WE'RE SUPPORTING

As I was admiring the lovely painting of Dutch artist Helen Verhoeven, I began to notice some strange things popping up. As I continued to look, the bizarre overall nature of her work really began to dawn on me. Looking at these early in the morning while waiting for that first pot of coffee to brew, Verhoeven’s paintings leave me wondering if I’ve really woken up from my dreams yet. They are like stepping into some uncanny dream world with all their loose, colorful brushstrokes and vague figures standing about. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

A colonial-style fishing village on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, San Juan Del Sur is becoming a popular tourist location but has remained largely unspoiled by the tourist dollar. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Monika Tywanek and Ingrid Verner are the Melbourne-based designers behind T-V’s boutique label. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Employing a whole gamut of textures and mediums, London-based illustrator Gwen Lee creates perfectly spontaneous black and white drawings that really hit the spot.

WE'RE READING

DM Stith recently signed to Asthmatic Kitty, the same label as Sufjan Stevens, and has a new EP out this week titled Curtain Speech, featuring contributions from Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), Rafter, Sebastian Krueger and the string quartet Osso. Think Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear meets Arthur Russell. We got the rundown from him on his eight favourite songs right now and he kicked off with The Shangri-Las’ Out In The Streets [listen below]: ‘1:22 – 1:43 is a miracle. I’ve never been so obsessed with twenty seconds of high-hat and high school girl shrieks: it’s a raging teenage fantasy that all the composition notebooks in all the lockers of 1965 couldn’t write better. That the singers have managed to preserve their naivety perfectly in this three minute song may be the reason I feel recording pop music is worthwhile’. Read the rest of DM Stith’s Secret Playlist.

WE'RE WATCHING

Films involving characters faced with an impossible choice never make easy viewing, an example being the Nick Cave Australian gem, The Proposition. A nightclub manager, played with understated power by Joaquin Phoenix, is the victim here, and you actually feel truly uncomfortable as his predicament unfolds. Set in the 1980s, We Own The Night shows a real nostalgia for that period — particularly in the costumes. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

There’s no shortage of bands channeling the surf rock and psych of the 1960s, but the Super Vacations’ sloppy vocals, drunken guitar riffs, and blown out production give them a knowing swagger that has as much in common with Beat Happening and Thee Headcoats as with the Pyramids. They seem to take pride in how bad they are live, but their debut record shows a lot of potential.