goodstuff 004
peoplemusic
ROUGH DIVERS
The Vibe Bar, East London, 6th July 2009: I’m too old for reviewing bands. Sorry, dear reader, to immediately discredit the forthcoming paragraph but rather annoyingly (for some junior snappers in the customary elbow-off down the front certainly) in photographic circles, experience still counts for a lot. Juggling available light with flash exposures and a band with a long mic cable and little regard for the confines of the stage as a working area, I give you Dananananaykroyd.
Six Glaswegians with more energy, dedication, enthusiasm, talent, drummers and reverse stage divers than anyone ever before. Not that I’ve been counting especially. Go see them and understand. I have no idea how they translate to record but in the increasingly important
—Tom Oldham, 08 July 2009
Dananananaykroyd are due all over the UK and in lots of worldwide destinations forthwith
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The ever-elusive, never-exclusive street/graffiti artist Banksy has an extensive show on at the normally generic City Museum in his home town of Bristol, England. Interspersed with the standard exhibits are a hundred-odd Banksy trademarks, mostly stabs at the establishment. Old masters, government, everyday life and ignored injustices are all poked at with Banksy’s ingenious execution and devastatingly wry style which rarely fails to shake common perceptions.
This is a rare event, so don’t go waiting for one to come to a town near you as it may never happen.
—Chris Noble, 07 July 2009
The Exhibition is free and open until August 31st
Since February 2007, Canadian-born Tyler Brûlé—the luminary who plastered the world with Wallpaper* magazine and the branding work of agency Winkreative—has been quietly pushing out Monocle, a grown-up magazine covering “global affairs, business, culture and design”. Brûlé‘s track record of aesthetically superior* production stays fast, as Monocle is equal parts eye- and brain-candy.
Pieces range from handy tips for failing countries to fashion pages—or you could turn to the pull-out manga-style comic in the back, featuring a heroic, ass-kicking Japanese / Scandinavian industrial designer. Of course.
—Chris Noble, 03 July 2009
Monocle also has stores in London, LA and Mallorca
*Though Level did beat Wallpaper* to the 1999 MDA
Larry Harmon started the fiercely independent Genetic Disorder zine in 1987. Larry is one of the underground’s great unsung wordsmiths, and GD is his main vehicle. Issue #19 is out right now, and it proves my hyperbole on its own. His detailed researching and reporting of the odd tales of SoCal are required reading for any self-respecting punk—as well as those just interested in a point of view you’re not likely to find anywhere else.
—Roy Christopher, 03 July 2009
Genetic Disorder, PO Box 15237, San Diego, CA 92175, USA
Since the early 90s, Steven Wilson has been The Man behind the UK’s neo-prog outfit The Porcupine Tree. With Insurgentes he steps out on his own. This is nothing new. He’s recorded under his given name in the past. What is new, however, is how big this record gets. The Porcupine Tree is a powerful band with big ideas, but Insurgentes overwhelms anything they’ve done. Wilson’s voice is as pensive and delicate as ever, but at times — the perfect times — the songs erupt in shimmering waves of guitar noise. It’s as beautiful as it is blistering.
—Roy Christopher, 02 July 2009
Timecrimes (Los Cronocrímenes) is Nacho Vigalondo’s first non-comedic film, and wow, it’s a completely harrowing rollercoaster mindfuck. The time travel theme, if presented well (as it is here—_in spades_), never seems to wear thin. Vigalondo’s sure-handed direction makes this condensed, pressure-cooker (the film contains exactly four actors and takes place over the course of about an hour) of a temporal thriller chock full of causal loops and suspenseful twists an imminently watchable and intriguing film. It’s somewhere between Primer and Back to the Future, only much scarier.
—Roy Christopher, 02 July 2009
goodstuff 003
peoplemusic
THE MAN FROM MARS VOLTA
As the guitarist/composer for The Mars Volta and At The Drive-In, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has had a regular outlet for his noisy but nuanced ideas for a decade and a half. Well, it seems that their regular output—The Mars Volta has released six records in as many years, with the latest, Octahedron, just out on June 23rd—is not enough. The guy has no less than a baker’s dozen solo and side-project records out, and they’re all good!
Well, they’re all good if you’re into proggy bluesy arty rock ’n’ roll. They’re all good if you’d like to hear what the edges around The Mars Volta sound like. They’re not out-take-ish though: these are fully formed musical onslaughts and they will broaden your
—Roy Christopher, 22 June 2009
The Mars Volta are just kicking off a Euro-tour, starting in Zurich and culminating in shows in the UK and Ireland
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goodstuff 002
peoplesport
RALLY UNPREPARED
There I was, sitting in the office, on my hundredth command-C, command-V when I receive an email from a friend. The strapline on the press release read “10,000 miles in a Skoda pickup from London to Mongolia.”
Dominic Yard, 25 and Thomas Donhou, 27 are raising money for Mercy Corps and The Christina Noble* Children’s Foundation by racing the 2009 Mongol Rally in a £350 Skoda—a vehicle which broke down during rush hour in Central London on the return journey from the car dealer in Devon.
The Mongol Rally travels through mountains, deserts and rivers through a plethora of countries, with satellite maps and GPS replaced with gaffer tape and a sense of adventure. When asked about the name
—Johann Chan, 10 June 2009
As well as progress reports, Team Radios Silence’s website has a video complete with green screen, music and actors worth checking out in itself
The 2009 Mongol Rally starts on July 18th
*No relation
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goodstuff 001
designtransport
NO FUEL THROTTLE
You can’t turn around these days without seeing something extolling the virtues of “going green”. Everyone is doing it. With that in mind, a few entrepreneurs, cash-rich from selling some since-unheard-of software to megacorp x, are getting in on the game… small time. Coming from the open-sky, virtual world of unfathomable code and fantasy tech, some of these starry-eyed chaps are not straying from their ideals with their more solid ventures. They’re producing dream machines.
Like the much-publicized Tesla Roadster sports car, Mission Motors’ One motorbike is an electric vehicle to beat much of its gas-powered competition. However, unlike the dull Tesla, it is stunning to look at, thanks to the product designers at fuseproject.
Being electric, it has lightning-fast
—Chris Noble, 08 June 2009
Mission are taking orders for the 50 Ones to be delivered in 2010
If you fancy something four-wheeled, Fisker or Tesla might have you covered
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Owners of the ground-breaking Canon EOS 5D Mark II will be buttons-at-the-ready on June 2nd. Not shutter-buttons though, download buttons: Canon have paid heed to owners and have written new firmware which will give much more manual control over the camera’s already amazing, but not that flexible, full HD video-shooting capabilities.
—Chris Noble, 29 May 2009
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