Hanggai
Beijing-based band Hanggai write original songs in the traditional folk styles of their Mongolian ancestors — throat-singing, horsehair fiddles, lutes — spearheading an Asian version of the old-time revival. Though it’s only through the digital age that the rest of the world can access this beautiful music, it makes you want to slow down and reflect on what we’ve lost as a species. This stuff makes every flavor of the month indie band seem vapid and meaningless.
Tagged: Chinese bands, traditional folk
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Beijing’s thriving music scene has no shortage of good bands, but few are as unabashedly innocent and giddy as Carsick Cars. Inspired by the blazing post-punk of Swell Maps, the aloof experimentalism of 90s shoegaze bands, and occasionally the discordance of Glenn Branca, Carsick Cars are equally influenced by the bands around them — PK-14, Joyside, Gar – singing in Mandarin and transcending the derivative unoriginality that marked the Chinese rock scene just a few years ago. Catch them this month on their US tour with PK-14 and Xiao He.
Buddhist temples all over China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong sell or give away small plastic boxes that play a loop of prayer and chanting. A few years ago, Chinese electronic act FM3 hacked into some of these boxes and programmed their own music into them. The band had their own Buddha Machines manufactured in a wide range of colors, and people went nuts over them. Now, the Beijing-based duo is back with Buddha Machine 2.0 with all new music. As with the first box, the haunting, meditative tracks on the new machine play in a constant loop when it is switched on. Users can adjust the volume, bend the pitch of the music, and plug in headphones. The new machines come in new colors — burgundy, grey, brown, and even a limited edition one made out of real Pu’er tea.
Also by GERRY MAK
Luke Butler’s Enterprise series
My roommate is on a big Star Trek kick, re-watching the entire original series. I forgot how amazing and progressive and ahead-of-its-time it was. Actually, Star Trek: the Next Generation is also just as good. Hopefully Luke Butler will paint images from that series next or superimpose Captain Picard’s head on a nude body of Adonis. Read more
Tom Fun Orchestra’s Bottom of the River
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We checked in with illustrator Amy Sol and asked her about the impact her workspace has on her unique interpretative style: ‘It’s pretty minimal and not necessarily clean all the time. If you visit me you can tell immediately how busy I am by how messy my place is. I like my work environment to be comfy but clear of too many visual distractions. I don’t have much artwork or anything interesting on my walls, but I do like flowers and plants near me. I’ve got so much going on in my head, external visual stimulation often goes unappreciated in my studio’. Read more
A project that has been a pioneer of the revitalization of downtown Kansas City, this building’s goal was to promote the Central Library as well as represent the city itself. Read more
No matter what’s going on with your outfit, chances are, if you’ve got good shoes on, you’re okay. Keep Company shoes are only going from strength to strength, bringing out more and shoes apparel that are probably going to ruin my savings account. Read more
Whoa. That was intense. I’ve just awoken from a dream whereby my big self somehow stumbles upon my five-year old self playing enthusiastically with a group of kids. Read more
We have a thumping track by Chicago-based rocker Tom Fuller [above] available for free download in the Music Download section of Lost At E Minor (pssst, it’s in third column of the site), along with new tracks by Five O’Clock Heroes, Fujiya & Miyagi, and Madlib. Read more
Oh man, this is good. If Jamie Lidell was born in any earlier era, he would have soul brother number one plastered all over his birth certificate.
Setting Sun’s cover of Tom Petty’s You Got Lucky was recently released as part of Buffet Libre DJ’s compilation CD, Rewind 2. Says frontman, Gary Levitt, of their version on the song: ‘We got back from our European tour on Christmas Eve with a December 27th deadline for the track looming. It was finally started on December 26th and then sent off completed the next day. It was a great exercise in having to let some things go. That’s twenty-four hours out the door complete, old school style. That’s how records used to be made. Motown, baby, MOTOWN!’ We have the song for free download in our Music Download section [psst, it's in the third column of the site]
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Check out Mike Stimpson’s Lego reinterpretations of classic photographs. Stimpson’s version of Malcolm Browne’s iconic 1963 photograph of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc is particularly twisted. Read more
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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
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
Forget battery powered vehicles. Cars made from ice are the future of transportation: no pollution, no honking horns, no painful rap music blasting out of souped up stereos. And if they melt, they melt. You just swim the rest of the way down the slipstream.
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
This Powder Necklace features a pearlized Turbo Cinereus shell with tiny holes drilled into the bottom, filled with a sparkling silver-colored powder that when gently tapped, sprinkles a light dusting on the wearer’s chest. Designed by Stephanie Simek. Read more
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