Beck Chemtrails

Luke Jackson’s debut album, And Then Some

In the Spring of 2006, a seven-year email correspondence culminated in the meeting of Luke Jackson and Magnus Börjeson. Jackson had long been a devoted fan of two of the Swedish musician’s former bands: Beagle and Favorita, and the two songwriters finally met in Paris where Börjeson was mid-tour playing in The Cardigans. By the end of the weekend, Jackson had accepted an invitation to record in Sweden, which he took up in January 2008. He set to work in the studio with Magnus on bass and Christoffer’s Brainpool bandmate Jens Jansson on drums. Upon his return to London, he sent the rough mixes of the songs to renowned London-based string arranger Robert Kirby (who has orchestrated works by Nick Drake, Elvis Costello, and Elton John). Kirby loved the songs and offered to write orchestrations for the album and accompany Jackson to Sweden to conduct the necessary recording sessions with nine players from Malmö’s Opera Orchestra. It is the collision of these two worlds which makes his album, And Then Some, so compelling. Densely layered guitars and vocal harmonies fuse with sweeping string lines, none of which ever draw the ear too far from what lies at the heart of Jackson’s music.

AU’s Verbs

Verbs, the second album from Portland band AU (pronounced ‘ay you’), is surprising, and excitingly ahead of its time. Moving through 20-person chorus cries, subtle lullabies, whispered melodies, and screeching and scratched guitars, you never know where the journey will end. Psche-folk, freak-folk, electro-folk-noise, or whatever you want to call it, AU’s genre sprawling music paves the way for a wider breadth of experimentation in folk-inspired electronic production. We interviewed the group’s front man and founder, multi-instrumentalist Lyke Wyland. Read more

KAWS creme de corps

Random collaborations always come as a pleasant surprise. This time New York-based graffiti artist KAWS (aka Brian Donnelly) has joined forces with lavish beauty product manufacturer, Kiehl’s, in a bid to raise money for non-profit art initiative RxArt. KAWS’ design adorns an exclusive line of Kiehl’s skin moisturizers, with all proceeds benefiting RxArt’s mission to install art pieces in US hospitals.

Chris Berens

Hailing from The Netherlands, Chris Berens works predominantly with ink, varnish and acrylic. Although, by his own admission, his paintings are not made with a particular message in mind, he works from recollection to create his very personal and intimate images. ‘I treat every painting as I would a diary’, he says, ‘in which I paint my thoughts and feelings’.

Paul Smith limited edition Fisheye No2 camera

Are you into wide angles? Then you might want to check out the new Paul Smith limited edition Fisheye No2 camera. Paul Smith collaborated with Lomography cameras to make this special item, which has a 180 degree wide-angle view and amazing fish-eye barrel distortion. Included is a bulb setting for long exposures and a switch for multiple exposures on the same frame. You also have the ability to use hotshoe flash or the built in flash. The body of the camera is attractive in a fashion sense with its metal accents and the Paul Smith signature multi-colored stripes.

Speck fitted case for iPhone 3G

Here’s one for all you tech savvy fashionistas. Outfit your iPhone 3G in form-fit style with a case from Speck. The lightweight, snap-together design lets you instantly make your iPhone 3G a fashion statement, while the soft fabric provides added comfort and extra grip in hand. Personally, I’m digging the plaid. But maybe that’s just because it’s getting chilly outside.