Photographers I like Vol. 2: Hedi Slimane

OK, so fashion photography, in general, is a bit lame. It just all seems a bit try hard in my eyes. There's a vain attempt to inject some soul/art into a skinny poser being made to pull sexy faces and cotort their body as if they have their toes in a cartoon plug socket, then some photoshop whizz smooths over every rough area in the photograph thus removing any real feeling from the photograph and making the model look like a glorified coat stand.

Alright, that's all a bit of an over exaggeration, but I'm just not that into posed photographs. However, that was until I came across some new stuff from this lady, Hedi Slimane, who is probably old news to fashion anoraks but a lovely morning delight for me! There just seems something raw to what she photographs and, other than the unmistakable gloss of the fashion photograph, there's a playful side to a lot of what she has tried to capture. I'm not into it all (the Jamie Hince collection is ridiculous), but this lot and some of the other's in her diary are real cool...









http://www.hedislimane.com/

Bungalow Hate: Stoned Love Letters To Imaginary Boyfriends

Best Coast sound like the culmination of a whole summer of teenage heartbreak, napping on floral throws and sharing strong weed. Formerly in Pocahaunted, Bethany Consentino now writes songs for her and Bobby Bruno to hang out and play. A mixture of coagulated guitars, pained vocals and 60's pop sensibilites make up an unmistakably Californian sound that sometimes feels like those warm waves of the Pacific are actually washing over you. Bethany is the fastest responder MySpace has ever registered, and here are some things that I asked her last night and were in my Inbox by this morning...

There’s two of you in the band, right? How did you get together?

Bethany: Bobb and I have been friends for years, and we worked together in my last band, Pocahaunted. When I started writing these songs, and recording them--I knew I needed a little help making them sound exactly the way I wanted them to, and I knew Bobb was the guy to go to. We just work really well together, and he totally gets it.

I know that this is probably pretty obvious, but what are the main influences for Best Coast?

The music is definitely influenced by a lot of 50s and 60s groups/artists. I have listened to oldies for most of my life, and when I moved to New York to go to college, I listened to that shit even more because it reminded me of California. Oldies just have this really awesome happy, sunny vibe to them--and I'm really inspired by that. I guess specifically, The Beach Boys and girl groups like The Ronettes, The Angels, and The Shangri-Las would be the biggest influences for me.

How would you describe the music you make?

Stoned love letters to imaginary boyfriends??? Haha, I don't know. In terms of the sound, I think it's just like a 60s-meets 90s total California stoner sound. I don't even know if that's a real sound, but that is how I imagine it to sound in my head, haha.

Blackest Rainbow have put your 7” out, how did that come about?

Blackest Rainbow actually put out a tape entitled 'Where The Boys Are." Joe, who runs the label had released a few things for my last band, and when he found out about this new project, he approached me and asked if I wanted to work with him again, and I of course said yes.

What is going to be your next release? Will you get around to putting together an album?

There are two releases in the works, both seven inches--one is coming out on this label Art Fag based out of San Diego, and the other is coming out on Group Tightener, a new label based out of Brooklyn. My seven inch is actually their debut release, which is really exciting. An album is definitely going to happen, Bobb and I are still in the process of mixing songs, and I'm still writing new ones like everyday. I'm not in a rush though, it'll happen when it happens.

What sort of shows have you been playing/what are your favourite kind of gigs?

We have been playing a ton of shows around LA lately, they've been really fun! It's weird to play shows before you even have any merch or anything to sell, haha. We've been playing a lot of shows with our friends band "Pearl Harbour." They are amazing California stoners too!

What records are you listening too at the moment?

I still pretty much only listen to oldies--but I guess lately I've also been listening to a lot of Nirvana. 'Bleach' is kind of like my favourite album at the moment. I also like seriously can not stop listening to Built to Spill, 'There's Nothing Wrong With Love.' That album just makes me feel like I'm 17 again, and I'm a huge sucker for nostalgia haha. And then of course, just so much Beach Boys and this awesome album called 'The Girls' Sound'-- it's this amazing comp. with a ton of 50s-60s girl groups on it--it seriously rules.

Why do you think that the lo – fi thing is kicking off so big in California?

I think the whole lo-fi thing kind of exudes this really laid back vibe, and people in California are just super laid back and mellow. There is also something that is just super warm and sunny feeling about lo-fi music, and duh--california is both of those things!

Which bands are you into the most in that scene?

I'm just really excited and into most of the shit that is coming out right now. I guess it's because I'm friends with a lot of the bands in this "scene"--so it's exciting for me to see them all succeed and do well--but also they're all just making fucking epic stuff!

Your music is pretty much sounds like it was written as a soundtrack to you guys getting stoned. Was that intentional?

I don't think it was so much intentional as it was inherent--I mean, I smoke a lot of weed, haha..so I guess the music I make is bound to have a 'stoney' vibe.

Published on: http://www.readplatform.com/bungalow-hate-interview-with-best-coast/

http://www.myspace.com/bestycoasty

Best Video I have seen in ages

Cheatahs are a one man outfit from London, but who actually play live with two people, even though they are one people. Confusing. The music is mainly transmitted through a thick layer of fuzz, and sounds like it's been plucked straight from a jaded heart. This video is one of the best I have seen in a very long time. It acts as the perfect accompaniment to the song, allowing for a more playful side of the artist to come through, even though some might call the music 'mysterious'. However, those people would be stupid, a bit like me for trying to be clever with my words. Anyway, Cheatahs are a great band/solo project and you should add them as a mate of MySpace as they've only got like 5 at the moment and that's no way to live, now is it?

http://www.myspace.com/cheatahssuck

Bungalow Hate: Interview with Bare Wires

This is that band I posted a video of the other day. Hailing from Oakland, California, Bare Wires are the essence of 70's punk smothered all over the neck of a sweaty bar rat. Their modern take on a tried and tested old formula is some of the best stripped-back guitar music I've heard in ages. Their lead singer, Matthew, was nice enough to speak to me the other day, after I pestered him on Myspace. Enjoy...

When did you guys get together and how did it happen?

Matthew: "I started Bare Wires in Memphis in 2005 with Alicia Trout (Lost Sounds, The Clears) and the group went on hiatus until i reformed a group under the same name upon my arrival to San Francisco in 2008. I met Paul at a thrift store and heather in a sex shop. I just said hey you wanna be in my band?"

Your sound is more reminiscent of older punk bands. Are the main musical influences for Bare Wires firmly routed in the past?

"Yes. I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee listening to soul 45s and then got into early punk / powerpop / 70s and early 80s stuff."

How would you personally describe your music?

"smooth punk"


How did you end up being signed on Tic Tac Totally?

"They released an LP for my first band Snake Flower 2 and when Bare Wires started getting more attention he snapped us up for our debut LP."

How long have you been working on your L.P. Artificial Clouds and when is it out?

"It just came out the other day. We took about a month working on it in Oakland, California and then sent it off to be Mastered in Memphis by Jay Reatard."

What does the title mean?

"Artificial Clouds is about that feeling you get when you wake up to realize that things werent the way they seemed to be or what you had expected, and being further motivated by this discovery rather than discouraged."

How have you enjoyed recording compared to playing live?

"Playing live is great because its more about how you execute the songs rather than what notes you play. When I'm working on recordings its like being a kid again and building a fort out of blankets and cardboard, except with old amplifiers and vintage microphones."

What are you favourite kind of live shows to play?

"House Parties are lots of fun, and the best is to play crappy dive bars with a old malfunctioning sound equipment!"

How developed is the scene, nowadays, in Oakland?

"Its like Brooklyn in 1997. Crime is through the roof, Cheap rent, lots of cool bands popping up, house parties next door to abandoned buildings, that sort of thing..."

What are you guys listening to at the moment?

"Basically everything coming out on Goner Records, and dollar records that have been discarded on the street. I try not to listen to too much music, would much rather just be recording something."

Your upcoming tour is pretty huge. Have any of you guys been on tour before?

"This is our first tour - we are really excited and hope that the Dodge Ram Van that we got does not break down."

myspace.com/thebarewires

Published on: http://thepixzine.co.uk/article_view.php?article_id=543

The XX - XX

The XX – XX (9)

I’m not sure what’s more worrying about The XX: the fact that such young musicians could produce a debut album of this calibre or the troubled adolescence that led up to this tortured, haunting record. There is something so delicate and vulnerable about Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim’s voices, which feels as though they are on the brink of personal disaster and feel a collective pain. You get the impression that the pair took the lyrical content of their R&B influences completely to heart, and used it to channel their own deep-seeded tenderness.

This is by no means a loud record, but it has no need to be. The band are able to communicate their upset over a background of heavy bass and careful guitar play, reminiscent of the more macabre efforts of The Cure. The choice of the band to use MPC created beats perfectly compliments the smooth, sultry sound of the South London foursome. Anything else would have been too overpowering to the thick atmospheric setting that had already been generated, and would have appeared contrived on what is one of the most considered albums in years. In fact, the loudest part of the album comes halfway through ‘Fantasy’, when a rumbling bass line comes out of the backing track that was starting to sound more like Stars of the Lid than a pop tune. Though they are widely labelled as a pop act, the overriding poignancy of XX makes even more poppy efforts such as ‘Basic Space’ sound like the most melancholy-filled Saturday night Joe Goddard has ever had.

There is a subtle epicness to this debut that achieves a level of introspection and electronic schizophrenia that only M83 has been able to produce in recent times. The decision of the band to shy away from interfering producers, allowing instead for keyboardist Jamie Smith to take the reigns, means that this record is completely theirs. As a result, there is not one hint of compromise, no moments of hurriedness, and not one second of this sound that isn’t The XX. The most exciting thing about this album is that I’ve been listening to it on repeat, and I’m still constantly finding new pieces of the music I enjoy and imagining new places that I would love to listen to it.

One of the most hyped bands of the year have retired away to a quiet corner, with only themselves for company and produced an album of such consequence that it will be relevant to everyone, even those bastards who were mean to them at school. Flawless.

When I get some money I'm buying this

Bon Voyage

I'm not a massive fan of Steve Bell but this is pretty amazing. Farewell !

Man on the wall

So the weekend turned out to be impressively more disgusting than I expected. I attended a two-day gathering in a field in Kent, HUH FFF, which turned out to not be the kind of place where one can go and make a complete fool of themselves in relative anonymity. Needless to say, that the suicidal urges washed over me shortly afterwards like a thick wave of hate tipped knives. Lovely.

I was going to write something here about the weekend itself, but it turns out that all festival stories tend to fade into “I-guess-you-had-to-be-there” obscurity when read back by other people (apart from when my friend, who was tightly clad in a cow suit, was getting it on with a girl and she stopped him briefly halfway in to state that “things were really hotting-up” ).

So, in the interests of keeping this interesting to those few interested parties, I decided to blog about my moment of clarity the day after the four days before. I dragged my sorry arse out of my flat to be led around second hand furniture shops by my friend who was sorting out a video shoot. I was feeling very sad to say the least. The clouds had come out and I found I had lost the power of legible thought or speech, until we stumbled upon this little bric a brac shop run by a “bita this, bita that” geezer Darren. The shop had that incredible antique feel to it, mixing smells of mahogany and old paper into a claustrophobic clutter of thoughtlessly arranged items. The whole thing felt like a Sunday afternoon film. The only thing missing from this fantasia was that the soft sounds of Louis Armstrong and a mystery female (who is probably not mystery but I couldn’t recognise) were being pushed round the little room by a fisher price illuminated hi-fi and not a Grammar phone. I was so enthralled and disappointed at once as all of the items seemed perfect for my life, but I had not tuppence hapney to rub together. Until, that is, I found a perfectly kempt little book of L. S. Lowry paintings and drawings. I couldn’t believe it. His amazing collection of awkward drawings, kinda creepy sketches and almost childlike portraits, lifted me out of my post-fun funk like a forklift truck made of hugs. Just then holding my newly purchased book, the sun broke a little through the skies and shone an intricate rainbow over the sullen grey buildings, and I realised that I might be alright after all.

Schools out for summer

Ah those idyllic summers spent down by the boardwalk…where women flourished with a new sense of liberation, romance and a kinship that was at once comforting and understanding. Of course, the ladies in this collection of short educational clips looked after their appearance, but they also were totally aware of the struggles that their sisterhood had gone through, so that they may enjoy the freedom of youth. When people say to me from now on that the youth of today are have no sense of respect or morality, I shall simply laugh off their claims, pop a Destiny’s Child cassette in the tape deck and direct their eyes to this sweet slice of feminist utopia. A suffragette would be infinitely proud that she threw herself under that speeding carriage.

G G G G UNIT!

This is one of the funniest, most cringeworthy things I have seen in a while. I'm a little slow on the uptake as usual, being the 150, 899th person to view it or something but it truly does not take away from the pure anxiety of watching this clip. Although his follow up diss of fiddy is truly tongue in cheek, my personal favourite moment (and evidently fiddy's) is when the nerd says "G G G G-UNIT!" - GOLD! There was this kid called David Williams in school with a similar penchant for making his pointless opinions heard in an over animated way, mostly revolving around innane rubbish no one gave a shit about. This kid is that kid but with parents who were short-sighted enough to purchase him a web cam.