Music / Mahjonng
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’. Mahjongg create wicked grooves. And then you muck around with them and destroy the simplicity of the moment with these crazy skewered melodies. If we broke it down to three central elements, what are the key ingredients to writing a good Mahjongg song? ‘Beats are really important. Often a beat will inspire a melody. If a beat is somewhat complex, for me to understand and think of it as a groove instead of 17/8 or whatever, I have to write a melody as a guide, and those melodies usually stick. If a melody comes first, then the beat acts as a counter to it usually, instead of going along with it straight-up. I’m really into arrangements and I think that’s important with jamming out on riffs. So I suppose the key elements are beats, melodies and arrangements. I used to be stuck on chord changes a lot and I think we’ve freed ourselves up in that area’. Mahjongg the board game … who’s the band champ? ‘None of us actually know how to play! But if we all learned how I’m positive Hunter would dominate’. If you could be teleported back to any gig in history, which would it be? And what would you be drinking there? ‘I’d go with the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival or Monterey Pop Festival. I’d drink whatever I was lucky enough to get my hands on’. [illustration by Chris Ede]
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UNKLE’s new album, End Stories … Music For Film, comes in a limited edition gatefold vinyl gloss with sculptured panel embossing. We have three copies to give away to randomly selected Australian Lost At E Minor subscribers who leave a comment under this post.
New Zealand-born, New York-based artist and designer BEMODERN has updated his site with some work showcasing his new interest in the vernacular of digital distortion, creating pixelated static motion with a cut up montage from Google earth’s crude renderings. There is also a selection of new commercial work with motion boards for various broadcast and advertising clients. Read more
Fernanda Cohen’s New York portfolio class
The brilliant New York illustrator, Fernanda Cohen — who just happens to live down the road from me in Brooklyn — is teaching a portfolio class at Third Ward starting this coming Tuesday. The course, Illustration Portfolio, ‘helps students build a professional portfolio strong enough for them to feel confident to show it to art directors in the illustration field, including editorial and advertising’. She will lead the class in discussions about ‘what goes into a portfolio, and how to choose your best work, and talk about art directors, who they are, and what they expect from illustrators they are looking to hire’. Visit the Third Ward website for more details.
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We caught up with New York-based artist Sam Weber recently to get the inside word on where most of his creativity is unleashed: his studio space. In regards to your workspace, what are the props for your daily inspiration? ‘I wouldn’t say there is anything specific, although I am fairly particular about where I like to work, and what sort of stuff I like to have around me. There are things that I look at often, a book of Max Ernst collages, one on Yoshitaka Amano, and a big stack of clippings from magazines and the Internet that I will periodically leaf through to get inspired’. Read more
I love Brooklyn band Durty Nanas. They were formed in 2005 and play street spaces, galleries, lofts, and block parties. So I guess they are the ‘real’ Bloc party.
Jules Kim is the designer behind the jewelery label Bijules, which is based out of New York. This entire accessory line including hairrings, using real and synthetic human hair. This collection called Haire allows you to clip on colored pieces and daring do’s without having to commit.
Ah, sleep of the damned. That messy, unsettled phase where your mind races at the speed of light and everything in life seems that little bit more complicated. Yes, ‘twisting and turning’, you evil companions to a hot summer’s night, how I could do without you. Read more
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.
This water theatre by the British architect, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw of Grimshaw Architects, takes the form of a vertical seawater greenhouse, with the evaporators and condensers stacked vertically to maximise yield. The structure is not only a visible engine of sustainability but is also a large theatre auditorium. Read more
This interview with James Lavelle gives a fascinating window into the making of the latest UNKLE opus, End Titles, Stories for Film.
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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.
Scour, a new way of searching the net
Have you heard about Scour yet? If not you will. It is quickly emerging as the most serious competitor to the Google search engine, with an approach based on votes and comments from users focusing on relevance. It delivers search results from Google, Yahoo and MSN, and the best feature is that each time you search, vote or comment, you receive points which can be exchaged for VISA gift cards. Sour gives you one point for each search, two points for each vote and three points for each comment. With around 6,500 points, you will receive a $25 VISA gift card. Not bad for doing something you’re doing now anyway for free.
Kikkerland, the company behind those campfire tea light holders, has a line of amazing snap-together anatomic models of beetles, frogs, moths, cows, humans, and a wide range of other animals, even a wooly mammoth. Where the hell were these when I was a kid?
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I love art that scares me a little. Erica Eyres somehow manages to make subtly unnerving drawings of distorted figures using nothing more than a ballpoint pen and a piece of paper. She renders shockingly realistic hair, yet skews the proportions and features of her subjects, exaggerating their expressions and making them look monstrous.
This pendant by Portland designer Stephanie Stimek hangs from an eighteen inch 14 carat gold chain. Made from a Japanese quail egg, the entire shell has been coated in plastic for strength and is available for purchase through the Lost At E Minor store.
UNKLE’s new album, End Stories … Music For Film, comes in a limited edition gatefold vinyl gloss with sculptured panel embossing. We have three copies to give away to randomly selected Australian Lost At E Minor subscribers who leave a comment under this post.
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