adicolor Podcast: Pink

by Josh Rubin

Another Wednesday, another adicolor podcast. Don't you want to be exhausted with all this adicolor stuff? I know I do. The thing is they're going from best to exceptional, so it's rather hard to get tired of it. It's a couple hours before Wednesday here in NYC, but adicolor Pink is out. Created by Charlie White, Pink is sublime and captures all the textures that fit the color.

Last August we had a chance to interview White prior to the Semi-Permanent conference and learned a bit of what makes this master of surreal macabre tick. adicolor Pink shows White's softer side, but is exemplary of his quest to always pay attention and question and think.

The Streets: When You Wasn't Famous

by Ami Kealoha

I'm not famous, per se, and like most unfamous people I get annoyed by celebrities that go on and on about what a drag it is. But the Streets' Mike Skinner has finally given us a concrete reason for why it sucks: It's all those fucking camera phones.

On When You Wasn't Famous, the bouncy, paranoid first single from the soon-to-be-released new Street’s record The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living he makes an obvious yet refreshingly honest observation about fame: "It makes it easy to get girls." Why can't Eddie Vedder just admit it?

Famous is a coked-up headrush that lacks any kind of breakdown or bridge, and Skinner’'s voice strains uncomfortably as he “sings” the chorus. Still, if the goal is to get people excited to hear how this scene fits into the wider concept album, he's succeeded brilliantly.

Check it out here.

Contributed by Rory Carroll

&made

by Ami Kealoha

British designers Dave and Toby, the duo behind the brand-new furniture company &made, took a unique approach to the whole meet-and-greet part of the Milan experience. Offering a taxi service to callers in exchange for little more than a conversation, their goals was to "meet as many designers as possible and to find some of Milan's notorious functions." They also handed out an &made clip as part of a "Loose Change" project, asking finders to contact them to register the name and place where it was found.

Their designs, like the "Lost and Found" series that reinvents abandoned furniture with roughly-finished pieces of tree trunks (pictured after the jump) and the "Spair", a chair that folds completely flat and features a decorative tableau, are as clever as their Milan shenanigans.

Inara Organics Babussu Lip Balm

by Ami Kealoha

Not all lip balms are created equal. Inara Organics Babussu lip balm is a superior solution for a soft smooth lips with a commitment to quality, environmentalism, and good design. Instead of a lint-attracting tube, Inara is packaged in a wafer-thin rectangular metal box with door that slides back. When ready to dab, the balm is soft but not soupy, transforming reptile skin into a supple pucker in two or three days. Also first-rate, Inara's sugar rubs, and body crème, like all their products, feature 100% certified organic with a large percentage of raw ingredients purchased fair-trade from women’s co-ops in Amazonian Brazil—even the scents are derived from natural essential oils. Inara’s clean and earthy identity might throw you off, but don’t be fooled—Inara founder Anne Doubleu built her background at Esteé Lauder.

$12 from Inara.

Contributed by Kristopher Irizarry

Social Suicide

by Josh Rubin

Simon Waterfall has been committing social suicide ever since his university days at the Royal College of Art in London. Simon was known as much for his design work as he was for his preference for wearing women's evening gowns and skirts. This was not an act of transvestism, but one of cultural engineering. When I met up with him recently in London he talked about a life change that presented the opportunity to provoke in a new way, leading him to dress in the opposite manner. That's when he discovered the world of bespoke suits, specifically those by the famous bad boy of Savile Row, Tommy Nutter.

Provocation combined with an enchantment for elusive and exclusive fashion led Simon, with best mate Matt Grey (aka Tig), to create a small range of finely tailored suits. Late last year they turned these one-off creations into a new line of men's jackets and suits called Social Suicide. Each piece is hand made from the finest materials and each of the 10 styles has a subversive and sometimes in-your-face message stitched, flocked, embroidered or painted on.

To refine their cuts, the duo enlisted Savile Row tailor Joe Morgan—one of the original tailors and pattern cutters at Tommy Nutter. The result is a slim, dapper silhouette. The details are exceptional: proper button holes on the sleeve, pockets shaped and reinforced for modern accompaniments (mobile phones, skin mags, etc). While the cut and craft is nothing short of exceptional, it's the story each piece tells that sets SS apart from any other men's fashion label at the moment.

Pics of each style and the story from its hang tag, after the jump.

LCD Soundsystem: Introns

by Ami Kealoha

In a watershed year for the remix album, LCD Soundsystem's latest drop, Introns, a collection of b-sides, remixes, and other rarities, is a fresh spin on the breakout success of their 2005 self-titled release. With some of the biggest names in electronic music onboard, well-known tracks like the siren-heavy "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (Soulwax Shibuya Mix)" get high-energy updates for the dance crowd while others, such as "Tribulations (Tiga's Out of the Trance Closet Mix)", are washed with a darker mood, and "Your City's A Sucker" and "Slowdive (xfm session)" represent the more dissonant, experimental side of the project. All flawlessly executed, the range of styles are also a testament to James Murphy's ingeniously laconic vocals.

Available as a digital release only from iTunes and other digital retailers.