As I packed for my first ever Glastonbury, sildenafil information pills I thought PRACTICAL and WARM. My long time friend and side kick had relayed stories of the year before being a torrent of mud and rain. What dedication. She and 136, buy 999 others had traipsed through thigh high mud for 5 days all in the name of music.
So when I asked the veteran Glastonbury go-er what on earth should I pack? she could not stress enough how many thermals, fleecies, and things that can be destroyed, I should take. And don’t forget your wellies! Having just moved here from NZ and lacking all the essentials, I was pointed in the direction of the camping store and left to my own devices! I hit Katmandu for a completely uncool but practical fleece jumper and Primark to stock up on tights and cheapie things that can be thrashed – after all, you don’t go to Glastonbury to hide from the elements.
As I arrived and joined the queue for international ticket pick up I was instantly struck by gumboot envy! An array of colors and patterns strutted past and I rarely saw the same pair twice. Fortunately my own pair was black and decorated with cute pink flowers and pink soles so they made the cut.
Check mine out on the right
We arrived 2 days early purely to get the best campsite in all of fair Glastonbury, and after setting up tent we ventured down to explore and make the most of the sunshine – after all it wasn’t going to last, right?! The market stalls were already bustling, and the scene was a feast for the eyes! Girls in vintage dresses, colored tights, floral patterns -everything high street and everything fashion was on display.
Thursday evening bought the rain and Friday saw drizzle turning the once dust bowl farm into a thick mud that threatened to steal your boots with each step. But this did not hinder efforts from the crowd to look every bit like the glossy photos we see each year of celebrities looking effortlessly cool.
The boldest looks seemed to appear directly from the onsite costume stalls in Shangri la. Super heroes, brides, cows, video game characters and even a banana competed on the muddy catwalk.
Of course when it comes down to it, after a couple of pear ciders you’re so excited to be jumping and shaking in front of your favorite band, you forget about your own mish mash of uncoordinated practical warm things and have just want to have a damn good time!
Me attempting the effortlessly cool look
Today we received great news that the issues we sent to Tokyo record shop Escalator Records three months ago have finally arrived. Why it took so long we have no idea, dosage perhaps the Royal Mail staff had a good read of them before they even got on the plane.
Escalator Records is a label based record store that was opened in 2002 in Harajuku Tokyo, and has stocked the most wonderful and limited records ever since. The store is very well respected and even has some famous fans. Haruka from the store told us, “Daft Punk, the people at Ed Banger, Modular People, Annie and CSS all give big love to the store”.
They also run an internet radio show, through which they aim to spread the word about as yet unknown Japanese bands.
Haruka was nice enough to send us some photos to prove their arrival, as we had previously believed they had been lost forever.
With a hint of sea air, try this folksy group from the deep dark depths of Kodiak Island, remedy Alaska, have created a relaxing but catchy and almost addictive new album. It’s a move away from the acoustic sounds of their first but Port O’Brien has managed to retain a sense of their previous identity.
The album as a whole creates a brilliant relaxed nautical atmosphere, not surprisingly as most of it was written whilst the lead dude was out solo in the Gulf of Alaska fishing months of his life away. Their Arcade Fire type passion is quite mesmerising and each song did leave me wanting more.
A splash of The Go! Team style shouting/village singing on their first track draws you in with excitement although the remainder of the album is not quite so uplifting. There is a woody, dusty feel to each song, I couldn’t help but imagine sitting round a camp fire with a few old chums, a guitar and everyone singing until their heart’s were content. Maybe even a porch, a straw hat and that trusty guitar would do the trick.
Quite a good album over all, indeed, all I could do was sing along (to the first track anyway). It won’t be making history any time soon, but a nice little listen.
Monday 7th July
Jeremy Warmsley, sales Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, sale So So Modern, Esser and Liam Finn – Plug, Sheffield
Mumford & Sons, Jessie Quinn And The Mets, Davie Fiddle And The Lucky Egg and Derek Meins – The Luminaire, London
White Denim – Bodega Social Club, Nottingham
It’s safe to say White Denim are one of the most talked about bands of 2008 so far. So catch them while they’re in the UK, they’re ace.
Tuesday 8th July
Band Of Horses – Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
The National – Mandela Hall, Belfast
Interpol – Manchester Apollo, Manchester
Frightened Rabbit, Esau Mwamwaya/ Radioclit and Collapsing Cities @ White Heat – Madame Jo Jo’s, London
Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit pretty much showcase a run down of the most interesting aspects of modern world music. Absolutely guaranteed to get you dancing.
Gnarls Barkley – Astoria 2, London
Wednesday 9th July
Howling Bells and Chief – Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, London
Jaguar Love – Cockpit, Leeds
Magnetic Fields – Cadogan Hall, London
Thursday 10th July
Annie, The Clik Clik and Heloise And The Savoir Faire @ The Wonky Pop Club – Cargo, London
Friday 11th July
These New Puritans, Nelson and Zombie Zombie – Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
I don’t know why I’ve never seen These New Puritans live, I really would like to catch them at this, mainly because it would give me a chance to see Zombie Zombie again as well.
My Morning Jacket – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Blindfold, Capitol K and Jo Harrop – The Roundhouse, London
Cocknbullkid – Proud Galleries, London
Justice – Somerset House, London
Saturday 12th July
Bearsuit, Paul Vickers And The Leg, What Would Jesus Drive and Speccy Ginger – Buffalo Bar, London
Ghost Frequency and KASMs – Astoria 2, London
Ipso Facto and Stricken City – Be at Proud Galleries, London
Pete Doherty – Royal Albert Hall London
Sunday 13th July
Gig Of The Week
Wooden Shjips and The Heads – Cargo, London
Both of these bands are awesome, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday evening than a little bit of a freak out to some psychedelic garage.
Ben Folds – Bristol Academy, Bristol
MONDAY 7th JULY:
Monika Bobinska, viagra ‘Ambivalent Landscape’: Adam King: 20th June-13thJuly.
Cambridge Heath Road, more about London E2 9DA (Thursday-Sunday 1-6pm, Sunday 2-5pm).
New two and three dimensional collages by Adam King explore the dreams and fears of urban consumer society and its relationship to the natural world. King’s kaleiderscopic collages are made from wallpaper, pipe cleaners and print images, creating a tidal wave of debris – flowers, anatomical imagery, consumer items, broken cars, images of war – which threatens to burst out, confusing your sense of dimensions.
Serpentine Gallery, ‘Continuation’: Richard Prince: 26th June-7th September.
Painter, photographer, sculptor and collector, Richard Prince’s work explores American pop culture, literature and art in his follow up of Spiritual America. A direct dialogue with space, the exhibition includes an eclectic range of photography, sculptures, books, artworks to classic American ‘muscle cars’.
TUESDAY 8th JULY:
Spacex Gallery, ‘Structures for the unseen’:Axel Antas: 12 May-12 July.
45 Preston Street?, Exeter?, EX1 1DF.
Film, large scale drawings and a series of photographs taken in the vast Catalan Pyrenees, shown alongside a selection of earlier works from Antas’ ‘Intervention’ series. ‘Catalan Pyrenees’ includes bird boxes placed amongst the landscape that stand alone on a mountain tops, whilst ‘Intervention’ series features landscapes covered in artificially created low lying mist.
Contemporary Art Projects, ‘Cut n shunt’: Craig Fisher, Debra Swann, J.A.Nicholls: 20th June-27th July.
20 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3DU.
Urban life, history and nature are touched upon with an injected twist of the abnormal. Transcending material boundaries with desire, playfulness gives the exhibition a sense of new possibilities.
WEDNESDAY 9th JULY:
Penny school Gallery,‘New Talents: Fashion & Photography’: 9th July-3rd October: tues-fri 11-4pm.
55 richmond rd, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT2 5BP.
Dynamic & exciting collaboration between ND Fashion & HNC Photography students; to launch the New Degree in Fashion & textiles starting at Kingston College.
WHATIFTHEWORLD/GALLERY, ‘Hypocrite’s Lament & the drain of progress’: Zander Blom and Julia Rosa Clark: 9th -26th July.
Lower Ground Floor, 23 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch, EC2A 3P8.
The remnants of art, modernism and culture are explored as well as the influence of South African life where both artists originate. Coming from a country that is often seen as dismal, brutal and segregated, this informs their fractured work.
THURSDAY 10th JULY:
ICA, ‘A recent history of writing and drawing’: Jurg Lehni & Alex Rich: 9th July-31st August.
ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH.
Features examples of machines that enable writing and drawing as well as mechanisms which create giant wall drawings, punch messages in paper and make images on screen. Based on the misuse and reuse of modern technology.
FRIDAY 11th JULY:
The Old Truman Brewery, ‘Interiors’: Nottingham Trent University, Kingston University, Ravenbourne College, university of Brighton, Kingston University, University of Portsmouth, Cambridge School of Art and Design: 11th-14th July.
91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL.
The 7th week focuses on interiors. Why not take a stroll in this huge open space and view some groovy graphics, haunting photos and model homes?
Brick Lane Gallery, ‘Free for Wall: Part 2′:artists to be confirmed:11th-28th July.
196 Brick Lane, London, E1 6SA.
Still compiling raw talent from the streets, The Brick Lane Gallery presents it’s second installment of some fresh ‘n funky art. If you’re a street artist eager to showcase your work, get your skates on and send some images to: brice@thebricklanegallery.com- who knows..maybe you’ll be viewing your own work in a few days!
Vice’s Pub, ‘Cup Rocking’: Andy Uprock: 11th July.
Old Blue Last, 38 Great Eastern St Storeditch EG2A 3ES
Using aroung 2,500 cups and mapping out large areas of cyclone fencing and sticking plastic cups into the existing diamond shaped holes, Andy transforms streets and public areas into places of interest. Cups are recycled and used for another project-now that’s what you call inspirational yet sustainable art!
SATURDAY 12th JULY:
The Museum for objects of Vertu, ‘Dust jacket…A cover for the voyage of the beagle’: Rosie Cooper, Richard Gray, Sonja Howick , Piers Jamson , Rachael Mathews , Fleur Oakes , Matthew Robins , Audrey Reynolds , Tim Spooner: 12-13th July, 12-6pm, by appointment thereafter until 27th July.
Fleur Oakes studio, 89 Park road, New Barnet.
(Piccadilly line , cockfosters station
The museum for objects, nestled in the cosy studio of Miss Fleur Oakes, presents objects that are described as ‘compelling ;the bits and bobs that get pushed to the back of a dressing table drawer, that then find their way to a flea market’. Expect obscure objects that contain lost tales, all set within a woody wonderland.
SUNDAY 13th JULY:
Faggionato Fine Arts, ‘National Geographic’: Maria Von Kohler, Alain Miller, John Summers, John Tiney 9th July- 21st August.
49 Albemarle Street W1S 4JR.
Four artists use source material and imagery that encapsulates a moment that bridges identity and location.
Photos by Lucy Johnston
After hearing dribs and drabs about Pivot I was conscious of them, this site but not to the extent where I had actually checked them out. Then I heard their album, troche and I simply couldn’t fail to take notice any longer. It’s so fresh and marvelously creepy that I instantly found myself proclaiming it my album of the month. To who I have no idea, viagra order it’s not like I’m the presenter of ‘hit, miss or maybe’ on live and kicking (god I wish I was though), but I continued to proclaim none the less.
The venue was practically empty when I arrived and the support band (who i couldn’t find out the name of) received almost no love, with most people opting to bask in the sun outside. The crowd seemed to escalate nine fold in the 5 minutes before Pivot were due to appear, and the place was rammed by the time they moderately made their way on stage.
As they unleashed their barrage of musical experiments, I was intrigued by the undecided response most people seemed to adopt. Some began to dance, while most just watched intently. By the end of the first track though everyone was applauding.
Their tracks are made up of instrumentals that leap between timings, volumes and moods to create something that can’t be pigeonholed to any genre. Vocals are used, but lyrics and melodies are cast aside in favor of woops and other primal outbursts. They sound intelligent, but in a way that isn’t brash or confusing. It simply sounds good because so much thought has gone into each little section of every track.
They end their set with the ominous ‘O Soundtrack My Heart’, which sounds like it should be soundtracking some very confusing art house movie, and in many ways I think they make art house music. If such a term could exist. Half the time, you’ve no idea what’s going on, but you continue to watch anyway. You can’t help yourself, because songs become more and more intriguing as they go on.
Do you open up Grazia, this web see Alexa Chung in the ‘latest’ starry ensemble and think, “Oo! Where can I get me one of those?” Yeah, I thought not. That’s exactly what Hadley Freeman, Deputy Fashion Editor at The Guardian, thought too. However Bronwyn Cosgrave, author of Made for Each Other: Fashion & The Academy Awards, appeared to think us a more sheepish bunch at The Red Carpet: Fashion and Celebrity talk at the Barbican on Thursday 3rd July.
Andy Warhol foresaw the ‘famous for 15 minutes’ culture which we now find ourselves knee-deep in, and it was talk of reality TV that opened up this topical, lively and at times quite bitchy discussion about celebrities (French president’s wife Carla Bruni certainly won’t be getting a Christmas card from Cosgrave) and their hold over a designer’s success.
Forget being scouted as a model, fancy being scouted to be a designer’s new best friend? It would seem relationships between celebrity and stylist, stylist and designer and designer and celebrity (put in print in this months InStyle magazine) are as fickle as we thought. Marketing constructs? Really?
From Big Brother stars, to the mutual money making success of celeb/designer friendships, the conversation soon turned to the Oscars, where Cosgrave got rather too much into her stride. Resembling the host of an empowering self-help seminar, all very ‘breathe in the positive, release the negative’, Cosgrave lost my interest and it was left to Freeman to regain it with her belief that designers are today blinded by celebrity moments, and often forget that real people have to wear their clothes. It is after all ironically the customer who pays, and not the multi-million pound celebrity.
So do celebrities hold the key to designer success? Well, with the enticement of publicity and increased sales vying against the importance of brand image (Amy Winehouse and Karl Lagerfeld anyone?), it’s a tricky one to call. But with the recent credit crunch and the vast array of new, young design talent coming out of London, perhaps we are more inclined to buy what we like, what suits us and what we haven’t seen someone else wearing on Oxford Street that afternoon.
Cast your mind back to the 1970s Nashville… don’t remember it? Well neither do I. But if you attended barn dances back then, dosage you may have heard the new sounds of the “Outlaw” movement, and one of those ushering it in was Larry Jon Wilson. Like all the best things in life, he did it with friends, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, to name but two. Helping to bring in a more soulful sound, to the previous honky tonk twang sound of country music (which might have signalled the end of your barn dance fun). He was compared favourably to noted singer songwriter talents and released 4 albums before curtailing his recording career.
Now he’s back with his fifth album, which is an introspective story telling affair. Delivered in a baritone growl, Larry Jon Wilson’s weary stories pluck at the heart strings, and his reminiscing subtly hints to regretful mistakes. It is an album that is highly personal and was recorded with the tape left playing between songs, enabling us to hear comments; “I like that song, ever since I first heard it. In strange, very strange circumstances”, referring to Heartland, a well known Willie Nelson tune that Wilson succeeds in making his own.
Dealing with love, loss, and everything in between, the album weaves a very listenable narrative. ‘Losers Trilogy’ goes from personal romantic loss to an acknowledgment of losers everywhere. The 11-minute ‘Whore Trilogy’ tells three despairing stories, and on ‘Where From’, Wilson poses existential questions which remain unanswered, its last words asking: “where to?”
It is a dying breed of storytelling, with age, authenticity and an individual sound that would normally have you rummaging in your dad’s record collection to hear, but now, you don’t have to.
Do you remember a blog I posted a couple of week ago raving about a little yellow t-shirt that I received from t-shirt design company Graniph? Well they have officially announced the winners of their international T-shirt Design Awards vol.2.
The competition started on the 1st Feb and ran until the 31st March. Designers, visit artists, illustrators and photographers worldwide were asked to send in their ideas for t-shirt designs. Graniph managed to sift through 15000 entries from over 40 countries before finally selecting 21 winners. The gold prize went to Taiwanese illustrator, Cho Jo Tzu, whose artwork consisted of the words ‘peace love, Rabbit foot’, constructed entirely from illustrations of rabbits performing interesting yoga type poses.
10 other designs were awarded the silver prize. My favourite among them definitely has to be a skillful pencil drawing submitted by Rik Lee, who states his influences as Art Noveau, classic American tattoo art, 1980/90′s skateboarding, BMX, fashion and tight deadlines.
All of the winners now have their work printed on tee’s, which are available to buy online or in Graniph stores worldwide.
EcoMag is calling for artists, case illustrators and designers to get their pens at the ready and to respond to future climate scenarios in Mark Lynas’ book Six Degrees.
EcoMag will be an bi-annual magazine about art, design and sustainability. It’s aim is to ‘create an alternative cultural vision that can drive transformational change to meet the goals of a fully sustainable society.’ Wow! Sounds inspirational. So check it out and get scribbling all you talented artists!
Six Degrees
An open entry project for artists, illustrators & designers
Artists, illustrators and designers are invited to participate in the EcoLabs’ Six Degrees project. Respond to the future climate scenarios in Mark Lynas’ book Six Degrees.
The brief
1. Read Mark Lynas’ Six Degrees.
2. Select one degree.
3. Make an image to represent this degree. Use the template below.
4. Submit by September 1, 2008.
Mark Lynas’ book Six Degrees uses evidence compiled from hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific papers to describe the projected changes with each degree of climate warming. Divided into six chapters (covering one degree each) the book makes the science of climate change tangible and specific. The Six Degrees project challenges artists to use this book as the catalyze for a dialogue about future climate scenarios (and what we cannot allow to happen). By making these scenarios visible – we hope to initiate sustained dialogue & action.
Selected work will be published in the first issue of EcoMag.
A statement as direct as Queen’s ancient no-synthesizers decree emblazons the inner sleeve of this debut: “The four boys of Wild Beasts aren’t concerned with being of the modern, shop or being of the renaissance, link being baggy pantsed or being tight pantsed, purchase being in a scene or being in a place. Wild Beasts’ music, being what it is, just is.”
The first thing that hits you is probably the most decisive element of the album to whether it’ll suit ones pallet: Hayden Thorpe’s voice. A hollering, Grande dame of a voice swooping drunkenly like a bee at an evening barbecue practically without taking a single breath through the whole album. His vocals waltz through a series of often fractious, yet lush, songs.
A number like ‘Old Dog’ is unfathomably expansive: I can hear a murmur of the midnight soul of Al Green; a guy in some New York bar playing piano; a little of Jeff Buckley’s conjuring of vast feeling out of simplicity and, dare I say it, even a little Doors. The fact that none of these comparisons matter, that it doesn’t seem to build any clearer picture of the band, is the band’s most prominent strength. For some, Thorpe nears a line far too close to high camp to blend with the epic stature of the music. However, I think they’re missing the point, or rather gloriously, the lack of point in a linear way. Wild Beasts are a band who don’t add up, evading the sum of their parts, existing outside A + B = C. Their inner sleeve statement is less arrogant claim of uniqueness, more like cigarette packet warning: Be prepared!
Limbo, Panto conjures a hopeless, English romanticism existing in a well-thumbed second hand novel. From start to end it may need a little diluting but it’s well worth the extra work.
For a girl obsessed with Sixties girl groups and Eighties new wave, treatment over an hours worth of ‘experimental rock’ was never going to make for easy listening. My search for the perfect 3 minute pop song was put on hold to delve into the musical meanderings of Vessels full debut offering ‘White Fields and Open Devices’. Here they relive the age old problem that anything that claims to be ‘experimental’ never really manages to sound new enough in our constantly shifting times.
Much is made of Vessels prolific live output of over 100 gigs, troche which has helped them finely tune their sharp and professional touch. Alternately this has lead to an awkwardness when translating the same material onto a record. Often it sounds like each member of the band is playing a different song to the rest, stitching in sounds from all over the place and creating a heavy handed finish.
Opener ‘Altered Beast’ starts with minimally electronics before expanding into a burly, epic instrumental. Fully signed up members of the quiet-loud-quiet-loud club, songs which begin hushed unfold into many layered cacophonies, demonstrating the ins and outs of Vessels’ multi-musical abilities. Vocals seem mainly incidental, used really as another instrument, floating ephemerally amidst the layers of sound. Towards the end of the EP a sort of structure begins to fall into place, and the sweetly shushed ‘Yuki’ introduces a softness of vocal and a notable melody that seems to be the gaping hole in the rest of the album.
This is an interesting debut, with the suggestion that this is merely a hint of the path they may next follow. I hope they finely hone the ‘niche’ sound that they are trying to claim their own.
Written by Jos Mayfield on Tuesday July 8th, 2008 3:33 pm
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