Events / SXSW: a report from the frontline
So I just got back from SXSW, and what a blast! SXSW is one of the most hectic, insane three day parties your kidneys could ever endure. It’s so messed up that even the most messed people up think it’s messed up! It’s one of those festivals that comes at you from all angles — parties day and night, free drinks and food everywhere you look, and constant impromptu parties at one minutes notice. Some of my highlights include witnessing Justice alongside 200 people in a crammed room drunk off my head at the infamous Playboy party, chatting up a playboy bunny, and ending up in a hot tub with buzz band MGMT at 7am at their hotel — all in one night! Then there was the adventure of heading to a farmyard party in ‘Hicksville’, on the outskirts of Austin; watching Spank Rock perform on a ten storey building rooftop at 2am at the Nylon party; bumping into ZZ Top by accident; getting caught up in the revelry of a show by some unknown band that moved itself from the stage inside the venue Emo’s out onto the street; sneaking into a wine tasting party which served up some of the most orgasmic food on offer whilst watching an intimate set by Erika Wennerstrom — the next Emmylou Harris; witnessing one of the most intense politically charged hip hop shows by unknown Mississippi rising star David Banner at the Fader/Levis Fort; and watching Pharell Williams of N.E.R.D rip it up with a ten man band. Phew!
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So here are my picks of acts to watch in 2008 from this year’s SXSW — Jeremy Jay: New K records signing. Sounds like The Microphones meets Buddy Holly; David Banner: political effusive Hip Hop from the heart; Iglu & Hartley: the next buzz band. Epic new wave pop from Hollywood; The Dodos [above]: the most talked about band at SXSW. Everyone wants a piece of this ethnocentric psych band. Read more
With that annual music-thon, SXSW, kicking off next week, we thought it would be a good time to put together a playlist of some of our favorite acts who’ll be performing there, including Tigercity and British Sea Power [pictured above]. So we did.
It goes without saying that Hip Hop has taken a few very low hits in the past decade. Thanks to the likes of 50 Cent and company, it accounts for around 40% of all music sold in America. It’s a huge industry. So where does that leave Hip Hop artists doing something a bit different? Lord T and Eloise wear wacky outfits, make crazy music and bring a whole lot of fun back into Hip Hop. What’s more, they’ve started a new genre called ‘Aristocrunk’. Watch out!
Also by ARI STEIN
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
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
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I love the bold colours and childlike themes in the illustrations of Atlanta, Georgia-based artist, Jessica Gonacha. It’s like Spring time all year round. Read more
We’re big fans of the diverse musical output of Barry Adamson, so we caught up with him for a chat. Read more
Australian group Pivot have recently signed with the mighty Warp label and — even better (well, for us anyway) — have written a fun Secret Playlist for us. You can see where the many disparate influences have seeped into their latest recording, the beautiful and colourful, O Soundtrack My Heart.
We have a bunch of new playlists up on our sister site, My Secret Playlist, a music discovery website and weekly email publication in which we invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. Over the past few weeks, acts such as The B52s, Team Genius, Pivot, Jukebox the Ghost, Moby, Katy Perry, and the Dandy Warhols, among many others, have written about the music that inspires them. To sign-up to receive the weekly My Secret Playlist publication, just enter your email address into the website’s subscription box.
Afghanistan has always been famous for rugs. The impact of several decades of political turmoil has left its mark on this national art. However, Turkmen weavers have been weaving what are known as ‘war rugs‘ that depict weapons, military vehicles, and even the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. Notice the dove in the center, indicating that the rug’s maker isn’t celebrating the attacks.
One of my favourite venues in New York is Brooklyn’s Union Hall, right around the corner from Tamari, a super sushi joint. Upstairs they have two massive fireplaces burning and a bocce ball court. Yup, bocce. Downstairs you feel like you’ve walked into the museum of natural history where you can see live bands on a stage reminiscent of grandma’s living room.
Eik Ottosen, the hot Danish model has created Rubber Duck shoes. His Los Drillos come in just about every color and are super comfy and affordable. Read more
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Dalton Trumbo was the first blacklisted writer to win an Academy Award. However, he could not claim the award until years later because he had been forced to write under a pseudonym. Trumbo was one of the Hollywood Ten and even spent a year in jail as a result of investigations into Communist influences in the motion picture industry. This documentary is fascinating not just for its examination of a bizarre period in American history where fear replaced reason and innocent men were jailed, but also for how Trumbo dealt with these hardships. Read more
I love the sense of intimacy about the work of Chicago-based photographer, Brian Ulrich. His retail project Copia ‘is a long-term photographic examination of the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live’. We interviewed him recently and asked him what camera he uses once he gets inside a store he’s photographing: Read more
This is Mike Bertino and his work absolutely wonderful. He’s got this original, almost lo-fi Tim Biskup thing going on and it makes me really want to grab a beer with him. I love when artists give their pieces names like Knuckle Inferno and Man Beard. It just makes them that much better. He keeps a blog where he publishes his latest work and lets you know where they’re available for purchase, so go check it out. I think I’m going to ask him to be my BFF. Well, at least one of them. Not the only one. Cause, you know … I have more than one. Read more
I like Roots Manuva because he tells stories. I know that sounds simplistic, but honestly, have you noticed how rappers, certainly American rappers, have stopped narrating their lives and are purely focused on how great they are? I know, I know, hip-hop is all about word play, slang, and blah blah blah. But I listen to music for stories and heart-felt sentiment. Roots Manuva gets that. He’s old school that way. His latest album, Slime & Reason, is still rooted in the UK grime scene (does that still exist, or has it gone the way of electroclash? I’m earnestly asking), but a lot of it is more overtly dub than anything he’s done so far, and he’s got some beats and samples on this record that are as dramatic and epic as some of the metal bands I listen to. He talks about real sentiments and earnest emotions and believable and relatable experiences, which may make him uncool amongst the sneaker-collecting kiddies, but even though this isn’t his best record, I still like where it’s coming from.
I’m so digging the work of Santa Monica artist Andrew Hem. Painting seems to have become relegated in the illustration world these days, so I’m pleased to see Hem rocking it in a big way. His bold brushwork, lush colors, puppet-like figures and painted type make for a body of work that really hits the painted spot.
These Prosperity earrings by Australian designer Karina Jean are cast in sterling silver, finished by hand and swing on hand-formed silver ear hooks. They are available for purchase through the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
Happy, happy, joy, joy! We have a TV On The Radio poster designed by Tunde, as well as Dear Science on vinyl, to give away to a randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscriber who leaves a comment under this post telling us why they simply must have it.
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