Art-pop ensemble: Future Clouds and Radar

Woven Bones

Austin’s Woven Bones may be the second coming of Jesus and Mary Chain with their fuzzed-out, echoey garage rock. Sometimes they sound a little Iggy Pop-ish, sometimes a little Suicide-ish. This is not a bad thing. I like this.

Watch Out For Rockets

I caught Austin band Watch Out For Rockets playing the other week at the Beauty Bar, a small smoky den on a bustling hipster strip. Although they hit the stage a few hours late, they still cranked out an awesome set of guitar-based power pop, though they left out my favorite track, Urgent Serpent Merchant (below).

My Milky Way Arms’ Secret Playlist

We checked in with Space Kill of Austin group My Milky Way Arms, who has just released an album of Star Wars-ian ‘crystal operas’ and asked about the music that inspired it all. He started off with, what else but Van Halen’s mega-hit, Panama: ‘I hated Van Halen for years and this song embodied my hatred. Then one day, like a light switch, my mind clicked over to finally realize this is the most awesome band of all time! This is the ultimate party song I’m too scared to play at a party’. [Read the rest of My Milky Way Arms' Secret Playlist]

Yigal Ozeri’s photorealistic paintings

Israeli-artist Yigal Ozeri’s provocative photo-realistic paintings of young women in nature look like a large format photographs, but are actually the work of minute brushstrokes laced together. Inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, the paintings are exotic portraits of woman enraptured by nature, caught in the lens of the artist’s eye. Ozeri’s inspiration lies in Carl Jung’s concept of the Anima, the psychology of the female’s true inner self. Read more

Anti-Theft Lunch Bags

Tired of having your food stolen by sticky-fingered coworkers or roommates? Bullies taking your kid’s lunch? Well, worry no more. Anti-Theft Lunch Bags are sandwich bags that have green splotches printed on both sides, making your freshly prepared lunch look spoiled. So don’t suffer the injustice of having your sandwich stolen again!

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