Our summer mix tape is from Canyons, whose LP of synth-happy dance music will be released by Modular early next year. www.myspace.com/thecanyonsinfo
01. Dorothy Ashby - For Some We Loved
02. D.R. Hooker - Forge Your Own Chains
03. Nevidljive Terazije - Smak
04. Ofege - Nobody Fails
05. Urban Jazz Ritual - Car Crazy
06. Peter Gordon and Love of Life Orchestra - Another Heartache/Don't Don't Redux
07. Jared Wilson - This Love
08. MARRS – Anitina
09. Bill Wyman - Peanut Butter Time
(Severed Heads Interlude)
10. POND - Cloud City
With a collection self-described as “dark urban hippie,” Lars Andersson hasn’t completely forgotten his Swedish roots: “It’s a minimal environment, really old, dark and mysterious,” says Andersson. “It’s raw and unfinished, but still beautiful.” And we can’t help but be mesmerized by Evaan Kheraj’s film of Andersson’s F/W 2010 collection. Inspired by Norwegian figurative painter Odd Nerdrum, there’s a sense of ethereal romance evoked throughout the knitwear collection. If only fall came sooner.
Just as there’s a flurry of emerging artists out there producing amazing works in basements and tiny loft studios, there’s a clutch of small publishers rushing to capture their pieces in limited-run art books, chapbooks, and magazines. Keep Reading » »
Our apartments would be a total yawnfest if it wasn’t for New York-based design shop Areaware, and we’re pretty excited that our favourite source of objets d’art is celebrating its five-year birthday during the celebrations for New York Design Week. Keep Reading » »
In the traditional sense of the word, Tanlines – the musical duo that is Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm – is not exactly a band. They certainly do make music: Emm is a veteran guitarist, formerly for the bands Storm & Stress and Don Caballero; Cohen was raised on the drums and keyboard (most recently playing for the band Professor Murder); and Tanlines’ debut EP, Settings (True Panther), thumps with electrifyingly diverse instrumentation – bongos and steel drums convene with airy guitars, hooky synth riffs, and thumping bass lines to create a sort of tropical disco dance party. But Cohen and Emm barely play any actual instruments on the album. Like a growing number of young experimental DIY pop musicians, they translate their musical ideas from their brains straight to their super high-tech computers. “For us, the writing and the recording process are the same,” says Emm. “I think the evolution of our band is kind of the opposite of the historical evolution of a band. With a band, you start out writing music in a practice space and then go to a studio. We go to the studio first.
Hot on the heels of successful high-fashion docs like Valentino: The Last Emperor and Lagerfeld Confidential, director Whitney Sudler-Smith debuts his disco decade homage to famed designer Halston at this Friday’s Tribeca Film Festival. Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston shows how Roy Halston Frowick, known simply as Halston, owned the 70s fashion scene.
What do pandas, superheroes, and The Smurfs have in common? Not much, except a little attention from artist Will Broome. Eyeless cartoon pandas and Speedo-clad superheroes are just some of the illustrations you’ll find in the Londoner’s portfolio. Notably, Broome is most recognized for creating Miss Marc, the playful and hip little girl plastered across the Miss Marc by Marc Jacobs collection. And The Block was fortunate enough to catch up with the busy illustrator and talk about his love for 80s cartoons, days at St. Martins, current and past projects, and an encounter with Naomi Campbell.
LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls
Directed by Spike Jonze and James Murphy
Forget those mopey Wild Things and their existential crises: Spike Jonze’s new music video for LCD Soundsystem’s “Drunk Girls” (co-directed by frontman James Murphy) features a goon squad of pandas really getting wild. They’re hilariously creepy, but since we don’t like being egged and tied up with duct tape, we won’t be inviting these party animals over anytime soon.
The new ads for Christian Louboutin F/W 2010 have photographer Khuong Nguyen (known for his works with Citroên and Porsche) taking inspiration from the Brothers Grimm and Lewis Carroll. From Cinderella and Alice to Snow White, we can’t help but pretend we’re a fairy princess in these stilettos.
Over at Block HQ, we’ve got Issue 21’s mix tape stuck on repeat. No surprise: it was created by super-talented Aussie trio Midnight Juggernauts. The three, Andrew Szekeres, Vincent Vendetta, and Daniel Stricker, have done a pile of notable remixes (The Presets’ “Down Down Down” and Cut Copy’s “Hearts On Fire,” among others), while the music they’ve put together as a three-piece electropop act has been burning up dancefloors since 2004. In the leadup to the May 28th release of their new album, The Crystal Axis, we asked Stricker, the band’s drummer, a few questions.
Oliver Peoples 2010 Campaign: The Children are Bored on Sundays.
Featuring Elijah Wood and Shirley Manson.
Directed by Autumn De Wilde.
Music: Zee Avi “Just You and Me”
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THE BLOCK MIXTAPE
by Canyons
Canyons Mixtape
Our summer mix tape is from Canyons, whose LP of synth-happy dance music will be released by Modular early next year.
www.myspace.com/thecanyonsinfo
01. Dorothy Ashby - For Some We Loved
02. D.R. Hooker - Forge Your Own Chains
03. Nevidljive Terazije - Smak
04. Ofege - Nobody Fails
05. Urban Jazz Ritual - Car Crazy
06. Peter Gordon and Love of Life Orchestra - Another Heartache/Don't Don't Redux
07. Jared Wilson - This Love
08. MARRS – Anitina
09. Bill Wyman - Peanut Butter Time
(Severed Heads Interlude)
10. POND - Cloud City
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