The Stables
I took a trip out of London the other night to The Stables in Milton Keynes, England’s renowned armpit. The recently revamped concert venue is a diamond in the rough, a beacon amongst the drab 1960’s pre-fab architecture. So that was the first delight. The second was the chance to see some legends of 60s and 70s folk music ditch their zimmer frames and take to the stage as The Gathering. Members of such iconic bands as Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull and Steeleye Span have reformed into an ensemble picked straight from folk rock’s Hall of Fame. So while it took a while for the band and atmosphere to warm up, once they got going the night was both poignant and merry. Nostalgic hits from the likes of Lindisfarne and Magna Carta, and of course the three above, were interspersed with new songs and accompanied by the strong voice of Christina Donaghue, the daughter of Fairport’s guitar virtuoso, Jerry Donaghue. They can still write great songs and perform the classic ones with the same old swagger. I’ll tip my hat to that. [see also Orba Squara]
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Also by FRANCIS ANDREWS
The blind date of the food world has finally arrived, and it’s proving more palatable than the awkwardness of an evening spent in superficial conversation. Secret Supper clubs are springing up in the backstreets of London: what are attics and living rooms by day get converted into makeshift restaurants catering for an evening of surprise tastes and conversations. Read more
Young British designer Adam Farlie takes a leftfield approach to how people experience interaction with objects, often taking everyday items and toying with their potential to harbour deeper meaning and greater usage than first perceived. He transforms a bed into a ‘vessel that captures and contains the audio-memories of past occupiers through sound’, allowing those who lie on the bed to recall past intimcaties or conversations from years ago, while his take on a chest of drawers’ purpose of holding records of people is similarly intriguing.
Interestingly, the idea for these headphones was inspired by the theory that dementia could be treated by music therapy. Designer Kirsten Black, whose grandma lived in a nursing home, said: ‘Nan had dementia and because music is recognised by a part of the brain that is so primal, it could give her a sense of familiarity and security in an increasingly unfamiliar and hostile environment. Looking at headphones available, none could be used in the nursing home environment’. Halo are small, soft, hi-fidelity speakers that fit inside a customised headband, surely soon to be every jogger-music fan’s dream accessory.
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We interviewed Marc Collin, the creative force behind French group Nouvelle Vague, who along with a series of 80s acoustic tribute albums also released an installment in the popular Late Night Tales compilation series. Read more
It’s only fitting a band of Canadian rootsters like this would tap a mythical figure of folklore for their namesake. Indeed, Ottawa’s The John Henrys understand the power of the familiar. Read more
Will Cotton would have to be about the most appropriately named artist around. On this cold, windswept New York evening, I just want to crawl inside one of his saccharine sweet compositions and nibble on one of the clouds. Read more
Illustrator and artist John Malloy has been working on a graphic novel called Channel One and, without wanting to sound too much like Paris Hilton, it’s looking pretty damn hot. Read more
Produced by our talented friends over at Miami-based studio, Common Machine, this is the first installment of a new bi-monthly series of exclusive Lost At E Minor videos that they will be putting together for us. This one is on marionette maker, Pablo Cano, who uses ‘mundane objects to create magic on a string’. And he does. We hope you enjoy!
There’s something compelling about the energy, the charisma, and the incessant pmmft, pmmft, pmmft of the slippery ghetto tunes blasting (and I mean blasting) out of every hotel, café and bar in South Beach, Miami. Read more
Do you want to be transported back to your childhood dreams? Check out Nike’s latest Dunk Hi for grrrrr girls. Pink, red, green, yellow, blue, white and, wait for it, a golden metallic orange. Oooohhhh. Be your own Rainbow Bright on a mission to save Rainbow Land. Just in time for the London sun, too.
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This remarkable construction is located in the Swedish village of Jukkasjärvi and is built entirely from scratch every year. It features 10,000 tonnes of ice from the nearby Torne River, and 30,000 tonnes of snow, covering more than 30,000 square feet in total. Oh, it even has its own ice chapel. But be sure to bring your winter woollens. It could get a little, errr, chilly at night. 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
Saira McLaren’s interpretation of the spiritual world
Saira McLaren is a Canadian born, Brooklyn-based artist whose blurred paintings of the natural and spiritual world are disturbing for what they reference as well as what they deny. McLaren has shown at Heskin Contemporary, New York, NY, Acuna-Hansen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, and Mississippi State University. Read more
We asked Arizona-based artist Joe Sorren what we would have been if he hadn’t been handed the most ridiculously generous serving of artistic talent: ‘Art historian and conservationalist. Or a botanist. Or I’d work with horses. It would be interesting to be behind the scenes in politics, at least for a while. Or maybe a studio musician, or invent games, or a … I would rather paint’. Ah, we agree.
Guido Daniele’s amazing hand painted animals
Italian artist Guido Daniele creates the most surreally brilliant portraits of wild animals using little more than body paint and a hyper-realistic imagination. 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!
In Wish Upon a Star, this giclee print on archival paper, Yuta Onoda gives us his take on the Mario Bros for the fourth installment of the I Am 8-bit exhibition. This print comes in a limited edition run of just 30. Read more
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