Shelby Fischer’s mixed media

WE'RE SUPPORTING

For the longest time I was an enormous admirer of the loopy, distinct line drawings of Brooklyn-illustrator Matt Hollister. Having seemingly lost track of his work for a couple of years (who knows how that manages to happen), I was shocked to stumble across his work yet again recently while perusing the New York Times. I had to check out his website immediately, and from there I wandered into his blog. The best part was that you could almost watch a new style emerge chronologically, beginning with the old drawings and then a small experiment, a mono print and then, more and more, mono prints and experiments, less and less loopy drawings. Even the subject matter seems to have changed and become much quirkier to accommodate the new style. I’m certainly feeling that staying abreast of Hollister’s work should now prove pretty inescapable.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Already with a Spectrum show under their belt, The Archerbolds are an up and coming Australian band well worth checking out. I saw the Sydney-based lads play recently at the Mars Hill Café and it was evident that they should be permanently rocking out on a real stage; not in front of coffee sippers. Their floating lyrics, smart guitar riffs and meaty bass lines are infused by The Strokes, Mars Volta, The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin — ultimately producing a freshly spun modern-vintage sound. Lead vocalist and guitarist Geoffrey ‘Gep’ Rectin says The Archerbolds plan to create a solid sound for next year: ‘Over summer, we’re recording an EP and working on a set sound, defining more of an image’. If their track, Rest Your Soul, is anything to go by, then it should be pretty dandy.

WE'RE THINKING

I love the rock and roll! I love the sheer coarseness of it all, the sweet rambling mayhem that a standard guitar set-up and Marshall amps stacked to the roof can generate. The audacity of it. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

This is my favorite place in New York to spend a Sunday afternoon. No, I’m not talking about Central Park. But rather, The Park, a restaurant in Chelsea which took its name from its past life as a parking garage. Read more

If animated wall drawings of severed heads and insect men ejecting their brains from their craniums is what people produce when they have too much time on their hands, then we should do their laundry for them and cook them dinner so they’ll have even more time on their hands.

WE'RE WEARING

The mining and refining that provides the world with precious metals is also extremely damaging to the environment – each ounce of gold mined generates 30 tons of waste, much of which is toxic. Philadelphia-based Rust Belt make unique, finely crafted earrings, necklaces, and bracelets entirely from re-purposed and recycled materials. The processes they use to make their pieces are also environmentally sound, and they are shipped in beautiful, re-purposed glass bottles.

WE'RE READING

In the lead-up to one of the most anticipated and controversial Olympic Games in Beijing, Boston.com cobbled together a bunch of surreal photos from the wires that depicts the hyper-sanitized, white-washed, and quasi-futuristic city Beijing has become. Read more