September 29, 2008 | Products | by Derrick Stembridge |
AirCurve is a cleverly-designed acoustic amplifier that turns your iPhone into a no-power-drain alarm clock on your nightstand, or a mini sound system that never needs batteries or adapters. AirCurve looks like a simple, elegantly minimal stand for your iPhone. But inside is a cleverly designed coiled waveguide that collects the sound from the built-in speaker of your iPhone, amplifies it, and projects it into the room.
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September 20, 2008 | Music | by Derrick Stembridge |
It’s only fitting a band of Canadian rootsters like this would tap a mythical figure of folklore for their namesake. Indeed, Ottawa’s The John Henrys understand the power of the familiar. Read more
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September 13, 2008 | Products | by Derrick Stembridge |
The revolutionary Gibson Robot Les Paul Studio Limited Electric Guitar has some groundbreaking controls at your disposal. At first glance, the four control knobs seem to be indistinguishable from those on other Les Paul guitars. But look again. While the knobs do provide the standard tone and volume controls for each of the two pickups, the Multi-Control Knob (MCK) — the one with the illuminated top — serves as the master control for all aspects of the Robot Les Paul Studio Limited’s amazing self-tuning system. Which is kinda fun when you think about it.
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September 11, 2008 | Events | by Derrick Stembridge |
Artsprojekt is a fun curated platform that empowers emerging and established artists and brands to connect, collaborate, and showcase original art, designs and ideas with consumers.
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September 8, 2008 | Music | 
by Derrick Stembridge |
Released in 2008, Why Are We Not Perfect? presents three Jesu tracks originally issued on a split EP with the ambient act Eluvium during the previous year. As with the Silver and Lifeline EPs, Why Are We Not Perfect? finds Jesu mastermind Justin Broadrick pushing his heavy aesthetic further into more melodic territory with their track Farewell, in particular, marked by epic synth washes and the title song carried largely by soft vocals and a lopping drum track. Read more
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September 8, 2008 | Trends | by Derrick Stembridge |
Slovenian domestic appliance brand Gorenje has developed a fridge-freezer with a built-in iPod docking station and speakers. Launched at the IFA 2008 consumer electronics fair in Berlin, the fridge allows users to listen to music while cooking, browsing online recipes, or watching cookery videos.
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September 8, 2008 | Websites | by Derrick Stembridge |
Songsterr solves problems by creating tabs you can play back and along with in real time. As the song progresses, Songsterr indicates where you should be in the tab. Just what us guitar hacks needed. Now, where the hell is my Guitar Hero axe?
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September 7, 2008 | Film | 
by Derrick Stembridge |
Scott Prendergast wrote, directed, and starred in the movie Kabluey, which he referred to as a ‘melancomedy’ about Salman, an awkward but well-intentioned man, and his sister-in-law, Leslie (played by Lisa Kudrow), who are thrown together amidst an array of personal difficulties. While Leslie’s husband is away at war, Salman steps in to serve as a live-in nanny to his two young nephews, who are struggling with anger issues of their own.
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September 7, 2008 | Trends | by Derrick Stembridge |
Cappuccino is an open source application framework for developing applications that look and feel like the desktop software users are familiar with. It is built on top of standard web technologies like JavaScript, and it implements most of the familiar APIs from GNUstep and Apple’s Cocoa frameworks. When you program in Cappuccino, you don’t need to concern yourself with the complexities of traditional web technologies like HTML, CSS, or even the DOM. The unpleasantries of building complex cross browser applications are abstracted away for you.
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September 7, 2008 | Websites | by Derrick Stembridge |
PleaseDressMe is a classic example of scratching ones own itch. AJ, Gary, and Joe love finding great new tees, but finding the tees wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. Rather than sifting through multiple websites, they figured why not just go to one website that makes searching for t-shirts easy? Once they came to that conclusion, Joe went to coding and after a few calculated keystrokes he brought in Chris to make it pretty. And it is. PleaseDressMe indeed.
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September 6, 2008 | Music | by Derrick Stembridge |
Dianogah’s core instrumentation is as a trio of two bass guitarists and one drummer. They have toured the US extensively, traveled throughout Europe and played in South America, amongst other places, with acts such as Man or Astro Man?, Blonde Redhead, Shellac, Silkworm, June of 44 and Don Caballero.
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September 5, 2008 | Eco | by Derrick Stembridge |
The Puyo is an environmentally friendly concept car designed by Honda. The vehicle is ultra-efficient, powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology, and has a unique aesthetic to boot. Literally. The sensual nature of this hydrogen fuel cell car also comes with a sense of transparency from its panoramic windows and intuitive operation. One of the coolest features of the Honda Puyo, however, is that the cabin rotates 360-degrees, so the car doesn’t have to go in reverse.
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August 25, 2008 | Products | by Derrick Stembridge |
The LaCie FireWire Speakers combine Neil Poulton’s stunning industrial design with superb digital audio technology. With a frequency response of 90Hz-20kHz, they deliver powerful, vibrant sound for your music, movies and games. Easily connect them to your computer or MP3 player, it comes with built-in FireWire cable — so there’s no need for batteries or an AC adapter.
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August 25, 2008 | Music | by Derrick Stembridge |
Since vanity albums seem to be back in style, Leisha Hailey’s Uh Huh Her released their Common Reaction debut on August 19 through Nettwerk. Uh Huh Her is a collaboration between former Mellowdrone bassist and keyboardist Camila Grey and Hailey, who’s better known as Alice Pieszecki on the Showtime television series, The L Word. Their eleven-track disc was produced by Al Clay (Blur, Pink). The band recently shot a video for their single Not A Love Song, which you can preview along with Explode [audio below] and a remix of Say So on Uh Huh Her’s MySpace page.
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August 23, 2008 | Music | by Derrick Stembridge |
The Sound of Animals Fighting again unleash their experimental blend of progressive electronic hardcore rock. Known only by their animal names — Nightingale, Walrus, Lynx, and Skunk — and wearing masks for their rare live appearances, TSOAF have released two albums. Their latest, The Ocean and The Sun, offers an intense mix of genres, as delicate Brazilian-inflected melodies careen into shattering guitar workouts.
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I love the work of Joao Machado. It’s vibrant, distinctive, and compelling — broken bits of storylines immersed in drippings of bold shape and colour. Read more
We name-checked them as having one of the top five albums of 2007, and with good reason. I speak of Nashville band, The Silver Seas. Read more
Australian group Pivot have recently signed with the mighty Warp label and — even better (well, for us anyway) — have written a fun Secret Playlist for us. You can see where the many disparate influences have seeped into their latest recording, the beautiful and colourful, O Soundtrack My Heart.
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.
There’s an ethereal feeling about the music of London-based, Aussie exports Howling Bells. It washes over you in waves of pure melody, always tinged by the faintest whisper of longing. We checked in recently with frontwoman Juanita Stein. Read more
Dubbed as a ‘lifestyle project’ drawing influences from Californian street culture, the store recently opened by LA-based The Hundreds in San Francisco has, hands down, the coolest fit-out I’ve ever seen. Read more
Threads or Dead is a new Australian-based online clothing store, based in Perth, and selling streetwear and contemporary fashion for both guys and girls. Says site founder Justin Greenwood: ‘As well as stocking some of the more well known brands, we also import a lot of labels exclusively from America, and produce a small range of our own clothing. We want to sell clothing that is unique and often has a story behind it. We don’t want to sell clothing that is available in your average High Street store’. Read more
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
The directorial debut of John August, a writer who was worked on films such as Go, Big Fish and Corpse Bride, is a complex and thought-provoking arthouse feature crowned with a spectacular performance by Ryan Reynolds in the lead role. Like most films, it is in three parts. However, these are three distinct parts with the same actors all playing different roles. Read more
I’m so digging the work of Santa Monica artist Andrew Hem. Painting seems to have become relegated in the illustration world these days, so I’m pleased to see Hem rocking it in a big way. His bold brushwork, lush colors, puppet-like figures and painted type make for a body of work that really hits the painted spot.
Like a packet of perfectly seasoned pistachio nuts, I can’t put this album down until it’s well and truly finished: until every last morsel of taut, snappy percussion and hypnotic vocals have been digested. They’re like Animal Collective at the wind-down hour - slightly more stabilised and with the psychotic fits tempered into a soothing, trance-inducing pace. Somehow it’s also immediately catchy, laced with subtle hooks and soaring backing vocals. It’s the sort of sound that sucks you into their warm world, likely to cause you to miss your bus stop if your mind sinks too far into the rich chasm of tracks like Red and Purple [below] or The Ball. Listen closely, because this might well be one of the releases of the year.
Alison Malone on her Daughters of Job photos
A couple of weeks back we featured the work of New York-based photographer Alison Malone, who went into the secretive environment of the Job’s Daughters to photograph the girls who are direct blood relatives of the Master Masons. This is the second part of that interview. The portraits of girls [below] are angelic. What was your intention of photographing them in this light? ‘There are many reasons that I chose to photograph the girls in this way. The first is the simple love I have of the straight photographic portrait and its ability to transmit the subtle nuances that come from an individual. When a portrait is made there is an opportunity for a delicate exchange between the photographer and the subject that creates a place to examine how one holds oneself in a moment’. Read more
Located on a mountain in country outside Mudgee, in New South Wales, Australia, a permanent camp designed by Casey Brown has been set. A timber structure clad in copper has been designed to have a closed state and an open state. From the closed position, the flanks of copper are hoisted and capture views across the valley. With an imagery of structures, materials and mechanics of old, there is something romantic about this foothold on the hill.
Very Cheap Bag totes are eco-friendly and made from 100 percent unbleached cotton. They’re sturdy, yet lightweight. We love them, and think you will too. So we have them for sale in our online store for less than nine dollars. Read more
Happy, happy, joy, joy! We have a TV On The Radio poster designed by Tunde, as well as Dear Science on vinyl, to give away to a randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscriber who leaves a comment under this post telling us why they simply must have it.
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