EVENTS: An Evening With Dust La Rock & Simian Mobile Disco
Late last week team RCRD LBL was out and about, kicking the night off with Fool's Gold's Dust La Rock's "Best Of The Beast" gallery opening, then dancing hard to Simian Mobile Disco at Highline Ballroom. As the song goes "Oh, what a night!" Dust La Rock's event started at 8pm with a monstrous line that went all the way down the block. At the center of the attention was Dust's demon-themed art, pictured above. Afterwards, we traveled to Highline for Simian Mobile Disco and got weird to their twisted synths and lights. And to "Hot Dog". Yes! More snaps and downloads after the jump.
Simian Mobile Disco - Huslter (Joakim Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (Emperor Machine Edit)
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (Skateboard Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco's RCRD LBL Page
Who Does Your Artwork? 1. Akroe
This is a question we get a lot. And it's cool, considering how unhealthily design-obsessed we tend to be. So here is the first of a series of posts attempting to answer that question. I'll try and be thorough by covering not only the designers but also the photographers, illustrators or artists they worked with. All art direction at the label is done under the aegis of House of Kids, under the influence of the music, with input from the artists of course (who so know what they want most of the time).
It's only fair to start with Akroe who designed our logo and did all of our early sleeves. Recently, he delivered the ghetto-psych meltdown for Cuizinier's latest street-tape. He's currently at work on Tacteel's forthcoming record.
FEATURED: PunkPhoto.com breaks down the new Justice video
If you'll remember, last week we posted the new Justice video for "Stress", which shows a gang of French teenagers terrorizing passerby in Paris. We used the opportunity to write a mini-retrospective of Kourtrajmé, the videographers who put the clip together, who have done videos for artists like Simian Mobile Disco, but also directed short documentaries about the 2005/2006 riots that took place in the suburbs of Paris. It's kind of crazy.
Our good friend and frequent collaborator Abbey Punk Photo saw the video for "Stress" as well and used her extensive knowledge of 20th century cinema to break down the video's multiple influences, notably Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Chris Cunningham's video for "Come to Daddy" by Aphex Twin, and the opening sequence of The Warriors. It makes for a really interesting read, and frankly bold face schooled us. Just goes to show there's always something beneath the surface of really awesome art.
Justice's RCRD LBL artist page
FEATURED: Dust La Rock and Treasure Fingers at the Fool's Gold RCRD LBL blog
Two missives from the Fool’s Gold RCRD LBL blog today: first off, the label’s designer Dust La Rock shows off his massive collection of Adidas and Olympic vintage shirts (if only we had kept that one we had from the 4th grade…) and secondly, new FG homies Treasure Fingers are kicking off their “School’s Out Forever” tour with Kill the Noise. We don’t know what we’re more excited about, frankly.
Dust La Rock at the Fool's Gold RCRD LBL blog
Treasure Fingers at the Fool's Gold RCRD LBL blog
VIDEO: Kourtrajmé
So by now you’ve probably seen the controversial video for “Stress”, the new Justice single, which features a scary gang of delinquents run around the more scenic parts of Paris committing just about every petty crime in the book, Clockwork Orange-style. While the video has gotten its fair share of YouTube hits since it premiered on the Web late last week, no one has really spoken about the video’s director, i.e. French videographer Romain Garvas. Romain is part of Kourtrajmé, a largely African artist collective which focuses on expressing the French minority experience through the medium of film. Over the years they’ve directed music videos from people like comedy rap group Fatal Bazooka to Simian Mobile Disco, but their most evocative work is their guerilla coverage of the 2005/2006 Parisian riots following the death of two African teenagers (after being chased by local policemen) in the disenfranchised Paris suburb of Clichy-Monferneuil. It’s brutal, eye-opening, and does its best to shatter the idyllic image most people have of France and its inhabitants. After the jump, check out our favorite moments in Kourtrajmé’s short yet eventful career as the forerunners of a new wave of documentary.
Stream: Justice feat. Mos Def and Spank Rock - D.A.N.C.E.
Fashion: Kate Gibb Silk Screens With Stussy
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We here at SEEN were recently introduced to the work of silk screen artist Kate Gibb. However, once we took a deeper look at her work we realized that we've actually been enjoying it for a few years now on the covers of some pretty awesome albums. Her works have graced album covers for bands like; Chemical Brothers, Simian, Bob Marley and The Magic Numbers. Recently she got involved with fashion brand Stussy and they have just released a limited edition run of T-shirts that feature her work. Pretty stunning stuff and something we would be proud to sport. After the jump we've got a video about her and some more examples of her art. The video was produced by Adam Weissman at Stussy and it also features his music as the score (nice work dude). JUMP
Multi-media: Bob Dylan Zimmerman, a real American Idol
A man that changed his name and in turn truly changed the world. If you live in LA you can now finally get a closer and more intimate look at the world's most prolific songwriter. We don't need to espouse much about Bob Dylan that hasn't already been said, we're just sayin that you've got to check out the Skirball presentation of Bob Dylan's American Journey, 1956-1966. It's got all that you have ever wanted to see from the first ten years and a little bit more.
Thanks in large part to Paul Allen and Seattle's Experience Music Project (it really is nice to see what one of the world's richest men does with all that Microsoft dough), the exhibition takes an honest human look at what one man can do with the power of song.
The exhibit features more than 160 artifacts, including an opening wall with a spectacular collection of vintage 45s and 100 cover versions of "Blowin' In The Wind". Dylan's handwritten drafts of classic songs, his high school yearbook and Woody Guthrie's legendary Martin guitar etched with "This machine kills fascists" are also shown. This intimate portrait houses five exhibition films featuring rare performance and interview footage of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, The Byrds, John Cohen, Pete Seeger amongst others. There's a viewing station featuring excerpts from two Dylan documentaries: "Don’t Look Back" and "Eat the Document". Other highlights include a never-before-released recording of Dylan’s first concert, at Carnegie Chapter Hall and there are dozens and dozens of photos by legendary photographers. Taking it all in might require multiple visits. The exhibit is running now through June 8, 2008.
Thank you for being Bob Dylan. Check out a great live version of "Hey Mr. Tambourine Man" at the Newport Folk Festival above. And click here for a great classic video interview with Time Magazine.
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Cats And Rats
We love White Magic a ton. Think they're the greatest. Make no mistake. But sometimes when that keening drone has gone on for half an hour or so, we think, maybe it would be sorta alright if these guys would kick it out once in a while.
Thank God we found Yellow Fever. They got the slowed down vanilla pudding lady vocals, the psychedelic headspin and enough mood to dimly light a Wal-Mart and even make it look kinda sexy. But they also got this groovy arty backend -- minimal post-punk basslines, killer bridges and hooky girl-girl harmonies. It's music for falling in love to and with. Morning in the bedroom music. Spooky and delicious and seductive.
DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Cats And Rats
DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Culver City
DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Hellfire
