Lost AT E Minor

WE'RE SUPPORTING

He may have played Kipland Ronald Dynamite (Kip) in Napoleon Dynamite, but Californian photographer Aaron Ruell is much more comfortable behind the camera. We interviewed him recently: You’re an actor, filmmaker, and photographer. Is there a continuous theme or tone in your work across these mediums? ‘I think there is a connection between my photography and what I do in film as a director. I notice a similar tone between the two. I’m not sure that I set out for consistency between the two, it just happens. I still have issues with calling myself an “actor”. I’ve only done two films, and it’s not something that I’m out there actively pursuing. Those projects just happen to find me, so I can’t say that there’s a connection there’.

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WE'RE LISTENING TO

No wave is alive and well, if Brooklyn duo Talk Normal are any indication. Drummer Andrya Ambro keeps things cohesive with surprisingly precise percussion, occasionally banging on such things as an electric guitar and an old iron pipe rigged with contact mics, while guitarist Sarah Register coaxes some unnerving and discordant noises from her axe and array of pedals. The two take turns shouting abstract and absurdist lyrics with voices like hi-tech valkyries from a futurist nightmare.

WE'RE THINKING

There is something vaguely haunting about the work of Katherine Guillen. Her moody palette and chaotic patterns depicting the topsy turvy, dream-like world of her imagination and are just stunning. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

As if this season’s dresses weren’t delightful enough, here’s another reason to liquidate some stock and ruin your credit rating. First Prada and James Jean, now the top end retailer, Nordstrom: the exploration of art by fashion is long overdue, but well worth the wait. The Nordstrom campaign brings together three great things: the Cuban illustrator Ruben Toledo, the fashion photographer Ruven Afanador and the elvin Jenny Sweeny. Just looking at it makes me want to wrap myself in Cavalli and paint my walls bone shell white.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Dutch designer Daniel Schipper, the man behind the awesome, oragami-like folding shelter, has just unveiled a frameless, foldable greenhouse that is aimed at the growing urban gardening and farming market.

Says Van She bassist and vocalist Matt Van Schie about the Bush Tetras track — Too Many Creeps — from 1982: ‘I LOOOVE this tune. It opens with a perfect snare roll, and then the counter bass and guitar rhythms make it so cool. The lyrics are even more valid today. They’re one of my favourite bands of all time, and so many people try to do what they did for real. What a time! I wish I was born back then in New York, hanging out with these kids. Ahhhh!!’

WE'RE READING

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.