Autre Exclusively Debuts New Song From Kisses’ Upcoming Album That Comes With A Delicious Limited-Edition Plum Jam

photograph by John Michael Fulton

We’ve been following Los Angeles based pop duo Kisses for a long time. It’s a cliché thing to admit, but they have been a regular soundtrack to our life for the last five years – since their extremely cool and sexy debut album, The Heart of the Nightlife. Sexy is the perfect way to describe Kisses – it’s their name, but it’s also the sound. Combining Jesse Kivel’s nonchalant, vintage-hued timbre and lyrics of youthful abandon and Zinzi Edmundson’s disco-inspired instrumentation, Kisses make undeniable magic for your ears and the dance floor. So, it was beyond exciting when we were asked if we wanted to exclusively premier a track off their upcoming album, Rest In Paradise (out October 9th), which sees Kisses collaborating with a live backing band, Midnight Magic, for the first time. This move from synth to live composition makes the record literally levitate with a new kind of aural luminance that harkens back to early Talking Heads, Orange Juice or even The English Beat. Below, we offer the first listen of the incredible track, entitled “Jam.” In what may be a first, the band has collaborated with L.A. based preserves company and eatery Sqirl to create a custom-made plum jam for the debut of the track. Lead singer Kivel describes the track as “…a song best served with a piece of Chloe Sevigney "toe-ast" – which is why we paired with our friend Jessica at Sqirl to debut this song and a limited edition, literal jam. The tune takes you on a complex and flavorful journey, much like our tasty jam. Fun fact, Erika Spring adds some vocal harmonies on this tune.” This weekend, you can get a taste of this delicious jam and a taste of Kisses’ new album at a special listening party held at Formerly Yes in Downtown Los Angeles – you can RSVP here. The jam is also available for purchase with Hit City USA, the label that takes these tasty grooves from the studio, to your earbuds, and straight down to your dancing feet. Turn up your speakers and press play below. 

Ben Jones "A Technicolor Happening" @ Ace Gallery In Beverly Hills

Ace Gallery hosted a major live performance event, Technicolor Happening, debuting a collaboration between artist Ben Jones and fashion designers Brian Wolk and Claude Morais as well as the world premier of an original composition by David Utzinger entitled Apollonian Gasket, and a Ping-Pong performance by model, actress and table tennis champion Soo Yeon Lee. Ben Jones "A Technicolor Happening" will be on view until October 3, 2015 at Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills. 

Nick van Woert "Just Dropped In To See What Condition" @ Moran Bondaroff Gallery In Los Angeles

Moran Bondaroff, formerly OHWOW gallery, presents Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was. Named after Kenny Rogers’ hit song about psychedelic experience, van Woert adopts this title to reference the subtext of previous work; work centered around artificial substance and an intoxicated landscape. Beyond hinting at altered states, the title refers to his new works, which assess the human condition from an observant, sober vantage. With this quote in mind, van Woert considered the roots of American civilization: “When the white man came he had the bible and we had the land. They gave us the bible and told us to close our eyes and pray. When we opened our eyes we had the bible and they had the land.” Appropriating cigar store Indian figures, the artist carved historic white faces over the existing Native American caricature visages – murderous faces, such as Andrew Jackson and Buffalo Bill, graft the decorative stereotype. The works also reference the 1985 bombing of the house where communal black liberation group MOVE held their office, through various silkscreens burned with the news headlines.  Just Dropped In To See What Condition will be on view until October 10, 2015 at Moran Bondaroff, 937, N. La Cienega, Los Angeles. 

We Love Gucci's Cruise 2016 Fashion Film Directed By Glen Luchford with An Incredible Joy Division Cover

Following a guest into a dance party in a villa outside Florence, the film directed by Glen Luchford captures the contemporary essence of Alessandro Michele's Cruise 2016 Collection for Gucci. Directed by Glen Luchford. Music, "She's Lost Control," performed by Alive She Died.

Jill Di Donato Takes On Gender, Sexual Reassignment Surgery, Sex Tapes and The Pleasure of Having a Clit In This Cultural Meandering on Womanhood in the 21st Century →

We don't mean to get heavy on a Monday, but Jill Di Donato's essay is just too good and too informative not to start your week off with. Starting with Lynda Benglis' massive faux member in Artforum to the discovery that her own sex tape was previewed in public to a bunch of strangers, Donato explores female sexuality, gender, and what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. She talks to photographers like Ricky Powell and Richard Kern to find the answers. Click here to read. 

Betty Tompkins "REAL ERSATZ" @ FUG (Foundation University Gallery)

BHQFU, New York’s freest art school, presents REAL ERSATZ, an exhibition by Betty Tompkins and her first New York solo show since 2009. In her new body of work Tompkins plays with the idea of the real, the fake and the area in-between. Using both digital prints and paintings of the same image she explores the interaction that these different mediums have with each other. The exhibition will open a conversation between photorealism and technology as well as the experience of medium, scale and color in contemporary art. Recognized for her exploration into sexuality and her controversial ‘Fuck’ paintings of the 1970s, this exhibition marks a new direction in Tompkins work whilst celebrating her as a transgressive icon. Real Ersatz will be on view until October 18, 2015 at FUG, 431 E 6th St, BSMT, New York, NY. photographs by Tenlie Mourning

Dan McCarthy's Psychedelic Ceramic Sculptures On View Now @ Venus Over Los Angeles

Venus Over Los Angeles presents a new, exciting batch of ceramic sculptures and paintings by Dan McCarthy. The Facepots are the largest the artist has created to date, some weighing in at over 75 pounds. Also on view is a series of new paintings--lightning bolts, clouds, and rainbows paired with Haiku-style speech bubbles that illustrate the artist's California upbringing. On view until November 1 2015 at Venus Over Los Angeles, 601 South Anderson Street, Los Angeles.

Read Our Round-Up Review of 2015 London Fashion Week →

London Fashion is Autre Fashion - if that makes any sense. Basically, the fashion coming out of London is on-brand with the message that we are trying to set forth at Autre: the contrast of high and low culture, freedom, expression, sexuality, and you know, being fucking weird. It’s been a pleasure to watch these young designers grow into their roles as international arbiters of taste. It’s not hard to imagine JW Anderson’s brand growing into Yves Saint Laurent levels of label endurance while he simultaneously re-brands Loewe into an ultra desirable fashion label. Simone Rocha is bringing a romance back to fancy clothing that has been missing for some time. KTZ is still killing it. Burberry puts on a very fun show for a juggernaut mega money brand. And the best part is, there is always a new crop of Central Saint Martin’s graduates looking to enter the fashion system and re-shape it in their visions. So, yeah we love London. Obviously we get excited about Paris, too, but there is such a youthful vitality going on in London fashion at the moment made all the more exciting by its defiance of the city’s astronomical living rates and housing costs. These designers express their creativity in any way they can or they starve trying. Literally. So, I (Adam Lehrer, fashion editor at Autre Magazine) teamed up with new fashion correspondent Julianna Vezzetti to discuss the SS 2016 London collections. Click here to read the full review.

The New Funkadelic Revival: Read Our Exclusive Interview with Boulevards' Jamil Rashad On Bringing Funk Back To The People and His New Album →

“Funk is the DNA for hip hop,” George Clinton once said in a television interview, when asked why his music had such staying power. It’s true, funk music is the double helix of sorts for the hip hop that rose from the streets to the top of the record label chain and to a sort of a blanketed commerciality that makes the rap music of today seem very watered down. This is where Boulevards comes in – not only are they bringing back the downhome funkiness of hip hop, they are also making funk music for the 21st century, which is amazing. Click here to read our interview with Boulevards' Jamil Rashad on his new album and bringing funk back to the people. 

Go See The Wild and Wacky Seth Bogart Show On View Now @ 356 Mission In Los Angeles

Seth Bogart is most well known for being the lead singer of the incredible gay punk band Hunx and His Punx (buy every single album here), but Bogart is also a visual genius on top of being a musical genius. His new show, which looks more like the set of Pee Wee's Playhouse if Pee Wee really was a pervert, entitled The Seth Bogart Show, is a must see installation that is on view now at the 356 Mission Gallery in Los Angeles. Pictured above, Bogart poses in his "plastic look" that takes over 2 hours to squeeze into. Photographs by Suzy Poling

Check Out The First Collection of the Persona Series Photographed by Natalie Yang

The designer of the Persona series wants to remain anonymous, but Autre was fortunate to get its hands on some photos of its first collection – photographed by Natalie Yang. PERSONA: Series 1 exists as part of a larger collection of series and iterations. Equal focus is placed on the piece, the presentation and the performance. Series 1 introduces the class photo. Pieces from each series will be sold in limited quantities in unconventional spaces. Click here to email for more info and click here to follow them on Instagram. 

The Queen Of Punk Has Died: Read Our In-Depth Exploration of The Incendiary Life and Times Of Edwige Belmore →

Edwige Belmore, “the queen of punk” has died at the age of 58 in Miami. A great many things can be said of Belmore and yet it seems that the complexity of her journey through life remains all too mysterious. What we do know is that she personally touched the lives of some of the greatest cultural influencers of the 20th century, from Helmut Newton to Andy Warhol. Her life was a beautiful rags-to-riches-to-rags tale of heartbreak and obscurity. From her early years estranged from family to being discovery by the world of high fashion and art, to the end of her life as the resident artist and landscaper at the Vagabond Hotel in Miami. Her LinkedIn account lists “landscaping hobo” and “palm tree studies” as her duties. There is certainly no way to encapsulate all of the moments of her life in a meager list of 10, but since we’ve attempted to all the same since everyone loves a listicle. Click here to read 10 things you need to know about Edwige Belmore. 

Watch Small Black's Incredibly Touching and Cinematic Music Video for the Track Boy's Life

Small Black's music video for the track Boy's Life, off their upcoming album Best Blues (out on October 16th on Jagjaguar),  is a burst of youthful exuberance and heartache that may leave a lump in your throat. The video was directed by the inimitable Nick Bentgen who has been working with the band since its inception in 2009. Starting with the “Despicable Dogs” video from the Small Black EP, Bengten and the band have collaborated on three other videos since then. Small Black lead singer Josh Kolenik says of Bentgen, “He functions almost as a fifth band member, assigning images to the sounds that come out of our heads, populating them with sprawling casts and endless locales, yet never missing the quiet moment. With ‘Boys Life,’ he's getting at a simple reflection on being young, and the many identities we all try out on our paths to figuring out how we might be. Falling through the city on the way to our lives.”

At The V&A Museum Faye Toogood's Cloaks Are Meant to Keep You Warm and Curious

photograph Theo Bridge

Visitors to the V&A Museum during the London Design Festival are transformed into temporary custodians via Faye Toogood’s two-part installation, The Cloakroom. The first part of the experience is a literal cloakroom, located in Room 55, where visitors are invited to check out one of 150 Toogood coats to wear around the Museum. Each coat is equipped with a sewn-in map that guides the visitor through the second part of the installation: ten places in the Museum galleries, where they will discover a series of sculptural garments created by Toogood in response to nearby objects from the Museum’s collection – from a 15th century timber-panelled room to a shining suit of armour. The 150 navigational coats are based on the voluminous Oil Rigger coat, one of the first coats designed for the Toogood brand, which the designer runs with her pattern-cutter sister, Erica. The coats are made from Highfield by Kvadrat, a high-tech compressed-foam textile and each has been hand-treated to render it unique. The sculptural garments visitors discover during their journey are constructed from non-traditional fashion materials, including wood, fibreglass and metal, bridging the worlds of furniture design and fashion with which Toogood is engaged. “These are ten of my favourite objects within the V&A, and I’ve responded to each object’s material, craftsmanship, or artisan maker,” says Toogood. “I want to take people on a journey of discovery through the depths of the Museum.” The installation will be on view until September 27, 2015 – with a special talk given by Faye Toogood on the 25th  – at the V&A at The Clore Study Area, Room 55, Level 2, Cromwell Road. 

Creamed His Corn: Read Luke Goebel's Newest Stream Of Lascivious Consciousness In A Short Story About Desire, Fantasy And Wanting a Bigger Everything →

photograph by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari

He was a “he,” which meant the dummie knew already that there was only two things in the world that mattered and he wasn’t either of them. Were, were! There was the online world of instagram photos and sexiness. Everything that was young or female and sexy or famous and rich and arching its back in a photo, which he wasn’t and then there was the physical world of problems, such as taking a shit and what was written on the wall, and having to go upstairs to take a shit because someone was already in the bathroom, which was the janitor, probably, and him being on campus, and him being in his office, and his being on campus, and him being a fuckhead professor, which you shouldn’t and couldn’t really even say as a fuckhead who was a professor. Fuckhead. click here to read the full story

Daisuke Yokota "Color Photographs" Is The Acclaimed Japanese Artist's First Exhibition In the U.S.

Harper’s Books, in conjunction with Flying Books, Tokyo, presented an exhibition of new work by Daisuke Yokota over the weekend. Color Photographs marks Daisuke Yokota’s first exhibition in the United States. Celebrated internationally for his interdisciplinary and energetic approach to art and bookmaking, this show will focus on the artist's experiments with color photography, a body of work distinct from the black and white images, zines, and books for which he is known. With this series, as Yokota explains, he “tried not to take pictures,” and instead sought to “draw out the physical aspect of film.” Yokota layered sheets of unused large format color film and applied unorthodox developing methods before scanning the results. Here, documentation is replaced with darkroom alchemy in order to show that the essence of photography rests not necessarily with the camera, but in film itself. You can also purchase a signed first edition monograph featuring these magnificent color photographs. This exhibition will also be view at Harper's Books in East Hampton from September 26 to December 1, 2015. photographs by Adam Lehrer