Trends / Hellgate: London
I’m a video game addict and one of my all time favorite PC games was Diablo 2. So I was pleased to discover Hellgate: London, the latest offering from Flagship Studios, the makers of Diablo 2. To game involves killing lots of demons who’ve invaded London — building stats and upgrading equipment in the process. It seems to be a good formula. I’m hooked. [play also Submarine Zero: Ancient Adventure]
Also by TOBY NATHANIEL
When you’re a musician, people like to ask you who your influences are. If I were asked to choose only one, it would be the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke. I generally tend to like a few specific pieces from each composer, but not their entire catalogue of work. Schnittke is the only exception. His music is very soulful and listenable on the surface, yet supremely complex upon closer examination. He incorporates ideas from pretty much every genre of music and does it with class and taste. [see also the part-operatic, part vaudeville performances of Coco Rosie]
A couple of years ago, I decided that I would try and hunt down some current fantasy novels. Little did I know how difficult it would be to find anything interesting, intelligent, or containing any literary merit. I read thousands of wasted pages. Eventually I stumbled upon a few works worth noting. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin is one of them. It’s very gritty and occasionally brutal, with tasteful allusions to the supernatural. [see also Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception]
Coroner was one of the best, and most under-appreciated, thrash metal bands of all time. A three-piece outfit from Switzerland with a relatively short life span (’87-’95), the band were technically proficient and experimental but always operated tastefully, adept at hopping between time signatures whilst keeping the groove throughout. [see also Finntroll]
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Nagi Noda is one busy lady. Although a native of Tokyo, she spent five years in America and has worked up an impressive body of work. In addition to the rad hair hats an MFA would drool over, she’s directed videos for the Scissor Sisters and done work for both Laforet and Nike, amongst others. Read more
I awoke the other morning from the sleep of the damned, a fitful spell of tossing and turning courtesy of a mild dose of the flu and the constant rattle of the JMZ trains as they hurtle across the tracks outside my window. Read more
Aussie streetwear label Zanerobe create the most wearable t-shirts around. Not only are they soft like the fur off a particularly smooth peach, they look mighty sharp too. Read more
DJ Spooky — That Subliminal Kid — is just about the deepest crate digger around, trawling the barrels of long-lost record stores for choice vinyl to spin in his wickedly dubby sets. He gave us the inside word last week on his eight favourite songs right now via our sister website, My Secret Playlist. This is what he had to say about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Panic in Babylon: ‘If there’s anything that the twenty-first century has told us, it’s that dub is the real original hip-hop. Lee Scratch even had to make it clear in 1965 by adding “Scratch” to his middle name. Take that, Grandmaster Flash!’ Read the rest of DJ Spooky’s Secret Playlist.
B-Reel is real smooth. And when I say real, I mean really. They created the latest ad for kicks brand Onitsuka Tiger. Read more
Give me a minor key song anytime. Yup, I’ll take the heartfelt purity of an introspective trawl over any warm and fuzzy major key shimmy. I once asked UK band The Editors why there aren’t more cheerful songs in the world: ‘Three words’, vocalist Tom Smith replied. ‘Shiny Happy People’. He smirked. I grimaced. Enough said.
Listen to Casiotone for the Painfully Alone’s, Don’t They Have Payphones Wherever You Were Last Night.
[audio:don'ttheyhavepayphoneswhereveryouwerelastnight.mp3]
The Dutch, the beautiful Dutch, in terms of architecture anyway. Here they have led the way again with this reuse of an old crane dock. A new glass office building, with a climatic façade of double glazing, motorized louvers on the outside and full length windows on the inside, hovers above the old dock. Read more
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Kristin Baker’s paintings strike the eye like massive Hollywood blockbusters, but have the elegance of delicate watercolors. Read more
Download the new Michna album, Magic Monday
The media world is firmly embedded in the twenty-first century digital revolution, so we thought we better keep up with the times. Read more
Freelance designer Alex Trochut uses typography, illustration and a solid idea to create works that communicate to each brief. He states that he doesn’t want to choose a particular style but instead enjoys ‘expressing himself and communicating though the needs of every project’. And his formula has worked: his clients include The Guardian G2, Nike Football, and my pencil-case favourite, Faber and Faber.
The Japanese sure know how to think outside the box. The country that brought us Takeshi’s Castle has come with this equally genius take on modern sport, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
Adult Hotel opens in Nanning, China
State-controlled news outlet Xinhua reports that a new ‘adult hotel‘ is opening in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Province in southern China. Apparently state censors think homosexuals and tattoo parlors sully their nation’s image, but not establishments aimed at facilitating heterosexual unions. The owner is apparently worried his business will be perceived as a brothel. Hmmm. In any case, the photos of a staff member demonstrating the, uh, equipment is caption-worthy for sure.
Cassettes Won’t Listen is the brainchild of New York-based, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jason Drake and is the latest of an abundance of musical monikers he has realised over the years. Small-Time Machine is Cassettes Wont Listen’s first-ever physical release and is available for US$23.70.
Read more
Woohoo! We have five copies of the new Faint album, Fascination [Inertia], to give away to randomly selected Australian-based Lost At E Minor subscribers who leave a message under this post telling us about the last time they, ummm, Fainted.
Recently
- Britain’s poshest squat Francis Andrews
- We’re now stocking your creations Andy
- Sam Weber Zolton
- Torre Bicentenario Snell
- Sky Planter Julia Hennock
- Gravediggaz Gerry Mak
- Super Obama World Gerry Mak
- Michaelene Walsh Ilana Kohn
- Famous Blue Raincoat Zolton
- Jan Vormann Julia Hennock
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
TAGS: acoustic music animals animation Australian bands Australian fashion black and white illustrations blogs Brooklyn Brooklyn artists Brooklyn bands cartoons China collaboration colour colourful artwork colourful illustrations comics electronic music flash games folk music Hip Hop Japan jewellery London Los Angeles magazines Melbourne New York New York artists New York bands New York illustrators pop music portrait portraits prints rock music San Francisco soul music street art surrealism Sydney Sydney bands t-shirts technology UK bands
IMAGES:
POPULAR:
- Marc Collin: My Secret Playlist!' - loved 63 times
- Brittanie Pendleton - loved 50 times
- Elaine Biss's feminine charms - loved 25 times
- Ed Harcourt: 'My Secret Playlist' - loved 22 times
- Prefab House - loved 19 times
- Andreco's brilliant visions - loved 18 times
- I Give Up On T-Shirts - loved 18 times
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.
