One of my favorite artist/designers -- Kenzo Minami -- has just completed a collection of prints and paintings called Remakes that you need to check out.
In his new solo show Remakes, Kenzo Minami addresses the phenomenon of remakes, both in art and in our culture at large, through repetition-based works that resist the conventional grammar of design.
Minami looks back on the past 10 years as a decade of remakes and repeats. As the beginning of a new century, the '00s have been about wrapping up and reviewing the 20th Century so that we can finally prepare to begin a new phase in the 21st. Acknowledging the ubiquitous nature of archetypes that have been around since ancient times, Minami himself participates in reworking these same ideas in his paintings and prints, but with a consciousness that places the repetition at a remove.
Devoid of the visual punctuation of a clear focal point, Minami's works take the act of repetition to a new level: they are anti-design, anti-characteristic, anti-motif, anti-concept. This is his vision of the way the 20th Century should have ended -- with an acknowledgement of a culture of repetition, post-post-modernism, post-referencing, rebuilding, and loss of originality.
There's a lot going on with UK designer Oliver Spencer at the moment. In addition to recently taking over the former location of East Village store DEN at 300 East 11th Street, Spencer's Fall/Winter 2009 collection has hit stores and he's just done an Oxford shirt collaboration with super chic magazine Monocle.
A Monocle favorite Oliver Spencer stands as a benchmark of quality among British fashion brands and these Oxford shirts are the embodiment of his style. Available in white or blue and strictly limited to 60 in each color, the range is made from the highest quality 275 GSM cotton. The tailoring takes the classic Oxford and adds Spencer's signature slim cuff, divided pen/passport chest pocket and a hidden card/cash pocket in the side seam for those trips to far-flung destinations.
Available exclusively from Oliver Spencer's stores in New York, London and online, as well as the Monocle shops in LA and London.
Once you see Spencer's Fall/Winter 2009 collection -- as the designer further explores his vision of "man at sea" -- you'll want more than just an Oxford shirt.
Another band that's getting a lot of hype right now is an indie band out of the UK called The XX.
Says Rough Trade: The XX are four precocious 19 year olds from south west London who provide the hushed minimal strokes of young marble giants and early cure but through the minds of a young act obsessed with the r&b turns of Ciara and Aaliyah, having gone so far as to cover the latter's Hot Like Fire as the b-side for their first single, Crystalised and having first been picked up after recording a sensational version of Womack and Womack's Teardrops.
Having signed to XL sub-label Young Turks earlier in the year the band began to record with a host of the finest producers going, including Brazilian giant Diplo and up-and-coming hotshot Kwes, the four eventually settled with the option of recording at XL's in-house studio, with XX eventually produced by the band themselves.
This is an inspired, broken and uplifting record, packed with melancholic charms that recalls the suburban disillusion of the previous Burial records and Portishead's Dummy. This is a remarkable debut record from a remarkable new act.
A friend just tipped me off to a slew of new bands, which I'm checking out slowly but surely. One that I listened to today that I like: The Antlers. Probably not news to some of you - they've gotten a ton of press so far - but they're new to me. Check them out.
The Antlers thrive on change. They have, in a way, been defined by their evolution from Peter Silberman's folkier solo recordings to a fully-realized band. After only a short period of time, but a comparatively large number of releases, their newest, Hospice, is practically unrecognizable from its predecessors.
Hospice is an unusual record that flows with the pace and structure of a novel. The songs are drenched in a post-rock haze, covering Explosions In The Sky-esque triumph with a shoegaze blanket – all while still retaining the shape and momentum of a pop song.
The vocals remain an important focal point of Hospice – Silberman blends the falsetto of Jeff Buckley and Antony Hegarty with the delivery of Arcade Fire's Win Butler. Lyrically, Hospice is more literary as Silberman narrates a nightmarish story of illness, dysfunction, death and ultimately liberation – drawing inspiration from the likes of Raymond Carver, Leonard Michaels and Sylvia Plath.
It's going to be tough to match last week's barrage of emails from all of you wanting to get your mitts on those Adidas x Nom de Guerre sneakers. I think, though, that I've found just the thing: a $100 Topman gift certificate that you can use online or at any of their stores worldwide!
The UK based retailer's much awaited New York store opened last year on Broadway and has been packing the crowds in ever since. Given what's going on in the economy, it's no wonder.
Topman's main product offerings are fashionable men's clothing, covering everything from men's formal suits to informal indie-rock-influenced casual-styling ranges, along with footwear and accessories.
For a list of special collections, click here. You can also see what's hot on their blog. Click here for the US edition and here for the UK edition. For complete list of store, click here. And if you're in the US and you sign up for their newsletter, you get free shipping on your next order. Combine it with the $100 gift certificate and you're good to go.
Check out SHOOT -- a new book of photography edited by Ken Miller (Revisionaries; A Decade of Art in Tokion) and mega publisher of high-end books Rizzoli.
SHOOT gathers over 20 photographers whose work focuses on capturing a moment rather than elaborate lighting setups or controlled, manufactured scenarios. Employing the most basic photographic tools-a single-lens reflex camera and natural light-they must rely on their instincts and their ability to interact with a situation to create a dynamic image. This freewheeling approach reflects an era in which we are increasingly bombarded by images, and the emotional resonance of images has become an important part of our visual vocabulary.
The book documents the influence of an older generation of art photographers, such as the legendary Nan Goldin and Wolfgang Tillmans, and expands on a younger generation of photographers, including Tim Barber and J. H. Engstrom, to show how this style has gained traction and influence.
Who is Dead Meat?? Me and other 6 people living in Modena
Are you artists/designers/something else? I guess, you know, it's not easy to define who you are. I really don't know. I just try to do what I like. I would love to tell people something about myself, just not to feel alone. It's a way to learn that the principal issue in our society is loneliness and lack of communication. We're animals and we judge and we are scared, but at the same time we try to climb, to gain a power to convince people that our point of view is the right one. What I try to do through designing clothes, comics, and writing is to offer a point of view that has its strength in what we call Doubt.
Where do you live? Modena, Italy
Where did you grow up? Modena
What'd you want to be when you were a kid? A plastic surgeon
Who has influenced you most in life? David Foster Wallace
Summer's over. The galleries are open again. Pencil this one in: Kehinde Wiley's Black Light that's opening at Deitch tomorrow night.
The New Yorker sums it up perfectly: The artist makes his photographic début with digitally altered images that will look familiar, since Wiley's signature paintings of young black men in poses borrowed from baroque and Mannerist art already combine Photo-Realism with fanciful patterning. Wearing blatantly branded hip-hop gear and gesturing in the style of the heroic, aristocratic, or royal figures out of Ingres, Van Dyck, and Joshua Reynolds, his subjects are more than ready for their closeups.
The bravado, exaggeration, and playfully self-conscious role-playing that these teens project for the camera is not that different from the theatricality of classic European portraiture. Wiley surrounds his guys with flowery wrapping-paper flourishes, adding a layer of cheerful contemporary kitsch to his hyped-up stylistic pastiche.
Check out these videos Italian bag and shoe line Guidi had made to promote their Fall/Winter 2009 collections.
The first is from their site and is playing on repeat in the background at their showroom. For a larger version, click here. Such a hot way to promote a line -- much more interesting than run-of-the-mill runway videos -- blurring the lines once again between art and fashion.
After a bit of research, I found another video also from the Fall/Winter 2009 collection. It too is directed by Alessandro Tinelli, who, in addition to other videos for Guidi, has directed videos for Damir Doma and Lumen Et Umbra, as well as a bevy of cool, art shorts. Check out his list of videos on Vimeo here.
If you missed my coverage of Guidi in June, click here to read the original post. The line is incredible. Don't forget to click through to see the videos!
Today's chilly temp coupled with the angle of the sun were sobering reminders that tomorrow is September 1st, summer's pretty much over, and we're going to need something more than tees, jeans, and shorts in the upcoming weeks; something you're not going to see it on the runways during Fashion Week.
Check out the Fall/Winter 2009 collection from Forme 3'3204322896 by Italian designer Koeun Park.
Says Theme: The name Forme 3'3204322896, pronounced Forme d'expression, is created by decoding numeric orders that make up the "Helvetica-Fraction" font. Much like the clothing it represents, the name is about conversion and individuality. Garments should be able to stand on their own and at the same time "evolve, as the owner's life does," Park says. "The numbers can be anyone's own interpretation. I wanted to leave it up to their own imagination, like the numerous forms that will be produced each season, or year, or decade."
A perfect balance between casual and well-tailored -- a recurring theme with the lines that I'm currently into -- the line is a favorite among in-the-know fashion connoisseurs and sold at some of the chicest boutiques worldwide, including Archive, Matches, Podium 6, Le Globe, and super hot Darklands in Berlin and it's online eShopKomakino.
Mark your calendars: from 11.01 through 11.22.09, PERFORMA is back in New York with 10 Commissions, 90+ artists and 20+ curators at 70+ venues. If you haven't attended any PERFORMA related events in the past, you're in for a treat.
PERFORMA is the brainchild of RoseLee Goldberg, whose definitive book, Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present (1979 & 2000), pioneered the study of performance art and has been translated into nine languages. Ms. Goldberg's writing, as well as her activities as curator at The Kitchen in the late seventies, has shaped the public's view of live performance as a visual art form for almost thirty years.
In 2001, Ms. Goldberg originated and produced visual artist Shirin Neshat's first live performance work, Logic of the Birds, with critical and popular success in both New York and London. The idea to create a biennial, with a specially commissioned new performance as the centerpiece, evolved from this highly successful production.
PERFORMA is a multidisciplinary non-profit arts organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century.
So I know I've been going off lastely about Tretorn. First it was the Commes des Garconscollaboration sneakers, then the give way, and now it's all about the T56.
My friends at Tretorn sent me a pair of the high top canvas T56 sneakers. They're simple and chic. They look great with shorts (I mean REALLY good) and with work clothes. They're kinda like those white on white Vans canvas shoes I was wearing last year, but less street and way more fashion. Comparable -- but not the same by any means -- to something like an all white Common Projects sneaker for a fraction of the cost.
I have to say, though, I just Googled the T56 and saw the post on Tretorn's blog saying that Justin Timberlake loves the leather version of this that I gave away a few weeks ago. What they forgot to mention was that JT's blog found out about it on this.hearts.on.fire. I'm sure it was a honest mistake, but in this age of hypermedia, every click, mention, reference, etc adds up, especially for the little guys.
Nonetheless, I love these all white (mine don't have the green stripe) Tretorn T56's. Get some. They're versatile, look great, and you can nab yourself a pair for only $65, unless you buy them now for their eShop. They're on sale for $39!!!
Iconic Swedish vodka brand ABSOLUT just released the sickest custom bottle ever. It's there classic bottle sans labels. So simple. So hot.
ABSOLUT Vodka is introducing, In An ABSOLUT World, There Are No Labels, an initiative where ABSOLUT wants to challenge labels and prejudice to make the world more diverse, vibrant and respectful, and introduces a naked bottle - with no label, but with a lot of attitude.
Hopefully these will make their way stateside soon. I want one now!!
Check out British artist Jordan Askill's work. The former Ksubi designer has a line of jewelry and various pieces of sculpture that I think is super hot.
Jordan has researched and developed his own high concept yet beautifully wearable jewellery collection, taking references from the nostalgia of youth, fine jewellery methods of the past, and the world around us together combining to reveal something very honest, modern and completely new.
Accompanying the collection, Jordan's other passion, sculpture, is also being recognised with 3D pieces which have been created using the latest technology resulting in sculptures that are at once organic in shape yet with their foundations firmly in the 21st century.
Further to the creation of jewellery and sculpture, the designer is also involved in film, working with his brothers, directors Daniel and Lorin Askill, art directing short films and video installations, and styling other projects such as commercials and music videos.
Jordan Askill's first collection is exclusively sold in Dover Street Market (London), the Rick Owens (Paris), and Lands End (Sydney). Check out Askill's site for more pics of his work and more information on the artist. I think his sculpture is simply amazing.
New York's Derrick Cruz -- he's the designer behind the label Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons -- is set to release a new line of men's and women's jewelry during New York Fashion Week called Theft of Light.
Conceptually situated at the crossroads of Native American Mythology and an urban outsider instinct, Theft of Light is a tribute to his father Jun and introduces large and bold looks, re-purposed traditions and creatively up-cycled materials.
After emigrating from Puerto Rico to the US, Cruz's father created a gallery and craft studio in Colorado to revive traditional skills for making tools, decorative and ritual objects. Feathered buffalo headdresses, painted rawhide shields, and lances, knives, bows and arrows and the like soon filled Jun Cruz Gallery to the admiration of both novice and native. In the hands of a nearly lost culture, Jun Cruz had finally found a spiritual home.
Theft of Light then becomes a reminder to me of how seeking familial instincts can make or break a person. Though some are denied this hopeful propensity, many individuals flee stagnation and the dismissal in hopes of finding a new tribe. Some find one and thrive.
I was out last week and met someone who knows someone who hooked me up with a pair of the super hot Nom de Guerre contribution (retail value $170) to the Adidas Five-Two 3 collection. Note to self: as tired as you are, keep going out.
Adidas teams up with New York label Nom De Guerre as part of the upcoming Five-Two 3 project. The sneaker has been modified heavily by the NY based brand incorporating elements in line with their ethos. This sneaker features a zipper lace system along with a velcro strap set at an angle to signify a war bandage strap. The shoe has a military boot feel to it but is still undeniably a classic Adidas sneaker. The Nom de Guerre Forum Mid is available in limited quantities at exclusive Nom De Guerre retailers, or, if you're our lucky winner...here!
I know. I know. I keep talking about summer being over and what jacket I want for Spring, but then Fashion Week is coming up and they're going to be showing Spring/Summer 2010 and I love spring so much.
So I just got an invite to see the Spring/Summer 2010 collection from New York label S2VS. So I RSVP'd and then checked out their site only to find pics from their Spring/Summer 2010 collection online and, in my mind, I'm already counting the days til April 2010, when the sun's getting a little warmer and the days a little longer.
S2VS was formed in May of 2007 in New York City. This spring-summer 2010 collection marks our fifth season. S2VS is a brand that captures the American contemporary sensibility that is fresh, clean-cut, utilitarian and timeless.
We handpick and develop new fabrics each season that is unique, comfortable and natural. S2VS is produced in Shang Hai, the fashion capital of China. We own and operate our own factory to ensure the highest production quality and a flexible production deadline.
Through the previous seasons, our brand presence has grown exponentially; we have made many friends and allies along the way. Our goal is to continue this success.
Just when I needed a new musical obsession, along comes Boston's Yes Giantess.
Birthed and the nexus of 2008 and 2009, Yes Giantess was never meant to last more than a few weeks. Members of the band previously played in former incarnations of Passion Pit, the Death Set and so many more, and what was intended to be one off party music for them to play with friends suddenly found an online audience.
Based out of Boston the four Berklee students were suddenly being asked to play shows across the Atlantic and as they saw their tracks light up the blogosphere and pack dancefloors, high profile pop producers began offering the unsigned band their services.
Says their label Neon Gold: Following in the footsteps of Passion Pit with an even more synthed-out electro sound, Yes Giantess are the next great hope for electronic pop in the US. Produced by Passion Pit's own Ayad Al-Adhamy at his Bo Flex Music studio, they're unleashing some of the biggest pop jams you'll hear all year.
"Tuff 'n Stuff" is their masterwork, leading you in with a deceptively plaintive intro before dropkicking you in the jaw with a metric ton of Ratatat-sized synths and huge pop choruses. "You Were Young" stuns on the AA-side, all spiraling synths, infectious hooks and a seriously ill bridge that sounds like Daft Punk on a sugar high.
Passion Pit -- whose record Manners I'm listening to right now -- are opening for Phoenix in what will be a sort of end of summer musical extravaganza in Central Park's Rumsey Playfield aka SummerStage on 09.25 and 09.26.09. Both shows are sold out! So you're going to have to get crafy, or just plop down outside the fenced in area and enjoy the music for free. You know which option I'm going with.
Next up, UK mega music promoters All Tomorrow's Parties have decided to come back to New York again this year. They're hosting an event 09.11, 09.12, and 09.13.09 -- co curated by The Flaming Lips -- that will be held at Kutshers Country Club, Monticello just north of the city.
In 2008 ATP organised their first east coast U.S. festival at Kutshers Country Club, Monticello, New York. It was called 'an unforgettable end to the summer festival season' by Spin magazine, and Pitchfork stated that it was: 'the most enjoyable festival experience of our reporter's life.' Chew on that.
I guess the recession's not affecting everyone: everyone's favorite men's store mini empire Odin is opening a new West Village location at 750 Greenwich Street (near West 11th) in the new few weeks that will carry the same much-loved lines -- Rag and Bone, Common Projects, Engineered Garments, Robert Geller, Richard Chai, etc -- that they carry at their current shops on East 11th Street and on Lafayette in SoHo.
They're also relocating Den -- the one designer at a time concept store also on East 11th Street -- to SoHo. It seems to be replacing the Odin there at 199 Lafayette Street making two Odins -- one in the East Village and one in the the West Village -- and Den in place of the SoHo Odin.
Nice Collective will be the first line featured at Den in its new spot (199 Lafayette Street) and in Den's place next to the original Odin on East 11th will be Oliver Spencer's first ever US store (330 East 11th Street), which I'll keep you posted on as I live on East 11th and pass by that block daily.
Michel Berandi Interview by Charles Worthington III
How long have you been working in the fashion industry? How did you start? For a diabolical decade - with 10 collections where we've been playing with forbidden or forgotten ideas with the goal to transform sci-fi into fine art. Inspired by dreams of military apocalypse hastened by witchcraft and pure cadence. A line in the opposition to both the underground and the established fashion platforms. It has been also a forum for extreme ideologies manifested as poetic pornography and psychosexual terrorism and scientific elegance. It started out of by accident. I was looking for a job and I ended up working for this girl who was making one-of kind garments for rock stars and celebrities. Somehow I stuck with this kind of work a bit longer that I anticipated, but on and all there was never any seriously vivid plans to get into this industry.
Who have you worked with, and who would you say is your biggest influence? We worked with numerous musicians, some known some unknown, some famous and some infamous. Actors and performance artists as well, but my biggest influences are literary and cinematic- Luis Bunuel for the poetry, Passolini for the vision, Kubrick for consistency and flaw, William Blake for beauty, Aldous Husxley for precision to name a few, but what I really love and influence me the most is journalism and art especially when it involves science and engineering. I also like incendiary political writing and propaganda. This is truly the basic to the research and the mechanism to any collection started.
Summer's not quite over, but I already know what jacket I want this winter. It's by a Swedish line I've covered a few months back called Obscur.
Richard Söderberg's dark and broody line has just shipped to stores worldwide, including Berlin's Darklands and their online eShop Komakino.
The Fused Cotton Coat with Articulated Arm, which you can see here, is perfectly simple, well-contructed, frayed at the edges, but not too frayed. The design perfectly balances well-tailored with deconstructed, not letting either take too much away from the other. It's remniscent of collections by designers like Rick Owens, Raf Simons, and Margiela, but Söderberg manages to be influenced but not derivatice, which is comendable. And let's not forget, the price point of Obscur, while not cheap by any means, is spot on given the craftmanship, the creativity, and the effort that has gone into the line.
Check out pics below from the Fall/Winter 2009 collection.
Unless you're a diehard fashion head and went to the menswear shows in Paris in June -- or obsessively follow the coverage online -- you probably missed Rick Owens' SS10 menswear collection. I know I did.
Luckily, as I was checking out his site last night, I caught the video, which in addition to the killer collection, has some of the hottest music I've heard at a show ever. The first half, at least, is this minimal mechanical sound that pulses and pulses. It's genius. The second half is like a rave, which is hot, but not as original as the first.
Check out the video below. Thanks to Diane Pernet of a shaded view for the video. You can see more of her video coverage of the Paris shows here. SheIf you want to see the one on Owens' site, you have to navigate to it yourself, as I can't direct link to it. Click here, then click Windows Screen, click on the image, then Videos in the navigation. It's the first link on te left SS10 Release Mens.
The Museum of Modern Art presents MoMA Premiere: Elevated, a collaborative event that blurs the boundaries between film, music, and performance. Making its New York premiere, Elevated pairs five recent compositions by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer David Lang with five short films by artists Doug Aitken, Guy Maddin, Bill Morrison, Matt Mullican, and William Wegman.
The compositions will be performed live by CONTACT Contemporary Music, under the direction of Jerry Pergolesi. Program approximately 100 min., with intermission.
The film is being screened on 09.09.09 @ 5:00 and 8:00pm. Tickets are $10 each.m Click here for more info.
The price of a film ticket may be applied toward the price of a Museum admission ticket when a film ticket stub is presented at the Lobby Information Desk within 30 days of the date on the stub. Admission is free for Museum members and for Museum ticketholders. Film tickets are available at the Museum's Information Desk and Film Desk up to seven days in advance.
I think a little comedy is in order for today. I can't stop watching this. It's the little things like "Is that what you had said?" and "Welcome to King Burger where we can do it your way BUT DON'T GET CRAZY!"
It's official: Six Scents Series 2 is set to release in October.
The Six Scents Fragrance Initiative is an ongoing collaboration between Seven New york, Symrise and Metaproject. Annually, a distinct group of six prominent artists and perfumers are selected to develop a limited edition series of fragrances to raise money for a deserving charity. The collection represents a global gamut of contemporary views on creativity, culture, consciousness and collectivity. Check out Six Scents' site for more info.
By now you've heard of and probably even purchased one of the scents from the first series, which included fragrances by Alexandre Herchcovitch, Bernard Willhelm, Comic Wonder Light Source, Gareth Pugh, Jeremy Scott, and Preen. If not, check them out now at Seven.
Who's involved in Series 2? Damir Doma, Henry Holland, Phillip Lim, Richard Nicoll, Henrik Vibskov and Toga.
22 August 2009
Salem Interview by Charles Worthington III
Who is Salem? john holland heather marlatt and jack donoghue
How did you meet? i met heather the first day of highschool and i met jack in chicago. heather met jack when she came to visit me in chicago from new york.
What made you move to NYC? i was living in michigan and got tired of what i thought was a bad time. i moved back though because i didnt like it in new york and from what i experienced dont think its where i want to be right now. i like being in nature.
What would you say, is your main influence for the music? Art, fashion, music? my main influence is experience. experiencing things, past experiences, personal experiences and other peoples experiences. art and fashion dont have anything to do with my process of making music.
If you were to say art, what medium, and what artist? if i was to be inspired by art when it comes to music i would say drawings that inmates in prison scratch onto their cell walls.
If fashion, who, or what? tommy hilfiger in 1994, wiggers, eastern europeans, african gypsies
I like this band called Future of the Left. They're on 4AD, so you know they gotta be kinda good, right?? Other 4AD artists include Bon Iver, Department of Eagles, M Ward, The Big Pink, TV on the Radio, Blonde Redhead, and so on.
On one hand, Future Of The Left are a band much like many other bands are a band. Three men, wielding bits of wood and metal strung with strings and skin, often to be found playing to rooms of other men mildly intoxicated on watery dilutions of strong lager. On the other hand, however, you can take that most basic factual definition and dispose of it by any means deemed socially and legally acceptable by local fly-tipping laws.
Here - this record - is why.
Future Of The Left's second album, Travels With Myself And Another, is the physical representation/digital recording of a band perfecting what it means to be in a band: the tightest dynamics; the deftest and heaviest guitars; the sharpest wit; the best and most splendid clothes and hair. It is smart, not in the sense of young men cultivating fringes, posing in photographs reading Proust, but in its instinct and ingenuity, elegant fury and lyrical humour.
A full appreciation of Lucrecia Martel's elegant, rain-soaked film, The Headless Woman, requires the concentration and eye for detail of a forensic detective. Every frame of this brilliant, maddeningly enigmatic puzzle of a movie contains crucial information, much of it glimpsed on the periphery and sometimes passing so quickly you barely have time to blink.
The film is set in the same region of northwestern Argentina, near Salta, as Ms. Martel's first two films, La Ciénaga and The Holy Girl. Like its forerunners, The Headless Woman portrays an environment with signs of physical and social decay. The extended family clustering around its central character, Veronica (Maria Onetto), a statuesque middle-age bottle blonde who runs a dental clinic with her brother, is ingrown and incestuous.
That's how the NY Times review of this film -- that's currently showing at Film Forum -- starts out. Am I dying to see it? Hell yes!
One of my sister's favorite songs is Garth Brook's "Friends in Low Places". Not only do I have friend in low places, but I got them in high places and everywhere in between, which is how I managed to get my hands on a pair of weekend passes (retail value $115/per pass) to the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco this October.
This year's lineup is just as good with MGMT, MSTRkrft, Girl Talk, The Streets, Passion Pit, Dan Deacon, The Flaming Lips, Decemberists, Beirut, Bob Mould, The Walkmen, and Grizzly Bear, among others. Click here for the full lineup.
The best part about this festival? It's on Treasure Island which is in the SF Bay between San Francisco and Oakland. I think I remember going to a Sunday outdoor rave or two there back in the day. All I remember is GORGEOUS.
It's easily visible from San Francisco's Embarcadero, a low-lying front porch jutting out towards the Golden Gate Bridge from Yerba Buena Island. Palm trees in a silhouetted row set off massive white buildings, dwarfed by the towering silver Bay Bridge marching across the water towards Oakland. That bridge carries over 130,000 people a day within yards of this artificial lily pad, most of them whizzing by at 70 miles per hour without giving it a second thought.
Terence Koh's designing some stuff for Opening Ceremony and just sent a letter and some pics to give us an update on what's going on.
deer friend
i just doo window for opening ceremony for project i doo with them for t-shirts, books, one-piece face suits, pencils, sculptural tings, that will just appear
i also just doo their window display
i tink it is powerful for the future new york city
Leave it to the Japanese to take something like Crayons or colored pencils and turn it into something much more sophisticated than you could ever imagine.
Introducing Felissimo's set of 500 - yes you heard it right - 500 Colored Pencils!
Long respected for their tradition of conscious design, recognized for marrying the stylish with the philanthropic and admired for their impressive catalogue of creations, Japan's Felissimo Design now offers a colored pencil collection that is as inspiring as it is exclusive.
The newest addition to their exceptional roster of design triumphs, 500 Colored Pencils is a set so vast and precise that it is itself a work of unforgettable art. Like an atomic breakdown of the color spectrum, the group consists of 500 pencils, each crafted with serene specificity so that no hue has gone uncaptured. But the scope of the collection is not all that sets it apart, the method of delivery offers an uncommon and anticipation-inducing experience that is both refreshing and refined.
Upon ordering, Felissimo's artistic instruments begin to arrive in assortments of 25 carefully harmonized shades.
I listened to their latest record Swoon non-stop for about 4 months, which must be some sort of world record these days. I'm sorry to say, though, I've never seen them live. I really wanted to see them this year at All Points West, but waited till the last minute to get a ticket, which turned out to be a good thing given the non-stop rain turned the festival into a nasty mud pit.
Not quite the real thing, but as close as I'm going to get until they come back to New York, SSPU just played an exclusive performance for online music portal Shockhound. Part 1 is a 20 minute set that just posted includes 4 of my favorite tracks -- "Growing Old Is Getting Old," "Well Thought Out Twinkles," "There's No Secrets This Year", and "The Royal We."
Check it out below. If you know the band, you're going to love it. If you don't, they're going to suck you in. Trust me on this one.
Movie lovers take note. Over the past few years, MoMA's just acquired some killer films. Over the next several weeks, the museum is screening a handful of them.
Founded in 1935 as the Film Library, the Department of Film's collections now constitute the strongest international film collection in the United States, with more than 22,000 films representing all periods and genres. On July 10, 1935, the first two acquisitions made by the Film Library were announced: Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1905) and Ballet mécanique (1924) by Fernand Léger. The unanticipated pairing of these two films-representing "entertainment" and "art," respectively-perfectly encapsulates the collection's founding principles.
To date, the Department of Film remains engaged in identifying and acquiring key works on film and in other moving image formats that broadly represent the history, theory, art, achievement, and innovation of the motion picture. Recent Film Acquisitions: Continuum illustrates the breadth of acquisitions made by the Department of Film since 2007, utilizing the fundamentals of collection development that were established more than seventy years ago.
I love classics with a twist, which is why I love this collaboration sneaker by Adidas and sportwear innovators Stone Island.
They take the ever classic Samba -- I also love the white version of these -- and remake it using a different fabric and replace the laces with a zipper shield of sorts.
Taking the recognizable Raso Gommato technical fabric from the Stone Island archive – the label have treated this with an original dying process to make the Samba upper. These zip fasten rather than lace, the tongue is duel branded, outer sole is smooth and the whole silhouette is a streamlined one.
Started in 1982, Stone Island has been designing innovative, top-line sportswear collections, with a high emphasis on function and innovative use of colour and materials. The extreme originality of its design processes has led to an ever-expanding collection of unique, wearable design objects. Check out their site here.
The Sambas are available at oki-ni starting 08.20.09. Reserve yours now.
One of my favorite bands -- I know I say that a lot but it's true -- Pink Mountaintops released a record a few months back that I'm just getting wind of now. Repeat after me: too much music.
Outside Love is ten songs of love and hate that read like a Danielle Steele romance novel but that would probably make for bad television.
Outside Love is the third album by Pink Mountaintops, AKA Stephen McBean, who has slowly emerged as a distinctive voice and a very special contributor to the North American songbook. A veteran of the Vancouver/Victoria punk rock scene, McBean is best known for his contributions to acclaimed rock band Black Mountain (who I also love love love), as principal songwriter, guitarist and co-vocalist.
The ten songs on Outside Love are about or influenced by weddings in Montreal, winter, Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, Christmas albums, that one Exile song and that one Echo and the Bunnymen song, the Bermuda Triangle, being depressed in the sunshine, people who haven't made out yet but will in the future, The Everly Brothers, clowns in the ceilings, and bedrooms where skinheads used to live.
As you know from my entry over the weekend, The Big Pink is set to release their first full-length record in September. Here's the video for one of the new tracks -- Dominos. Check out my post below about the new record and watch the video. The song is growing on me very quickly. Very different from Velvet, but I like it.
In recent years, my love of Japanese restaurants has remained. What's changed? Whereas I used to get sushi 100% of the time, in the past few years I switched completely getting ramen and katsu don; but that's all about to change with my recent discovery of top notch sushi restaurant in Midtown East called Sushi Yasuda.
If you're a sushi lover and haven't yet heard of this hidden gem, listen up. I'm kinda shocked with all my sushi loving and Japanese friends that I haven't heard of it until now.
Naomichi Yasuda was raised in a small fishing village in the Chiba prefecture called Chikura. His country sensibility is balanced by over two decades of experience in Tokyo and New York City. His sushi is simple. Its preparation is reduced to a delicate balance that requires impeccable selection of raw materials and flawless, original execution. Sushi is an artist's craft, requiring an understanding of tradition and constant evolution and innovation. Sushi Yasuda's commitment to this spirit results in food that subtly and brilliantly respects the past and gently moves forward.
Everything is made from scratch and changes daily. Yasuda has a great sensitivity for the nuances of every fish he handles. While Yasuda brings in fresh fish from all around the world and much from Japan, he highly values good domestic fish.
Remember the Tretorn/Comme des Garcons collaboration everyone was raving about last January?? If not check out my original post:
One of my favorite sneakers brands -- Sweden's Tretorn -- has hooked up with one of my favorite fashion labels -- Japan's Comme des Garcons -- to customize three different styles of sneakers (see pics below) for the Fall/Winter 2009 collection.
The sneakers are classic Tretorn styles with minimally inspired quasi Buddhist (Spirit, Training, Himilaya) text written on the outside of the sneakers in black in. It's very simple and chic, which befits both brands perfectly and just might help you feel more balanced as you run around during an average day.
The sneakers have finally shipped to stores and are availabe in super limited quantities. Currently available only in two stores: Carve in Fullerton, CA (714 434-0166) and Jeffrey in New York (212 206-3928). I got this info from a Tretorn rep last week, so I'm pretty sure these are the only two stores so far. I'm guessing they're also available in some Commes des Garcons free-standing stores, but can't verify that.
One of my current favorite bands -- The Big Pink -- are set to release their first full-length record in September and are coming to New York in early December as part of their first US tour. I cannot wait!
Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell are The Big Pink, and although both of music stock, their excellent debut, A Brief History of Love, is the first album that either can really call their own.
Both from London, Milo is behind the celebrated Merok label, which has helped to launch both Klaxons and Crystal Castles as well as unleashing mutant triumphs from such underground experimentalists as Salem and Teengirl Fantasy, while Furze made a name for himself in such industrial behemoths as Panic DHH and Alec Empire.
2009 started with a bang, with the ink just drying on a worldwide deal with 4AD - an apt move as their otherworldly qualities provide a direct sonic connection to some of the label's most celebrated acts like Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance and TV On The Radio - they appeared high up in the critics vote BBC Sound poll and then received the prestigious Philip Hall Radar Award at the NME Awards, something that surprised all but those that knew what was about to follow.
Rem Koolhaas and the Prada Foundation have teamed up to create the Prada Transformer, a six-month installation on the grounds of the historic Gyeonghui Palace at the center of Seoul, South Korea. The Transformer is a steel-framed pavilion that rolls over between exhibitions, creating a unique environment for each new program and was designed to house four events devoted to art, film, fashion and the broader culture of Prada.
Swedish artist Nathlie Djurberg's multimedia transformation of the space entitled Turn Into Me opens today and runs through 09.13.09.
In the interior of the Transformer now covered with a surface of white felt that ripples and twists to form a highly baroque, sensual wrapping, the artist has created an installation that she articulates over the floors and walls through the use of objects and projections that mute the whiteness and transform the architectural environment into a cave of the unconscious and oneiric.
In this shadowy, disturbing envelope, whose cruciform configuration follows the hexagonal shape used for fashion and the rectangular one used for cinema, the only thing that visually stands apart is the floor, which is covered in a grey felt on which objects great and small are placed and lighted in a spectacular mode.
You know those really hot matte black wayfarer sunglasses Common Projects designed that were produced by New York eyewear staple MOSCOT Originals? Well, they're sold out at Moscot stores in New York and on their website. Luckily, though, they've just posted in oki-ni's eShop.
Common Projects + MOSCOT Type One is inspired by utilitarian principles, but combined with luxury materials, the new TYPE ONE sunglasses are executed in uniform matte black Italian acetate, with subtle tone-on-tone, high gloss metal details.
The frames - limited to 300 pairs - feature MOSCOT's old school G15 Grey glass lenses with 100% UV protection, with the individual production number and Common Projects' iconic, proprietary gold article embossed on the interior temple for authenticity. Each pair ships in its own limited edition, fine leather carrying pouch, also stamped with the sunglasses unique number just like Common Projects shoes.
As we all know, the world of rock n roll has been well-documented virtually from the inception of the genre, but this is the first time I've seen such an amazing compilation of photos by such an diverse group of photographers.
From Elton John to Led Zeppelin, Bjork to Janis Joplin, James Brown to John Lennon, Who Shot Rock & Roll is the first book to explore the extraordinary work of the photographers who captured the energy, intoxication, rebellion, and magic of rock & roll with images that have become icons unto themselves.
Featuring more than 250 photos, including many rare and never-before-seen images, Who Shot Rock & Roll is an unparalleled compendium of our shared cultural history. Author and photo historian Gail Buckland provides a compelling collection of portraits, live concert shots, behind-the-scenes snaps, and studio work selected for their aesthetic quality and power. The extended captions tell stories from the photographers that reveal their roll as both creative collaborators and tireless journalists.
Remember how I said I went shopping last weekend? Well, I stopped by Steven Alan because a friend told me they were having a sale. While there, I saw the hottest pair of shoes/sneakers by a British outfit called Pointer. As luck would have it, I'm in touch with their PR rep, who has mostly graciously given me a pair of Taylors (retail value $132) in grey or black to give away this week.
Pointer was created with the aim of making simple, well-designed casual shoes in response to a market then saturated with increasingly technical trainers and hyped-up limited edition sneakers.
Bold, bright prints usher in a braver tomorrow, while the subdued classics and muted tones remain for those who prefer to slip into something more subtle. New styles introduce multi-coloured threading and contrasting trims, and old favourites are upgraded with embroidered logos, a choice of lace colourways and patterned soles.
And though staying true to Pointer's principle of low-profile design aesthetics, structure and comfort have been improved across the entire line: the latest collection sees the introduction of new men's and women's lasts, moulded soles and higher recovery foam insoles with more substantial heel and arch support.
Heads up fashion lovers: Damir Doma's latest collection has hit the shelves in oki-ni's super hot eShop and I've got a sneak peak preview for you.
Damir Doma's collections seem lit by a soft, melancholic quest for fluidity. Inspired by identity's multiple expressions and the link with the fragile, ephemeral quality of the body, he creates pieces that explore interpretations of contemporary masculinity.
The Croatian-born designer grew up in Germany and studied fashion in Munich and Berlin, where he graduated in 2004 with magna cum laude for the best collection.
The young designer then went to Antwerp, where he worked for Raf Simons and Dirk Schoenberger. It was his time spent at Raf Simons in particular that broadened and shaped Doma's perception of fashion and the arts. Under Simon's mentorship, the creation of his personal aesthetics was kindled; leading him to infuse soulfulness and sensitivity into his work.
Someone needs to break into my apartment and delete all remnants of Bon Iver's Skinny Love from my laptop and install a blocker that won't allow me to download it or ever play it again. Not only because I'm addicted to it (still) like crack cocaine, but so my poor neighbors don't have to listen to me doing that high pitched thing Justin Vernon does when he sings. I like Bon Iver mucho, which is why I'm excited to find out Vernon is part of a side project called Volcano Choir and they're set to release a record in September on super hot indie label JAGJAGUWAR.
Volcano Choir is an assembly of Wisconsinites Jon Mueller, Chris Rosenau, Jim Schoenecker, Daniel Spack, Justin Vernon, and Thomas Wincek. You might find these old friends also frequenting records and stages under different monikers, Collections of Colonies of Bees and Bon Iver. The collaboration predates the meteoric rise of Justin Vernon's Bon Iver project, with original songwriting dating back to the summer of 2005, right around the time the Bees first toured with Vernon's previous band DeYarmond Edison.
I just fell in love with French fragrance line Montale Paris. Not only is packing insanely chic, but the scents and the mastery that goes into the making of this line is incredible. When it comes to scents, Paris is where it's at.
Montale Paris is the super niche perfumery of Pierre Montale. There are two lines available: an oudh line based on the precious oudh (or agar) wood frequently used in Middle Eastern fragrances, and a regular perfume line that uses only the "most noble raw materials in high concentrations".
The main features of the Parfums Montale are their love of scents from the Orient and Arabia , through its enchanted history. Perfumers from all around the world have chosen precious Woods including Frankincense, Balsam, Amber, Cedar and a thousand other wounderful scents to create the Montale Perfumes that are like happiness ointments or love potions.
Its aluminium bottle has been especially developed to guarantee that the perfume is preserved for a long time in a dark place, the light being the main enemy of perfumes and rare essences.
For more information, check out their site, where you'll find the full range of frangrances available.
You know I love Nice Collective and you know I'm a big talker, but when it comes right down to it, I'm very frugal when it comes to buying clothes. Instead of buying the the $300 jeans I wanted this weekend, for example, I went to the the Levi's Store in SoHo and got two pairs of my favorite style -- the 514 which has a new cut called the 514X -- for $60/pair. Like the saying goes with clothes, I talk the talk, but I rarely walk to the walk, which is why I'm really excited for the Nice Collective and Clae sales that start at noon today on Gilt.com.
If you're not familiar with Gilt, which I'd find hard to believe given the breadth of press they've gotten, listen up: Gilt Groupe provides access, by invitation only, to Men's, Women's and Children's coveted fashion and luxury brands at prices up to 70% off retail. Each sale lasts 36 hours and features hand selected styles from a single designer.
Perhaps that sounds a little bland, but they've managed to get some of the best designers on the site (I have no doubt that the retail sales slump coupled with the vision and fashionworld connections of the owners have been a huge help) including Marc Jacobs, Rag & Bone, John Varvatos, Travota, Zac Posen, Tom Ford, and so many more.
My friend over at BOMB has just released the latest in his ongoing series of artworld interviews BOMB ON THE INSIDE. Up this time, famed New York fashion photog Mark Borthwick.
I am wrapped in a universe of temporal distortion when looking at Mark Borthwick's photography. His images and installations, a constant fixture in both the pages of the world's leading fashion magazines and on the walls of museums and galleries, are dedicated to creating an awareness of who he is at that moment. He communicates through photography, collaborations with his wife, fashion designer Maria Conejo, through music in his band Will Shine and lives as a daily conduit for creativity.
David Goodman: What program are you in at Bard?
Layla Hekmat (studio assistant): I'm in the graduate photography program, but I'm interested in sculpture and installation. That's what's good about the program-you don't have to just do one kind of thing. You can do what you want.
Mark Borthwick: How do you define the difference between fine art photography and other types of photography?
LH: Well, you mean commercial photography versus fine art photography? Well, I think that if you are questioning the medium and you're asking questions of what it is, what photography means, and what it represents; what its context is in relationship to history and other forms of expression and how those other forms influence photography-I think then that is fine art photography. If you make photographs and sell them commercially, but you also exhibit them in a gallery-then that's more of a commercial artist to me. It's a blurry line, but that's how I make sense of it.
There's a new year-long installation sitting atop cutting edge Paris art space Palais de Tokyo called Nomiya that you've got to check out!
Says the The Moment: named Nomiya after the cozy little bars of Tokyo, it's a rectangular glass box about the size of a shipping container. "We tried to create an overall impression of airiness, transparency, floating," said the French artist Laurent Grasso, who designed Nomiya along with his architect brother.
Inside the box, a dozen guests can eat lunch or dine at a communal table while taking in a spectacular view. Behind them is a cooking island at which a couple of chefs prepare each meal — an experimental, no-choice lineup that changes at every sitting. The chef in chief is Gilles Stassart, who honed his art-meets-cuisine skills at the Transversal restaurant in the Mac/Val contemporary art museum in Val-de-Marne.
Reservations, for up to 12 seats, are available one month ahead of the desired date, starting at 10 a.m. Paris time.
If happen to live in Liverpool or will be passing through before 09.13.09, stop by the Tate Liverpool and check out Colour Chart: Reinventing Colour, 1950 to Today. It's full of works from some of the best artists from the last 60 years, many of which I've never seen in person before.
Colour Chart: Reinventing Colour, 1950 to Today takes the commercial colour chart as its point of departure, addressing the impact of mass-produced colour on the art of the past sixty years. It is the first major exhibition devoted to the shifting moment in twentieth-century art when artists began to perceive colour as 'readymade' rather than as a vehicle of spiritual or emotional content.
The exhibit celebrates a paradox: the beauty that occurs when artists assign colour decisions to chance, readymade source, or arbitrary system. Midway through the twentieth century, long-held convictions regarding the spiritual truth or scientific validity of particular colours gave way to an excitement about colour as a standardised commercial product.
The first time I ran across Skullcandy headphones, I was at Lollapalooza preparing to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Muse perform. A lot of my friends had artist passes as they were either in bands or were dj'ing official Lolla parties; and they all were walking around with these bags with what I now know is the Skullcandy logo on them. Inside said bags, were some of the coolest headphones I had seen in quite a while.
Rick Alden formed Skullcandy in 2003 with the goal of designing music listening products that fit into an active action sports lifestyle. With a background in snowboarding and actions sports, Alden envisioned a music need in board sports.
The first Skullcandy product -- the Skullcandy Portable Link -- was introduced at the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The LINK system combined headphones with hands-free cellular technology, allowing users to both listen to music from a portable audio device, while making and receiving calls through their cell phone. In 2003, Alden sold the first products to Milo Snow & Skate, an action sports shop in Utah and the company has continued to grow ever since.
A friend tipped me off to a sale at the Steven Alan in Tribeca, so I jumped on my bike and went to check it out. I didn't end up buying anything, but saw a few things that I put in my mental "shopping cart" to purchase later.
I've always been sort of ambivalent about the Steven Alan line of shirts, but must say, after having made button up shirts myself, the new collection for Fall/Winter 2009 is pretty hot. I didn't look at all of the different types they carry of their own line -- the shelves with them at the back right of the store is overwhelming -- just the one hanging on a rack at the front of the men's section. As you've heard me say time and time again, the cut and the fit are amazing and some of the patterns are super hot. My only issue: I wasn't in the market to spend $168 for a shirt. Funny how that works when I'm on the consumer end of things!
In the shoe section, two pairs of boat shoes by Belgian shoe and accessories line n.d.c. (nom de code or code name) that I've seen photos of and heard the buzz about, but never gave a second thought to, until now.
Things are getting crazy out there. Thankfully the right wing fanantics are digging themselves even further into a hole and tarnishing an already ailing Republican party. On the downside, certain Republican members of Congress are spreading falsehoods about Healthcare reform and the crazies are disrupting some town halls intended to inform people about the situation and stamp out the misinformation.
For the first time in years, I have health insurance and I'm not worried at all that anything will change, because I've done my homework. If anything, things are going to get better because the BIG MONEY health insurance thieves are going to have to actually do what they're supposed to do: stop price gouging, and -- gasp! -- cover people who already have insurance instead of denying claims that are legit. Let's not forget the nearly 50 million people who have no insurance -- and the number only gets bigger as every day passes -- will have an option to get insurance.
So do yourself and me and everyone else in this country a favor and visit these sites to see what it's all about. Don't stick your head in the sand like you always do and complain about it when you don't even know what "it" really is.
A month or so after it's official opening, I finally got a bit of time to bike down to the LES last Saturday afternoon to chat with Brian Janusiak, co-owner of the latest addition to the ever hip neighborhood that stretches from just below houston to the far reaches of Chinatown.
The new store, named No. 8b (38 Orchard Street / 1 212 925 5599), will be a further exploration of the aesthetics and ideas introduced through their first store, Project No. 8.
The store features a roster of menswear collections by designers including Bless, Kostas Murkudis, Maison Martin Margiela, Mykita, Natalia Brilli, Raf Simons for Eastpak , Schiesser, Stephan Schneider, and Various Projects. In addition, there will be new collections from Christian Wijnants and Tom Scott being introduced for the Fall/Winter Season.
The store is gorgeous and a great addition to the every burgeoning landscape of men's only stores in the city. If you shop at the other men's stores in town, you'll know the collections that Brian and Elizabeth have introduced at No. 8b are lines that you won't find many other places in town, and in some cases nowhere else at all.
The more I learn about Fabian Baron, the more I love him. I was at a friend's place last night trying to figure out how to decorate her new LES pad and she showed me some rugs by the French creative wunderkind that still have me drooling.
The carpet collection is inspired by Liquid Light, a single-volume monograph assembled from the personal work of Fabien Baron. Spanning twenty years and two continents, the collection draws from over 2,000 photographs taken on the coasts of Eastern America, Western Europe, and the Mediterranean. The book chronicles Baron's transformation of concrete, geographical sites into abstract tableaux. Utilizing long exposure for each image, Baron reveals the most essential aspect of his subject matter: light.
The process is complex, the wool is dyed and lightened by a slight percentage so the transition and fading of color is subtle.
Super cool LOVEFOXXX of indie band CSS is at it again and my friends at graniph have hooked me up with 4 of the just released t-shirts the Brazilian chanteuse designed in collaboration with the Japanese t-shirt megabrand.
Following up on last year's collaboration, graniph once again teams up with the enigmatic lead vocalist of Brazilian disco-punk outfit CSS, LOVEFOXXX for another limited edition T! Celebrate CSS's appearance at this Japan's hottest music festival SummerSonic with this cool release!
Each t-shirt comes with a special present from LOVEFOXXX herself - a unique handwritten autograph!!
Kanye rocked Cipriani for the G-Shock party. Has much less fake attitude than last year. He must be more comfortable in his skin. Style-wise: he's spot on. The jeans. The tee. The arm bands. I gotta give it to him. The only problem at this party was the crowd. I'll leave it at that.
That aside, though, the DJ was playing some hot tunes and even managed to slip in some Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Earth Wind and Fire, and one of my favorite songs EVER: Cherchez La Femme by Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. If you don't know this song, learn it now. If you do, click below and revel in the wonder that is 70's funk chill whatever you wanna call it. On a side note: how hideous is the lead singer? The outfit, her hair, her face. OUCH! You better work.
You know I love Rick Owens and you know I love bags. I've been patiently waiting for a bag that's super hot, not to flashy, and in a price range that is affordable. Well, affordable New York style.
I just found it and I need one now. After the successful collaboration with Raf Simons last year, mega backpack brand Eastpak has now teamed up with fashion world darling/guru/legend Rick Owens to create a line of bags that -- as I said before -- has me drooling!
There's a backpack, a sleeve, a case, and a wrist thing, but it's the Duffel Bag that comes in brushed black and a sort of dusty brown that I want. I mean that I need and will have.
Medium sized duffel bag in Dust, a warm and soft grey. Internally this bag is one big compartment with four padded smaller pockets. There are two carry handles and an adjustable shoulder strap; bag measures approx 18" x 11" x 14" and has a 36 litre capacity.
This collection is truly unique and innovative; pieces have been produced without traditional sewn stitching and use a revolutionary welding technique that gives a distinct streamlined look.
G-Shock hosts an event tonight at Cipriani on Wall Street with a press preview at 6:30pm and a mini concert by Kanye after.
While not a huge fan of Kanye, he is a big name and the production value of his shows is pretty amazing. When he played the G-Shock event a year or so back, it was a good time. This time around, though, the security has been stepped up. I got an intricately printed and embossed invite with my name and a serial number on it. No +1, no giving it to your friend, no selling it on Craigslist.
I am a huge fan of G-Shock and am excited to see what they've got up their sleeve this collection. God, I hope that they give away free watches like they did last time. I wore that white watch until it was so dirty, I couldn't wear it anymore.
Tomorrow, in a continued effort to stay as true to its roots as the former CBGB's space as possible, the John Varvatos store on Bowery hosts another in its ongoing series of bands playing in store. This time around Semi Precious Weapons, who I've never seen live and can't wait to see them rock it out in such an intimate venue.
Everybody's favorite Canadian indie rocker Spencer Krug's second band -- Wolf Parade is his first although they've been a bit dormant lately -- Sunset Rubdown has just released their third record Dragonslayer and are on tour promoting it.
I downloaded the free track (you'll remember I'm still not doing illegal downloads after that crazy virus thing a while back) Idiot Heart and it's pretty hot. Check it out here. It's much different than many of the band's past tracks, including one of my all time favorites Shut Up I Am Dreaming Of Places Where Lovers Have Wings, with it's faced-pace and catchy hook. Krug still manages to keep it on the heady side, though, calling out Icarus throughout.
Sunset Rubdown was once the moniker under which Spencer Krug released low fidelity solo recordings. The project has long since evolved into a full band, and Dragonslayer is the third full-length recorded by the whole group. Besides Krug, it features the three musicians who originally signed on: Jordan Robson-Cramer on drums, guitar and keys, Michael Doerksen on guitar and bass, and Camilla Wynne Ingr on keys, percussion and vocals. And now, for the first time, newest member Mark Nicol can be heard on bass, drums, and percussion.
I really am hooked on HTRK. So hooked that I just paid for their record Marry Me Tonight. I also can't stop listening to Little Secrets by Passion Pit. It's sick. And let's not forget the Constantines remake of one of my favorite karaoke songs ever: Islands in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. WTF??? Sick sick and more sick.
*Please note, the songs below that are links to mp3's: if you right click the track link, you can save the file to your computer and add it to iTunes.
Check out O + S, another band I stumbled upon while Top Friend hopping around MySpace. Their sound is sexy and haunting. I'm hooked.
O+S is a new project by Orenda Fink (Azure Ray, Art In Manila) and Scalpelist (aka Cedric LeMoyne of Remy Zero). Orenda and Scalpelist, long-time friends from their shared hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, have created a record that combines the haunting, ethereal music of a David Lynch soundtrack with the cinematic art-pop of 10cc. With the elemental and adventurous production of Michael Patterson (Beck, Notorious B.I.G., Black Rebel Motorcycle Club), O+S delivers a unique sound that is more than just a sum of its parts.
Says Sterogum: There's a dichotomy to the name, and one to the music: Orenda's ghostly, diaphanous vocals feel ominous next to Scalpelist's haunted patchwork of samples and instrumentation on some songs (hence the David Lynch press materials name drop), and self-consciously uplifting on others. We Do What We Want To finds the bittersweet go-between, building acoustic guitar, keyboards, silken coos, and whirling samples into a subtly anthemic strain of dream-pop. In the vein of School Of Seven Bells, sans their secret machine.
It may be a little late in the season, but there's still a good month left in New York for swimming and if weather.com has it right, there's more sun coming in the coming 10 days than we've seen all summer. Just in time, Quicksilver has teamed up with none other than uber hotelier Andre Balaz -- owner of The Standard hotels -- to create a series of shorts.
Quicksilver/The Standard have collaborated on a series of boardshorts which are a re-issue of the original design from 70s and 80s with new patterns inspired by the 4 Standard hotels in Hollywood, Downtown LA, Miami, and NY.
The design of these boardshorts is based on original retro design from Echo Beach era (early 80s/new wave/post punk style with colorful wetsuits and flashy surfboards, pioneered by pro surfer Danny Kwock). Each style is only being made in a limited edition of 250 and will be sold only through their eShop and at the first ever swim suit vending machine that be found at The Standard hotels in Miami, Downtown LA, Hollywood, and very soon in New York.
Each pair of boardshorts has a list of addresses in the waistband, carefully curated by Natas Kaupas (Skateboarding legend and Quiksilver Creative Director) and corresponding to 5 unique destinations near each of the hotels.
It all started the first time I saw Jenny Holzer's outdoor piece Selections From The Living Series (1989) in the Sculpture Garden at the Walker in Minneapolis that my love of text art was born.
Some years later, an artist friend who studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design turned me onto another American text artist whom I'd never heard of -- Lawrence Weiner -- who in the past several years has become a late, late bloomer artworld superstar.
LA gallery Regen Projects is currently showing a body of Weiner's work entitled Placed On The Tip Of A Wave. It's on now through 08.15.09.
A pioneer of Conceptual art, Lawrence Weiner began making art in 1960 and remains one of the most dynamic artists working today. Weiner's early work included experiments with shaped canvas, and cutting out squares from carpeting or walls. In 1968, when Sol LeWitt came up with his Paragraphs on Conceptual Art, Weiner formulated his famous Declaration of Intent (1968):
I was listening to HTRK again yesterday after a few weeks and fell in love with their sound all over again. I posted about them in late June and want to cover them again, in case you missed it the first time around. Do yourself a favor: check these guys out. They're amazing.
I just came across another band that I'd never heard of before called HTRK, who have recently released their first full length record called Marry Me Tonight.
Originated in Melbourne, art rock project HTRK -- pronounced "Hate Rock" and also known as Hate Rock Trio -- began performing in 2003. After their former group, Portraits of Hugo Perez, disbanded, bassist Sean Stewart and guitarist Nigel Yang recruited vocalist Jonnine D with aims to create a project like the Birthday Party with slow mechanical repetition (courtesy of a drum machine and Jonnine playing percussion), simplistic basslines, and deafening guitar feedback. Their aesthetic clashed drastically with the '80s rock revival scene that was growing popular in Australia, and their early shows harbored mixed reviews.
Read their full bio on InSound's, where you'll also find more info on buying their music.
I'm not sure how well known this video is, but it seems like it's been around a bit. It's totally new to me, though, and after seeing it Friday night, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
At first, I thought it was some weird Japanese soft porn video or something, but after a little research -- aka reading the description in the right nav on YouTube -- I found out the creepy Fitness Video featuring a woman dressed as a poodle doing aerobics with poodles is in fact art and was created by Japanese artist Nagi Noda, who had an untimely death last September after a car accident.
Watch the video here. It's so weird. It was created by Noda in 2004 for Panasonic for the 2004 Olympics in Athens and is a word for word transcript of one of Susan Powter's original workout videos. If you know me at all, you'll know I'm obsessed with Susan "Stop the Insanity" Powter and can't believe I missed this video when it came out and am just now catching on to Noda's work.
Anyone interested in the intersection between art and design won't want to miss Ron Arad: No Discipline featuring the work of prolific Israeli designer/artist Ron Arad that opens today at MoMA.
Ron Arad: No Discipline celebrates the designer's interdisciplinary and "no-disciplinary" spirit. Physical concepts are traced through works in different materials and scales, and objects are grouped in families based on a shared form, material, technique, or structural idea. The exhibition culminates in Cage sans Frontières, Arad's giant structure that cradles all the other works.
If you're anything like me, you Arad's name might not ring a bell, but once you see his work, you'll know who he is. Ron Arad stands out among the most influential designers of our time for his daredevil approach to form, structure, technology, and materials in work that spans the disciplines of industrial design, sculpture, architecture, and mixed-medium installation.
Arad was born in Tel Aviv in 1951 and studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.
A little birdy told me that the next collection up at Odin's ever-changing pop-up shop DEN in the East Village will be none other than my buddies Nice Collectice. I'm not sure of the dates yet, but if I had to bet it'll coincide with Fashion Week. More to come shortly.
In the meantime, check out their brand new eShop, where you'll find limited edition items.
I really walk by Odin and it's concept store DEN and its women's store Pas de Deux every day at least once. I live on 11th Street in the East Village so it's on my way to just about everything. I'm so used to the place, that I don't usually think about stopping in. Makes no sense, I know, but it's true.
I ran out of Commes des Garcon Incense No 3 this week and had to drop in to get more. Odin is having a pretty killer sale. I got a Nice Collective t-shirt for $39 and almost everything else was marked down once, my tee twice! Stop by and get your fill of sick prices before they sell out. My first choice tee was sold out in Medium. Sad face!
Next door at DEN, the stark interior and matching window treatment instantly caught my eye as soon as they opened. I even tried to remember the name Nooka, but by the time I'd walked a block had had 10 more thoughts and Nooka was but a fleeting memory. My new trick: if I need to remember something, email myself from my Blackberry. That's just what I did.
I stopped in today to check out Nooka.
Nooka is the brainchild of artist and designer, Matthew Waldman. In 1997, Matthew had a flash-back to a first grade math class while staring at a large wall clock in a London hotel and was struck by how few options there were for time display.
I love sneakers and I love flannel and it never occurred to me that the two would ever mix and match...until now.
Check out the YSL signature sneaker for men in grey flannel. Stefano Pilati's Fall/Winter 2009 collection for YSL was very stark with lots of leather, cashmere, and, of course, flannel. This season, a radical collection for Pilati, he used no colors except a blue sapphire and inverted proportions; pants with design cut worn narrow or short, showing biker boots and jackets with large sleeves. Pilati's slowly but surely turning YSL into an "haute bad boy" label one collection at a time.
Back to the sneakers of my dreams: Pilati's combined the hint of sapphire blue with a classic grey flannel for a pair of sneakers that are shear perfection.
Get yours now at Colette's eShop or in YSL's eShop, where you'll also find them in black.
I have to admit, these sneakers are the most photogenic in the world (see pics below), but as an avid sneaker freak, I can tell by look at them that they look hot on. Trust me on this one.
I hate to think of it, but every morning that I get up, I can't help but notice the "summer" angle of my favorite part of the summer -- the part where days get longer and hotter -- is over. You know what that means? While I'm not officially shoppping for anything really, I just got an email about a line out of the UK called Bespoken that's got me thinking about the perfect winter jacket. I've worn my Ju$t Another Rich Kidwool army jackets for two winters in a row and I'm over it.
Master shirt makers Turnbull & Asser have partnered with two close family friends to create the line that launched in 2007. Bespoken is designed and manufactured in England, under the tutelage of the designers and pattern cutters at Turnbull & Asser.
Inspired by the highly revered English brand, Bespoken was born out of a shared vision to create only the finest of garments with uncompromised craftsmanship & quality, attributes that have long been synonymous with classic English tailoring. All Bespoken garments are made of fabrics sourced from British textile mills featuring classic English cues such as double vents, slanted ticket pockets, and hallmark gingham fabric linings on blazers.
