“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I’ve ever known.”
– Chuck Palahniuk from “Invisible Monsters”
Dub step isn’t dead until Skrillex says so. I’ve always liked electronic music but there’s always been separation between all the sub-genres. Skrillex’s work cannot be defined by classification really. Bangarang EP is his latest and flows from start to finish (though the titles wouldn’t really indicate so). It’s very high energy, and you’ll find yourself bobbin’ to the beat during whatever it is that you’re doing.
After Bombay Bicycle Club‘s last album Flaws introduced the more mellow acoustic-folk side of the band, I didn’t think A Different Kind of Fix could stand up. I loved “I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose” and its crisp style of indie rock that mirrored other geographically and melodically close groups like The Maccabees, and the unplugged departure of their second album grabbed me by the cochlea and transduced its acoustical signals right on down to my auditory cortex.
Atlanta based rapper Rome Fortune, real name Jerome, has been rapping since he was in high school. “I thought I’d take the JE off as Jerome reminds me too much of the fake pimp on Martin,” he explains. Seven years later the 23-year-old originally from New York is just days away from unveiling his collaborative project with producer Childish Major entitled VOYEUR set for release next week.
We kissed Elizabeth Winnel and we liked it. The Toronto, based painter received a BFA from in illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. Her current work begins each painting with a layer of drips, splashes and bleeding, the ‘associative layer’ binding form and color for emotive effect. The second layer depicts herself in vulnerable and often erotic poses. The aim is not self-objectification, but reflection and analysis. In her paintings she endeavors to make apparent the dichotomy of interior and exterior in relation to her self-image. Take a closer look at some of her work below.
When the video for Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” spread like a wildfire across the Internuts earlier this year I was initially skeptical. As a rule of thumb anything that Pitchfork heralds that early on I side-eye out of respect for the way things should be. Fast forward to a top 25 pre-ordered album on Amazon, a cover on Billboard, Complex and Interview Magazine and an abysmal SNL performance that would make Ashlee Simpson do the ho-down back to Hollywood–and Lana is looking more like Mitt Romney, than Ron Paul. Gone was our indie darling image, in it’s place was some kind of abominable indie-pop conspiracy, a lip injected, spoiled, manufactured, super-rich airhead being sold to a gullible world as indie-pop royalty when in reality she’s more like the Kim Kardashian of Pop Music, a musical example of the things that money can buy.
Olek‘s first solo exhibition in the UK, opens this Thursday, January 26 at Tony’s Gallery in London. Entitled I do not expect to be a mother, but I do expect to die alone, the show runs through March 23, and features a bevy of her signature crocheted mixed media sculptural environments which according to the artist, “tell a story that’s a reflection of life, love trust and lust in our trying modern times.”
It’s 2012. This December, the world is ending depending on who you believe and with only minutes to the top, Atlanta based band Arrow in the Air is reaching for the sky despite the Mayan’s prediction. If you’ve frequented Art Nouveau Magazine, you may recognize the lead singer Sye Spence, former solo artist who’s worked extensively with us on numerous projects. With her new band, a new sound, attitude and direction, Arrow in the Air is ready to touch the sky.
By the age of 18, Niels Shoe Meulman was a rising graffiti legend, known by his street moniker of “Shoe.” Niels was influential in creating an innovative style of European graffiti alongside his crew Crime Time Kings, which he formed with Bando from Paris and Mode2 from London. This March, 941 Geary will show new works by the Amsterdam-based artist in a solo exhibition entitled Justified Scriptures.
Bruno Dias lives in a tropical country, a fact that inspires and drives his work to explore themes of regional Brazilian culture in a free, personal and playful manner. His street art expresses the relationship between physical space and the people of the country. Graffiti is an important reference for his work but it’s the feelings from the nature and the chaos around us which ensure the various painting techniques of manual, digital, spray paint and found art show through. Forever young and spontaneous, Bruno Dias’ latest works take an international dimensional as he showcases not only his unique style, but the unique style of Brazil’s regional culture to the world.
Welcome to N.Hale High, a place that stays true to its wittily punned title. Here, popular students Mac and Devin show audiences how to get down with doobies and boobies while all the while keeping it player for their hoes. Behind the “Mac and Devin” facades, the past and present of the Hip Hop genre, Snoop Dogg and “nephew” Wiz Khalifa, join forces to create the ultimate stoner twosome. Assuming the roles of two high school students, the duo personifies what it truly means to be “Young, Wild, and Free.”
Love Letter to New York & Bad Boyfriends
Your average abusive boyfriends are always a bad thing, so I’ve been told. Famous abusive boyfriends have an even worse type of demented ego. Most people won’t have an experience with a romantic interest that’s hand prints are on your neck, heart, and picture hanging on Hard Rock Cafe, but I did. He had a greasy accent that stenches of urine and admiration, cut up denim, and interchanged lust for violence. I was in a full-time love affair with a fucking psycho.
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