Watch The Music Video For The Blaze's Track "Virile"

French electro production duo, The Blaze, have released their spellbinding new video for "Virile" – taken from Bromance Records' forthcoming compilation "Homieland Vol. II". The Blaze defy time and spread confusion amongst minds with their mesmerising video for "Virile". Puffs of thick smoke float over their heads, punches thrown, a kiss on the cheek — in tune with heartbeats. Wild and frenetic, we venture forth on the dance floor before losing control, slowly drifting away by a distant and elusive sound. However, our eyes are captivated by the video where two pals tenderly confront each other, tossing between a cockfight and a courtship ritual. Producers and directors duo The Blaze have crafted a sound between King Tubby and Art Department, while staying resolutely attached to the critically acclaimed 2014 coming of age film, Girlhood lust for life and the raving mad friendship of 1976 French film, Calmos.

Touch The Leather: Read Our Interview With Lias Saoudi, The Electric Lead Singer of The Fat White Family On His New Album, Which Comes Out Today →

Full disclosure: there is nothing objective about this article. I love Fat White Family. The band, to me, represents everything I’ve ever held dear about rock n’ roll: chaos, rebellion, sleaze, art, drugs, poetry, and politics. The first time I saw the band play live, about a year and a half ago, I was more excited than that time I saw Martin Scorsese walking down the Bowery (re: very excited). After housing beers and watching various members of the band run around the venue with their most famous fan and cheerleader, Sean Lennon, I elbowed my way to the front of the hall and got ready to let loose. 15 minutes went by when the band’s six members, gangly, unkempt, and skinny, took to the stage, launching into a particularly cacophonic rendition of the opening chords of the band’s lead single off debut album Champagne Holocaust, Auto Neutron. Lead singer Lias Saoudi, already half naked and sweating like Usain Bolt at the finish line, jittered to the front of the stage like a character in a Chris Cunningham music video and the band belted in unison, “AH AH AHHHH AHHH AHHHHHHH!” Instantly, bodies began colliding in joyous punishment. In various levels of intoxication, the crowd bowed to the revolution of the Fat White Family. It hurt so good. By the end of the song, Lias had his cock out. The scene erupted like a Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition come to life. Click here to read more. 

Dean Levin's First Solo Show "XTC" In Los Angeles @ Kohn Gallery

Dean Levin’s solo exhibition XTC at Kohn Gallery, the artist’s first in Los Angeles, presents a refined iteration of Levin’s ongoing investigation into space, perception, and architecture. At once conceptually utilizing and physically inhabiting the gallery space, the works on view offer discrete moments of architectural deconstruction and reconfiguration, prompting the viewer to objectively consider the space itself, while maintaining a subjective engagement with the resultant products of Levin’s investigatory gesture. Made up of three separate sculptural “vignettes” demarcated by discrete swaths of carpet on the gallery floor, the exhibition can be viewed as an experiential installation whose totality is more than the sum of its various formal parts. Dean Levin: XTC will be on view until February 27, 2016 at Kohn Gallery, 1227 Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Read Kate Wyer's Short Prose Piece "The Pollinator" About Self Piercing and Cultural Barriers →

We are all migrants here. Working with our thumbs and hands in the organic orchid field. We are all brown with the sun and some from family. We do not all speak Spanish. I speak some, enough. I dream it and can tell when I’m the butt of another’s joke. To know slurs and insults, to roll with the subtle, confusingly slow brushes against my backside as I lean into the plants. Click here to read more. 

Punk and Hardcore Fliers, Zines and Ephemera @ Printed Matter In New York

Punk and Hardcore Fliers, Zines and Ephemera is a dynamic representation of a period when music subcultures adopted methods used by earlier culture-jamming groups such as the DaDaists and Situationists to creatively promote their own movement. The materials span from the early 1970s covering the glam rock and punk scenes of New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as well as the garage rock and power pop revivals, American hardcore, English peace-punk, and industrial music scenes to form an overview of underground music culture of the last forty years. Punk and Hardcore Fliers, Zines and Ephemera will be on view until February 13, 2016 at Printed Matter, 231 Eleventh Avenue New York, NY. Photographs by Scout MacEachron

The New Gay Novel Of Our Times: Luke Goebel Reviews Garth Greenwell's Incendiary New Novel

Happy New Year Autre Readers,

I want to tell you about a book that you should read in 2016. I have never written a book review before, but I’ve read a lot of them and had my own book reviewed a couple dozen times, and therefore know that I hate them—they are too long, usually, and too bombastic and too laudatory and too much too much. They either show off or get goopy or refer to too many old works or take shots at the work or as is usually the case are written by friends of the author and biased and shit.

Let’s talk about cocaine. There is hardly any of it that is real anymore. Agreed? I am sober, as in I don’t do drugs anymore, but let’s say that I did have a little taste of toot the other night, as fiction, let’s say that, and that the taste on my tongue was definitely watered down, i.e. stepped on, meth coke bullshit. It’s everywhere, right?

We don’t want our funk stepped on. If there was real coke, in the fiction, I would as a fictional character done a line, and as the Byrds sing, would offer you to take a whiff on me, which is what I will do later in this review. I’ll offer you to take a whiff on me of some real coke.

Garth Greenwell has got your coke, and I’m going to give you a little whiff of his supply, in the sense that Garth has the straight numb your face off wake up powder in the novel he is releasing this month with FSG titled, WHAT BELONGS TO YOU.

This novel, and no I don’t know Garth, was recommended by an author I admire, Alex Che, and so I asked for an ARC (advanced reader’s copy) from Grant and he agreed and sent me over a copy. I read the first page and was keenly aware that Grant has the coke. This masterpiece of his begins in a public bathroom underneath the Sofia National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria where the narrator tells us he first spied the object of his lust and desire, a hustler of charisma with a jagged tooth who is rolling a joint in a stall with another man when the narrator first pays the hustler to let him suck the hustler’s cock in the bathroom. The book goes from there with the intensity of interpersonal drama and identity that brings to mind Oscar Wilde, Fitzgerald, Plath, Nabokov, and is nothing short of our first masterpiece…there I go again doing the thing I hate, the book is a masterpiece. I’m going to give you those tastes I promised now, but as you will see, this book and the writing are something we don’t get anymore. They are a taste of real coke, only without the gasoline, murder, death, guilt, corruption that goes into cocaine. Writing like this simply doesn’t come around anymore. The majority of what we get to read from living authors is part meth at best. This is the pure shit. Enjoy. Text by Luke Goebel. We were going to include some excerpts from the Greenwell's new novel, but all the lit mags, like the Paris Review, claimed dibs, so you may as well just purchase "What Belongs To You: A Novel" here

A David Bowie Concert Diary By Hedi Slimane

This year marks the 10th year of Hedi Slimane's "Diary." With the passing of David Bowie, it is only fitting that we dig into Slimane's diary and explore some images he took of Bowie for a Stage book project in 2014. In one interview Slimane remarked, "I was literally born with a David Bowie album in my hand." Currently at the helm of Saint Laurent, Slimane is gearing up for a presentation of the label's fall 2016 collection at the Palladium in Los Angeles on February 10th. photographs by Hedi Slimane

First Look At Adam Green's Film "Aladdin" Starring Francesco Clemente, Natasha Lyonne, Macaulay Culkin and More

Here’s the first look at Adam Green’s Aladdin, the second feature film from musician, artist and filmmaker Adam Green. Set in the modern day world, Adam’s hyper-sensory, poetic and humorously subversive take on the classic Arabian Nights tale stars Adam as Aladdin living with his dysfunctional family in a “regular” American town ruled by a corrupt Sultan with a decadent socialite daughter. The fantasy film stars an ensemble cast featuring some of New York’s biggest arts, music and film talent, including Natasha Lyonne, Macaulay Culkin, Alia Shawkat, Francesco Clemente, Jack Dishel, Har Mar Superstar, Devendra Banhart, Bip Ling, Zoe Kravitz and more! The movie features a brand new Full Album Soundtrack composed and recorded by Adam, who will be kicking off a worldwide Aladdin Tour concurrent with the film and album's release in Spring 2016. Read our interview with Adam Green from back in 2013. 

Oscars So White: Read Spike Lee's Statement On Why He Won't Be Attending The Award Ceremony This Year

I Would Like To Thank President Cheryl Boone Isaacs And The Board Of Governors Of The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences For Awarding Me an Honorary Oscar This Past November. I Am Most Appreciative. However My Wife, Mrs. Tonya Lewis Lee And I Will Not Be Attending The Oscar Ceremony This Coming February. We Cannot Support It And Mean No Disrespect To My Friends, Host Chris Rock and Producer Reggie Hudlin, President Isaacs And The Academy. But, How Is It Possible For The 2nd Consecutive Year All 20 Contenders Under The Actor Category Are White? And Let's Not Even Get Into The Other Branches. 40 White Actors In 2 Years And No Flava At All. We Can't Act?! WTF!! It's No Coincidence I'm Writing This As We Celebrate The 30th Anniversary Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. Dr. King Said "There Comes A Time When One Must Take A Position That Is Neither Safe, Nor Politic, Nor Popular But He Must Take It Because Conscience Tells Him It's Right." For Too Many Years When The Oscars Nominations Are Revealed, My Office Phone Rings Off The Hook With The Media Asking Me My Opinion About The Lack Of African-Americans And This Year Was No Different. For Once, (Maybe) I Would Like The Media To Ask All The White Nominees And Studio Heads How They Feel About Another All White Ballot. If Someone Has Addressed This And I Missed It Then I Stand Mistaken. As I See It, The Academy Awards Is Not Where The "Real" Battle Is. It's In The Executive Office Of The Hollywood Studios And TV And Cable Networks. This Is Where The Gate Keepers Decide What Gets Made And What Gets Jettisoned To "Turnaround" Or Scrap Heap. This Is What's Important. The Gate Keepers. Those With "The Green Light" Vote. As The Great Actor Leslie Odom Jr. Sings And Dances In The Game Changing Broadway Musical HAMILTON, "I WANNA BE IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS." People, The Truth Is We Ain't In Those Rooms And Until Minorities Are, The Oscar Nominees Will Remain Lily White. Text by Spike Lee. Watch the World premiere of the new Spike Lee Joint MICHAEL JACKSON’S JOURNEY FROM MOTOWN TO OFF THE WALL at Sundance Film Festival with screenings from January 24 to January 30. The documentary will be on view on Showtime on February 5, 2016.

Watch The Incredible Music Video For Odesza's Track "It's Only" Featuring Zyra

Odesza has unveiled a new video for In Return song “It’s Only (feat. Zyra)". Directed by Dan Brown, the video comes ahead of another headline run of major festivals this spring and summer including stops at Mysteryland, CRSSD, Boston Calling, Moogfest, Shaky Beats and more to come. “It’s Only” will also be accompanied by a forthcoming remix package including remixes by RÜFÜS DU SOL, 20syl, Kania, and Fei-Fei, out February 19.

John Stezaker "The Truth of Masks" at Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago

"The Truth of Masks" marks the latest exhibition of new collages by English artist John Stezaker, the largest U.S. exhibition of his work to date. For the past forty years, Stezaker has searched meticulously through vast archives of antique travel postcards, Hollywood film stills, and anonymous photographs to create collages that are sharp, poignant, and surreal. Through the reappropriation, alteration, and repurposing of these forgotten worlds, Stezaker creates new ones. Both minimal and complex, the collages are “transmissions of a Mass Age dream world.” "Truth of Masks" is on view until January 30th at Richard Gray Gallery, 875 N Michigan Ave #3800, Chicago. Text and photographs by Keely Shinners. 

"Like-ness" Group Show At Albertz Benda Gallery in New York

Albertz Benda presents "Like·ness," a group exhibition featuring works by seven contemporary artists – Del Kathryn Barton, Sara-Vide Ericson, Dongwook Lee, Kalup Linzy, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Terry Rodgers, and Dennis Scholl –that focus on physical egocentricity in the digital age. Through a variety of mediums including film, painting and sculpture, like·ness offers an aesthetic overview of social pressures, the human body and the correlation between vanity, insecurity, and self-obsession. Like-ness will be on view until February 13, 2016 at Albertz Benda gallery. Photographs by Scout MacEachron  

Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia @ The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis

It is a strange wonder to see the past's imagination of the future. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis presents Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia. This psychedelic, powerful, and comprehensive exhibition examines the intersections of art, architecture, and design with the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s. A time of great upheaval, the works radically challenge social norms that are relevant to the present--the control of female sexuality, domestic & international warfare, ecological destruction, implicit & explicit racisms... As they comment on their present moment, these artists, architects, and designers in turn imagine alternative utopias--communities of empowerment, creation, education, and freedom. Challenging traditional mediums, the exhibition features experimental furniture, alternative living structures, immersive and participatory media environments, alternative publishing and ephemera, and experimental film. Check out Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia at the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, Minnesota, until February 28th. Text by Keely Shinners. Photographs by Keely Shinners and Neelufar Franklin.

Read Our Review Of London Collections: Men →

It's been a full week since LCM, which is an eternity in the world of fashion, but we like to take our time to really analyze the collections for their sartorial craftiness, relevance in culture and wearableness. Anyway, another season another killer London Collections: Men.. Bless Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion, because as we’ve said before, London is far and away smoking the menswear game in terms of new and subversive talent. Click here to read more. 

Dreams In Blue: Read Our Interview With Artist and Painter Phillip Mueller On The Eve Of His Solo Show At Carbon 12 Gallery In Dubai →

Viennese artist Phillip Mueller’s art is mythical, fantastical and deranged. It exists on a plane somewhere between Hieronymus Bosch splashed with modern pop references, Thomas Kinkade on acid and a print out from your brain of a recurring nightmare. However, there is also something so sweet, alluring and romantic about his work. Mueller, whose solo show opens tonight at Carbon 12 Gallery in Dubai, is a genuine painter and he is studious about his work. In a world devoid of figurative meaning in painting, Mueller uses his paint and brushes almost like a protest, and the depth of his work is a war against contemporary’s artist stodginess. Click here to read more.