The B-52s: ‘My Secret Playlist’
Our favourite retro-hipsters — and the only band to make Hawaiian shirts look at least kinda fashionable — The B52s have been doing it for more than thirty years, and they’re still writing great pop music. Their latest album, Funplex, is just that: fun plex twenty. Sorry, plus twenty. We like it. And we’re not surprised given the rather old-school Secret Playlist that Kate Pierson [first six songs] and Keith Strickland have assembled.
Jane Siberry / Bound By the Beauty
Jane Siberry changed her name to Issa, sold her home and most of her possessions (although she owns a pair of fabulous boots), and sells her music — digitally only, to cut down on plastic waste — by a self-determined pricing policy. She’s an incredible, profound songwriter and singer, and is doing it her way, for sure.
Joni Mitchell / A Case Of You
I had her very first album when I was a kid and had my own folk-protest band, The Sun Doughnuts. She was a huge inspiration, and her open tunings were a real influence on Ricky Wilson’s guitar playing.
Genoa Keawe / E Mama E
Feeling uptight? Want to make it alright? Just listen to this! Known as Auntie Genoa, she recently passed away. But she was the Queen of the old-school, real deal Hawaiian singers.
Chic / Le Freak
This song contains my favorite Nile Rogers line: ‘clams on the half-shell, and roller skate, roller skate’. Check out Nile Rogers’ WeAreFamilyFoundation.org, promoting peace and tolerance. It’s just what we need right now.
Kraftwerk / Trans-Europe Express
They are so innovative and it’s a rare treat to see them live — with real robots! Ricky, Keith and I were on Ricky’s sailboat on Lake Lanier during a lightning storm and we had this song blasting on the boombox as we sailed like the wind to get back to shore. It was very exci-tatious!
Komeda / It’s Alright, Baby
You just need to check out this poppy band from Denmark. There’s not much that can be said about them.
The Patti Smith Group / Pumping
This song has everything I love about Patti Smith and her group: it’s exhilarating, intoxicating and transcendent. When our band was starting out in Athens, Georgia, this song gave me the feeling that the possibilities were infinite.
The Stooges / 1969
In the fall of 1969, I was 16 and started attending a new school where I knew no one. My parents had one of those big stereo consoles and I would put on 1969 and play it as loud as possible and sing into a make-believe microphone while flailing myself across the living room floor. The Stooges articulated perfectly my teenage frustrations, alienation and boredom. Teenage angst was never more fun.
Tagged: My Secret Playlist, pop music, rock music
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Julia Nunes has been a singer-songwriter since age 13. She plays guitar, ukulele, melodica, and piano, but she also uses household items, such as pillows, water bottles, tissue boxes or an old slinky, for extra percussion. Her charm is best displayed on stage or in the videos she posts on YouTube. Using video/audio layering and a unique approach to song arrangement, Julia has created over 60 music videos of originals and covers, most of which have been viewed an average of 650,000 times. She began her Secret Playlist with The Early November song, Hair: ‘When I listen to this song, I allow myself to be as cynical and damning of the world as I can possibly get, and still have a spring in my step. I envision a Barbie version of myself making her way through the world, becoming self aware and crestfallen with a smile frozen on her face’. Read the rest of Julia Nunes’ Secret Playlist.
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Over at our sister site, My Secret Playlist, Angus Andrew and his Liars bandmates have written about their eight favourite songs right now, including The Legendary Pink Dots song, Black Highway [listen below]: ‘I’m completely fascinated by The Legendary Pink Dots. Usually when I listen to music, there’s a large part of my brain focusing on the techniques and ideas, and how they relate to my approach to music. With the Legendary Pink Dots, they somehow suspend this preoccupation. They inspire me to be more free and spontaneous, all I hear is creativity in their music. I hear a release from self imposed structure, and a pure and simple connection with the flow of creativity’. Read the rest of Liars Secret Playlist
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El Perro Del Mar’s Secret Playlist
Sweden-based El Perro Del Mar, otherwise known as Sarah Assbring, recently released her third full-length album, Love Is Not Pop and supported Peter Bjorn and John on their North American tour. We asked her to tell us about her favourite songs by other artists and she started with the Joy Division song, New Dawn Fades [listen below]: ‘I fell into a dark Joy Division crack last Summer. Usually that’s a very good sign that I’m not feeling so good. Still, I think I managed to pick something good out of it for the first time. New Dawn Fades is one of those moments where Ian Curtis’ lyrics hurt so much, you don’t know where to turn. It’s like this slow build-up to heartbreak. The ending of this song, where he’s singing, ‘It was me waiting for me, hoping for something for more. Me seeing me this time, hoping for something else,’ breaks my heart anew every time I hear it’. [Read the rest of El Perro Del Mar's Secret Playlist]
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Also by ZOLTON
Maths explains the origin of superhero characters
I love the colours and simple reasoning in this clever series by Scottish illustrator Matt Cowen, which uses basic maths equations to explain how certain pop culture icons came to be. Read more
Star Wars Uncut: a fully crowdsourced version of Episode IV
The project of creative technologist, Casey Pugh, this full length version of the George Lucas masterpiece was created from multiple 15 second segments recreated from the original movie and submitted by thousands of Star Wars fans, which were then spliced together by editor Aaron Valdez to form the final product. Genius, as both a commentary on contemporary pop culture trends (there are references to LEGO, stop motion, memes and the like) and on the power of tapping your audience for quality material.
Filmmaker creates LEGO stop motion to propose to girlfriend
Now, this is one for the ages: back in 2010, Atlanta film-maker Walter Thompson created a jaw-dropping LEGO stop motion to propose to Nealey Dozier, his girlfriend of four years. The video took 22 hours of shooting and some 2,600 pictures to splice together, a small sacrifice to pay for years of happiness together. Right? Right! Oh, and she said yes. Bonus.
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This evolving art and architectural project is either making a statement about how small we really are in the greater cosmos or how helpless we are against the encroachment of urban development. I can’t work out which, but I like it. Read more
I awoke the other morning from the sleep of the damned, a fitful spell of tossing and turning courtesy of a mild dose of the flu and the constant rattle of the JMZ trains as they hurtle across the tracks outside my window. Read more
Heavy metal and hip-hop are perhaps the most popular forms of rebellion for kids the world over. In Malaysia, metal — particularly black metal — has taken such a strong hold that the Fatwa Council there banned it, fearing that the music would compel listeners to rebel against religion. Contrary to the council’s intentions, black metal is as popular as ever in Malaysia, and is a recognizable cultural touchstone there, as indicated by the above clip from the 2005 film Filem Rock.
Disregard the buzz that surrounds those other cupcake shops in New York City. Cheeks Bakery in Williamsburg houses the best cupcakes that I’ve eaten. The clean and understated decor extends to the menu, where being fancy doesn’t rule on the cupcake shelves. Cheeks offers, simply, vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with either vanilla or chocolate cream. But if you do want more, Cheeks has that as well, a limited selection of pies and cakes.
Downtownfrombehind is a photo blog featuring creative types (artists, models, chefs, musicians) riding their bikes around downtown New York City. The goal is to highlight those who make downtown New York what it is today.
At a gig last year Foals were forced to abandon their last song halfway through because the stage was stormed by too many crazed fans. The reason behind the hype they’re creating, both on stage and in the normally merciless media, isn’t immediately clear upon first listen: the sound is less than friendly on the ears, and they don’t employ the same catchy hooks and melodic chorus patterns that shoot your average band to fame in their early years. Read more
Monika Tywanek and Ingrid Verner are the Melbourne-based designers behind T-V’s boutique label. Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more
Cookie Boy’s creative cookie designs
I don’t eat cookies, so good thing Cookie Boy’s cookies are little pieces of art too pretty and cute to eat. Read more
Francoise Nielly’s Yellow series
Parisian visual artist Francoise Nielly brings technicolour to the forefront in her latest series, Yellow. Featuring thick impasto palette knife strokes and trippy neon hues, Nielly captures the vulnerable expressions of her muses to a tee. Read more
A little infectious lollipop rock anyone? Feel free to embarrass yourself singing along at the stoplight. If the other drivers give you that look, roll down the windows and spread the love.
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Never ever, ever, ever, ever park here
Some friendly advice for the neighbours, who simply don’t get it, or street art? You decide which one it is.
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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