Atoms For Peace – Amok Album Stream!
After years of teasing with drips and drabs of content, the full album is finally out! Check out Thom Yorke’s new band Atoms For Peace, featuring Flea (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), and a supporting cast of industry pros, mostly known for their session work with Radiohead, Beck, and RHCP, Nigel Godrich (Radiohead), Joey Waronker (Beck) and Mauro Refosco (RHCP & Radiohead).
Sessionists are the unsung heros of the music industry, acting as freelance hired guns, coveted for their unique skills, so high in demand that they’d rather record for and tour the world under other bands than call one as a home of their own.
White Shirt Week – UK Edition
This came in the mail today as what seems to be a bit of PR from London’s St. James BIA (I can only imagine). Wot day is it, sirrah? Well, today be White Shirt Day Week! For those who don’t know, St. James is home to Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Green Park, Buckingham Palace, gentleman’s clubs, and one of the last bastions of true blue-blooded bespoke shirt makers. St. James has also been popularized by flicks like James Bond, The Great Gatsby and Downtown Abbey.
Apparently the earliest recorded white shirts have been recorded in 3000 BC in First Dynasty Egyptian tombs. In the Middle Ages, white shirts were worn as what seems like typical undershirts, but by the 19th, they had evolved into status symbols to differentiate from blue collar manual labourers, who couldn’t afford to keep the shirts spotless. Verrry interesting!
I’m sharing this not because I’m a royalist by any means but there has been a lack of sartorialisms on the site. Featured in the photo is British stage and screen actor Freddie Fox. To learn more about the wonders of marmite, Quality Street, the origins of what the Dickens? and more, take the trolley over to stjameslondon.co.uk.
Here’s a bit about the type of St.James Street shirt Freddie is wearing because I just can’t make this shit up.
“Each St James’s shirt maker has their own signature design, for which they are known. A shirt exhibiting a three-button cuff is a trademark look of Turnbull & Asser; a ready to wear version of this shirt costs £145. Mother of Pearl buttons complement Emma Willis’ signature look for £290. Emmett’s signature shirt, at £95, is made using Baby Twill White, a weave known for its soft texture that becomes even more supple over time. In contrast, Budd’s distinctive shirt, £115, is made of white poplin two fold cotton with a classic Budd forward collar. New & Lingwood’s signature style involves a curved collar ending in a point, allowing the collar to lay properly on the upper breast bone, and costs £95. Harvie & Hudson’s iconic shirt is the plush and luxurious white Herringbone and a white ready to wear version costs £64.50. Favourbrook’s 1850’s Victorian Morning Wing Collar Dress Shirt at £90 has an accentuated high collar and emphasised wing lapels that create a stunning effect when paired with a silk cravat. Along with the medium weight white cotton poplin, covered buttons and French-cuffs, the straight cut tailoring creates an elegant profile. Hilditch & Key’s bestseller is the Carlton with their classic collar and double cuff, made with the finest two-fold cotton poplin and real shell buttons.
Turnbull & Asser ties range in price from £85-£105. Stephen Quin recommends a pale blue tie in summer and for winter favours a navy blue polka dot. All Hilditch & Key ties are hand slipped and feature the distinctive Hilditch & Key tipping. However for something different to the standard tie, a Favourbrook pure raw silk dupion cravat is the perfect accessory. Emma Willis’ handmade gold acorn cufflinks at £1,200 are also a popular embellishment for a white shirt. Nigel Milne is another retailer offering high quality cufflinks in the St James’s area.”
The Maccabees @ The Mod Club
I just caught UK’s The Macabees for their very first Toronto gig. The band’s got three albums under their belt already but what’s got the world’s attention right now was there 2012 Mercury Award nomination. Sadly, they lost out to Alt-J (or ∆)’s spectral folky sounds. No matter, they played a full house so I don’t think the loss is really affecting them much. And no, they didn’t intentionally reference Judah The Maccabee, nor are they jews or really fans of Hannukah, but apparently they were flicking through the bible one day looking for band names and the Hebrew Hammer just stuck with them.
It’s easy to say that pretty boy guitarist and brother to other members, Felix White, stole the show with his expert posing and capturing the light in just the right manner. You can give the dreamy full album a listen here at the CBC or stream it on Spotify if you’re savvy like that.
FLASHER!
Posting this here because it might give my Pinterest followers the wrong idea…
From the original site’s catalog:
| Legendary porn director Lasse Braun helms this atmospheric tale of flashers, freaks and fiery sex. A masterpiece of erotic compulsion! |
Depeche Mode tease new album with Blawan & Matthew Dear remixes – BeatPort News
Mist – Tilt – Alëxone @ Gallerie AtDown
I first met street artists Mist and brother from another mother, Tilt, back in 2009 at Toronto’s Circa club opening in collaboration with Kid Robot. They were both running around airbrushing babes with their signature bubble letter styles. It’s great to know that the guys are still at it, in combination with Alëxone. They’re showing together and I wish I could be there, but it’s all the way out in Montpellier! Here’s a vid of a similar project they all worked on, also through curator, Nicolas Pinelli.
BEAR now on Xbox 360!
Ghost Capsules
I’m really impressed with this new album from Ghost Capsules, made up of Vienna’s Bomb The Bass’s frontman Tim Simenon and a supporting band he met back in the day. It’s a far cry from Bug Powder Dust (classic) but it has that classic Chilled Out Vienna sound (yes, I think that is a thing?) that you’d have heard in other Germanic trip hop artists from the late 90s like Rainer Trüby, Tosca or Kruder & Dorfmeister but updated with modern technology and dark synthy aesthetics echoing Trentemøller’s epic dirge ‘Even If You’re With Another Girl‘. Like everything old, this stuff is having a comeback and i’m really happy that it is. As if the jellyfish/space zeppelin/mothership/portal album art work wasn’t enough… whoah….chills! I wish I could post the full album to give you the full effect but I’ll let you figure that out on your own.
10/10!
Don’t F*ck with Giraffes!
I was watching a random animal documentary on Netflix and came across this vicious tidbit. What we think we know of giraffes as gentle creatures is so incredibly wrong. They are actually highly territorial beasts with enough power in their forelegs to bludgeon a lion (or human) to death! I was skeptical at first so of course I rushed to the Youtube to see if I could see any vids of them in action. Most were cheesy family videos from African Lion Safari type parks with the long-necked buddies leaning into car windows for a snack, but I did find these choice two.
The lesson? Do not fuck with giraffes (or any wild animal for that matter) or you will FEEL THEIR WRATH!
Surprise Diplo DJ-set creates a frenzy at Uniun – BlogTO
Hormones ran high Thursday night as hundreds of Toronto partiers flocked to Uniun Nightclub in hopes to get an earful of Diplo (Mad Decent label founder, DJ and rising super-producer) and quaff some sudsy Buds, Bud Light Platinum that is.
A group of a few hundred media, industry members, and professional partiers — a.k.a. “influencers” — were initially invited, but the floodgates were opened to the masses a day before the event, which caused a mad rush to sign up with a “first come first served” disclaimer. Unfortunately many didn’t read the fine print, as hordes of people were being turned away when I showed up at 11pm.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Toronto crowd this hyped up for anything. Everywhere I went on the sprawling dance floor, people were jumping into each others arms, grinding, winding, and getting down with new make out partners. Never underestimate the power of free American beer with a “bold, smooth, triple filtered” 6% alcohol content and a sexy ad campaign featuring edgy, high contrast photos of tattooed babes in sheer, lacy nightclub wear and dudes in chambray and plaid shirts.
I don’t think Diplo was really bringing his A-game to the night but unlike the beer, the sound was not light or watery. He even dropped some poppy crowd-pleasers like a remix of Rhianna’s Birthday Cake, and a couple “Oppan Gangnam Style!” samples between the jackin’ car-alarm Moombahton beats.
Prior to arriving, I was a bit concerned that the sponsors would ask him to tone down his sound given the corporate nature of the event but this was a balls-out rager. Getting to the downstairs washroom required pushing through the frothy orgy of fun-loving bodies. The table of cowboys in plaid shirts, hats and boots, fresh off the plane from Calgary didn’t seem to mind either, and were some of the last men standing on the dance floor.
Many factors came together to pull off a decent launch party, so cheers to the crew for pulling it off. Even when he’s not bringing his A-game, Diplo’s pretty darn good. The Food Dudes truck parked at the exit doling out snacks to exiting partiers was a nice touch too.
Photo by Conrad M. Stocks
Hormones ran high Thursday night as hundreds of Toronto partiers flocked to Uniun Nightclub in hopes to get an earful of Diplo (Mad Decent label founder, DJ and rising super-producer) and quaff some sudsy Buds, Bud Light Platinum that is.
A group of a few hundred media, industry members, and professional partiers — a.k.a. “influencers” — were initially invited, but the floodgates were opened to the masses a day before the event, which caused a mad rush to sign up with a “first come first served” disclaimer. Unfortunately many didn’t read the fine print, as hordes of people were being turned away when I showed up at 11pm.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Toronto crowd this hyped up for anything. Everywhere I went on the sprawling dance floor, people were jumping into each others arms, grinding, winding, and getting down with new make out partners. Never underestimate the power of free American beer with a “bold, smooth, triple filtered” 6% alcohol content and a sexy ad campaign featuring edgy, high contrast photos of tattooed babes in sheer, lacy nightclub wear and dudes in chambray and plaid shirts.
I don’t think Diplo was really bringing his A-game to the night but unlike the beer, the sound was not light or watery. He even dropped some poppy crowd-pleasers like a remix of Rhianna’s Birthday Cake, and a couple “Oppan Gangnam Style!” samples between the jackin’ car-alarm Moombahton beats.
Prior to arriving, I was a bit concerned that the sponsors would ask him to tone down his sound given the corporate nature of the event but this was a balls-out rager. Getting to the downstairs washroom required pushing through the frothy orgy of fun-loving bodies. The table of cowboys in plaid shirts, hats and boots, fresh off the plane from Calgary didn’t seem to mind either, and were some of the last men standing on the dance floor.
Many factors came together to pull off a decent launch party, so cheers to the crew for pulling it off. Even when he’s not bringing his A-game, Diplo’s pretty darn good. The Food Dudes truck parked at the exit doling out snacks to exiting partiers was a nice touch too.
Photo by Conrad M. Stocks
