WE'RE SUPPORTING

My first encounter with the work of Portland, Oregon artist Carson Ellis was when stumbling across her beautiful cover art for The Decembrist’s Crane Wife album. It was love at first sight. She has such an amazing way with a simple pencil drawing. And as much as I enjoy all of her work, from her watercolors to her acrylic paintings, it’s still those pencil drawings that tug at my heart strings with their nuanced textures and forms. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Located by the Atlantic Avenue Station, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the BAM movie theaters are as genuine as it gets in New York when it comes to going to the movies. It features a small selection of the latest releases actually worth seeing, or you can immerse yourself in the BAMcinématek, which presents repertory classics, retrospectives, festivals, premieres, and rare films.

WE'RE WEARING

Instead of spending another Saturday afternoon looking though an already plumaged St Vinnies or Beacon’s Closet before buying something you’ll never wear for $5, check out Mooka Kinney. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Presented as a tableau of vignettes, the work of UK illustrator Jody Barton is executed in a variety of techniques and mediums, yet manages to run the gamut from delicately bold watercolors, to thoroughly noir black and white ink drawings, to child-like, and endearing, colored pencil scribbles.

WE'RE READING

In the wake of America’s historic presidential election, nearly two years of divisive campaigning, and eight years of a controversial administration, the nation is in desperate need of healing. Beloved Internet personality Ze Frank started From 58 to 42 with Love where contributors use their webcams to post messages reaching out to the side of the country that didn’t vote for their guy. It’s saccharine at times, and there are one or two borderline nasty posts from people that don’t seem completely onboard with the project’s objective. But overall, it’s pretty effective and moving. I’ll admit I needed a couple tissues while reading it.

I spent the formative first six years of my life in Wellington, New Zealand, a beautiful windswept city framed by a magnificent harbour in one direction and a stunning collection of green, rolling hills in the other. It was here, on a return visit many years later and deep amongst the clipped accents and ruddy faces of the weather-beaten locals, that I stumbled upon the vast catalogue of the then Dunedin based record label Flying Nun. And what a roster of acts they housed — The Chills, The Bats, The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, and my favourite guitar-pop band, Straitjacket Fits. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Bay Area duo The Human Quena Orchestra sounds like a skyscraper falling in slow motion with their scraping, crashing, screeching drone pounded out of guitars, samplers, and circuit-bent electronics. Listen to their track Progress below.