Grayceon
by I caught Grayceon from San Francisco a week or so ago in Chicago. I hadn’t heard of them before, but they were really fantastic. The trio has roots in metal, but manage to take things in a more melodic, progressive direction without sacrificing heaviness. Their complex arrangements shift between languid, cello-driven segments to riff-heavy parts complete with double bass drums. Cellist Jackie Perez Gratz’ operatic vocal lines in conjunction with guitarist Max Doyle’s monk-like baritone up the chamber-music feel of their sound, but they still hit the right spots to get people headbanging.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Tagged: Grayceon, Jackie Perez Gratz, Max Doyle, metal music, San Francisco
RELATED
Sharing cellist Jackie Perez Gratz with fellow Bay Area post-metal band Grayceon, Giant Squid use metal as a springboard to create and juxtapose a variety of unexpected sounds — horns, keyboards, Middle Eastern melodies, and even some swing. Though often brought up in the same sentence as bands such as Isis and Jesu, their almost manic incorporation of seemingly disparate elements keeps them much more interesting than other watered-down, metal-inspired acts.
Landscape photos resemble traditional Chinese paintings
Chinese born Don Hong-Oai spent most of his life in Saigon, where he apprenticed with a photography studio. He stayed in Vietnam through the war, before fleeing by boat to California in the late 1970s. While living in San Francisco, he went back to China every few years to create new negatives. He remained largely unknown until the final years of his life when he was finally discovered by the wider public. He died in 2004. Read more
Oasis Clubhouse: a new project by Chef Felix
Any tried and true foodie in Buenos Aires is an assiduous follower of Chef Diego Felix’s’ closed door restaurant, Casa Felix. Typically, however, his inspired pescatarian eats are only available a few months out of the year in Buenos Aires while the rest of the time, the Felix clan travels through Argentina, San Francisco, New York, Puerto Rico, and Latin America, generally, hosting closed door diners around the world. Luckily for all of us here in Buenos Aires, his contemporary yet distinctively regional fare can now be found in private events around the city as well thanks to the super exclusive Oasis Clubhouse. Read more
Also by GERRY MAK
20-foot-tall Inflatable Self-Portrait by Takashi Murakami
Taking the idea of an ‘inflated ego’ to the next level, Takashi Murakami created this 20-foot-tall inflatable self-portrait for his solo show, Murakami-Ego, in Doha, Qatar.
Illustrated guide to the Assad clan
In case digging through years of news reports is too tedious for you, Andy Warner just posted a nice illustrated guide to the Assad family to help you understand a little bit of what’s going on in Syria right now.
Fantadrom: a Soviet-era cartoon
I’m not sure what kinds of substances Russians had access to in the waning days of the Soviet Union, but I want whatever the makers of the Fantadrom cartoon series were taking.
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
We’re big fans of the Australian-based blog, SheGoes, which is run by Emma Gardiner and focuses on interesting travel trivia, travel inspiration and first-hand unpaid reviews from people just like you and, erm, me. As the site says: ‘The world is a big, fascinating, beautiful place. SheGoes is all about arming you with exploration information’. And so it is. Check it out.
Ah, sleep of the damned. That messy, unsettled phase where your mind races at the speed of light and everything in life seems that little bit more complicated. Yes, ‘twisting and turning’, you evil companions to a hot summer’s night, how I could do without you. Read more
Improv Everywhere strikes again with a spontaneous musical in a Los Angeles mall. Wireless microphones hooked up to the mall’s PA system ensured the feeding masses didn’t slip into Cinnabon-induced comas until after the show was over. Note especially the angry dude in sunglasses at about 2:51 — apparently he thinks nothing can ever top Rent.
Located on West Houston, Alphaville is my favorite gift store in Manhattan. It offers a great selection of vintage objects, from Nixon’s campaign buttons, to Sesame Street 80s mobiles, 50s greeting cards and the original Mr. Potato Head and his friends. It’s one of those places I walk into just to look but always end up buying something.
Grace is part of a new series of books by author Dale Cusack. The story chronicles the lives of Grace and her feline companion Boot in their struggle to fight the evil Drawl and the cover illustration was done by Auckland-based artist, and Lost At E Minor contributor, Dennis Juan Ma. We asked him about what shaped the colour choices for the piece: ‘I wanted to create a mystery world within the reality. I wanted the colour to encourage readers to stimulate their imagination. I illustrated the covers with a classical Japanese wood block look to show the oriental flavour of the cat’s world. And it just happens that I’m a wood block art fan’. Read more
Listening to Mum’s fourth album — Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy — for the first time, I was awash with sentimentalism. Amidst carnival trumpets and burlesque beats, there’s a sense of this being a bohemian rhapsody. Perhaps it’s the mix of cello and brass with experimental electronica. Or maybe it’s just the soft vocals that cascade over playful, imaginative sounds. Whatever it is, it’s totally brilliant. [see also Sigur Ros' Heima]
Listen to Mum’s track, The Amateur Show.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Free bird boots are handmade customized military boots, applying recycling to fashion in a new way. Created by young New York-based designer, Stacey Howard, the boots were originally collected from military bases in the South. As Howard says: ‘It felt most natural to my aesthetic to use vintage native American garments and paint to refabricate the boots. Using a soldier’s boot and an Indian’s blanket, I wanted to merge two opposite and patriotic styles and use them in the most organic way’. Free bird boots are currently sold through Steve Madden’s Steven stores on Ludlow and Bleecker in New York. Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
How ’bout this Jose Manuel Hortelano-Pi guy, huh? Quite the illustrator, yessiree Bob. From Spain, too. Spain is great! Read more
Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more
Michelle Blade’s psychedelic artwork
Michelle Blade’s washed out paintings are deceptively simple, her washy acrylics creating psychedelic textures and conjuring ghostly figures from the past. Read more
Never ever, ever, ever, ever park here
Some friendly advice for the neighbours, who simply don’t get it, or street art? You decide which one it is.
The return of the Brionvega rr226
Italian brand Brionvega has resurrected the classy Radiofonografio piece first created in 1965. The updated version is just like the original turntable/radio unit, but also has a CD/DVD player.
Using Kyoko Hashimoto’s popular design, these acrylic earrings are made with unique hand formed sterling silver sleepers that make them light enough for everyday wear. Part of Kyoko’s collection, I Blame the Uni, (pronounced ‘oo-nee’, the Japanese name for sea urchin) and inspired by her experiences in the underground club scene of Tokyo. Read more
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it's not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
