Lost AT E Minor

WE'RE SUPPORTING

New York-based photographer Alison Malone ventured behind the typically closed walls of the secret society known as Job’s Daughters to capture portraits of girls who are the direct blood relatives of Master Masons. As she notes: ‘The group is the only Masonic Youth organization to require this blood relationship’. We spoke to her about the series. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Three piece, cLOUDDEAD, who formed in Cincinnati at the tail-end of the last millenium, fuse traditional hip hop beats with indie, electronica and psy-rock overtones. Doesone and Why?’s layered, poetic vocals cover the personal, political and social elements of their lives; and, above all, their flatout rejection of traditional musical boundaries makes them a quirky and unique act.

WE'RE THINKING

Obsessive, impossibly intricate art can sometimes veer off into self-congratulatory messes, overwhelming viewers while not having any real substance. Vasco Morao’s Escher-esque line drawings are rather simple, however, and have a gorgeous, meandering, and meditative quality about them. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

I was initially drawn to Belgium-born Christophe Coppen’s jewellery before discovering that he produces two mens and womens collections each year, consisting not only of jewellery, also of but couture pieces and home accessories. With seven interior collections to his name, and a past history as both a theater director and an actor, his work is an expression of his creative brilliance.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

This café, cookie shop, ice cream place in Cobble Hill Brooklyn is all about flavor, aroma and family. Their cookies and ice cream are absolutely to-die-for, and the place is so well-designed, painted in vintage colors with old family pictures printed on the walls, that you’ll want to indulge yourself for more than just a few minutes. Try their Whoopies and Lucia cookies. They’re my favourite.

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 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.