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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.
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.
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
FEATURED: RIP Tony Silver at the SEEN RCRD LBL blog
We're saddened to learn that Tony Silver, the documentary filmmaker who directed the seminal hip hop/graffiti film Style Wars, died last week. For anyone who's ever been really into Grandmaster Flash or Afrika Bambaataa or wanted to see full subway cars of urban art whiz by the NYC skyline, Style Wars is a must-see. Check out the SEEN RCRD LBL blog for more info, and a tribute to Tony.
Tony Silver at the SEEN RCRD LBL blog
Film: RIP Tony Silver
We're sad to hear that one of the dopest graffiti documentary filmmakers, Tony Silver, died last week. We saw the LA-based filmmaker speak on a panel at MoCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in August 2005 for the screening of his films, Style Wars and Style Wars: ReVisited.
The original Style Wars captured 80s New York and the essence of real hip hop. Silver's film took you back to a golden age of hip hop, before G4 jets, Jacob The Jeweler and quick strike Nikes. This was a New York City that was governed by Major Koch, where the Guardian Angels patrolled the subways and where graffiti artists (aka vandals) painted "whole cars" (top to bottom) and transformed the New York subway system into a rolling art gallery that would fetch millions now.
Style Wars: ReVisited was Silver's addendum project that fast-forwarded us 20 years on to see the lives of the artists through personal interviews and outtakes never seen before. We love the interview with Dez, now better known as superstar DJ Kay Slay.
Little known trivia...the MC and artist Ramellzee also had a recording career and was produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat on a Profile Records tune called "Beat Bop". That 1982 joint is worth dough! Later in the 80s he got inspired by Europe and recorded with German electro outfit Death Comet Crew.
Thank you Tony Silver for bringing legendary graff artists Seen (no relation), Dondi and Case 2 to the screen and for Ramellzee and Crazy Legs (Rock Steady Crew b-boy) and many, many more icons to our living rooms.
DOWNLOAD: The Good Good - Clouds
We were reading up on some illustrator, Steven Harrington, who was talking about how inspired he is by thrift stores. "I like to think of thrift store visits as being right up there next to seeing an interesting art exhibition or reading a good book or hearing a good song," he said. "How precious," we thought. And it got our minds to wandering.
The Good Good is a relatively unknown, sometimes defunct, Brooklyn band who don't talk about thrift stores. But thrift stores talk about them. Or about their music anyway. The track below is a reconstructed found cassette that layers jerky art noise over a kindergarten seance until they become one. It's nothing new but it's something special. Take it home with you.
What It Is: What It Is Available Now
Matt Maust of Cold War Kids has been pretty busy lately. And today is the day it all comes together. Maust has just finished work on a collaboration with good friend and extraordinary writer, Paul G. Maziar. In What It Is: What It Is, Maust showcases his exceptional ability to capture and convey pieces of his world exactly as he sees and experiences them. His work in What It Is: What It Is is, quite simply, prodigal.
It’s not poetry, it’s not prose...what is it: what is it? With What It Is: What It Is, Cold War Kids bassist and visual artist Maust and wordsmith Maziar have succeeded in making a book that’s less of a book and more of a guided tour through places they’ve been, both actual and abstract. With prose poems about taking deep breaths from our collective unconscious and making exhalations of cold smoke into thin air, and photo-collage images of cities, faces, skies and subways, the work suggests a fractured postmodern world viewed through nostalgic eyes and voiced by a warm, familiar tongue that still sounds unique. -Filter Magazine
What It Is: What It Is is available now directly from the publisher, Write Bloody. It'll hit stores in the near future.
On Wednesday, February 13 at 8:00 pm, you're all invited to the What It Is: What It Is Release Soirée at Sound Fix Lounge (Beford and N. 11th in Williamsburg). It's FREE and will feature a reading by Paul G. Maziar as well as live performances by Chase Pagan and Matty Charles.
Also, be sure to visit Cold War Kids @ RCRD LBL to download The Mulberry Street EP.
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