Lost AT E Minor

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Well, it seems I’ve been in a vacuum of art since the spring. And now, its just a week or so out from the upcoming Young Blood exhibit, which features my paintings and opens at the Opera Gallery in New York. I find myself feeling both excited and nervous at the thought that this show is just around the corner. These past few months have seemed like one of the great feats of my lifetime. I have been working for five months on these two upcoming shows, immersed deeply in the studio, being on a complete mission to create what will be my debut show in Manhattan alongside a handful of other rising international artists. I would wake at once at 4:30 in the morning, to a strict regimen of coffee by five, and paint through the sunny summer days into late in the evening to complete these works. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

The work of Ho Chi Mnh-based, French illustrator, Nadège David, is stunning: intricate patterns woven deep amongst gently rolling, and pleasantly muted, colours. Read more

Back in the day, when I was a skinny teenager on the great pedestal of life, I had a real obsession for the understated, low-fi, deliciously melodic and somewhat blurry sounds of the New Zealand Flying Nun bands. I would pool my meagre savings and canvas the local record shops, scouring the racks for the latest cassettes from The Bats, The Chills, The Clean, and, later, The Straitjacket Fits. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Ok, so superlatives aren’t really my thing but, damn … the Meet Lincoln t-shirt from emerging fashion label, Klaus Industries, is the coolest tee I’ve seen all year. Who would have thought that America’s finest would make such a striking print graphic. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Don’t be afraid of the word retro. It has haunted us all from time to time, but one group that has embraced it with open arms is UK duo, La Roux. Their music is synth pop in the vein of Calvin Harris, Human League, The Eurythmics, and The Knife. There are quite a few of these young and ambitious pop starlets on the scene including Goldielocks. But La Roux takes the cake. Literally. I’m obsessed with their song In For the Kill and have a feeling summer will take it and make it a hit.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Last night, I caught Pagan Fest at B.B. Kings in NYC. I missed the band that I was the most excited to see, T˘r, but Turisas and Ensiferum more than made up for it. Americans have been pretty late to warm up to folk and Viking metal, and bands of this sort almost never tour the States, so it was gratifying to see that the show was sold out, and that the crowd was so exuberant. Read more

WE'RE READING

DJ Spooky — That Subliminal Kid — is just about the deepest crate digger around, trawling the barrels of long-lost record stores for choice vinyl to spin in his wickedly dubby sets. He gave us the inside word last week on his eight favourite songs right now via our sister website, My Secret Playlist. This is what he had to say about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Panic in Babylon: ‘If there’s anything that the twenty-first century has told us, it’s that dub is the real original hip-hop. Lee Scratch even had to make it clear in 1965 by adding “Scratch” to his middle name. Take that, Grandmaster Flash!’ Read the rest of DJ Spooky’s Secret Playlist.