Julian Faulhaber

WE'RE SUPPORTING

I love it! With the CD now being eclipsed by the MP3, I find myself feeling even more nostalgic for the simple charm of the cassette. Australian artists Andrew Smart and Jared Schmidt create ‘large scale hand-made wooden cassette tapes, routed, sanded, bogged, primed, and painted with a high quality paint finish’. Aha! The perfect way to memorialize my old mix tapes. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Dubbed as a ‘lifestyle project’ drawing influences from Californian street culture, the store recently opened by LA-based The Hundreds in San Francisco has, hands down, the coolest fit-out I’ve ever seen. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

The mesh of fashion and illustration continues unabated, as reflected in the mind-blowing designs that make up the Belle Sauvage label. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Firekites, from small town Australia (Newcastle to be exact), are my new musical obsession, and have been since early yesterday when their song Autumn Story randomly burst into my headphones and latched itself deep into my inner ear iPod. I wish they’d been around when I last lived in Sydney; it would have been well worth the two hour drive north to see them play. The whole album (The Bowery) is beautiful, but this song especially rings out with poignancy. I love the subtle sound of the fingers sliding across the guitar frets, the gently whispered vocals, which hint at secrets and cheeky serenades, and the sense of soulful introspection that tangles itself elegantly amongst its minor chord tapestry.

WE'RE READING

No one disputes that the Bush Administration is no friend to civil liberties, but this little spot on the ACLU website smacks of paranoia. At least it’s entertaining, and some people might actually welcome the ultra-convenient vision of the future this piece of propaganda offers.

Peter Nalitch is Russia’s answer to Manu Chao. His video for the song Guitar is a Borat-like jab at low-budget, post-Soviet awkwardness — absurd English lyrics, Eurotrash earnestness, bad wipes, and cheap subtitles. But its tongue-in-cheekness is quite apparent, and the song is disarmingly catchy and romantic.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

It’s the final, sultry day of Barcelona’s experimental sound-fest, Sonar, and weary punters are gazing listlessly at an empty, smoke-filled stage. Before long, a vocalist, beatboxer and grand pianist stride on, and what follows is a startling and, at times, deeply melancholic cabaret-electronic hybrid, prompting jaws to drop and delighting the drowsy. Meet Khan of Finland: ‘I tell stories about my everyday life; they are songs about love, pain, party and spirituality. I would call it bionic blues’.

Read more