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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
Thursday // April 01, 2010 at 13:38 // filed under Music
These New Puritans
With all the usual elements of visionaire and art shaman Matthew Stone's touch, who was in the Director's chair, and styled by the achingly, infuriatingly stylish Matthew Josephs is These New Puritans new vid for 'Attack Music'. Check it:
Attack Music by THESE NEW PURITANS
BONUS! Here's Hervé's garage attack dub of the track, extracting the airy woodwind section and kicking it instead with some rubbery beats; turning the vocal into a buzzy hum as well as squeezing the riff that the track is founded on into a bit of a hyperactive spook theme song. Not bad at all; though in my opinion it's not as good as the original - WITH THAT STEEL SAMURAI SWORD UNSHEATHING NOISE - but here it is for y'all who dig that kinda ground.
Wednesday // June 10, 2009 at 19:56 // filed under Music
We were the first ones to show you the Hervé's collaboration with Marina
Gasolina 'Baseball Bat' and now it's time to listen to the first remix of
the track. If the original was a '90s mix of grunge, industrial with a hint of
fidget synths in the background, the High Rankin remix takes the angry vocals and gets them bouncing in the middle of tense fidget synths. The end of the song still reserves space for
a classic break with the best take off you could imagine for such track (hint:
it features shouts, distorted synths and rock'n'roll drums).
Wednesday // May 27, 2009 at 17:34 // filed under Music
Marina is on fire!
OMG! Marina Gasolina - as in ex Bonde do Rolê - has finally embraced her
inner riot grrrl once
again! We already knew that she could shout like a crack addict (check Bonde's
baile punk songs); and recently she showed that she could actually sing (check Radioclit remixes for Metronomy and Architecture in Helsinki), but now she's showing that she can mix
these two talents in a Courtney Love
type of way for Hervé's new single 'Baseball
Bat'.
As the 20 year cycle rule works, the song is like dark and
noisy trip to the '90s. It's an industrial-grunge number sparkled with some
fidget synths and will make your ears bleed (seriously, don't listen to this with your headphones!). I also have to point out the haircut; the
blasé-I-can-beat-like-a-gorilla-face and the blood red lipstick that she's
wearing, because it looks Kat Von D whilst she'sPMT-ing. I wouldn't mess with this girl if I were you.
Hervé feat. Marina Gasolina - Baseball Bat
'Baseball Bat'will be released on the 1st June on Cheap
Thrills.
Thursday // April 23, 2009 at 20:20 // filed under Music
Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. It can work for
everything in the whole world, but in this case I'm talking about music. Some
months ago Hervé released the single 'Cheap Thrills' which features the mad
rapping skillzzz of the Plastic Little as well as a sample from the Michael Jackson
hit single 'Thriller'. No need to remind you that the song went big and got
remixed (and played) by everyone.
Also by now, you'll know the first single from the Brit
trio Filthy Dukes stupidly called 'Tupac Robot Club Rock'. The song features
vocals from the Plastic Little crew and is a dancefloor banger that spits a rap electro putting MSTRKRFT's 'Bounce' in the corner.
Flithy Dukes - Tupac Robot Club Rock
Not only did the Plastic Little rap in the song (and in the
video) but the boys also remixed the track with killer beats, boucing synths
and an annoying - but extremly addictive - high pitched sample. No doubt it's something that MTV USA would love to play during its rap segment.
And as the Plastic Little crew are about to release their
latest single 'La La Land', Hervé and Filthy Dukes are consequentely paying back the favor by producing and remixing it. The solo british producer of many names didn't do
his best job going for the '08 classic of the distorted bass, but Filthy
Dukes sure saved it by adding some dancing beats and '80s hip hop aura .
