Alternative Press Fair – AmeliasMagazine

Monday 26th January

Lucky Dragons, health store Luminaire, viagra London

Pretentious blurb going on about birthing fragile networks of digital signals or whatever but don’t be put off as it should be an interesting night of experimental folktronica.

Zombie Zombie, Ruby Lounge, Manchester

French electro with a cool Germanic edge.

Michael Baker, Ida Brown, John Barrow, Slaughtered Lamb, London

Folk rock from Michael Baker with more acoustic sounds in support at this lovely, folk-oriented venue.

Tuesday 27th January

Grace Jones, Roundhouse, London

Will be nothing less than extraordinary show from this wildly experimental but still accessibly pop singer. Her new album is spectacular as we have raved on previous occasions and she is completely fantastic live.

Let’s Wrestle, Screaming Tea Party, Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, London

Fun party indie boys headline with cute bubblegum punk support from Screaming Tea Party.

Luke Haines, FreeDM studio at Roundhouse, London

He of the Auteurs and Black Box Recorder and self-proclaimed Britpop instigator plays his highly regarded solo material.

Wednesday 28th January

Crystal Antlers, Darker My Lover, Loverman, Ark People, Lexington, London

I will save my thesis on the fact that every single hip new band seems to be called Crystal something at the moment for another time. Instead catch the Antlers’ Long Beach raw punk on their first European tour. Sweaty, bruising fun.

Six Toes, The Mariner’s Children, Share, Slaughtered Lamb, London

Delicate and pretty, the exact antithesis of the Lexington gig. A Wednesday night of contrasts.

Thursday 29th January

George Pringle, Applicants, 4 or 5 Magicians, Buffalo Bar London

Spoken word to a stark electro backing track from George Pringle. Dead arty.

Glissando, City Screen, York

Gliding atmospheric sounds, perfectly suited to the cinema venue.

Friday 30th January

Afrikan Boy, The Real Heat, Barden’s Boudoir, London

Signed to M.I.A.’s label, probably best known for his hilarious masterpiece about shoplifting bargain supermarkets.

Luminous Frenzy, Shunt Vaults, London

Where better than an underground dungeon club to see this haunting cinematic live show? Nowhere better.

Saturday 31st January

Stereo Total, Bar Rumba, London

Like a Franco-German White Stripes (girl singer/drummer, boy guitarist) only about a million times more appealing and with a sense of humour. And nothing in common musically. Playing electro-punk reworkings of French chanson and ye-ye as well as their own charming and wittily insouciant numbers in French, German, English and any other languages they happen to have picked up.

Mike Bones, Oakford Social, Reading

Session guitarist supreme, turned solo singer-songwriter with interestingly lovelorn songs and none of the whingeing usually associated with that damning tag.

Micachu and the Shapes, Macbeth, London

On nearly everyone’s list of ones to watch 2009 (and of course, featured in Issue 10), catch Micachu’s angular and unpredictable show in a small venue while you still can.

Sky Larkin, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Homecoming gig for this local band whose sweet and clever indie rock is slightly off-kilter lending shades of Sonic Youth to their jangly guitars.

Sunday 1st February

Emmy the Great, Phoenix, Exeter

Promoting her debut album despite having been touring material for the past four years, with deceptively sweet-sounding tunes and scarily frank lyrics.

Last week, more about the London College of Fashion held it’s MA show in the beautiful Raphael gallery at the V&A. It’s very fitting that it took place during menswear fashion week, as twelve out of the nineteen collections were clothes for the boys.

It seems that menswear is finally standing up to its competitive and often overpowering opposite. Usually, the occasional dose of menswear in graduate collections – lets face it – never usually quite stands up to its womenswear rivals, this time round however, it was a different story. If the MA graduates set out to change the preconceptions of us voyeurs of fashion, who put the words ‘fashion’ and ‘womenswear’ hand in hand, they did a very good job with these collections.

Nowhere near boring – menswear and gave us gold, sequins, fringing and innovative tailoring fitted to a selection of 80′s looking, nu-romantic boys; flopping curls and eyeliner in check. Not to confuse these looks as steals from womenswear, masculinity was still very much in tact.

Here is a selection of the ones that caught our eye:

Dimitri Stavrou (below left) presented a very masculine interpretation of fringing through a skilled process of hand-frayed carbon fiber. The collection was inspired by the incest breeding of a Greek mythological God and mortal woman, a part human, part-animal crossover was explored through historical body armour and shapes created through movement.

Ji Yun Lapthorn’s ( below right)sophisticated and beautiful display of drapery and tailoring was a delicate and mesmerising affair. Soft folds created new shapes from heavy silk crepe, and cashmere showed a mature sensitivity to both form and fabric.

A futuristic rainbow of colour shone through with Rohan Kale’s (above) collection, where luxury and sustainability met in a beautiful patchwork of Spanish silk tie off-cuts. Entitled ‘The Two Christians’ his admiration for both Christian Dior and Christian Lacroix was explored in this rich, exuberant take on sharp, quality tailoring.

Sticking to a theme of bright colour, Carly Garwin (below) used neon pink as a metaphor for happiness in her Parisian inspired collection. Proportions were played with and innovative cutting gave a sophisticated feel to this collection, where leg baring tailored shorts matched with cropped capes for a refreshing male silhouette.

Miyhun Park (above) took us on a mystical journey under the sea, where fluidity merged with structure. Sheer dresses fitted to wire frames mimicked jellyfish like shapes, whilst creating a blurred and distorted vision of the underlying garments to leave an impression of being underwater.

In a fitting and fair finale the battle between men’s and womenswear ended in a beautiful mixed collection from graduate Manjit Deu, (above) who won the Collection of the Year. Using the ever-popular sequin- in its new and more abstract rectangular shape – Manjit hand-embroidered dresses, hoodies and tops for a truly lavish and dazzling end to the show.

Do you get the sense that all things home-made as an approach to everything is flourishing at the moment? Well something has to, viagra sale and we’re glad it’s the world of the home-crafted written word.

This Sunday head down to the St Aloysius Social Centre near Euston for the Alternative Press Fair, bringing together the worlds of alternative comics, zines, art-books and poetry for one great day. Meet the artists, see their work and buy some if you like it, or feel inspired to go and make something of your own for the world to see. Following the fair there will be live music from Mr Trent Miller & The Skeleton Jive until late. Even better, it’s completely free, open to all, come along! The fair is between 12 and 6.

Written by Luisa Gestein on Tuesday January 27th, 2009 11:55 am

Categories ,Alternative Press Fair, ,Amelia’s Magazine, ,St Aloysius Social Centre

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Describing herself as an ex-Camden townie, the self-taught illustrator, Zarina Liew, has thrown her arms up at the big smoke and a career in marketing; and has chosen instead the serenity of the Cambridgeshire countryside, pencils, watercolours, and strange lonely creatures ridden by lust and self-ruin.
Her Hunter Series, eight inked paintings which exhibited at the Shoreditch Shuffle Festival, started life as a 24-page graphic novel. It tells the story of a gramaphone and a lonely creature, who forms an unlikely friendship with three musicians. She is driven by a need for company and music, they are captured by her beauty and seduced by her authority. The musicians fall into her charm and into her gramophone where they are trapped and eventually perish, singing songs of solidarity and love.

Over a virtual cup if Green Tea, we ask Liew a bit more about her curious creatures of emotional turmoil, her illustrative inspiration and whether or not she misses Camden.

Tell us about the Hunter Series.
I wanted The Hunter Series to be an extension of the original story both visually and metaphorically – a story within a story. You get a sense of the narrative from the different pieces, but as a whole, you see the Hunter for who she is – a hungry, lonely and melancholic being. It’s an illustration of lust and self-ruin; both the musicians and the Hunter are acting on impulse, blind to their terrible fates. Even though she is the one to end the men’s lives, the Hunter does not get what she wants. With no one to listen or play with, she’s alone again.

Where do you draw information for your characters from?

I draw most of my information from observing the people around me. I never assume that what you see in someone is what you get – everyone has a hidden interior of ambition and desire. Music plays a large part as well. I found the musicians for The Hunter listening to an unsigned band playing at the Dublin Castle in Camden – the Parallel Animals. After falling in love with them – and the front man! – I offered to sketch them during rehearsals and help out at their gigs. Seeing how hard local bands work at this music business, and how ruthless the whole industry is, gave me a sense of direction in depicting the musician’s fate in my artwork.

The emotional context of the characters is strong; the nature of lust and self-ruin… is this an expression of your own emotional turmoil?

I suppose yes – in a sense that all of my work is an expression of myself, my feelings and thoughts. I wouldn’t say that I am strongly affected by the nature of lust and self-ruin though, let’s just say that I am extremely aware of it in myself, and all too conscious of letting myself go, or losing control of who I am. As I mentioned earlier we all have a hidden interior of ambition and desire – acting on lust however (whatever the desire – money, sex, fame) can only lead to self-ruin. Sometimes I wonder if I’m making the right choices, I question why I did certain things and what is behind my motivations. It’s a constant cycle of self-reflection.

And finally, Camden vs Cambridge countryside… who wins?

This is a real toughie. Can I be wayward and say that weekdays are for Camden and weekends are for Cambridge?
During the week I get a lot of inspiration from the Camden kids, lovely hidden-away galleries and sweaty underpriced indie nights. By the weekend though it’s full of puffy tourists and very long queues for nothing.
That’s when I retreat to the gentle Cambridge countryside. It’s perfect for lethargic country strolls and relaxing afternoon teas; this is also where I get a lot of my inspiration down onto paper and start to paint. All the week’s bustle leaves my mind ready to draw in peace and quiet!

You can see more of her work here, or catch her at the Alternative Press Fair on Sunday 1st February where she will be featuring the Hunter Storybook alongside other homemade creations, and apparently, lots of Green Tea.

Written by Luisa Gerstein on Tuesday January 13th, 2009 4:03 pm

Categories ,Alternative Press Fair, ,Amelia’s Magazine, ,Art, ,IIlustration, ,Q&A, ,Shoreditch Shuffle Festival, ,The Hunter Series, ,Zarina Liew