What a trooper!
A friend posted this on Facebook. Makes Mondays all the better.
Synaesthesia is probably the only condition that more than a few creative types wished they had. It’s essentially the jumble-up and cross-wiring of different senses i.e. the ability to hear in colour or taste what you hear, so some people would literally ‘taste’ words, though not necessarily what makes sense: You say ‘purple’, and the synaesthete might taste earwax or something else on hearing ‘purple’; each word would ‘taste’ differently. Or they’ll see colours and numbers in spatial patterns all around their environment…Fascinating stuff.
Synaesthesia as a creative theme in design circles was rather trendy for a while. Synaesthetes were believed to better be able to create associations that can lead to better and more inventive musical or colour compositions (Miles Davis and Kandinsky were both synaesthetes.)
Here’s a video by Terri Timely (made up of Ian Kibbey and Corey Creasey), a two-sibling directing-duo who have made a short film inspired by their own (real) experiences in synaesthesia. Bloody nice art direction and everything else really.
Synesthesia from Terri Timely on Vimeo.
syn·es·the·sia syn·aes·the·sia (sĭn’ĭs-thē’zhə) n. A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.
First, you are drawn by the book. It could be an Enid Blyton or Nancy Drew, or classics such as Treasure Island, Heidi or Charlotte Bronte’s Villette. Obviously old - beat up, time-sooted and lightly-stained. All part of their charm.
It’s the bolt-and-nut, punched right through the centre of the book (stabbed disrespectfully IN the heart) that gets you. For a book lover like me, this is a post-punk art statement that has gotta hurt. What’s a randomly used, second/third/fourth-hand vintage children’s book that harks back to the childhood (circa 1984) doing in a CD store?
Singaporean band, Concave Scream’s latest CD comes encased and shrink-wrapped in a used book. What could be more fitting for a title: Soundtrack for a Book.
I am enamoured by the handmade feel of the CD packaging - decidedly eco-minded and one-of-a-kind. You’re almost guaranteed that you won’t own the same copy as the next Joe Smo (no two bookpages from different stocks could age the same), and when you are done with the CD, you can finish the book - provided you’re able to read through the hole.
I’ll confess that I’m not too familiar with Concave Scream’s oeuvre of work, but the 43-minute 9-track instrumental album sometimes sound like the Cocteau Twins, minus Liz Fraser’s ethereal vocals, which is the kind of “jangly” dreamy instrumental stuff that I was totally into, circa 1994.
View all the titles available at the Concave Scream site here, and don’t turn down the volume. Sample the music - it should be all about the Music, shouldn’t it?
The CD-Book is available at the Esplanade store, Gramaphone and Asylum. But we would much rather you pick it up at Books Actually, our smashing neighbours downstairs. Better yet still, climb the stairs after to say ‘hi’ and show us your edition. We’d love to see ya.
Concave Scream will launch the album with a 60-minute gig on Sept 18 at the Esplanade. Tickets go on sale from Aug 6.
You bet I’ll be there with my copy of Villette.
This has to be the most exhilarating piece of business news this week.
Crocs (you know them dastardly and fugly plastic clogs; your neighbour has a pair) are so heavily in debt that they might shut down. The Cut and the Washington Post report that the company lost $185.1 million and have until September to pay off its debt of millions to creditors. Seems the company is vehement that the shut-down won’t happen and has, bizarrely, roped in George Cloony to work with the company.
???????????? Say what? Mr. Swanky Nespresso George? Piss off.
The Post says the demise of Crocs “…mirrors the country’s tale of economic expansion and contraction” and “… ramped up manufacturing to keep up with demand, only then to find shoppers were snapping their wallets shut.”
Well, if anything, Crocs should have a place in the textbooks since its phenomenon is nothing short of a convoluted social/fashion anomaly on a very, very grand scale. Apparently, both George W. Bush and Steve Tyler (Aerosmith) wore them. Ok, perhaps not the best examples even if injected with irony.
I’m happy that Crocs will no longer be seen on feet (if the news is true and if anything still makes sense in the world). BUT if the closure of Croc’s brings about a mad rush for limited editions of the plastic uglies, I will literally combust and reincarnate as a Croc squid charm. Because there’s simply no fighting ill-logic and bad taste.
Now I may not agree that Lady Gaga inspired the fall couture shows but I’m fully convinced that another (voice-stealing) drag queen-like songstress, Ursula from “The Little Mermaid”, has inspired several celebrity looks of late. Just look at Beth Ditto, who at the recent launch of her own clothing line, looked like the spitting image of the fabulous cartoon villainess- she even got the girth and menacing attitude right.
Wingtip eyeliner, a hodgepodge of bright eye shadow, statement lips and hell raiser high hair has been seen all over the runway shows of Chanel, Gaultier & Dior and most evidently in Marc Jacobs Fall ‘09, where the team of legendary makeup artiste Francois Nars and hairstylist Guido Palau went all out Ursula. (more…)
Ok, I am on a roll here. A few days ago, I blogged about Visionaire’s Solar issue. Thanks to a well-connected little bird, I got my hands and ears on a back issue of the legendary Visionaire 53: Sound (Dec 2007).
Packaged inside a sleek domed case, the audio publication consisted of five 12-inch vinyl records (which also included digital versions on 2 CDs) which had a whopping 116 tracks, contributed by over a hundred who’s-who in the music, performance arts, and fashion industry.
The Roll-call:- Musicians: David Byrne, Courtney Love, Michael Stipe, Adam Horowitz (Beastie Boys), Antony & the Johnsons, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran), Karl Bartos (Kraftwerk), Andrew WK, Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Danger Mouse, Malcolm McLaren, Ruyuichi Sakamoto; artists: Robert Wilson, Yoko Ono, Christian Marclay, Doug Aitken, Gary Hill, Sylvie Fleury; DJs: Miss Kittin, Trevor Jackson, Towa Tei, Michel Gaubert; fashion designers: Alexander McQueen, Helmut Lang; bands: Littl’Ans, Fischerspooner, Unkle, Animal Collective… and many more.
Listen: Alexander McQueen collab with the Kinks’ John Gosling
Each contributor supplied a 1-minute audio sample, either previously unreleased or reconstructed songs and field-recording samples or spoken word pieces.
The 120-minute of repertoire of sounds range from the utterly banal (Helmut Lang’s recording of duck quacking in Long Island made the minute very strenous to listen to; like watching bulbous paint dry), not to mention pretentious (Yoko Ono’s record of the heartbeat), to the sublimely mundane (Liza Minnelli’s 1-minute field-recording of her walk to Broadway: the sound of her high heels clicking on New York’s street pavement until she opens a door and the sound of an orchestra in rehearsal pours out from the theatre.)
Listen: Liza Minnelli’s the Sound of Broadway
While Kate Moss was nowhere to be found, there is a very annoying 60-second loop of Linda Evangelista reciting her famous mantra “I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000“; enough to make you want to slap the woman out of bed.
Listen: Linda Evangelista’s I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day
Listen: Maggie Cheung’s Morning
And there is Maggie Cheung, reprising her non-existant singing talent (last heard in her role for the Cannes award-winning “Clean“) in a one-minute wordless track ‘Morning‘. Thankfully, she only la-la-las through the song in a girlish voice which makes it somewhat bearable.
Yet there are still loads of other highlights including David Byrne’s short and sweet ‘Polaroid Picture’, Miranda July’s wry and quirky one-woman performance piece in which she voices a man, a girl and a woman all in the same breath.
But the best part of the sound mag has to be the cute MINI Clubman “Vinyl Killer” record player: a battery-operated toy car with speakers and a needle. Let the miniature car move along a record’s groove, and it magically plays each track, acting as a fully portable record player and sound system!
At a reduced price of $200 (original price $250) on amazon.com, that’s a Visionaire to get a soundache for.
All music clips above are under the copyrights of Visionaire. The songs included here are for promotional sampling only. If you like it as much as the writer does, please purchase it at www.amazon.com.
W came back from lunch with this new toy in tow. Essentially a 3-bulb torch, it is as kitsch as it is useless. We love it. Its hardware turquoise plastic body is enbossed with a phoenix and dragon, while the main lamp is outfitted in pink and green. We’re slightly perplexed by the position of the bulbs though. There’s the main torch in white, a bulb on the top in its glass house, and most confusing of all, a tiny useless bulb with a white cover that looked like a tail stub. Rather rude actually.. but cute. so cute.
oh and the side is actually a slip-on buckle that could buckle in theory, but doesn’t really. It also comes with its own an electrical plug.
It's a pet.
$5 from a hardware store on Smith St. Also spotted in a toy-store at Hong Lim Complex. (Not very discerning stockists)
Those guys at the Refinery29 are brilliant. They’ve cracked the Sartorialist pattern criteria and devised a flow chart that almost guarantees your spot on The Sartorialist. So good, so true, so accurate. Hilarious. This could be you.
Always have a vintage bike ready.
The Refinery's step-by-step guide to getting shot by The Satorialist
Source: The Pipeline.Refinery29.com
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