Lost AT E Minor

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Artist Taylor McKimens does paintings you want to poke with a stick, and maybe even sniff, if your friends dared you. With grotesque images of diseased bodies, rotting piles of vomit, intestine-looking tubes, and all manner of scatological subjects rendered in muted pastels, McKimens’ paintings look as if pop culture has been left out of the fridge too long and is sprouting some pretty funky stuff. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

So my protegee is in full training for the annual International Whistling Championships which take place in North Carolina each year and I’m reasonably happy with his progress, though he did struggle a little the other day when I had him doing pushups whilst belting out the distinctive chorus hook to Norwegian Wood. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

A Dutch insurance company recently launched a pretty creative ad campaign that was put on the backs of buses in Amsterdam, making them look like they were actually moving backwards.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Killola is three boys and one girl, making rock music out of Los Angeles, California. The band’s style of garage pop (often described as ‘Blondie for the 21st Century’) has received more than 1.5 million MySpace plays from over 80,000 friends, many of whom add the band’s ‘K))’ symbol to their screen names as a show of allegiance. The band recently self-booked its own UK tour — 12 shows in 12 days — and American Tour — 27 shows in 32 days. Oh, and their latest album is available for free download. Viva la independence!

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.

I don’t care if Jimmy Hendrix was dragged kicking and screaming from where he lies, put through a torrid round of detox, and handed an invisible guitar – a Flying V carved out of the bones of Robert Johnson. It would still pale in comparison to this. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Swedish designer Paula Hagerskans has a cool masculine-edge to her female fashion lines. But it’s her attention to detail that really blows my mind. Her perfectly tailored jackets, along with her flat dress shoes, make dressing up fun, comfortable and classy. When asked what she keeps in mind while designing, Hagerskans responds, ‘Bohemic music lovers, humor, graphic design and the female body’.