Exxasens
I can’t really get into bands like Pelican and Isis, but somehow Exxasens, an epic, post-rock outfit from Barcelona (how would you say their name in Spanish?) rub me the right way. They’re much more uptempo, with interesting harmony lines and counter-melodies weaving in and out. I guess the closest comparison is Mogwai, but they sound more like space than the rolling highlands.
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.
RELATED
Olive: Delicatessen del Mediterraneo
Situated between the hip El Born and Barceloneta neighborhoods in always stylish Barcelona, Spain is an unassuming narrow boutique where shelves are lined with all things olive. Here at aptly named OLIVE, Delicatessen del Mediterraneo, an awe-inspiring collection of olive oils sit beside a plethora of olive-oil based cosmetics, soaps, creams, gels, and any other olive-related product one can dream up. Sourced mainly from Spain, in addition to France and Italy, this olive smorgasbord is headed up by a charming Frenchman who also pushes organic cosmetics and chic kitchen design goods. So next time you’re keen on taking up a Mediterranean diet, make a b-line to Barcelona to stock up at OLIVE’s.
Barcelona’s Cuines Santa-Caterina
When Barcelona’s ‘it crowd’ are hankering for some good tucker, I’m pretty sure they head straight to Cuines Santa-Caterina. And why wouldn’t they? Located inside the actual Mercat de Santa Catarina (a fresh produce market) this hip restaurant/bar serves up tasty cuisine from breaky right through to dinner. Ranked as one of Barcelona’s top places to eat and be seen, it’s got several open grills — and you can either sit at the bar, peering into the kitchen, or at large communal tables. Head there early for a tapas-style breakfast, or choose from three oddly grouped cuisines for lunch or dinner: Vegetarian/Sushi, Mediterranean and Asiatic. Thanks to the Scandinavian-inspired decor, you feel like you’re inside a giant warehouse, surrounded by giant shelves topped with boxes, wine, olive oil and vinegar. The prices are surprisingly reasonable, the staff are welcoming, and if you’re there for breakfast, you can hit the market with a full tummy afterwards. Read more
The Take It Easy experience in Barcelona
Two months ago, a very special and unique place opened in Barcelona: TAKE IT EASY, an anti-stress space. Inspired by The Eagles song, Ramón Regada created a comfortable area in the district of L’Eixample in which people can unplug and take a short nap in hi-tech massage chairs. It is aimed at workers with only short time after lunch to take the famous siesta. And all for just five Euros. Regada asks each customer to write down a phrase or word after taking the nap and each week he selects one as a banner in the front window of the space. Read more
Also by GERRY MAK
I had to put up with some seriously obnoxious jocks and drunken highschool kids at a recent show featuring flavor-of-the-moment acts that did the whole ecstatic, 80s electro thing that’s so popular these days. Lots of fluorescent colors. I had to blast some death freaking metal when I got home, and Hooded Menace fit the bill perfectly with their doom-leaning, aural assault. Nothing pisses me off more than tepid, uninspired music, and nothing makes me feel more alive than real, gut-wrenching, skull-pounding, giddily sinister heavy metal.
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.
The bad boy persona in the art world is still alive and well in Australian-born painter and installation artist Anthony Lister. Posing for most photos slumped below his work, cigarette dangling from his lips, Lister is the latest in a long line of somewhat deviant figures in the art world. His work, which generally features superheroes — ‘misguided role models,’ as Lister puts it — has a jerky geometry to them, yet simultaneously a gestural quality reminiscent of 80s art deco, fitting with Lister’s ‘impulsive genius’ image and suggesting a bit of a nod to the cocaine-dusted, heroin-soaked downtown New York scene of 30 years ago. Read more
Heeb magazine founder Jennifer Bleyer recently interviewed me for an article about young creative types on food stamps. The editors at Salon.com decided that I am a hipster. I don’t really know what that means. Judging by the comments that the article generated, I’m some sort of lazy bum who can’t give up my artisinal chevre. I don’t need to go into detail defending my food choices, but all I’d like to say is that I try to buy healthy foods at the lowest prices. I never eat out. I love to cook, and I really need to control what goes into my food, so I cook every meal for myself. I often share with friends. I want to be healthy and I want my friends to be healthy because none of us have health care. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
The master of the minor key lament, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone is not quite as alone as he thinks he is. Or is he? Hmmm, that’s kinda deep. Anyway, we interviewed him recently. Read more
Skagen are a Danish-born design company based out of Nevada with an innovative and clean approach to their work. Their trademark product is this titanium mesh watch, which I’ve worn with pride for years. But they also produce different models of sunglasses and jewellery. When so many products these days offer extra gimmicks and weigh you down by their size, Skagen strip it all back and, in doing so, hoist themselves far above the pack.
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.
UK-based designer Daniel J Diggle has some beautifully obsessive illustrative work on his site, with nice photos of the beginning sketches and process. Read more
Kirk brings Molly to meet his family for a pool party but she doesn’t have her swim suit. Kirk, an average Joe, can’t believe his luck when gorgeous babe Molly falls for him even though he’s the first to admit She’s Out of My League. In cinemas April 1.
There’s something compelling about the energy, the charisma, and the incessant pmmft, pmmft, pmmft of the slippery ghetto tunes blasting (and I mean blasting) out of every hotel, café and bar in South Beach, Miami. Read more
With Lungfish guitarist Asa Osborne’s latest project, Zomes, he continues to explore loops and cycles with endlessly repeating musical phrases, this time played on circuit-bent keyboards. The resulting tracks sound at times like medieval court music at others like the soundtrack to a Hal Hartley movie.
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.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.
Check out Mike Stimpson’s Lego reinterpretations of classic photographs. Stimpson’s version of Malcolm Browne’s iconic 1963 photograph of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc is particularly twisted. Read more
Forget battery powered vehicles. Cars made from ice are the future of transportation: no pollution, no honking horns, no painful rap music blasting out of souped up stereos. And if they melt, they melt. You just swim the rest of the way down the slipstream.
I live the upbeat, feel good tempo of the new single — A Hundred Hearts — from Philly group, The Swimmers. Off their latest album, People Are Soft, this song is a strangely fitting anthem for the blustery day outside.
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.
Kate Banazi’s silkscreen artwork
A three-lettered ‘wow’ explodes in my mind whenever I look at the work of Sydney-based silkscreen artist Kate Banazi. Her latest work is fantastically dynamic, stylistic and abstract, making clever use of colour-bomb palettes. Read more
This Powder Necklace features a pearlized Turbo Cinereus shell with tiny holes drilled into the bottom, filled with a sparkling silver-colored powder that when gently tapped, sprinkles a light dusting on the wearer’s chest. Designed by Stephanie Simek. Read more
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
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.











