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Buddha Machine 2

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.

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We've recently launched a new website: The Colour, featuring Australian culture in pictures. Check it out and give props to your favourite Australian artists, musicians and designers.

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Carsick Cars

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.

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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.

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Xiao He

One of the quirkiest and memorable bands to come out of the Beijing folk-rock scene was Glorious Pharmacy, an almost too-arty-for-their-own-good avant-jazz acoustic band that were notorious for impromptu puppet shows and ten-minute saxophone freak outs. Read more

Also by GERRY MAK

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Nick Cave’s Soundsuits

Chicago-based artist, educator, and Alvin Ailey dancer Nick Cave (not to be confused with the other one) has been wowing people with his amazing Soundsuits for years now. Inspired by African ceremonial costumes, Cave’s pieces fuse sculpture, fashion, and performance. Read more

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The Realist by Asaf Hanuka

Israeli illustrator Asaf Hanuka is currently documenting via comic his family’s search for a home – you can read The Realist in Hebrew or in English, online or in the Israeli newspaper, Calcalist.

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The Bea Arthur Mountains Pizza website

You know, pictures featuring Bea Arthur, mountains, and pizza are the best, but there are still a lot of duds out there. Good thing Bea Arthur Mountains Pizza has collected the best of the best Bea Arthur, mountains, and pizza pictures all in one place.

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If you stop by Athens, Geogia’s Daily Co-op, you just might find David Mack at the register working on some drawings or comics. But chances are that he’ll be doing some other task, like placing fruit orders or maintaining the merchandise shelves. He always stays busy and has a new website to prove it.


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When my uber-creative and slightly eccentric twin brother announced one day that chainmail would be making a return, it only confirmed that he’d missed out on the fashion genes. But after checking out the fingerless chainmail glove in Toby Jones’ new collection — My hands are tied — it now appears he had a legitimate vision. Working a look straight out of a Mad Max scene, Jones’ designs will have us accessorizing in true post-apocalyptic style, using everyday objects as adornment. But you don’t need to be cruising around town in a black Interceptor to appreciate them. Be your own character with chain swinging padlocks and multi-purpose shoelaces. It’s about time you got your hands into something different.

TIME magazine’s annual Person of the Year issue is coming out this week. I illustrated one of the runner-ups, but of course, I have to keep my mouth completely shut. I don’t know who is the winner though. On TIME’s website, you can see all the past covers of this most talked about issue of each year. It’s a good time to look back history and learn from it anyway, don’t you think?


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Jen Hseih’s illustrations are a wonderfully exciting explosion of colour and subtle innuendo, finely detailed windows into a world that I’ll never know. Read more

Not much more needs to be said about this. Ricky Gervais, the funniest man in England, meets Larry David, the funniest man in America. Wit and genius collides. Very, very clever.

One of the largest contemporary construction projects in the world [it's the size of London's Hyde Park], the 220 suite Hydropolis, situated twenty metres below the surface of the Persian Gulf near Dubai, will be the first luxury underwater hotel. It’s expected to open to the public in late 2009. Read more

Whitest Boy Alive follow their own rules: no overdubs, no FX, and the music is always recorded live in one take. Fronted by Erlend Øye (of Kings Of Convenience notoriety), the Berlin collective produce a distinctive blend of minimalist melodies and pillowy grooves. And on the eleven tracks that constitute their new album, Rules, they convey one polite directive: please, move your body. We have their latest single, Island [listen below], available for free download in the Music Download section of the Lost At E Minor site [pssst, it's in the third column], along with new releases by Vic Chestnutt, Winter Gloves, and Cut Off Your Hands.

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WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST

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Gry E.Pedersen

Oslo artist Gry E.Pedersen blends digital artwork and photos, but her generally experimental artwork also includes more traditional forms of paintings. Read more

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Dennis Pomales

Dennis Pomales is a man after my own heart, creating impulsive yet detailed, tribal-influenced monsters and aliens using watercolors and ink. Read more

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Creative advertising packaging

Despite the intentions of many, it’s not so often that advertising — as an industry — truly thinks outside the box. Yet, when executed well, clever eye-catching advertising actually works. It does. As these examples will attest to. Read more

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Yu Xiao

Yu Xiao was born in Zi Bo, Shandong, China. She received her M.A. in Photography from China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2009. In this work, Never Grow Up, Yu Xiao digitally created child versions of herself as a commentary on China’s one child rule and the intense focus on childhood that results. Read more

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Hipster Puppies

Damn hipster dogs coming in here with their parents’ money, acting like they own the place, not respecting us real dogs who know what real culture and art are. We were here first and we knew about all those bands before they did. Read more


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The new Runaways movie looks at the formation of the seminal girls’ group which spawned Joan Jett’s career. We have a Runaways prize pack to give away, including Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Greatest Hits CD, the film’s soundtrack, and Joan Jett’s photobook with Todd Oldham. To enter, just leave the name of the city you live in! Read more

The Illuminated Sea Cookie Pin by Stephanie Simek mixes underwater wonders and light to add a little sparkle to your wardrobe. The sea cookie, a member of the sand dollar family, is back lit by a white LED. When turned on, the light illuminates all of the creature’s natural patterns and intricacies. Read more


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