Cool Hunting
| 23 January 2006view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Andy Votel
by Ami Kealoha
Andy Votel absolutely kills it with his mix tape CDs. There are four albums to check out: Music To Watch Girls Cry (2003), Songs of Insolence (2005), Vertigo Mixed (2005), and Songs In The Key of Death (2005). They’re all hands down my favorite rock dj mixes to date.
Each Album is an eccentric mix of vintage Psych, Prog, Folk, Krautrock, Tropicalia and other bizarre genres that every music geek wishes they knew more about. Votel claims to be dedicated and obsessed with the "pursual of obscure, obsolete, exquisitely obnoxious, unbelievable, underexposed and undeniably delectable discs of experimental pop music from the psyched-out sixties and seventies."
Manchester-based Votel has worked on the production side of Lamb and Death in Vegas but is know more for his friendship with Damon Gough or Badly Drawn Boy. They began the label Twisted Nerve which spawned the first Badly Drawn Boy EPs and brought the two major recognition worldwide.
If you’re in Manchester, check out dj sets by Votel and his friends every Friday night at Cornerhouse free of charge.
For an awesome, obscure record encyclopedia, see one of Votel’s record labels, B-Music and buy the records at another one of his phenomenal labels, Finder’s Keepers. You can also find the CDs and listen to tracks at Amazon.
by Sean Thomas
SMITH Magazine
by Ami Kealoha
The hyperbolically-titled "bloggers revolution" has changed publishing. Virtually free to publish, the internet phenomenon has created digital publishing, a medium that is simultaneously wholly democratic yet often schizophrenic. Now there's a mag that's unabashedly harnessing the infinite pool of online writing talent into one monthly publication.
SMITH Magazine, launched earlier this month, seems to operate on the age-old adage that "everyone has a story to tell." While once the storyteller had to wait for the reporter to come a-knocking, now he or she can be the interviewer and interviewee.
Features, anecdotes, free-form stories, SMITH Magazine sits on the pulse of today's cultural narrative. Presently a "webzine," its publishers promise to make the leap to print soon; catapulting from the precarious ether of the "blogosphere," and out into the so-called "respectable" realm of printed publishing.
As Scoop Nisker always says: "If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own."
SMITH Magazine: Read this month's copy, write next month's issue.
Off the Podium
by Josh Rubin
Question: What do you get when you cross Winter Olympics fever, a national broadcasting network's exclusive contract, and Macromedia Flash animation?
Answer: Off The Podium - a website built by the NBC Broadcating Corp. Now you'd expect the old dinosaur on Rockefeller Plaza to build a clunky site with little content, but no; Off The Podium is an attractive and informative package that's a great diversion while on coffee break.
The 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, has caught a lot of us unaware; but with Off The Podium, you can do a lot of catching up fast. The site is packed with bios of the Olympians; trivia games; photos; as well as blog entries from the athletes themselves.
If you find yourself invited to an Olympics party this winter—whether you'll be watching it on TV or mixing with the athletes themselves—Off The Podium is jam-packed with info on the games, the contenders, and an insight into the personalities of the US team.
Moongirl
by Josh Rubin
So many fashions jump the Hello Kitty nostalgia bandwagon sometimes known in less-polite circles as "Japsploitation" - so it's always reassuring to see a fresh take on Nippon-inspired style that doesn't rehash the age old stereotypes.
The new t-shirt line from Moongirl is just one example: It eschews the cutsey stereotypes and instead brings a varied blend of fashionable and original print shirts for Moongirls (women), Handsome Tigers (men), as well as Moonies (I'm out on a limb here, but I think by "Moonies" they're referring to children, not the cultish sect that worships a Korean businessman).
Kidding aside, there are more than 32 prints to choose from in all, and the designers are offering wholesaling opportunities -- if you own your own clothing chain or sell shirts out of the trunk of your car -- it's a good opportunity to get in on the groundfloor while the 2006 collection is fresh.
