Lost AT E Minor

Fujiya & Miyagi discuss their album, Lightbulbs

The new Fujiya & Miyagi album, the aptly titled Lightbulbs, is a typically crackling collection of songs, ‘a pulsing antidote to the ordinary’. Formed in 2000, the electronic duo of David Best (guitars and vocals) and Steve Lewis (synths, beats, programming), have since added bass player Matt Hainsby to the mix (in 2004), and now have an album in their catalogue which is ‘littered with fragmented images, anecdotes from the sublime to the ridiculous, blurry stories that you feel you shouldn’t have overheard’. The guys have given us the inside word on each track from the album, starting with the opener, Knickerbocker: ‘A vibration of words that sound good, touching on lost innocence, child star Lena Zavaroni, the very first tragedy of X Factor-style excess, and the joy of multi-storeyed ice cream sundaes at Woolacombe Bay. Knickerbocker mixes my sister’s and my memories of watching Lena Zavaroni on TV, whilst eating ice cream as children’. Read more

Mr. Meeble

Between its title and content, the Phoenix-based trio Mr. Meeble’s sensual and soulful pop meets dark electronica record will prick your ears, then spin them around and burn the damn things to the ground. It’s sparkling stuff, reminiscent of fellow French band Air, with moments of smooth, breathy vocals floating over spacey synths, chilled-out Rhodes and orchestral strings.

A Push Door to Exit video made from cardboard

OK, so this is the world’s first electronica music video made entirely from cardboard. The creation of London animator, Tony Comley, the track is for Push Door to Exit by Alexander’s Annexe, which is out through Warp records. Very cool.

Tokyo Flash unleash their latest time keepers

We have featured Tokyo Flash watches before but they recently launched a new generation of time keepers, which are innovative and ahead of its time [pun intended]. The first new watch is the Rogue, which has a vivid green LED light guide that presents the time through a labyrinth of connecting LCD blocks. The outer ring of small dots represents minutes, with every fifth dot being slightly smaller to distinguish five minute groups. Read more

Marika Papagika

Occasionally you hear something that puts everything musically into perspective. This time it’s come to me via an unknown, obscure Greek recording artist who lived between 1890 to 1943. Marika Papagika was the quintessential East European Bohemian, performing as a gypsy at cafes around Greece and recording for Victor Records in 1913. But none of these recordings were ever found. Her late husband set up a small music venue in New York on 34th St, between 7th and 8th Avenues. I found this one track recently, which is not only haunting and emotional but enduring, even in this day and age. Fascinating!

Andreas Gursky’s new book: Architecture

German-born Andreas Gursky is a giant in the photography world. His masterpieces have consistently dazzled and bewildered, focused as they are on making the incomprehensible believable. Gursky’s photos theorizes how architecture can shape people’s life by having a decisive influence on their social and cultural structures, in the process underlying how fleeting and fictional today’s values are. His latest book — simply titled Architecture — is accompanied with lengthy essays about his works and is an engrossing introduction to this master photographer. Read more