Hasta La Ideas

A cover of a classic, moody music by a supergroup, piano house from a disco queen and more new tunes

Róisín Murphy: Something More

Replete with soaring synths and effortless vocals, Róisín Murphy’s “Something More” (written by Amy Douglas) maintains a slinky, mellow feel throughout, even when the keys appear half-way through—bringing with them all the nostalgia and energy of piano house. The release coincides with an announcement about Murphy’s upcoming fifth solo album, Róisín Machine, made with longtime collaborator Richard Barratt (aka DJ Parrot, aka Crooked Man). Murphy says, “Our first version was way more straight-ahead pop, funky, very camp. It seemed right when we began before lockdown but as a new reality descended upon the world we got tired of its one and only dimension. So when this slow-burn, deep, soulful, groove emerged out of the Crooked remixes, I decided to change tack. It seemed perfect, the perfect arrangement for the song and also perfect for the moment. We’re in darker ages now and this feels like morning, the sun’s coming up and it’s the last record of a very, very, good night. We need space for ‘mood’ and the ‘uncanny’ right now.”

ANOHNI: It’s All over Now, Baby Blue (Bob Dylan Cover)

A dreamlike reimagining of a Bob Dylan classic, ANOHNI’s “It’s All over Now, Baby Blue” continues the singer’s impassioned call for justice throughout the world. From 2016’s LP Hopelessness to last year’s charity single, “KARMA,” ANOHNI channels her beguiling vocals into works of intention—with this release dedicated to the fact that “We all know deep down that the continuation of our civilizations for much longer will require seismic change,” says the artist. “It’s All over Now, Baby Blue” is one half of a dual cover set also featuring a rendition of Nina Simone’s “Be My Husband.” They’ll appear on a seven-inch out 2 October.

Ghost Liotta: i am thoughts

In advance of their debut self-titled album (out 21 August), the electronic supergroup Ghost Liotta follows up lead single “object one” with the mesmerizing, moody new release “i am thoughts.” The instrumental track incorporates various vintage and modular synths, coupled with guitar and drums. The band first came together in 2017, after its members—Christopher Wray (guitarist for Butch Walker), Zac Rae (multi-instrumentalist, producer and Death Cab for Cutie member), John Spiker (of Tenacious D) and James McAlister (of The National)—completed work within and for other acts.

Maasho + Sonny Miles: Big Shot

Following his World on Fire EP (from which 100% of all proceeds were donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund), Maasho returns with “Big Shot,” a duet with Sonny Miles. The Raleigh-based artists have created a summery, breezy pop song that glides effortlessly across the 3:30 duration.

Dominic Fike: Come Here

The attention-grabbing opener to recording artist Dominic Fike’s debut album, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, “Come Here” proves brief but big. Over screeching guitars, Fike’s muffled vocals and deep drums provide plenty of rock edge. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? merits a full listen; it showcases the Florida-born musician’s progress as an artist, and “Come Here” is quite the introduction.

Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel.

South African designer Porky Hefer took cues from the amorphous shape of bird nests to create this off-grid guesthouse on a wildlife reserve in Namibia.

The Nest at Sossus guesthouse is situated on the Namib Tsaris Conservancy, a 24,000-hectare reserve nestled between the Nubib and Zaris Mountains in Namibia’s Namib desert.

It’s been designed by Porky Hefer to emulate the habitat of sociable weavers – a species of bird found in southern Africa known for building huge, bulging nests that are able to accommodate hundreds of birds at a time.

The four-room guesthouse is an evolution of the nest-like seating nooks that Hefer has created in the past by weaving plant stalks across metal skeletons.

“I was convinced that my smaller nests were bigger than a chair or a design piece,” said Hefer.

“I designed these camps with nests all over them and then I tried the idea for three years, changing forms and materials according to the locations I was pitching them,” he continued.

“People didn’t really get it and preferred four walls and a roof…but I kept on trucking.”

When Hefer’s unusual accommodation concept was ultimately accepted by the owner of Namib Tsaris Conservancy, Swen Bachran, the designer did a series of hand-drawn sketches to consolidate what The Nest at Sossus would look like.

The three-storey guesthouse is completely off-grid and operates off its own supply of water and electricity. Like the nest of a sociable weaver, it swells at different points to form bulbous protrusions.

Most of the facade is thatched with strands of reed harvested from northern Namibia, supported underneath by a hand-bent steel framework.

Some walls have been built using rough chunks of granite that have been carefully arranged to emulate the bark of camelthorn trees, which populate the surrounding landscape.

Walls inside the guesthouse are also thatched, but in some rooms have been set slightly apart from the external shell to allow for the insulation required during the colder months.

Flooring and joinery throughout are crafted from Rhodesian teak wood.

Hefer worked alongside his wife, Yelda Bayraktar, and creative consultant Maybe Corpaci to decorate the interiors.

The trio opted to have the majority of the furniture built-in, much like components are in a nest, and relied on a handful of striking pieces to “bring in the modernism” – for example, the living area is anchored by a sunken Chesterfield-style sofa upholstered in oxblood-coloured leather.

Outside, a swimming pool for guests has been created in the same space where there was once a dust bath for zebras.

“The zebras have been known to join guests at the house’s outdoor movie theatre to enjoy the odd movie,” added Hefer, “and surprisingly the local troop of baboons have resorted to observing with interest rather than destroying out of curiosity.”

Porky Hefer’s self-titled studio has been established since 2011. Prior to that he was running his own creative consultancy,  named Animal Farm. The Nest at Sossus is the designer’s first architectural project, and joins a growing number of design-focused spots to stay at in Namibia.

Others include Shipwreck Lodge by Nina Maritz Architects, which comprises 10 rooms that are each meant to resemble ruined boats strewn along the sands of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast.

Photography is by Katinka Bester.

The post The Nest at Sossus guesthouse in Namibia features a thatched facade appeared first on Dezeen.

CareAlert is a brilliant example of a design that’s extremely aware of its target audience. This night-light helps you monitor and take care of the elderly, but it does so in a way that doesn’t require the elderly to be tech-literate, and it doesn’t use cameras either. The CareAlert and its wide host of sensors help you be aware of the wellbeing of your elderly loved ones. The sensors do a multitude of things, from tracking temperature, air quality, and humidity, to sensing motion, light, and vibrations. Without using cameras or microphones, invading privacy, or capturing any actionable data, the CareAlert gives you a comprehensive overview of your elderly relatives through its smartphone app. Helping you understand if they slept alright, woke up on time, or if and when they went outdoors to run basic errands. Disguised as a simple night-light that plugs into a power socket, the CareAlert is an incredibly well-designed solution that’s relevant to its audience, and respects their privacy too.

Installing CareAlert is as simple as just plugging it into a power socket and setting up the CareAlert Dashboard on your smartphone. If your folks live in a larger home, you may want to plug one into the important rooms of the house, covering a wider area. Once plugged in, CareAlert helps you be there for your folks and monitor/take-care of them without being overly intrusive. Giving them the independence to go about their lives, while allowing you to stay informed of their health and their space, CareAlert does a much more effective job than webcams, smart speakers, or other smart home devices that essentially spy on people by capturing sensitive data. Unlike other smart home devices, CareAlert comes with a one-time cost and a free lifetime monitoring service, requiring zero subscription fees or periodic payments.

CareAlert essentially only monitors two things – movement, and surroundings. Given that elder-folk often live their life in a routine, the CareAlert picks up on it, letting you know if they woke up at an odd hour in the middle of the night, or if they overslept. The motion sensors track movement, giving you an overview of their activity, while other sensors help you monitor their immediate environment, knowing if there’s a change in air quality, temperature, humidity, etc. Install a CareAlert near the door and you’ll even know when they step out and when they got back home. Built into the CareAlert device is a two-way intercom too. You can call your parents/relatives through the CareAlert app and the night-light essentially becomes a speakerphone, allowing you to communicate with them if you can’t get through to them any other way. Moreover, you can even set up voice-message reminders for them, playing back a pre-recorded message to remind them to take their pills after lunch or dinner, or to call you before going to bed. The CareAlert isn’t intrusive, but it fosters communication when necessary, allowing you to remotely stay informed and in touch.

The beauty of the CareAlert lies in the fact that it recognizes its audience well. Designed as an innocuous (and helpful) night-light, the CareAlert doesn’t require the elderly to wear a wearable and constantly have to charge it, or require them to interact with interfaces that can often seem daunting to them. It does its job silently, needs no maintenance, all while also protecting their privacy and celebrating their independence!

Designer: Sensorcall

Click Here to Buy Now: $99 $152 (34% off). Hurry, only 5 left!

CareAlert – Always Know That Your Parents Are Safe

Winner of the CES 2020 Innovation Award, the CareAlert is a smart nightlight that detects potential problems and helps verify that your parents are okay at all times.

No camera or recording audio – Monitor daily routine non-intrusively, with sensors that learn normal patterns and behaviors over time.

Wellbeing dashboard on your phone – With the Wellness Dashboard, you can review everything CareAlert senses at a glance. See levels of activity, comfort, and environmental quality.

Detects humidity, air quality changes or unsafe room temperatures – If something doesn’t seem right, CareAlert will alert you immediately, connecting you with its two-way communicator so you can check in.

CareAlerts knows if your parents are going about their daily routine, or not – Multiple sensors learn the daily routines, so CareAlert can alert you when unusual behavior or activity happens.

Communicate in real-time, without relying on phones – Instant hands-free answering works like an intercom.

Send or schedule medication reminders – No need for pillboxes. Set custom pre-recorded voice reminders for medicines and dosage.

All you have to do is plug it in – It looks just like a nightlight! In the event of a power outage, it can be used as a battery-powered emergency light.

A visual reminder of family love – Grandchildren can use the CareAlert app to let their grandparents that they’re being thought of. With the push of a button on the app, CareAlert’s light blinks.

How it Works

Click Here to Buy Now: $99 $152 (34% off). Hurry, only 5 left!

Neck pain stems from a variety of reasons. Physiological conditions, bad posture, sleeping in the wrong position, a nerve pull, or just a sedentary lifestyle. The problem with neck pain, though, is that most products out there help relieve neck pain, they don’t prevent it from happening in the first place.

My Perfect Neck is to neck-muscles what weights are to biceps. Designed to give your neck a simple-yet-effective workout, My Perfect Neck works on the principles of stretching, isolating, and resistance-training to help alleviate neck pain. The workout takes no longer than a minute each day, but through time, helps strengthen and tone the trapezius, cervical and sub-occipital muscles connected to your neck and upper spine, preventing neck pain while helping gradually correct your posture too.

The neck-worn exercising equipment comes with a slim design that you could easily store in a bedside cabinet or even carry with you to the park. It opens up to sit around your neck like a neck-pillow, with a lower flap that rests against your back, and an upper flap with a proprietary spring-mechanism. Once worn, all you need to do is press back against the upper flap by looking down and up repeatedly (sort of like the neck equivalent of a push-up) for one minute. My Perfect Neck was designed by Isaias Florenca, who had his own run-in with neck pain that resulted in spending roughly $6,000 in physiotherapy bills. A little bit of research told him that he wasn’t the only one. Staring down at your smartphone for hours at an end can have a pretty significant effect on your posture and the health of your spine and neck-muscles, causing pains and backaches at an early age (an affliction Isaias refers to as “Tech Neck”). My Perfect Neck is sort of like cardio for those muscles, helping keep them strong and active, so they can easily take the strain of your daily life without acting up or causing you to have to spend $6,000 in medical bills. Sounds alright to me!

Designer: Isaias Florenca

Click Here to Buy Now: $78 $156 (50% off). Hurry, only 102/250 left!

My Perfect Neck – Stops Neck Pain & Maintains Good Posture

My Perfect Neck is a neck strengthening device that strengthens the deep muscles at the back of the neck to maintain pain free neck and good posture.

Did You Know?

Posture Correctors and Neck Stretching devices may provide you with short term relief, but unless you strengthen the correct neck muscles properly your neck and posture problems will return.

The DEEP MUSCLES at the back of the neck are what stabilize your cervical spine and protect you from neck pain, developing bad posture and cervical disc deterioration.

A. Deep Cervical Neck Muscles (stabilizes the Cervical Spine)
B. Deep Upper Neck Muscles (pulls head back)
B. Deep Upper Back Muscles (keeps spine straight)
C. Trapezius Muscle (pulls head & shoulders back)

If you keep the deep neck muscles strong, especially the Deep Cervical Neck Muscles, it will help you maintain a healthy pain-free neck and perfect posture.

The Problem

There was always one problem doctors, physio’s and health practitioners could not find an answer to: how do you strengthen the deep neck muscles if we can’t reach them? My Perfect Neck helps you do that and all it takes is just one minute per day.

How it Works

In the forward motion, when you push your chin down to your chest you are stretching the DEEP muscles at the back of the neck, the deep upper back muscles and the Trapezius muscle (posture muscle). This action also reduces tightness in the muscles and relieves pressure from the cervical spine.

In the reverse motion, when you push your head back to the upright position, the resistance applied from the spring headboard to the back of the neck strengthens the deep muscles at the back of the neck at the same time quickly stabilizing the neck and straightening your posture.

My Perfect Neck takes only seconds to put on, and thanks to its easy-to-use design built to strengthen multiple neck muscles in one motion, results are fast and effective.

The device that is always ready to go when you are. Just pick it up, put it on and start using it.

When you are in a wheelchair strong neck and back muscles are vital for keeping the spine straight and maintaining good long term health. For the first time people with mobile disabilities can now maintain a strong posture without the hassle of having to travel to special therapy facilities and avoid costly session fees.

Click Here to Buy Now: $78 $156 (50% off). Hurry, only 102/250 left!

Nike’s new ACG Mt Fuji collection features plenty of wind- and water-resistant garments and accessories inspired by the Japanese mountain’s terrain. A lava-like camouflage print covers these durable overall shorts and a woven, retro Nike ACG patch adds a pop of color. This piece is meant to match the rest of the collection, which includes a poncho, sneakers, sandals and a vest. The full collection is available today at Nike’s online store. Price is in Euros.