Amelia’s Magazine | Turn Le Page onto a New Vision of Femininity: Catherine Le Page.

The eponymous release from New York based The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has everything you could want from a summer album. A certain been-in-the-sun-too-long hazy-headyness without the too-much-ice-cream sugariness of many indie-pop summer albums. No-No! I’m rallying for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart being trail-blazers for a new genre we shall call ‘Sandalgaze” aka Shoegaze for when it’s not raining out.

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From the rip-roaring opener ‘Contender’, buy more about the album manages to be catchy without being twee, shop noise without being dreary, imagine My Bloody Valentine on a beach doo-wopping and you’re halfway there.
Whilst treading this line The Pains of Being Pure at Heart consistently avoid being schmaltzy. The track; Young Adult Friction is danceable, its lyrics of a whimsy worthy of Stuart Murdoch yet reflect on themes like first love with a sort of yearning nostalgia, again souring the sweetness. Here the oft-overdone boy/girl singing duo is slightly off-kilter and the effect is more reminiscent of early Yo La Tengo or Jesus and Mary Chain than Belle & Sebastian.

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The Pains of Being Pure of Heart is definitely tinged with nods towards the 80s and early 90s,yet it is perhaps too easy to criticise the album for this. The band manage to utilise certain stylistic tropes without being too retrospective or shallow.
In fact The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is refreshing in it’s redefinition of certain preconceptions: summer isn’t all about whistling and tambourine jangling anymore and Shoegaze is reinterpreted with a sunny touch rather like enjoying a 99 flake with Kevin Shields!

The album ‘The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’ is available now and the single ‘Young Adult Friction’ is released on 18th May (Fortuna Pop!)
They play The Lexington, London on 15th May

Kitsuné has really got its groove on this time. Left eyebrows are often tilted to a 74-degree angle at the mention of a Parisian fashion boutique that puts out compilation CDs, symptoms amongst other music releases. At first, tadalafil you kind of expect endless Dimitri From Paris types churning out catwalk-flavoured lint, but Kitsuné really knows what it is getting, and won’t be holding onto the receipt. With utter confidence and bravado, you see, it was Kitsuné that released Wolfmother’s ball-busting old-metal limited edition EP. Benetton scratches its head in confusion.
For all that, Compilation 7 is a danceable disc, with lots of European disco-beats, and plenty of fruity basslines in the Frenchified Electro style. But it’s not the kind of thoughtless, juvenile poppy end of it. You won’t hear anything approaching “Lady, give me tonight, cos my feeling is just so right”, since the Maison-people (Maisonettes?) are clued up. They listen to Tangerine Dream and Elvis Costello, and anything they select from the here and now is selected with a certainty that reminds me of the chap who picks the leaves for PG Tips: He just knows where the good stuff’s at.
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Highpoints include Chateau Marmont’s Beagle, filled with synths fresh from Tomorrow’s World demonstrations, sidewinding through arpeggiated chords, with the occasional crash-bang with a wooden spoon by the stove, and Beni’s Fringe Element, which popcorns along with hi-hats before going to a thoroughly spiffing hiatus of slap bass with one of the squidgiest, wiggly-wormiest synth solos since Mr.Scruff’s Shrimp. Probably the most exciting track here is Crystal Fighters’ (above) Xtatic Truth, a journey involving Epic-Ragga-Happy-Hardcore, hints of Chinese Folk, and a choir of the ether.
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But it’s a plentiful CD. There are nineteen songs, in all, and although everything chugs along to the metronomic pulse of cubase, there is pacing and variety to the beast overall. Gentle relief comes best of all in This Sweet Love by James Yuill (above), as remixed by Prins Thomas, a ponderous chillscape based on the warmest fingerpicking, and an embrace of vocals. You will feel truly hugged. And once you’ve digested it all, you can take that lovely warm glow on the Eurostar with you, and buy yourself the bestest clothes (I’m not a fashion writer, actually) in all Pareeee!

You can buy the Maison’s goodies at www.kitsune.fr or at their myspace.
If you are a university student, online what do you make of your schools environmental policies? Do they even have green policies to speak of? This week, the students of the University of Arts London have been bringing environmental issues to the forefront, and discussing the various ways that both themselves, their campuses and the courses themselves can be more environmentally aware.

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The Go Green Week, also known as Green: The New Black has been running for the last few days and culminates in talks and workshops on Friday, that include Fashion Forward: Creating an Ethical Label between 4pm-6pm RHS East Space, LCF, John Princes Street
which asks: “How can you create a label that looks good, but is also good to the environment?” ECCA and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion present fashion design businesses that are sustainable throughout from their manufacturing processes and materials, to marketing methods that aim communicate and promote their ethical processes to their customers.
Also on Friday afternoon at LCC is the meeting “Students Going Green” –top of the agenda are the following points “Fed up with the lack of recycling at your College? … Want sustainability on the curriculum? … Think Arts London should GO GREEN?” Speaking with the Press Officers of the Student Union, I learnt that a large number of students have voiced their concerns over this topic. The recycling issue specifically has been on ongoing and much debated subject. Many students feel that not enough is being done to provide facilities to recycle. The Green Charter laid out by the Student Union demands that “Sufficient recycling facilities should be available at all Arts London Sites and all Halls of Residence, with consideration also given to specialist recycling e.g. textiles, wood at relevant sites.”

Also on the agenda is for the issues of sustainability to feature more heavily in the Universities curriculum, either in the form of specific modules, or integrated as a whole, and for the campuses to switch to a green energy provider. The student union also explained that they are setting up an “Ethical and Environmental assembly” that will set future Go Green Assembly’s. They have also been encouraging students to sign a petition that is campaigning for a greener Arts London. Realising that strong visuals are the best way to get the point across, the students were asked to be photographed with the green charter and upload their pictures to the blog. An example would be these brave folks.

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Learning about the concerted efforts to raise environmental awareness amongst students started me wondering how other universities and student bodies broach this subject. As this is a topic that is dear to our heart, we would love your input on whether your schools and universities are committed to the environmental cause, and if so, do you feel that they are doing enough? . Tell us more at hello@ameliasmagazine.com and maybe we can help to highlight the issue.
Be featured in this limited edition anthology of the best new illustrators engaged in environmental thinking. Read on to find out more…

***Please note that this brief is now closed: you can now order a copy of this book online by clicking here***

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an illustration by Laura-Maria Arola from issue 9 of Amelia’s Magazine

Now, malady anyone who is following me on Twitter – my new favourite thing in the whole world – will know that I asked my dad to do the research for this book. I know what he’s like – apart from being a typical male who loves nothing more than “disappearing down the rabbit-hole” as my mum calls it (also known as busying himself in new projects) – he also loves a challenge. So I asked him to dig up some info on all the most obscure new alternative technologies currently being explored, sale so that I could put together a brief for Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration.

He rose to the challenge and then some… almost immediately I started receiving email updates on strange new ways of producing energy. But not only that… it seems I have been the unwitting catalyst for a whole new venture – or a whole new rabbit warren to explore, depending on your point of view. A trained if somewhat out of practice scientist, Bruce (that’s my dad, I know, wierd, I call him by his first name)- gleefully told me on Bank Holiday Monday that he’s just designed the best new wave power technology not yet invented. Having read nearly 2000 patents for various wave power technologies he has, in his inimitable way, decided that his idea is quite clearly the best (my dad ALWAYS knows best). Except he won’t share it with me, cos I might, like, post it on the internet or something, before he’s applied for a patent.

Still, exciting stuff, and just the kind of thing I hope to do more of with both this open brief and the resulting book that comes out of it. Amelia’s Magazine in print may be no more, but I could never leave print entirely, and so the idea for this book has been mulling around in my head for sometime now. What we need right now is a whole heap of imagination, because humans need to make a big leap forward if we want to get out of the mess we currently find ourselves in. And whilst the scientists and boffins of this world busy themselves with the minutae of complicated chemical reactions and intricate moving parts, we also need the skills of artists to make these technologies a concrete reality. Without both visions together we will continue to move at a snail’s slither, so my aim is to help quicken that pace. If I can inspire designers and illustrators to better consider the way their energy is produced by drawing alternatives, then maybe they will make better choices about where their own energy comes from. Of course I don’t believe that technology alone is a cure all for all our ills, but it’s a move in the right direction, and I aim to produce a book that provides a comprehensive resource of all the best new illustrators capable of engaging with environmental issues and envisaging future alternative energy sources.

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an illustration by Allan Deas for issue 9 of Amelia’s Magazine

What will be in Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration ?
The book will be a compendium of profiles on the best illustrators who submit to this brief. Anyone is eligible to submit work, from anywhere in the world. I would particularly encourage new illustrators; those who are still at college, just graduating, or new to the field. Amelia’s Magazine is used by many influential creatives looking for new talent to employ, and this will be an even better way of getting your work noticed globally.

What will the book look like?
The book will be the same dimensions as Amelia’s Magazine, thereby sitting nicely on the shelf with any copies of the magazine that purchasers might already possess! It will be designed in a similar fashion but also expect some new ideas.

When will it be published and where will it be sold?
Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration will be self-published (again!!!!) The lead-times are just too long with the big publishers, plus they would want more design control than I am prepared to give to them. The ones I have spoken to also insist on producing all their books in the Far East, something I am very uncomfortable with given the dodgy environmental credentials of many industrial operations in that part of the world. It will be produced in the UK by Principal Colour as a limited edition hardback towards the end of 2009, in time for Christmas. Advance orders should be available to purchase on my website by the end of the summer, and will be much appreciated in order to finance the production process as it is going to cost me much more to keep production in the UK. The book will be sold worldwide at specialist art book shops such as those that already stock the magazine. I will aim to produce a second (possibly softback) edition the following year to be made much more widely available.

What can I do to contribute?
I need a number of different artworks from aspiring contributors, so please read the following information carefully and make sure that your submissions meet the criteria before you send them in to me.

Submission criteria

EXCLUSIVE WORK: produced specifically for AMELIA’S ANTHOLOGY OF ILLUSTRATION

1. Most importantly:
ONE EXCLUSIVE LARGE PIECE done specifically for this anthology and not featured anywhere else.

This should feature an alternative technology that has not yet been built or mass-produced in any great scale. NO RUN-OF-THE-MILL WINDMILLS AND SOLAR PANELS PLEASE!

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an intriguing design for a line of windmills on a bouncing rod

This is a challenging theme, but thanks to my dad there are dozens of links below that will lead you off in the right direction. You will need to disappear down the rabbit hole for awhile for this brief requires time and thought to complete. It also requires huge amounts of imagination, which is what illustrators specialise in! And my dad! I’ve always held a belief that the scientific mind and the artistic mind are not really so different from each other. How else do you explain me? The child of two scientists?! but rubbish at science….

Anyway, I digress. In this illustration I want to see ways that a new technology would be integrated into our future lives… so interaction with the surroundings or people will be good. This is not a technical illustration, it’s an aspirational one, but you should imagine this technology in some detail, however fantastical it may be. You could even look back at technologies that were patented as far ago as the 1800s, but that have never become part of the mainstream. Your chosen technology should be the main focus of your whole picture, but don’t forget to add detail.
This should be accompanied by a short written piece describing why you picked this particular technology and what the illustration means to you. This should be no more than 300 words.

A word to the wise: the more obscure your choice of technology the better, since I will probably choose different technologies for each illustrator that I choose to profile.
You can choose to work in two sizes:
Double page (as was used in Amelia’s Magazine)
SIZE: page size: 400mm wide x 245mm high, with a bleed of 3mm all around; ie. final size of your artwork: 406mm x 251mm.
or
Single page
SIZE: page size: 200mm wide x 245mm high, with a bleed of 3mm all around; ie. final size of your artwork: 206mm x 251mm.
NOTE: Don’t put important stuff in the 3mm bleed zone (but do continue your image into it) as this is where the printers may cut bits off when the magazine is cut and bound.
RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2)
GUTTER: please also note that the book will have a very deep gutter in the middle so it is good to keep important parts of your illustration away from the centre of the spread in double page images.
MY STYLE: if you want to know about my taste in illustration you should check out the current issue of the mag, or buy a back issue here!

2. A exclusive PICTORIAL LOGO on an environmental theme

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Logo designed by Adrian Fleet for Climate Camp in the City at the G20 protests

If you have submitted something for the Climate Camp logo open brief then you would be able to resubmit it for this brief, irrespective of whether it was used or not. The logo could be for an event or a company or a product or anything at all, but it must be promoting environmental themes and ideas. I will be looking for colourful and engaging logos. Consider the work of Adrian Fleet for the G20 Climate Camp in the City logo when thinking about what to enter for this. My style tends to be maximalist, but the words must always be a bold and easy part of the logo to read. It could be work that you have already created and has already been used by a brand (though please check with them before sending it to me) or you could create a new piece of work for a real or fictional brand. It should encompass a creative use of typography with illustration. There will be plenty of food for thought amongst the alternative technologies you will already have researched.
This should be accompanied by a short written piece describing what the logo has or would be used for. 50 words max.
It can be any size, but please create work at 300 dpi to a largish size.

3. Typography: YOUR NAME!
Please create your name in the most imaginative way possible. This could be done by hand, or on a computer, but you should really go to town! Amelia’s Magazine is well known for the use of creative typography, and for Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration the floor is open to you to create your own type for your own name (or how you would like to be known professionally) Don’t think of it as branding, but as something to go to town with. If your work is chosen it will be used to head your page, and it should therefore be really creative and fun. Think of this as your chance to really grab the reader’s attention!
For this reason please work to these dimensions and no smaller. (it could be bigger)
SIZE: 200-400mm wide x 40mm high
RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2)

4. A Border
Again this should fit a single page and reflect an environmental theme. Be sure to work with 3mm bleed and no more than 25mm in from the edge.
SIZE: page size: 200mm wide x 245mm high, with a bleed of 3mm all around; ie. final size of your artwork: 206mm x 251mm.
NOTE: Don’t put important stuff in the 3mm bleed zone (but do continue your border into it) as this is where the printers may cut bits off when the magazine is cut and bound.
RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2)

NON EXCLUSIVE work:
4. Two other bits of illustration.

These should be your best recent work. They do not necessarily need to be on an environmental theme but should showcase as wide a range of imagery as possible, eg. people, things, places, typography etc. If you have created artwork for any of my previous open briefs this could form part of your submission although I would prefer to see new work. Be sure to stick to one style though – illustrators with a strong style of their own will always make the biggest mark, and I am unlikely to pick anyone who does not show a strong style throughout their submissions.
These can be any size, but please label each illustration clearly with a name and date of creation.
SIZE: as big as possible to fit the book’s page sizes.
RESOLUTION: 300dpi, as a photoshop file in CYMK mode, using Photoshop print profile: euro standard swap coated 20% (or euroscale V2)

CLOSING DATE: Monday 3rd August, by midnight please.
Please send lo res versions of your images (saved for web) to info@ameliasmagazine.com in an email clearly marked ANTHOLOGY OF ILLUSTRATION so that I don’t lose sight of it in my inbox if I am rushing through things on the day it arrives.
(This should be 6 pieces of work altogether. PLEASE DON’T SEND MORE THAN THIS)

If you are chosen for inclusion in Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration then you will be notified shortly after this date, once I have made my decisions. I have yet to decide how I will put together the profiles, but I may well need a photo from you and a short interview. If this is the case you will be notified later on in the summer.
And if you have any questions that are not answered above then please email me for clarification.
Join the facebook event here to ensure you get updates as they happen.

Best wishes and happy drawing!

Links
Below is a very long list of links, courtesy of Bruce: this is by no means conclusive, and the technologies may never work, but they are all being explored and would be valid ideas to illustrate. Youtube and Google Images are both a great source of innovative technologies, and I am sure you can find more. Feel free to go off and google you heart out – but you must illustrate something real and possible, and not a fantasy idea of your own. (unless you are also a scientist of course)

Wind turbines

Wikipedia wind power info

Magenn’s revolutionary wind power system on youtube

Magenn Air Rotar system

Magenn’s home page

The Floating Balloon Wind Generator

Motorwind Camping Set Wind Turbine

Knex wind turbine

Magnetically Levitated wind turbine

Great pic of huge Maglev wind turbine

Wikipedia entry about Maglev wind turbines

Maglev wind turbines homepage

Mag-Wind Vertical Axis Turbine

A Flying Wind Machine!

Floating Wind Turbines

A great blog about lots of different alternative energy projects including wierd and fantastical wind turbines

Huge Kites

Optiwind accelerating turbine

Selsam superturbines

Rotating wind power towers

Broadstar’s Aerocam

FloDesign wind turbines

Wikipedia definition of airborne wind turbines

downloadable PDF containing interesting info about different types of airborne wind turbines

Wikipedia definition of Kitegen

Kitegen website – plans for a huge airborne wind farm!

Great picture of how kites could generate electricity

Guardian article about kite power

Video showing how a kite ladder would work

Makani Power high altitude wind kites

Google have put money into the Makani vision

Makani “wind dam” picture

Great article about Saul Griffith — wind energy entrepeneur, and president of Makani

Tom Van Sant makes amazing kite ladders as sculpture

Wind Harvesting farms

Helix Wind

More Helix Wind porn

Google search results for wind power technologies

Mariah Power wind turbines

Google videos about wind power

The huge offshore aerogenerator

Quiet Revolution wind turbines

Wave power

Oscillating water columns

Anaconda wave technology

SIE-CAT wave energy accumulator

A list of wave power patents going back to the 1800s

Danish Wave Energy Society

the Wave Dragon

Wave Star Energy

Wave Energy Centre

CWave Power

the Aegir Dynamo

CETO

Columbia Power

Float wave electric power station

the Manchester Bobber

Orecon oscillating water column

OE Buoy

Aquamarine power

Sperboy wave energy converter

SSG Concept

The Seadog Pump

Buoys technology

Floating power plant

Surf Power

Power Buoy

the Wave Roller

Langlee Wave Power

the WRASPA

video about Harnessing the Gulf Stream! (is this a good idea?)

Wikipedia entry about wave power

Pelamis on wikipedia

Pelamis wave power

Pelamis being tested in Portugal

Google videos on wave power

Biowave power system

video showing Biowave power working

Video – giant rubber snakes!

SRI wave powered generator

Ocean Power Technologies

video – Aqua Buoys

Aqua Buoy movie

Oyster wave power

Tidal power

Wikipedia on tidal power

Video – tidal wave energy

youtube – idea for tidal energy barrage in florida

Sea Gen

google video links for Sea Gen

Marine Current Turbines

video of Biostream tidal power system

Gorlov helical water turbine on wikipedia

Gorlov Helical Turbine

3D interactive model that shows blades of Gorlov turbine

Severn Barrage

Solar Energy

Wikipedia on solar energy

Thermal

wikipedia on thermal solar energy

wikipedia on solar energy generating systems

wikipedia on solar power tower

BBC news report on solar power stations

Solar Power tower in Spain

image of Solar Power tower

more images of solar power tower in spain

Bright Source solar power on wikipedia

Bright Source Energy

Solar Reserve

youtube on solar tower energy

solar tower energy in spain on youtube

Enviromission solar tower

Suncatchers

Dual axis solar tower structure

Voltaic

photovoltaic energy

youtube on israeli solar energy

First Solar free field power plants

youtube about plastic solar cells producing solar power

Konarka power plastic

Standard geothermal

Geothermal power on wikipedia

youtube geothermal energy vid

Enhanced geothermal

Wikipedia – enhanced geothermal systems

youtube video on enhanced geothermal systems

Hot Rock Technology

Alta Rock Energy

Petratherm

Geodynamics
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The Reluctant Photojournalist

Features a variety of vintage and modern prints from Werner Bischof’s well known humanitarian photography including the Bihar famine, more about Europe post WWII and the South Korean war. Alongside these sit Bischof’s equally beautiful but perhaps lesser known early experiments with abstracts and nudes.

Photographic co-op Magnum Photos Ground Floor, 63 Gee Street, London EC1V 3RS, 0207 490 1771
Free Entry
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re.orient.ate

Reorienting common notions of contemporary Arab art and lifestyle and debunking ‘Orientalist’ depictions. Arab artists Marianne Catzaras, Dora Dhouib and Wael Shawky explore themes of mass media, Diaspora and religion via film and photography.

Selma Feriani Gallery, 23 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2QN
7th Apr – 13th May 2009
Free entry
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The Abyss

A new joint exhibition by former Wimbledon College of Art students, Nicola Stead and Dan Jupp.

The Outside World, 44 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DP
7th May – 13th May By appointment Thursday to Saturday
Free entry
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The Hiding Place

Lewis Chamberlain
Exquisitely rendered pencil drawings whisk the viewer away into muted landscapes
which toy with scale, suburbia and the surreal.

James Hyman Gallery Savile Row, London W1S 3PD, 020 7494 3857
30th April – 30th May
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Crafted
Contemporary Craft and Fine Art

An exhibition celebrating the materials, processes and techniques involved in making extraordinary objects, the exhibition will feature nine artists from different arts and craft and design fields.

Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Church Lane, Carmarthen SA31 1LH
4th Apr – 16th May 09, 10 – 5 Mon – Sat
Free entry
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Monday 11 May

Telepathe are a too-cool-for-school three piece from Brooklyn. They’re playing 93 Feet East. They get obtuse Krautronica and make it go “POP!” – maybe they’ll be the next Animal Collective… Supported by Ou Est Le Swimming Pool.
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Tuesday 12 May

Dan Mangan plays The Electroacoustic Club, salve housed at The Slaughtered Lamb, viagra Clerkenwell. He’s a heartfelt songwriting kind of guy, information pills sings like he means it, and he’s much better than that Elbow record. Support comes from Deer Park.
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Wednesday 13 May

Our new favourite boyfriend-girlfriend duettists, Young Paul, will be giving The Cobden Club, 107 Kensal road a taste of 80s electronic treats. get in touch with the band for hassle-free entry, as it’s a private members club. Not just a fine gig, then, but also a chance to see where the Old Etonians schmooze.

Thursday 14 May

Alice and The Cool Dudes at Barden’s Boudoir. This is the high point of our music week. Alice Grant of Fulborn Teversham, is leaving her jazzhead buddies to one side to unveil some pensive indie songs, delivered by a totally unique voice that totters across a tightrope of uncannily powerful and tearful exhaustion. Surely she won’t disappoint?????
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Friday 15 May

Up in Nottingham, North-East London’s finest jokeshop salesmen of parallel-universe, narrative ska will be testing out some new material where they think no one can hear them. If you can find a place called Demo, you must prove Hothead Show wrong. Prepare for shockingly tight wizardry of the jerky-jerky groove.
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Saturday 16 May

A night of so-angry-we-can-only-tell-you-very-very-slowly Metal, with some catatonically droning Grunge, and atonal noise that may cause loss of balance on all but the lowest of seating. Roll up at The Constitution and enjoy Dethscalator, Scul Hazzards and Batrider. If you don’t take earplugs, then take cotton wool to mop up you bleeding lugholes.

Sunday 17 May

Always a good bet for a sunday night is Cross Kings, 126 York Way, in King’s Cross. On the ground level, David Goo will jolly along an open mic, which always has a few very eccentric envelope-pushers pencilled in. The avant-gardishness couples nicely with the family warmth, houmous and pitta that makes this a great pub. It’s worth paying a few quid to be allowed into the basement also. Things are a bit more organized (sound-checks and everything) but happily, there’s still no obvious divide between the musicians and the audience. What sundays are for.

Tuesday 12th May

Climate (Mis)behaviour
7pm
Dana Center
The Science Museum’s Dana Centre, dosage
?165 Queen’s Gate?, sildenafil
South Kensington
?London?SW7 5HD
?talk@danacentre.org.uk
+0044 (0)207 942 4040

Rescuing the planet requires behavioural change on an unprecedented scale. From individual action to global politics, what are the different strategies attempting to achieve this? Social psychology, advertising, policy and direct action are all thrown into the mix in this debate. ??This event is trying out a new format called Policy Slam, which is funded by the Democratic Innovation Fund of the Ministry of Justice. With the help of the experts, you will discuss, present and vote on several different options.

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Illustration by Lea Jaffy

Wednesday 13th May
Morphic Resonance, Collective Memory and Habits of Nature – An evening with Rupert Sheldrake

6.30pm drinks & buffet at Gaia House, 
(18 Well Walk, Hampstead, NW3 1LD)

7.30pm Talk & discussion at Burgh House 
(Opposite Gaia House, New End Square, Hampstead, NW3 1LT)

When Rupert Sheldrake first put forward his idea of Morphic Resonance more than twenty years ago, it caused a great stir in the scientific community.  The Editor of Nature denounced it as “the best candidate for burning there has been for many years” and proclaimed that it was “heresy”.  In his recently published new edition, available on the evening, Rupert documents the evidence that has built up in support of this hypothesis.  He will reflect on the Human Genome Project and other reductionist ideas, where few of the grand claims have come to fruition, not unlike the economic bubble that has recently burst.
 
The paradigm shift that Morphic Resonance offers is coherent with the Gaia Hypothesis, where the cosmos is understood to be a developing organism, where nature is alive, interconnected and creative.  There is an inherent memory in nature, and evolution is an interplay of habit and creativity, like our own lives.  According to this way of seeing formative causation, all self-organising systems, including crystals, plants and animals contain an inherent memory, given by a process called morphic resonance from previous similar systems.  
 
These ideas also resonate with diverse indigenous traditions around the world, including those of European ancestry.  For much of our history humans have experienced our relationship with the Earth, and indeed the Universe, to be fluid and reciprocal.  Rupert has taken up the challenge of exploring this ancient wisdom thorough the modern scientific tradition.
You can reserve your place online at: www.gaiafoundation.org/learning/online.php
Or send  a cheque for £10, made payable to The Gaia Foundation.

For further details please contact Sarah at: sarahn@gaianet.org or 020 7428 0055.
 
Rupert Sheldrake is recognised as one of the world’s most innovative biologists.  He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and a Research Fellow of the Royal Society, and is currently Director of the Perrott-Warrick Project.  He is author of more than 80 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and many books, including ‘The Presence of the Past’,  ‘The Sense of Being Stared At’, ‘Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home’  and  ‘Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness’. His web site is www.sheldrake.org

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llustration by Eco Labs

Thursday 14th May
TAKE BACK THE POWER!? THE IMPORTANCE OF DIRECT ACTION TODAY

6:30-9pm
?Amnesty International UK
Human Rights Action Centre?
17 – 25 New Inn Yard
London EC2A 3EA
Nearest tube: Old Street

Free entry, refreshments and snacks provided
RSVP: london@climatecamp.org.uk or call 07534 598 733 (Early booking recommended!)
Find out what YOU can DO to stop climate change.?Throughout history ordinary people have been responsible for all major social changes – women’s rights, civic rights and even democracy itself in many places can be said to be result of direct action. Taking action is the very first step in making big changes happen. Direct action is taken by people who feel that the political process is not working to address profoundly important issues.
Climate change is the most urgent challenge we’ve ever faced – and politicians are not showing the strength of character needed to actually address this problem. Instead of serious sustainable solutions we see new runways and new coal fired power stations- deals that benefit the bottom line of the big players and not the wider population. Climate Camp believes that people everywhere need to work out what they can do – and then do it. Taking action yourself to make the world you want to see is a logical response to a very serious situation.

Are you interested in doing more to highlight the urgency of climate change? Or the relevance of direct action to struggles for jobs, peace and justice? Are you intrigued but feel uncomfortable about going outside the mainstream political process? Would you consider getting involved but don’t know how? Are you nervous about the consequences?
‘Take Back the Power! The Importance of Direct Action Today’ will be unique opportunity to hear about direct action from people who have participated in different ways. Speakers will range from people on the front line to those helping in the background. This includes Deborah Grayson – one of the Parliament Climate Rush – who is on bail and will be speaking about Climate Rush (photgraphed below)
To reserve a place/s please RSVP to london@climatecamp.org.uk or call 07534 598 733.

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Photograph by Amelia Gregory

Saturday 16th May
Euroflashmob: Europe United Against Airport Expansion
Stop Airport Expansion

Saturday 16 May 2009. The day of the Eurovision Song Contest. 12 noon on the dot at Heathrow
Terminal 1 Departures. Join Heathrow Flashmobbers in a Europe-wide Flash Mob – taking place on the same day at 6 airports across Europe.
Flash Heathrow! Flash Paris! Flash Frankfurt! Flash Schipol! Flash Brussels! Flash Dublin!
Each flashmob will be singing Eurovision classics (song-sheets provided), so download your favourite eurovision song onto your ipod or phone and bring your friends, instruments, hats, wigs, and your dancing shoes and let’s party. Now for the serious bit: airport expansion is seriously bad for local people, increased noise, air pollution, and especially the climate. The aviation industry want to expand airports across the UK and Europe, but opposition is huge, and the scientists are telling us we have to drastically cut emissions if we are to beat climate change. Flashmobs are a fun way to highlight the real opposition there is to expansion at airports across Europe. Here’s another big chance to show our opposition to a 3rd runway at Heathrow.
See you in Heathrow Terminal 1 Departures at 12 noon on the dot!
Tell BAA to get in tune: No Third Runway.
www.euroflashmob.com

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Illustration by Sachiko

Green Wedge II
A major Green Party benefit gig, to aid the Euro Election campaign.

£5 entry.
Venue:
Pangea Project
72 Stamford Hill,
Stoke Newington,
N16 6XS

http://www.pangeaproject.co.uk/

The highly eclectic lineup includes:
The Refinements (Raucous Ska)
Sarah Ellen Hughes Duo (jazz singer)

Contacts:
Selim: 07853 725476
Come along and support the local bands by cheering loudly, the Green Party by giving us your money and support, and the Pangea Project by drinking copious amounts.
It’s all shaping up to be a fun night, ably facilitated by your host Matt Hanley (ahem), with comprehensive Eurovision updates throughout the evening!
You can buy advance tickets here:?http://www.skiddle.com/tickets/
I love good days. Days that unfold in a series of pleasant surprises that put a spring back in your step and remind you that the world can be a good place. Three such things occurred today, buy well, four if you include the free coffee I was given for no reason, and five if you take into account the particularly magnificent texture of the water in which I swam early this morning (a good start surely), breathing fresh and clean from the night’s rain, silk to the touch and causing my skin to tingle for hours after; but silk water aside, only one of these things is relevant to you Zach, can I call you Zach?

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There was a moment at tonight’s concert where you clasped your fingers behind your head, raised your eyes towards the ceiling, and sighed a private smile – do you sometimes not quite believe it? I couldn’t believe it. I’d given up the hope of seeing you (you the object of a little musical infatuation), play at the Forum tonight – a torment when that venue is within spitting distance of my home. I’d cycled past and seen the queues outside (one of the nicest looking crowds to gather outside the Forum, believe me I know), my head hung low and my pedal stilted, perhaps I could sneak in, how could I live here so long and not know a secret entrance? Just as I was reconciling myself to a night of listening to Gulag Orchestra within the confines of my bedroom and strumming Postcards from Italy alone on the roof, a good thing happened – buzz buzz in my back pocket.

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“Hey Luisa how are you?”
“I’ve been better, well actually it’s been a pretty good day, but – ”
“Yeah well listen, you like Beirut right?”
“Like them? I Love – I mean yeah, they’re ok. I guess they’re ok.”
“Well you couldn’t do me a favour. I know it’s late notice and you’ve probably got plans”
“Erm, yeah I’ve got plans”
“Well I’m supposed to be reviewing them tonight but they wouldn’t give me a plus one and I don’t want to go alone, you wouldn’t go instead would you?”
(I’ve pulled over and am silently raising my fists to the sky)
Hmm…I suppose I could, I mean I would like to see them but then I don’t know what I’d write, I’m sure I’ll think of something-”
“So you’ll go?”
“Yes, yes I’ll go.”
“Oh great, thanks, just say you’re me, get some pictures, you know the drill, thanks again,”
“No problem, really,” (jumping up and down a little bit),
“What’s that noise?”
“Oh, nothing, some kid, thanks a lot, have a good night,”
“You too, byeeeee.”

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So that’s how a good day found me watching you tonight, I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a gig. You came out to rapturous applause, rewarding the audience kindly with Nantes, how does it feel to have a crowd sing your songs along with you? It was as though you were singing old folk songs of a collective homeland from which we’ve all strayed, not something created from a photograph and a few months in Eastern Europe and Paris. And now you’ve moved over to Mariachi influences? I was raised on Cumbia, and I’ve always thought the sound is very similar to that of Eastern Europe, accordions and trumpets and powerful melodies. Everyone around me was in hushed silence for the entirety of the performance, and you seemed so relaxed, demure, a sound like yours doesn’t require anything else – I did like the occasional hand conducting though. On behalf of the audience, not that anyone would make me spokesperson for anything, thank you, it was wonderful incredible; but then you know that, not everyone gets two encores. See you again soon I hope, and erm, if you ever need someone to tap a tambourine or a cowbell, or maybe an old foot pedal harmonium just rescued from cobwebs, then … hi.

Yours,

Lulu Lampshade

SM (small print): emotional content may have been exaggerated slightly for effect.
Will Morgan is an excellent photographer, store clever person and all round nice guy. His photographs are subtle and dream-like; intimate yet austere, information pills all of us here at Amelia’s Magazine are big fans of his beautiful and exciting work. I was lucky enough to catch up with Will to talk about his work and the politics of photography.

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Hi, patient Will, how are you today?

Hello Roisin, I’m very good today thanks , the sun’s out and things are pretty much perfect.

I really love your photographs especially your use of light and attention to details- what makes a good photograph for you?

Thank you, that always nice to hear. Images work for me when they inspire an emotional response or are successful at conveying a mood and atmosphere. It’s the same for me with any art work really, every discipline. When I was at college I was really interested in domestic photography, family albums and the like, I always felt that these images were incredibly powerful because they are loaded with so much meaning, they tie into notions of memory, loss, happiness, sadness and the passage of time. I’m sounding a bit pretentious here but never mind eh? I think that an image can stand on it’s own purely by being beautiful as well, ideally one would combine the beauty with an emotional response. I think photographs are a form of language so it’s nice if they say something.

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Can you tell me about your average working day?

I don’t really have an average working day, I shoot a lot of editorial so the jobs are varied and my personal work is even more so. If I’m on a commissioned job it’s usually an early start, double check the equipment as I have been known to leave vital bits behind. Drink some very strong coffee, try not to smoke (fail) and head to the location, be very nice to everybody and start to shoot. Obviously keep to the deadline, work in close conjunction with the art director and hope the client is happy! All my commissioned work is digital these days so there’s normally an hour at the end of the shoot to go through the images then I retouch and deliver. My personal work is far looser I identify a project I’m interested in and shoot on my own, with minimal equipment. I do get up a lot later on these days, probably smoke more cigarettes though.

Do you have a favourite camera?

I started off using a 1960′s Hassleblad and I still love it, but these days I mainly shoot with a 645 contax and a P30 back, with the advent of digital clients just won’t pay for film and now days they want to see everything immediately, plus you get used to the freedom of digital, you can shoot to your hearts content. I do like my contax but the Hassleblad is probably my favourite although I rarely shoot film these days, I used to have a Polaroid land camera which I throughly enjoyed but I lost it. Lets move on I’m getting a little emotional

What do you make of the whole film vs. digital photography debate? I mean do you view the advent of digital photography as a completely bad thing?

I’m not sure it’s even a debate anymore, digital photography is here and it’s a photographic tool, you just have to learn to use it and I think to deny it is a bit self defeating. I do believe that images shot on film look better than digital raw files but the technology is so good now and if you know a little about digital retouching I can’t really tell the difference. Digital has a huge amount of freedom, film is expensive with digital after the initial investment you shoot for free really, you can really experiment and as I’ve said all my commissions assume I’m shooting digital. I don’t think digital is a bad thing or a good thing really it’s just the way photography has evolved. Different jobs/projects lend themselves to different platforms/cameras and so on, whatever works for you is the best really. Even when I do shoot film I scan it and tweak it in photoshop so it becomes a digital image anyway.

I think that’s really interesting, it’s quite taboo I think to be positive about digital photography, it’s refreshing to hear that you’re pro-digital and proud; whilst film is beautiful, people can always become purist about things like that and I agree that digital technology can add something great to photography- as we can see in your work!

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Continuing with this foray into the ethics or politics of photgraphy, do you agree with the idea that a photograph is the truest form of representation?

I’m probably misinterpreting the question but umm, not really, I think a photograph captures how someone or something looked in that split second the shutter clicked, it’s a tricky one but as a photographer you’re imposing yourself on the scene, you crop in camera, use apertures and f-stops different focal lengths, different formats, you edit your images, decide how to present them, all of this creates a selective reality, I’m not even sure if reality is the right word, also now with the computer technology you can completely alter the original image . All of these things have a huge bearing on whatever you’re photographing and of course you want it to look good. I don’t think it’s a true representation of reality but it has the edge over painting I think.

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Can you tell me about your journey to where you are today (career-wise rather than transport-wise!)? Do you have any advice for aspiring photographers?

Well I went to India for a year when I was 20, I picked up a camera there for the first time and really enjoyed it, I’d stayed in India too long so I missed my University place to study English so i did a part time course in photography. I loved it so went the route of art foundation, photography BA at LCP (also this got me to London). I did well at LCP I won a few prizes and it gave me the confidence to believe I might actually be able to make a living from photography. After my degree I worked part time at the National Film Theatre and assisted various photographers as well as picking up a few commissions for my self. It’s only really been the last three years that I’ve made a reasonable living purely from my own photography but it’s always been fun and I’ve never wanted to stop. I think getting over the fear of the portfolio meetings was crucial! The only advice I would give is to keep at it, never be afraid of showing your work, shoot as much as you can and enjoy it, I think it’s the best job in the world (apart from rock star maybe)

Which photographers inspired you early on in your career?

I was always hugely impressed with Philip Lorca-di Corcia in particular his Hollywood Hustler series, I was and still am a big fan of Eva Vermendel and Martina Hoogland-Ivanow, Paolo Roversi’s work is always beautiful, Christian Boltanski, Stephen Gill, Bruce Davidson, Azim Haidaryan, Nadav Kander, there’s a lot of them but I’ll leave it there.


What projects are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on a few, I’m shooting a series of confessional boxes in Catholic churches, a series on cineastes based around the National Film Theatre and bus stops at night.

I can’t wait to see them!

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All photographs appear courtesy of Will Morgan
At first glance, mind you might have thought that activism, arts and permaculture would make the strangest of bedfellows, but don’t let any preconceived notions cloud your judgement. The imaginative people behind ArtsAdmin are laying on a fortnight of activities which will demonstrate how effortlessly these subjects can work together. Under the name of Two Degrees , and with the recent quote by George Monbiot acting as a kind of frame of reference – ‘We have to stop treating climate change as an urgent issue, we have to start treating it as an international emergency” – the week long series of performances, activities, exhibitions and installations will have one thing in common; our relationship with the environment and the impact of climate change.

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I chatted recently with ArtsAdmin, in their beautiful and unexpectedly peaceful surroundings (well, they are on Commercial Road!) of Toynbee Studios (also the setting of many of the forthcoming events). They explained that even the title of the festival is apposite. ‘Two Degrees’ is in reference to the reports that global temperatures are set to rise by that amount in around 40 years. A relatively ‘small’ rise such as this could lead to catastrophic changes on our planet.

While the message is serious, many performances will be light hearted, and all will be engaging. A case in point, the ‘set list’ reads thus;  
“A reconstructed airplane serves real airline food delivered from City Airport; permaculturists and artists lead a foraging exploration of the City; a crowd of Londoners, an artist and a water dowser trace the course of a great London river; radical temporary transformations of lunchtime London; an artist-activist family confess to past flights they have taken; climate change cabaret; an urban-rural walk to City Farm; a bicycle-powered DJ set (run by good friends of Amelia’s Magazine; Magnificent Revolution) and a filmed rural idyll accompanied by passenger jet noise form Two Degrees”

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Personally, I like the sound of the climate change cabaret. It’s about time that cabaret branched out a little, don’t you think? Speaking of avant-garde performances, a particular highlight of the week will be C.R.A.S.H. A Postcapitalist A-Z, a collaboration between ArtsAdmin and the fantastically named collective that is The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination. While it is difficult to predict exactly what will occur, (it’s best just to come down to the City of London to watch), C.R.A.S.H will be creating a phantasmagorical world where “Eight postcapitalist commissions transform lunchtime in the City including the very last opportunity to purchase a real woman, a soup kitchen distributing bowls of gold soup to City workers, a lone cyclist pedalling a field kitchen around the Square Mile, a forum of bankers, ex-bankers, climate activists, artists and others confessing their capitalist tendencies, and a café of equivalence where a bowl of food costs the same as a banker’s daily salary in parallel with food costs in the developing world.” I believe it is safe to say; brace yourself!

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Elsewhere, the issue of airline travel is of course, a pertinent topic in an event that is engaging in dialogue about climate change. At Toynbee Studios, it will be dealt with in an unexpectedly humorous way. In an activity that Dada would be proud of, the artist Richard DeDomenici (and his cabin crew) will be serving out helpings of airplane food, in its airline style packaging. Just in case you didn’t think that this was authentic enough, your meal will be served as you sit in a recycled airplane interior, which Two Degrees hasten to add, also includes in flight entertainment. For any of you who would pitch up just because you like the taste of airline meals (someone has to…?) there is a deeper meaning behind this. DeDomenici is responding to a recent quote by chef Marcus Wareing about British pub food, which he declares being of poor quality, so much so that for a proper meal, “you would be better off getting on a plane”. Now, I would disagree with chef Wareing on both counts. Has he never eaten at The Eagle? Moreover, it is an irresponsible comment to make, one which highlights the ease in which we get on and off flights, almost as if they were trains. So, rather than getting on a plane, you can experience all the wonders of a flight (but without the guilt of actually flying). Hurrah!

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If you are anything like me; a bit of a hippy with a nerdish fondness for maps and discovering secret, ancient rivers, ( I’ll admit that there are very few of us around!) then you will especially enjoy the outing that Two Degrees have planned. The artist Amy Sharrock will be leading a walk which she describes as her response to global concerns. This will come in the form of an excursion from Islington to the Southbank, tracing the lines of the ancient, and lost Walbrook River. Not obscure enough for you? Did I mention that any participants will be dressed in blue and tied together to resemble water molecules?

All of the events can be booked online at www.artsadmin.co.uk. It promises to be a thought-provoking and engaging week. Knowing ArtsAdmin and the people behind this event, however out of left field the performances may be, the message will be central: we are running out of time in which to save the planet, and the time in which to act is now.

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Crochet, help shells and pipe cleaners…beasts banished forever to the chasmic closet of craft have broken free of the plastic furniture covers and dried flowers to be resurrected as one of the most entertaining young collections to have paraded down the catwalks in some time. Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales, the Australian born and bred design team behind Romance Was Born have glued-gunned themselves firmly in place as the merry pranksters of Sydney.

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No one would blame you for crinkling your nose at the idea of a fashion collection inspired by someone’s nana. But peeking through the kaleidoscopic vision of these wizards of Oz . Driven by textures, shapes and above all colors, Romance Was Born in the fertile imaginations of these two talented designers when they met while studying fashion at the East Sydney Technical College.

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After graduating in 2007 they were invited to attend the Fourth International Support Awards in Italy where they turned down internships with Galliano because “their fashion fairytale had another date with destiny”. These young (water)guns were intent on starting their own label with, and why not, the suitcase size booty of Galliano laces and silks they’d received as a prize from the competition.

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These two confectioners are just as much substance as they are style. Clever tailoring and feminine shapes pepper the opulent couture showpieces. Collaborations with Australian artist Del Kathryn Bartonproduced original digitally printed fabrics and a 12 piece collection entitled ‘Garden of Eden’, which was exhibited at Kaliman Gallery alongside Barton’s work.

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Romance Was Born has also found its way onto the figures of Debbie Harry, Lily Allen, MIA, Cyndi Lauper and Karen O (who opted for a red tulle dress with googly eyes) and rising star rockers Architecture in Helsinki, who wore their puppetry inspired glo-in-the-dark pieces for the filming of their band’s new clip. They must surely have tagged one particular Icelandic songbird for their next mark. we can’t wait to see what they pull out of their party hats next!

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When you first gaze upon the work of Accessory designer Fred Butler it’s all rather indigestible, case flying from one medium to the other with all the energy and flair of an excitable child. She is constantly adding more layers, no rx depth and colour to her pieces, help the result culminates in mind bogglingly colourful and decidedly hap hazard pieces.

With such gusto It’s hard to fathom how to predict her, one instance you could be presented with a outlandish mathematical headpiece rather reminiscent of a futurist rubix cube. Then next your met with a piñata style headdress (lets hope the model isn’t planning on attending any children’s parties, it may conclude in a rather unpleasant knock to the head) Each piece is as brilliant as it is unique, Butler is one of the few designers it’s hard to typecast, her work has been vaguely linked to that of fellow kitsch designers Peter Jensen and Alistair Carr but apart from these she seems a law unto herself.

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Her latest collection featured a hallucinogenic short film entitled “Conspicuous consumption” to which ethereal models clad in swarouski encrusted headpieces serenely sway in a rather hypnotic manner, its all rather like a trip back to Kate Bushes Wuthering Heights video, alas minus the haunting vocals!

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Fred Butler is an infamous character in the fashion sphere; regularly her work adorns the pages of the magazine elite from Elle, I-D, Vogue, Lula, and Hommes Japan to Wonderland. She even graced the pages Amelia’s Magazine to which she featured in issue 10, which is still up for grabs for the record, it’s worth taking a peak!

Her success is universal, making waves not merely within the fashion sphere but within Music also. She boasts eccentric followers from electro folk icon Patrick Wolf to the elegant Bishi. But she doesn’t just appeal to London’s Underground sphere, she has a whole host of high calibre clients from MTV, Selfridges to the V&A!

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Who knows what Fred Butler has hidden under her brightly coloured sleeve, I for one can’t wait to find out!
The Dø are Dan Levy and Olivia B. Merilahti, view who luckily for our ears found each other and started making pop music for fun whilst working on a soundtrack together.
They have already made it big outre-manche, site with their album A Mouthful got to Number 1. Their vibrant sound swings from the playground to the streets and back again, viagra making for an exciting album brimming to the rafters with curiosity, exuberance and passion. It’s strings sweep with cinematic drama over lullabies and hip-hop.
From their genre-switching music to their diverse cultural background; a mix of French (Dan) and Finnish (Olivia), their sound is more unique than any boy-girl duo to have come along for a while.

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Hello Olivia, how are you today?
I’m good thank you- trying to relax …it’s been a while since I’ve had a day off, and we’re getting ready for our crazy UK/Germany tour

Wow, it sounds like your super busy! Are you in Paris right now? I’m jealous, I used to live there and I miss it…
Yes- shall we swap? i’d rather live in London! I dont know why, I’ve always felt very close to England.

It’s a plan! I’ll pack my suitcase as soon as we’re done interviewing! :-)

So it’s probably the first thing most people want to ask about, but how did you guys decide on the name The Dø ? I read it means ‘death’ in Danish…

d+o=Dan+Olivia. Do=do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do! “do(e), a deer, a female deer” (check The Sound of Music). In Denmark it means somthing about death, yeah but, the “ø” was mostly because it looks like the note as written in traditional music theory.

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I like it, The Dø is a big melting pot of languages and cultures; even Austrian with The Sound of Music! I suppose musically as well you mix up the languages with English and Finnish…but not French- was that a concious decision?
Yeah- French was never an option in music for me, my musical language is English, it’s always been, because it is also my musical culture, and pop music has always been in English

Also French in it’s nature for me anyway seems very structured and constrained linguistically- maybe thats hard to put into music?

Like Opera was mostly sung in Italian, German or French…but not in English, really.
It’s just like using the instrument that feels right.

What about singing in Finnish? Listening to your album A Mouthful- it really adds a ethereal touch when it’s used, it such a lovely sounding language!
Hum, I guess the song & the melody of “Unissasi Laulelet” just came up naturally in
Finnish. I didn’t really plan to write a song in Finnish, but I do sometimes need to change and use Finnish in my compositions.

Cool, it’s great to be able to use language like another instrument like you said. Do you think you both approach music with different views on art and music or do you have a lot of similar tastes?
On some stuff we don’t agree, but we’re usually extremely connected. Two people working together is a very intense activity…our musical backgrounds are different, but we’re so complementary…

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Talking about other experiences and influences- what are/were your personal inspirations musically?
I grew up on a lot of songs, in English or Finnish. My mum used to sing me a lot of lullabies in Finnsh, and I guess it is still an inspiration…Then I discovered Nirvana and Hole, then Bjork, Fiona Apple, Ella Fitzgerald, Goran Bregovic, The Wutang and Eminem.
Dan grew up on jazz and discovered classical music in his teens.Dan’s influences are John Coltrane (Dan played the saxophone for many many years), Bela Bartok, Zappa, etc. He was always sure he would become a composer, while I was singing in bands from age 14, but I was very shy about my own songs.

Wow, from 14! So music, even at a young age, was something you definitely wanted to do later in life? And what about for Dan?
Yes, but since I didn’t grow up in a family that was artistic in any way, I didn’t realise until quite late that it could actually become a job! Whereas there was no doubt for Dan.

So what does the future hold for The Dø ?
We’re gonna keep touring until august, in the UK and the rest of Europe, and then we record album 2…we’ve started recording a few songs already and it feels amazing!

I’m really excited to hear that! Thank you! :-)

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A Mouthful is out now.
Welcome to the weird, order wonderful world of Catherine Le Page. This Quebecoise knows how to draw and her illustrations are have a beautiful je-ne-sais-quoi about them. The most interesting pieces create a unique vision of femininity from childhood to womanhood. Brands, case diets, boys, careers and children appear throughout her work, highlighting the concerns of the modern feminine psyche whilst utilising a self-consciously girly whimsical aesthetic. The combination of the two give a deeply intimate view of womanhood.

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As we see below, she seems to condone a sort of universal sisterhood of happiness; the “for better” whilst marriage is perhaps implied as the “for worse”. She both embraces the feminine in her themes of nature, motherhood and celebrations of the female body whilst questioning its social implications.

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The colours and lines used by Le Page are delightfully naive, like the imaginings of a teenage girl; all crushes and crying carved in crayon on pages torn out of squared exercise books, taking us back to the days of secret notes passed in class and writing boys names in pen on our knickers.

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Her work is always mature in it’s treatment of subject matter; like her couple holding hands at the corner of a page faced with giant colourful block arrows, with Le Page‘s native Canada imprinted hauntingly in the background, like the big scary future looming. Or a couple coping with a long distance relationship. Le Page‘s illustrations manage to be both personal whilst universal whilst still maintaining a strong sense of narrative.

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Le Page tightropes the line between a twee femininity and these astute quasi- feminist observations, whilst being neither particularly approving nor politically critical in her work. Yet because she, as a female artist, is asserted as a subject of creativity and expression; it is men who become objects of desire, whilst female concerns take centre stage. Yet does being female and addressing issues of femininity in art always have to be a feminist matter? Opinions welcome…I’m off to burn my bra.

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Categories ,canada, ,crayon, ,featured artist, ,feminism, ,illustration, ,pastel

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Amelia’s Magazine | Postcard Auction: Feminism in London

Illustration by Stephanie Thieullent

On Monday 4th October, buy The Aubin Gallery staged a fundraiser organised by artist Sarah Maple in support of the upcoming Feminism in London conference. The exhibition of postcards to be auctioned, cheap represented artists, writers, comediennes, designers and pop stars individual interpretation of contemporary Feminism.

Sarah Maple’s postcard went for the fantastic sum of 200 pounds.

The exhibition opened at 6.30 leaving plenty of time to examine the different ways feminism is understood in contemporary society, before the auction began at 8.

One postcard which struck an interesting note was David Rusbatch’s interpretation and categorising of the three rather didactic stages of feminism (as popularly played out in the press); Frieda Khalo represented Pre-Feminism, Germaine Greer is the symbol of Feminism and Post-Feminism was unsurprisingly a pornographic image.

The raucous event was compared by Jessica Stevenson (Spaced!) and Miriam Elia. These fantastic comedians ensured the audience spent the evening in stitches, through their various attempts to implore and cajole people into bidding.

Photograph by MJw Photography

Coinciding with the main event, was the Silent Auction, where you could find Miriam Elia and Jessica Haynes’ (nee Stevenson) musings on the theme…

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Jessica Hynes (Nee Stevenson)

Having never been to an auction before, it definitely appears to be more fun with money in your pocket. The 14 pieces which went under the comedically inept hammer were as follows: Julie Opie, Sarah Maple, Julie Verhoeven, Stuart Semple, Jo Brand, Kat Banyard, The Girls, Bob London, Susie Orbach, Kate Nash, Viv Albertine (the Slits), Sarah Lederman, Gerald Laing and Piers Secunda. The majority of the prints went for around £70, with Julian Opie being one of the three postcards to leap over £100.

After becoming enamored with Bob London’s Emily Pankhurst, the Wilderness Years stating “it will make me laugh everyday.” Jessica
asked whether it would be ok to place a bid herself (who would say no?!) before snapping it up for 60 quid.

Jo Brand’s “Feminism is about” postcard fetched 70 pounds.

Piers Secunda’s “I love you forever” written with a broken biro (with forever crossed out) brokered an unexpected bidding war, leaving Jessica to comment that people in the auidence could obviously spot ‘real’ art. The postcard went for 125 pounds, sadly neither of two girls who started the bidding won this particular postcard. Both were pipped to the post by a late contestant.

Stuart Semple raised £65 pounds after starting at 22p.

This month sees the release of Made in Dagenham, a feature film documenting the strike action taken by 187 Ford sowing machinists who refused to work until they received equal pay. After a recent appearance of a few of the campaigners on Women’s Hour it was disclosed that the pay gap between men and women (where it occurs) is larger than the difference these women originally fought for. Could there be a more apt time to bring feminism discussion back into mainstream conciseness?

Sarah Maple produced a fantastic warm up for Feminism in London, which will be taking place on Saturday 23rd October.

Categories ,Auctions, ,feminism, ,Feminism in London, ,Germaine Greer, ,Jessica Hynes, ,Jessica Stevenson, ,Jo Brand, ,Miriam Elia, ,Postcard, ,Sarah Maple, ,Stuart Semple, ,Susie Orbach, ,The Girls, ,the slits

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Amelia’s Magazine | Sister Like You by Bellykids at Lik + Neon

Sister Like You by Ellie Andrews

Sister Like You front cover by Ellie Andrews.

Sister Like You is the new book from cult indie publishers Belly Kids, featuring illustrations and stories about some of the fiercest women rulers in Ancient History, from Cleopatra to Elizabeth I. Most of the illustrations have been created by awesome female illustrators and are accompanied with text by Jade Coles. The book comes in an A5 format of over 50 Pages, Perfect Bound. To celebrate the launch last week at LIK + NEON just off Brick Lane, Belly Kids have printed up a selection of illustrations from the book as beautiful A3 and A2 prints, which you can now view on the walls and in the window of the shop, until 8th June 2014.

Sister Like You, Queen Elizabeth 2 by Ana Galvan

Queen Elizabeth II by Ana Galvan.

Jade Coles writes – “For the past 5 years I have been a performer in riot grrl all female punk choir GAGGLE. We have been lucky enough to tour all around the UK and Europe. I joined whilst studying fine art at Wimbledon School of Art, where my ideals of Feminism were being formed. Gaggle were asked to re write 5 sections of a mostly forgotten opera called ‘The Brilliant and the Dark‘ in which 1000 female volunteers performed the history of women in the Royal Albert Hall and it got me thinking on how such important facts could drift from history, losing significance. I started to research at the Womens Library at the London Met… and I couldn’t believe how much female history was crammed into the one tiny space!

Sister Like You, Queen Njinga Mbande by Charlotte Trounce

Queen Njinga Mbande by Charlotte Trounce.

Mike Coley of Belly Kids says “Belly Kids make a habit of revitalising Ancient stories, having released a book about the Egyptian God Osiris last year. Together we looked at the story of 9 female rulers, some you’ll have heard of and some you won’t know of at all. We reveal all the scandal and the gossip, taking the stories from the dull pages of history textbooks and, hopefully, bringing them to life in a humorous and fun way!

Enjoy our selection of work by some of the featured artists:

Ellie Andrews (at top) is a freelance artist and illustrator, who has also exhibited her vibrant work with Beach London.

Ana Galvan (above) is a freelance illustrator living and working in Madrid. She has a great range of editorial credits to her name including Wired magazine, Gestalten, Archive, Nobrow, to name a few.

Charlotte Trounce (also above) is a freelance illustrator living in London. She has worked for notable clients including The New York Times, M&C Saatchi, Anorak Magazine, Wrap Magazine to name a few.

Sister Like You, Catherine the Great by Alice Tye

Catherine the Great by Alice Tye.

Alice Tye is a recent graduate of the brilliant BA Illustration degree course at Camberwell College of Art and her work is influenced by modernist architecture and films. Alice is a member of Olio Studio.

Sister Like You, Queen Zenobia by Kaye Blegvad

Queen Zenobia by Kaye Blegvad.

Kaye Blegvad is an illustrator, designer, and general maker-of-things. She was born & raised in London, studied illustration at the University of Brighton, and since then has lived between London and Brooklyn.

Sister Like You, Queen Christina Portrait by Brigid Deacon

Queen Christina by Brigid Deacon.

Brigid Deacon is a comic artist and illustrator currently living in South-East London, interested in collaborations, commissions, print & play.

Other artists featured in the book include Donya Todd, Greg Kletsel, Molly Askey-Goldbury and Bradford Haubrich.

View the Sister Like You prints at Lik + Neon until 8th June at LIK + NEON 106 Sclater Street, London E1 6HR.

Categories ,Alice Tye, ,Ana Galvan, ,Beach London, ,Belly Kids, ,Bradford Haubrich, ,Brick Lane, ,Brigid Deacon, ,Camberwell College of Art, ,Charlotte Trounce, ,Cleopatra, ,Donya Todd, ,Elizabeth I, ,Ellie Andrews, ,Female Warriors, ,feminism, ,gaggle, ,Greg Kletsel, ,illustration, ,Jade Coles, ,Kaye Blegvad, ,LIK + NEON, ,Madrid, ,Mike Coley, ,Molly Askey-Goldbury, ,Olio Studio, ,Osiris, ,Queen Christina, ,Queen Njinga Mbande, ,Queen Zenobia, ,Sister Like You, ,The Brilliant and the Dark, ,University of Brighton, ,Wimbledon School of Art

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Amelia’s Magazine | KnockBack Magazine

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TONIGHT. E-ON REF OFF!

Coal Baddies E-ON (responsible for new coal-fired power station Kingsnorth) are also financial backers of the FA Cup. Lets wind them up some with some light hearted whistle blowing and chanting at tonight’s Arsenal Vs Cardiff Match.

Meet at 17.30pm outside Holloway Road tube station or outside the Hornsey Road entrance to the Emirates stadium before the 19.45 kick off. If you can, help treatment come dressed as a referee (black shorts, advice balck top with white collar and black shorts).

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EXT INKED

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Always wanted a tattoo but waiting till you find something ‘meaningful?’ Well here’s your chance…

This month would be 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. To celebrate The Ultimate Holding Company (UHC) is inviting 100 volunteers to become the ambassadors of 100 endangered UK species-by being permanently tattooed. UHC illustrators are busy creating the designs- from snails to sharks to seaweeds-to go on display at a free exhibition in Manchester later this summer. The project also aims to raise awareness of the Marine Conservation Society and Buglife (The Invertebrate Conservation Trust) who have helped compile the list of endangered species.

Find out more.

THE WASTED SPACES PROJECT-CALL FOR ARTISTS.

“A good Wasted Spaces artwork is measured by its ability to stop traffic.”

Wasted Spaces is an international non-profit organisation that transforms abandoned commercial space and empty shop front windows into exhibition space. In enabling young up- and- coming artists a much needed platform to showcase their work they help ‘reverse the decaying effect vacant commercial property has on local high streets.’

Brent council have recently provided funding to create several Wasted Spaces windows in the borough. Participating artists will receive free exhibition space and funding. If you live and/or work in the borough submit your work to proposals@wastedspaces.org. Deadline March 1st 2009.

THURSDAY 19TH FEBRUARY

HEATHROW EXPANSION PROTEST

17.30-19.30 outside 10 Downing Street. No third runway and no increase in flights using existing runways. Speakers include John Mcdonnel MP, Susan Kramer MP, Jean Lambert MEP. Organised by Campaign Against Climate Change.

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Photographers are a funny lot… put a load of them in one place with no-one to photograph but themselves and they get thoroughly confused. Thus was the situation this morning when I rocked up to New Scotland Yard with about a hundred other photographers, sick to make a stand against the new Counter Terrorism Act which comes into force today.

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Sliding slyly past the general public without much of a fuss this act makes it a criminal offence to take photos of the police or the armed forces if you are suspected of “terrorism.” Given the already alarming attitude within some quarters as to what exactly constitutes terrorism (I was effectively branded an eco-terrorist for my involvement in Climate Camp last year in a story that ran in the Observer, this before it was pulled with an apology) photographers have a right to feel concern about this depressing development.

For someone who has been on the receiving end of unnecessarily aggressive behaviour from the police, who are often heavy handed in their efforts to curtail freedom of speech and the right to protest, this feels to me like yet another big stride towards a police state. And I don’t say that lightly. Protesters and activists of many persuasions already have to put up with the intrusive and threatening presence of FIT teams, who follow our every move with an arsenal of big cameras whenever we challenge the misbehaviour of both our government and big corporations (who are often in collusion), and thus far our only weapon against any possible misdemeanours has been the ability to photograph them back. This could now be an arrestable offence in itself, despite the obvious neccessity to keep a watch on our police. The police habitually lie about the necessity of force, as was evidenced by the excessive policing that was seen at Kingsnorth Climate Camp. The truth about the “injuries” – a few possible bee stings and diarrhoea – of the police officers (which were used as justification for the disproportionate amount of money ploughed into the operation) surfaced in December, and reinforce the need for unbiased footage of demonstrations provided by freelance photographers. This is obviously now at risk and is yet another serious threat to the civil liberties that are being gradually eroded by our government.

But back to the sea of slightly bewildered photographers, obviously more used to being provided with something to photograph than having to create their own.

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Instead photographers turned in on themselves, devouring each other’s lenses with gigabytes. It was down to a few random souls to provide some colourful diversions amidst a sea of black.

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My friend climbed aloft and posed in her police hat and a red jumpsuit, before she was joined by a crafty photographer, garlanded with sexy old cameras of the type that I love to shoot with. He was soon relishing the turn of tables and firing away in front of that iconic New Scotland Yard rotating sign.

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The biggest frisson of the morning was provided by a photographer in a motorized wheelchair, who manouvered gallantly down the middle of the road, which the two coppers on duty were bound to keep clear. For a moment everyone spilled into the road, jostling for the best shot, before backing politely away again.

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Mark Thomas, the alternative comedian who has based much of his work on the right to protest, spoke for the rolling cameras, calling for an exhibition of photos of police officers. Perhaps he knows that FITwatch, set up to counteract the FIT teams, have already called for such a competition, with awards based on the most scary, funny and effective photographs taken (this last for photos which have had the most success in defending civil liberties – an issue never far away.)

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It was a strangely post modern occasion but one that was desperately needed to mark this most scary of developments. Long may we continue to defend our right to take photos of whatever we please. After all, as the stickers being given out announced, I’M A PHOTOGRAPHER ….NOT A TERRORIST.

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Monday 16th February

Crystal Stilts, viagra Manhattan Love Suicides, website like this Wet Dog, The Lexington, London

Heavily 80s influenced shoegaze-goths over from Brooklyn to play songs from their debut album.

Secret Machines, The Big Pink, The Joy Formidable, Islington Academy, London

Texas/New York psych rockers bring their driving dream rock to London. Joined by dead trendy Londoners The Big Pink.

Tuesday 17th February

Ra Ra Riot, King’s College, London

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I think my iTunes has got a bit of a crush on these guys, as it tries to attribute every CD I ever import onto it to them. Catchy folk rock not too far wrong though.

The Seal Cub Clubbing Club, 93 Feet East, London

Tongue-twister post-punk from up North.

Wednesday 18th February

Black Kids, Esser, Boy Crisis, Passion Pit, Koko, London

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The big famous draw are Cure-esque, impossibly catchy headliners Black Kids although the three support acts are also well worth catching. Esser is an electro one to watch for this year, fronted by ex Ladyfuzz drummer. Boy Crisis bring more 80s-tinged sounds with their Brooklyn electro-pop and Passion Pit bring some indie to the synths.

Thursday 19th February

Yo Zushi, Old Queens Head, London

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Quirky anti-folk from the mix-tape loving Londoner.

Asobi Seksu, ICA, London

Sweet girl vocals and alternative guitars at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Can’t say trendier than that.

Friday 20th February

Things To Make And Do: It Hugs Back, Gold Sounds, Victoria and Jacob, The Vital Organs, Wilmington Arms, London

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Resolutely indie fun Friday night fodder with music from lo-fi dream-pop headliners, new signings at 4AD. Followed by DJs.

The Walkmen, Hatcham Social, Electricity In Our Homes, Scala, London

Swaggering new wavey sounds from The Walkmen with a slightly more effete, Smiths-style take on the eighties from Hatcham Social.

Saturday 21st February

Herman Dune, Laura Marling, Johnny Flynn, Peggy Sue, Union Chapel, London

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All day folk fest at this lovely intimate venue with pretty much all the rising folkstars of the Western hemisphere performing.

Jane Birkin, Barbican Centre, London

Ex-Serge Gainsbourg wife and muse cracks out some of the old numbers with her breathy little girl voice. Some new numbers may be included too.

Sunday 22nd February

Sunn O))), Corsica Studios, London

Drone metal that is sure to pulsate through every fibre of your body at their reliably awe-inspiring concerts.

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Wouldn’t it be great if you spent each day hanging out with your closest childhood friend; drawing, here making, price building and all-round creating to your imagination’s absolute content? That’s what Sofie Hvass and Nan Na Hannibal do on a daily basis from a colourful little studio in the basement of an old house in Copenhagen. Love at first sight, Nan Na walked into school one day without knowing a soul, and was instantly drawn to the girl scribbling on the pages of her notebook – a relationship blossomed with much much more scribbling untill we arrive at Hvass&Hannibal, the Danish illustration duo with a beautiful and impressive back catalogue of exciting projects, all with their very distinctive and captivating signature – fantastical yet immediately relatable, wholesome; it looks like perfect childhood memories.

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Take one of their own favourite projects, a collaboration with Efterklang in September. In two very busy weeks, they did all the stage and costume work for their concert with the Danish Chamber Orchestra – pictured above – amalgamating in a very otherworldly, fairytale creation that enhances Efterklang’s sound; I want to wear one of those hats and have perfect circles attached to my cheeks! Hard work, they say, is what accounts for their success: “sometimes we are completely surprised at how difficult we are able make things for ourselves, because we get too ambitious – and if we aren’t satisfied we keep going on. But it probably pays off at the end!” It does.

They say that their dream project would be to build a house and I love to imagine what that would look like, though in the meantime, I’ll leave you with some creations they have made from the contents of their fridge; they decided to step away from their computers and work with a different medium, “food seemed to be an appropriate choice!”.

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Have a look at more of their work here, it will warm your cockles.
Campfire Songs

After recently going out of print on the Catsup label Paw Tracks have decided to re-issue Animal Collective‘s Campfire Songs EP. Apparently it’s not an album to listen to when sat around the campfire telling stories. Instead the songs contained on the disc are actually about the fire itself. So far so interesting.

Anyone who is familiar with Animal Collective’s recent output will know that they make music which is at once poppy and difficult. Last year’s Merriweather Post Pavilion had as many detractors as it did people praising it as album of the year, thumb in January! The tracks varied from the personal, stomach My Girls, and Brother Sport (which are about Noah Lennox’s, a.k.a Panda Bear wife and daughters and trying to get his brother to open up about their fathers death respectivley) to the more fun loving, Summertime Clothes, and Lion In A Coma.

Campfire Songs is as far removed from the sound of MPP or Strawberry Jam as it is possible to get. It almost sounds like a completely different band, except for Noah’s plaintive vocals. There are no drums, no synths, and certainly no big sounds. It’s just acoustic guitars being gently strummed while Noah breathily sing/chants over the top .

The album was recorded outside, on a porch, on mini-disc which allows the sounds of nature to be heard and adds a layer to the idea of making music from the elements. It’s an interesting experiment and certainly shows that Animal Collective have never been afraid to experiment. It also shows the bands development from their more noisy/acoustic sound to the electronic juggernauts that they have become.

It’s an album that I would certainly have on in the background while I was doing something else but I don’t think I’d want to sit down and actively listen to it. It seems that even amongst their fans, of which I consider myself a fairly big one, they can still be a divisive band. Something which I think is important as they aren’t trying to please anyone but themselves with their sonic experimentation.
On 20th March the highly anticipated The Age of Stupid will be released in cinemas nationwide. Amelia’s Magazine were lucky to get a sneak preview-and we were gripped. If ever you were burying your concerns for the state of the planet down there with ‘smoking won’t increase my risk of cancer, web ‘ then this is the film to shake you out of such delusion.

Directed by Franny Armstrong (McLibel, store Drowned Out), it is a documentary-drama-hybrid that starts in 2055 with Pete Postlethwaite (who, among other roles, played the priest in Romeo and Juliet!) living in a stark post-apocalyptic world ravaged by climate change. He looks back at ‘archive’ footage from 2008 and assembles a montage of documentary and news clips focussing on the stories of six individuals living in 2008. The catalytic question that Pete Postlewaite’s archivist searches to answer is ‘why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?’

We meet a variety of people from across the world. Poverty-stricken victims of oil companies like Shell, a windfarm developer whose struggle to develop greener sources energy is met with sickening adversity from his NIMBY neighbours, and an airline entrepreneur too dollar-eyed to see how he could be responsible.

The film brings to light what we smokers (try not to) know all to well. It is a strange component of the human psyche to stall when faced with an unwelcome calamity like climate change. In the same way the six separate lives are brought together as archive footage to encapsulate the multi-faceted cause behind runaway climate change, we must see past our individual lives to rethread the relationship between humanity and nature that has been severed by too many years of economic greed.

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Scenes from the film were shot in Jordan, India, New Orleans, the French Alps, Nigeria and England.

The Age of Stupid is released on 20th March at the following cinemas:

Chapter Cinema, Cardiff
Filmhouse, Edinburgh
Eden Court Theatre, Inverness
Glasgow Film Theatre , Glasgow
Watershed, Bristol
Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast
Showroom, Sheffield
Odeon Panton Street, Leicester Square, London
Rich Mix, Bethnal Green, London.
The Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn, London.

If you pinpointed the homelands of Wayter‘s members on a world map, click you’d quickly come to realise that a lot of space resides between each of the countries this four-piece individually call home. Hailing from Argentina, health Spain, England and Japan, it’s no surprise that Wayter are pulling in influences from all over the world (literally), and aren’t just another average band singing about how it’s grim up North, or moaning about failed summer romances.

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Their four-track debut EP, Marco Polo, presents a group of musicians proficient at combining a heavier, post-rock melancholy with instrumental learnings and eerie, soaring vocals. Opening track Ruins is swathed in eloquent layers of soft, atmospheric melodies, and following track Seed upholds the tight level of professionalism, with intricate guitar and a quiet, unfurling turbulence that slowly builds up under the textured sounds. Snowhite is a sprawl of complex guitar passages, that accompanied by singer Eddie’s driving shouts produces a darker, more progressive sound, and final track Marco Polo continues very much in the same vein, with a lurching yet established presence, verifying Wayter’s signature sound.

Overall, this debut introduces us to a band who aren’t finding their feet but know exactly where they stand, producing a clean, established and defined sound. Unfortunately, this also means that there’s little room for general experimentation with genres here. Wayter produce intelligent and comprehensive alt-rock, though may run the risk of pigeon-holing themselves in terms of style if they don’t mix things up every now and then. But as an initial introduction, they certainly make the right impression.

How could a whine ever give you shivers? That tortured, view little-kid pleading shouldn’t ever sound good. But then you hear Olivia B. Merilahti and your finger has wandered over to the repeat button for another hit of the pretty whining.

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Olivia is one half of The Dø, visit a French-Finnish duo from Paris. He (Dan Levy, on bass and keyboards) calls, and she responds, pouring some beautiful vocals over the top of his folk-pop. The French music press have been all over The Dø for a little over a year now, with hype in the blogosphere building up too, and this first single off their album A Mouthful (out 27th April) explains why.

On My Shoulder sounds like a sweet blast of Nina Persson from the Cardigans, only with slightly rougher edges and more interesting lyrics. It’s a confused, semi-pleading, semi pissed-off love song about feeling short-changed by a guy. ‘Why do I always help you carry your boulders? / You should know in my heart you fill every corner.’

If clips of them burning up on stage at festivals in France are anything to go by, this is a band best seen live, where they can let the full force of their quirkiness run riot. Pogoing about in Icelandic knitwear, 80s geometric acid brights, Indian feathers and old-school high-tops, Olivia looks like she’s been clothes swapping with Björk or Natasha from Bat For Lashes.

Flipping between sulky, sexy pouting from underneath her Bettie Paige fringe, or eyes closed, tear-stained wailing, she does her kaleidoscopic, melodic thing while Dan sprinkles flutes and bells over it all. The good news is, they’re currently on a mission to crack the UK, and live dates should be getting announced very soon.

Vibe Harsløf is a jewellery designer from Copenhagen and has designed collections for Paul Smith in the past and launched her own collection in October 2008. Her philosophy is to create unique and urban inspired, pharm yet lasting pieces. With over 10 years experience in the business, pharm she knows her stuff and agreed to have a little chat with us:

Why did you decide to specialise in jewellery design rather than clothes?
As an 18 year old I saw a degree show at a German design school with a
jewellery design line and it was a total eye opener. Today I would probably
find it rather pretentious, ampoule but back then I found it very inspiring that you
could make jewellery, using small objects out of literally anything.
I am still very fascinated by the idea that jewellery is small objects you carry around with you.

Have you ever designed clothes?

No.

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Who are your favourite designers?
I like the way Florian Ladstaetter plays with jewellery.
I also love Martin Margiela, Comme des Garcons and BLESS – I like their conceptual way of making clothes, but I also like more spectacular designers like Gareth Pugh.

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What are you currently working on?
I have just finished a jewellery line for the Danish clothing label PA:NUU . Besides that I am putting finishing touches to my next Vibe Harsløf collection.
In the near future I will start working on a collaboration with the Danish pipe
company Stanwell, making a pipe collection for them as well as a jewellery collection out of pipe tree.

Who or what inspires you?
Anything- conversations, pictures, new materials- anything basically that
creates images in my head.

How would you describe your personal style?
Jeans & trainers sometimes mixed with pieces from young designers – very casual.

Even if the hand necklace is freaky – it’s a good freaky, having seen it in the flesh, a striking and original piece. Love it. Thanks for chatting to us Vibe.
It was lovely to find we weren’t the only ones foolish enough to take on the tag team of TFL’s weekend tube works and the cheek reddening cold of another Saturday night in the capital. No One Died at The Enterprise and the bar below the venue were simply busting, drug the warm air rich with the full scale party assault of doo-wop and French pop, recipe every square inch of floor covered with smiles and dancing feet, medications balloons covering the ceiling. Amidst all the second-Christmas cheer was former Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall, holding court for a good thirty minutes.

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So what did we learn? Rose is making music far removed from her previous band. The term dream-pop was coined for music like this. Almost everything shimmers in some form with vibrato and chorus, Rose’s organ saturated with it. It’s a big scoop of early psychedelica topped with a dusting of vintage folk. The beats are uncomplicated yet driven and the melodies lush, Rose‘s voice cutting through it all like a hot knife through smoke, as bold as ever. It’s the kind of music you’d choose to dance around the kitchen while burning garlic bread to or wrap yourself in a blanket of saudade with on a cold Saturday night. Two or so songs in I found myself pondering why there is a lack of modern bands pulling vintage influences into modern songwriting, rather then just imitating. Maybe it’s time for the Government to bring in laws making children listen to their parents record collections?

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The band themselves wear two distinct faces tonight. The first half of the set they are in a word, aloof. Staring at their feet, three of five members with their fringes obscuring half their faces. Then mid-set Rose’s keyboards decide they no longer want to be on stage two or three times in the space of five minutes, the band make a mistake or two and decide it’s ok to smile. Set free from the Turkish opium bordello jam band stances of before, spirits raise, hands are placed on hips, all is right with the world. They’re not the finished article yet, but the potential is undeniable. Aside from debut single Another Version of Pop Song there are two or three other songs in the set which are just as delightful, the prospect of an album is mouth watering enough to make me invest in frozen garlic bread now for future kitchen dancing. The only issue I have with tonight’s set is how immediately after it I have to don an additional two layers to step outside and smoke. Her grace and music warmed our hearts, but Rose hasn’t been selfless enough to take patio heaters and a portable smoking tent on tour with her yet.

In recent years, nurse the Oxfam brand has had a brilliant image make over, more about no longer does it conjure up the image of dowdy, old lady smelling charity shops, only for those who can’t afford to go to ‘real shops’.
It is now a credible, yet very affordable place to shop, that still stays true to its charity roots. This in part may be due to the surge in recent years for vintage and recycled clothes and the fact that retail genius Jane Shepherdson volunteered to work for the brand after leaving her post as Brand Director at Topshop.

During her reign at Oxfam, Shepherdson introduced the Oxfam Boutique, which works in collaboration with ethical brands such as Made and People Tree and gets designers such as Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders to rework clothes and create collections from donated pieces. Every season there are designer contributions, along with London College of Fashion students who assist in the making of the collections. Overall they produce goods that “provide shoppers with unique style, beautiful one-off clothes, and the assurance that every item will raise money to fight poverty around the world.” To quote Oxfam.

To launch their S/S 09 collection they have pulled out all the stops, recruiting famed fashion photographer Rankin to take the shots and Dazed and Confused stylist Katie Shillingford to style the clothes. We have some snaps of the new collection for you here:

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The result is a very stylish, wearable and covetable collection which is available online and from any of the three Oxfam Boutiques in London.

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“I don’t feel I’ve really engaged with a place until I can taste or smell it, advice you know?” So Gayle Chong Kwan tells me as we settle down to a hot drink on a cold day in a mutually favourite cafe in Bethnal Green. And yes, viagra I do. Her smile is warm and wide and she is bubbling with energy, a constitution that matches or perhaps fuels the lifestyle of this Scottish/Chinese/Mauritian artist based, for the moment, in East London, and with a long list of countries she’s called home in her wake. I am further endeared to her when she tells me that she is not easily disgusted. A high threshold for things deemed unpalatable must come in useful when constructing installations from discarded food collected in Portobello Market, working in kebab shops, or in the mushrooming shanty towns that now sprawl over the city rubbish dumps of Medellin, Colombia. Thick -skinned, strong-stomached, and infectiously vivacious; of mixed origin, background (history and politics then art), and place: the person and the work are viscerally matched.

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Gayle explaining some sort of food preparation involving a blow-dryer

The senses get mixed into a lot of Gayle’s work. Using photography, video, sound, installation, and performance, she likes to involve people in rituals or exchanges exploring ideas of history and myth, the senses and their connection with memories. “Taste and smell can awaken rare aspects of memory”, she explains; and who can’t relate to that? The strongest memories are surely those that have a texture to them beyond imagery, just think of Proust’s Madelaine. One project evokes this particularly, one that took place in the very postcode in which we now sit: The Memory Tasting Unit, 2004:

I gathered food memories from people who live and work in the Roman Road in East London. The foodstuff described was bought and cooked according to their recommendations, and made available in the unit, installed back in the same road, so that visitors were able to taste other people’s memories as well as record their own. Under controlled conditions, including wearing blindfolds and headphones, single visitors were able to focus on and recall memories aroused by the ingredients chosen by people who live and work in that road.

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Memory Tasting Unit

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Memory Tasting Unit

Gayle’s work is often very context specific, improvising with and responding to environments as they occur. Her work in Medellin for instance is not yet fully formed, but you can count that in a place where nothing is wasted, it will have something to do with recycled materials.

The inhabitants’ main economic activities revolve around the recycling and processing of waste materials. There is a re-settlement programme in the area due to the unhealthy living conditions and the hazardous chemicals under the town, but I feel that there is much that we could learn in Europe from the way in which they re-use and re-cycle and give a different value to the materials they work with and by which they are surrounded.

It relates closely to previous projects, centering around waste materials. Being friends with Gayle might easily involve taking all your plastic bottles and waste to her Hackney studio where she will rework it into something completely different, see below.

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The Grand Tour

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Gayle has been selected as one of the Vauxhall Collective as on of UK’s most talented artists, and commissioned for a project entitled “The Great British Road Trip”. Before meeting me she had spent the past few weeks trudging through snow in the Orkney Islands off the coast of northern Scotland, taking photographs for a project that will explore the sometimes frustrated relationship between photography and the senses. Whether Vauxhall say she is talented or not, she has certainly pricked my interest, and I look forwards to seeing (touching, smelling and tasting) her work in the near future.
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Frock Me at Chelsea Town Hall was teeming with glitzy vintage fashion and cream cakes. It was intense. I was very pleased to find Rebecca Denholm’s stall The Cat’s Meow. I fell in love with her stall at Portobello Market but since moving norf I haven’t been close to check out her latest finds. I’m happy to report that her unique collection of delicate and tailored dresses is still strong, look and there has been a fantastic addition of some quirky graphic prints!

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1940′s ‘America’ novelty print dress

Rebecca kindly agreeed to have a little chat with us.

Hi Rebecca, tell us a bit about yourself.
I live in Glasgow.. I moved up to Scotland on a whim after working a 36 hour shift for an architectural model makers. I was just sick of being broke in London sleeping on my Dad’s sitting room floor. I always wanted to be a theatre director. I had worked in performance and theatre design while in London but I fell out of love with it.
I studied theatre for 1 year in Glasgow (hoping I would fall in love again) but the course was trying too hard to be avant garde and it felt shallow.. I changed to study architecture which in my mind wasn’t that far from theatre design.. but I got very ill in the first year. So I’m a college drop out with little education.

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Classic 50′s lipstick red vintage dress

When did you first start collecting?
I started collecting from age 10, buying from the flea market and the antiques centre in Bath. I liked the romance of something old… I think I’ve left the romance behind now.. I’m more interested in the craftmanship of pieces.

When did you decide to sell?
I started selling because I was a broke student and needed to sell some stuff to pay the bills. I thought I was doing well selling my Terry de Havilland snakeskin wedges for £20 making a profit of £2! But of course I didn’t know who de Havilland was then… not until I saw a picture of the same shoes online… the V&A had just bought them for a huge sum. Everything I sold first was from my collection. I was selling my 30′s tea dresses for under £20. It didn’t take long until I started buying and had more stuff than I started with.

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1940′s cute maternity dress

How has the journey been?

It started at Portobello. For the first 2 years I don’t think I made a living from it… there was nothing financially clever about it but I got my passion for clothes back. Some dealers buy names or dresses that they can sell at a huge mark up but I’ve learned never to buy anything just for money.. you have to love it otherwise it feels like cheating to sell it to someone else.
The more you collect the more addictive the finding process gets… I’m always on the hunt to find the dress shape, textile or print that I’ve never seen before. The hunt keeps getting harder but it keeps me entertained.
When I started I couldn’t afford to keep anything. There are still things I’ve sold that I regret. One time at Portobello a designer wanted to buy what I was wearing and I thought it would be undignified to sell the clothes on my back but I later hired the dress to him and that started up the hire side of my business. It’s great cause it means I have a wardrobe full of my favourite pieces. I lend to lots of designers now and it’s really satisfying to see the influence that the clothes have had in the collections.

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1940′s Silk Scottydog print

What’s your favorite period of fashion history?

Most of the clothes I sell are Edwardian to the1960′s. My favourites being the 1920′s embroidered shift dresses and 40′s & 50′s tailored dresses. The 1940′s is easily the most creative era. Sexy, clever dresses without the excess and indulgence of the 1920′s and 1950′s. I often find the dresses can look quite plain on the hanger but when worn the tailoring can become quite magical. The clothes were never loud.. always understated, often with a lot of humour in the details or print.

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Funky 40′s musical instrument print dress

Do you design your own stuff?

My granny trained as a dress maker.. taking apart the Paris couture collections and remaking them for London customers. The construction of many old clothes is incredible because so much time was invested. People cut corners and loose details so often now. I’d like to find the time to properly make a collection of classics, that would be timeless and beautiful without exploitation… but the production would be expensive… till then there’s always vintage.

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Rare 50′s swing dance blouse with fantastic diagrams

Where do you find everything?

I can’t tell you all my secrets, but I often spend 30 hours a week or more to find just 15 or so dresses. I get things from Scottish dealers, from retired collectors in London and contacts I‘ve made in America.


What are your hopes for the future?

The drive down from Glasgow to London is a real killer so short term I’d love more people to visit me in Glasgow… perhaps I should throw a tea party this spring… watch this space!
There isn’t an endless source of vintage clothing and my fear is that the really rare vintage will eventually be impossible to find or super expensive… that means I’d be out of a job… so eventually I’d like to move back to London so I can continue with The Cat’s Meow whilst getting stuck into my own design work.

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1940′s sexy wiggle shirt dress with dancers print

Where can we find you?

You can visit the studio in Glasgow by appointment or you can find me at Portobello Market most Fridays under the canopy. I am also a regular at the Frock me! vintage fair (March 22nd)and Hammersmith vintage fair (March 15th). Oh and a vintage fair in Bath at the Assembly Rooms this Sunday (22nd Feb)!

Tel: 0141 3310954/ 07986 479 275
meowmore@hotmail.co.uk

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1950′s horse racing print dress

Chicagoan Andrew Bird delivers his latest studio album with the confidence we are now accustomed to after four previous albums. True to form, buy Noble Beast is soaked in classic folk ballads and showered with simple guitar riffs with the occasional spit of flamenco and modern rock. However, ask as can often become the case after a few records for singer-songwriters with a certain indie-folk bent, here this is a bit of a wet album. Nothing particularly original or groundbreaking here (in Bird terms or generally); nothing that makes you down tools and check your mouth isn’t wide open; nothing that slams you against the wall and changes your view of the world.

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Listeners and Bird fans hoping for this kind of sensation will be disappointed, but I think that misses the point slightly. Lower your expectations of this prodigiously talented musician only slightly and you realise that Bird is a natural storyteller and has a unique honesty in his voice, to back up the simple soothing melodies of this most recent work. Add some violin crescendos and the occasional bang to the mix and he ends up with enough variance between the tracks to keep us interested.

But boy is this guy bitter – there aint no track to make you jump at a party. Recurrent themes of death, ghosts, disasters and the like don’t instil happiness. Even Masterswarm, with it’s semi-energetic, happy-go-lucky latin clap contains self depricating lyrics. Oh, and please don’t be fooled by Track 11′s devil-may-care guitar intro – the track is, surprisingly, Natural Disaster. Say no more.

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There’s refreshment to be had on standout track Not A Robot, But A Ghost, which ups the tempo and is slightly edgier than the rest of the album. Noble Beast is far from depressing, but after fourteen tracks, you can’t help thinking ‘Oh, come on Bird. It can’t be that bad’. Behind the morose lyrics and angst ridden vocals there’s a good singer, an instinctive versifier and a damn good classical musician. He’s obviously got quite a lot to be cheerful about; maybe he could let some rays of sunshine through for the next album.
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Drawings by BELINDA FRIKH (channeled from ‘Scribblerina-the biro dancin ballerina’)

At 7.15 am on Valentines Day, this site when the moon was in the 7th house and Jupiter aligned with Mars, website Climety Change, Motheer Treeza, Sustainabelle and the climate crew known as B4B sky rocketed from outer space to cyber space with an urgent message.This planet-saving posse of super heroines want to recruit YOU to spread the word that our powerlessness to zap out pollution is purely an alliterative error.

‘ Earthlings working 4 Big Mother put planet & people B4 profit & pollution & those working 4 Big Brother put profit & pollution B4 planet & people.’

Whether you’re a babe, badger or bloke as long as you’re 4 the Biosphere and believe in the power of *love * then join B4B today to find out about secret missions. Wham! Zip! Quick get moving so we can strike Fossillus the Fuel and The Carbon Foot Prince of Darkness before they turn this globe to gloop.

Mystified? So was I…here’s a little info that might make things clearer.
B4B has been brought to us by 999 It’s Time ambassador, Misty Oldland. In preparation for the Climate Conference in Coppenhagen, it is a ‘giant melting pot’ of action groups and individuals who care about the planet and want to act to make our politicians wise up. ‘The mother of all mailing lists’ it will provide information on actions and events that you can get involved in as well as important bits of information from our biosphere super babes. Tune in dudes.

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Why does garlic always make me so thirsty? Does anyone else have this problem?! I was late home for lunch today and all the interns had vanished so I fried up a bit of gnocci with garlic, no rx hence my random thoughts. I had just returned from one of Pure Groove‘s lunchtime instores, hospital the first time I have been to one in ages. I had picked up a flyer earlier this week and noticed that “bloggers’ favourite” Passion Pit were playing there today. Anyone who is now following us on Twitter will have noticed that I have taken a shine to this New York band of boys, since I received their new EP Chunk of Change in the post last week. So Luisa and I got on our bikes and headed down to find out what they are like in the flesh.

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Pure Groove has recently been remodelled to include a coffee bar, a sensible move in these recessionary times, even if I have always thought of coffee as an expensive luxury in itself. It was absolutely rammed.

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I immediately bumped into my old mate James, who gleefully told me that the Kings of Leon thanked him personally at the Brits last night (he does their PR). He also does the PR for Passion Pit, hence his presence. I made him promise me I’ll get an advance copy of their album as soon as it arrives.

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Endearingly scruffy and slightly non-plussed by technical difficulties, this was only Passion Pit‘s third gig in the UK, but judging by the turn out they are already turning heads and ears. And with good reason. Their brand of catchy synth pop stands out head and shoulders above other recent offerings, maybe in part to the lead singer’s unique falsetto – at times he sounds like a small child of the type that might be found shrieking at the back of a Michael Jackson offering.

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I have indeed (catch Twitter) been listening to standout track I’ve Got Your Number on repeat for some days now. It doesn’t take much to get me toe-tapping and jigging around, and what better way to spend a lunchtime eh?! If you work anywhere near Pure Groove I recommend you take a look at their line-up – it’s a great place to catch up and coming bands in your lunch hour, and you can even saunter up for a quick chat at the end. No airs and graces here!

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As the four song set drew to a close I spotted the fabulous merch across the room – I really want the emerald t-shirt with a cute alpine scene on it, but I’m skint. James, are you reading?! You promised me one…

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Slap your thigh and believe it, case KB4 is (almost) here, and apparently it’s the shiniest yet. Are you acquainted? You should be. Deliciously designed and compact, KnockBack is the A5 antidote to mainstream woman’s media. I remember the first time I read it the way you remember the first time you stayed out long enough to see the sunrise – in on a good secret and somehow more equipped to conquer the world. I also felt sick, but that’s because I was in a sweaty car driving back from Secret Garden and I can’t multi-task being a passenger and reading at the same time.

It’s naming is ironic. Knock-back is what woman’s magazines do – they make you feel bad about yourself. I care about the way I look and a floral onsie in a shop a week ago set my heart racing, but I don’t want to read about weight, shoes, or the latest from Tinsletown, anyone else? The zine is borne out of feeling utterly unrepresented by a barrage of magazines that seem either to patronize or objectify women, and so creator Marie Berry and friends got together and made KB because “fuck, someone had to”. There are no adverts because the don’t like them, and copies were initially free, but snowballing popularity has meant escalating demand and printing fees so that it now gets itself to the page with donations from readers.

Since it’s conception there has been a lot of hoohah about feminism. The Guardian featured KB with five other feminist magazines to emerge around the same time, and Zadie Smith described it as “a little ray of pink and black hope” for the present situation for women. But they didn’t set out to be feminists. KnockBack has the impassioned enthusiasm and honesty that comes when a group of people create their own platform to do and say what they want, which in the sugar-coated case of KnockBack, is to make us laugh.

Aside from shiny, news from Berry is as follows:

KB4, hmm, it is shiny, it went to print today, there’s only one typo, the first person to point it out to me gets pinched. It’s the Smoke & Mirrors issue, it’s all growed up, still aggressive but more constructively so. It is a return to form, we’re scared nobody will like the writing but confident that everyone will LOVE the way it looks. (by we i mean me and my multiple personality disorder).

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It will be out towards the end of March (we’ll remind you), and there is a launch party set tentatively for April 2nd. Anyone wishing buy a copy should either come to the launch, or donate, but not until it is released because you’ll get the last copy (well-dressed), which has the best quiz I ever did indulge in (p. 22 what’s your geometric style personality?). I for one cannot wait. Berry is going into hiding until further notice.

Categories ,Feminism, ,Indie

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Amelia’s Magazine | KnockBack Magazine

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TONIGHT. E-ON REF OFF!

Coal Baddies E-ON (responsible for new coal-fired power station Kingsnorth) are also financial backers of the FA Cup. Lets wind them up some with some light hearted whistle blowing and chanting at tonight’s Arsenal Vs Cardiff Match.

Meet at 17.30pm outside Holloway Road tube station or outside the Hornsey Road entrance to the Emirates stadium before the 19.45 kick off. If you can, help treatment come dressed as a referee (black shorts, advice balck top with white collar and black shorts).

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EXT INKED

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Always wanted a tattoo but waiting till you find something ‘meaningful?’ Well here’s your chance…

This month would be 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. To celebrate The Ultimate Holding Company (UHC) is inviting 100 volunteers to become the ambassadors of 100 endangered UK species-by being permanently tattooed. UHC illustrators are busy creating the designs- from snails to sharks to seaweeds-to go on display at a free exhibition in Manchester later this summer. The project also aims to raise awareness of the Marine Conservation Society and Buglife (The Invertebrate Conservation Trust) who have helped compile the list of endangered species.

Find out more.

THE WASTED SPACES PROJECT-CALL FOR ARTISTS.

“A good Wasted Spaces artwork is measured by its ability to stop traffic.”

Wasted Spaces is an international non-profit organisation that transforms abandoned commercial space and empty shop front windows into exhibition space. In enabling young up- and- coming artists a much needed platform to showcase their work they help ‘reverse the decaying effect vacant commercial property has on local high streets.’

Brent council have recently provided funding to create several Wasted Spaces windows in the borough. Participating artists will receive free exhibition space and funding. If you live and/or work in the borough submit your work to proposals@wastedspaces.org. Deadline March 1st 2009.

THURSDAY 19TH FEBRUARY

HEATHROW EXPANSION PROTEST

17.30-19.30 outside 10 Downing Street. No third runway and no increase in flights using existing runways. Speakers include John Mcdonnel MP, Susan Kramer MP, Jean Lambert MEP. Organised by Campaign Against Climate Change.

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Photographers are a funny lot… put a load of them in one place with no-one to photograph but themselves and they get thoroughly confused. Thus was the situation this morning when I rocked up to New Scotland Yard with about a hundred other photographers, sick to make a stand against the new Counter Terrorism Act which comes into force today.

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Sliding slyly past the general public without much of a fuss this act makes it a criminal offence to take photos of the police or the armed forces if you are suspected of “terrorism.” Given the already alarming attitude within some quarters as to what exactly constitutes terrorism (I was effectively branded an eco-terrorist for my involvement in Climate Camp last year in a story that ran in the Observer, this before it was pulled with an apology) photographers have a right to feel concern about this depressing development.

For someone who has been on the receiving end of unnecessarily aggressive behaviour from the police, who are often heavy handed in their efforts to curtail freedom of speech and the right to protest, this feels to me like yet another big stride towards a police state. And I don’t say that lightly. Protesters and activists of many persuasions already have to put up with the intrusive and threatening presence of FIT teams, who follow our every move with an arsenal of big cameras whenever we challenge the misbehaviour of both our government and big corporations (who are often in collusion), and thus far our only weapon against any possible misdemeanours has been the ability to photograph them back. This could now be an arrestable offence in itself, despite the obvious neccessity to keep a watch on our police. The police habitually lie about the necessity of force, as was evidenced by the excessive policing that was seen at Kingsnorth Climate Camp. The truth about the “injuries” – a few possible bee stings and diarrhoea – of the police officers (which were used as justification for the disproportionate amount of money ploughed into the operation) surfaced in December, and reinforce the need for unbiased footage of demonstrations provided by freelance photographers. This is obviously now at risk and is yet another serious threat to the civil liberties that are being gradually eroded by our government.

But back to the sea of slightly bewildered photographers, obviously more used to being provided with something to photograph than having to create their own.

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Instead photographers turned in on themselves, devouring each other’s lenses with gigabytes. It was down to a few random souls to provide some colourful diversions amidst a sea of black.

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My friend climbed aloft and posed in her police hat and a red jumpsuit, before she was joined by a crafty photographer, garlanded with sexy old cameras of the type that I love to shoot with. He was soon relishing the turn of tables and firing away in front of that iconic New Scotland Yard rotating sign.

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The biggest frisson of the morning was provided by a photographer in a motorized wheelchair, who manouvered gallantly down the middle of the road, which the two coppers on duty were bound to keep clear. For a moment everyone spilled into the road, jostling for the best shot, before backing politely away again.

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Mark Thomas, the alternative comedian who has based much of his work on the right to protest, spoke for the rolling cameras, calling for an exhibition of photos of police officers. Perhaps he knows that FITwatch, set up to counteract the FIT teams, have already called for such a competition, with awards based on the most scary, funny and effective photographs taken (this last for photos which have had the most success in defending civil liberties – an issue never far away.)

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It was a strangely post modern occasion but one that was desperately needed to mark this most scary of developments. Long may we continue to defend our right to take photos of whatever we please. After all, as the stickers being given out announced, I’M A PHOTOGRAPHER ….NOT A TERRORIST.

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Monday 16th February

Crystal Stilts, viagra Manhattan Love Suicides, website like this Wet Dog, The Lexington, London

Heavily 80s influenced shoegaze-goths over from Brooklyn to play songs from their debut album.

Secret Machines, The Big Pink, The Joy Formidable, Islington Academy, London

Texas/New York psych rockers bring their driving dream rock to London. Joined by dead trendy Londoners The Big Pink.

Tuesday 17th February

Ra Ra Riot, King’s College, London

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I think my iTunes has got a bit of a crush on these guys, as it tries to attribute every CD I ever import onto it to them. Catchy folk rock not too far wrong though.

The Seal Cub Clubbing Club, 93 Feet East, London

Tongue-twister post-punk from up North.

Wednesday 18th February

Black Kids, Esser, Boy Crisis, Passion Pit, Koko, London

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The big famous draw are Cure-esque, impossibly catchy headliners Black Kids although the three support acts are also well worth catching. Esser is an electro one to watch for this year, fronted by ex Ladyfuzz drummer. Boy Crisis bring more 80s-tinged sounds with their Brooklyn electro-pop and Passion Pit bring some indie to the synths.

Thursday 19th February

Yo Zushi, Old Queens Head, London

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Quirky anti-folk from the mix-tape loving Londoner.

Asobi Seksu, ICA, London

Sweet girl vocals and alternative guitars at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Can’t say trendier than that.

Friday 20th February

Things To Make And Do: It Hugs Back, Gold Sounds, Victoria and Jacob, The Vital Organs, Wilmington Arms, London

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Resolutely indie fun Friday night fodder with music from lo-fi dream-pop headliners, new signings at 4AD. Followed by DJs.

The Walkmen, Hatcham Social, Electricity In Our Homes, Scala, London

Swaggering new wavey sounds from The Walkmen with a slightly more effete, Smiths-style take on the eighties from Hatcham Social.

Saturday 21st February

Herman Dune, Laura Marling, Johnny Flynn, Peggy Sue, Union Chapel, London

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All day folk fest at this lovely intimate venue with pretty much all the rising folkstars of the Western hemisphere performing.

Jane Birkin, Barbican Centre, London

Ex-Serge Gainsbourg wife and muse cracks out some of the old numbers with her breathy little girl voice. Some new numbers may be included too.

Sunday 22nd February

Sunn O))), Corsica Studios, London

Drone metal that is sure to pulsate through every fibre of your body at their reliably awe-inspiring concerts.

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Wouldn’t it be great if you spent each day hanging out with your closest childhood friend; drawing, here making, price building and all-round creating to your imagination’s absolute content? That’s what Sofie Hvass and Nan Na Hannibal do on a daily basis from a colourful little studio in the basement of an old house in Copenhagen. Love at first sight, Nan Na walked into school one day without knowing a soul, and was instantly drawn to the girl scribbling on the pages of her notebook – a relationship blossomed with much much more scribbling untill we arrive at Hvass&Hannibal, the Danish illustration duo with a beautiful and impressive back catalogue of exciting projects, all with their very distinctive and captivating signature – fantastical yet immediately relatable, wholesome; it looks like perfect childhood memories.

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Take one of their own favourite projects, a collaboration with Efterklang in September. In two very busy weeks, they did all the stage and costume work for their concert with the Danish Chamber Orchestra – pictured above – amalgamating in a very otherworldly, fairytale creation that enhances Efterklang’s sound; I want to wear one of those hats and have perfect circles attached to my cheeks! Hard work, they say, is what accounts for their success: “sometimes we are completely surprised at how difficult we are able make things for ourselves, because we get too ambitious – and if we aren’t satisfied we keep going on. But it probably pays off at the end!” It does.

They say that their dream project would be to build a house and I love to imagine what that would look like, though in the meantime, I’ll leave you with some creations they have made from the contents of their fridge; they decided to step away from their computers and work with a different medium, “food seemed to be an appropriate choice!”.

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Have a look at more of their work here, it will warm your cockles.
Campfire Songs

After recently going out of print on the Catsup label Paw Tracks have decided to re-issue Animal Collective‘s Campfire Songs EP. Apparently it’s not an album to listen to when sat around the campfire telling stories. Instead the songs contained on the disc are actually about the fire itself. So far so interesting.

Anyone who is familiar with Animal Collective’s recent output will know that they make music which is at once poppy and difficult. Last year’s Merriweather Post Pavilion had as many detractors as it did people praising it as album of the year, thumb in January! The tracks varied from the personal, stomach My Girls, and Brother Sport (which are about Noah Lennox’s, a.k.a Panda Bear wife and daughters and trying to get his brother to open up about their fathers death respectivley) to the more fun loving, Summertime Clothes, and Lion In A Coma.

Campfire Songs is as far removed from the sound of MPP or Strawberry Jam as it is possible to get. It almost sounds like a completely different band, except for Noah’s plaintive vocals. There are no drums, no synths, and certainly no big sounds. It’s just acoustic guitars being gently strummed while Noah breathily sing/chants over the top .

The album was recorded outside, on a porch, on mini-disc which allows the sounds of nature to be heard and adds a layer to the idea of making music from the elements. It’s an interesting experiment and certainly shows that Animal Collective have never been afraid to experiment. It also shows the bands development from their more noisy/acoustic sound to the electronic juggernauts that they have become.

It’s an album that I would certainly have on in the background while I was doing something else but I don’t think I’d want to sit down and actively listen to it. It seems that even amongst their fans, of which I consider myself a fairly big one, they can still be a divisive band. Something which I think is important as they aren’t trying to please anyone but themselves with their sonic experimentation.
On 20th March the highly anticipated The Age of Stupid will be released in cinemas nationwide. Amelia’s Magazine were lucky to get a sneak preview-and we were gripped. If ever you were burying your concerns for the state of the planet down there with ‘smoking won’t increase my risk of cancer, web ‘ then this is the film to shake you out of such delusion.

Directed by Franny Armstrong (McLibel, store Drowned Out), it is a documentary-drama-hybrid that starts in 2055 with Pete Postlethwaite (who, among other roles, played the priest in Romeo and Juliet!) living in a stark post-apocalyptic world ravaged by climate change. He looks back at ‘archive’ footage from 2008 and assembles a montage of documentary and news clips focussing on the stories of six individuals living in 2008. The catalytic question that Pete Postlewaite’s archivist searches to answer is ‘why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?’

We meet a variety of people from across the world. Poverty-stricken victims of oil companies like Shell, a windfarm developer whose struggle to develop greener sources energy is met with sickening adversity from his NIMBY neighbours, and an airline entrepreneur too dollar-eyed to see how he could be responsible.

The film brings to light what we smokers (try not to) know all to well. It is a strange component of the human psyche to stall when faced with an unwelcome calamity like climate change. In the same way the six separate lives are brought together as archive footage to encapsulate the multi-faceted cause behind runaway climate change, we must see past our individual lives to rethread the relationship between humanity and nature that has been severed by too many years of economic greed.

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Scenes from the film were shot in Jordan, India, New Orleans, the French Alps, Nigeria and England.

The Age of Stupid is released on 20th March at the following cinemas:

Chapter Cinema, Cardiff
Filmhouse, Edinburgh
Eden Court Theatre, Inverness
Glasgow Film Theatre , Glasgow
Watershed, Bristol
Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast
Showroom, Sheffield
Odeon Panton Street, Leicester Square, London
Rich Mix, Bethnal Green, London.
The Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn, London.

If you pinpointed the homelands of Wayter‘s members on a world map, click you’d quickly come to realise that a lot of space resides between each of the countries this four-piece individually call home. Hailing from Argentina, health Spain, England and Japan, it’s no surprise that Wayter are pulling in influences from all over the world (literally), and aren’t just another average band singing about how it’s grim up North, or moaning about failed summer romances.

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Their four-track debut EP, Marco Polo, presents a group of musicians proficient at combining a heavier, post-rock melancholy with instrumental learnings and eerie, soaring vocals. Opening track Ruins is swathed in eloquent layers of soft, atmospheric melodies, and following track Seed upholds the tight level of professionalism, with intricate guitar and a quiet, unfurling turbulence that slowly builds up under the textured sounds. Snowhite is a sprawl of complex guitar passages, that accompanied by singer Eddie’s driving shouts produces a darker, more progressive sound, and final track Marco Polo continues very much in the same vein, with a lurching yet established presence, verifying Wayter’s signature sound.

Overall, this debut introduces us to a band who aren’t finding their feet but know exactly where they stand, producing a clean, established and defined sound. Unfortunately, this also means that there’s little room for general experimentation with genres here. Wayter produce intelligent and comprehensive alt-rock, though may run the risk of pigeon-holing themselves in terms of style if they don’t mix things up every now and then. But as an initial introduction, they certainly make the right impression.

How could a whine ever give you shivers? That tortured, view little-kid pleading shouldn’t ever sound good. But then you hear Olivia B. Merilahti and your finger has wandered over to the repeat button for another hit of the pretty whining.

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Olivia is one half of The Dø, visit a French-Finnish duo from Paris. He (Dan Levy, on bass and keyboards) calls, and she responds, pouring some beautiful vocals over the top of his folk-pop. The French music press have been all over The Dø for a little over a year now, with hype in the blogosphere building up too, and this first single off their album A Mouthful (out 27th April) explains why.

On My Shoulder sounds like a sweet blast of Nina Persson from the Cardigans, only with slightly rougher edges and more interesting lyrics. It’s a confused, semi-pleading, semi pissed-off love song about feeling short-changed by a guy. ‘Why do I always help you carry your boulders? / You should know in my heart you fill every corner.’

If clips of them burning up on stage at festivals in France are anything to go by, this is a band best seen live, where they can let the full force of their quirkiness run riot. Pogoing about in Icelandic knitwear, 80s geometric acid brights, Indian feathers and old-school high-tops, Olivia looks like she’s been clothes swapping with Björk or Natasha from Bat For Lashes.

Flipping between sulky, sexy pouting from underneath her Bettie Paige fringe, or eyes closed, tear-stained wailing, she does her kaleidoscopic, melodic thing while Dan sprinkles flutes and bells over it all. The good news is, they’re currently on a mission to crack the UK, and live dates should be getting announced very soon.

Vibe Harsløf is a jewellery designer from Copenhagen and has designed collections for Paul Smith in the past and launched her own collection in October 2008. Her philosophy is to create unique and urban inspired, pharm yet lasting pieces. With over 10 years experience in the business, pharm she knows her stuff and agreed to have a little chat with us:

Why did you decide to specialise in jewellery design rather than clothes?
As an 18 year old I saw a degree show at a German design school with a
jewellery design line and it was a total eye opener. Today I would probably
find it rather pretentious, ampoule but back then I found it very inspiring that you
could make jewellery, using small objects out of literally anything.
I am still very fascinated by the idea that jewellery is small objects you carry around with you.

Have you ever designed clothes?

No.

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Who are your favourite designers?
I like the way Florian Ladstaetter plays with jewellery.
I also love Martin Margiela, Comme des Garcons and BLESS – I like their conceptual way of making clothes, but I also like more spectacular designers like Gareth Pugh.

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What are you currently working on?
I have just finished a jewellery line for the Danish clothing label PA:NUU . Besides that I am putting finishing touches to my next Vibe Harsløf collection.
In the near future I will start working on a collaboration with the Danish pipe
company Stanwell, making a pipe collection for them as well as a jewellery collection out of pipe tree.

Who or what inspires you?
Anything- conversations, pictures, new materials- anything basically that
creates images in my head.

How would you describe your personal style?
Jeans & trainers sometimes mixed with pieces from young designers – very casual.

Even if the hand necklace is freaky – it’s a good freaky, having seen it in the flesh, a striking and original piece. Love it. Thanks for chatting to us Vibe.
It was lovely to find we weren’t the only ones foolish enough to take on the tag team of TFL’s weekend tube works and the cheek reddening cold of another Saturday night in the capital. No One Died at The Enterprise and the bar below the venue were simply busting, drug the warm air rich with the full scale party assault of doo-wop and French pop, recipe every square inch of floor covered with smiles and dancing feet, medications balloons covering the ceiling. Amidst all the second-Christmas cheer was former Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall, holding court for a good thirty minutes.

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So what did we learn? Rose is making music far removed from her previous band. The term dream-pop was coined for music like this. Almost everything shimmers in some form with vibrato and chorus, Rose’s organ saturated with it. It’s a big scoop of early psychedelica topped with a dusting of vintage folk. The beats are uncomplicated yet driven and the melodies lush, Rose‘s voice cutting through it all like a hot knife through smoke, as bold as ever. It’s the kind of music you’d choose to dance around the kitchen while burning garlic bread to or wrap yourself in a blanket of saudade with on a cold Saturday night. Two or so songs in I found myself pondering why there is a lack of modern bands pulling vintage influences into modern songwriting, rather then just imitating. Maybe it’s time for the Government to bring in laws making children listen to their parents record collections?

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The band themselves wear two distinct faces tonight. The first half of the set they are in a word, aloof. Staring at their feet, three of five members with their fringes obscuring half their faces. Then mid-set Rose’s keyboards decide they no longer want to be on stage two or three times in the space of five minutes, the band make a mistake or two and decide it’s ok to smile. Set free from the Turkish opium bordello jam band stances of before, spirits raise, hands are placed on hips, all is right with the world. They’re not the finished article yet, but the potential is undeniable. Aside from debut single Another Version of Pop Song there are two or three other songs in the set which are just as delightful, the prospect of an album is mouth watering enough to make me invest in frozen garlic bread now for future kitchen dancing. The only issue I have with tonight’s set is how immediately after it I have to don an additional two layers to step outside and smoke. Her grace and music warmed our hearts, but Rose hasn’t been selfless enough to take patio heaters and a portable smoking tent on tour with her yet.

In recent years, nurse the Oxfam brand has had a brilliant image make over, more about no longer does it conjure up the image of dowdy, old lady smelling charity shops, only for those who can’t afford to go to ‘real shops’.
It is now a credible, yet very affordable place to shop, that still stays true to its charity roots. This in part may be due to the surge in recent years for vintage and recycled clothes and the fact that retail genius Jane Shepherdson volunteered to work for the brand after leaving her post as Brand Director at Topshop.

During her reign at Oxfam, Shepherdson introduced the Oxfam Boutique, which works in collaboration with ethical brands such as Made and People Tree and gets designers such as Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders to rework clothes and create collections from donated pieces. Every season there are designer contributions, along with London College of Fashion students who assist in the making of the collections. Overall they produce goods that “provide shoppers with unique style, beautiful one-off clothes, and the assurance that every item will raise money to fight poverty around the world.” To quote Oxfam.

To launch their S/S 09 collection they have pulled out all the stops, recruiting famed fashion photographer Rankin to take the shots and Dazed and Confused stylist Katie Shillingford to style the clothes. We have some snaps of the new collection for you here:

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The result is a very stylish, wearable and covetable collection which is available online and from any of the three Oxfam Boutiques in London.

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“I don’t feel I’ve really engaged with a place until I can taste or smell it, advice you know?” So Gayle Chong Kwan tells me as we settle down to a hot drink on a cold day in a mutually favourite cafe in Bethnal Green. And yes, viagra I do. Her smile is warm and wide and she is bubbling with energy, a constitution that matches or perhaps fuels the lifestyle of this Scottish/Chinese/Mauritian artist based, for the moment, in East London, and with a long list of countries she’s called home in her wake. I am further endeared to her when she tells me that she is not easily disgusted. A high threshold for things deemed unpalatable must come in useful when constructing installations from discarded food collected in Portobello Market, working in kebab shops, or in the mushrooming shanty towns that now sprawl over the city rubbish dumps of Medellin, Colombia. Thick -skinned, strong-stomached, and infectiously vivacious; of mixed origin, background (history and politics then art), and place: the person and the work are viscerally matched.

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Gayle explaining some sort of food preparation involving a blow-dryer

The senses get mixed into a lot of Gayle’s work. Using photography, video, sound, installation, and performance, she likes to involve people in rituals or exchanges exploring ideas of history and myth, the senses and their connection with memories. “Taste and smell can awaken rare aspects of memory”, she explains; and who can’t relate to that? The strongest memories are surely those that have a texture to them beyond imagery, just think of Proust’s Madelaine. One project evokes this particularly, one that took place in the very postcode in which we now sit: The Memory Tasting Unit, 2004:

I gathered food memories from people who live and work in the Roman Road in East London. The foodstuff described was bought and cooked according to their recommendations, and made available in the unit, installed back in the same road, so that visitors were able to taste other people’s memories as well as record their own. Under controlled conditions, including wearing blindfolds and headphones, single visitors were able to focus on and recall memories aroused by the ingredients chosen by people who live and work in that road.

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Memory Tasting Unit

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Memory Tasting Unit

Gayle’s work is often very context specific, improvising with and responding to environments as they occur. Her work in Medellin for instance is not yet fully formed, but you can count that in a place where nothing is wasted, it will have something to do with recycled materials.

The inhabitants’ main economic activities revolve around the recycling and processing of waste materials. There is a re-settlement programme in the area due to the unhealthy living conditions and the hazardous chemicals under the town, but I feel that there is much that we could learn in Europe from the way in which they re-use and re-cycle and give a different value to the materials they work with and by which they are surrounded.

It relates closely to previous projects, centering around waste materials. Being friends with Gayle might easily involve taking all your plastic bottles and waste to her Hackney studio where she will rework it into something completely different, see below.

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The Grand Tour

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Gayle has been selected as one of the Vauxhall Collective as on of UK’s most talented artists, and commissioned for a project entitled “The Great British Road Trip”. Before meeting me she had spent the past few weeks trudging through snow in the Orkney Islands off the coast of northern Scotland, taking photographs for a project that will explore the sometimes frustrated relationship between photography and the senses. Whether Vauxhall say she is talented or not, she has certainly pricked my interest, and I look forwards to seeing (touching, smelling and tasting) her work in the near future.
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Frock Me at Chelsea Town Hall was teeming with glitzy vintage fashion and cream cakes. It was intense. I was very pleased to find Rebecca Denholm’s stall The Cat’s Meow. I fell in love with her stall at Portobello Market but since moving norf I haven’t been close to check out her latest finds. I’m happy to report that her unique collection of delicate and tailored dresses is still strong, look and there has been a fantastic addition of some quirky graphic prints!

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1940′s ‘America’ novelty print dress

Rebecca kindly agreeed to have a little chat with us.

Hi Rebecca, tell us a bit about yourself.
I live in Glasgow.. I moved up to Scotland on a whim after working a 36 hour shift for an architectural model makers. I was just sick of being broke in London sleeping on my Dad’s sitting room floor. I always wanted to be a theatre director. I had worked in performance and theatre design while in London but I fell out of love with it.
I studied theatre for 1 year in Glasgow (hoping I would fall in love again) but the course was trying too hard to be avant garde and it felt shallow.. I changed to study architecture which in my mind wasn’t that far from theatre design.. but I got very ill in the first year. So I’m a college drop out with little education.

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Classic 50′s lipstick red vintage dress

When did you first start collecting?
I started collecting from age 10, buying from the flea market and the antiques centre in Bath. I liked the romance of something old… I think I’ve left the romance behind now.. I’m more interested in the craftmanship of pieces.

When did you decide to sell?
I started selling because I was a broke student and needed to sell some stuff to pay the bills. I thought I was doing well selling my Terry de Havilland snakeskin wedges for £20 making a profit of £2! But of course I didn’t know who de Havilland was then… not until I saw a picture of the same shoes online… the V&A had just bought them for a huge sum. Everything I sold first was from my collection. I was selling my 30′s tea dresses for under £20. It didn’t take long until I started buying and had more stuff than I started with.

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1940′s cute maternity dress

How has the journey been?

It started at Portobello. For the first 2 years I don’t think I made a living from it… there was nothing financially clever about it but I got my passion for clothes back. Some dealers buy names or dresses that they can sell at a huge mark up but I’ve learned never to buy anything just for money.. you have to love it otherwise it feels like cheating to sell it to someone else.
The more you collect the more addictive the finding process gets… I’m always on the hunt to find the dress shape, textile or print that I’ve never seen before. The hunt keeps getting harder but it keeps me entertained.
When I started I couldn’t afford to keep anything. There are still things I’ve sold that I regret. One time at Portobello a designer wanted to buy what I was wearing and I thought it would be undignified to sell the clothes on my back but I later hired the dress to him and that started up the hire side of my business. It’s great cause it means I have a wardrobe full of my favourite pieces. I lend to lots of designers now and it’s really satisfying to see the influence that the clothes have had in the collections.

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1940′s Silk Scottydog print

What’s your favorite period of fashion history?

Most of the clothes I sell are Edwardian to the1960′s. My favourites being the 1920′s embroidered shift dresses and 40′s & 50′s tailored dresses. The 1940′s is easily the most creative era. Sexy, clever dresses without the excess and indulgence of the 1920′s and 1950′s. I often find the dresses can look quite plain on the hanger but when worn the tailoring can become quite magical. The clothes were never loud.. always understated, often with a lot of humour in the details or print.

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Funky 40′s musical instrument print dress

Do you design your own stuff?

My granny trained as a dress maker.. taking apart the Paris couture collections and remaking them for London customers. The construction of many old clothes is incredible because so much time was invested. People cut corners and loose details so often now. I’d like to find the time to properly make a collection of classics, that would be timeless and beautiful without exploitation… but the production would be expensive… till then there’s always vintage.

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Rare 50′s swing dance blouse with fantastic diagrams

Where do you find everything?

I can’t tell you all my secrets, but I often spend 30 hours a week or more to find just 15 or so dresses. I get things from Scottish dealers, from retired collectors in London and contacts I‘ve made in America.


What are your hopes for the future?

The drive down from Glasgow to London is a real killer so short term I’d love more people to visit me in Glasgow… perhaps I should throw a tea party this spring… watch this space!
There isn’t an endless source of vintage clothing and my fear is that the really rare vintage will eventually be impossible to find or super expensive… that means I’d be out of a job… so eventually I’d like to move back to London so I can continue with The Cat’s Meow whilst getting stuck into my own design work.

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1940′s sexy wiggle shirt dress with dancers print

Where can we find you?

You can visit the studio in Glasgow by appointment or you can find me at Portobello Market most Fridays under the canopy. I am also a regular at the Frock me! vintage fair (March 22nd)and Hammersmith vintage fair (March 15th). Oh and a vintage fair in Bath at the Assembly Rooms this Sunday (22nd Feb)!

Tel: 0141 3310954/ 07986 479 275
meowmore@hotmail.co.uk

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1950′s horse racing print dress

Chicagoan Andrew Bird delivers his latest studio album with the confidence we are now accustomed to after four previous albums. True to form, buy Noble Beast is soaked in classic folk ballads and showered with simple guitar riffs with the occasional spit of flamenco and modern rock. However, ask as can often become the case after a few records for singer-songwriters with a certain indie-folk bent, here this is a bit of a wet album. Nothing particularly original or groundbreaking here (in Bird terms or generally); nothing that makes you down tools and check your mouth isn’t wide open; nothing that slams you against the wall and changes your view of the world.

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Listeners and Bird fans hoping for this kind of sensation will be disappointed, but I think that misses the point slightly. Lower your expectations of this prodigiously talented musician only slightly and you realise that Bird is a natural storyteller and has a unique honesty in his voice, to back up the simple soothing melodies of this most recent work. Add some violin crescendos and the occasional bang to the mix and he ends up with enough variance between the tracks to keep us interested.

But boy is this guy bitter – there aint no track to make you jump at a party. Recurrent themes of death, ghosts, disasters and the like don’t instil happiness. Even Masterswarm, with it’s semi-energetic, happy-go-lucky latin clap contains self depricating lyrics. Oh, and please don’t be fooled by Track 11′s devil-may-care guitar intro – the track is, surprisingly, Natural Disaster. Say no more.

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There’s refreshment to be had on standout track Not A Robot, But A Ghost, which ups the tempo and is slightly edgier than the rest of the album. Noble Beast is far from depressing, but after fourteen tracks, you can’t help thinking ‘Oh, come on Bird. It can’t be that bad’. Behind the morose lyrics and angst ridden vocals there’s a good singer, an instinctive versifier and a damn good classical musician. He’s obviously got quite a lot to be cheerful about; maybe he could let some rays of sunshine through for the next album.
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Drawings by BELINDA FRIKH (channeled from ‘Scribblerina-the biro dancin ballerina’)

At 7.15 am on Valentines Day, this site when the moon was in the 7th house and Jupiter aligned with Mars, website Climety Change, Motheer Treeza, Sustainabelle and the climate crew known as B4B sky rocketed from outer space to cyber space with an urgent message.This planet-saving posse of super heroines want to recruit YOU to spread the word that our powerlessness to zap out pollution is purely an alliterative error.

‘ Earthlings working 4 Big Mother put planet & people B4 profit & pollution & those working 4 Big Brother put profit & pollution B4 planet & people.’

Whether you’re a babe, badger or bloke as long as you’re 4 the Biosphere and believe in the power of *love * then join B4B today to find out about secret missions. Wham! Zip! Quick get moving so we can strike Fossillus the Fuel and The Carbon Foot Prince of Darkness before they turn this globe to gloop.

Mystified? So was I…here’s a little info that might make things clearer.
B4B has been brought to us by 999 It’s Time ambassador, Misty Oldland. In preparation for the Climate Conference in Coppenhagen, it is a ‘giant melting pot’ of action groups and individuals who care about the planet and want to act to make our politicians wise up. ‘The mother of all mailing lists’ it will provide information on actions and events that you can get involved in as well as important bits of information from our biosphere super babes. Tune in dudes.

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Why does garlic always make me so thirsty? Does anyone else have this problem?! I was late home for lunch today and all the interns had vanished so I fried up a bit of gnocci with garlic, no rx hence my random thoughts. I had just returned from one of Pure Groove‘s lunchtime instores, hospital the first time I have been to one in ages. I had picked up a flyer earlier this week and noticed that “bloggers’ favourite” Passion Pit were playing there today. Anyone who is now following us on Twitter will have noticed that I have taken a shine to this New York band of boys, since I received their new EP Chunk of Change in the post last week. So Luisa and I got on our bikes and headed down to find out what they are like in the flesh.

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Pure Groove has recently been remodelled to include a coffee bar, a sensible move in these recessionary times, even if I have always thought of coffee as an expensive luxury in itself. It was absolutely rammed.

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I immediately bumped into my old mate James, who gleefully told me that the Kings of Leon thanked him personally at the Brits last night (he does their PR). He also does the PR for Passion Pit, hence his presence. I made him promise me I’ll get an advance copy of their album as soon as it arrives.

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Endearingly scruffy and slightly non-plussed by technical difficulties, this was only Passion Pit‘s third gig in the UK, but judging by the turn out they are already turning heads and ears. And with good reason. Their brand of catchy synth pop stands out head and shoulders above other recent offerings, maybe in part to the lead singer’s unique falsetto – at times he sounds like a small child of the type that might be found shrieking at the back of a Michael Jackson offering.

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I have indeed (catch Twitter) been listening to standout track I’ve Got Your Number on repeat for some days now. It doesn’t take much to get me toe-tapping and jigging around, and what better way to spend a lunchtime eh?! If you work anywhere near Pure Groove I recommend you take a look at their line-up – it’s a great place to catch up and coming bands in your lunch hour, and you can even saunter up for a quick chat at the end. No airs and graces here!

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As the four song set drew to a close I spotted the fabulous merch across the room – I really want the emerald t-shirt with a cute alpine scene on it, but I’m skint. James, are you reading?! You promised me one…

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Slap your thigh and believe it, case KB4 is (almost) here, and apparently it’s the shiniest yet. Are you acquainted? You should be. Deliciously designed and compact, KnockBack is the A5 antidote to mainstream woman’s media. I remember the first time I read it the way you remember the first time you stayed out long enough to see the sunrise – in on a good secret and somehow more equipped to conquer the world. I also felt sick, but that’s because I was in a sweaty car driving back from Secret Garden and I can’t multi-task being a passenger and reading at the same time.

It’s naming is ironic. Knock-back is what woman’s magazines do – they make you feel bad about yourself. I care about the way I look and a floral onsie in a shop a week ago set my heart racing, but I don’t want to read about weight, shoes, or the latest from Tinsletown, anyone else? The zine is borne out of feeling utterly unrepresented by a barrage of magazines that seem either to patronize or objectify women, and so creator Marie Berry and friends got together and made KB because “fuck, someone had to”. There are no adverts because the don’t like them, and copies were initially free, but snowballing popularity has meant escalating demand and printing fees so that it now gets itself to the page with donations from readers.

Since it’s conception there has been a lot of hoohah about feminism. The Guardian featured KB with five other feminist magazines to emerge around the same time, and Zadie Smith described it as “a little ray of pink and black hope” for the present situation for women. But they didn’t set out to be feminists. KnockBack has the impassioned enthusiasm and honesty that comes when a group of people create their own platform to do and say what they want, which in the sugar-coated case of KnockBack, is to make us laugh.

Aside from shiny, news from Berry is as follows:

KB4, hmm, it is shiny, it went to print today, there’s only one typo, the first person to point it out to me gets pinched. It’s the Smoke & Mirrors issue, it’s all growed up, still aggressive but more constructively so. It is a return to form, we’re scared nobody will like the writing but confident that everyone will LOVE the way it looks. (by we i mean me and my multiple personality disorder).

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It will be out towards the end of March (we’ll remind you), and there is a launch party set tentatively for April 2nd. Anyone wishing buy a copy should either come to the launch, or donate, but not until it is released because you’ll get the last copy (well-dressed), which has the best quiz I ever did indulge in (p. 22 what’s your geometric style personality?). I for one cannot wait. Berry is going into hiding until further notice.

Categories ,Feminism, ,Indie

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Amelia’s Magazine | Free Range Graduate Shows 2012: Middlesex University Photography Ba Hons Review

Middlesex University Photography -Raphaelle Gosden
Middlesex University Photography -Raphaelle Gosden
YouTube Preview Image
Raphaelle Gosden used children as her subjects and I also found this cute video of her subjects meeting their portrait for you to enjoy.

Middlesex University Photography -Emma Hayes
Middlesex University Photography -Emma Hayes
Middlesex University Photography -Emma Hayes
Emma Hayes placed items belonging to her naked subjects on the walls to create decorative tableaux.

Middlesex University Photography -Samale Ahmed
Middlesex University Photography -Samale Ahmed
Samale Ahmed‘s Les femmes dans Islam portrayed women in a ‘non-traditional and feminist way‘ although she claims not to be making any social observations about the way women live in Islamic countries.

Middlesex University Photography -Urte Marija Januseviciute
Middlesex University Photography -Urte Marija Januseviciute
Urte Marija Januseviciute studied Jungian ideas of unconsciousness and put together eight common complexes using props and costumes to create a surreal character for each one. I really liked these theatrical images with an 80s flavour; they may not have been intended for fashion editorial but they would certainly work well in that setting.

I apologise for the quality of images on this blog post: but if any of these young photographers had websites to showcase their work then I’d be able to show you better ones. Sigh.

Categories ,2012, ,Emma Hayes, ,feminism, ,Free Range, ,Islam, ,Jungian, ,Les femmes dans Islam, ,MIddlesex Univerisity, ,photography, ,Raphaelle Gosden, ,review, ,Samale Ahmed, ,Twins, ,Urte Marija Januseviciute

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Amelia’s Magazine | Art Lisitings


Art Against Knives

4th-5th May 2009

The creme de la creme of East London’s artists and designers come together for Art Against Knives: a 2 day event and exhibition to raise awareness of knife crime in the community and to raise money for the medical treatment of Oliver Hemsley the 20 year-old Central St Martins student, shop buy who was left paralysed after being stabbed multiple times on Boundry Street.
Art Against Knives promises to be inspiring both artistically and socially.
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Art Against Knives, price this Monday and Tuesday only, approved see website for locations.

Flatland
ends 16th May 2009

Interesting 2 dimensional works and film sculptures from British artist Elizabeth McAlpine.
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Flatland, until 16th May 2009, Laura Bartlett Gallery, 10 Northington Street, London.

Fresh Meat, The First Cut
10th May from 7pm

Evening of live illustration, animation screenings, raffle brought to you by art whizz kid Rose Blake and the rest of the This Is It Collective to raise money for their degree show at Kingston. There will be DJs as well as live music from Sheeps and Arthur Delaney. General fun will be provided in abundance.
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Fresh Meat, The First Cut, 7pm until midnight 10th May, Notting Hill Arts Club, 21 Notting Hill Gate London.

Art in Mind
ends 11th May 2009

Eclectic collaborative show at the lovely Brick Lane Gallery featuring 13 contemporary artists. You can see our review here.
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Art in Mind, until next Monday, The Bricklane Gallery, 196 Brick Lane, London.

The Red Room Platform Presents: Women’s Edition
6-9pm, 10th May 2009

Pan-generational artists, activists and thinkers validate the position of feminism in modern society through provocation, performance and debate.
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The Red Room Platform Presents: Women’s Edition, this Sunday, Bethnall Green Workingmen’s Club, 44-46 Pollard Row, Bethnall Green, London.

Fleur Oakes- The Glass Pingle “In My Garden I am Quenne”
showing now

A simply beautiful piece mixing embroidery and corsetry by Fleur Oakes illuminates the front window of knitters’ paradise Prick Your Finger. Review and interview with Fleur to follow this week in the mean time check out the knitting projects here.
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“In My Garden I am Queene”, Prick Your Finger, open Monday – Saturday, 260 Globe Road, London.

Beneath the pavement… The beach

Sexton (London) & Dominique Lacloche (Paris)
The exhibition consists of new work by the two artists work.

Art wars project space, 23 – 25 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ
1st Apr – 5th May 2009

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Swine flu art masks- an exhibition of plague masks

Exquisite masks made due to the media hysteria regarding Swine flu, These masks are hand stitched and made as delicate collectable art object.

Hepsibah Gallery, 112 Brackenbury Road, London W6 0BD
30th Apr – 6th May 2009

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Constellation

Clay Perry
The exhibiton showcases the photographers images of the 60′s avant-garde art scene.

England & Co
, 216, Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill, W11 2RH
Tuesday, 5 May from 11:00 – 18:00
Free entry

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Etchings (Portraits)

Glenn Brown
A new collection of etchings from the artist.

Karsten Schubert, 5-8 Lower John Street,London W1F 9DR
Ends on the 8th May 2009, Monday to Friday 10am – 6pm

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An exhibition of works by Paul Bennett and Ellie Good

Paul Bennett: expressionist paintings using oil and graphite on canvas.
Ellie Good: In this series of oil paintings and portraits exploring light.

Lauderdale House
, Highgate Hill, London N6 5HG
28th Apr – 10th May 2009, Tue – Fri 11-4pm, Sat 1.30-5pm Free entry

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Categories ,animation, ,corsetry, ,embroidery, ,feminism, ,film, ,illustration, ,knitting, ,painting, ,sculpture, ,talks

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