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UNDER THE ACROPOLIS… I’ve been very silent on this blog lately, was too much work before the holiday started last week. Now 14 hour work shifts are long gone and it’s all about sippin on the wine in open air backyard restaurants and constantly spotting Acropolis here in Athens. I hadn’t had very much time to read or think about what this city is like but I must say it’s one of the best places I’ve visited in a long time. Very calm and low pace yet very very vibrant life seems very good here and our friends big smiles proves that all the time. It’s always striking to see how the living conditions affect the works and when seeing the massive spaces our friends are having here it’s painful to think about the down to quarter of a square meter planning that’s the fact of working in Tokyo. I can’t imagine all the stuff I could do if I had access to just a small part of these places, it really make me envious and maybe It’s Our Thing should have the signature Tokyo/Osaka/Athens in the future, the place is really that good. Big big thanks to Marianna & Konstantinos, Elina, Johan & Maria for making this trip so great.
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YOUTUBE POOP. Paul B. Davis currently has a show on at a gallery in London called Seventeen. The show was going to be an exhibition of his ‘compression artifacts’, video’s where the images are afflicted by glitches and digital damage. It was meant as a critique of pop, mass media. That was until Kanye West released a video using the exact same techniques… “Kanye West fucked my show up…the very language i was using to critique pop content from the outside was now itself a mainstream cultural reference”. Poor paul. Happens all the time, often so fast that it’s hard to keep track of new aesthetics at all. Take the ‘poop’ movement taking place on Youtube right now. These are kids making intensely surreal and damaged movies using old cartoons and simple editing technology. While people like Paper Rad have been doing this kind of thing for years, the work these kids are making seems much more creepy and powerful when you know its not grounded in any theory or art history. This is the terrifying face of the next generation and their absurd ability to absorb cultural references at breakneck speed. Sometimes while poking around on the internet you come face to face with whole subsets of the population outside of your reach. Who are these children? How long will it be before artists start appropriating ‘Poop’? How long before the ‘Poop’ retrospective at Tate? WIth the way things are these days its probably already happened, i just didn’t get CC’d on the email. Check out the related videos on the right. |
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SURE I’LL BE THERE. This coming Friday (15th of May) It’s Our Thing, Ogi Graphics and CBC-NET/Grandbase are taking over Soft in Shibuya to give a epic night. Entrance is FREE and for the first 50 entering we give away FREE CD’s. DJ’s for the night is myself PMKFA, none less then Mr Phil Collins, Ogi himself and Yosuke the godfather! I gonna take you on a journey of bass from Miami, the Motor City, Chicago, London, Sao Paolo and loads of other places. If you’re in Tokyo there’s no excuse not to be there. Check map on how to get there HERE. I think I’ll play Top Billin’s great track below… big track by big Leo. Top Billin - The Playboy Anthem.mp3 (right-click to download) |  |
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ROSS MENUEZ. In adapting concepts from product design to fashion design, the designer collective Mint Designs, based in Tokyo, are trying to go further in the field of fashion, that’s what I heard. However when I try to think of this combination of words “product design” and “fashion design”, it always leads me to works of Ross Menuez, Brooklyn born, a New York based designer. He used to work for Habitat in London and contributed a lot to Japanese company IDEE and one of their projects “Sputnik”. He designed not only tables and chairs but restaurant/space called “Low” as a part of the building “Sputnik Pad”. In 2005 it was the 20th anniversary of the Brooklyn Museum’s celebration of modernism, the Board of Trustees of the museum presented a lifetime achievement award to Herman Miller and him. So I met Ross. Back then his ” animal pillow” was everywhere in New York as you may remember. Also he already started to design his own bag lines. Now he is very active and has released some clothes as you see here, printed scarves, shirts, coats for both women and men. It’s about function, aesthetics and something personal so it’s beyond “product design” neither ” fashion design”. |  |
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TOKYO PIZZA CADILLACS. The state of rap in New Zealand is pretty trife. Most of the NZ rap scene could be summed up with the term ‘Boring’. But if you can get past the rural R. Kelly’s, downtown Chris Browns and all those guys ’taking it to the next level’ with two vocoders you’d find Coco Solid, sitting pretty, sounding intelligent, listlessly hilarious. The best confounding raps you are likely to hear. Coco Solid just finished her world tour in Tokyo last night after a set of shows in key cultural capitals: New York, London and Guadalajara. The tour finished last night at a club deep in Shibuya’s notorious love hotel hill, supported by a Malaysian impresario known as DJ Han Baby. They played to a sell-out and sweaty crowd, who were almost a little too enthusiastic about the whole affair. Coco’s raps are brazen, knowing, and deadpan in the best possible way. Stone-faced flossing with a wink. The rhymes are backed by an tangy mix of Miami booty bass, fruity electro like Mantronix and Cybotron and there is even a little bit of minimal stuff like Basic Channel in there too. And with Youtube quotes like “Damn. They was kinda flowin.”, “Thats my cousin” and “The rappers look quite bored.”, you know it’s going to be local, surreal and confusingly brilliant. Check out the new video for ‘Turtle Pizza Cadillacs’ and www.cocosolid.com. |
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THE WORLD ACCORDING TO AKI SASAMOTO. To look back Yokohama Triennale in the last autumn, Some lines from the report “International Symposium 2008: Count 10 Before You Say Asia”, which was just published, the part of its foreword written by Maeda Kyoji has provided me with some food for thought. “The works, which were brought to the harbor-side area and arranged in neat partitioned spaces, looked a little like containers freshly arrived from overseas that had somehow become detached from the distribution circuit” he observes, when Yokohama Triennale “emphasized performance-art in an attempt to give the event a more precise physical and temporal presence”. I met Aki Sasamoto there. She is an artist who is living and working in New York. I saw and experienced her performance which was loosely divided into two sections. The first part seemed the interpretation of the reality she has to face, absurdities of bureaucratic procedures of our everyday lives includes the state of our modified corporealities. The second part was the lecture, informing the structure of our world, the view, the perception, in short her complexed relationship with human beings and their own systems. She said that the world consists of four groups of people, “norm”, “tinks”, “odd” and “Kaufner Prof.”. It is not new, many of you might think and be doubtful the quality of her performance, mainly because of my simplification and you were not there. I was there. I witnessed the struggles of a young artist. The way she performed was very funny and I laughed. Sometimes it should be alright if you see works of art and the first reaction of yours was to laugh so you felt like as if there were nothing to worry about. Then you start to think. |  |
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THE LATIN RASCALS. For a couple of years now a track that I’ve been playing a lot is The Latin Rascals “Macho Mozart”. The dub version of it is really a 80’s electro masterpiece. When researching on the New York duo also known as Albert Cabrera and Tony Moran I also discovered that they were really amazing DJ’s appearing on New York 98.7 Kiss FM radio station and several other frequences on the US east coast. Mixing in a style reminding more about the layer upon layer style found in the mixes of today’s Ableton Live generation these guys where truly putting their limited equipment to the test. Their remix works also shows a impressive use of reel to reel editing as can be heard HERE. Their live performances show ambition to reach a major pop audience and can maybe a failed attempt at that have resulted in the fact that The Latin Rascals was forgotten and not gaining the respect other underground acts gained in the music history books. A blurry video of the duo performing their hit “Arabian Knight” can be seen HERE. One can also conclude that Tony had ambitions to be a ladies man… As a example of The Latin Rascals amazing DJ skills listen to the undated DJ set from 98.7 Kiss FM below, it’s probably from 1984-85. The Latin Rascals DJ set.mp3 (right-click to download) |  |
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HER MIND SAY YES, THE GRILLZ SAY NO. Long before grillz became standard inventory in the mouths of the US southern hip hop clique it was more than a fashion accessory. In the 70’s and as late as the early 90’s it was used for loosing weight. You attached the grillz to your teeth and as they were connected you couldn’t open your mouth very much and therefore not shove a burger in there. The theory that you get fat only by things that are large in size didn’t really work out and people started eating fat and sugary stuff with a straw instead. Maybe this is the real story behind Lil Jon and his crunk juice. I love the image on the right where the metal-mouthed lady is getting tempted with a bun o’ cheese. |  |
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COLORS. The brain behind Gothenburgs best club Colors, DJ Dainja put together a mix recently, probably as a warm-up for another summer blessed by Colors. DJ Dainja used to run Swedens longest running hip hop night, Fatmilk, for many years where the top layer of both the Scandinavian and the US boom bap acts passed through year after year. He’s also the graphic designer responsible for all the nice posters for the Colors night but also endless record-covers over the years. Mattias as his real name is, is also a supporter of It’s Our Thing and I’m very happy about that. Listen to the mix and if you’re based on the Swedish west coast there’s no excuses for not going to Nefertiti and Colors this summer. Download the mix HERE. Check the tracklist HERE. |  |
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TOY SELECTAH. One of my favourite remixers the past year or so have been Mexico’s Toy Selectah. He’s now signed to Mad Decent and his first release is a free! album consisting of some of his remixes from the past. I miss some stuff on there and I must say the biggest moment is the remix of Justice’s “One Minute Pal” where he take the duo to levels they’ve never been close to. Thanks to Mad Decent and Toy Selectah you can download the album by right-clicking HERE. One remix I miss on the album is the brilliant “raverton” remix of Calle 13 from some time back, listen below… Calle 13 feat. Café Tacvba-Nadie Como Tu (Toy Selectah Raverton remix).mp3 (right-click to download) |  |
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VYBZNESS. I know this have been out for quite a while but still it’s a amazing track. Dancehall is probably the only genre able to express porn-style sex and make it sound sweet like sugar. Vybz Kartel and Spice’s “Ramping Shop” is absolutely amazing but if don’t react to the lyrics maybe you should plan a weekend of christian rock in the calendar. “Kill me with the tightness…” Check the video on the right and listen to the uncensored version HERE. |
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KANZEN JISATSU MANUAL. Why we are so unhappy? That was the question we didn’t ask, because the question itself was a taboo in the Japanese society. Even before the global downturn, people were so unhappy in this rich country. And now? Clean and calm trains convey perfect dressed people from somewhere to somewhere, but where? To graves? I’m not making bad jokes, if you are in Tokyo, you may notice the central circle line of Japan Railway, Yamanote line stops almost once a day, why? Because of so called “incidents”, that’s the way the staff announce, when people jump for their own final exit. “Kanzen Jisatsu Manual (The Complete Manual of Suicide)” by Wataru Tusrumi was published in 1993 and sold more than a million copies. Is it weird? No, it is one of the typical Japanese publishing examples for me, because the idea of the book is a rip-off of “Final Exit” (Derek Humphrey) from 1991, the number one New York Times bestseller according to the cover. Wataru Tsurumi is a graduate of Tokyo University, one of the best universities in Japan, he got very good job after a very good education, you might say. He got a good life from publishing “Kanzen Jisatsu Manual” which praises Crystal Meth. In the latest and last book until now “Rave of Life” (co-written with Eiichi Seino) in 2000, it seemed he could a bit more cheerful. His latest idea was to go to rave parties. Still we are not so happy after the period of “Kanzen Jisatsu Manual” and now the global downturn in our hands. Yes, but better enough to be able to go to rave parties in 2000’s. Nice one! |  |
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A NEO-CON’S FAILED ATTEMPT TO SMILE. It’s easy to forget that just a handful of years ago the agenda for the worlds most influential country was in a tight grip of a bunch of fundamentalists bulldozing the world into their black and white vision of good and evil. We now know the fatal consequences it had on international relations and how this crusade-like approach backfired on the crude-oil fueled bunch. In May 2003, BBC’s “Panorama” series broadcasted a episode named “The War Party”, highlighting the neo-conservatives view on the world and the, back then, close to unlimited confidence the fall of Saddam Hussein brought them. Meyrav Wurmser, a influential scholar on the middle-east, former advisor to Dick Cheney and a strong force to abandon the “land for peace” strategy in the peace process between Israel and Palestine featured in the documentary. The observant ones watching “Panorama” could for a split second see the attempt to generate a true neo-conservative smile. It took a considerable time before I managed to get a good picture of it due to it’s brief nature, the result can be seen on the right… |  |
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AUDREY. Tonight my good Friend Audrey Fondecave had a book release and exhibition of the works displayed in the book, not far from my office here in Aoyama. Audrey is a great illustrator creating very beautiful and dreamy images that always have some kind of edge and twist in them. When I see her stuff I really wish I could paint and draw like her and I wish one day I could do that. I was always very struck about how Audrey work with colors, very strong but masterfully balanced with the paper. Her daughter Liliyo (my only sub-one-meter-tall friend) had taken on the role as the main character in the new book. The book “Grain-d’aile” is her second book in about a year and her work illustrates a story written by french writer Paul Éluard. You can get the book via Utrecht here in Japan I believe. Walk or type yourself over there and get a copy for yourself and several for your friends and family. Thanks to Audrey and her husband Yoshi for a good day and evening in the wonderful spring. |  |
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ETHNO-SEMIOLOGY FOR KIDS. These are photos from a recent kids project with Sean Macfarlane. Originally I had wanted to let kids create whole costumes in a Papua New Guinean style but the logistics for that were impossible. So we decided to make masks, based on pacific, mexican and african designs. The children drew up their imagined faces on big sheets of paper, then recreated these images as masks with paper clay, nuts, coral, wood and beans. Despite the lack of vivid colours and “cuteness” the kids became very involved in the making process, having very specific ideas about what needed to be included on their masks. WIthout prompting the masks included bizarre earrings, scarification, and even natural ‘growths’ that resembled horns. The children were aged 4-8 years old. The bottom image features Byuto (4) with his mask, knitted crop top and psychedelic jesus shirt.
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