Cool Hunting
| 07 December 2005view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Be Here to Love Me
by Ami Kealoha
Like many obsessions, Margaret Brown's fascination with Townes Van Zandt began with one song. After a friend played her the folk singer's "Waiting Round to Die," she bought all the records she could get her hands on. The resulting documentary, Be Here to Love Me is the kind of work that can only come from an artist's devotion, much in the way that Townes "lived his life his own way." Lush cinematography, archival photographs and home movies, interviews, and live performances make up the film about the "songwriter's songwriter," educating audiences about an off-the-radar American legend. Brown's affectionate and candid take touches on addiction, male identity, the 60s, celebrity, and the American dream; it's a story that unfolds like a roadtrip, with discovery and time for reflection along the way. Currently on tour at art houses in the U.S., check the website for dates and to buy one of the limited edition silkscreened posters ($30, pictured).
CH Gift Guide Exclusives
by Josh Rubin
Our Holiday 2005 Gift Guide now has over 100 items for you to buy or wish list. Most of them are things you could have found yourself on the web, but we did the searching for you and provided the links to make it easy. A few things, though, are our own exclusives. They're things we had made or items no one else is selling. Check out the list below and if you buy one, we'll throw in a free Pair-o-deez game for you to keep or gift. Happy Holidays!
Neubau Welt
by Ami Kealoha
Tired of the same old vector graphics everyone uses? Neubau Welt is a new book filled with 1000+ editable illustrations by Berlin-based designer Stefan Gandl (he also penned the collectable DSOS1) and his crew, Neubau. From silhouetted trees to lear jets, the encyclopedic collection features a wide variety of everyday objects. A useful alternative to ClipArt, purchasers get exclusive rights to the highly detailed, enlargable graphics in the book (Macromedia Freehand and Adobe Illlustrator files) and three new Neubau typefaces that are included on the accompanying CD.
Available from Amazon
Freshly Composted - Compost 200
by Mike Reger
Hailing from Germany's southern wine country, Compost Records has spent the past 11 years perfecting and then re-inventing their recipe for releasing some of the most sought-after and intoxicating independent left-field club music. Dispensing with tired cliches like nu-jazz, brazil-electro or downtempo, Compost's forward-thinking compilation series "Future Sound of Jazz", "Soulsearching", "Glücklich" and "I Like It" have continuously set the mark for high quality dance music that defies easy categorization.
To celebrate their 200th release, Compost 200 presents a splendid tasting of recent vinyl offerings from underground remix artist favorites Alex Attias, Beanfield, Domu, Intuit, Trüby Trio, Laurent Garnier, Henrick Schwarz, and more as well as a sampling of upcoming album material from new artists Alif Tree, Jean-Paul Bondy, Muallem and Ben Mono.
Stand outs include the opening fabulously cheeky disco funk hooks of "Protection (Sirius Mo Remix)" by Ben Mono and Bajka, and the wicked cosmic funk of "Transmission" by Ben Mono and Capitol A, as well as the total dance floor scorcher "10,000 Leagues Deeper (Laurent "Laboratoire" Garnier Remix) by Alex Attias, Bembe Segue & Mustang and the brokenbeat madness of Domu's remix of "Shamed" by Eddie Meets Yannah. This is a perfect compilation for any impromptu holiday party after-party, makes an excellent stocking stuffer in its special CD packaging, and is available at the iTunes store as well.
