Syntaks

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Using the intricate and impossibly thin lines of a Micron pen along with sweeping watercolor washes, New York-based artist John Kleckner creates gorgeous pieces inspired by archival prints as well as more contemporary source imagery. The results have a unique mysticism about them, like a dark fairytale told by a latter-day hippie prophet. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

I’m really liking the style of Natsko Seki. I like the scale she uses, the surrealism, the playfulness and textures. It looks fresh and you can keep looking at her work and finding more in it the longer you look at it. Read more

WE'RE READING

We have a bunch of new playlists up on our sister site, My Secret Playlist, a music discovery website and weekly email publication in which we invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. Over the past few weeks, acts such as The B52s, Team Genius, Pivot, Jukebox the Ghost, Moby, Katy Perry, and the Dandy Warhols, among many others, have written about the music that inspires them. To sign-up to receive the weekly My Secret Playlist publication, just enter your email address into the website’s subscription box.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Metronomy are a cool little London-based group headed by producer and remix extraordinaire, Joseph Mount. The sound sits somewhere between Autechre and Vitalic: clanging keyboards and body-gurning beats laced with an undercurrent of ominous electronica. It’s not as inaccessible as much of the more twisted electro-based stuff out there at the moment, although it retains an edge perhaps unpalatable for some ears. Yet there’s a catchiness to it that is clearly roping in the crowds: their live shows are a spectacle, complete with synchronised dancing and flashing costumes. If that floats your boat, they’re playing for free at the Tate Britain, London, on 27 September.

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WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

With the streets of New York already covered in a thin layer of ice after a heavy snowstorm yesterday, it’s interesting to see how other cold winter cities deal with this ubiquitous companion. At the annual Ice and Snow Festival, in Haban, China, they get kinda creative with it: building an entire city out of ice and then lighting it up like an extra frosty, colourful Christmas tree. Read more

Sufjan Stevens creates autistic music for introverts — soft, shy, naive, full of shadows, windows, and insecurities. Yet it all sounds slightly forced, his enigmatic songwriting as comforting as it is unsettling.

WE'RE WEARING

Perhaps the reason men are not known for their shoe fetishes is because when it comes to mens shoes in general, there are really only two must have varieties: vintage street wear and sartorialist leather. Read more