Music / Hello, Blue Roses
by I stumbled across the Hello, Blue Roses track, My Shadow Falls, the other week and it set my ears alight, this subtle but beautiful song and its cascading melodic line which will at once ingrain yourself in your inner-ear iPod and then disappear out the other end, leaving only the sweetest of memories. I spoke with Sidney, one half of the group: You’re called Sydney and I’m from Sydney. Have you been yet? It would seem to be destiny to do so.
‘Nice to meet you. I have never been to your Sydney, maybe one day. My dad went once, and my cousin was born there. My dad brought back some Sydney paraphernalia like a giant pencil and an “I love Sydney” sticker, because there was a real dearth of that, as you may imagine, growing up in Canada — very few Sydney stickers and giant Sydney pencils. I was also obsessed with the Sydney Opera House and had a postcard of it up in my room forever. When the Sydney Summer Olympics happened, I had my own Sydney Summer Games at my apartment. It was a way to meet people because I had just moved to Montreal. But we played this terribly uncomfortable game called psychiatrist first and ninety percent of the new not quite never to be friends left. I have hats, and knapsacks, and t-shirts from that event’.
You dabble in art and music. Where’s the connection between your two creative pursuits?
‘I think it’s normal for creative people to move between modes of expression, or fields. I think maybe artists are more omnivorous in that respect, which is why almost everyone I know who makes art has also made or makes music, or writes plays or has some latent desire to. Some people are super focused or unilateral about their field, but I bet if you scratch a little into any musician’s life, they at one point had an affinity or aptitude for another art, like drawing or photography or film. Creative people tend to be more open to trying shit out. I think there would be a lot more overlap if artists and musicians weren’t constantly busting their balls trying to make ends meet, trying to make a go of it. They are forced to choose where to spend the time and energy. Those other paths don’t necessarily go away though, I think they tend to linger and follow, and once in awhile you take off in another direction. I don’t have any heroes or heroines who do both, I just kind of assume that the artists and musicians I like have other secret creative lives, or other creative potential’
Tagged: Canada, Canadian bands, pop music, Sydney
- 2
- 0
RELATED
The incendiary energy of Canadian quartet, Tokyo Police Club is electric. We caught up with keyboardist, Graham Wright. Read more
The E.L.F’s Stevie Nicks Hearts
The E.L.F is the outrageous new side project of the flannel-clad Gerling frontman, Darren Cross. A genre agnostic, Cross throws a tantrum on Stevie Nicks Hearts, the first EP created el solo in the dark underbelly of his Sydney home studio. The indie-infused aesthetic smashes itself against the wall, whilst 80’s synth-beats get thrown across the room like a bad break up. It’s like Beck made babies with Dannii Minogue, and the chubby new born is strange looking yet surprisingly adorable. [also read our interview with singer-songwriter Reed KD]
My summer officially ended on August 29 this year when Feist came to Greenpoint, Brooklyn to perform at McCarren Pool. It was a perfect evening — the weather was fine, the sky was clear, everyone was in good spirits, and the music was easy. Read more
Also by ZOLTON
TV On The Radio poster and vinyl
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.
Ok, so it’s 3.30 on Thursday afternoon and I’m sitting in a Brooklyn cafe, tapping away as fast as two fingers possibly can. As I look around, discreetly to my left and then more openly to my right, I cannot see a single person in this warm and friendly place wearing a more stylish and comfortable scarf than the one that I have wrapped around my neck. Yes, as my grandfather would say, it’s a very ‘handsome’ scarf — a soft, playful, ‘handsome’ scarf. And you know what? There’s not a single damn person in this room who can compete with it. Ha! That feels good. That feels very, very good. Mind you, it is 76 degrees outside, and I’m starting to sweat, so perhaps I’m just a little … ummm … over-dressed.
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
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
I love the rock and roll! I love the sheer coarseness of it all, the sweet rambling mayhem that a standard guitar set-up and Marshall amps stacked to the roof can generate. The audacity of it. Read more
I don’t know a lot about The Sugars but I like what they do. Their sound is quite rockabilly but quite modern — like White Stripes. They put out a couple of indie singles and I’d really like to find some time to work with them.
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.
If I was a fashion photographer instead of an illustrator, I would probably be Maki Kawakita, or at least be like her. Read more
With rising fuel prices dominating the news and affecting every level of the global economy, some solutions to fuel-efficient transport aren’t necessarily hi-tech ones. Read more
When Big Brother means nothing more than a new low in television standards, the warnings of Orwell’s classic 1984 are more poignant than ever. Miniluv — or The Ministry of Love in Oldspeak — is where Winston was brutally tortured, brain-washed and ultimately learned to love Big Brother. And no, he wasn’t watching TV. Wear your highbrow literary tastes with pride. Created by graphic-tee fashion label the-affair and printed on soft American Apparel, this tee is available for purchase through our online store.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Herzog and de Meuron, the Swiss architects, have led the way with this re-use of the existing building fabric of CaixaForum in Madrid. Rather than being slavish to the existing openings, the building has been cut away for a contemporary practicality. We think this is an example of heritage not getting in the way of progress. Check out a similar concept of a previous post re-using the city fabric, where we were dreaming of such thing.
When it comes to making an entrance, nothing says rock star quite like a pair of leather pants. Read more
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
The directorial debut of John August, a writer who was worked on films such as Go, Big Fish and Corpse Bride, is a complex and thought-provoking arthouse feature crowned with a spectacular performance by Ryan Reynolds in the lead role. Like most films, it is in three parts. However, these are three distinct parts with the same actors all playing different roles. Read more
The Demekin is an ultra compact camera with a preference for wide angles. It is the world’s first 110mm film camera with the fisheye lens, which gives each shot a soft focus, creating a gentle curve within the frame. We have them in the Lost At E Minor store for just $55. 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.
Discuss
- curiousmoth on "books/literature section in Lost At E minor?"
- curiousmoth on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- Huna on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- Andy on "books/literature section in Lost At E minor?"
- Andy on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- Andy on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- curiousmoth on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- Huna on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
Recently
- Young Blood at New York’s Opera Gallery Jenn Porreca
- Phillip Fivel Nessen Ilana Kohn
- Collaborate with Spike Lee on a mobile film Casper Johansson
- TV On The Radio poster and vinyl Zolton
- The Teddy Bear’s Picnic Casper Johansson
- Juana Molina Francis Andrews
- Aurie Ramirez Gerry Mak
- Gojira’s Vacuity Gerry Mak
- Ryan Sullivan scarf Zolton
- Spelling Change for Obama Casper Johansson
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
TAGS: acoustic music animals animation Australian bands black and white illustrations black and white photography blogs Brooklyn Brooklyn artists Brooklyn bands cartoons China collaboration colour colourful illustrations comics electronic music flash games folk music Hip Hop Japan London Los Angeles magazines Melbourne New York New York artists New York bands New York illustrators New York photographers pop music portrait portraits prints rock music San Francisco soul music street art street fashion surrealism Sydney t-shirts technology typography UK bands
IMAGES:
POPULAR:
- Marc Collin: My Secret Playlist!' - loved 60 times
- Brittanie Pendleton - loved 48 times
- Elaine Biss's feminine charms - loved 25 times
- Ed Harcourt: 'My Secret Playlist' - loved 22 times
- Prefab House - loved 19 times
- Andreco's brilliant visions - loved 18 times
- I Give Up On T-Shirts - loved 16 times
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Or if you’d just like to talk amongst yourselves, that’s cool too. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
