WE'RE SUPPORTING

New York-based photographer Michael Lavine took the iconic photo of Kurt and Courtney for the cover of Sassy magazine back in the early 1990s. We asked him to recount the story behind the shoot: ‘We shot the photos at my Bleeker St loft on the Bowery. I remember that my friends Andrea Linett and Janet Billig were there. I remember the ridiculous twelve foot silk lighting setup I used. I remember people having to go out and score dope. I remember Kurt telling me that the reason that he loved Courtney so much was that she was the only girl he knew that would stand up at a party and smash a glass table to bits just for the hell of it. I remember thinking that was a pretty odd reason to love someone’. There’s an extensive interview with Michael Lavine on the Feature Shoot website.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

California’s Cerasoli:LeBasse Gallery has just moved to new digs on Washington Boulevard, Culver City. And to celebrate the re-launch they have an exhibition running featuring the work of Deth P Sun, Mari Inukai [above] and Melissa Haslam, amongst others. This inaugural exhibition, the aptly titled Blender, runs until November 1st.

WE'RE WEARING

Much2Much is an exquisite ‘bourgeoise punk’ jewellery line crafted with unlikely bits and bobs. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

‘Some people call me the space cowboy, some call me the gangster of love, some people call me Maurice, cause I speak with the pompetus of love’. The pompetus of love?! Really. I don’t know what the heck Steve Miller was on the day he wrote that, but I could sure do with some now. Read more

WE'RE READING

We got the inside word from Josh Diamond of New York experimental group, Gang Gang Dance, on the music that is moving him right now and he started off by propping the beautiful Ryuichi Sakamoto track, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence: ‘It’s just an amazing piece of music — serene, austere (in a heavy, beautiful way), emotional, a great mix of electronic sounds, patient, and a wonderful melody, with a quality of yearning for a better place. Every time I listen to this song, it puts me in a trance’. Read the rest of Gang Gang Dance’s Secret Playlist.

Lasse Gjertsen is the future of cut and paste music. He’s just arrived ten years too early and with a really bad haircut.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Though most people in the West think of mahjong as a mysterious game old Chinese people play, it’s actually gets quite rowdy when people get together to play it. Rowdy is certainly a good adjective for Mahjongg, the exquisitely danceable electro-whatever outfit from Chicago who draw as much from Afrobeat as they do vocoder-laden sleaze rock from the 70s.