Fariel Shafee

WE'RE SUPPORTING

London-based indie-prog group Klaxons take their name from the Greek word ‘to shriek’. We interviewed vocalist and keyboardist, Jamie Righton, and asked him why, unlike many of their contemporaries, none of them grew up to become great footballers: ‘Me and Simon are from Stratford-upon-Avon and the only famous footballer to ever come from there is Gary Barnett! Jamie’s from Bournemouth and there are even less from there. I was asked to play for the Tottenham Hotspur Legends and Celebrities team in a new Sky TV programme but it clashes with our US tour. Gutted’. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Austin band The Low Lows are one of my most prized finds of the year so far. It’s introspective music — staggered harmonies delivered by a distant, agonised voice that filters through a wall of tranquil guitar distortion and measured drumming. Every instrument carries a powerful emotion, sometimes keeping their distance from one another, floating up and around the airwaves, and other times colliding and crashing back to earth.

WE'RE THINKING

New York illustrator James Blagden’s work is so wonderfully trippy, I feel like I need to wear shades and a top hat when looking at them just to do them justice. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

I love the interesting lines and clever use of sustainable materials found in the Klein Bottle House, a holiday place in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. The architects, McBride Charles Ryan, based the design around the concept of the Klein Bottle, ‘a descriptive model of a surface developed by topological mathematicians’. Read more

Oh man! If I was twenty again, a jumble of nerves and a well of electric energy, I’d be in the front row for every damn MGMT gig. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Luxury goods have been getting a bad rap lately, and for good reason. Now I don’t know how you roll, but we don’t know many people who enjoy covering themselves head-to-toe in someone else’s initials. Yet for some reason designers think that diamante logos and monogrammed tapestries are the best mediums to communicate their brand. So it’s just as well LA based eyewear label Barton Perreira doesn’t play by the rules. Starting out less than a year ago, you won’t find their designs getting over-excited by insignia. Instead, these guys hand make their frames in Japan to rely on precision, fit and design. And that’s the way it should be.

WE'RE READING

Monique Easton runs a blog called Baby Got Framed where she cataloges barely remembered evenings and cute hipster zombies. Read more