IM // UR | Mixtape // An Ode To Karl's Fingers

BEFORE TODAY by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

It doesn’t take much to make me feel stupid. Trying to find the words to describe the debut album of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti at 4AD is just one of many examples I could give you. To me, ‘Before Today’ sounds like an album that Kevin Barnes could be recording if he loved goth bands more than funk ones. Or like the cold wave genre entering a multicoloured psychedelic stage instead of glazing at it's own depression. Don’t mind my threadbare examples; this is the album that will make it onto every interesting top 10 of the year and you don’t wanna miss it.

WE // R \\ WEARING

I can't resist (probably overpriced) basics-with-a-twist. My wardrobe, full of T by Wang, Oak, Bassike and yes, American Apparel is proof of this; and since in Australia, a new favourite has emerged in the form of Nathan Smith. His selection of supersoft tees, tanks and dresses have sucked me into buying multiples of a number of styles in different colourways. You just can't go wrong with these though! Addictively and endlessly wearable - and not in actual fact, overpriced in the slightlest - Nathan Smith is the way forward for your wardrobe.

WE // R \\ WATCHING

I don’t think any series will treat teenagers the same way that Freaks and Geeks did almost 10 years ago. Although relying on every teen American cliché they could, this series was the closest thing to reality you could get whilst still being something fun and interesting to watch – cause, you know, life is boring. With bands like The Who, The Clash and XTC being either part of episodes or the soundtrack, this 80’s based cult show was short-lived (only 18 episodes), but long enough to enrich the careers of some young actors (i.e. James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Busy Philipps and, erm, Linda Cardellini) and is greatly missed. Can we have a movie about them meeting again in the 00’s?

WE // R \\ GOING

Once, a friend of mine wanted to take me to this 'cheap Chinese restaurant', situated in the heart of Liberdade, a Japanese neighborhood in São Paulo. When we got there the place was packed, but because it looked cheesy and kinda poor, I didn't want to wait it out. It took another friend for me to go back there and fall in love with it. Now, every time the mood for some freshly made noodles (you can watch the chief making the noodle dough through a window) framed in some horribly painted pink walls takes me, I go for Rong He. Did I mention the food is also incredibly generous and cheap?

WE // R \\ READING

The ultimate in peeping tom into other, cooler, more fashionable, richer, quirkier and more-hipster-than-thou lives is Todd Selby's The Selby. Having previously been an internet only voyeur's dream, Todd has just last month released The Selby Is In Your Place, a coffee table tome full of twee drawings, colourful interiors and people showering. Half of the images in the books are favourites from the website and the other is stuff he hasn't published online yet. So go check it out, maybe buy it if you can to make your crappy coffee table in your crappy apartment that little bit cooler with pictures of someone else's cool stuff.

Mixtape // An Ode To Karl's Fingers

Friday // July 23, 2010 at 16:22 // filed under Music

Hiya Esk

photo

Arturo Escartin (Esk) is a ssick bro. When I used to faff about as a Chinatown DJ, it was he who gave us our first gig. He is good with the interwebs, words and musicky stuffs. Esk has just palmed up a mixtape for Sydney bible of cool TwoThousand in honour of a handsome hand modelling rivalry that has sprung up between himself and a dude called Karl, whom the mixtape is for and named after; and each track has a hand-related explanation attached to it. Whatever it all means, it's a sweet mix, and a sweet gesture for a rival.

Speaking of which, any of you fancy making a mixtape in our honour, send them through to holler@imyouare.com and we'll post it if we like it.

Go listen to An Ode To Karl's Fingers HERE, whilst the tracklist and the reason for each song choice is below, as told to TwoThousand:

'Take on the World' - Wavves
Wavves makes me think of dolphins. Dolphins don't have fingers.

Freak Scene' - Dinosaur Jr
Asteroids didn't kill the dinosaurs, it was all to do with them not having opposable third fingers.

'Feel It Around' - Washed Out
You wouldn't be able to feel it around without any ... you guessed it ... fingers.

'Gold Soundz' - Pavement
James Bond. Goldfinger. Go figure.

'Boyfriend' - Best Coast
All girls in Vegas have boyfriends that hail from the coast. Inevitably death will come calling, in his best coat, skeletal bony fingers and all.

'Sometimes' - My Bloody Valentine
Without fingers, cupid wouldn't be able to fire his arrow. Without arrows, there'd be no love.

'Sour Grapes' - Descendants
Fact: if you look at a grape, real closely, under a microscope, you'll see they've got tiny little fingers.

'Steak Knife' - Angry Samoans
There's no way the evil looking sea-creature on the cover of Back From Samoa could have ripped his poor victim's head off without those claws.

'Gebbie Street' - DZ
So you pull into a one way street going the wrong way. How would people point you the right way?

'Everybody's Down' - No Age
Try getting back up without fingers.

'Gouge Away' - The Pixies
For professional wrestlers gouging is a way of life. Can you imaging Hulk Hogan minus the digits? Ouch.

'Fairies Wear Boots' - Black Sabbath
Shit. Where do I start? Wands, magic dust, acid ... the possibilities are endless.