Lost AT E Minor

Music / One evening

October 31, 2007 | Music | by Zolton |

Gonzales’ gentle piano reworking of the beautiful Feist soliloquy, One Evening, trickles through my headphones like the sweetest sprinkle of mid-winter sunshine.

Music / Innaway on Brian Jonestown Massacre

October 31, 2007 | Music | by Zolton |

Who said psychedelica died with Jerry Garcia? Southern Californian band, Innaway, resurrected the art when they formed back in 2001 and have since toured with the trainwreck that is Brian Jonestown Massacre and 80s pop fugitives, Echo & The Bunnyman, amongst others. We spoke with guitarist Barry Fader and asked him about the constant comparisons they get with vintage rock veterans Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin: ‘Yeah. I’d say we’re tired of that. We all like those two bands but so does almost everyone else who plays or listens to the type of music we play. Being compared to Pink Floyd and Zeppelin is a very general comparison given that almost every rock band with some big riffs and some spacey stuff going on is indebted to both of those bands somehow; whether they want to be or not’. Read more

Art / Ryan Fritz

October 31, 2007 | Art | by Zolton |

Says artist Ryan Fritz of his wonderful portrait work: ‘I enjoy painting portraits of those close to me. I also enjoy portraying those famous people that somehow inspire me to draw them. And I like beef Jerky’. Don’t we all. Read more

Architecture / Light Rod Pavilion

October 31, 2007 | Architecture | by Snell |

Carmody Groarke, a young British firm, have just won an Architecture Foundation competition to design a new pavilion in Regent’s Place, London. The firm is a finalist in BD’s Young Architect Practice of the Year, and has designed the pavilion to be made of a series of vertical rods that reflect light during the day and emit light at night. The design is further enhanced by the ability to move the rods within the building and thus change and utilise different spaces.

Music / Mahjonng

October 30, 2007 | Music | by Zolton |

Having dug out our old Joy Division records a little while back, we thought it would be a good time to check in with Karyl Czientzar from Chicago-based electro-pop group, Mahjonng: Who are you listening to at the moment? ‘I really like White Williams. TigerBeat6 consistently puts out good records, and this is only the latest of the greatest. I’m feeling the last Times New Viking record, and Dude N’ Nem’s ‘Watch My Feet’ is one of my favorites of recent times. And, of course my old buddies, White Rabbits’. Read more

Music / Figurines

October 30, 2007 | Music | by Zolton |

Hailing from Denmark, Figurines first formed in the mid-1990s. But it wasn’t until the release of 2003’s Shake A Mountain that the group came to the attention of those outside of Denmark’s tightly cloistered music scene. We spoke to frontman Christian Hjelm: It’s hard to believe you guys have been around for over a decade now. How have you maintained the energy and the fun? ‘Well, we started up over a decade ago, but at that time the three of us were just kids fooling around with guitars. We didn’t really consider ourselves being in a band at that point. That didn’t really happen before 2001 or something like that, when we included our drummer, Kristian. From then on it went rather smooth with getting label and a manager, and so on. Being in a band has its ups and downs as does everything else in life. But the fact that we’re still together and enjoy writing material must mean that we have more ups than downs’. Read more

October 29, 2007 | Events | by Andy |

The creative team behind the phenomenal interweb starlet LonelyGirl15 is swinging by Sydney and Melbourne this week to talk online entertainment. Titled ‘The Portable Symposium Series‘, the sessions run in Sydney on October 31 and Melbourne on November 1.

Illustration / Oscar Gimenez

October 29, 2007 | Illustration | by Casper Johansson |

Working out of Barcelona, Spain, Oscar Gimenez was almost genetically forced to be an illustrator. Both his father and uncle were graphic designers and worked at home, so he grew up surrounded by ink and paint, photo lithographs and tight deadlines. Although he had always loved drawing, he initially refused to follow their steps and went on search for a life of stability and fresh air. However, as he notes, ‘after trying many other unfulfilling jobs and becoming a frustrated artist, I finally decided to follow the call of the blood. No regrets since’. [see also the work of Barcelona based illustrator, Alex Trochut]

Music / Cluster and Eno

October 28, 2007 | Music | by Neil - Soft Tigers |

I’m in the midst of a Brian Eno period right now and I’ve just discovered the self-titled record Eno did with the new age kraut group, Cluster. You can put it on in the background, or if you’re really up for it, you can grab some headphones and bliss out in the forest to it by yourself. I think a lot of ambient music becomes redundant because it’s simply so easy to make and has become synonymous with shampoo ads and ‘chillout compilations’. But their collaboration has something more to it. I think it’s the vintage keyboards they use and the intense tremolo that occasionally pops up. [hear also the music of Japanese producer, Susumu Yokota]

Events / Heavy Backpack’s Motion DVD

October 28, 2007 | Events | by Zolton |

Heavy Backpack have just released Volume 2 of the Motion+61 DVD featuring the work of leading Australian creative talent across broadcast, motion graphics, animation, film and effects. Good news for those among us with short attention spans: each piece is less than ten minutes long, though jam-packed with inspiration. Sweet.

Events / Mike Nelson at Creative Time

October 27, 2007 | Events | by Sacha Vukic |

Entering Mike Nelson’s exhibition in a dilapidated garage on New York’s Lower East Side, I’m signing a release form exempting Creative Time from any responsibility should I be injured, or die, while checking out ‘A Psychic Vacuum’. I was curious to see what socio-cultural hotpot he was gonna stir, but after signing that, I’m totally seduced, just by the potential danger of it all. Racy it may seem, but the ensuing exhibition is about as sexy as Dubya in a garter belt. Though it manages to arouse more than a few dust reactive sneezes, digging up buried fears of a global apocalypse that feels far too close right now. Known for his large-scale architectural installations, Nelson’s turned an irrelevant warehouse-like space into a haunted house of hard cultural truths tackling American values, religion, and war in its spookiest caverns. Nelson’s installations are fleeting, this experience ends October 28.

Events / Bus Stop Knobs

October 27, 2007 | Events | by Zolton |

The Bus Stop Knobs website, which features the world’s best bus stop sexual graffiti, has been nominated for Best Weird Site for 2007 by The Pixel Awards. Word.

Photography / Lightstalkers

October 27, 2007 | Photography | by Phil Bicker - The Fader |

With a primary focus on documentary photography, Lightstalkers is an essential resource for emerging and established photography and related areas the world over. It comes with message boards and contact pages, making it a great place to expand ones knowledge and network. [photo by Jessica Daphne Korman]

Illustration / Uen Illustration

October 26, 2007 | Illustration | by Zolton |

French studio Uen illustration create such lush, generously realised images that I just want to trade in my collection of North Egyptian sands for a nicely sharpened HB and a fast train to inspiration. [see also Carolyn Walsh]

Music / Mum

October 26, 2007 | Music | by Kate Suters |

Listening to Mum’s fourth album — Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy — for the first time, I was awash with sentimentalism. Amidst carnival trumpets and burlesque beats, there’s a sense of this being a bohemian rhapsody. Perhaps it’s the mix of cello and brass with experimental electronica. Or maybe it’s just the soft vocals that cascade over playful, imaginative sounds. Whatever it is, it’s totally brilliant. [see also Sigur Ros’ Heima]

Listen to Mum’s track, The Amateur Show.