folk

Most music lovers have certain labels that they follow, information pills price awaiting releases, viagra 100mg excited by the new directions the people behind these labels have chosen to take. Warp and Planet Mu are two such labels for myself. Years of solid, this web progressive releases have meant I trust their taste – and once again, I think they may have succeeded.

Tim Exile‘s new album bends and shifts between tracks, layering genres from trip-hop to jungle with aspects of punishing techno all combined with stiffly melodic vocals hanging over the top of it all. Each track rolls around almost drunkenly, though perpetually rolling forward – something only possible through the albums astounding production.

There is something about the vocals that don’t strike me as truly necessary. They don’t reach out and suck you in enough and at times and you feel like they’re just sort of there, almost unnecessarily. The tracks speak for themselves; they don’t need Tim’s mutterings splashed across them – often just cheapening the melodies created by his impressive range of synth sounds.

What works much better can be seen in a youtube video of Tim Exile remixing Micachu live. Such an obscure combination that you just know that it could work perfectly, and it does. Well, kind of. It’s interesting.

My highpoint of the album surprisingly comes in the form of ‘Family Galaxy’. It springs from Exile’s past as a Drum and Bass producer (albeit a rather experimental one). On mass, I hate drum and bass. It really is quite ridiculous how much guff can be produced week after week, tirelessly, systematically presenting itself as the same thing. This track however just seems to play with your senses, drawing you in. Then you realise you’re listening to drum and bass and you just have to commend the man. ‘Carouselle’ is also well worth a listen. Truly uplifting experimentations with sounds and melodies it has a kind of dramatic theatricality to it.

This is an album fans of the obscure corners of electronica will enjoy, but not hold up as an album everyone should care about. Intelligent Dance Music is a genre I try to distance myself from (a recent evening spent in a room with Aphex Twin actually scared me away from the genre). This album however seems to bring quite a colorful and enjoyable feel to a genre that seems to thrive in the horrific side of music.

It has to be said I am still trying in vain to establish myself as savvy online shopper. A string of failed eBay purchases led me to become rather despondent about the whole word of online retailing. However recently I found a shop that wholeheartedly restored my faith in the otherwise online abyss.

Hip London based retailer Youreyeslie have emerged on the scene with a shed load of innovative new designers to get our online juices flowing. Branding themselves with the comical slogan “bad taste is better then no taste” its clear to see these guys are not ones for conventional clothing. Featuring everything from bake well tart rings to t-shirts brandishing Nuns with red noses. Their kitsch designs for men and women are sure to make you stand out amidst the city crowds.

The t-shirts feature an eclectic range of styles to suit all tastes from the grunge rockers, hospital the whimsical bohemians to the new rave eccentrics. The site are keen on promoting hand illustration so all t-shirts are beautifully intricate. My favourite has to be the delicate printed tiger oversized t-shirt, I think you will agree he is a handsome beast! I definitely want to take him home.

My Achilles’ heel of the entire website has to be the accessories. They got the entire Amelia’s HQ resorting to excited childish giggles. Each of us tried to conjure plausible excuses to buy a whole bundle of their adorable pendants.The whimsical designs are brilliantly kitsch, taking you on an imaginative whirlwind tour through the fairground, with marching band and tambourine pendants. Then it’s on to the tropical jungle with exotic birds and butterflies and if that’s not enough excitement you’re then catapulted into the realms of outer space with a rocket pendant.

My favourite has to be this bird pendant of two Bluetits, (see a pastoral upbringing has its distinct advantages, well for bird classification at least!) Anyway as an avid bird fan myself these beautifully delicate feathered friends get the thumbs up from me, I happen to think they would be very content perched on my neck.

So give your wardrobe that new leash of life it craves, with free delivery over orders above £50 there is no excuse not to go mad, well that’s my reasoning anyway! Send us stuff by the barrel load, here at Amelia’s we are well and truly hooked on YEL!
I’m sure that all our our wonderful Amelia’s Magazine readers have got a viewpoint on animal testing being conducted for cosmetic products. And I would like to think that the viewpoint is that it is JUST PLAIN WRONG! (Seriously, page what other viewpoint is there?!) I don’t know about you, hospital but I have been under the illusion that we were all in agreement about this, and so were the suits behind all legislations that decided upon animal testing. Apparently I was wrong. Because R.E.A.C.H had got there first. Under this law ( also known as Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), many more animal tests are taking place as the scientists try to work out which chemicals can harm us. Alarmingly, these include chemicals found in cosmetics and toiletries.

Having found out that one of my favourite brands, Lush, have been campaigning heavily against this, I spoke with Andrew Butler, Lush’s Campaign Manager at Lush H.Q to find out more about this situation.

Andrew, I can’t get my head around this.

“This whole R.E.A.C.H thing is horribly convoluted situation, and a lot of people don’t know about it. R.E.A.C.H is already a reality, people have been fighting it for years, but it went through, largely because its something that people didn’t fully understand, It has been too complicated for the media to follow. R.E.A.C.H affects all products. It is a piece of legislation that is about 10 years in the making, and here’s the backround: consumer and health organisations were concerned that there were chemicals on the market that were potentially harmful, either through direct contact or consumers, or via the environment, and concerned that things were getting into the soil or the water, and getting into food chain or affecting wildlife. The kind of concerns in question were if the substance was an irritant, or carcinogenic, or a endocrine disruptor, – i.e it upset the hormonal balance. and so R.E.A.C.H was designed to be a catch all, and pull together all the diverse different bodies that dealt with chemicals in Europe into one central body and pull together existing information and fill in any blanks that there may be, and this was why R.E.A.C.H came to pass.”

But it sounds laudable, in theory?

“Absolutely, we should be ensuring that dangerous chemicals are not in the marketplace, and anything that is either cancer causing or disruptive of hormone systems should be heavily restricted or banned. But it is the way that the data is collected, and the sorts of data is used to ascertain whether something is safe or not. . And that was something that was not asked of the people who proposed the legislation. The groups were concerned about the chemicals, but not necessarily how the safety would be assessed. Traditional toxicology and eco toxicology involves animal tests, and that has always been the case. Pretty much everything that you can imagine from the carpet under your feet to the painting on the walls has been tested on animals somewhere by someone. Almost everything has been through a lethal dose 50 test which is where a group of animals is force fed a substance until 50% of them die. Its something that is done for virtually everything.

Companies who are concerned with safety testing but also don’t want to use animals have been concerned with the ingredients so there are various mechanism that companies can put in place so animal testing is not used. They can set a cut off date after which ingredients are not tested on animals, or they won’t do business with companies that are testing on animals. There are grave questions about the validity of animal testing, not just the ethics. The animal testing data is not really applicable to people.

As R.E.A.C.H was being developed there was pressure to not rely on animal test data. We ran a campaign in our stores, we collected postcards to MEPS urging them to not rely on animal tests under R.E.A.C.H, we collected 85,000 of those and sent them to MEPS. Many groups, such as Animal Aid and PETA were also campaigning against R.E.A.C.H. In the six years that the legislation was being passed, there were provisions put in place. For example, if animal test data already existed for a particular ingredient, that should be used in place of any new data. So provisions were put in place to minimise it, but not do away with it entirely. ”

I’m sure we already know it, but what is Lush’s stand on animal testing?

Lush goes into the stocks

“For us as a company, we have an objection to animal testing – both because it isn’t ethical to inflict suffering and kill animals in order to assess safety, and we don’t believe that animal tests will result in accurate info, we feel that the animal test data is inconclusive. Generally speaking, animal tests offer an accuracy rate of 40%, whereas the non animal tests are accurate 70- 80%. We are opposed to animal tests being mandatory in R.E.A.C.H. We need to ensure safety without suffering, with modern, non animal testing methods that will give us much more accurate results. ”

When did R.E.A.C.H come into effect, and what kind of ingredients are being tested?

“The legislation passed in 2007, and it has been implemented over the last couple of years. R.E.A.C.H legislation presides over anything that has undergone a chemical process – so e.g. a lavender flower isn’t included, but lavender essential oil would be considered a chemical, because it has undergone a chemical process. Anyone manufacturing or importanting any material in Europe that is over a tone of materials have to register it to R.E.A.C.H, and collectively, almost everything comes under these guidelines. And the deadline for this was December 2008 and the European Chemicals Agency were meant to have sift through all of these registrations, come up with a final list and set deadlines for the testing to be done. 140,000 materials need to be tested and be given safety information. If the data doesn’t exist, animal testing needs to be done. There is a huge degree of uncertainty – how much of that data already exists? How much animal testing needs to be done? Potentially, millions of animal experiments will need to be done. And it tends to be the more natural substances, like essential oils that don’t have all of the data. They are the ones who are going to end up being having to have their products tested; this will be done against their will.”

This is all so bleak! Is there a possibility of a positive outcome?

“We are struggling at the moment, because of the degree of uncertainty. But there is a silver lining. There is the European Cosmetics Directive, which came into force on March 11th 2009, it is an amendment to the cosmetics directive. It says that you cannot test any ingredients for cosmetics on animals in Europe. You can’t even market a product in Europe containing ingredients that have been tested on animals anywhere in the world. So on the one hand you have this, and on the other, you have R.E.A.C.H. ”

Before the last draft of R.E.A.C.H was passed, Lush paid a visit with a manure truck

So which one gets the say so on testing?

“That is a good question! It’s something that has to be tested in court. The whole cosmetics industry sees that there is clearly a conflict. What we need is for more companies to stand up and start questioning this, and to get the British Government to stand up and say that we are questioning this. So our campaign right now is awareness raising. R.E.A.C.H spells the end to cruelty free cosmetics. So if you care about this, you need to be aware of this, you need to start talking about this, and you need to ask other companies what they are doing about this. What are the British Government doing about this? They stood up in 1998 and said no more animal testing. Well they have signed us up to the biggest animal testing programme in Europe’s history, what’s that all about? Lush can engage corporate disobedience, and refuse to toe the line but thats not enough, if everyone is complying with R.E.A.C.H then animal testing will still go ahead. It needs to be collective. And the British public need to get involved too!”

Is there information readily available in Lush stores about this?

“Until the end of Easter there is information in all the stores, it’s being run as an in store campaign. The aim after Easter is to get a more comprehensive leaflet that will be available if you ask for it. There is also always going to be information on our website (www.lush.co.uk/reachout/ ) We are hoping to produce letters to MP’s and other companies, specifically about this issue.”

How has the feedback been from your Lush customers?

“We have had a really strong response. We have run plenty of campaigns about packaging, shark finning, human rights in Guantanamo, all sorts of things and this is one of the strongest customer responses, people have been shocked – they had no idea that this was happening. A lot of the responses have been that this is contrary to my rights, this should be going through the European Human Rights Courts because it should be my right to say, no I am not going to be alright with animal testing.

Information booth outside Lush

R.E.A.C.H is a law, there is not one particular thing that you can do to stop it, but if we do lots of things; if we at least start talking about this, and get large companies to stand up and say that we are not happy about this situation, then we stand a chance.”
If you haven’t come across Etsy before, treatment a bank holiday weekend is a good time to start exploring, find as you could very easily wake up Tuesday morning and find that’s all you’ve done for the last 4 days. www.Etsy.com is kind of like Ebay, but only for handmade items – from cookies to soap, socks to coffee tables – if it can be made, chances are you’ll find someone on Etsy who’s made it. Painter, carpenter and photographer Rob Kalin created the site after failing to find anywhere he could sell his products online. In 2005,the year the site was launched, $166,000 worth of goods were sold. This year, they had already sold $32 million worth by March. The ethos behind the site is responsible for it being such a massive hit in the States, and its starting to become better known worldwide- everyone is reacting against our culture of mass-production and supporting small, home-run businesses where people make things by hand. The following statement fromt the company explains it all…

With the global economic crisis putting finances in a squeeze, Etsy is a great way to maximize a budget. There is an endless variety of unique, quality handmade gifts at affordable prices. Besides being memorable, these gifts are also valuable. They’re made to last a lifetime, not just until next year’s version comes out. Which means less trash for landfills, and more savings for shoppers. Plus, each purchase on Etsy directly supports independent artists and designers.

To ease you in gently, I have picked out some affordable works of art that would be a wise investment and more importantly, might brighten up your home. If you like a seller’s work, click on their ‘Favourites’ tab on the right hand side of the Etsy web page, which will take you to all the sellers they like..and so on until before you know it your cyber basket is full!

Rebellious by Carrina Rothwell
Embroidery is huge on Etsy- these witty pieces really make me laugh.

Aqua interior print by Annechovie
Anne’s amazing paintings of interiors are just gorgeous- if you have a chair, rug or room that you particularly love, commission a painting of it so you can take it with you wherever you go.

I’m afraid I can’t help it by JKLDesign
These paintings are part pop art, part fashion shoot. Check out the photography from this seller too.

Tea Fairy by Winonacookie
Lots of artists on Etsy use old images from vintage photographs and books to create new collages or ‘altered art’. Winonacookie is my favourite, though she’s obviously gained a fair following and her originals are a tad pricey now. Remember- the prices shown are in dollars though- they change it when you check out.

Two photographers making really special work are
Lightleaks and Capree (below).

Their work would look perfectly at home on the pages of Dazed and Confused or Vogue. Nab a print before they make it big.

You can view my favourite spring fashion buys from Etsy by clicking here.
Who would have thought that so close to Oxford Street, information pills headache-inducing caricature of the nation’s identikit high streets that it is, Great Marlborough Street would reside, a civilized and calm conduit of the Capital’s finest culture creators. Culture creators with smart suits and serious rosé habits, who have long since outgrown their boho-clobber. And right between these parallel universes, on the barely-noticeable Ramillies Street, we find the new home of The Photographers Gallery. It is a very efficient three-tier cuboid of display. If Muji did art galleries, they’d be like this.
The prize exhibition began on the 20th of February, and for a few nail-biting weeks of suspense, we wondered where the fickle finger of fate would land, and what arguments we would have to have about it, while the winner went off to Jessop’s to fritter away their £30,000.

The winner, it turns out, is Paul Graham. Graham’s work is pure uninterventionalist America-watching, with a dark profundity to it. A fat man in America pulls on a cigarette like he really needs it outside a drab white building. He’s shuffling about, going nowhere until the end of his fix. And he’s doing the the same again. And again. And again. Some trees in America do nothing. And again. And again. The book that led to his nomination is entitled A Shimmer Of Possibility. It’s all as dry as this, yet strangely moving. A sequence of the book depicts one hard-on-his-luck chap striding across New York tensely, again with a cigarette, yet each shot is followed by a shot of a magnificent, yet naturally composed North Dakota sunset. It’s just the very idea that one man’s drab life and lack of purpose coexists with the world’s beauty. A beauty that cares not at all, but still offers a redemptive temple for prayer. It’s inevitable that this will be compared with Robert Franks’ The Americans. It’s a valid comparison, since critical distance is the backbone of each body of work. But A Shimmer Of Possibility is not an update, but more a change of gear, with all dynamism and gusto drained from The Land Of The Free, the better to imprison them within our gaze. But that’s the book.
The exhibition space doesn’t really have room to display a significant proportion of Graham’s slow narratives. The small selection here should be taken as an existentialist aperitif, and is not necessarily the most potent of his output.

Moving up two floors, you’ll find the three runners-up. Tod Papageorge is responsible for taking pictures of people in Central Park constantly for twenty-two years (1969-1991). These are bizarre little vignettes situated within the expanse of Manhattan’s great lawn. It’s a bit like zooming into a Watteau and finding little scenes depicting the strangeness of twentieth century life. A young couple stretched out on a blanket in the sun. A scruffy man combs his son’s hair in a clearing. In a very compelling shot, a black man lies in repose before a chessboard. The black pieces are his. The white pieces belong to the gallery-going public. Is this a meaningless chance happening, or composed confrontation? It drives right to the core of what apparently out-on-the-prowl photography can be, asking the viewer what they can see, and are they right to see it.

The next encounter is with the work of Taryn Simon. I found her the most fascinating exhibitor here. These photographs constitute a very focused project, to catalogue aspects of America that are normally hidden or unfamiliar. The hydroponic marijuana room at a licensed research lab. A cryopreservation unit that holds the bodies of the wife and mother of cryogenics expert Robert Ettinger. A couple of thousand nuclear waste capsules sitting at the bottom of a watery containment facility in Washington State. A Braille edition of Playboy magazine. Finches in quarantine. The seized contraband room at JFK airport, full of tropical plants, odd food, diseased vegetation, and bushmeat, all awaiting incineration. These glimpses off the radar, though all beautifully captured, lack a consistent visual style. The subject is paramount, to a documentary degree, and each must be captured on its own terms. Simon is really allowing her issues to speak for themselves, be it with humour, disgust, or merely what Stephen fry would call Quite Interesting-ness. It’s a glimpse behind the curtain, bringing your conspiracy theory gland into the real world, for each composition is an altercation between your notions of real and normal, usually wedded, now in uncomfortable stand-off. The most powerful piece is a heart-wrenching portrait of Kenny, a white tiger, residing at an animal refuge, selectively inbred as a status pet by Arkansas half-wits, themselves perhaps inbred. Kenny has breathing difficulties, malformed bones and teeth, and cannot close his jaw. His siblings are even worse off, apparently. Looking into Kenny’s eyes and wondering, identifying, is overwhelming. Elsewhere on the spectrum is an interior of the CIA’s art collection offices. Simple yet sinister, this makes you wonder about all the things you still can’t see, all the dirty interventions by Intelligence Agents in our beloved realm of culture.

Simon’s project is almost journalistic, and the photos need to be accompanied by the little text labels, which explain these otherwise very disparate images. However, if that constitutes a dilution of the definition of a photographer, it’s nothing next to Emily Jacir’s deviation. She presents an archive of the life of Walter Zuaiter, a Palestinian intellectual who was assassinated in Rome by Israel’s Wrath Of God Operation in 1972, after they linked him, perhaps falsely, to the Munich Olympics massacre.
Jacir would have been two years old at the time, and I’m assuming she didn’t take the photos herself. She is an archivist, perhaps a curator, likely an artist, certainly a fangirl, but I can’t see how she could be called a photographer. Photography Prize, remember? It’s easy to redefine art for found objects, but the word photography is a bit more specific than that. I suppose that’s just semantics. It may not be in the right place, but it is worth seeing, and is a tragic memory of this intriguing life. She displays a selection of paperbacks that he had read, along with letters, and old photographs as a way to create some space for the personal amidst the political, the human amongst the historical. And it’s good that not everything here is about America.

The show overall is a pretty still, meditative, even modest affair. Beauty abounds. And thought. The Deutsche Börse Prize turns all of this into a big discussion about art and value. To award one prize is a shame, and probabilistically, only a quarter of people would agree with the choice of Graham, but art, at least, wins on the ground floor, and the second floor. The filling to this Photography sandwich is a shop for photography books and prints and coffee. The hordes of Oxford Street will never know. Don’t be one of them.

The Exhibition runs until April 12.
Monday, what is ed 13th

Enough with the chocolate eating! Music can be delicious as well, so go enjoy your last holiday evening with Bombay Bicycle Club (the band, not the restaurant silly!) at KCLSU (King’s College Student Union). They are launching a very yummy single called “Always Like This” which is the leader one from their new album due this summer.
7:30 pm. £8.50.

Bombay Bicycle Club

Tuesday, 14th

Some Swedish romanticism can`t hurt, right? Well, Loney Dear is back celebrating the release of their fifth album ‘Dear John’ with a full band show at Scala, fresh from an extensive tour around America.
On support duties, welcome Snowbird, a brand new and rather bewitching collaboration from Stephanie Dosen and Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins, Bella Union) playing songs of the old and new variety. As if that’s not enough, there`s also the full lavishly appointed and luxuriously hand-tooled 8 piece version of The Leisure Society, a fast rising orchestral folk-pop band whose tour will culminate at this very show.
7:30 pm. £11.50

Loney Dear

Wednesday 15th

Acclaimed indie pop trio The Wave Pictures release their latest album ‘If You Leave It Alone’ on the 4th May. The band is currently on tour in the UK and London fellows can check out the homonym single at ICA this Wednesday.
7:30pm. £8.50.

The Wave Pictures

Thursday 16th

OK, so far it`s been impossible not to go out every single evening in the week. The musical orgy continues on Thursday with all the Berlin coolness of The Whitest Boy Alive, fronted by Erland Oye, formerly Kings Of Convenience. The will be playing “Rules”, the new album, at Scala.
7:30 pm. £15.

The Whitest Boy Alive

Friday 17th

Temper`s Trap new release Science Of Fear is due to 20th April and a preview will be performed this Friday at Koko.
9:30PM. £5.00.

Temper Trap

Saturday 18th

Great music for free? Here we come! To celebrate Record Store Day, Pure Groove will be hosting three gigs where you’ll be able to see Graham Coxon performing live, along with our own Dan Michaelson and Patrick Wolf.
10am to 6pm. Free.

Graham Coxon

Sunday 19th

Everybody is all around talking about “Two Suns”, Bat For Lashes new album. Honestly? When we first listened to it at the office here we all flipped out.
They are playing a second night at Sheperd`s Bush Empire so guarantee your Sunday ticket before it sells out.
7:30 pm. £15

Bat For Lashes

How strong are the bricks and mortar that hold your house together? Chances are they are flimsier then you would think. Especially if you have ever fallen behind on a rent check, sick mortgage payment, drug or found that your job no longer exists, pharm or that your employers can’t afford to keep you on. These scenarios are affecting thousands of people every day, in every party of Britain. Millions of people are trapped in a vicious cycle of spiralling costs, a precarious job market and a serious shortage of funds – all which are contributing to a level of uncertainty that has not been experienced in our life time. When this all hits, it hits hard and its impact is usually centered on whatever place that you call home. It’s at this moment that you realise how fragile your home really is. Suddenly, the idea of becoming homeless doesn’t seem so far removed from your reality. Right now, there are 1.9 million households on council housing waiting lists and repossessions are predicted to rise to 75,000 in 2009. And right now, the entire housing market seems as fragile as a house of cards. Which is why Amelia’s Magazine would like to help raise money for Shelter. Read on for the design brief.

DESIGN BRIEF:

Amelia’s Magazine has been asked to produce a piece of artwork for an exhibition that Shelter will be putting on in the summer. Other designers and artists who will be contributing to the exhibition include Stella Vine, Basso and Brooke and Rachel Whiteread. The final artworks will be auctioned to raise money for Shelter, and it’s a great honour to be asked to contribute to this. I’ve been given the TWO OF HEARTS, and the plan is to put together a patchwork quilt of cards in many different styles and designs, all depicting the TWO OF HEARTS. But I am not going to do this alone; in keeping with the way that I have produced the magazine this patchwork will be made up from contributions from illustrators. So I need your submissions! The best playing card designs will be added to the quilt and your name will be credited in the exhibition which you will also be invited to attend.

TECHNICAL DETAILS:

SIZE: Please design to standard playing card dimensions but larger scale. Your design should therefore be 126mm x 176mm and in jpg, psd or tiff format.

RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2)

MY STYLE: I am looking for decorative, colourful interesting designs on the theme of TWO OF HEARTS. I’m excited, I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

SENDING IN YOUR DESIGN: Send your design to info@ameliasmagazine.com on an email clearly headed SHELTER CARD QUILT any time before this closing date.

CLOSING DATE: Please send your design into me by the end of June. Closing date for entries is Monday 29th June. If your design is picked to be used on the quilt I will be in touch at some point after the closing date to let you know.

UPDATE: WE NOW HAVE A FACEBOOK EVENT FOR THIS: CHECK THIS WEBSITE FOR THE BEST NEW DESIGNS AS THEY ARRIVE IN MY INBOX!
Fabstraction

Ian Davenport
This will be the artist’s second solo show at the Alan Cristea Gallery and will include 30 new works.

Alan Cristea Gallery 34 Cork Street, viagra sale London W1S 3NU
4th Mar 2009 – 17th Apr 2009

Ad Nausea

Guy Denning – solo show
A collection of powerful, website like this dark expresive Images depicting people at their
best and worst.

Signal Gallery, page 96A Curtain Rd, EC2A 3AA
Open to public: 27th March – 25th April 2009
Tuesday – Saturday 12 – 6pm

New Work

Ron Arad
The exhibition will include some experimental pieces from the designers newly completed selection.

Timothy Taylor Gallery, 15 Carlos Place, London W1K 2EX
8th April- 9th Maf 2009
Monday to Friday 10am — 6pm
Saturday 10am — 1pm

Prophecies and Deceits

Sousan Luqman
The show tackles concealment, transparency and hidden messages. The artist brings a personal insight into current global issues such as religion, war and politics,

Red Gate Gallery
10th Apr – 16th Apr 09
Opening Hours: Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon – Wed 2.30 pm – 6.30 pm
Last day of exhibition: Thursday 16th of April from 11 am to 5 pm
Free

Mimetes Anonthe

Alastair Mackie
The lone chimpanzee lost in the urban concrete formed city jungle.
The artist’s sculptures often explores and questions the need to socially and economically race towards a better future. In this case the chimpanzee forces us to face our distant animal past.

The Economist Plaza, 25 St. James’s Street, London , SW1A 1HG
19th February – 17th April 2009

The Quiet Men

Bernard Canavan, Daniel Carmody, John Duffin, Dermot Holland and Brian Whelan
The exhibition is a visual exploration of the experiences of five Irish immigrant artists in London.

PM Gallery & House, Mattock Lane, Walpole Park, London W5 5EQ
11th Mar – 18th Apr 09

Here at Amelia’s Magazine we were left so in awe by the spectacular vintage emsembles we witnessed at last weeks Affordable Vintage Fair when contributer Robyn got in touch with this interview with 40′s pin up Fleur De Guerre, link we just couldn’t resist the chance to get our mits on all the trade secrets to her immaculate get up!

As a fully fledged vintage enthusiast, Fleur de Guerre was more then keen to act as hair stylist to the masses at this years Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair in Bethnal Green, London. A part time pin up model who dresses daily in full 1940′s regalia, Fleur states “it’s the hair done in rolls and curls, red lipstick and the eyeliner that makes my look”. Something that has come in handy for the 27 year old from Surrey who has straightened, curled and victoria rolled her way through a hoard of customers at The Queens of Vintage stall at the fair this afternoon.

Fanning her face as she walks down the street towards a park opposite the FymFyg Bar where The Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair is hosted, Fleur exclaims “I stayed at my boyfriends house last night. He had forgotten to set his alarm clock forward from last weekend and I woke up an hour late. I rushed all the way here and haven’t stopped since. Im so hot and bothered, it was crazy in there.” Lowering herself onto the grass, Fleur crosses her legs and moves her face away from the sun commenting “I’ve such pale skin, I wish I had of brought my sunglasses, it’s such a lovely day. I think this is the first time I have sat in a park this year.”

Dressed in chocolate brown, high waisted sailor trousers with a pale green and white striped shirt, Fleur looks every bit the preened and perfectly turned out model. Her style is sophisticated and modest, complimenting her good posture and manner. Speaking about the fair Fleur comments “these fairs, there brilliant but they don’t usually have the kind of thing I like” she says in reference to the abundance of 70s and 80s vintage garments at the fair. Instead she says that “very late 30s, early 40s cotton sun dresses and suits are my thing, I probably won’t buy anything today”.

Fleur de Guerre, real name Fleur McGuerre is not a fan of her own name “it rhymes in a sort of embarrassing fashion.” Instead she adopted the alias Fleur de Guerre “when I introduced myself to somebody and they misheard me and thought, oh “Fleur of War”, thats a really cool name. So when I started doing pin up modeling I had a ready made name which fitted in well with my 1940s look. Fleur de Guerre is your war time undercover name, it works.”

Although she has now been modeling for a year and a half, Fleur hasn’t always been so stylish. Picking at the grass in front of her she declares “I’d be lying if I said my mother didn’t think the way I dressed when I was in my late teens wasn’t completely awful.” Remembering really baggy jeans, dreadlocks and heavy metal Fleur states “I had two nose piercing, I was just really unfeminine basically.” Even in her younger years Fleur clearly adored all things unusual “I can distinctly remember the things I really loved. I had this really wacky pair of trainers in the late 80s with these sparkly pink laces, I also had this ra-ra skirt that I absolutely loved.” It was during her middle teens that Fleur’s style took on a much more individual approach, when she was 14 she “started getting into the whole alternative thing. I started to customize my jeans, I would cut up the side to put extra fabric in them.” Fleur’s mum still did not approve “she just wished that I’d wear a pair of jeans that fitted me properly. She was fine, to a certain extent she would encourage my individuality, help me out with my hair do’s when I was younger. She really approves of the way I dress now.”

After studying a degree in English Language and Literature at Kingston University, Fleur now works at The Readers Digest as a full time marketing copywriter. The job pays well enough for Fleur to enjoy suitably niche hobbies such as swing dancing to taking drives with her boyfriend in his collection of vintage cars. However it is modeling that fills the majority of Fleur’s spare time, although she insists with animated excitement “it wasn’t something that I ever thought I would do.” Fleur was introduced to the world of modeling through a friend who took her to a shoot for The Boudoir, a company that offers girls the opportunity to be dolled up in full vintage style hair and make up before taking part in a themed photo shoot. The shoot included 11 other girls who acted as examples of what customers could buy into before the company was fully launched, enabling Fleur to sample the world of fashion modeling for free. Not only did the experience give Fleur her first images on which to build a portfolio, it was also a great confidence boost. Recalling the shoot she exclaims “I did it and it was brilliant. I had a really great time, really enjoyed it, really like the photos.”

Other favourite photo shoots of Fleur’s include a shoot with Tony Rizzetti for lingerie brand What Katie Did in which she learned the traditional pin up poses. Jumping into each pose as she retells the experience Fleur explains “he’s funny because he goes “put your leg in front, you know like that, do an “ooh” for me” and he’ll do it too and put you totally at ease. It’s really helped me get more work”.

However as much as she enjoys her hobby, Fleur doesn’t see it turning into a full time career stating “if I could, I would” however not all her modeling experiences have been positive. So far this year the model hasn’t done much work, she explains looking pensive “by the end of last year I’d kind of killed my social life by going out modeling every weekend. I would be too tired to go out after a shoot in the evening. I didn’t have any more outfits, new outfits, because I don’t like wearing the same thing more than twice, once if I can get away with it.”

Mixing her clothing is something that Fleur is quite accustomed to, she explains that while she prefers not to she “will occasionally be found in Primark. I get an attack of guilt when I come out and am like ‘Oh no! Child Labour!.” The Make Do and Mend ethics of the 1940s is something that Fleur would like follow “I wish I would learn to sew so I can perpetrate the whole Make Do and Mend thing myself, but in theory I support it.”

But for now she is concentrating on the present day, her schedule is waiting to be filled up with photo shoots and events. In the mean time she would like to concentrate on her blog “it is going really well, my readership is going up a lot. I wouldn’t say that I’m aiming for a career as a blogger but I’d like to see if it could get a bit more noticed.” She continues “I would like to try and grow and write some more informative articles about vintage”. However Fleur accepts the limitations of her chosen style “it’s very restricting but I’ve found my niche really, my calling.”
Tuesday 14th April

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD/Q&A
6.20pm, sales
Renoir Cinema,
Holborn,
London, WC1N 1AW

Certificate:
U
Duration:
99 minutes
Exclusive Preview and Q&A of this Oscar-nominated documentary from Werner Herzog on 14 April at Renoir Cinema. We welcome Clive Oppenheimer, the volcanologist featured in the documentary.
The long awaited new documentary from the director of Grizzly Man and Rescue Dawn, this critically acclaimed film was recently nominated for an Oscar. Winner of the best doc at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2008, this is the story of an outsider who, for the first time ever, is admitted to the Antarctic community of McMurdo station, and into the heart of one of the most remote places on earth.

Friday 17th April
MST Film Screening

(image courtesy of Lea Jaffy; leajaffy_1@hotmail.com)

doors 7.30pm
Passing Clouds
corner of Kingsland Road
E8 4AA
MST: Landless farmers and the biggest march in Brazilian history , screening of a new film about the MST (Movimiento Sem Terra) in Brazil, to mark International Landless Day, plus Q&A with the director; music til late downstairs
Info: Movimientos/ movimientosuk@gmail.com
http://www.movimientos.org.uk/sitio/

UK AWARE 09 – Ideas for Greener Living
Date: Friday 17 Apr 2009 to Saturday 18 Apr 2009
?Time: 10am-6pm daily
Venue: Olympia Exhibition Centre
Hammersmith Road
London
W14 8UX

Description:
The two day exhibition will offer you hundreds of products, services and ideas that will help you lead a more sustainable lifestyle. Everything from the latest in ethical fashion to the fastest and most ingenious eco cars, from travel options to energy solutions will be there for you to discover.
The event will also include a symposium area, Green Screen Cinema, interactive areas, an ethical business start up surgery and over 40 ‘Green Machines’.
UK AWARE 09 promises to help save you money and cut your carbon emissions without compromising your modern lifestyle.
Venue: Olympia Exhibition Centre
Contacts: UK AWARE team
E-mail: info@ukaware.com?Web Address: www.ukaware.com

Sat April 18th

Turning The Tide

(image courtesy of Lea Jaffy; leajaffy_1@hotmail.com)

Friends House
?173 Euston Road ?London,
NW1 2BJ?
United Kingdom

10am -5.15 pm
Cost: £25.00
Info: Turning the Tide
denised@quaker.org.uk
tevew@quaker.org.uk
phone: 020 7663 1061/1064

* Campaigners do it together! How we can make change, one-day Workshop,
Nonviolence for a change
All over the world, people join together to challenge injustice, overcome oppression and make a more just and peaceful society.
 
Turning the Tide promotes the understanding and use of nonviolence to help such groups become more effective.
 
Active nonviolence is a way of confronting injustice – not doing nothing, not responding violently, but struggling creatively to transform the situation.
 
Turning the Tide takes its inspiration and learning from effective nonviolent movements including those of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Greenham Women, environmental and economic justice movements, land rights nonviolent activists and many more. We offer workshops, speakers, literature, a journal and advice.
Remember last Tuesday when we all had to come back to real life after a long weekend of sugary indulgences? Well, information pills I had a really busy work day, visit but what relieved me was the fact that I had my name on the list for a great gig later that evening, site and that was The Leisure Society playing at the Scala, which I had spent the entire previous week looking forward to.
Seeing them live was sort of like reading a book and then watching the film adaptation: all the images (well in this case vibrations) I had in mind took seconds to became concrete. An enchanting sound fell on stage and all the countless amount of instruments they make use of guaranteed an impeccable performance.

Their latest album, ‘The Sleeper’, holds a lot of great instrumental techniques and varies in the musical genres. The homonym single has a soft romantic feel with the acoustic guitars playing a sequence of music with accompanying glockenspiels in the background to make the sound really interesting. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Hemming plays the sounds from the ukulele, mandolin, banjo, guitar; accompanying alongside him, the keyboardist Christian Hardy forms the core of the group, with impressive arrangements also featuring strings, flute, pedal steel, glockenspiel, thumb piano, among other instruments. It’s clear that the band all share the same vision for music. The piece is sung in synchronisation throughout, by various voices as it would sound. Taking lead vocals, Hemming’s voice is pleasant to listen to, and is clear he has had influences from bands such as ‘The Kinks’ with his use of tones.

It’s a combination played with soft, gentle sounds; it’s a very English song but has some American influences as well. The violins play smooth melodies over the bouncy rhythm of the guitars, and the gentle beat of drums play in the background. Forget counting sheep, the lyrics are repeated throughout, but as it’s called ‘The Sleeper’ you can just need something repeated over and over again to make you fall asleep.

The entire album is just beautiful and serene. Country and Western influences are clear throughout, you can really visualise an image in your mind of how and where the song would be performed and would be set-out.

Their latest single, ‘A Matter of Time’, is a fantastic and captivating song made up with a number of layering instruments all playing melodic and memorable tunes. Obviously it gets a lot better when played live, so that`s the part where we show you a piece of the gig. Enjoy!

A long time ago, purchase I saw David Goo as a solo artiste for perhaps the fifth time, and wondered “What is you?” I’d never known such a hard-working jobless fella. If i went to a mini-festival, he was there, singing and strumming. An open-mic night, he was hosting it. Every other night I went to, there he was. And always giving it the utmost of his energy, always with the audience in the palm of his hand. His humourous ditties never grew tired or stale. No word ever died on the man’s lips. And it was all from a genuinely off-the wall, wacky headspace. Bizarre ideas floating in a general insanity stew. And still, it always worked, and sounded fresh. Where could all this exuberance be coming from?

And then he started to multiply, and multiply more, much like mogwai. New band members sprang forth, and bopped around a lot, and did whatever David told them to. Bands are, of course, very different territory to the solo gig. Would it work? Can you spread that kind of energy around? Would it not thin? Would the stew not turn to broth? I decided to find out for myself at 93 Feet East last night, while the band still numbers in single figures (Seven, at time of writing).
The magic ingredient in David Goo’s expansion to The David Goo Variety Band is drumkit conductor, Gregory De Carte. Dead sharp and precise, yet also ready to ebb and flow in perfect synchronicity with David’s handiwork. They are one. And crucially, said drummer has just as much energy as his lord and master. Energy he uses to stab gentle verses, birth sudden ska-grooves or reggae-bounces, and push rock-out sections to bursting, explosive climax. The bassist is just as tight with these organic grooves, though less dominant, and leaves himself enough resource to generally dick around and pull faces like the band’s self-appointed goon. Bravo.
Sadly, the sound at 93 was such that most of the time, I could only clearly hear one other band member, Angel De Marco, who is a kind of cross between Bez and the rap guy from Linkin Park. You’re probably thinking that sounds awful, but I should mention a tricky subject for the DGVB: genre.

There’s only one musician I’d feel at ease comparing David Goo to, and that is Frank Zappa. Does humour belong in music? asks Zappa. And Goo replies by singing of the lovelife of a black marketeer who specializes in body parts. And by prophesying that a maggot will become the biggest star in the world. I reckon we can take that as a loud “yes, humour does belong in music”.
Genre-wise, then, let’s start with Comedy, then mention Mr.Goo’s slight flamenco touch, the overall folk flavour, the circussy diversions, the high speed vocals with hip-hop back-up, the yodelly melodies, and the strangely metal feel that often accrues, and the party-party feel that comes from the gang-chants. (pause for breath) Then there’s the upper strata of the band, poking through occasionally. A cellist who provides a klezmer relief in the anthemic Keep On Wishing, hunching over his Yiddish melodies with plenty chutzpah. A pale skinny waif-boy gives it some beginners’ jazz on the sax, then turns to a synth for spots of happy hardcore kids’ TV themes. And they have enlisted the help of Miss Jo Williams (genius in her own right with her rather more earnest songs), here providing a sweet, airy backing vocal, as well as some kitsch dance moves.

So it often comes across as parody music, but really I think that’s just a side effect of Goo’s willingness to sound like woteva for a few bars until he gets bored and decides to sound like woteva else. He just throws it around with an it’s-only-music attitude, and three minutes later, you’ve been to hell, Catalonia, The Wailing Wall, Compton, Shoreditch and back.
And that’s why the audience submits. He tells them they should dance, and they realise that they should, and then they get wild, and silly, and it looks a bit like the hokey-cokey for a second. When I arrived, these people were cool. They are now reduced to Stimpy-mode. Idiotic rapture through obedience. In another world, trust me, David Goo is a cult leader, with thousands of devotees happily sacrificing their daughters and taking part in bloody ceremonies. Luckily, in this world, he has chosen to lead his disciples to the Temple of Rock, and London is much better off for it.
Where Goo fundamentally differs from Zappa is the accessibility. Obviously, nobody is exactly identifying with his lyrical protagonists, but these ludicrous fables are presented with such musical gusto and spirit of fun that you can’t avoid infection. While Zappa left many confused faces in his wake, Goo leaves a trail of happy-clapping converts, grinning like Hare Krishna geeks on MDMA and Jelly Babies.
Obviously, I’m going to have to see them again. For one thing, I shall need to review the twelve band members they will probably have by Autumn. But also because it’s such a lush hit of sheer enjoyment, and there is much cause to expect the throng to swell. Talk of a record deal, recent exposure on the omnipotent Rightmove ad, and a new batch of recordings are raising the alarm, and it’s exciting.
Double exciting because there’s no fear of selling out or growing mould. Goo is the genuine gush that never dries, I’d stake my hair on it, so roll up, check it out and do what the leader says: wig out. It’s only music. It’s only fun.

You can get Goo’d at Dragon’s Ball, The Green Dragon, Croydon on May 6 or Dingwall’s, Camden on June 4.

Written by Gareth David on Friday April 24th, 2009 11:34 am

Categories ,comedy, ,David Goo, ,folk, ,fun, ,klezmer, ,Zappa

Similar Posts:

• The Cazals @ Water Rats
• Throwing Up, Male Bonding, Screaming Tea Party
• Cargo’s 7th Birthday ft DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH?
• Rose Elinor Dougall
• We Love MEN!