Katy Smail

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Maybe it’s because I’m regularly checking in on her profoundly candid blog, or because her work speaks to me in some uncanny way, but I’ve always felt a powerfully calming and comforting relation to the work of illustrator, Penelope Dullaghan. With a complete lack of pretense, Dullaghan creates softly textured images that amazingly, even when commissioned, still manage to feel as if they’re just as much a piece of the artist’s state of mind. She makes you feel as if she’d rather draw nothing more than bubblegum and desk lamps, and darn it if she doesn’t make you feel the same way. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Back in the ’90s, just as the gangsta rap phenomenon was winding down and hip-hop was fragmenting into its own subgenres, Prince Paul and RZA kicked off the short-lived horrorcore fad with their group Gravediggaz. At the time, the melding of dark, gothic themes with hardboiled rap seemed gimmicky and awkward, a strange extension of the early and awful attempts to bridge hip-hop and metal, but on closer listen, the now defunct supergroup was way more innovative than they were given credit for. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Miwa Yanagi’s Fairytale series consists of very creepy photographic interpretations of classic Western fairytales. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

This is my favorite place in New York to spend a Sunday afternoon. No, I’m not talking about Central Park. But rather, The Park, a restaurant in Chelsea which took its name from its past life as a parking garage. Read more

Heavy metal and hip-hop are perhaps the most popular forms of rebellion for kids the world over. In Malaysia, metal — particularly black metal — has taken such a strong hold that the Fatwa Council there banned it, fearing that the music would compel listeners to rebel against religion. Contrary to the council’s intentions, black metal is as popular as ever in Malaysia, and is a recognizable cultural touchstone there, as indicated by the above clip from the 2005 film Filem Rock.

WE'RE WEARING

Ninety percent of the time, you can pick a Scandinavian brand from a metric mile away, which is not necessarily a bad thing considering that the Scands have such a refined, clean approach to thinking about clothes. Read more

WE'RE READING

Breakbeat duo, Evil Nine’s new album, They Live!, is one of the standout releases of the year. They Live! is powerful second album after 2005’s, You Can Be Special Too, its gruesome lyrics paying homage to all those misunderstood zombies out there. The duo — Automatom and Pardytron — compiled a Secret Playlist for us, writing about their eight favourite songs right now. Their first selection? Why, Toto’s Africa, of course [listen below]: ‘The epitome of smooth music, words can’t express how much this song rules! When the synths come in and the drums echo in the night, I’[m immediately transported back to my youth. Some people might say this is a guilty pleasure, but I don't feel no guilt. I just stick it on and bask in their mellow might'. Read the rest of the Evil Nine Secret Playlist.