
The Shortwave Set
It beggars belief how such a good sound can go unnoticed for so long. British three-piece The Shortwave Set have been dilligently crafting some very fine songs since 2005, yet are only gradually making a name for themselves. Their latest album, Replica Sun Machine ticks all the right boxes for mass appeal, featuring poppy hooks, jangly percussion and that psychedelic 60’s touch that yanks them away from today’s mainstream. The dual male/female vocals are oozing intimacy, as if Patti Smith was in post-coital dialogue with an equally amourous Lou Reed. It’s a real cocktail of sonics, dipping one hand into Sufjan-esque folk and the other into bluesy Babe Ruth licks but always dappled with bright synth and sampling. Hopefully their sporadic UK festival appearances this summer will gain them the following they deserve. You can’t close your ears to this music when the sun is out.
Listen to The Shortwave Set track, Harmonia.
RELATED
The Style Council rock Japan, 1985
I put together a few mix CDs for a friend’s party the other week and had to include this track from the Modfather himself, Paul Weller, during his Style Council period, which marked the second distinct phase of his ever-changing career. Weller may have disavowed much of his back catalogue, but for the rest of us, there’s still much pleasure to be had living vicariously through soulful, introspective moments like these.

Like a packet of perfectly seasoned pistachio nuts, I can’t put this album down until it’s well and truly finished: until every last morsel of taut, snappy percussion and hypnotic vocals have been digested. Read more

Thanks to our friends at Madman, we have five copies of the Kurt Cobain documentary, About A Son, to give away to randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscribers. Read more
Also by FRANCIS ANDREWS

James Mackay’s Even Though I’m Free I Am Not
Award-winning photojournalist James Mackay’s latest project comes at a time when the world’s eyes are fixed on Burma and the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi. By photographing former political prisoners displaying the names of their colleagues and friends who remain behind bars, Even Though I’m Free I Am Not exposes the enduring pain faced by Burma’s opposition movement. Over 2,100 activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians languish in prisons across the country, and on Friday Aung San Suu Kyi will likely join them. Read more

The blind date of the food world has finally arrived, and it’s proving more palatable than the awkwardness of an evening spent in superficial conversation. Secret Supper clubs are springing up in the backstreets of London: what are attics and living rooms by day get converted into makeshift restaurants catering for an evening of surprise tastes and conversations. Read more

Young British designer Adam Farlie takes a leftfield approach to how people experience interaction with objects, often taking everyday items and toying with their potential to harbour deeper meaning and greater usage than first perceived. He transforms a bed into a ‘vessel that captures and contains the audio-memories of past occupiers through sound’, allowing those who lie on the bed to recall past intimcaties or conversations from years ago, while his take on a chest of drawers’ purpose of holding records of people is similarly intriguing.
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New York-based artist Joshua Harris makes movable sculptural artwork out of plastic bags, harnessing the air from subway grates to give them a sense of life. Read more
While the Belizean Islands are some of the most beautiful and tranquil in the world, Belize City is one of those uninspiring places that most people travel in and out of very quickly. However, if you do find yourself stranded there, as I did, the city does have one redeeming attraction. Approximately twenty kilometres west of the centre, you’ll find the Belize Zoo — which the founders call the ‘best little zoo in the world’. It relies on charitable donations and has gained huge respect for housing native Belizean wildlife, such as jaguars, howler monkeys, tapirs, ocelots and toucans, in natural, tropical surroundings. If you’re there on the first Friday in April, you can even join hundreds of visitors in celebrating the birthday of the zoo’s resident tapir, April. The zoo has an awesome rasta-vibe, and the hand-written information posts are guaranteed to make you giggle.
These vegan designer bags from Matt & Nat are made out of anywhere between 15 and 55 recycled plastic bottles. It also uses no leather, which is a big plus given that according to the UN, raising cattle generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.
I spent several hours on Omegle, a weird new site that randomly pairs you with a stranger to have anonymous chats. Something about this feels naughty, even though the raciest thing we talked about was goat curry.
The New York Times recently posted a selection of Mad Magazine fold-ins from the past 40 years of the magazine’s history. The feature allows you to actually fold the images to reveal the decoded message and picture.
Set in a remote Chinese village in the 1920s during a cholera outbreak and with a revolution bubbling in the background, The Painted Veil is a wonderfully tortured love story which excels on all levels. Based on the W Somerset Maugham novel, it was a labour of love for stars Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, who also produced the film. Read more
Oh, ok. The Church’s eerily translucent Under The Milky Way has just burst into my headphones like a thousand jolts of sweet pop lightening. It’s nice to know that wistful introspection is only ever but three chords and a melancholic chorus away.
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Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more

1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings
Cambodian born photographer Frederic Chaubin is the editor of French magazine Citizen K. His photo series on bizarre buildings built in the former Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s is absolutely fascinating. Read more

Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more

Amazing cake designs by Charm City Cakes
Baltimore company Charm City Cakes produces the most innovative wedding and party cakes on the market. Inspiration for these creative bakers comes from everywhere: art, fabric, furniture, architecture, landscapes, science, and music, and each cake is individually designed to match your personality, and the theme of the occasion you are celebrating. Don’t miss these cakey engineering masterpieces. Read more

Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Too sweet for words, these beautiful hoop earrings by Sydney-based designer Carmel Taylor are a real touch of origami for your ears. Read more
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