http://www.thisheartsonfire.com (for people who know everything cool already !!) en-us http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/ThisHeartsOnFireFeed.xml Weblog Editor 2.0 info@thisheartsonfire.com ken@thisheartsonfire.com http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/September2009/090908.php 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. In Minami's "remake" of the end of the 20th Century, the slow death and the state of continuous ending that we have experienced in the first decade of the 21st Century- - without definition, ultimatum, or period at the end of the sentence - is no longer necessary. The works will be on view in the gallery at the Soho Grand from 09.09.09 - 12.02.09. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/September2009/090907.php 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. I'm particulary drawn to his jackets, sweaters, and pants, with their tailored, but not too tailored, slightly crumpled look. As the season would suggest, stormier seas are referenced to create a ruggedly elegant collection - modern city dressing, relaxed yet hardy. Oliver takes traditional and utilitarian inspirations, fabrics and garments and remakes them with all the inventive flourish with which he has become synonymous. Check out pics below from the collection and, for more information on the designer's inspiration and more looks, click here. If you're looking for a bargain, the Spring/Summer 2009 collection is on sale in the Spencer's eShop. Spencer's classic looks aren't quick to go out of style so you can stock up for next year now. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/September2009/090906.php 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 rb 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. Check them out on MySpace. Don't forget their official site, where you can sign up to get a free MP3 and listen to and watch the video for their single Basic Space. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/September2009/090905.php 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. Hospice began as Peter Silberman's solitary work following a period of social isolation, written during his re-emergence. While initially conceived as Silberman's project, the recording of Hospice (entirely in his tiny bedroom studio) quickly encapsulated several musicians, two of whom became the permanent collaborative members of The Antlers. Michael Lerner's hypnotic drumming on Hospice has transformed into something incredibly powerful and epic in live performances, while Darby Cicci's bowed banjo and trumpet playing have morphed into an ethereal wall of keyboards and synthesizers. The band self-released Hospice in early March 2009 to overwhelming critical acclaim, including NPR's All Songs Considered naming the record the best of 2009 thus far, and Pitchfork declaring that, "Even in this bear market, The Antlers' stock is on the rise." Check out their MySpace to test drive several songs, read their press, find links to purchase their records, and, most importantly, see if they're play in your town soon. They're currently making the rounds in the Midwest and will be back in New York - they're based out of Brooklyn which is really hard to believe - on 10.03.09 playing a gig at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Get tickets here. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/September2009/090904.php 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. From SLRs to disposables to digital cameras to PDAs, the photographic image is more prolific than at any point since the medium's inception. Whether working in personal documentary, editorial, fine art or fashion, the photographers in SHOOT share a democratic, emotionally intuitive approach to picture-taking that reflects an era in which we increasingly use ephemeral images to define our own lives." Photographers whose work is included in the book: Stephen Shore, Walter Pfeiffer, Mark Borthwick, Glynnis McDaris, Linus Bill, Tim Barber, Peter Sutherland, Dash Snow, Kenneth Cappello, Louise Enhorning, Ola Rindal, Paul Schiek, Thomas Jeppe, and many more. SHOOT includes a foreword by legendary photographer Stephen Shore, in addition to a critical essay by professor Penny Martin (of pioneering fashion site SHOWstudio.com and the London College of Fashion) with a historical overview by Editor Ken Miller, who hooked me up with some pics from the book below. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/September2009/090903.php 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 In your career? I can't understand the question (as Klaus Kinski used to say, but in this case, I truly can't) I love your manifesto, especially the part about the old creaky labels like Dolce and Gabana and D-Squared. What's your beef with these designers/labels? How is Dead Meat different? It was just for fun. Of course Dead Meat is different but I'm sure it's not better. I just work in a different historical moment so it's pretty banal to say "Hey, I'm different, I'm the "Evolution". The reason I quote them: it's a way to claim the existence and influence of their works. So it's was a joke, an empty criticism. Nothing else except ethics with a capital E. We need to be aware of the power of the comunication. I sell thousands of pieces of clothing and I diffuse my own personal verb. I, more or less, influence people and I feel a true need not to say: "Ok It's just lust and richness"; I don't want to be overly serious because I really trust in what Pasolini called "The depth of the surface" but, you know, the world needs to follow an Idea of Equilibrium. I just would like to be a part of it. I'm a t-shirt designer so I know a lot about tees, fabrics, fits, and cuts. Tell me about yours. Actually t-shirts are just a part of the project and to be 100% sincere I'm not prepared about this question. I just like t-shirt because they are a great white canvas to express a straight idea and at the same time they are a sort of narrow cage in which you are obligated to use few tools. You need to be creative and you have to do this with few things. That's all I guess. What inspires you? Where do you draw inspiration for your graphics? I would like to say I'm a writer but probably I'm just a young pseudo-intellectual for whom art and expression equate to his private need for narcisism. That is, more or less, always the same in every place and period of human history. Top 5 favorite places to hangout? Infinite Jest, Nausicaa and the valley of the wind. My friend Totoro, Eyes Wide Shut, Fargo and L'Etranger. These are the place where I like to be. Most of the time. Top 5 favorite cities in the world? Paris, New York, Firenze, Los Angeles and Gotham City Top 5 songs you can't live without right now? Can't stand losing you (Police, Outlandos d'amour), Roxanne (Police, Outlandos d'amour), Negative Creep (Nirvana, From the muddy bank of the Wishkah), Junkhead (Alice in Chains, Dirt), You can take my breath away (Queen, A day at the race) Current projects? Just work. When something will be done you will find it on our website: www.deadmeat.it This is where you get to say whatever you want. Anything. Really. I just would like to "teach" to people how to be happy and to love the others (that sounds too hippie or horribly macrobiotic but the lack of the language - I'm writing in a wild English - 'cause I guess that's the deepest and, at the same time, the highest way to diffuse culture. But everyone has his own way. So I guess I have to learn a lot about it. Try to learn and understand. That's the main point of my work. And we come back to the "I" part but, darling, you know, people like me think about themselves all the time. Sorry. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/September2009/090902.php 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. Looking at the photo in the poster for the show, it took me a second to figure out if it was indeed a photo or one of the artist's paintings. The line blurs between Photo-Realist paintings and Photoshopped digital images. It's safe to say, though, these are photos and the manner in which he shoots is identical to his paintings, which makes it all the more appealing. The exhibition Black Light will be accompanied by, Black Light, a full-color book published by Powerhouse and will be available at Deitch Projects. Check out Deitch's site for more info. Black Light Kehinde Wiley Deitch Projects / 76 Grand Street 09.03 - 09.26.09 Opening: 09.03 from 6-9pm http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/September2009/090901.php 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. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090856.php 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 eShop Komakino. Make sure to check out Forme d'expression's official site, where you'll find pics of previous collections and a full list of stockists to find one nearest you. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090855.php 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. Click here to read more about PERFORMA. Make sure to check out their site for photos, to join their mailing list and to read much more about the history and the mission of the biennial. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090854.php So I know I've been going off lastely about Tretorn. First it was the Commes des Garcons collaboration 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. 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!!! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090853.php OMG...this is the sickness. 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!! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090852.php 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. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090851.php 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 under the name 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. Others, though successful at gaining acceptance, use their new affiliations to revel impatiently and indignantly towards self-destruction. In this sense, the images I've shared with you are snapshots of what that basic tribal tendency looks like in my head - illustrations for a chapter in my personal book of myths. Check out the pics below to see for yourself. As with everything Cruz creates, the pieces are like nothing you'll see from another collection. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090849.php 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. This season, we took elements from John F Kennedy's sailing styles in the late 60's and combined it with the Ivy League prep style from the same era. We focused on looks that were casual but incredibly clean-cut and dressy. See for yourself in the pics below. If you want to checkout their Fall/Winter 2010 collection, click here. If anything catches your eye, check out their eShop to see if it's available online. You'll be pleasantly surprised by their price point, which is very reasonable. If you don't find that special something online, click here to see their list of stockists worldwide. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090848.php 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. Yeah, they're pretty much the sonic equivalent of flying down the yellow brick road while its raining ecstasy and skittles, and yeah, you're gonna want to taste this rainbow. Limited to 500 copies and pressed on sexy white vinyl, the record is available for preorder now in the US from the Neon Gold Shop and in the UK exclusively from Puregroove. Check out Neon Gold's blog for more info on the band and to download a remix of "Tuff 'n Stuff". Don't forget to check out Yes Giantess on MySpace, where you can test drive several songs and get a full list of upcoming tour dates, including a 09.10.09 show at Music Hall of Williamsburg and another at the Bowery Ballroom on my birthday! 09.16.09. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090847.php Too much music. 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. Who's playing this year? Panda Bear, Suicide, Animal Collective, Sufjan Stevens, Akron/Family, Black Dice, Atlas Sound, The Flaming Lips, Crystal Castles and more. While not a lineup to die for, there are a few bands I'd like to see and, from what I understand, this venue is amazing. Click here for the full line up. For more info on the event, click here. Tickets are $75 for a one day pass for Friday, $95 for a one day pass for Saturday or Sunday, or $235 for a three day pass. Get yours here. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090846.php 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. Did you study fashion or are you self-taught? My association to fashion has been analogous in practice to what was happening in hardcore music in the 80s: do it yourself, make your own medium, ignore authority, function over form. I've opted for emotions over mechanization and I've tried to delicately balance discipline and psychosis, slickness and sickness, love and hate, science and sin. Where are you from? How did you end up in LA? I was born and raised in Paris. I was playing music a lot in France and England and was curious to explore the LA music scene which in the early 80s was quite fascinating, creative and self destructive. The Southern California weather seemed quite attractive as well... I was seriously getting deeply emotionally damaged by those shitty European winters. What are your thoughts on the current state of fashion? Is it in crisis mode? It looks like all avant-garde aspects of art in fashion has been blunted and jaded. Designers are so relentlessly in search of the right trend, the product made at the right price for the right group of people that I feel the need to be detached to what is happening in the commercial aspect of fashion . Paradoxically, as a designer I have drew less and less interested in this industry we call fashion. What do you feel needs to happen in the fashion industry to help retailers sell more clothing. I don't think the problem is socio-economic. It's dystopia that is most likely the source of our current problems. Dys-to-pia: n. - A society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease and overcrowding. An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression or terror; An imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives; an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it possibly can be or a vision or description of such place. Here in the United States, everywhere I look I witness the steady decline of intelligence, year after year, accompanied by a radical increase of numbers. The clever and gifted seem to grow fewer and fewer, while the unfit herds multiply at an astronomical rate. In short, it is my contention that we are presently witnessing rampant dysgenics and ever-increasing dystopia. Since the US Market is shrinking, what are other countries that now seem to be a focus for designers and brands to target, in your opinion? I try to focus on my work and it present artistic-social validity and let the worldwide market to decide if it fits anywhere on the globe. If the work is good and passionate, it usually works out fine, so far... What parts of the US do you feel have always been fashionable and open to new things? I've found all major cities in the US open to new things as they need to be in order to discover new talents, but I don't found them always particularly fashionable. What areas have you seen the most growth in this sense, in recent years? I couldn't say, unfortunately I'm pretty behind on my traveling. Is there any specific album or artist that helps get your artistic juices flowing? Depending on the mood, it varies: Whithouse when I feel angry, Black Sabbath when I feel happy, the Stranglers when I need to relax, Suicide when I feel anxious, Mozart when I need inspiration, Roxy Music when I feel love, Sunn O when I feel pain, Black Flag when I hate... http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090845.php 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. Don't forget to check out Obscur's site, where you'll past collections; and check out the full range of styles available online at Komakino. I'm not sure where it's available in New York. Perhaps Atelier, although I don't see it listed on their site. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090844.php 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. Enjoy. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090843.php Check it out! 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. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090842.php 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. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090841.php 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 If music, is it Webby? lol... yes, i am very inspired by screwed and chopped. and webby did a good job screwing and chopping that one song. once i was walking down the street and i heard the original version and it was terrible. i cant think of any rap songs (or maybe any songs in general) that wouldn't sound better LEANED How did you get your first album out? was it self released or a label? Were you sought out by the label, or did you go after them? our manager patrick sought us out and has helped (is helping) us so much. he put out our first 7" through his label- ACEPHALE If you sought them out, what was it about this label that made you want to release through them? we didnt What made you decided to do limited edition vinyl releases? Do you have one hidden away that you can send me? j/k we wanted to see how they would sell and how people would react to them before doing more. we're going to put out a full length album soon but its foggy as to when. its a little complicated. How many releases do you have total? Are you working on any new tracks? we have three 7" records out and currently and we have been on some compilations. we have been working really hard on alot of new songs. thats mainly what ive been focusing on the most since i moved back to michigan. I heard that you played a show in Rome recently? How did that come about? someone who was putting together a festival sought us out and flew us there. rome is very nice. You guys came out of nowhere.....Its funny, since I have been reading about you for a while, and didnt know that you were in it....how did the buzz start? the internet is a strange and magical place I just checked out your video....I feel like I have been in the alley before....was that shot in Chicago? yes it was shot in chicago, in jacks garage. What was the concept behind the video? ... its a secret How did you come up with the concept for the video? sometimes things are better left unsaid. the video is an unspoken understanding that the three of us share. What does the future hold for Salem? the future is the only one that knows http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090840.php 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. Check out their profile on 4AD's site, where you'll find a list of shows, news about the band, and, of course, a listing of their records to date. Don't forget the band's official site, their MySpace, where you can get a good feel for their sound, and their Wiki. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090839.php 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! Read the full review here. A mysterious and intriguing tale of a woman who may have killed someone or something while driving on a dirt road. Dazed and confused, she tries to piece together what happened, while her husband systematically tries to erase her tracks. From the acclaimed director of THE HOLY GIRL, Lucrecia Martel's third feature explores the intricacies of class in a male dominated society. This official selection of the Cannes and New York Film Festival has been declared, "One of the great films of the decade" by Artforum Magazine, while Village Voice says "Martel's strongest to date!" Read more about the film on Film Forum's site, where you can also watch the trailer and read all of the rave reviews. It runs now through 09.01.09, but I have a feeling they might hold this one over. Get your tickets now. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090838.php 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 i tank you yours terence koh 19th aug'09. nyc http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090837.php 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. Over the 19 months that follow, the recipient watches in wonder as the collection evolves slowly and intentionally into a rainbow's array of possibility and a most exceptional, enduring gift. A sense of anticipation usually reserved for childhood and holidays builds even before the shipments begin, adding another layer of delight to the purposeful gathering of the world's most exclusive pencil collection. And if the pencils aren't enough, there's more. Rounding out the bounty are 4 design-minded cases, devised for organizing and displaying this anthology as more than just an incomparable collection of creative tools but interactive art installation that radiates with possibility. Check out the whole set on Felissimo's site. This set of pencils makes the list of 134 available Crayola Crayon colors look like kid's play. Lobster Bisque? Tomatillo? Drizzly Afternoon? Kierkegaard? (Is it the color of his cheeks???) You gotta love it. Gets yours today! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090836.php You know I love the Silversun Pickups. 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. And while you're at it, check out their MySpace to test drive more tracks, get tour dates, and watch move videos. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090835.php 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. In September, the series presents a mix of independent features and box-office blockbusters, including three films by Australian director Baz Luhrmann - Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, and Australia - generously donated by Twentieth Century-Fox. Other films included: Blade Runner: The Final Version, Casino Royale, Little Children, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and many more. Click here for a full listing. If you haven't seen a film at MoMA, do yourself a favor and check it out. Stop by The Modern for a drink or dinner. It's so chic. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090835.php 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. In September, the series presents a mix of independent features and box-office blockbusters, including three films by Australian director Baz Luhrmann - Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, and Australia - generously donated by Twentieth Century-Fox. Other films included: Blade Runner: The Final Version, Casino Royale, Little Children, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and many more. Click here for a full listing. If you haven't seen a film at MoMA, do yourself a favor and check it out. Stop by The Modern for a drink or dinner. It's so chic. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090834.php 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. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090833.php 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. Check out these two singles from the record that I downloaded free from their label's site JagJaguwar. Vampire While We Were Dreaming I like the record a lot, but definitely not as much as the 2006 release Axis of Evol, with the killer tracks "New Drug Queens", "Comas", "Lord, Let Us Shine", and "How We Can Get Free". Make sure to check out Pink Mountaintops' official site, their page on JagJaguwar's site, where you'll find links to buy Outside Love, and the band'sMySpace, where you can test drive all the songs from the record and get tour dates. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090832.php 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. Yasuda personally selects the fish one by one, evaluating each for freshness, size and its "spirit" or "energy." He then carefully begins his comprehensive process of cleaning, preparing and storing. Yasuda makes simple, straight sushi. He does not pre-cut his slices or display the fish in a glass case since the quality of fish prepared and stored this way begins to deteriorate almost immediately. Each piece of sushi or sashimi (fish without rice) is custom-prepared and then gracefully delivered from behind Yasuda's counter. Wow! It doesn't stop there. The restaurant has gotten glowing reviews from just about everyone, including the tough critics at the NY Times, who gave them 3 stars and called Sushi Yasuda "sublime", Travel + Leisure, Timeout New York, and a whopping 28 out of 30 from Zagat's, which equals extraordinary to perfection. Check out their site here for more information. Click here to see their menu on New York Magazine's site. While the prices are cheap, for the quality of the fish and the overall dining experience, it's by no means outrageous either. Sushi Yasuda is located at 204 East 43rd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Lunch is served Monday through Friday, noon to 2:15 p.m. Dinner is served Monday through Saturday, 6 to 10:15 p.m. Check it out. You may never go back to your old sushi joint again. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090831.php 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. If you find them somewhere else, send me an email and let me know! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090830.php 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. Ignoring all pressure, they headed to the Electric Lady Studios in New York to record and self-produce what was to become their epic debut album, A Brief History of Love. The final results are eleven stunning tracks that chart the trials of the heart, set within a sound world that combines melody and beautiful noise in equal measure. Previous singles, Too Young To Love and Velvet make the cut while live favourites like Crystal Visions, Dominos and Count Backwards From Ten all go towards creating a body of work so strong, it cements The Big Pink's position as one of the finest and most important bands to emerge in years. You can pre-order their debut record here on 4AD's site and I've downloaded the free version of Dominos for you to check out here. Don't forget to check out the band's official site -- where you can see the new video for Dominos -- their MySpace, and this listing of their tour dates this Fall. Tickets went on sale Friday for the two New York shows -- one at Music Hall of Williamsburg and one at the Bowery Ballroom -- which will take place on 12.03 and 12.04.09. Click here for more details. See you there! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090829.php 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. These assume the likenesses of a potato, a dolmen and two small whales—some of them already exhibited in 2008 at the Fondazione Prada in Milan-with animated videos inserted as part of the whole. Djurberg creates videos that are short, animated films made with the stop motion technique and feature plasticine figures that move about and create a surreal and often grotesque narrative. Check out the official site for the Transformer, where you'll find out all about the project, which is quite amazing, images, and a roster of shows planned. Check out this PDF with details of Djurberg's Turn Into Me, which includes an interview with the artist. Don't forget to check out Fondazione Prada's official site and Djurberg's Wiki. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090828.php 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. Get yours while they're hot. Don't forget to check out MOSCOT's site to see the full range of their glasses and sunglasses. They've got some really cool styles, including this style in four chic colors by New York designer Chris Benz. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090827.php 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. From Ryan McGinley's Morrissey crowds to Bob Gruen's John Lennon, Maripol's Madonna to Richard Avedon's Everly Brothers, David LaChapelle's Lil Kim to Henry Diltz's Tina Turner, Who Shot Rock Roll presents our idols at their most divine, as captured by some of the greatest artists—most of whom are yet to be recognized—to work in photography. An exhibition of work from the book will launch at the Brooklyn Museum on October 30. Who Shot Rock Roll is the first major museum exhibition on rock and roll to put photographers in the foreground, acknowledging their creative and collaborative role in the history of rock music. From its earliest days, rock and roll was captured in photographs that personalized, and frequently eroticized, the musicians, creating a visual identity for the genre. The photographers were handmaidens to the rock and roll revolution, and their images communicate the social and cultural transformations that rock has fostered since the1950s. Click here to read more about the exhibit and here to read more about the book, including an extensive list of the photographers and rockers included in it, as well as dates for the US tour of the exhibit that will follow its opening in Brooklyn. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090826.php 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. In 2006, after meeting with Stephan Wembacher, Doma joined Paper Rain and a new label under his name was launched; and it was not long before he made a promising debut at Paris fashion week after presenting his first collection in June 2007. A strong following has ensued since, and one that has translated into commercial success in boutiques around the world too. Check out Doma's site for pics of all his collections to date, his bio, and a list of stockists. To see and buy pieces from the collection online, check out this secret page in oki-ni's eShop. Click here for shipping details. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090825.php 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. While entirely a studio record, the collection doesn't suffer from the overburdens of a digital pile up or over-thinking. Rather it breathes and convulses in equal measure, radiating an inherent dynamism found only in the voluntary bondage of intimacy. With influences ranging from David Sylvian and Steve Reich to Mahalia Jackson and Tom Waits, it might be more accurate to say the group's influence is music itself. You can hear it in the care and real love generously applied to each moment of Unmap. With the vibe of some intimate backwoods gospel, plus a spirit of patience and thoughtful repetition, the music of Volcano Choir is as dynamic as it is lovely. Unmap marks the debut full-length from Volcano Choir, the collaboration between Collections of Colonies of Bees and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Read the band's full bio here, where you can also listen to a sneak peak track from the record Island, IS. They have a MySpace, but there are currently no songs posted. Unmap is scheduled to be released on 09.22.09. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090824.php 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. One thing you should note, Montale ships worldwide and THEY PAY for the 48 hour FedEx shipping. How hot is that? There's a list of stockists on their site, including Aedes de Venustas (9 Christopher Street). The line is also carried at one of my favorite Berlin shops Andreas Murkudis. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090821.php 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. (Meals are 60 euros for lunch, 80 euros for dinner, wine included.) If you only book, say, two seats, then you'll sit with 10 strangers, but unexpected encounters are part of the plan. This is about cooking as a kind of performance art, and eating together as an act of conviviality. "I don't care about making a restaurant," said Grasso. "Creating this experience, on the roof of the Palais de Tokyo, with interesting architecture and the creativity of a chef – that's not a restaurant. It's a work of art." Click here to read the full article. Check out Art Home's site, where you can try to get reservations. Good luck! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090819.php 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. Recently, industrial designer Pete Kelly became the director of industrial design for the company. Pete formerly worked for the Vestal group. During his tenure there, Pete designed watches for Vans, Paul Frank, and Gwen Stefani's Harajouku Lovers/Lamb line. In 2008, Skullcandy announced its partnership with Metallica for the band's ninth studio album, Death Magnetic, released in September. The collaboration produced Metallica-branded Skullcandy headphones, Metallica Hesh and Metallica Lowrider, to debut alongside the new downloadable album. Skullcandy continued this promotional effort in 2009 by collaborating with hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg, and plans to debut the Snoop Crusher in May 2009. Check out Skullcandy's site for more information on their product line, their history, and a list of online and brick and mortar stores that carry the line, including Paragon (New York), Bonnie and Clyde's (Chicago), and Sonic Boom (Seattle). http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090818.php I did the unthinkable yesterday: I went shopping. 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. If you're not familiar with the line, it was started in 2001 by Arnaud Zannier and Enrique Corbi, both long time veterans of the shoe business, who wanted to branch out on their own and start a company that focses on craftsmanship and luxury materials, creating reworked classics that defy trends and appeal to a wide variety of consumers. Every collection focuses on 4 things: simplicity, quality, originality, and constructional know-how. Each pair is made by artisans using only the highest quality leather from European tanneries. Cutting corners is not their game and the quality of their products -- and the price! -- is reflective of this. Once you see, feel, and try on a pair, though, you'll fall in love. Check out their site for more information, images of collections, and a list of stores that stock the line worldwide. In the US, you can find the line at Steven Alan, Earnest Sewn, Fred Segal, and Barneys to name a few. Online you can find the line at The Corner and in Steven Alan's eShop. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090816.php 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. Such is the case with Kostas Murkudis, who's collections and collaborations I've admired online for some time, but haven't seen them in person before. I just read that Murkudis used to work for Helmut Lang, which makes perfect sense. While the prices aren't cheap -- suits before markdown were around $2,500 -- the line is incredible: the fabric, the detailing, the cut, the fit. Well done and not another hipster line making pieces that look like every other hipster line. If you're in for a nice suit, shirt, or pants, stop by and check it out. You're going to love it. Additionally, sometimes Murkudis collaborators Schiesser's shirts caught my eye. Schiesser you may or may not know is a 130 year old German label that's been sold at local German shops until a few years back, when they decided it was time to take the high quality line a little more mainstream, teaming up with the likes of Murkudis, Adidas, and Yohji. Says the NY Times about the line done with Murkudis: The concept is designed to work both indoors and out. The common denominator is 100 two-ply Pima cotton that is mercerized, a chemical treatment process that adds a special luster to the clothing. Murkudis's cuts are loose but form-fitting and give the impression of being well-worn, even when worn for the first time. Trust me, the price is right and the shirts are impeccable. Various Projects has a line of dress shirts you'll want to check out and don't forget the Margiela shoes and sneakers. I'm dying for a pair of the old school low top sneakers in white. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090815.php 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. The collection is available in charcoal, stone grey, fire, grass green, ink blue, orange, olive, and gold. The collection is available through Elson Company. Click here to read more and to check out images of the rugs in all their color ways. To see the available designs (sans color), click here. I need one of these now. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090813.php 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. All items have been dry stone washed to give a naturally worn-in texture and each item in the line is accessorised with a DRKSHDW lanyard and coin purse. At $328, I hesitate to say affordable, but if you're reading my site, you know what I mean. The other bags that are as cool cost much much more! Get yours now. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090811.php 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. With the new album, the band wanted to try something completely different. It was a very conscious decision, and not a "natural progression." The result is an album that feels honest, natural, and straightforward. The musicianship is left in the open, unassisted by studio magic, and the songs are left to justify for themselves their own screwy pop-rock existence. Read more on their label Jagjaguwar's site. Don't forget to check out the band's official site, which is currently under construction, but lists tour dates and has lyrics to the songs on Dragonslayer, and, of course, their MySpace, where you can test drive songs from the current and past records. If you're in New York, Sunset Rubdown plays the Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center. Tickets go on sale Friday, 08.08.09 at noon. Click here for more info. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090809.php 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. Read their full review here. Don't forget to check out the band's official site, where you'll find a blog, pics, videos, and mp3's. As always, don't foget their MySpace, where you can test drive every song from their debut record aptly titled O+S. If you prefer to buy it, do so here. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090806.php 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. Dont' forget their MySpace -- listen to Disco and you'll be hooked instantly -- and their official site, where you can sign up for their newsletter, which will hopefully include some tour dates outside Australia soon. I want to bring these guys to New York asap! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090802.php 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. He then sketched his ideas for potential designs on a napkin and brought them back to New York. After working on the designs, he submitted them to his legal team, and indeed, they were unique enough to patent! The watches are very designy and slick. Not really my style -- if I'm going to go plastic it's all G-Shock for me -- but I know amazing design when I see them. The one that I could picture myself wearing is from their collaboration series by New York designers DDC Lab. Read more about Nooka on their site and check out their latest collection. And if you're in the East Village, stop by DEN and check them out in person. They're hot. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/August2009/090801.php 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. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090743.php 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 Kid wool 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. The company has recently brought former Rag Bone designer Nathan Bogle onboard to consult for the line. If you're a fan of Rag Bone, you'll know this can only mean good things to come for Bespoken. Check out Bespoken's website, where you'll find more images of the Fall/Winter 2009 collection, as well as images from Spring/Summer 2009, which is pretty hot. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090741.php Check out British indie footwear line Pointer. They've got a killer mix of sneakers that are sort of skater/fashion hybrids and boat shoes that are perfect for the preppy hipster movement that's brewing right now in New York. 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. Check out the pics below of some of my favorite styles of men's shoes from the line. Click here to check out the full range on Pointer's site. The line can be found in the US at Reed Space (New York) and American Rag (SF and LA). For a complete list of stockists, click here. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090740.php It's no secret: I'm CUH-CRAZY for Chronicles of Never, especially their tees. The graphics on the most recent collections, especially the ØDE TØ THE Ø collection -- are sheer perfection. Having only seen the tees online and being as particular as I am about t-shirts, I was worried that they wouldn't hold up in person, which I found to be false when I checked them out in person at Oak. In case you missed it, Chronicles of Never is the line designed by former Ksubi founder Gareth Moody and, as much as I love Ksubi, CoN kicks Ksubi's ass. The line's about 4 years old now and has gotten loads of press, but somehow has managed to remain healthily under the radar and just keeps getting better, with a full range of clothes, including tees, shirts, pants, shorts, amazing shoes, and accessories. Formed in 2006 with the concept of Neverland in mind, Chronicles of Never is loosely based upon the space in space. Angular, solid, and masculine--it is heavily influenced by architecture and geometrics, big manga dreams and a love for industrial material. Once you see pics of the tees below, that little tidbit will make a lot more sense. Make sure to check out the official site for the line, this PDF of images of the ØDE TØ THE Ø collection, their quasi online store at Grand Social (where you can find and buy all of the styles seen below), and an extensive selection from the collection at Revolve, where some of the tees are currently on sale, which gives me hope of one day owning one as the chances that I'll spend $125+ for a tee is only going to happen if I somehow win Powerball without buying a ticket. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090739.php Check out Swedish menswear label Odeur. I came across this one last night surfing around for cool new brands. Like a lot of the more obscure, foreign, indie brands I've been covering lately, I can't find much information on this line, but know it will soon be carried at oki-ni and is currently only sold in the US at Gamma Player in Chicago. Says oki-ni: "Founded in 2006, Odeur is a brand experiment - using a scent and its structure as a replacement for traditional word based branding. Surfaces is Odeur's 5th collection, fabrics are structured but silhouettes are loose, inspired by the fresh, clean and modern Odeur fragrance." All I can tell you from what I've seen is that they have amazing tees, tanks, sweatshirts, and various other cotton knits, some of which are really cool and wearable and others styles that are a bit more avant-garde, never crossing the line of wearability like other brands who design in this manner. Check out the pics below. Don't forget to check out their site, where you'll find more images of their current collection and a full list of retailers who carry the line. You can find the line online at Far Fetch and make sure to keep your eyes peeled for Odeur's arrival this Fall at oki-ni. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090738.php My favorite Italian sneaker company -- D.A.T.E. -- has put their Fall/Winter 2009 collection online and it couldn't be better. Not sure when it ships to retailers, but my guess is late August/early September. As far as I know, for those of us in the US, the only retailer that carries the line is Bloomingdale's, but that could have changed and they havne't yet updated the list of stockists on their site. Founded by four friends in 2006, D.A.T.E. takes its name from their initials: Damiano Innocenti, Alessandro Zanobini, Tommaso Santoni, and Emiliano Paci. The foursome first met in London in 2004 and decided to create D.A.T.E. inspired by the look of '70s sneakers and London street culture and nightlife. Simple forms embellished with colorful materials and accents, such as printed textiles, linen insets, and laminated gold calfskin. As you'll see from the pics below, the line just keeps getting better and better. For more information, check out their site, where you'll find even more images, information about the company (in Italian only!), and a full list of stockists. Don't forget to check out ShopStyle for a list of online shops carrying the line, which is great news for anyone not in New York. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090737.php Check out Australian menswear brand Asuza. I can't find much information about them anywhere online, but their graphic tees caught my eye. The fit of the tees looks hot and the graphics are simply awesome. The few that are my favorites -- which you can see in the pics below -- are simple but powerful. Gone are the overdone crazy graphic tees of the past several years, being replaced be either no graphics or one color graphics that make more use of repitition, space, and negative space than they do of chaotic lines, text, and such. According to their site, they're only sold in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and China. I'm shocked they haven't made their way to the European and US markets yet, especially given their reasonable price point of $56. At least that's how much they cost when you buy directly from the designers via the Grand Social. The Grand Social is an online marketplace for Australia and New Zealand. When you buy from a designer on the Grand Social you are buying directly from the label because it's their store, which is cool! Currently, Asuza's having a sale on tees, which brings the already affordable price down to about $35. Don't forget to check out Asuza's site for more images from the collection and the names of their current retailers. I have a feeling we'll be seeing the line stateside in no time. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090736.php Time for a little gratuitous self promotion. I was asked to donate a print to a project called No Fin No Future in Japan and after reading their mission statement decided to give them a copy of my diptych Untitled: The Heartbreakers + The Ramones. They're just finished up hosting a booth at the famed Fuji Rock Festival this weekend and are now preparing for their fund raising event on 07.30.09. PangeaSeed, a Japan-based nonprofit organization, is ramping up its inaugural activities in Tokyo this summer with events tailored to spotlight the organization's dedication to increasing awareness of the plight of sharks. Of the 400 shark species, more than 100 are endangered, with many species so overexploited it may be impossible for them to recover. The events will showcase the issues surrounding shark finning in Asia and other parts of the world, where sharks are killed to satisfy culinary and medicinal demand. In finning it is common to cut the fin from a still-living shark, then discard the rest, as the fin is worth many times over the shark as a whole. On 07.30.09, PangeaSeed will host its first event, No Fin, No Future at Super Deluxe in Nishi Azabu, featuring never-before-seen art and photography from global artists such as Mr. Brainwash, Josh Keyes, Ju$t Another Rich Kid, Dave Kinsey and many more. Check out the press release here and the flyer for the event here. Don't forget to check out PangeaSeed's site and SuperDeluxe's site for more information. A little trivia for anyone who's a fan of Mr Brainwash: he was the guy who did the prints for the Levi's/Fader space in New York last spring and he's just designed the cover art for Madonna's new record Celebration. Check it out here. I'm a huge fan of color halftone and he does it to perfection. No Fin No Future Various Artists Super Deluxe (Tokyo) B1F 3-1-25 Nishi Azabu, Minato-ku 07.03.09 Doors open at 6:30pm http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090734.php If you know me, you know one of my theories in life is that wanting is usually way better than having. Getting something can be such a let down, not because the thing you got was bad, but because it becomes real and you get over it and need to move onto something else. As you see from this site, I spend a lot of time wanting. If you saw my wardrobe, you'd know I want WAY more than I get. The two things I just realized I want after checking out the latest products section on oki-ni are on opposite ends of the spectrum: a classic pair of Vans and a fancy pair of Margiela shoes. First up, the super cool, incredibly affordable ($62 plus shipping) Vans Era sneakers in grey and baby blue. Hot hot hot. The Era is an update of the authentic featuring canvas uppers, a padded collar, outside heel and the Vans classic waffle sole for comfort, strength and support. The shoe is shown here in a grey and blue colourway with a white outer sole. Made by the legendary Tony Alva and the Dogtown Crew - the Era became skateboarding's first shoe back in 1976. And it wouldn't be my life if I didn't also want something I can't afford aka the Margiela Brushed Effect Shoes. Classic. Sheer perfection and, as you know, I'm not a huge fan of dress shoes or so I thought. A classic shoe in a vintage treated black leather upper, faded for a uneven, aged look. Shoes are soled in leather for a comfortable, flexible fit and are very simple in their construction except for an overstitched toe cap. Get 'em while they're hot. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090733.php So much music and all coming from Brooklyn. Check out Travis Stewart aka machinedrum. Travis Stewart, better known by his stage name machinedrum, sometimes capitalized Machine Drum, is an electronic musician and one of the artists who helped launch Merck Records. He is also the owner of New York-based Normrex Records. His debut album was released under one of his aliases, Syndrone. The style of which could best be described as tracking Autechre stylized glitch but adding a bit of venous melody. Syndrone's debut, Triskaideka started off small but within a matter of years sold out of 1,000 copies and was soon licensed by a respected European IDM label called Djak-Up-Bitch. In 2000 he began collegiate study at a prestigious audio mastering school and acquired many new instruments and samples. Out of this squalor of college living came his next musical project, Machinedrum. This alias can be described as hip hop accentuated by mutant drum patterns, dense IDM style melodies, and MCs freed in the digital world to slip-up and double-back on their rhymes. His first release as Machinedrum was entitled Now You Know. Travis was instantly in competition with Prefuse 73 as the new era of electronic hip hop. His latest release Want to 1 2? was released on Normrex Records on 05.12.09. Read his full Wiki here, check out his music on MySpace, and watch videos on YouTube. It's not a genre that I list to often, but this guy sucked me in. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090732.php Art lovers mark your calendars. MoMA has just announced a show entitled Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity marking the 90th anniversary of the influential Bauhaus school that will be chock full of masterpiece works that you won't want to miss. The Bauhaus school in Germany - the most famous and influential school of avant-garde art in the twentieth century - brought together artists, architects, and designers in an extraordinary conversation about the nature of art in the modern age. Aiming to rethink the very form of contemporary life, the students and faculty of the Bauhaus made the school the venue for a dazzling array of experiments in the visual arts that had a transformative effect on the 1920s and 1930s and profoundly shaped our contemporary visual world. The exhibition brings together over 400 works that reflect the extraordinarily broad range of the school's productions, including industrial design, furniture, architecture, graphics, photography, textiles, ceramics, theater and costume design, painting, and sculpture. It includes works by famous faculty members and well-known students including Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Lyonel Feininger, Walter Gropius, Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lucia Moholy, Lilly Reich, and Oskar Schlemmer, as well as less well-known, but equally innovative, artists. Read the full press release here. Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity Various Artists MoMA New York 11.08.2009 - 01.18.2010 http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090731.php I went to a pretty sick party last night thrown by SPIN, who I have to admit I didn't even realize anyone read anymore or if it was still in business, in the bar/lobby area downstairs at the newly minted Jane Hotel. Three words: sick, sick, and more sick. The space is incredible. While I still love the lobby bar at the Bowery Hotel, this one kinda puts it to shame and has a very similar look and feel, which is what makes both of them so hot. For starters, the space is relatively huge for a hotel bar. There's comfy, chic furniture all over and a space downstairs and one up to hangout in. The party last night was one of the more rowdy, fun parties I've been to lately and the space was the icing on the cake. If you get a chance, stop by and check it out. If you're unfamiliar with the hotel, it used to be -- and partly still is -- an SRO (Single Room Occpancy) that the developers have managed to turn partially into a hotel of sorts. Each room is 50 square feet with no private bathroom. Guests share really chic, well-renovated bathrooms -- there's one per floor -- along with the remaining SRO tenants. To some, this may sound too low brow, but when you hear that the price of a room is under $100/night and you're pretty much in the Meat Packing District -- which means nothing to me, but you know tourists -- it's a pretty great deal. And think of it this way, shared bathroom means more socializing with other guests, who are pretty likely to be young, hip, good looking people. Your chances of getting laid just increased tenfold! Check out the Jane's site for more info on the hotel, its fascinating history, pics of rooms, and an online reservation system. Don't forget this site that chronicles the history of various buildings on Jane Street, including the hotel. Interesting stuff. If you're not in the market to stay at the hotel, at the very least, stop by and have a drink or get invited to one of the many hot parties that will be taking place there over the next few months and the drinks will be free! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090730.php New York design collective Nom de Guerre haven't quite shipped their FW 2009 collection yet, but oki-ni is "Johnny On The Spot" and already has it listed on their site for pre-order. Nom de Guerre is a New York based creative collective who combine basic and diverse influences from art, fashion and various New York City subcultures to create their product. Founded in 2003 in downtown Manhattan, Nom de Guerre has the look of a high end Army Navy outpost with an emphasis on utilitarian basics - they offer simple, conceptual pieces with insightful, unusual detail. As anyone from New York knows, it's the former owner of Isa (Isa Salabe) and a few of the folks who have worked with him over the years designing this line that is under the radar, yet very successful and always well-designed. If you're in New York, stop by their store at the corner of Broadway and Bleecker. It's under the Swatch Store. The sign says it's a copy shop, but as everyone knows by now -- well except 99% of the tourists who pass by -- it's not. For the FallWinter 2009 collection, I'm really into the big comfy sweaters (despite the fact that I can't bear to think of it being cold ever again), the double-breasted, wool overcoat, the fitted blazers, and the fitted vest. Check out the collection for yourself on oki-ni's site. Don't forget to check out Nom de Guerre's site, where you'll find their Fall/Winter 2009 look book and a full list of stores that stock the line. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090729.php I sent a text to one of my trusted music sources last night with a plea to get me out of my current musical rut. It's something of a miracle, but 4+ months after downloading Swoon by Silversun Pickups, it's STILL in very heavy rotation on my iPod and at home. If you haven't heard it, get it now. I think it's been at least a month since I downloaded something new and, although I've been avidly listening to music on MySpace, I needed a major fix, which is exactly what I got. The fix?? Passion Pit. I've seen the name around as an opening act for Phoenix. Every time I heard Passion Pit though, I thought "Wasn't that the cheesey diner in 90210?" Wrong! Thankfully, we have friends who make us do things that are good for us because these Cambridge boys make sick music. What is this? Another lost LP from Brian Wilson's sandbox phase? If only things were that simple. What we're really alluding to here is Passion Pit's first proper full-length, Manners, a bird-flipping break from the blogosphere by a 21 year old with much more on his manic mind than girls, girls, girls. You know, important matters, like the end of the world and learning to love someone other than the man in the mirror. That's the thing people missed about Passion Pit's debut EP, Chunk of Change. While it was originally meant as a Valentine's Day gift for a girlfriend who "put up with" frontman Michael Angelakos, that detail's only half of a story that isn't so cuddly when you consider the circumstances. You see, Angelakos has written songs since he was a piano-pounding 5 year old, from spooky and spare folk tunes to pit-stirring ska punk. But one day, he just stopped. Not by choice. Angelakos' creative well was simply in need of a severe refill, so he started toying with the plug-ins and infinite possibilities of a computer program. Six tracks later, Chunk of Change was born by default. Read the band's full bio here. Make sure to check out the rest of their site, where you'll find pics, tour dates (they're playing with Phoenix at Summer Stage on 09.26.09), MP3's, and more. Of course, check out their MySpace, where you can test drive songs. Make sure to listen to The Reeling and Sleepyhead. SICK! Just when I thought I'd nailed Passion Pit's sound from Chunk of Change, they come up with these new tracks from Manners, which sounds more Phoenix than Animal Collective. It's so pop. It's so hot. So hot that I actually bought it from iTunes. Chew on that! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090728.php So I was listening to Beirut on MySpace this afternoon and happened upon his tour dates, which consist of the Pitchfork Festival and the Treasure Island Music Festival. Forgetting that SF had a music festival and remember the lineup last year was killer, I clicked through to check it out. It didn't dawn on me until I checked the site again just now that it's not the Outside Lands Festival that I wrote about last year, but a new -- I think -- one that will take place in October. I just looked around the site further and the festival actually started last year. Click here for pics. The lineup last year included Aesop Rock, JUSTICE, CSS, Okkervil River, Hot Chip, The Kills, TV on the Radio, and Vampire Weekend. Geez not bad for an opening year. 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. Read all about the island here. Click here for ticket information and here for the standard list of rules and regs: what you can bring and what you can't bring and how to get there. You can only drive if you buy VIP 2 Day passes. It's the perfect excuse for a trip. I can't wait. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090727.php On one of my jaunts around the web, I happened upon jewelry designers Alex + Chloe's site and found that they've grown big time and, in addition to jewelry, are now doing a line of t-shirts that are pretty hot. You'll find both men's and women's tees -- mostly the same graphic in the same or different color ways on shirts cut for him and for her -- in black, white, with a few pink and other colors thrown in. It seems to be a trend now that most designers are sticking to mainly black and white tees as the core of their collections. While it may seem a bit dull, during these tight economic times, it's a wise move. Having done tees myself and having done an array of colors, the bulk of the orders (roughly 80%) are always for black and white. I can't tell whether or not these tees are stock bodies or a design that Alex + Chloe made themselves, as I've not seen them in person. They do state that each "piece has been custom dyed, hand printed, and specially treated for softness. Variations in the color and texture of each shirt and print is normal. Please embrace the difference in these pieces for their own unique character." So be forewarned, but to me that just means they're much cooler than tees that have been factory-died only. Check out the pics below and have a look for yourself at their web store. The graphics are simple and cool and priced at $52, they're more affordable than other tees of the same calibre. One thing to note: in addition to their own line of tees, they carry an amazing selection of Alex B / Alexander Yamaguchui and Kenzo Minami tees. The Alexander Yamaguchi tees are all 20% off right now and, if you're a fan of Minami, listen up: his tees are a whopping 50% off and some are 70% off. That makes the retail $77 or $46, which you'll know is the bargain of the century. Get 'em while they last! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090726.php Check out New York artist Charles Lutz. He's incredibly talented and he's got what it takes to make it big. Just give him a little more time and I guarantee you'll be hearing his name a lot more. Lutz went to Brooklyn's Pratt Institute and, upon graduating, landed a job as one of Jeff Koons studio assistants. For those who don't know, by studio assistant, I mean painter. It's well known that Koons doesn't paint or make any of his own work, relying on the talents of artists like Charles to paint for him. The level of skill these guys and gals have is quite astonishing, which you know if you've ever seen any of Koons paintings. The details, the colors, and the precision looks more like the work of a machine rather than a human. Charles Lutz is a New York based artist whose work has been exhibited through out the United States and abroad. Lutz's works deal with the very nature of the current economic, social, and art markets at the time of their creation. The works are a visual record of the current time. Lutz addresses issues like commerce, luxury, greed, lust, as well as the contemporary art market through painstaking techniques, utilizing a thrift and sensibility that only a midwest upbringing could have afforded him. Make sure to check out his paintings, his sculpture, and his editions. Don't forget to check out his Warhol Denied project, where he recreates to the tee many of Warhol's paintings. The Denial and Acceptance series explores issues of authorship, originality, authenticity, as well as art commerce through the work of the most important artist of the 20th Century, Andy Warhol. Inspired by the recent turmoil created when The Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board rejected authenticity of an important Warhol Self-Portrait owned by film producer Joe Simon. "There is no such thing as an authentic Warhol," by Warhol's former studio manager Paul Morrissey and former painting assistant Ronnie Cutrone's point that, "Andy rarely got involved. He had an ability to let go and say 'you do it'. It was easy to rip off his paintings and sign for them." Lutz asks,"What does an "Authentic" Warhol look like?" Read all about it here. If you want to get one for yourself, they're for sale, and he's also doing Warholesque portraits upon request. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090725.php Check out LA indie band No Age. I came upon their MySpace the other day and think they rock. Kinda remind me a bit of Super Chunk on some songs, which is a major compliment. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090724.php Celebrity cyclist and cancer survivor and advocate Lance Armstrong has teamed up with Nike and, I have to admit, I'm rather shocked at what they've come with. Before looking at the pics and reading the information, I guessed it was going to be cycling gear or a custom sneaker, but man was I wrong. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090723.php Great news for fashion lovers: New York designer Robert Geller is set to launch a line of unisex t-shirts under the name Robert Geller Seconds. If the pics below are any indication of the fit and the fabric, looks like they're going to be hot hot hot. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090722.php Art lovers listen up: global art initiative X opened its roster of solo shows for the summer on 07.09.09. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090721.php If you're in the market for bespoke shoes, you'll want to stop by the Esquivel Made To Order Trunk Show featuring shoes from their men's and women's collections this Friday and Saturday at the Indigo Showroom here in New York. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090720.php Check out the Constantines. According to their Wiki, they've been playing since 1999. Well before the age of the overnight sensation internet band, these guys are clearly dedicated musicians who are going to make it happen or, as 50 Cent says, die trying. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090719.php Just when I thought I'd heard of every t-shirt line out there -- except for Alexander Yamaguchi which I covered yesterday -- I stumble onto the site of an Milanese shop named Antonioli and find a line of tees called Dead Meat whose tees and graphics I love and whose "manifesto" I love even more. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090718.php A new batch of Common Projects has just arrived at oki ni. Despite my recent pooh poohing of high priced sneakers while advocating more affordable, yet equally hot styles, Common Projects always manages to have a handful of styles that nobody can rival. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090717.php Provincetown has a few surprisingly sophisticated stores for a town of roughly 3,000 people. Given the cadre of stylish people who pass through, though, it's not a huge surprise that the stores can sustain themselves. One such store is ITEM (209 Commercial Street), who have an amazing selection, including a line of t-shirts by LA based designer Yuji Yamaguchi, who formerly designed a line under the name Alex B and now designs under the name Alexander Yamaguchi, which I'd not seen or heard of before. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090716.php Check out UK artist Dan Black. One of the vanguard artists in the U.K.'s genre-swirling Wonky Pop movement, Dan Black's combination of pop, rock, dance, and hip-hop flavors came to light in 2008 with his hit single Yours. After spending four years playing guitar in the alt-rock band the Servant, Black left London for Paris. The 2008 solo track HYPNTZ -- a mix of the lyrics from the Notorious B.I.G.'s Hypnotize with a sample of Rihanna's Umbrella underneath -- announced his return home. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090715.php I don't talk about products much -- aside from fragrance -- but like a lot of you, I'm a total Kiehl's addict. Even after L'Oreal bought the company several years ago, I stayed loyal because they've got such good products. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090714.php Film buffs listen up. MoMA is presenting a series of films in association with The New York Film Critics Circle that you won't want to miss. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090713.php Given summer has kinda just started, I don't really want to talk about long sleeve shirts yet, but these Rick Owens tees, while being long sleeve, are light enough to be worn during the summer, as you'll see once you look at the closeup pics of the fabric below. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090712.php If you're anything like me and I hope you are it's been a l-o-n-g time since you've actually sat down and watch music videos. I've not had cable for years, for starters, and even those of you who do have it know that that station called MTV hasn't played videos in years. Thankfully, we can watch videos at our leisure anytime online, but it involves more thought than plopping down in front of the TV and having it all served up to you.lt;pgt; That having been said, I put the Radiohead: The Best Of DVD on my Netflix queue a while back and after watching it last night realized I'd only ever seen one Radiohead music video ever -- Fake Plastic Trees.lt;pgt; Radiohead: The Best Of is a compilation album of English alternative rock band Radiohead. The album features singles, album tracks and one B-side the band released from 1993 to 2003 while with EMI. The first disc, also available separately, comprises the majority of the band's charting hits, while the second disc concentrates on less commercially successful singles and other tracks. As a parallel release, a DVD compilation featured 21 music videos, of which nine were released on DVD for the first time.lt;pgt; This is the first released compilation of Radiohead's songs, but it had not been sanctioned by the band; it was prepared by EMI after the band's departure, and Radiohead band members did not participate in selecting the tracks. The compilation contains only songs to which EMI holds the publishing rights; all of the tracks were recorded before Radiohead's seventh studio album, In Rainbows (2007), as the band ended their contract with EMI in 2004 and signed with other labels for future distribution.lt;pgt; Read the full Wiki, where you can find complete track listings for the CD set and for the DVD. While I did't watch all of the videos, it was cool to see the video for Creep for the first time and for some reason I knew the video Sit Down. Stand Up. would be sick and it was better than I could have imagined. Also of note: Fake Plastic Trees, Paranoid Android, and Karma Police. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090711.php I just got duped BIG TIME!lt;pgt; I got an email from Vampire Weekend with the subject line "Discover LP" -- which I thought was announcing a new record -- and was so excited. Being the worst information skimmer in the world, I didn't realize it was announcing a new record, just not by Vampire Weekend, who I found out are working on their new record, but had sent out the email to their listserv announcing the recent release of Discovery's new record entitled LP. Very tricky.lt;pgt; Discovery it turns out are Rostam and Wes from Ra Ra Riot, who have spent years working together as Discovery and after all those years have finally released their first record, LP, this past week. Congrats.lt;pgt; I've heard the name Ra Ra Riot lots, but haven't heard any of their music. To learn more about them, check out their Wiki, their official site, and their MySpace. I love how they're from Syracuse. That's hot.lt;pgt; Back to Discovery. Turns out Rostam is in Vampire Weekend -- he's the keyboardist -- which now explains the email. Discovery is a side project for Vampire Weekend keyboardist and producer Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot lead singer Wes Miles. Their first album is titled LP and is due July 7th on XL Recordings. The band's music takes from the duo's original outfits and adds a more synthy electro pop feel to their sound. Three songs have been passed around the internet, "Orange Shirt", "Osaka Loop Line" and "So Insane", and have received mostly positive reviews from musical critics.lt;pgt; Check out Discovery's site to test drive songs from LP and for links to buy it on iTunes and Amazon. I'm in love with the graphic on the homepage. It's 75% of the reason I took the time to figure out what they're all about. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090710.php If you promise not to tell, I'm going to tell you a secret: my memory isn't what it used to be. TMI, literally. I've been at this so long and have read so many emails and seen so many fashion sites and listened to so much music, I can't remember whether or not I've covered Darker My Love yet.lt;pgt; While I'm pretty sure I have, I don't remember in what capacity. I stumbled back on them today from Silversun Pickups MySpace -- both bands are on Dangerbird Records -- and remembered how fucking amazing this band is and asked myself why they're not huge. I just remebered the live set I listened to from the studio at KCRW's indie music show Morning Becomes Eclectic.lt;pgt; Though they come from all over the U.S. – Andy and Tim Presley from the Bay Area, Jared Everett from Pennsylvania, Rob Barbato from Boston and Will Canzoneri from Mississippi – they all came up through the same portal: back room and basement shows, forgettable bands and passion they can't shake. For one, it was 45-minute drives through rural Pennsylvania to some stenchy hellhole of a basement to see five local bands; for another it was cruising BART at 16 to get to Gilman Street in Berkeley to see Swingin' Utters. Over in Boston, Rob was soaking up Grateful Dead, briefly trying on a jazz habit. Five guys, four cities, one conclusion: they'd been infected by rock and roll.lt;pgt; Read their full bio on Dangerbird's site. Don't forget to read their Wiki, test drive a few songs on MySpace (start with Northern Soul, Blue Day, and Talking Words to hear them at their best), check out their official site/blog, and while you're at it, check out Dangerbird's MySpace to hear who else is on the label. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090708.php I've gotta keep my Cape Cod tan going and am heading to the beach Saturday with some friends who are in from out of town, but if I hadn't already made those plans, I'd be on the bus headed to the Salon WE-ARE-FAMILIA at Open Space in Beacon.lt;pgt; Addressing the spatial tropes of domesticity and familial dynamics, WE-ARE-FAMILIA will transform Open Space into a "living room" of seamlessly integrated furniture, art and design including new works by Holly Stevenson, Yoh Nagao, Peter Kienzle for Superette, Jesse Brown, Marc McAndrews, Hisham Bharoocha, Amy Rupple, Chris Yormick, Nightwood and SEEE.lt;pgt; WE-ARE-FAMILIA will also debut its Keepsake Box No. 5 of 25, entitled "Video Box" (designed by Fabian Bedolla and Jennifer Garcia), an elegant assembly of found objects and discarded furniture fragments retrofitted with a video touch screen to showcase films by Parisian director Olivier Babinet and Brooklyn, New York's video artist Rashaad Newsome.lt;pgt; WE-ARE-FAMILIA is a global network of emerging painters, printmakers, illustrators, T-shirt designers, graphic designers, industrial designers, fashion designers, directors, photographers, sculptors, architects and musicians dedicated to creative studies based on the concept of family. Cofounded and spearheaded by New York Creative Director Jennifer Garcia, WE-ARE-FAMILIA consists of over 50 creators that have come together to explore the powerful, complex ties which consciously and unconsciously touch all that we experience as humans.lt;pgt; For more information on WE-ARE-FAMILIA, check out their site. For more information on Saturday's event, check out Open Space's site. If you're coming from the city, reserve a $45 all-inclusive day pass for 2-way transportation via school bus, a DIA Beacon tour, and free BBQ by emailing rsvp@we-are-familia.com. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090707.php Check these guys out. Another favorite of Silversun Pickups and, again, shocking that I've never heard of them.lt;pgt; There's a band out of LA called Twilight Sleep and I'm totally into them. I have to say, though, given they don't have a website and are only on MySpace, they might want to put a bio on MySpace to make it easier to write about them and know what they're all about.lt;pgt; As I've stated many times, I'm a curator of information and don't have much desire to be a music critic or wax poetic about music. That having been said, here's what a few other folks have said: "...their signature sound: plaintive Bjork-like singing and outer space keys, mixed in a minor register. Marcellino's voice was breathy, bolstered by interesting drum breaks, heavy, echoey bass lines, and electric guitar." and "A lusty siren of the Siouxsie Sioux variety guides you through this dreamland dripping with rockin guitars and fanciful synthesizers and politely crashing drums. My favorite track here might actually be Broken Record which mellows things out for awhile with a gloomy seranade to the stars. Worth seeing live if you have the chance..."lt;pgt; Check out their MySpace (does their MySpace = TheirSpace???) to test drive some of their songs and read more press blurbs. The music is amazing and the lead singer's voice is lusty, breathy, and hypnotizing, as noted above.lt;pgt; Make sure to check out Race To The Bottom of the Sea on Rhapsody, where you can buy it if you like it. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090706.php You know I'm a sucker for high-end scents, especially those with hints of incense or wood in them that veer off the normal path. Charismatic British bespoke fragrance line Boadicea The Victorious has launched a special library of no less than nine oud or agarwood perfumes for winter 2009.lt;pgt; What is oud/agarwood, you ask? According to Wikipedia, it's "the resinous heartwood from Aquilaria trees, large evergreens native to southeast Asia. The trees occasionally become infected with mold and begin to produce an aromatic resin in response to this attack. As the infection grows, it results in a very rich, dark resin within the heartwood that is commonly called gaharu, jinko, aloeswood, agarwood, or oud and is valued in many cultures for its distinctive fragrance, and thus is used for incense and perfumes." Sounds amazing, although I have to admit I've never smelled it.lt;pgt; The collection was made exclusively for London department store Selfridges and is availabe now. The 9 fragrances it comprises are titled as usual after moral characteristics. Elegant for example is touted as "...probably the most luxurious perfume in the world. Prepare to be indulged." And you know how I love indulgences!lt;pgt; There are also Emprise, Intricate, Inquisitive, Intriguing, Passionate, Magnificent, and Provocative. The olfactory descriptions reveal 9 variations on oud, from floral to fruity, to leathery to camphoraceous, and more.lt;pgt; The brand creator and the main nose Mister Michael Boadi -- former uber stylist who began his career working on campaigns for Gucci, Chanel, and Karl Lagerfeld -- aims at luxury and reportedly this is no obstacle to its popularity, especially given the prices ranging from $360 - $750 for a 100ml bottle.lt;pgt; Check out Boadicea The Victorious online for more information on the creator, the various collections, and a very short list of retailers: Selfridges and Harrods.lt;pgt; If you're feeling really daring -- or rich, as the case may be -- try the bespoke line, where you can sit down and create a scent just for you. Price tag? It's not listed, but as my mother always used to say: If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090704.php Get ready to be hypnotized and won over by Australian chanteuse Tania Bowers aka Via Tania. I've been listening to her latest record Moon Sweet Moon and, slowly but surely, I'm hooked. Not to say that I didn't like it on first listen -- it's the type of music you know is good instantly -- but the more I've listened, the more I love it.lt;pgt; Born in Australia to South African parents, she began playing with her sister Kim in vowel-free, noise-pop outfit SPDFGH around Sydney in the early Nineties, opening for the likes of The Breeders and Bikini Kill even before she was legally allowed to drink.lt;pgt; Post SPDFGH she worked on a spare, thoughtful self–released EP under the name Sunday. Relocating to Chicago at the end of the Nineties she set about piecing together an album as Via Tania, with producer Casey Rice and various Chicago musical luminaries, with a focus on production, electronics and sound, and the songs acting as vessel for said sounds. The album Under A Different Sky was released in 2004 to acclaim, on the Chicago based label, Chocolate Industries.lt;pgt; Her sophomore release, Moon Sweet Moon sees a change in direction for Via Tania, dictated from the very seeds of the songs upwards. "I was remembering my first ideas, and ideals, of songwriting from my teens," explains Tania. "I wasn't thinking about production or any aesthetic for the recordings, I was writing more like I used to when I was a kid, listening to Suzanne Vega."lt;pgt; Read Tania's full bio on her official site and check out her discography for a list of all her records, including Moon Sweet Moon, which isn't out in the US yet and, according to the latest news from Tania, she's going to Austin to record a few new tracks for the US release this Fall. You know it's going to be good.lt;pgt; I hope I won't get in trouble for doing this, but here's a track to download from Moon Sweet Moon called The Beginning. You can also listen to more on her MySpace, but you really want to get your hands on a copy of Moon Sweet Moon. It's amazing. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090703.php I just got the latest catalog from powerhouseArena Books in Brooklyn and the image on the back is scary to say the least. It's taken from a book of photos by Susan Anderson -- with a foreward by Simon Doonan -- that takes a look inside those crazy child beauty pageants, but takes one level further, picking the subgenre of glitz to highlight. Subgenres? Huh?lt;pgt; High Glitz: The Extravagant World of Beauty Pageants is a close-up and intimate look at America's child beauty pageants, and in turn our society's obsession with youth, beauty, fame, and fortune. Susan Anderson's vibrant portraits of pageant contestants twist notions of sexuality and identity, with a new perspective on this uniquely American subculture.lt;pgt; "High Glitz" is a subgenre of child beauty pageants characterized by couture "glitz" costumes and a broad array of cosmetic preparations including, among other tricks of the trade: glamour makeup, elaborate hairstyles, and "flippers" (false front teeth veneers). Anderson's stunning visuals are complimented by a "High Glitz Style Guide," defining and providing examples of the following categories: Beauty/ Formal Wear, Western Wear, Sportswear, and Swimwear, with a special section on hairstyles such as the "Barbie" and the "Up-do."lt;pgt; Each year as many as 100,000 children under the age of 12 participate in U.S. child beauty pageants, and it has recently become a billion-dollar industry. Parents invest thousands of dollars on costumes and private coaches to give their children a competitive edge.lt;pgt; Read the full press release and get your copy of the book here. Don't miss the pics below. Unfortunately, the image from the back of the catalog isn't on their site. The fake nails and the little girls demonic smile are insane. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090702.php I'm in love with a band from the UK I found today on MySpace called Amusement Parks On Fire. They're one of Silversun Pickups favorite bands, so you know they've gotta be good. If you're into shoegaze, you're going to wet yourself when you hear these guys.lt;pgt; Formed by Michael Feerick in 2004, who wrote and performed all the instruments for the self-titled debut album, Amusement Parks on Fire now writes and performs as a five-piece group: Michael Feerick (guitar/vocals), Daniel Knowles (guitar/production), Peter Dale (drums), Gavin Poole (bass) and Joe Hardy (keyboard).lt;pgt; The band began as the solo project of Michael Feerick in 2004, who wrote and recorded nine songs on a small budget with friend Daniel Knowles engineering the sessions. The self-titled debut album was released in the UK on INVADA Records, a label run by Geoff Barrow of Portishead in 2005. The band signed to V2 Records in 2005 and recorded their second studio album Out of the Angeles at Sigur Ros' Sundlaugin studio in Iceland and toured Europe and America extensively. The band are currently at work in LA on their third full length LP.lt;pgt; Read the full Wiki here. Make sure to check out their official site and, of course, their MySpace, where you can test drive 7 of their songs. Watch out: this stuff is highly addictive. If you're so inclined, follow the band on Twitter as they record their current record and become a fan on Facebook. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/July2009/090701.php I just got a tip from Charles -- who just spent the week in Paris Fashion Week Homme checking out the hottest new collections including a day chez Rick Owens -- about a line called Tuesday Night Band Practice. While in their third season, it's the first I've heard or seen of the line, which isn't surprising given they currently have no US retailers. That'll all change next spring when Bonnie Clyde's in Chicago starts to carry the line.lt;pgt; Tuesday Night Band Practice (TNBP) was born when 4 designers from the UK and Australia (one of whom is rumored to be one of the original Ksubi designers) met and bonded over their love of fashion and music. They began designing a capsule collection, which was immediately picked up by some of the best stores in the world.lt;pgt; Currently selling their third season, they are now stocked in over 70 stores globally, including heavy hitters like Harvey Nichols, Loveless, Feathers, Pollyanna, and And-A.lt;pgt; The line consists of tailoring and suiting, denim, knits, and, of course, the super hot tees you can check out on their site and in the pics below. The fit, fabric, details and graphics on these tees all look right on point.lt;pgt; Check out their site for more details (click the Under Construction text when you see it to get into the site), pics of the A/W 2009 collection, and a complete list of stockists currently carrying the line. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/June2009/090651.php This Thursday, Deitch opens a show called Black Acid Co-op -- a series of installations addressing the notiong of counter and drug culture in urban America -- at its Wooster Street space.lt;pgt; Black Acid Co-op is the third collaborative project of Justin Lowe and Jonah Freeman. Their first installation Hello Meth Lab In The Sun (with Alexandre Singh), commissioned by Ballroom Marfa, consisted of a labyrinthine assemblage of rooms, hallways, closets and observation platforms. A variation entitled Hello Meth Lab With A View then traveled to Miami, where it was installed in a duplex apartment. Their new piece continues the themes of previous versions specifically that of alchemy in a modern context and community, ritual and psychosis.lt;pgt; Black Acid Co-Op is the moniker for a counter-culture enclave embedded in the metropolis. In this incarnation, the artists shift the focus from the production of illegal drugs to sites of sub-cultural groups and how they are situated in the larger urban environment.lt;pgt; Like the dioramas of the Museum of Natural History, Black Acid Co-op creates theatrical depictions of several specific environments: the clandestine drug lab, the drop-out commune, the Chinatown bazaar, the museums of cultural preservation, the university library, the pirate radio station and several interstitial industrial sites such as hallways and waiting rooms.lt;pgt; Read the full press release here. While you are it -- especially if you haven't been out to Deitch's LIC space -- check out the summer long show on through 08.09.09 entitled Pig that has work by Jeff Koons, Jim Drain, Paul Chan, and Gelatin and performances, talks, and other related events throughout the summer. Read more here. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/June2009/090649.php For all you Nice Collective addicts out there, I've got some great news. The SF designers have just launched the latest component of their fashion empire -- an online store selling exclusive products called The StoreRoom.lt;pgt; The design team at Nice Collective go back into the studio to give some of their favorite products special attention for release on their new online store. Aptly named, The StoreRoom is an online "community" shop for design aficionados looking for custom and rare Nice Collective additions to their wardrobe or home.lt;pgt; Each item produced for The StoreRoom is handcrafted by Nice Collective. These exclusive design offerings will highlight various aspects of Nice Collective's design process and will not be sold at any other locations.lt;pgt; The StoreRoom clothing and objects will be produced in extremely limited quantities, numbered with a custom metal tag and accompanied by a matching certificate of authenticity.lt;pgt; Every month The StoreRoom will release an edited selection of must-have items available for a very limited time. New items will be released monthly but once a product is sold out, it will not be re-issued.lt;pgt; Items available in The StoreRoom during the first month include a unique pair of Nice Collective's boots, a distressed leather wallet and a skeleton key. In development now for coming months are objects as diverse as belts, home décor, candles and clothing.lt;pgt; Current items available: Scrap Metal Boot, Hobo Wallet with Leather Foxtail Feathers, and Nico Skeleton Keylt;pgt; For more info and to see pics, descriptions, and to buy the aforementioned items, check out The StoreRoom now. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/june2009/090648.php Check out these hot sneakers by Italian designers Golden Goose.lt;pgt; Golden Goose was launched in 2000 by two not so ambitious designers, Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo who just wanted more cool stuff for themselves. Before they knew it, they were supporting MTV Italy's wardrobe.lt;pgt; Golden Goose gets its originality from their effort put into researching and reinventing vintage materials. Despite their down-to-earth philosophy, we will be seeing a lot of their fun and extraordinary pieces around the world soon.lt;pgt; They're a bit pricey, but super hot and available at Aloha Rag, which you can buy from online or, if you're in New York, stop by their store at 505 Greenwich Street.lt;pgt; Don't forget to check out the full men's and women's lines available at Aloha Rag. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/june2009/090648.php Check out these hot sneakers by Italian designers Golden Goose.lt;pgt; Golden Goose was launched in 2000 by two not so ambitious designers, Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo who just wanted more cool stuff for themselves. Before they knew it, they were supporting MTV Italy's wardrobe.lt;pgt; Golden Goose gets its originality from their effort put into researching and reinventing vintage materials. Despite their down-to-earth philosophy, we will be seeing a lot of their fun and extraordinary pieces around the world soon.lt;pgt; They're a bit pricey, but super hot and available at Aloha Rag, which you can buy from online or, if you're in New York, stop by their store at 505 Greenwich Street.lt;pgt; Don't forget to check out the full men's and women's lines available at Aloha Rag. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/june2009/090647.php If you're not familiar with the PBS series Art:21 -- and even if you are -- listen up: Season Five of the popular series has just been announced and the roster is pretty hot.lt;pgt; Art21 is pleased to announce Season Five of Art:21 - Art in the Twenty-First Century, premiering in October 2009 on PBS, and available on iTunes, Hulu, and other online platforms (I got it from Netflix and watched them all at once which rocked) in the United States and Canada. Meet fourteen of today's most intriguing and thought-provoking contemporary artists as they create works that reflect important and timely issues. In its most international season to date, Art21 traveled to every continent (except Antarctica) to film artists in museums, galleries, studios and homes.lt;pgt; Season Five features four one-hour episodes: Compassion, Fantasy, Transformation, and Systems. As in previous seasons, the thematic groupings serve as threads that loosely tie the artists together into a single episode.lt;pgt; Who's involved?? Some of my favorites, including William Kentridge, Cao Fei, Mary Heilmann, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Cindy Sherman, John Baldessari, Allan McCollum, and Julie Mehretu.lt;pgt; Check out their site for more info. The series began in 2001 and has featured 72 artists to date. Make sure to check out the archive of artists -- where you can see slideshows of their work and video interviews from the series -- including Laurie Anderson, Matthew Barney, Cai Guo-Qiang, Bruce Nauman, Raymond Pettibon, Shahzia Sikander, Kara Walker, Mike Kelley, and Jenny Holzer. http://www.thisheartsonfire.com/pages/june2009/090645.php I've been wearing my own tees for so long that I don't really shop for tees. Lately, though, I've begun to stray.lt;pgt; On Wednesday, I bought a short-sleeve Tonal Stripe Crew t-shirt by Alternative Apparel at Argosy for an event. If you're not famiar with Alternative Apparel, check out their site. They're like American Apparel, but better. The styles aren't so played and it's not owned by that freakshow who's trying to be the Starbucks of overpriced basics. The fabric on the tee I got is amazing. The fit of the body and the cut of the neck are both really hot and all for only $28. Check it out.lt;pgt; Now onto the tee I really want, but even with the 20% sale at online store S|SENSE I could never bring myself to do anything other than drool over it and tell you all about it. It's the Two-Tone Dark Shadow tee from the DRKSHDW collection by the high priest of fashion at the moment Rick Owens.lt;pgt; Short sleeve scoop neck t-shirt with asymmetric two-tone panel construction. Lightweight cotton jersey fabric. Graphic print at front. Tone on tone stitching throughout. Signature logo printed at lower back. The weight of the fabric and the cut look amazing, as do the details, the color, and the graphic.lt;pgt; Check it out on S|SENSE's site. If you've got $237 burning a hole in your walled (minus 20% of course until 06.29.09) do me a favor and get it. If I can't have it, I at least want you to have it.