SHIN MURAYAMA / I Don't Like Mondays

Shin Murayama 'Shoe Face'

Online concept boutique I Don't Like Mondays' Gallery is "an evolving project focused on offering true rarities of fashion."  In collaboration with artists and designers, IDLM's gallery offers "one-of-a-kind and limited edition garment art" that is exclusively available. "IDLM always aims for designers who push the boundaries of fashion, these artists go one step further and blur the lines between art and apparel." This time around IDLM has joined forces with Japanese born artist and designer Shin Murayama.

Shin Murayama 'Mandrill Nose'

Shin Murayama 'Sock Eater'

www.idontlikemondays.us

Adanowsky 'You Are The One' (feat. Devendra Banhart)

Adarsha just sent over this mind-blowing video for Adanowsky's song You Are The One directed by the Skinny Director team. The video was shot while Adanowsky recorded his album in Los Angeles at the old house of Ke$ha and Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. In order to give authenticity to the Love-In, the cast and crew were put into a sexual trance thanks to a white magic breathing exercise the directors learned from Electricity Aquarian, a surviving member of Los Angeles spiritual cult The Source Family. Over forty people then channeled their erotic energy to help give birth to Adanowsky's new alter-ego, El Amador: "The Lover."

The 5 o' Clock Chair by Moooi

"Inspired by the classic English china with pink rose, the chair reflects a love for almost forgotten values and feeling from a noble past. Beech wood and skai leather created a strong product with a soft surface, combining tradition with innovation."  Designed by Nika Zupanc for Moooi.  From the 12th to the 17th of April Moooi is proud to present The Unexpected Welcome, a panoramic overview on its new products at the showroom in Milan for the 50th Edition of Il Salone del Mobile.  In via Tortona 37 the new creations of Marcel Wanders, Stefano Giovannoni, Studio Job, Rooms,  Sjoerd Vroonland, Bertjan Pot and Moooi Works will be revealed in combination with products extensions by Marcel Wanders and Nika Zupanc.  For Moooi’s 10th anniversary the facade of the showroom will be concealed & transformed into a camera obscura enclosing an unexpected surprise: the Moooi Panorama. A panoramic overview of Moooi’s rich & artistic photography portfolio over the last 10 years, in combination with 2D models of new products, sketches and product cut-outs. Inside the panorama hide the new products, giving you the  opportunity to move closer to the designs and zoom into their surprising details. Unexpected & mysterious fragrances will be diffused in the showroom to complete the flavor of the presentation and strengthen the impact of the visual experience. www.moooi.com

Hunted

Tucked away in a literal sliver of a store front on Divisadero Street, in San Francisco, is a mysteriously intriguing new accessories shop called Hunted. Apparently they'd been open for only a few days when I paid a visit. I walked inside where a single shelf on the right side of the boutique was draped with hypnotizing antique jewelry, pocket books, hand bags, and other collected ephemera. Hunted is a brilliantly simple one stop outpost of elegant jewelry absolutely well worth a visit. 843 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94117  www.huntedsf.com

Carving, Cutting, Breaking

"The things I make are a complex description of simultaneous unmaking and making, deconstructing an object or a body before putting it back together again – this could be interpreted as a violent process, but is often a very delicate and fragile one, a process of transplantation rather than dislocation. The works are an attempt to change the relationship of the object to the body, making visible the invisible, opening up something normally closed, softening a usually hard surface." - Jessica Harrison

Rip it Up and START again

In six tumultuous years, Orange Juice, led by Edwyn Collins, blazed a trail of self-reliance with the legendary Postcard label, ran in conjunction with then-manager Alan Horne, and greatly expanded the palette of independent music at the start of the ‘80s with their brand of literate pop songwriting that both pre-saged the coming of The Smiths and kickstarted a renaissance in Scottish pop music that continues to this day.  After an embryonic start as the punk-influenced Nu-Sonics, Orange Juice came into being in 1979 as unfashionable pre-Year Zero punk influences such as The Byrds, Chic, Motown and The Velvet Underground began to make their presence known in the band’s developing sound. Over the next year, the group recorded four landmark 7” singles on Postcard (as well as putting out early releases from Aztec Camera, The Go-Betweens and Josef K). Though each single proved more successful than its predecessor, greater commercial aspirations led the band to sign to Polydor in the midst of making their first album in a prescient deal in which the band retained ownership of their material.  The original lineup abruptly fell apart shortly after the release of the debut album, You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever, and, as quickly, the band’s future was decidedly unassured. However, with the addition of Malcolm Ross, formerly of Postcard labelmates Josef K, and Zimbabwe-by-way-of-Glasgow drummer Zeke Manyika, the group proceeded to make their commercial mark with the timeless funk and soul-inflected Rip It Up, whose title track was to be the group’s biggest UK hit, peaking at #8 in February of 1983. During the recording of a follow-up, the group had decided to head in a more rock direction, but creative tensions arose again and the group fell apart during the recording sessions from which theTexas Fever mini-LP was culled. With Polydor’s support of the group withdrawing, Collins, joined in the studio by Manyika, persevered to make the bittersweet swan song album, The Orange Juice, a collection that telegraphed the group’s impending demise amidst some of their finest recordings. Collins made it official in March of 1985 announcing mid-performance at a miner’s benefit at the Brixton Academy that it would be Orange Juice’s last performance.  Last November Domino Records released an incredible seven disc anthology entitled Coals to Castles.  www.dominorecords.co.us

The World Through Linda's Lens

A retrospective of Linda McCartney's life and photography....In 1966, during a brief stint as a receptionist for Town and Country magazine, Linda Eastman snagged a press pass to a very exclusive promotional event for the Rolling Stones aboard a yacht on the Hudson River; her fresh, candid photographs of the band were far superior to the formal shots made by the band’s official photographer, and she was instantly on the way to making a name for herself as a top rock ’n’ roll photographer. In May 1968, with her portrait of Eric Clapton, she entered the record books as the first female photographer to have her work featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. During her tenure as the leading photographer of the late 1960s’ musical scene, she captured many of rock’s most important musicians on film, including Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Simon & Garfunkel, The Who, The Doors, and the Grateful Dead. In 1967, Linda went to London to document the "Swinging Sixties," where she met Paul McCartney at the Bag ’O Nails club and subsequently photographed The Beatles during a launch event for the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Paul and Linda fell in love, and were married on March 12, 1969. For the next three decades, until her untimely death, she devoted herself to her family, vegetarianism, animal rights, and photography. From her early rock ’n’ roll portraits, through the final years of The Beatles, via touring with Wings to raising four children with Paul, Linda captured her whole world on film. Her shots range from spontaneous family pictures to studio sessions with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, as well as artists Willem de Kooning and Gilbert and George. Always unassuming and fresh, her work displays a warmth and a feeling for the precise moment that captures the essence of any subject. Whether photographing her children, celebrities, animals, or a fleeting moment of everyday life, she did so without pretension or artifice.  A retrospective volume by Taschen—selected from her archive of over 200,000 images—is produced in close collaboration with Paul McCartney and their children. As such, it is a moving personal journal and a lasting testament to Linda’s talent. Collector's Edition limited to 750 copies, numbered and signed by Sir Paul McCartney.  Also available in two Art Editions of 125 copies each with a photographic print.  A release is set for this May. www.taschen.com

Reissued: Harald Grosskopf's 'Synthesist'

Imagine being holed up, alone in your friend's house in the West German country side....it's 1979....you are heartbroken after a recent break up with a girlfriend....your friend happens to have a home studio with a Revox reel-to-reel 8-track recorder and a primitive, temperamental Minimoog.....its Summer and you have a lot of time on your hands....inventing new, strange sounds. When Harald Grosskopf emerged from his heartbroken solitude he had inadvertently produced one of the first examples of synth-pop. Harald Grosskopf's album 'Synthesist,' originally released on Sky Records in 1980, RVNG Intl. celebrates the 30th year anniversary with this a mastered and packaged reissue. www.igetrvng.com

Retrofit: Ferragamo Creations

The house of Salvatore Ferragamo, famous for their shoes, is bringing back some of their amazing past creations, including the above rainbow and gold sandals, designed for Judy Garland in 1938. “Ferragamo’s Creations” is an exclusive collection of limited, numbered pieces from the Ferragamo Museum’s historic shoes and the brand’s iconic bags. You can buy the above shoe here.

Collective Unconscious: Surrealism Exhibit in Moscow

Giorgio de Chirico - Cavalli_in_riva_al_mare_1928

Giorgio de Chirico - Cavalli in riva al mare, 1928

InArtis project in collaboration with Moscow's State Historical Museum and with support of a concierge club presents the exhibition "The Collective Unconscious: Graphical Surrealism from De Chirico to Magritte". The exhibition starts on the 1st of May.

ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ Retrospective

Underwater Swimmer Esztergom,1917, André Kertész

"After I was wounded [in WWI] I was in the hospital for almost nine months. We went swimming in the pool every day, and I realized the distortions in the water. When I photographed them my comrades said, ‘You are crazy. Why did you photograph this?’ I answered: ‘Why only girl friends? This also exists.’ So I photographed my first distortion in 1917 – others followed later, especially the nudes in 1933." -André Kertész, Kertész on Kertész

With around 250 photographs and countless magazine contributions, a retrospective of photographer André Kertész is on display at the Fotomuseum Winterthur on view until May 15, 2011.  www.fotomuseum.ch

 

I've Got a Bad Bad Love...for Alexander Ebert

Alexander Ebert photographed by Adarsha Benjamin © 2010

Alexander Ebert can't stop reinventing himself.  This time Ebert has reinvented himself....as himself. Thank god.  Ebert's new album has some incredible songs. I've always loved Ebert's songwriting and musical delivery; akin to the virtuosity of  David Byrne, with the work ethic of Arthur Russel. After a stint as the lead singer and founder of the hippie-big-band-orchestra Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, who enjoyed a seemingly flash point meteoric rise, Alexander Ebert has gotten back together with himself.  His album, titled Alexander, is more self exploratory, somewhat somber, and purely honest.

Text by Oliver Maxwell Kupper for Pas Un Autre

Alexander Ebert - Bad Bad Love

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Alexander Ebert - Glimpses

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