Sounds from Saturn

WE'RE SUPPORTING

I’m so digging the work of Copenhagen illustrator Michael Rytz, with his spontaneous, sketchbook-like work. Characters, like vintage cartoons, parade around, fleshed out through glorious textures and scribbles punctuated with the occasional clean, bold, illustrator-like element for contrast that hits the spot.

WE'RE THINKING

A shark fin tracks slowly toward you, staining the water behind it a deep reddish brown. No, this isn’t the latest Jaws remake; it’s just your morning cup of tea, as brought to you by Argentinean designer Pablo Matteodo. Read more

The very talented Jess Snow, the first video artist to be featured by Female Persuasion — the original site for provocative and political female artists — has created this ethereal short video for Lost At E Minor. We feel it. We love it. [see also the promo video Lifelongfriendshipsociety created for us]

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

A minimalist design hotel parked on Thailand’s Koh Samui island, The Library stole my attention as I wandered down Chewang Beach at sunset. Read more

WE'RE READING

I am really into Hong Kong action flicks from the 1980s and 90s. When I first moved to New York, there were a handful of curious friends who were also interested in watching movies such as City on Fire by Ringo Lam, which Reservoir Dogs was based on. How did they find videos like thus? At the legendary Kim’s Video in New York City. These days, City on Fire can be find online, and Kim’s is history. But all the videos that entertained the film geeks of this city for more than twenty years have found a new home in, wait for it, Salemi, Sicily. Yes, the southern island of Italy. Kim has recently relocated there, as this sad but heartwarming story about him in yesterday’s New York Times reveals.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

After getting lost in the quagmire that is the internet, M83’s Digital Shades, first released digitally in 2007, has just been given a space on the shelf in your nearest music shop. Before shooting to acclaim with Saturday=Youth, Anthony Gonzalez looked closer to Krautrock and Eno and produced this ambient sometimes beautiful record. There’s much less of a disco feel than both Saturdays and his first album, Before the Dawn Heals Us. Some might say it’s a bit self-indulgent, not easily accessible, and more of a soundscape than a pop attempt. Yet, like Eno, Gonzalez is slowly becoming a master of the perfect chord sequence, and the result is an interesting, often heart-wrenching, set of compositions. Read about M83′s favourite songs right now.

WE'RE WEARING

Nono Muaks makes some pretty quirky products that would make great novelty gifts, but I don’t quite get this Double TEE, which has no front or back: it’s a ’360 degree experience’.