Posts tagged with folk-pop music
December 1, 2008 | New Music | 
by Francis Andrews 
|
We asked Oakdale, California singer-songwriter Brett Dennen, who has one of the finest voices in contemporary pop-folk, about the humour which swirls amidst the brutal honesty of his lyrics, and whether he was generally a positive person by nature: ‘I’m weird. I can be laid back, and I can be stressed. I can be positive, and I can be cynical. I think generally, I am like everyone else. I want to love, and I want to be loved. I want to be happy and healthy, and I care about people. I care about the world. I want to be known for putting out a positive message I want to be a singer who inspires people to make the world better for everyone’. Some musicians stay strictly out of politics – you clearly beg to differ. Should those in the public eye be using their status to influence change? It’s really their choice. I think everyone who is in the public eye should use their status for something other than themselves, but it is their choice. I think the problem is that it is hard to speak your mind and heart. You write about politics, and people criticize you for it. It’s happened to me. You get put in a category. They call you a protest singer. Then you are stuck in a category. You may even get criticized for being too optimistic. I’d rather be criticized for being too optimistic, than being criticized for making bad music’.
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Stunning origami by Brian Chan, who loves the art form as it ‘incorporates a lot of geometry, which was my more favored sector of mathematics’. Read more
Multimedia art group Raqs Media Collective create striking installations dealing with their complex relationship to the changes happening in their home country of India. Their categorization based on national identity, however, would make them chafe, as they reject traditional notions of nation state. The main concept scrutinized by the group is modernity itself, and the so-called progress it embodies. Read more
‘Lost’ is the most recent film production in the urban art series produced by Tokyo-based art crew Rinpa Eshidan. Read more
Jean-Julien Pous’ Seeking You is an animated love letter to the city of Hong Kong. It presses all the same buttons as Blade Runner and In the Mood for Love, with a touch of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s gothic style, and though it’s really amazing eye candy, it also smacks of creepy, orientalist expat. Here, an entire Asian city is exoticized, fetishized, and finally anthropomorphized in a rather unsubtle way. Why are so many creepy old European dudes so lecherous when it comes to Asia?
Clients From Hell documents the torture suffered by talented creatives at the hands of ignorant clients. It helps put things in perspective – if you’re having an awful day, a quick browse confirms there are others in similar positions who’ve been through worse than you have. Or maybe not. There’s some gold in the archives; some of our favourites are: Read more
The song Blasphemous Rumours by Depeche Mode is just about the most dark, beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. There’s something very compelling about it all: it’s gloomy and depressing during the verses, but then this sexy, almost hypnotically melodic chorus bursts in out of nowhere. The song came out in 1984 and is reputedly based on a true story, with singer Dave Gahan concluding at the end of it all: ‘I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumours but I think that God’s got a sick sense of humour, and when I die, I expect to find Him laughing’. Brilliant.
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This necklace has been handmade in Italy by Paola Volpi. No longer are zips merely a functioning necessity for apparel, this unique necklace has been created from original gold zippers and thick transparent acrylic threading.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
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
Christoph Niemann illustrates a nightmare flight
New York Times illustrator Christoph Niemann has created a brilliant visual diary outlining the peril and pitfalls that beset the everyday passenger based on his recent experience flying from New York to his home town of Berlin. Read more
Get lost in a daydream or a craving for something sweet while gazing at these cool sculptures by Brooklyn-based WiNK WiNK PONY. Made using clay, tree bark, wood, and mossy moss.
Baltimore Mural by Josh Van Horne
My friend Josh Van Horne, a local Baltimore artist, did this amazing mural in our neighborhood that depicts the history of this warehouse-laden area.
Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more
A tribute to the movie trilogy Back to the Future and that childhood fantasy, the Hoverboard, and designed in the style of a vintage comic book ad that promises the earth but delivers very little, this sexy five colour screen printed t shirt is by New Zealand-based label Cuppa t shirts. 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]
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