Cool Hunting
Co-founder and editor Jason Crombie wants his new pocket-size zine, Wooooo, to be "funny and stupid," which is pretty much exactly why I liked it when I found a copy in a Nolita restaurant the other day. Distributed in and around the Lower East Side, the (almost) quarterly publication runs interviews of people who, even if they exist on the mainstream radar, aren't usually telling stories with quite the same candor as they do in Wooooo's pages. Issue #2 cover model and artist Dan Colen's tale of a drunken brawl that landed him in jail and ex-Big Brother editor Dave Carnie's description of days involving the Food Network, Chardonnay, and his girlfriend, are the reality-based equivalents of photographers like Ryan McGinley (who snapped the cover shot of Colen). Pared-down, retro-80s graphic design by co-founder Andre Alfroid (somehow his mix of multiple fonts and styles works), adds to the unpretentious appeal. Falling somewhere around the crossroads of Vice and Interview, Woooo's already getting big name attention - the most recent edition featured an interview with Moby and #3, due out this Winter, will include Thurston Moore.
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If anybody needs proof of how useless the recording industry has become, look no further than TheSwimmingPools. In the past few years, the NYC-based duo has recorded three albums and produced a slew of videos using only a computer in their East Village apartment. Comprised of Christophe Doloire and Daniel Smith, the group plays a brooding electronica that feels as if it would've been...
New York-based Esopus hits newsstands only twice a year, but take a peek inside and you'll understand why. With a CD of new music in each issue, specialty papers and a hand-crafted feel, this ad-free magazine of writing and artwork strives to create a place for "unfiltered" and "un-mediated creativity." Yes, please! There's a part of us that wants to give each new issue...
Absolut Machines is Absolut's promotional initiative that explores where technology meets design in the form of two "machines." Last night we got to check out one, the Absolut Quartet, an interactive multi-instrumental robotic machine. It consists of a marimba played by rubber balls precisely shot from a robotic cannon, a series of spinning wineglasses dampened by robotic fingers and an array of percussive instruments....
This video joins Simone Pace, best known as one-third of Blonde Redhead, on one of his vintage Italian motorcycles, from an East Village garage, across the Brooklyn bridge, to the band's recording studio. Simone shares some of the design elements that make him a fan of Motoguzzis, offers some insight on Blonde Redhead's music and tells the story of the first time he played...
Ida: Lover's Prayers Trying to avoid obvious comparisons like Low and The Spinanes is tough, maybe only because I love all of these bands, but Ida's new record Lover's Prayers is easily one of the strongest of its ilk. Interweaving pianos, guitars and transcendent harmonies with a timeless, bittersweet Americana, the New York-based band delivers an album that is as starkly beautiful as it is...
Slightly more grown-up these days, the fifth issue of Wooooo magazine nevertheless continues to further its own special approach to journalism with 11 interviews of various figures from the worlds of art, music, film and skateboarding, including big names, like David Byrne and Parker Posey, rounded out by lesser-known characters, like artist Carlos Valencia. As with previous issues, the main draw is founding editor...
The Pharos Project
Hank and Matlok
Neon Shoes
Radio Village Nomade
Ghostly Swim: Interview with Sam Valenti
Creative Index
Interview with Maarten Baas
A Paper Tiger
Von Totebags and T-Shirts
