and science. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (2)
Lena said | 8 June, 2007
I saw these guys open for Andrew Bird earlier in the year, and I’d never heard their music before, but they put on a really fun, energetic show! I had a blast seeing them play.
HAVE YOUR SAY
The bio of San Fransisco-based illustrator Jenn Porreca says it all way better than I ever could: ‘Some time ago, Jenn Porreca moved from the edges of the real world to the edges of the underground. 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
Obsessive, impossibly intricate art can sometimes veer off into self-congratulatory messes, overwhelming viewers while not having any real substance. Vasco Morao’s Escher-esque line drawings are rather simple, however, and have a gorgeous, meandering, and meditative quality about them. Read more
The New York Times recently posted a selection of Mad Magazine fold-ins from the past 40 years of the magazine’s history. The feature allows you to actually fold the images to reveal the decoded message and picture.
Heavy metal and hip-hop are perhaps the most popular forms of rebellion for kids the world over. In Malaysia, metal — particularly black metal — has taken such a strong hold that the Fatwa Council there banned it, fearing that the music would compel listeners to rebel against religion. Contrary to the council’s intentions, black metal is as popular as ever in Malaysia, and is a recognizable cultural touchstone there, as indicated by the above clip from the 2005 film Filem Rock.
Herzog and de Meuron, the Swiss architects, have led the way with this re-use of the existing building fabric of CaixaForum in Madrid. Rather than being slavish to the existing openings, the building has been cut away for a contemporary practicality. We think this is an example of heritage not getting in the way of progress. Check out a similar concept of a previous post re-using the city fabric, where we were dreaming of such thing.
London fashion collective Noi Wear are knocking out some seriously cool garments at the moment, with each range based on a tantalizingly bohemian theme. Check out their online promotion for the Carnival of Fear line, mixing performance arts with straight up fashion. Very tempting to the eyes. Read more
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Design collectives can often be a mess, only bound together by a splash page and a few lines of text. Lie-ins and Tigers are without a doubt one of the most unified collectives and one of my favourites. Sam Kerr, Walter Newton and Russell Weekes may all have their own sites and services, but in collaboration, the humour and design intention remains remarkably unified. Read more
The work of Chicago artist Nigel Evan Dennis is emphatically modern and sparse, with textures and clean geometric shapes dominating the frame. I get the feeling I could really relax and breathe deeply with one of these beautiful images hanging on the wall. Read more
Born in a sub-provincial city of China, and raised in the suburbs of Northern California, Brooklyn-based artist Jing Wei attended the Rhode Island School of Design where she ‘developed a great affinity for printmaking, snow, and pizza’.
James Blagden’s neon fantasies
New York illustrator James Blagden’s work is so wonderfully trippy, I feel like I need to wear shades and a top hat when looking at them just to do them justice. Read more
Japanese designers Keiichi Muramatsu and Noriko Seki founded the Tokyo-based fashion label, Everlasting Sprout, in 2005, based on their mutual interest in knit design. Each intricate creation in their Spring/Summer 2009 range took up to a week for them to construct. Read more
Legendary pop culture artist and Agit Pop founder Ron English will be a guest compiler of an upcoming issue of our email newsletter, writing about his favorite cultural discoveries. To read Ron’s edition of Lost At E Minor, simply sign up to our weekly newsletter. It’s free, you win!
The Pasta and I print belongs to New York illustrator Fernanda Cohen’s personal series, Food Affair, which focuses on her passion for food and love. The archival pigment print is available for $75 through the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
Discuss
- hdacvt on "The Relentless Eye"
- Stomp on "Gutter Twins Announce Sideshows"
- JamieD on "Melbourne Bride Wedding Expo"
- shoebuy on "art in shoes"
- lucebaz on "Freelance Graphic Designer in London"
- lucebaz on "Freelance Graphic Designer in London"
- JaneAbma on "The Grafik Museum"
- teacut on "Illustration vs fine art"
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Or if you’d just like to talk amongst yourselves, that’s cool too. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
Andy said | 5 June, 2007
An interesting anecdotal story from Triple J:
When Cold War Kids were in for Like A Version they borrowed a pot from the triple j kitchen to add some percussion.
And they told Robbie that’s something they often like to do.
“For the recording of the record we did a lot of things like having three drum sets play and recording in bathrooms and using broken fishing reels and stuff. It’s fun it’s like providing some sort of external restriction on the music by having to use something that only makes such and such a sound.”