Mr Jones Watches’ challenge our modern understanding of time as a fixed variable by which our day is neatly broken down into digestible units. An idea played on within the permanent collection, cure via The Average Day watch. Originally produced for the Muses Series, order where Mr Jones matched five professionals whose “work or life thematically linked them” to five new watches. The watchface of The Average Day represents the average activities undertaken at different times throughout the day. The information was digested and broken down from a variety of sources researching how the average person consumes time on an average day. The Muse for this particular watch was Jonathon Gershuny, order Director of the Centre for Time Use Research and who Mr Jones Watches stipulates has “750,000 time-use diaries.”
The Average Day, Photograph by Chris Overend
Continuing to dispense with how the average person measures time, Mr Jones developed Cyclops, the watch with no hour, minute or second hands. Instead a circular disk slowly moves, documenting the passage of time in the manner of a sundial. Enabling the viewer to reevaluate their relationship to our maniacal capitalist produced time in which every second counts.
Cyclops
On Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Amelia’s Magazine attended the launch of Mr Jones’ Watches latest Series: The Masters of Time. These five new watches were the outcome of a collaboration with five individuals who share an intriguing relationship to the concept and passage of time.
During the evening Iain Sinclair, author and psycho geographer, Greame Obree, record breaking cyclist and artist Brian Catling discussed the ideas behind their watches and the process of negotiating whilst collaborating . The final two watches were made with Comedian William Andrews, and DJ Tom Middleton, who were sadly unable to attend the launch.
The first speaker was Iain Sinclair (Author of Hackney That Red Rose Empire) whose Compass Watch relates to the 90 minutes of film time, rather than your usual 60 minutes. Sinclair discussed the relation of time to walking, the layers created as time passes both between an event and the walker’s presence, and the walker’s own time. For Sinclair this interest is perhaps pinned down into an interest in the relation between Landscape and Authors. Fittingly Sinclair’s watch replaces the units of time with authors whose experience was shaped both by the influence of both geographic location and a complex understanding of time. How time can dramatically change as different systems compete for ownership of land, in his 15 minutes Sinclair discussed the breakdown of the poet John Claire after the enclosure of the landscape to Ballard’s experiences as a prisoner of war before his arrival in Suburban England.
Compass Road by Iain Sinclair and Mr Jones Watches
The second speaker Brian Catling’s talk -who described himself as a performance artist who sculpts- was presented as art historical slide show. Catling introduced the ideas behind his re-designed Cyclops titled Dawn West Dusk East through a series of paintings and performances exploring the idea of what it is to be a cyclops. The watch itself was designed to be as spoken by the artist, “enigmatic, subtle and poetic.” A request to return to a slower pace, the single rotation of this exquisite design measures the 12 hours between Dawn and Dusk.
The final speaker the record breaking cyclist Graeme Obree watch represented his obsession with breaking the toughest record in cycling. How far can you cycle in an hour. Fittingly the hours have been replaced by words, of which the aim is to make you appreciate that hour you are currently living in. Describing the record breaking attempt as the best worst, most excerlaratingly painful hour you can imagine as the seconds tick by. Obree’s watch is designed to make the wearer incredibly aware of each second they are spending.
A fantastic event, which sadly the Comedian and DJ were unable to attend, their exqustic watches onshow displayed a DJ’s relation to BPM, where as William Andrews played on the idea of comedic timing.
The Last Laugh by William Andrews and Mr Jones Watches
{illustration here}
Mr Jones Watches’ challenge our modern understanding of time as a fixed variable by which our day is neatly broken down into digestible units. An idea played on within the permanent collection, viagra 60mg via The Average Day watch. Originally produced for the Muses Series, viagra where Mr Jones matched five professionals whose “work or life thematically linked them” to five new watches. The watchface of The Average Day represents the average activities undertaken at different times throughout the day. The information was digested and broken down from a variety of sources researching how the average person consumes time on an average day. The Muse for this particular watch was Jonathon Gershuny, Director of the Centre for Time Use Research and who Mr Jones Watches stipulates has “750,000 time-use diaries.”
The Average Day, Photograph by Chris Overend
Continuing to dispense with how the average person measures time, Mr Jones developed Cyclops, the watch with no hour, minute or second hands. Instead a circular disk slowly moves, documenting the passage of time in the manner of a sundial. Enabling the viewer to reevaluate their relationship to our maniacal capitalist produced time in which every second counts.
Cyclops
On Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Amelia’s Magazine attended the launch of Mr Jones’ Watches latest Series: The Masters of Time. These five new watches were the outcome of a collaboration with five individuals who share an intriguing relationship to the concept and passage of time.
During the evening Iain Sinclair, author and psycho geographer, Greame Obree, record breaking cyclist and artist Brian Catling discussed the ideas behind their watches and the process of negotiating whilst collaborating . The final two watches were made with Comedian William Andrews, and DJ Tom Middleton, who were sadly unable to attend the launch.
The first speaker was Iain Sinclair (Author of Hackney That Red Rose Empire) whose Compass Watch relates to the 90 minutes of film time, rather than your usual 60 minutes. Sinclair discussed the relation of time to walking, the layers created as time passes both between an event and the walker’s presence, and the walker’s own time. For Sinclair this interest is perhaps pinned down into an interest in the relation between Landscape and Authors. Fittingly Sinclair’s watch replaces the units of time with authors whose experience was shaped both by the influence of both geographic location and a complex understanding of time. How time can dramatically change as different systems compete for ownership of land, in his 15 minutes Sinclair discussed the breakdown of the poet John Claire after the enclosure of the landscape to Ballard’s experiences as a prisoner of war before his arrival in Suburban England.
Compass Road by Iain Sinclair and Mr Jones Watches
The second speaker Brian Catling’s talk -who described himself as a performance artist who sculpts- was presented as art historical slide show. Catling introduced the ideas behind his re-designed Cyclops titled Dawn West Dusk East through a series of paintings and performances exploring the idea of what it is to be a cyclops. The watch itself was designed to be as spoken by the artist, “enigmatic, subtle and poetic.” A request to return to a slower pace, the single rotation of this exquisite design measures the 12 hours between Dawn and Dusk.
The final speaker the record breaking cyclist Graeme Obree watch represented his obsession with breaking the toughest record in cycling. How far can you cycle in an hour. Fittingly the hours have been replaced by words, of which the aim is to make you appreciate that hour you are currently living in. Describing the record breaking attempt as the best worst, most excerlaratingly painful hour you can imagine as the seconds tick by. Obree’s watch is designed to make the wearer incredibly aware of each second they are spending.
A fantastic event, which sadly the Comedian and DJ were unable to attend, their exqustic watches onshow displayed a DJ’s relation to BPM, where as William Andrews played on the idea of comedic timing.
The Last Laugh by William Andrews and Mr Jones Watches
{illustration here}
Mr Jones Watches’ challenge our modern understanding of time as a fixed variable by which our day is neatly broken down into digestible units. An idea played on within the permanent collection, visit web via The Average Day watch. Originally produced for the Muses Series, where Mr Jones matched five professionals whose “work or life thematically linked them” to five new watches. The watchface of The Average Day represents the average activities undertaken at different times throughout the day. The information was digested and broken down from a variety of sources researching how the average person consumes time on an average day. The Muse for this particular watch was Jonathon Gershuny, Director of the Centre for Time Use Research and who Mr Jones Watches stipulates has “750,000 time-use diaries.”
The Average Day, Photograph by Chris Overend
Continuing to dispense with how the average person measures time, Mr Jones developed Cyclops, the watch with no hour, minute or second hands. Instead a circular disk slowly moves, documenting the passage of time in the manner of a sundial. Enabling the viewer to reevaluate their relationship to our maniacal capitalist produced time in which every second counts.
Cyclops
On Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Amelia’s Magazine attended the launch of Mr Jones’ Watches latest Series: The Masters of Time. These five new watches were the outcome of a collaboration with five individuals who share an intriguing relationship to the concept and passage of time.
During the evening Iain Sinclair, author and psycho geographer, Greame Obree, record breaking cyclist and artist Brian Catling discussed the ideas behind their watches and the process of negotiating whilst collaborating . The final two watches were made with Comedian William Andrews, and DJ Tom Middleton, who were sadly unable to attend the launch.
The first speaker was Iain Sinclair (Author of Hackney That Red Rose Empire) whose Compass Watch relates to the 90 minutes of film time, rather than your usual 60 minutes. Sinclair discussed the relation of time to walking, the layers created as time passes both between an event and the walker’s presence, and the walker’s own time. For Sinclair this interest is perhaps pinned down into an interest in the relation between Landscape and Authors. Fittingly Sinclair’s watch replaces the units of time with authors whose experience was shaped both by the influence of both geographic location and a complex understanding of time. How time can dramatically change as different systems compete for ownership of land, in his 15 minutes Sinclair discussed the breakdown of the poet John Claire after the enclosure of the landscape to Ballard’s experiences as a prisoner of war before his arrival in Suburban England.
Compass Road by Iain Sinclair and Mr Jones Watches
The second speaker Brian Catling’s talk -who described himself as a performance artist who sculpts- was presented as art historical slide show. Catling introduced the ideas behind his re-designed Cyclops titled Dawn West Dusk East through a series of paintings and performances exploring the idea of what it is to be a cyclops. The watch itself was designed to be as spoken by the artist, “enigmatic, subtle and poetic.” A request to return to a slower pace, the single rotation of this exquisite design measures the 12 hours between Dawn and Dusk.
Brian Catling
The final speaker the record breaking cyclist Graeme Obree watch represented his obsession with breaking the toughest record in cycling. How far can you cycle in an hour. Fittingly the hours have been replaced by words, of which the aim is to make you appreciate that hour you are currently living in. Describing the record breaking attempt as the best worst, most excerlaratingly painful hour you can imagine as the seconds tick by. Obree’s watch is designed to make the wearer incredibly aware of each second they are spending.
A fantastic event, which sadly the Comedian and DJ were unable to attend, their exqustic watches onshow displayed a DJ’s relation to BPM, where as William Andrews played on the idea of comedic timing.
The Last Laugh by William Andrews and Mr Jones Watches
I am somewhat enamoured with the new EP from Vessels, visit web a Leeds band who favour an expansive yet melodic post rock orchestral sound. A few days before they return to a slew of dates in the UK following a lengthy tour of Europe with Oceansize I caught up with them via the medium of t’internet. Here’s what they said.
Your new single is the intriguingly named Meatman, and Piano Tuner, more about Prostitute. Why the strange name, and what does it mean?
The name was chosen by Stuart Warwick (guest vocalist and lyricist on the track). I asked Stuart about his inspiration and he said: “I guess (like most of my songs) it’s about intimacy, and vulnerability. Whilst the lyrics were assembled quite randomly, when I was singing it I had in my head the image of a young pretty girl dancing for an elderly man. This girl pretends to be assertive and powerful and yet she is well aware that the old man’s eyes penetrate her in ways she couldn’t imagine. It scares, disgusts and arouses her. I love that book ‘The Butcher’ by Alina Reyes. It’s such an evocative story of sexual awakening that the words practically drip off the page, it’s so vivid and sensual.”
You’ve made a video with Kira Zhigalina, why did you choose to do it with her and what inspired the treatment, which is very dreamy?
She had made a video for the band Polar Bear which we liked so we made contact to see if she’d be interested in doing one for us. She was very keen on the track ‘Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute’. The way the music developed reminded Kira of an insect metamorphosis, specifically a firefly which uses its glow as a mating signal. This ties in with Stuart`s lyrical focus on sexual/sensual awakening. The intension of the video is to explore an explosion of senses after a period of restriction within the cocoon. You can check out more of her work here.
You worked with Brighton based singer songwriter Stuart Warwick – how did this collaboration come about?
We’ve been friends with Stu for a while and we’d been wanting to incorporate his vocals into our music for a long time. We tried some things a few years back but the music wasn’t quite right. As soon as the music for ‘Meatman…’ started to develop, we knew it would be perfect for Stu. So we cajoled him into a trip up to Leeds and spent a couple of days in our basement rehearsal space in Leeds laying down vocals which we took took Texas and incorporated into the final track.
Ornafives has been part of your live set for two years – why have you only now decided to release it with the single?
Ornafives started out as part of the song ‘Wave Those Arms, Airmen’, from our first album. We decided during the ‘White Fields…’ sessions that it should be a piece of music in its own right. It was the first post-‘White Fields…’ track that we finished but we didn’t get an opportunity to record it to a high enough standard until we found ourselves back in the studio for the second album with John Congleton in Texas. It’s definitely been fun playing it live over the past few years and it’s good to have a well recorded version of the tune.
How has the fact that you are from Leeds shaped you as a band?
Well, the music scene is great in Leeds. There are some great venues and a bit of a community spirit going on. Everyone seems to know everyone else. There are some cool bands too. Some of my favourites are/were Grammatics (RIP), Worried About Satan, I Concur, Red Stars Parade (RIP), Chickenhawk, iliketrains, Humanfly, Two Minute Noodles and Quack Quack. The best venue in Leeds is the Brudenell Social. We’ve played more shows there than anywhere else and they get great artists through like Fourtet, Explosions in the Sky, Deerhunter, Low, Caribou etc. We’ve been in and around the Leeds scene and community for the last 8 years and I guess it’s influenced us in numerous ways – whether it’s the music other bands play or just the people who make the music scene what it is – possibly the most significant for Vessels are Nath from the Brudenell and Haydn from Brainwash. They’ve both really helped us out in a massive way over the years.
You’ve been documenting your tour around Europe – has the response from fans been good? Both online and at gigs, what has it been like?
The response has been amazing. I think Germany has been consistently the best country so far but they’ve all been fun. Finland was great too. And Madrid was possibly the highlight of the whole adventure. Spaniards certainly know how to let you know when they’re enjoying the show. 90% of the people we’re playing to have never heard of us before which is great for us. I think that most people who like Oceansize’s music also tend to be open to the music that we make so the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. I can’t really emphasise enough how important this is, especially on days when you’re tired or sick. Getting a good response on those days really gives you the motivation to keep doing it and get better. Sounds kinda cheesy, but it’s true.
What has been the most memorable part of the tour so far?
Too many to recount. I think some of the most fun shows have been Poland, Germany and Finland. On our way from Poland to Prague we managed to leave our sound engineer Jon in a service station somewhere outside Poznan at 0600 on Sunday morning. I got a call from Jon about 4 hours later when we were outside Berlin, telling me that he’d spent the last few hours in freezing cold with no jacket trying to obtain a charger for his phone in a city that was almost completely closed, so he could alert us to the sitation. In the end it wasn’t physically possible for him to make the Prague show. Thus we were re-united in Leipzig. It was a glorious moment. The 21 hour vomit-inducing ferry from Helsinki to Poland goes down as a memorable low point. There’ve been a few other highlights but probably not fit for your publication.
You will be playing the Queen of Hoxton this November – why should people come down and watch you?
This is a pretty difficult question to answer. I mean I think we put on a good show and I like our music. If you like it too, then I guess that would be a good enough reason. Following the month-long Euro-trek, I think we’ll be on pretty good form. Plus we will be performing our new single ‘Meatman…’ with Stuart Warwick (who is also supporting). I’d say it would be worth coming just to hear his remarkable voice – he’s first on too, so worth coming down early.
What can we expect from the new album?
I think it’s more based around grooves and loops than the first one. It’s occasionally verging on danceable too. I mean ultimately it’s rock music with some electronica and atmospherics incorporated into the sound. Towards the end of the album there is an abstract jam with some spoken word courtesy of the renowned French philosopher, Baptiste Goichon. That, for me, is the album highlight.
Vessels play Leeds, Manchester, London & Bristol: full listing here.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday November 9th, 2010 6:13 pm
I am somewhat enamoured with the new EP from Vessels, a Leeds band who favour an expansive yet melodic post rock orchestral sound. A few days before they return to a slew of dates in the UK following a lengthy tour of Europe with Oceansize I caught up with them via the medium of t’internet. Here’s what they said.
Your new single is the intriguingly named Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute. Why the strange name, and what does it mean?
The name was chosen by Stuart Warwick (guest vocalist and lyricist on the track). I asked Stuart about his inspiration and he said: “I guess (like most of my songs) it’s about intimacy, and vulnerability. Whilst the lyrics were assembled quite randomly, when I was singing it I had in my head the image of a young pretty girl dancing for an elderly man. This girl pretends to be assertive and powerful and yet she is well aware that the old man’s eyes penetrate her in ways she couldn’t imagine. It scares, disgusts and arouses her. I love that book ‘The Butcher’ by Alina Reyes. It’s such an evocative story of sexual awakening that the words practically drip off the page, it’s so vivid and sensual.”
You’ve made a video with Kira Zhigalina, why did you choose to do it with her and what inspired the treatment, which is very dreamy?
She had made a video for the band Polar Bear which we liked so we made contact to see if she’d be interested in doing one for us. She was very keen on the track ‘Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute’. The way the music developed reminded Kira of an insect metamorphosis, specifically a firefly which uses its glow as a mating signal. This ties in with Stuart`s lyrical focus on sexual/sensual awakening. The intension of the video is to explore an explosion of senses after a period of restriction within the cocoon. You can check out more of her work here.
You worked with Brighton based singer songwriter Stuart Warwick – how did this collaboration come about?
We’ve been friends with Stu for a while and we’d been wanting to incorporate his vocals into our music for a long time. We tried some things a few years back but the music wasn’t quite right. As soon as the music for ‘Meatman…’ started to develop, we knew it would be perfect for Stu. So we cajoled him into a trip up to Leeds and spent a couple of days in our basement rehearsal space in Leeds laying down vocals which we took took Texas and incorporated into the final track.
Ornafives has been part of your live set for two years – why have you only now decided to release it with the single?
Ornafives started out as part of the song ‘Wave Those Arms, Airmen’, from our first album. We decided during the ‘White Fields…’ sessions that it should be a piece of music in its own right. It was the first post-‘White Fields…’ track that we finished but we didn’t get an opportunity to record it to a high enough standard until we found ourselves back in the studio for the second album with John Congleton in Texas. It’s definitely been fun playing it live over the past few years and it’s good to have a well recorded version of the tune.
How has the fact that you are from Leeds shaped you as a band?
Well, the music scene is great in Leeds. There are some great venues and a bit of a community spirit going on. Everyone seems to know everyone else. There are some cool bands too. Some of my favourites are/were Grammatics (RIP), Worried About Satan, I Concur, Red Stars Parade (RIP), Chickenhawk, iliketrains, Humanfly, Two Minute Noodles and Quack Quack. The best venue in Leeds is the Brudenell Social. We’ve played more shows there than anywhere else and they get great artists through like Fourtet, Explosions in the Sky, Deerhunter, Low, Caribou etc. We’ve been in and around the Leeds scene and community for the last 8 years and I guess it’s influenced us in numerous ways – whether it’s the music other bands play or just the people who make the music scene what it is – possibly the most significant for Vessels are Nath from the Brudenell and Haydn from Brainwash. They’ve both really helped us out in a massive way over the years.
You’ve been documenting your tour around Europe – has the response from fans been good? Both online and at gigs, what has it been like?
The response has been amazing. I think Germany has been consistently the best country so far but they’ve all been fun. Finland was great too. And Madrid was possibly the highlight of the whole adventure. Spaniards certainly know how to let you know when they’re enjoying the show. 90% of the people we’re playing to have never heard of us before which is great for us. I think that most people who like Oceansize’s music also tend to be open to the music that we make so the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. I can’t really emphasise enough how important this is, especially on days when you’re tired or sick. Getting a good response on those days really gives you the motivation to keep doing it and get better. Sounds kinda cheesy, but it’s true.
What has been the most memorable part of the tour so far?
Too many to recount. I think some of the most fun shows have been Poland, Germany and Finland. On our way from Poland to Prague we managed to leave our sound engineer Jon in a service station somewhere outside Poznan at 0600 on Sunday morning. I got a call from Jon about 4 hours later when we were outside Berlin, telling me that he’d spent the last few hours in freezing cold with no jacket trying to obtain a charger for his phone in a city that was almost completely closed, so he could alert us to the sitation. In the end it wasn’t physically possible for him to make the Prague show. Thus we were re-united in Leipzig. It was a glorious moment. The 21 hour vomit-inducing ferry from Helsinki to Poland goes down as a memorable low point. There’ve been a few other highlights but probably not fit for your publication.
You will be playing the Queen of Hoxton this November – why should people come down and watch you?
This is a pretty difficult question to answer. I mean I think we put on a good show and I like our music. If you like it too, then I guess that would be a good enough reason. Following the month-long Euro-trek, I think we’ll be on pretty good form. Plus we will be performing our new single ‘Meatman…’ with Stuart Warwick (who is also supporting). I’d say it would be worth coming just to hear his remarkable voice – he’s first on too, so worth coming down early.
What can we expect from the new album?
I think it’s more based around grooves and loops than the first one. It’s occasionally verging on danceable too. I mean ultimately it’s rock music with some electronica and atmospherics incorporated into the sound. Towards the end of the album there is an abstract jam with some spoken word courtesy of the renowned French philosopher, Baptiste Goichon. That, for me, is the album highlight.
Vessels play Leeds, Manchester, London & Bristol: full listing here.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday November 9th, 2010 6:13 pm
After una copa de tinto de verano, about it I’m ready for another night of music overdose. First on my list is Julian Lynch, side effects the etnomusicologist from Winsconsin that conquered my heart with 2010’s LP Mare, a dreamy collage of folksy pop tunes with a shade of drone that seriously make you feel as if you were floating in a mare (which means “sea”, in Italian – I’m not sure that was his purpose in titling his album that way, but it gives a pretty damn good idea of what his songs sound like).
To be honest, I expected something quite different from his set. Strangely enough, his unhinged harmonies, between prog, metal, jazz, indie and psych, though verging cacophony, mingle in a perfect way and make extreme sense, creating a hypnotizing ensemble of notes and echoing vocals.
Julian Lynch by Laura Lotti
Music video: Julian Lynch – Garden 2
After his performance, I rush to see The Monochrome Set the avant gard post-punk outfit whose original formation featured nonetheless than Adam Ant. Although guitarist Lester Square is still rocking as hard as far back in 1978, the band seems to have lost his idiosyncratic verve, and their performance feels quite cheesy.
On the other hand, one of the contemporary bands I’ve always regarded as ‘cheesy’, Tennis, surprise me on the ATP stage. I’ve had mixed feelings towards this husband-and-wife duo since first hearing Marathon last year. Despite the song being a perfect ear candy of 1960s bubbluegum pop, they seemed to be one of those music blogs darlings, with too much buzz about them and too little to prove. However, their debut album Cape Dory sounded immediately so catchy when it came out a few months ago – a collection of simple, shiny, sticky-sweet pop melodies – that now I feel compelled to check them out. And this the best thing I’ve done today! In fact, they are so good live, I almost want to cry. Their gig reminds me of another great band I saw exactly on this same stage last year, Beach House. The melodies are kept to basic – only keyboard, drums and guitar, played by hubby Patrick Riley – and Alaina Moore’s eerie voice is the protagonist. I can’t help but squeaking “ohmygawd they are so sweeet” while jumping around every 3 seconds, stars in my eyes as teenagers in love do (ermm, maybe, given the times we are in, used to do when I was a teenager) – that’s the effect of their music – to the point that I’m afraid my friend wants to punch me in the face.
Music video: Tennis – Cape Dory
Thank god at the end of their set my face is still unscathed and, charged up by the positive vibes assimilated at Tennis’ gig, we all happily stroll (or shall I say, run?) to see James Blake. The Pitchfork stage is already jam-packed to welcome him and his band (a drummer and a guitarist, to translate in a live dimension his qualities as producer) and since the first beats everybody is humming and moving their heads to his music. How to define his sound remains a mystery to me. Would something like dubstep-cum-singer-songwriter-skills-cum-free-jazz-hints give an idea of his idiosyncratic style? I don’t know and I don’t care. He’s good as hell, that’s all that matters, and his elaborated melodies provide the perfect soundtrack to the rapidly falling dusk. Again as for Tennis, the voice plays a fundamental role here, but this time is smudged over the melodies in electronic effects to become integral part of the whole sound.
If I’m usually concerned about music that (largely) avails of digital technology, I have to say that James Blake is a good example of how to use it, and explore new spaces between liveness and reproduction. Despite my original wariness towards this 22-year-old artist, seemingly too young to be actually so good as popular press and industry people depict him, I must admit I’m glad I’ve been proved wrong. Unfortunately his performance is spoilt by the reverber of the sea surrounding half of the stage (very pictoresque, thank you. What about sound quality, though?) and the echoes coming from the other stages. But hey this is a festival. You can’t have it all, can you?
Music video: James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
So far I’ve seen two new bands that have managed to put up with the hype pumped up by the media: Tennis and James Blake. I’m already satisfied, and with this new hope towards the future of music, I head to see another kind of genius, an innovator of the very concept of music, who’s inventiveness hasn’t stopped since the 1970s. I’m talking about Pere Ubu, that on stage is still as charismatic as ever and plays a jarring, spirited set of new and old songs – coyly alluding to his “old girlfriends” every now and then and drawing from his flask one too many times – accompanied by a whole ensemble of awesome musicians, especially drummer Steve Mehlman.
This bleach-blonde giant is a proper drum-machine himself. Got to this point I could go and see Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti but
a) he’s playing bloody far away
b) Pere Ubu is a magnet.
I’ve literally got no chances of moving away from here (or better to stop moving) hypnotised by David Thomas & co’s syncopated rhythms and funny jokes.
No Joy are another welcomed surprise. The Canadian band fronted by blonde grrrls Jasmine White-Glutz and Laura Lloyd, praised by the likes of Best Coast’ Bethany Cosentino and Pitchfork for their recent release Ghost Blonde, are so powerful on stage that I cannot stop dancing and staring at them: two blonde full manes shaking constantly to the melodies created by their same guitars and otherworldly voices that intertwine with each other and and with the kicks and snares of bass and drums in a perfect entente. They are grunge, they are rock, they are cool as hell. I want to be blonde and I want to be them. They close their set with a never-ending droned-up hazy cover of Del Shannon’s ‘She Said’ that puts everybody in a hypnotic trance for the following 15 minutes.
Music video: Del Shannon – She Said
Now it’s time for slowcore Low, that play an atmospheric, almost whispered set. Although the stage is packed, it feels as intimate as if they were playing in my living room. The festival stage itself though, flattens a bit their magic.
And now it’s the band I, like probably most of my Generation Y mates, am most dying to see tonight: Deerhunter. Bradford Cox & co play and achingly haunting array of songs from ‘Halcyon Digest’ and their previous releases, building walls of melodies as overwhelming as they are perfectly balanced with each other and with Cox ‘s voice. They create dense atmospheres, delicate but strong, textured, complex but fluid. Deerhunter is a band that will stay. I can picture Deerhunter being one of the bands that my nephews will come and see in one of their reunion maybe here, exactly on this same stage, in 40 years time.
And if Deerhunter were one of the must-see bands of the night in my personal list, Pulp’s reunion is a universal must-see! It seems like all the Primavera Sound attendees have gathered under the San Miguel stage to witness this glorious comeback.
Music video: Pulp – Common People
Now, I am one of those people that, if everybody says ‘white’, have to scream ‘blaaack’ with all the energy in my lungs, and always swim against the current. So, don’t take it personally, this is not an attack to Britpop nor to one of the most brilliant contemporary British icons that have made the history of music. However, I must admit, I’m quite disappointed by this concert. Jarvis was one of us, wasn’t he? So what about all this Lady Gaga-esque stage design and bright neon visuals, that dangerously make of Pulp the caricature of themselves? It feels like a mammoth money-driven pop reunion. That’s what it is, after all, I bitterly sigh to myself. I cannot feel much energy in the air, though Jarvis is still in enviable shape and jumps around like a cricket from the beginning to the end. However, towards the end of Pulp’s gig he regains my interest, when, as in the best pop fairy tales, he doesn’t forget to get political, and declares himself indignado for the shameful events happened in Plaza Catalunya the previous night, delivering a memorable performance of ‘Common People’ dedicated to the struggling protestants.
Written by Laura Lotti on Wednesday June 8th, 2011 3:16 pm
Harun Farocki is a strange sort of a person. Although he has been making films since 1967, website like this he is a fairly new addition to the artisan world of video. Developing film as a creative medium since the mid 1990’s, approved his Against What? Against Whom? exhibition at the Raven Row galleryin East London feels very much retrospective. It is as if he is inadvertently peering back across his filmic history and showing his audience what he found out.
I sauntered in on a Friday afternoon and was surprised to find the exhibition space bustling with spectators. People from distant walks of life mosied from room to room, approved giving the labyrinth like gallery an almost homely feel. Picking up a leaflet and heading straight into the first room to see Eye/Machine III, I was somewhat at ease. Unfortunately, the first installation was not an entertaining piece. Two simultaneous projections of computerised views of bombs and aircrafts – and at twenty four minutes long, left me concerned that I had eight more to watch.
Fortunately, this was not the case. As the reels of the following pieces unravelled, the exhibition became more evocative and enthralling. The second piece documenting the archaic bricklaying techniques of the third world juxtaposed with more modern methods was a bridge into Farocki’s extensive knowledge of how film works. And indeed how to display film in an artistic approach.
The two most outstanding works of the exhibition would have the most elite cinephile astounded. The first; Workers Leaving the Factory in Eleven Decades took on the Lumière Brothers original film, extending their original premise through the past century to show the anamorphism of the working class. Intersecting works across eleven screens, Farocki includes sights from film greats such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times and, most recently, Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark. Including headphones for sensory immersion, each headset contained a different score. I was blessed with some jovial and jaunty music (I’m assuming from the Chaplin piece but couldn’t be certain). The whole experience of the piece was like a historical document; not only of workers leaving a factory, but also of how filmmakers over time have captured this banal event to create something extraordinary.
The second, Feasting or Flying, made in collaboration with Antje Ehmann, follows the tragic hero in Hollywood. The six screen set is haunting and heart wrenching. Concentrating on male protagonist suicide, it is extremely fluid, spilling from screen to screen along with an overture of highly resonant and mournful scores. The whole experience signifies and remembers tragedy, with saturnine morose. Along with clips, posters and screens of red black inserts determine film, director and how the hero ended his life. Leaving the viewer subdued but deeply attentive, the piece is arresting and thought provoking, and worth the trip in itself.
Farocki once said ‘I always use more than one image, I compare the images, to see what they have in common, it is not a linear image. It’s a form of ‘soft montage,’ taking one image ‘a,’ finding it’s not quite right, and replacing it with ‘b’’. The exhibition at Raven Row is an epitome of Farocki’s way of thinking. Multiple screens; a continual flow of disorientating images, occasionally bombarding, but predominately enthralling. Farocki twists and manipulates images to create a visually provoking and perplexing set of works.
The exhibition runs from 19 November 2009 to 7 February 2010 at Raven Row, Raven Row, 56 Artillery Lane, London E1 7LS. T +44 (0)20 7377 4300, info@ravenrow.org. Open Wednesday to Sunday 11am–6pm.
Not quite feeling in the festive mood yet?! We have put together a bit of a mix CD in blog styleee format just for you to get you feelin Christmasy!
Grace Beaumont, cheapest Earth Editor
Mariah Carey: “All I Want For Christmas”
Me and my friends did it for kareoke a few years ago and it was so fun! I like the video and Mariah just makes me lol in her santa outfit!
Rebecca Milne, cheap Music Editor
Bo Selecta: “Proper Crimbo”
This didn’t go down well at all when I played it in the office, but I lovesss it! It takes me back in particualr to last Chritmas when my sister and I were teaching our 8year old neice the lyrics when we were out in the car looking for the houses with the most christmas lights on it.
Luciana Saldanha, Music Contributor
“Aconteceu”
I am originally from the sub tropical country of Brasil, and down there we do have quite a few Christmas songs to celebrate our rather hot, and sunny Christmas. I walked down Memory Lane – with the help of my laptop of course – and found a few (many) gems from Brasil, and, let me tell you, these songs took me straight back into the sweaty arms of our Brazilian version of Santa Claus. My chosen one would be “Aconteceu”, because it reminds me of me and my childhood friends singing it, its a very very typical song
Valerie Pezeron, Arts Editor
Vanessa Paradis: “Emmenez Moi”
French Classic brilliantly covered by Ms Depp. Lyrics: ” Take me away to the end of the world, Take me away in the land of wonders. It seems to me that misery would be less hard in the sun, take me away!” Very fitting but not too obvious.
Briony Warren, Music Contributor
?Neil Young: ‘After the Goldrush’
It was a favourite of my father’s and several Christmas’s ago my he asked for us to sing it for him at a family get together. My three sisters and I practiced it and learnt a few harmonies. My uncle Frank, accompanied us on guitar. Everyone loved it and this song always reminds me of this!It’s a great song with many renditions done over the years by the likes of Thom Yorke, Tori Amos and The Flaming Lips. We also performed it at my Grandmothers funeral, however we changed the lyrics slightly because the song is actually about drug addiction.
Georgie Van Kuyk, Music Contributor
Mariah Carey: All I Want For Christmas
This is the ultimate Christmas song! It reminds me of school discos, wearing horrendous clothes, tinsel, and my beast friend reminded me; you had until the end of this song to find someone to dance the last slow dance with.
Colin McKean, Music Contributor
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl: ‘Fairytale of New York’
Drunkenness, disillusionment, broken dreams and promises, as well as the threat of domestic violence. What could be more festive?
or… ‘Just Like Christmas’ by Low, which seems to capture both the joy and the introspection of the festive season in pretty much equal measure.
Cari Steel, Music Contributor
Julie London: “Lonely Girl”
Christmas songs always sound like they have had 10lbs of tinsel dumped on them; they are gaudy, overblown, and are the musical equivalent of the torpid state that we find ourselves in after consuming our weight in turkey and Christmas Cake. The antidote to all of this excess is listening to Julie London’s “Lonely Girl”. The mellow, delicious, breathy tones of Julie sets the scene to curl up in front of a fire, clad in nothing but big woolly socks and an oversized jumper while sipping a large brandy and letting the festive overload gently ebb away.
It’s nearly Christmas so it must be time for my annual round up of beautiful, interesting, weird and fantastical seasonal tunes, many located this year via Twitter. If you’re reading this in years to come, do get in touch and tell me about your tune so I can include it! That’s what San Diego band Pony Death Ride did a few months back.
Nothing Beats Old People at Christmas was actually released last year and features in the Pony Death Ride annual Christmas show. Look away if you are easily offended, it takes a kooky (and not entirely generous) look at those always tricky family dynamics. Boy can I relate.
Moving on, Low have come up with a gorgeous lilting song that celebrates friendship, Some Hearts (at Christmas Time). I appreciate my true friends more than ever at this time of year.
I love this song by LA based electro singer songwriter Andrew Belle. Back For Christmas is featured on A Very RELEVANT Christmas, Vol. 6, for cool young Christians.
Released in aid of Human Appeal, Christmas Number One (On My Own) by the Raglans continues in the grand tradition of charity singles. It’s a plea to consider the plight of others, with proceeds going to help people in war torn areas. A worthy cause if ever there was one.
An Old Fashioned Christmas Song by Les Bicyclettes de Belsize is a jaunty tune.
If you love your 80s vibes you’ll love You Bring the Snow by The Crookes, complete with fake retro video and subtitles. Dance along to it after one too many sherries.
Featuring an eerily similar knowingly retro video, Christmas Without Snow is by Neon Dreams from Canada. It sounds a bit rave, and more than a bit like Coldplay.
For more 80s electro vibes look no further than This Fucking Time Of Year by Charles Cave, this time with original 80s footage from a family Christmas in Pennsylvania. He says “I think it is every musician’s duty to have a stab at a Christmas song, if only once. The festive season is full of all the emotions that fuel the best songwriting at all other times of the year, so digging into those complicated family dynamics, the bleak weather, the reflecting of the year gone by can be hugely inspiring for an emotive pop song.”
All these 80s vibes resonate with me because I was a child of the 80s, and I also spent quite a few Christmases in the USA, so it all feels (un)comfortably familiar. At one time we lived on a road fondly nicknamed Christmas Tree Lane, where each house competed for extravagant Christmas decorations in the front gardens. We never drew the curtains and I remember that at dinner time I felt like I was living in a dolls house with crowds of people peering in. But I digress…
The Stars Are Made Of Mistletoe is a typical indie Christmas tune by Maylee Todd & Steve Singh, featuring cutesy female vocals and sleigh bells.
Best Coast have released this lovely Beach Boys-esque holiday tune, Christmas and Everyday, which features in the movie An American Girl Story – Maryellen 1955: Extraordinary Christmas.
An exciting new discovery for me this year is the second annual playlist compilation available exclusively from Amazon Music on Prime. Indie for the Holidays features some absolute corkers, some of which are listed below.
Los Campesinos! contribute When Christmas Comes (Boxing Day Version).
I love the sweetly harmonising voices of Joseph in Sister Winter.
Hear Holiday Road by Tennis here:
There are also a few good tunes available on Amazon from their Acoustic Christmas playlist:
Trampled by Turtles sing about Christmas In Prison.
Train contribute I Miss You, Christmas.
Jon McDevitt takes on the mysteries of Father Christmas in his new single, featuring a driving beat and jaunty fiddle. A bittersweet reflection on the real nature of Santa. Listen here as it can’t be streamed elsewhere.
Emma-Lee gives us a sparkling pop song with It Won’t Be Christmas, which owes more than a little debt to Mariah Carey.
Natalie Prass takes a lo-fi approach to the video for Everybody’s Having Fun (It’s Christmas Time) – an ode to the troubled world we find ourselves living in and the difficulty many are having in getting into the Christmas spirit this year.
I absolutely adore this echo-ey electro-pop version of the ancient carol O Holy Night by Nat Jay + Cookie Cartel. Listen to O Holy Night here.
Lastly, Hannah Epperson gives us an experimental Christmas tune in the form of White Flag, which she describes as her “post-apocalyptic Christmas single”, here paired with her simplified version of White Christmas.
With thanks to Andrea Warner for my Canadian finds. Read her original article here. I hope you enjoy listening to these alternative Christmas ditties! A very Merry Christmas all xxx
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday December 22nd, 2016 11:38 pm
Christmas Olive Grove by Bex Bourne, based on As A Child I Awoke by Jo Mango.
A hugely successful Christmas tune is the holy grail for many musicians: just think how many times Fairytale of New York has been played. With royalties like that you’d never need to work again, not that this is the only motivating factor for the majority of musicians. It would just be nice, wouldn’t it, to have a song played every year… welcomed back like a much missed friend and enjoyed once more as if it were new. All of which is great because it means that every time the Christmas season swings around there is a host of brilliant new themed tunes to add to the mix, each hoping for a slice of immortality.
One release that is raising money for charity is the Olive Grove Records EP which features three original recordings and a cover of that famous Muppets song One More Sleep ’til Christmas.
For Folk’s Sake it’s Christmas 2012 cover illustrated by Sarah Oxley.
For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas returns with another album featuring an absolutely stellar mix of tunes by the likes of Goodnight Lenin, Boat to Row and many others I don’t know but probably should. If you buy one thing this season make it this: the hard copy album has long since sold out but you can get the digital version for a piddling £7 and all profits go to the Evelina Children’s Hospital. It’s also worth downloading previous versions too.
Other returnees are Tim Wheeler and Emmy the Great, who have created a new video to celebrate their Zombie Christmas, just one track from last year’s fab Christmas album. Armed only with an assortment of decorations they must defend themselves from their foes, mid gig.
Kate Nash adopts that most seasonal of instruments, the sleigh bell, for Faith, her lo fi paen to the end of a tough year. It’s a taster of her new grungey sound, with a bass driven melody that segues into some pretty retro style harmonies.
One of my favourite new tracks this season is a cover of Mary Margaret O’Hara’s Evermore by Cold Specks, a gloriously cosy song that makes me want to curl up next to a roaring log fire.
Tracey Thorn has released a collection of Christmas songs entitled Tinsel & Lights which comes accompanied with an innovative bit of marketing: open the doors on this virtual advent calendar to find a series of links leading to exclusive material. I like Joy… which is a self-penned tale of defiant seasonal celebration and In the Cold Cold Night is suitably frosty.
In the Cold Cold Night by Christine Charnock. Tracey Thorn’s ‘In the Cold, Cold Night’ has dark and mysterious undertones to it which I wanted to reflect in my illustration response. The song creates an atmosphere of longing and loneliness, and a determination to find companionship in whatever way possible.
You can always bank on Darren Hayman for something a bit different: this year’s seasonal ditty concerns Oliver Cromwell‘s efforts to ban the festive occasion. He failed, luckily.
A really sweet video accompanies Dog is Dead‘s cover of Paul McCartney‘s classic Wonderful Christmastime.
Dog is Dead – Wonderful Christmastime by Sharon Farrow. I tried to take elements of the song and I wanted to include several Christmassy things: reindeer, snow, the tree, crackers, along with the humorous elements of the video. Hence the Christmas jumpers and the veneration of the humble (but essential Christmas delight!) brussel sprout. Where would be without them this time of year? The Christmas jumpers are also a nod to the Save the Children Christmas jumper campaign.
Tender Trap‘s Christmas tune Leaving Christmas Day tells the tale of a girl who discovers that her boyfriend is a Creationist Christian.
Rock band The Hype Theory cover Winter Wonderland with silky female vocals
The Other Guys is an A Cappella choir from St Andrews University and their Christmas Gets Worse Every Year is a beautifully sung reminder that sometimes nothing beats a classic bit of choral singing at Christmas time.
The Voluntary Butler Scheme have released seasonal melody Quinzhee (Building Us A House Out Of Snow) with a grainy film of wintery figures building an igloo.
Katy Edelsten illustrates The Voluntary Butler Scheme – House out of Snow. I wanted to create something that mixed the breezy tone of the song with the simple lyrics, I settled on the castle made of snow because i thought it captured both the the air of the song and the dreamy-Beach Boys-esque haze of the lyrics. The colours and naive style were also executed for this reason.
Dan Croll gets into the spirit with his cover of Low‘s Just Like Christmas, accompanied by a kitsch video in which he smears his face in chocolate and luxuriates in a bubble bath whilst wearing a woolly jumper and smoking a pipe. Go on, watch it. It’s Christmas time everyone! Enjoy x
Katy Edelsten illustrates Dan Croll – Just Like Christmas. I was inspired by the artist himself- as the video is pretty captivating! I wanted something quite whimsical, with no line breaks, as the lyrics repeat and continue. I used a continuous line, in conjunction with pale colours, to depict the artist as Father Christmas. Inspired by the song (and Movember perhaps) I incorporated the song title into Dan Croll’s beard.
14 Bacon Street, erectile E1 6LF, page 11th-18th December
The pop-up shop does what it says on the tin, buy appears in a different location for a limited time, so you have to be quick to get in and see what’s inside. But make the effort as you can find a plethora of goodies from new designers and artists, hand picked from exotic locations all around the world. The store also supports the East End charity Kids Company, so you’ll be doing your bit to help as you shop.
Enjoy an evening of late-night shopping on London’s trendiest street, as well as rumageing through all that vintage, there will be refreshments on hand and special Christmas gifts available only on this night.
The Bizarre Bazaar
Sunday 21st December
Monday 8th December Joan as Policewoman, Thekla, capsule Bristol
Ex-Antony and the Johnsons collaborator touring in support of her new album. Expect mesmerising vocals and heart-rending tunes.
Boss Hog, Luminaire, London
Jon Spencer (as in Blues Explosion) and his wife Cristina Martinez front this long-standing blues-rock outfit.
Tuesday 9th December
Kong, Buffalo Bar, London
Art-noise, cool as Manchester band, heavy on the guitars.
The Miserable Rich, Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
Folky, orchestrated Brighton group, with links to Lightspeed Champion.
Sixtoes, Big Chill House, London
Cinematic, spooky blues-folk with a melancholy Eastern European edge.
Wednesday 10th December
Little Death, Club Fandango @ 229, London
Cool, cosmopolitan London band playing psychadelic tinged noise-pop.
Land of Talk, Water Rats, London
Canadian indie-rock.
Thursday 11th December
Good Books, Proud Galleries, London
Danceable indie-electro.
Mike Bones, Old Blue Last, London
One man and his guitar.
Friday 12th December
Rose Elinor Dougall, Barfly, Cardiff
Pretty girl music from this ex-Pipette. Still very pop but less of the sixties girl group rip-offs.
Free Fridays: Brute Chorus, La Shark, Josh Weller, 93 Feet East, London
Bonkers hair (Josh Weller) and outfits (La Shark) will abound at this FREE night featuring up-and-coming bands including Brute Chorus who will presumably play new single ‘She Was Always Cool’.
Saturday 13th December
Herman Dune, The Deaf Institute, Manchester
Perennial Parisian folksters on tour to promote new album ‘Next Year in Zion’.
Glissando, Holy Trinity Church, Leeds
Dreamy and ethereal. Should be lovely in a church.
Stereolab, Black Box, Belfast
Long-standing lounge/electronic post-rock with female French singer.
Getting up at 6am on a cold Saturday morning may be unthinkable to some -but for myself and fellow fashion enthusiasts, information pills the Angels Vintage and Costume clothing sale was more than enough motivation for the long, look early trek over to Wembley….or so we thought. The queue turned out to be VERY long… a 3 to 4 hour wait we were told. Despite our earlier determination, it was too long for us and we gracefully admitted defeat, leaving behind a growing queue of seriously hardcore shoppers.
One of those hardcore shoppers was ameliasmagazine.com’s very own Music Editor, Prudence Ivey, here’s her take on it, “Leaving the house at 6.30am, we were in the queue by about 7.15am and, although in the first 500, we were nowhere near the front. Some people – vintage shop buyers – had been there since Friday afternoon. There was a really friendly atmosphere, you could tell these people were true vintage fiends, as there was not a scruffbag in sight, it was all red lipstick and glamourous outfits despite the ungodly hour.
When we were allowed in, after just over an hour of wating, there was virtual silence and heads down as people rifled through the cardboard boxes packed with clothes on the floor. A cloud of dust filled the room after about 10 minutes, most of the clothes were in a bit of a state and everything I ended up with turned the water black when I put it in to hand-wash, not to mention my black snot… A quick sort through, try on and swapping session with my friend, along with some excellent packing meant that I left with 18 items of pretty decent, some of them really excellent, vintage finds for a measly £20. One of my favourite shopping trips EVER.” (above and below is Prudence modeling her two of her wonderful buys)
So now I wish I had stayed in the queue – but my day was not wasted, I found a far more inviting alternative, which boasted the benefits of being a. inside and b. no queue! It was the first London edition of New York magazine BUST‘s Christmas Craftacular.
Set in the St. Aloysius Social Hall in Euston, a mixed group of cool crafty kids, cute guys and even grannies filled the aptly dated-yet-cozy bar, and the Shellac Sisters played classic retro tunes on their wind-up gramophone, which added to the kitsch atmosphere. Having taken off in New York over the last 4 years, the Craftacular event has now come to British shores and brings together craft sellers, knitting circles, badge making stations and of course, lots of cake!
Tatty Divine turned into doctors for the day and set up their very own ‘craft clinic’ offering advice and tips to craft novices or lovers.
An ArtYarn Guerilla Graffiti Knitting Crew even set up a training camp, where boys sat happily next to their teachers, learning how to knit one, pearl one and Random Monkey Designs offered lessons in cross stitch.
With a packed out venue and buzzing crowd, it’s likely that (and we hope) the Craftacular event will become a regular date in the British calendar.
Monday Dec 8th
It seems most exhibition spaces in this area begin like this, drugs in someone’s flat. Every day this week at 79a Brick Lane, viagra 100mg there will be an exhibition of seven separate artists (one for each day) alongside a selected feature film, including the likes of Saturday Night Fever, North by Northwest, and The Truman Show. It starts at eight and ends when the film does. For a more detailed itinerary, check here. Admission is free.
Tuesday Dec 9th A Family in Disguise, by Yu Jinyoung has been extended at Union on Teesdale Street and is worth a look, if not only for the fact that entering the exhibition is a surreal experience in itself. Not a curator to be seen, and with a camera that links the room to their gallery in Ewer Street, you are alone in a haunting room with this disparate family of forlorn faces. Ring the buzzer and take a look.
Wednesday Dec 10th
Indian Highway is the new exhibition starting today at the Serpentine, describing itself as a snapshot of the vibrant generations artists working across the country today, well-established artists shown besides lesser known practitioners. Using a array of medias they are threaded together with a common engagement with the social and political, examining complex issues in contemporary India such as environmentalism, religious sectarianism, globalisation, gender, sexuality and class. It runs until Feb 22nd.
Thursday Dec 11th
Hermetic Seel is a new exhibition by Shane Bradford opening on Wednesday at the Vegas Gallery. It might just be satisfying to see fourteen historical art encyclopedias subjected to Bradford’s “post-Pollock” dipping technique.
Friday Dec 12th
Here’s what one of our writers said of Omnifuss’ last exhibition: In the heart of Dalston, down the end of a small alley road was a large garage with a little door. Through this door, a group of 24 artists showcased their work. Sculpture, music, performance and photography took place in the old car workshop that was far away from the usual pristine white walls of gallery spaces and created a rustic, and inspiring location for this exhibition. With flame heaters to warm those tootsies, and the symphonious sound of a violinist haunting the open rooms, I found myself immersed in the eclectic furniture and art… Downstairs is their new exhibit, an exploration of domesticity in its rawest states through sound, sculpture, video and installation, and by the sounds of it is worth a visit.
Saturday Dec 13th Awopbopaloobop. Artists listen to music, everyone listens to music. Lyrics are etched into our minds whether we want them there or not, and we can’t help but allow them to inform our everyday. Awopbopaloobop (I just like saying that word) is an exhibition at http://www.transitiongallery.co.uk/index.html, asking a host of artists to produce based on a favourite song lyric. This exhibition is coming to an end, (21st of Dec), so go and see it if you haven’t already. The space itself is worth the trip, and it’s fun to walk around a gallery with a song-sheet in your hands!
Brian Aldiss’ short story, drug “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long”, this to which the exhibition “Super-Toys” makes reference, abortion tells the story of a mother and her android son in the overcrowded world of the future who, however hard they try, cannot find a way to love each other. It makes love seem like a human malfunction, a flaw which can never be imitated. But moreover it captures the feeling of dismay when two people who know that they should love each other realise they can’t – that they fundamentally don’t know how. The android boy, who questions whether or not he is real, seems more humane than his human mother; who sends him to be repaired for the flaw from which she herself suffers. Love cannot be programmed; but is a lover not someone who says all those things that you want to hear, like an automated machine?
So with high expectations of an exhibition dealing with the strange interaction between humans and machine, fantasy and reality, love and compromise; what I found was initially disappointing. The notions the story had alluded to, the emotions and the complexity of them, were not to be found. Machine ducks floating in a pond, a room of human shaped stuffed objects lying mundanely on the floor; flashing machines dancing in a square box; all interesting to look at, but lacking explanation. The most interesting part of the exhibition was the nightmarish, garish and lurid room that followed, full of toys ripped apart: toys with two head, toys mutilated and deformed by visitors, and all in the name of art. With shelves and window ledges packed already, I was invited to create my own monster from a pile of rejected toys. There was something sinister about being instructed to rip the head off a teddy bear; glue Barbie legs where paws should be; and to work at a designated workstation. Despite the visual pleasure and hands on aspect of super-toys, it seemed to be an exhibition full of concept without real content. But maybe that’s what it allows you to do; to explore you own memories of love, childhood, playfulness and ultimately rejection; and realise that everyone else feels the same way too.
Anne Collier Dispersion is a patchy affair. Curated by the director of the Chisenhale gallery Polly Staple, hospital it features seven artists working from different locations, view tied together under the banner of an examination of the ‘circulation of images in contemporary society….in our accelerated image economy’. This seems a fairly sound starting point, although a bit nebulous and too wide in the sense of the number of artists that could be described as grappling with these issues.
Recycling and colliding of images is examined most clearly in Anne Collier’s photographs. Iconic posters, complete with creases, walk the line between multiple realities; but unlike other work in the show, the centre of power lies not in some theoretical hinterland but in the jarring sensation between seeing the photograph of the image and the image itself. Again this is hardly a new idea but it is well executed. The twin set of images a box of photos of the sea provides a further layer of tension between the natural and man-made.
Anne Collier
Seth Price
Most of the the other works are films. Seth Price’s ‘Digital Video Effect:Editions‘ (2006) , juxtaposing high and low cultural references (such as those barriers still exist), feels like an early 90′s MTV insert in its scope and complexity. Mark Leckey, now with the epithet ‘Turner Prize Winner’, is due to give a one off lecture/live performance ‘Mark Leckey in the Long Tail‘ in January tackling the similar ground, hopefully to better effect.
A better example of the film work on display is Hito Steyerl’s fascinating ‘Lovely Andrea’ (2007). This is an engaging documentary-esque look at a Japanese bondage artist, cut with scenes fom Wonder Woman cartoons and ‘backstage’ footage of the creation or recreation of scenes, calling the whole film’s authenticity into question. This could have led to a horribly self reflexive pile of mush but is actually a taut and gripping set of mixed narratives.
Henrik Olesen’s computer printed images mounted on blackboards, ‘some gay-lesbian artists and/or artists relevant to homosocial culture V,VI.VII’(2007), a collection reappropriated around queer history, touched on interesting ideas; a collection of female portraits by female artists from Renaissance onwards, for example. But the sum of its parts felt lazy and, like the rest of the show, he veers into hectoring or frustrating silence instead of fostering conversation between the work and viewer.
This is a problem, but one the ICA can absorb better than other cultural centres. The institution was founded as an ‘adult playground’ and this remit naturally involves risky and challenging work, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Dispersion is a perfect encapsulation of this.
The disjointed art punk of San Fransisco’s Deerhoof is pretty brilliant on record but I’d heard it was even better live and so couldn’t wait to see them at ULU on their only UK date this year. Their music is disarmingly simple sounding, online loved by music aficionados and 10 year old girls alike – my kid sister loves Panda Panda Panda and Milkman almost as much as any Girls Aloud single. Perhaps I should have sent her along to review the show. It would have been easier for her to convince the people on the door that she was called Prudence Ivey (the name I was under on the list) than a scruffy and definitely male reviewer. They thought I was a street-crazy.
Achieving such wide-ranging popularity is an impressive feat considering that, sick underneath that childlike simplicity, their songs consist of complex structures alongside fragments of dissonant guitar thrash/twang and improvisation. However, seeing Deerhoof is no overblown, intellectual chore. They manage to be simultaneously clever, loud and cartoonishly entertaining and enlivened ULU with a set that encompassed a lot of new album material alongside some stuff to keep the old school fans happy.
The crowd were particularly receptive to old favourite Milkman, along with the Yo La Tengo-in-a-parallel-universe sounds of new album Offend Maggie – a title that always gives me the mental image of an outraged, pre-dementia Margaret Thatcher. There were clipped drums ahoy, along with Deerhoof’s twinkling wire to fuzz guitar textures. Satomi’s vocals, all coy and Japanese, were accentuated by goofy hand gestures – a fitting accompaniment to her surreal and playful subject matter. The whole band were really tight and surprisingly enthusiastic after fourteen years playing together. I can’t wait to see them again.
For anyone wanting to brush up on their climate science, drugs I thoroughly recommend this charming animation by Leo Murray.
The friendly and clear narration takes you steadily through the various chemical processes that are happening on our planet in it’s present climatic state. Without being overly ominous, the film warns how these processes, unchanged for millions of years, are being disturbed by man-made CO2 emissions and may be heading towards a tipping point where we will be plummeted into a place of no return. This definitely ‘isn’t about polar bears anymore!’
I found it really helpful for clarifying some terminology, the science bits- told in a simple way- are up- to- date, and it projects a statement of encouragement, not one of doom. The prospects are scary but we’re lucky to be the generation who could prevent them from happening.
To vote for Wake Up Freak Out then Get a Grip in the Aniboom Awards 2008 click here.
For anyone wanting to brush up on their climate science, buy information pills I thoroughly recommend this snappy animation by Leo Murray.
The friendly and clear narration takes you steadily through the various chemical processes that are happening on our planet in it’s present climatic state. Without being overly ominous, the film warns how these processes, unchanged for millions of years, are being disturbed by man-made CO2 emissions and may be heading towards a tipping point where we will be plummeted into a place of no return.
I found it really helpful for clarifying some terminology, the science bits- told in a simple way- are up- to- date, and it projects a statement of encouragement, not one of doom. The prospects are scary but we’re lucky to be the generation who could prevent them from happening.
To vote for Wake Up Freak Out in Aniboom Awards 2008. No Equal clothing are a company who don’t pander to press agendas and celebrities, sick instead they are refreshingly focused on working with new and exciting design talent and helping charities.
They also know how to throw a party – and it was good cause central. In the first room of The Russian Club Studios was a display of logoed t-shirts and hoodies, website like this made in collaboration with three emerging illustrators– Yann Le Bec, Thibaud Herem and Jean Jullien.
10% of the sales – not just profit – of this No Equal apparel are being donated to three charities, which No Equal Clothing are supporting, Kidsco, Addaction and XLP. To mix up the mediums and give some background to the collaborations, there was also a video installation showing the three artists at work.
In the second room, as part of their desire to champion new designers, No Equal clothing held a silent auction (of which all profits go to Kidsco, Addaction and XLP) for the London College of Fashion. Seven of LCF’s undergraduate students working for the college’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion created collections that were environmentally and ethically conscious and these were being sold.
The auction is also a possible reason for the eclectic mixture of guests. East London kids hung out with men in suits (in separate groups obviously) in the sparse concrete venue created an unusual atmosphere, you could have been in an underground club, art gallery or exclusive couture shop.
The students collections were varied and interesting, Michela Carraro (pictured below) used hemp based fabrics sourced from small family run businesses to create a romantic chiffon-esque collection, while Manon Flener created deconstructed / reconstructed garments made of pieces of fabric pieced together with studs. She says her motivation for the collection was to reduce waste in fashion; each piece can be put together in a different way to make many garments.
Supporting the Fashioning the Future programme at LCF, which encourages designers to think about the environmental imapct of their work, No Equal clothing are actively championing eco-friendly designers of the future and with their own clothing label, bucking the greedy fashion trend by giving a percentage of profits to charity. Good work all round.
Last week the Earth team at Amelia’s Magazine went along to the Friends House in Euston to listen to a report made by the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC). The issue was climate change and the information it uncovered was alarming.
As a self-confessed newbie to these sorts of events I must admit to harboring uneasiness about feeling out of place in a room full of swampys. But my silly preconceptions were immediately flattened.
Lead by a panel of speakers expert in their field, story the atmosphere at the Friends House was alive with people from all manner of backgrounds but united in the opinion that climate change is a matter of urgency.
Chairing the debate was Christian Hunt who kicked off by asking the audience a few questions. 99% raised their hand when asked whether they would describe themselves as environmentalists. Roughly 70% would say they had some knowledge of climate change while roughly 20% would say they had lots of knowledge on the subject. 99% of us responded yes we did like his t-shirt that read ‘don’t give up.’
The first to speak from the panel was Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He started with a clear message: the question of climate change is a humanitarian one. While the U.K. and E.U’s definition of a dangerous climate change as 2°C per annum may be an adequate threshold for us in the western world, it is not nearly small enough to safeguard the rest of the world.
It is the southern hemisphere, containing the world’s poorest, that is targeted the most by global warming in it’s present state, with people dying on a daily basis. Therefore it is an ethical decision about how much we care about the world’s weakest as to how and when we go about dealing with the climate.
He went on to say that the entire climate change debate needs an urgent rethink when taking into account the latest emissions data. The planet is heating up at an even faster rate than we thought, and our government seems to be denying this is happening by following the miscalculated advice from the Stern Report and not pumping in nearly dosh needed to implement a strategy that will radically cut back our emissions.
But Kevin Anderson pointed out there may be a silver lining to retrieve from the present economical situation. History has shown us that larger emission reductions occur when there is economic turmoil. I guess this has something to with cut backs in industry forced by a plummeting economy. When the Soviet Union collapsed, for example, there was a record drop of 5% per annum.
Tim Helweg-Larson, the director of Public Interest Research Centre bounded onto the platform next. So this is where it gets rather technical but don’t worry, Tim’s clear and straightforward delivery meant that even my mind didn’t drift into thinking about what I might eat for tea.
He showed us a series of images showing the levels of sea ice in the arctic in 1979 and in 2007 and I was taken back to those pretty pictures in my school science lab…Predictably the more recent images contained a much larger surface area of dark gloominess.
These dark regions absorb more heat. This additional heat penetrates 1500km inland across a plain of perma-frost. This stuff is harmless if left untouched but once melted, its carbon content-which is twice the amount of the entire global atmosphere-is released into the air. Yep that means even more bad stuff is added to the high intensity of CO2 that started this whole malarkey.
The knock-on effect going on in the arctic-known as the triple melt- is steadily destroying the climatic state of the entire planet. Soon we will reach the point where we will no longer be within the realm of temperatures that enable things to grow and humanity to survive (known as the middle climate). If this isn’t scary enough this tipping point is likely to peak sooner than we thought; as early as 2011 to 2015.
George Momboit was next to speak. Hello. His exuberance for the cause was exciting…ooh la…did you know he has been shot at, shipwrecked and pronounced clinically dead? Well he was very much alive that evening as I listened – intently- to his practical, if ambitious, advice to the government to stop fannying about and introduce a ‘crash program of total energy replacement.’
He whizzed through a series of steps geared to cut our emissions by 20% by 2012 and more thereafter. But those wild curls, brisk demeanor and air of academic brilliance were just a little distracting. Without getting too carried away I managed to jot down the key points of this radical plan:
1. To train up a green army of builders that is equipped to build more energy efficient homes
2.A mass subsidy program to re insulate homes
3.Replacement of power plants
4.Re engineering of roads to cater better for cycles and coaches
5. To Cap number of landing spots for airports so that by 2030 the maximum number of flights is 5% of current levels.
6.Agriculture should be devoted to the most efficient carbon saving schemes
7.He summed up with the statement that lowering demand for fossil fuels should happen simultaneously with lowering their supply and we need to dramatically cut oil and gas exploitations.
Pretty rousing stuff…
Solar energy pioneer, Jeremy Leggett gave us a more buisnessy slant on what can be done for climate change especially in this current state of economic upheaval and an encroaching energy crunch (the I.E.A. predicts 5 years time). With people becoming increasingly disheartened by the government’s spending priorities, now’s the time to duck in and make a collective effort to re-engineer capitalism. He enforced the notion that money needs to go into building a carbon army of workers that would create 10 thousand new jobs and…cost a measly half a billion squid
Caroline Lucas, MEP for South East England and Leader of the Green Party, disheartened by the inertia of our government, shocked us all by urging ‘a massive campaign of civil disobedience.’ This prompted uproar amongst the audience and I must say it felt pretty inspiring .She went on to talk about Climate Rush, an activist group who take their inspiration from the Suffragette movement. Like the women who were denied the vote, their rush on parliament really is a demand for life itself. They also dress-up in fancy Edwardian petticoats, which sounds fun. But their theatricality is not without sincerity, direction and a passion to change the injustices that climate change is causing on humanity. Caroline Lucas’ speech stirred an energetic drive to ‘do something’ in me. She reminded us of the words of Emily Pankhurst ‘to be a militant is to be a privilege’ and something hit home. We are very lucky to not be totally powerless in this situation, as so many people across the world are, and it is possible to make our government listen to us, albeit with a bit of hard work. To find about the next climate rush action click here.
So I’ve dipped my toe into the murky sludge of our current climate. All the facts and figures might not have filtered through into this article but I hope if, like me, you previously thought this issue was for only for really clever people and maybe just a little put off by dreadlocks, you’ve realized that this is something we should all be aware of whether we want to listen to it or not, including our government.
As I left the Climate Safety talk to cycle home, I felt almost grateful for never bothering to learn to drive as perhaps in a small way it might make up for that stomach-sinking feeling of how terribly selfish I had been for only vaguely paying attention to news of melting popsicles and greenhouses.
The truth is I felt safe in the view that the really scary things won’t happen for a very long time, well after I’m buried in the ground and used for compost. Well I was wrong, it’s not our grandkid’s grandkid that’s going to feel the full force of climate change-it’s us.
We’ve searched online for hours to find these wonderful gift ideas for Christmas this year! Including solar powered fairy lights, advice recycled wrapping paper, rx sew-it-yourself dresses, fairtrade teddies and handmade jewellery.
JEWELLERY
Kate Slater First up on our list, and featured in Issue 10 of Amelia’s Magazine, we have wonderfully talented illustrator Kate Slater. She is one of many artists currently selling her work on etsy in the form of these gorgeous little accessories that she has made. Kate‘s illustrations come alive through the use of collage, mixed papers and wire for relief work. Furtive Pheasant Brooch Kate’s collaged pheasant has been remade into this lovely brooch. The original illustration has been printed onto durable shrink plastic and bejeweled with green diamantes. We love the idea of being able to wear Kate’s illustrations! Buy the Furtive Pheasant Brooch here
Butterfly Dress Kit Gossypium is a great place to buy gifts from! All the clothes on their site are high quality, fairtrade and made from biodegradable materials. They’re one of the great sites working with the idea of a zero-impact on the environment, and we’ve love this Butterfly Dress Kit. It is a sew-it-yourself organic cotton kit that comes with a lovely printed fabric and easy instructions to create one of three garments. You can make a blouse, a dress or a smock with or without pockets, and have the option of long or short sleeves; with nine different styles to choose from you are in total control of how your finished product looks! Buy the Butterfly Dress Kit here.
Solar Helicopter This little toy is perfect as a desk ornament, and is loads of fun for kids and grown ups! Working with as little light as from a desk lamp, the solar cells demonstrate how efficient modern eco technology is. Buy the Solar Helicopter here.
Outdoor Solar Powered Christmas Fairy Lights These all-year-round lights are a great way to bring some green sparkle to your home! They’re waterproof and come with 8 different settings including flashing, continuous light patterns! The lights only come on when it’s dark (so about 3:30pm…) and the solar panel uses high grade Kyocera Solar cells that store enough energy to run for 10 hours, even on winter days! These lights are a bargain too at only £19.99! Buy your Solar Powered Fairy Lights here.
These 100% recycled wrapping papers are by Lisa Jones and come in many different styles! They are modernist and brightly coloured using vegetable inks. Get some Recycled Wrapping Paper here.
Cardboard Cutting Table This 100% Icelandic made brilliant cardboard table can be used as a meeting table, a cutting table (it comes with a laminated white surface top), a dinner table and a baby changing table! It’s portable and folds away to save space! (and comes with a handy 18% discount for design students!). Buy the Cardboard Table here.
KIDS
‘Woodsy The Owl’ Bib This adorable bib is by etsy seller ‘cocoandmilkweed‘, consisting of Evan and Lila Maleah- a husband and wife team intent on creating lovely products for little and big people! Woodsy has been handmade in a dark brown eco-felt that has been made from 100% recycled plastic bottles, and sewn onto a soft cotton woodgrain fabric. the entire bib has been backed with organic cotton flannel and lined with organic cotton and bamboo for extra absorption! All this detail has added to its appeal, and it even has a snap closure to make sure its little wearer isn’t able to yank it off! Buy a ‘Woodsy The Owl’ bib here.
Dala Horse Stocking The Christmas tradition of stocking has been brought into the 21st century by Erin ‘sewsewsuckurtoe‘ by using the folk art inspired Dala Horse. It is constructed out of eco-felt which is made from recycled plastic bottles and lined in cotton to make it strong enought to hold as many things as possible! Buy a Dala Horse Stocking here.
Witness are a group, based in New York, that use video and online technologies to expose human rights violations all over the world. By making videos of victim’s personal stories, they direct attention to injustice and promote public engagement and policy change.
Sam’s first up on the video (below), telling us that the images of a school teacher in East Burma hiding out in a forest with her children is one of the images that shows us we need to go further with our actions to help those whose human rights have been severely violated.
A video producer, trainer and human rights advocate, Sam’s videos have been screened at the US Congress, UK Houses of Parliament, The UN and in film festivals worldwide.
The group are also launching an online channel for these videos called The Hub. This is a new multi-lingual online portal dedicated to human rights media and action. It provides the opportunity for individuals, organizations, networks and groups around the world to bring their human rights stories and campaigns to global attention.
To find out more about Witness (www.witness.org) click here.
The non-existent morality faeries that do not sit either side of my head were in a fluster last Thursday. I took them down to a police auction in Bethnal Green, salve and for the entirety of my pedal there, they could not be resolved: surely there is something fundamentally wrong with capitalising on the lost and stolen goods of hapless victims, or worse still, liquidated assets, urgh! But then again, stolen … and retrieved; lost … and found. Where else would these items, long since departed from owners, go? I have nothing to say about liquidated assets, but apparently that’s next time – this week was reserved to lost and stolen goods only, courtesy of the metropolitan police; thanks.
Once we arrived, debates were dispelled and there was nothing to fluster about – it did not seem in the least bit seedy. This fortnightly event, put on by Frank G. Bowen Ltd Auctioneers and Valuers, two men both of whom are very friendly, one of whom looks like Santa Clause, takes place in an old air raid shelter, making for a strangely intimate and cosy affair. Potential bidders arrive early to browse, an advisable precaution seeing as nothing can be returned once purchased. I felt like the passer-by who steps into a regulars-only pub, my obvious excitement an instant give-away; but I tried my best to look like this was routine, and nestled myself in amongst the clutter on Lot 135, 1 wooden kitchen-table chair. Pensive brow in place, I concentrated on my catalogue sheet, my mind now settling to the bewildering list before me …
An initial glance reveals nothing of a surprise: bicycles, phones, cameras, and mp3 players; but it’s not long before you start to wonder … who steals a kitchen chair? A cupboard? An oak mirror overmantle (Lot 379)? The clothing list is the strangest of all: Lot 4: A pair of Ladies sandals, size 40; Lot 58: (non-specific) Ladies Clothing as bagged. One Lot contained a pair of jeans, a jacket, and a pair of trainers – all stolen from a single owner? How did that happen?
Against all inclinations, we ended up describing the place and the experience as a gem. Don’t go expecting to find vintage treasures, but there are amenities at a good price (surely I need a quad bike). And a few pointers: don’t let the excitement of bidding make you go for things for no other rational reason than the pleasure of raising your hand; careful of the man who will out-bid everyone for bikes; and don’t take a lunch break in the middle, thus missing that one item you’d circled in red that you were willing to spend forty quid on, and ended up going for under twenty, pah.
Don’t miss this excellent event tonight:
Cheshire Street Christmas Shopping
Friday 12th December
This Friday, case pop down to Cheshire Street as the whole street will be open to 10pm, cost so you can get your quirky Christmas gifts till late(ish) into the night and enjoy wine and nibbles while you do it. The shops will be offering exclusive discounts also, including 20% off on the night at I Dream of Wires. Amazing.
Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair
Sunday 14th December
Frock Me! vintage fashion should not be confused with the questionable television show of the same name hosted by a certain over-exposed designer and TV presenter. It is in fact a fabulous vintage fashion fair, and this Sunday, in the swanky surroundings of the Chelsea Town Hall you can pop down and pick up a genuine vintage garment.
They even have their own tea-room. What more could you want?
Open: 11am – 5.30pm
Admission: £4 (students £2 with ID)
Nearest Tube: Sloane Square / South Kensington
Christmas singles, diagnosis still the preserve of naff novelty acts, pillpop stars in trendy coats and X Factor winners, or newly fertile ground for acts that are unlikely to even get a sniff at the bottom of the charts? As the Top 40 becomes less and less of a barometer for success and following much-loved Christmas releases from the likes of Low and Sufjan Stevens, this year it seems that more and more indie bands are joining in on the act. But are any of them actually any good? And how to stop them seeming like lame commercial cash-ins in the style of the Christmas tunes of yore?
1. One way to quash accusations of rabid commercialism is to give your single away for free as Slow Club (see above) have done, with ‘Christmas TV’ offered as a free download in a spirit of seasonal goodwill to all mankind. A sweet little folk pop tune about travelling home for Christmas and snuggling in front of the Vicar of Dibley or some such, this is good for anyone feeling the pangs of seasonal separation. The boy/girl vocals chime prettily together in a song that has thematic echoes of ‘Driving Home For Christmas’.
2. Stay true to your signature style. If you’re usually a grumpy old misery guts, Christmas is no time to suddenly become cheerful just for the hell of it so why not whack out a truly miserable Christmas EP a la Glasvegas? A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss) is the one to pull out when your Dad forgot to turn the oven down, your mum’s sobbing into her charred potatoes and your granny’s being cantankerous.
3. Restrict your mentions of the season to atmospherically wintery weather references a la The Leisure Society with their pretty waltz ‘Last of the Melting Snow’. Cinematic strings, romantic lyrics and a slightly more upbeat B-side in the form of ‘A Short Weekend Begins With Longing’. It’s available to download but it would be far more festive to buy one of the limited edition handmade copies in the spirit of wonky gingerbread men and glitter-glued everything.
There’s just one thing we’re a little bit worried about. Where are all the sleighbells???????
Written by Prudence Ivey on Thursday December 11th, 2008 1:20 pm
After una copa de tinto de verano, about it I’m ready for another night of music overdose. First on my list is Julian Lynch, side effects the etnomusicologist from Winsconsin that conquered my heart with 2010’s LP Mare, a dreamy collage of folksy pop tunes with a shade of drone that seriously make you feel as if you were floating in a mare (which means “sea”, in Italian – I’m not sure that was his purpose in titling his album that way, but it gives a pretty damn good idea of what his songs sound like).
To be honest, I expected something quite different from his set. Strangely enough, his unhinged harmonies, between prog, metal, jazz, indie and psych, though verging cacophony, mingle in a perfect way and make extreme sense, creating a hypnotizing ensemble of notes and echoing vocals.
Julian Lynch by Laura Lotti
Music video: Julian Lynch – Garden 2
After his performance, I rush to see The Monochrome Set the avant gard post-punk outfit whose original formation featured nonetheless than Adam Ant. Although guitarist Lester Square is still rocking as hard as far back in 1978, the band seems to have lost his idiosyncratic verve, and their performance feels quite cheesy.
On the other hand, one of the contemporary bands I’ve always regarded as ‘cheesy’, Tennis, surprise me on the ATP stage. I’ve had mixed feelings towards this husband-and-wife duo since first hearing Marathon last year. Despite the song being a perfect ear candy of 1960s bubbluegum pop, they seemed to be one of those music blogs darlings, with too much buzz about them and too little to prove. However, their debut album Cape Dory sounded immediately so catchy when it came out a few months ago – a collection of simple, shiny, sticky-sweet pop melodies – that now I feel compelled to check them out. And this the best thing I’ve done today! In fact, they are so good live, I almost want to cry. Their gig reminds me of another great band I saw exactly on this same stage last year, Beach House. The melodies are kept to basic – only keyboard, drums and guitar, played by hubby Patrick Riley – and Alaina Moore’s eerie voice is the protagonist. I can’t help but squeaking “ohmygawd they are so sweeet” while jumping around every 3 seconds, stars in my eyes as teenagers in love do (ermm, maybe, given the times we are in, used to do when I was a teenager) – that’s the effect of their music – to the point that I’m afraid my friend wants to punch me in the face.
Music video: Tennis – Cape Dory
Thank god at the end of their set my face is still unscathed and, charged up by the positive vibes assimilated at Tennis’ gig, we all happily stroll (or shall I say, run?) to see James Blake. The Pitchfork stage is already jam-packed to welcome him and his band (a drummer and a guitarist, to translate in a live dimension his qualities as producer) and since the first beats everybody is humming and moving their heads to his music. How to define his sound remains a mystery to me. Would something like dubstep-cum-singer-songwriter-skills-cum-free-jazz-hints give an idea of his idiosyncratic style? I don’t know and I don’t care. He’s good as hell, that’s all that matters, and his elaborated melodies provide the perfect soundtrack to the rapidly falling dusk. Again as for Tennis, the voice plays a fundamental role here, but this time is smudged over the melodies in electronic effects to become integral part of the whole sound.
If I’m usually concerned about music that (largely) avails of digital technology, I have to say that James Blake is a good example of how to use it, and explore new spaces between liveness and reproduction. Despite my original wariness towards this 22-year-old artist, seemingly too young to be actually so good as popular press and industry people depict him, I must admit I’m glad I’ve been proved wrong. Unfortunately his performance is spoilt by the reverber of the sea surrounding half of the stage (very pictoresque, thank you. What about sound quality, though?) and the echoes coming from the other stages. But hey this is a festival. You can’t have it all, can you?
Music video: James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
So far I’ve seen two new bands that have managed to put up with the hype pumped up by the media: Tennis and James Blake. I’m already satisfied, and with this new hope towards the future of music, I head to see another kind of genius, an innovator of the very concept of music, who’s inventiveness hasn’t stopped since the 1970s. I’m talking about Pere Ubu, that on stage is still as charismatic as ever and plays a jarring, spirited set of new and old songs – coyly alluding to his “old girlfriends” every now and then and drawing from his flask one too many times – accompanied by a whole ensemble of awesome musicians, especially drummer Steve Mehlman.
This bleach-blonde giant is a proper drum-machine himself. Got to this point I could go and see Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti but
a) he’s playing bloody far away
b) Pere Ubu is a magnet.
I’ve literally got no chances of moving away from here (or better to stop moving) hypnotised by David Thomas & co’s syncopated rhythms and funny jokes.
No Joy are another welcomed surprise. The Canadian band fronted by blonde grrrls Jasmine White-Glutz and Laura Lloyd, praised by the likes of Best Coast’ Bethany Cosentino and Pitchfork for their recent release Ghost Blonde, are so powerful on stage that I cannot stop dancing and staring at them: two blonde full manes shaking constantly to the melodies created by their same guitars and otherworldly voices that intertwine with each other and and with the kicks and snares of bass and drums in a perfect entente. They are grunge, they are rock, they are cool as hell. I want to be blonde and I want to be them. They close their set with a never-ending droned-up hazy cover of Del Shannon’s ‘She Said’ that puts everybody in a hypnotic trance for the following 15 minutes.
Music video: Del Shannon – She Said
Now it’s time for slowcore Low, that play an atmospheric, almost whispered set. Although the stage is packed, it feels as intimate as if they were playing in my living room. The festival stage itself though, flattens a bit their magic.
And now it’s the band I, like probably most of my Generation Y mates, am most dying to see tonight: Deerhunter. Bradford Cox & co play and achingly haunting array of songs from ‘Halcyon Digest’ and their previous releases, building walls of melodies as overwhelming as they are perfectly balanced with each other and with Cox ‘s voice. They create dense atmospheres, delicate but strong, textured, complex but fluid. Deerhunter is a band that will stay. I can picture Deerhunter being one of the bands that my nephews will come and see in one of their reunion maybe here, exactly on this same stage, in 40 years time.
And if Deerhunter were one of the must-see bands of the night in my personal list, Pulp’s reunion is a universal must-see! It seems like all the Primavera Sound attendees have gathered under the San Miguel stage to witness this glorious comeback.
Music video: Pulp – Common People
Now, I am one of those people that, if everybody says ‘white’, have to scream ‘blaaack’ with all the energy in my lungs, and always swim against the current. So, don’t take it personally, this is not an attack to Britpop nor to one of the most brilliant contemporary British icons that have made the history of music. However, I must admit, I’m quite disappointed by this concert. Jarvis was one of us, wasn’t he? So what about all this Lady Gaga-esque stage design and bright neon visuals, that dangerously make of Pulp the caricature of themselves? It feels like a mammoth money-driven pop reunion. That’s what it is, after all, I bitterly sigh to myself. I cannot feel much energy in the air, though Jarvis is still in enviable shape and jumps around like a cricket from the beginning to the end. However, towards the end of Pulp’s gig he regains my interest, when, as in the best pop fairy tales, he doesn’t forget to get political, and declares himself indignado for the shameful events happened in Plaza Catalunya the previous night, delivering a memorable performance of ‘Common People’ dedicated to the struggling protestants.
Written by Laura Lotti on Wednesday June 8th, 2011 3:16 pm
Featuring competitions in the already overly competitive world that is Art may seem somewhat crude to say the least. But in fact it’s through these well supported and sponsored prizes that new and underexposed artists and creative mediums gain a platform and a voice, information pillspage and a fairly fair and just route for career progression out of the studios and into the spotlight. It’s also a darn good excuse to curate a fine exhibition of very talented folk, hospital and in a collaborative sense get together with a common thread, clinic be it the format, subject matter or genre, and share opinions, ideas and approaches. I call to the stand Foto8 and their annual Photographic Prize an exhibition of which opens with a right knees up of a party this weekend in London.
Foto8, in their own words, is ‘a space to share, comment and debate photography. The site exists to bridge the divide between photographers, authors and their audience through interactive displays and a constant stream of new works and resources’. Based on the belief that documentary photography has a vital role to play in contemporary society, Foto8′s ethos firmly pushes the medium as a valued tool for communication and self education about the world around us and the lesser understood worlds of others.
Abbie Traylor-Smith (2009 Entry)
The London based website has regular postings of reviews, commentaries, interviews and picture stories as well as photographic events and news items, and serves as an outlet for the biannually published 8 magazine, which can be previewed, ordered and subscribed to from there. Now up to issue 25 the magazine blurs and tests the boundaries between photography, journalism and art and represents ‘the very best in design and print, following a graphic format that uses the medium of the printed page to its fullest.’
The Gallery that will house this spectacular show was established by director of Foto8 Jon Levy along with Adrian Evans, the director of Panos Pictures, and celebrates it’s fourth birthday this year. HOST is dedicated to the specialised promotion and exploration of photojournalism and documentary photography, ‘from classical black and white reportage to contemporary mixed media’. They pioneer both new and traditional methods of manipulating the gallery setting with innovation and passion. The gallery proudly boasts a highly-respected exhibition schedule, complimented by an on-going program of face-to-face encounters with photography and film, including screenings, talks and regular book club meetings.
From around 2300 images submitted from 44 different countries from as far afield as Thailand and Turkey, just over 100 carefully selected images will make up the final display at this year’s Foto 8 Summer Show at London’s HOST Gallery. As well as each entry appearing in the show’s published book, each photograph will be for sale to the public from the opening night and throughout the exhibition, and of course each and every exhibit will be in with the chance to win either the ‘Best in Show’ category or the ‘People’s Choice’, both highly sort after and respected prizes in the industry.
Whereas the Best in Show is awarded by an elite team of experts in the field, including The Times’ Director of Photography Graham Wood and the V&A’s Head of Images Andrea Stern, and entails a £1500 reward, the People’s Choice will be determined by public visitors to the show and in many respects is a more coveted title, given that each exhibitor’s work must speak to those with perhaps a less trained eye for artistic and technical merit, and must rely on more personal and emotional responses from the everyday spectator.
The brief for prospective entrants was simple. They seek images that challenge and engage, convey stories and raise questions. They state that they ‘encourage free expression’ and ‘new ways of seeing and telling’, also adding that they value photography ‘that conveys feeling as much as fact.’ The entry requirements allow for up to three submitted images per person, and the submissions look set to be as diverse and varied as 2008′s collections were.
Rachel Bevis (2009 Entry)
Being the biased art appreciators that we are, there is already a winner of an entry in our opinion, an image that stands out for us and will be certainly receiving the ‘Amelia’s Choice’ award at the opening on Friday evening. ‘Marie’ by semi-professional London based photographer Rachel Bevis commands our attention and holds our gaze. At first seeming to be a mono-chrome image of a lone figure at night, on second appreciation is actually a wintery street scene in which a female is immersed in falling snow. Mysterious, evocative and powerful this photograph is one we cannot tire of looking at. Best of luck Miss Bevis.
Who will you be exercising your democratic rights and voting for?
Foto8 Summer Show HOST Gallery
1 Honduras Street
London, EC1Y 0TH
24th July: Opening Night Party
6:30pm – 11:30pm
Tickets: £5 in advance, £8 on the door
Tickets available to buy here
24th July – 5th September
Opening times:
Mon-Fri 10am-6pm
Sat 11am-4pm
Kurt Tong (2009 Entry)
One of the organisations we’ve been following of late at Amelia’s Magazine is the Ethical Fashion Forum. Springing up in 2004 following the concerns made famous in the international press during the 1990s – sweatshop working, information pills terrible wages and mass environmental damage – a group of designers decided to do something about it by raising awareness. Liasing with over 400 designers, fashion brands and other fashion businesses, the EFF connects people who want to promote a sustainable future for the fashion industry; this includes creating safe working environments and increasing wages in oft-exploited third world countries, as well as encouraging minimal environmental damage. Closely tied to this venture is the Fair Trade Foundation – pinpointing exactly how topical a sustainable fashion industry has become in recent years alongside the massive interest in Fair Trade products.
Earlier in the year EFF launched it’s biannual “Innovation” competition for designers, the first being PURE, rewarding and recognising those who have shown innovation (!) and initiative regarding the greater good of the fashion world. The shortlist of competitors was announced last month, and gave publicity to an assortment of passionate designers who are keen to support a sustainable and ethical fashion future through their business strategies and design work. The competition hopes to raise awareness of the EFF’s goals and views by rewarding those who have shown similar ethical principles to itself, whilst at the same time inspiring this generation of designers to work together for a better future. The overused cliché of “green is the new black” really seems to be ringing true at EFF!
This years shortlist of 12 included designers from all over the world, all excited to promote the EFF message; those from or working in South Africa, Malawi, India, China and North America were all on show, with a good percentage of designers working in poverty-stricken Third World countries. The designers largely sourced their materials from traditional industries all over the world, and particularly in struggling areas, as shown by this quick survey of the territories they work within. Others are supporting local industries within the UK, such as crofting in the Scottish Highlands. Each were judged on their collection’s overall design and finish, their brand ethics, and their sale-ability, by a panel including Anna Orsini, head of London Fashion Week, Donna Wallace of ELLE magazine, alongside other senior fashion journalists and lecturers.
So who came up trumps in the end? Being selected to show at the PURE trade show, the winners were Cape Town brand Lalesso, and MIA, another African working in Malawi. Lalesso was a clear box-ticker: initially set up to provide a “socially responsible method of manufacturing”.
Designing clothes based on East African traditions and current trends, the label aids struggling unemployment by providing well-paid work for several different groups, from the unskilled ‘beach boys’ to the traditionally skilled Masaai tradesmen. The clothes are vibrant, fun and youthful, including patterned prom dresses and casual beach wear, showcasing typical laidback African style tailored for a fashion-conscious audience who care.
MIA was an equally obvious winner. Recycling vintage pieces is no new idea; however MIA has taken this to new lengths with her remade clothing. Using second- hand streetwear combined with traditional Malawian dress, she has created designs that are thoroughly modern, embracing the current fascination with all things retro and uniquely individual.
MIA’s message is to embrace our wardrobes and recycle them in order to prevent such widespread textile waste in the way that we recycle food packaging and other products in the new millennium. She’s another designer interested in the capacities of upcycled clothing, and is keen to promote change with her range of smock style mini dresses combining different materials in their zig-zag skirts.
Some of the other candidates we were keen on included Henrietta Ludgate, a Central Saint Martins graduate and Scottish designer hailing from the Highlands.
Embracing her Highland roots, this designer used crofting techniques in her collections in a way that has not been seen in recent years, supporting local industries with her work. Crofting involves reusing excess waste material from mills as part of a small community of workers who all support each other.
A similar idea can be seen with Outsider, who support the oft-abused textile industries in China and India through sourcing organic fabrics and providing fair labour conditions and wages, true to the EFF message. Stating that “we believe ethical fashion should just look like fashion” these designers are certainly up there with the best of the bunch.
Their latest collection featured reworked classic shapes with pleat detailing and simple lines, all in sophisticated black, with the main focus of the design work being on the use of sustainable fabrics to inspire confidence in what we’re wearing and how it is sustaining the fashion industry globally.
Coming up in September will be the Esethetica awards when more winners will be announced – what did you make of the shortlist and did you agree with the winners? Let us know!
We love First Aid Kit and their oddball folk complete with tinkling harmonies, and they carried of their set at Climate Camp Glastonbury with aplomb I hear. Support comes from Blue Roses, whom I’ve known of for a while under her “day-to-day” name Laura Groves, her music is achingly delicate and beautiful.
Wednesday 29th July
Simian Mobile Disco- Roundhouse, London
Simian Mobile Disco have been shimmying their way into our hearts and minds for a while now. Funky and exuberant, their latest release features vocals from Alexis Taylor and Beth Ditto
I would definitely put Maps‘ lo-fi bedroom electronica on my “Top 3 Things To Do With Maps” List alongside every indie schmindie’s make-out song of choice by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and actual maps which are great. A must for fans of Low and My Bloody Valentine.
Left With Pictures is a whirling mix of vocal harmonising, melodicas, violins…the whole shebang. It’s quite exciting and suprising to listen to and more than a little bit evocative of another era. Lovely stuff!
Saturday 1st August Field Day– Victoria Park, London
A few weeks ago the final showdown between 8 finalists was held at Pilton Working Men’s Club, with the ultimate winner of the 2014 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition announced as M+A with their super catchy tune Down the West Side, below.
When I wrote about my top picks for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition I promised to also share some of the great bands and tunes that did not make it on to my short list. I was given a long list of 140 bands and musicians to listen to, from the genres of folk, country, dance, electronic, dance, indie, pop, acoustic and singer/songwriter – so obviously this selection reflects that choice. The eagle eyed amongst you may note that I was mainly given those bands with names starting in the early or late sections of the alphabet. I hope you’ll enjoy these finds as much as I did – you can hear all the tunes I like in no particular order on my soundcloud playlist, embedded directly below. I have a feeling I might be making more of these, and I am certain we’ll be hearing more from a few of these bands too.
Sunsets is a great tune from Irish singer songwriter Wendy Jack, based in County Tyrone. Over the years she has worked widely to raise awareness of human rights and environmental issues.
Beautiful folk with a harp; Low is from Brighton based Ellie Ford, who is playing at this year’s Wood Festival (listing here).
Who Made Heaven is a beautiful slice of subtle country infused folk from Charlie Law, released through the The Davenport Collection folk label late last year. Despite a foundation in tune making of yesteryear the bittersweet lyrics tell a very modern tale of cross cultural love.
Bless is a slice of Japanese ambient electronica by Akisai.
Empty My Head by Youdid is a catchy piano tune with a female vocal from German singer Judith Severloh.
SwanSong is another cool indie tune featuring soaring vocals and a curling fiddle, from the London based Amberlandband.
There’s something about this that I quite like… Blackpool based Avishek Choudhury sings of the Journey Of A Lifetime in this jaunty tune featuring a female backing singer with bleeps and sirens set against a piano and driving electrobeat.
I like the jazzy big band sound and sultry vocals from rising star Ally Kemp in The Tardis.
Freya Roy is a very young Suffolk based singer songwriter with an ear for a bouncy tune, as shown in her entry Tomorrow.
“They’re going to turn me into sushi & chips…” So goes The Whale Song by All At Sea… overly chirpy or an apt way to draw attention to a big issue?
Kids from the Sky by Young Stadium Club features jangly guitars aplenty in a soaring tune that features a veritable choir of backing vocals.
A Drastic Love by Younger Hallfeatures a grungy baseline combined with a pounding piano. They hail from St Andrews in Scotland.
I loved the soaring Ten Years by Baby Gold, a duo from Leeds, but for some inexplicable reason it’s a private link on soundcloud so you will have to trust me on that one. Their lack of an online presence is a serious down point, but I look forward to hearing more from these guys.
Similarly I can’t share Only One by Devon based Alice Jemima, featuring a lovely breathy vocal over carefully picked chords and a nice little beat.
Finally, I can’t finish without including my favourites: firstly the clever Memphis by Alev Lenz.
Sadly my first choice disbanded just as I chose them to go through (brilliant timing!), hence my renewed desire to give some promotion to all the other bands that impressed me.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday April 24th, 2014 9:56 am
The Average Day, Photograph by Chris Overend
Cyclops
Compass Road by Iain Sinclair and Mr Jones Watches
The Last Laugh by William Andrews and Mr Jones Watches
