Smittens

WE'RE SUPPORTING

We spoke with Brooklyn-based illustrator Jordan Awan a few weeks back. This is the second part of that interview. How did you find your style? ‘Though “style” can be a slippery word to use, I can pinpoint one particular instance that led to a major turning point in the way I work. It was a comment made several years ago by my good friend Eric Wrenn, who told me that I was drawing too quickly and needed to physically slow my hand down’. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

New York-based Japanese artist Shusaku Arakawa designed this small apartment block in 2005 in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka in conjunction with his poet partner, Madeline Gins. According to the SushiLog: ‘Painted in eye-catching blue, pink, red, yellow and other bright colors, the building resembles the indoor playgrounds that attract toddlers at fast-food restaurants. Inside, each apartment features a dining room with a grainy, surfaced floor that slopes erratically, a sunken kitchen and a study with a concave floor. Electric switches are located in unexpected places on the walls so you have to feel around for the right one. A glass door to the veranda is so small you have to bend to crawl out’. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Heavily influenced by music and film, the design team at Conquer Gear showcases their tees not as clothes, but indubitably as limited edition art pieces. That said, I wonder what film or music piece inspired Mr. Owl picture t shirt [below]? Led Zeppelin came to mind, but then so did Joni Mitchell!. As for film inspirations, Clockwork Orange, Lord of the Rings and Out of Africa. Hmmm, maybe I’m not so good at this afterall. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

So I have this recurring dream. Well, not really a dream as such. More a footnote on the thesis on life; a ‘mental meandering’ where my mind flows to a secret place which only I and Paul McCartney can access. Read more

WE'RE READING

DJ Spooky — That Subliminal Kid — is just about the deepest crate digger around, trawling the barrels of long-lost record stores for choice vinyl to spin in his wickedly dubby sets. He gave us the inside word last week on his eight favourite songs right now via our sister website, My Secret Playlist. This is what he had to say about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Panic in Babylon: ‘If there’s anything that the twenty-first century has told us, it’s that dub is the real original hip-hop. Lee Scratch even had to make it clear in 1965 by adding “Scratch” to his middle name. Take that, Grandmaster Flash!’ Read the rest of DJ Spooky’s Secret Playlist.

Comedy troupe Summer of Tears edited itself into the classic ’80s movie Teen Wolf, starring Michael J. Fox, providing a new and gut-bustingly hilarious side-plot.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Though most people in the West think of mahjong as a mysterious game old Chinese people play, it’s actually gets quite rowdy when people get together to play it. Rowdy is certainly a good adjective for Mahjongg, the exquisitely danceable electro-whatever outfit from Chicago who draw as much from Afrobeat as they do vocoder-laden sleaze rock from the 70s.