More than 100 tracks sampled on an instrumental album two years in the making
Founder of music label Case/Martingale and recent resident DJ at Marie Claire magazine, music maker and producer Chris Lawhorn has created Fugazi Edits, a new record made entirely by sampling every single song in the band Fugazi’s discography. The instrumental album includes excerpts from 100 Fugazi tracks to form…
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We check out the NYC of Israel with local fashion blogger and cultural maven Eyal de Leeuw
Head of External Relations at the Design Museum Holon just outside Tel Aviv, Eyal de Leeuw is not only a natural tour guide, but as co-founder of Israel’s leading men’s fashion blog Ha-Garconniere, he is clued into some of the most interesting city sights and the latest in urban night life. I met de Leeuw last month during Holon Design Week, and the former cultural attaché kindly took me around during what little down time we had. Here are his top seven must-sees for the city often dubbed the NYC of Israel.
Located on the well-known Rothschild Boulevard, the multifunctional Rothschild 12 is anything and everything you want it to be. For the morning it’s an excellent cafe to see and be seen and then later on a nice bar for an early afternoon drink. At night it’s a lounge-like music venue hosting a weekly lineup of young Tel Avivian bands and DJs. The best thing is you can always return to fight the hangover with a lovely weekend brunch.
After Uri Lahav opened this nonchalant bar last year, Har Sinai became the ultimate hangout for both the hipsters and those who reject them. Before going out for a night of clubbing or at the end of a long working day, Har Sinai is a place to listen to great music and to find refuge in a small bar behind the largest Tel Aviv synagogue.
Cheesecake is a party line led by talented musician (and local star) Assaf Amdursky and wiz-kid Oren Marzam, hosted every Thursday at the Breakfast Club (as well as Milk, its sister club next door). A small and intimate party line, Cheesecake throws together international DJs, amazing energies and a great photographer who captures the hippest of Tel Aviv’s gay-friendly crowd.
Laid back yet delicious, shabby-chic yet sexy, tranquil yet hectic—Joz & Loz has become one of the city’s best hangouts, attracting clients from the creative industries. The restaurant is the perfect place to enjoy a fresh and even poetic menu with secret performances by local musicians and long nights under the Mediterranean skies. Don’t forget to order a Noga, the special house drink.
Every city needs a boutique hotel to host elegant guests from abroad for a lovely weekend. Enjoy a fine French-Vietnamese dinner and have a drink at the bar, where they serve the finest dirty martini in town.
With the absence of a serious center for contemporary art in Tel Aviv, many young and exciting art galleries have began opening up around town. Sommer Gallery has made an international name for itself by creating a new voice for the emerging Israeli art generation. While the main gallery shows an array of established local and international artists—such as Yael Bartana, Adi Nes, Darren Almond, Thomas Zipp and Wilhelm Sasnal—a smaller space in the gallery is dedicated for budding curators and artists.
Situated in the south of the city, Verner Boutique is a good stop on the way to the Jaffa flea market. The shop carries labels such as Maison Martin Margiela’s MM6 line, Acne and Alexander Wang, as well as Israeli jewelry designers.
Eyal was too modest to include Design Museum Holon, but I can personally attest to the fact that it deserves an extended visit. Designed by Ron Arad, the exterior alone is worth the trip. After the “Designers Plus Ten” exhibition closes later this month, Yohji Yamomoto will take over the main gallery until 20 October 2012.
A Brooklyn-based radio trio, the master of animatronics, precision art work, the history of Danish tattoos and a talk with a French fashion design icon make up our top video picks for 2011
All week we’ll be looking back on the past year of CH to resurface our favorite stories and moments. For starters, it was a great year of Cool Hunting Videos—we made some new friends in our native New York and around the globe—trekking long and far to produce our mini-documentaries about creativity, innovation and process. Below are our top five favorites from 2011:
Master music selectors Chances with Wolves gave us a look behind the scenes of their successful East Village Radio show. We spent some time with the dynamic trio—who are childhood friends—and learned about their methods and inspiration.
The godfather of Christmas, Lou Nasti is hands down the most intriguing character we met all year. We had a chance to check out his Brooklyn warehouse where he creates all kinds of magical animatronic installations for clients around the globe.
When talking to the iconic French fashion designer and founder of APC you never know what to expect. We had the unique opportunity to sit down with Jean Touitou in NYC and got some insight into his take on clothing, business and religion.
On a trip to Copenhagen we were welcomed into the city’s most famous tattoo parlor to get educated on the history and progression of the artform. Jon Nordstrøn, author of the book Danish Tattooing, broke down the long evolution of tattooing from its nautical roots to the more complex modern iterations.
We spent the afternoon with Kim Rugg in her London home and studio talking about her work re-imagining newspapers, comics, stamps and cereal boxes using their existing form while rearranging their content. The amount of precision and time her pieces take is truly mind-blowing.
The DJ’s DJ, behind the scenes of Studio 54 and more from an online destination for global nightlife and culture
Unlike gimmicky social clubs, entrance into
Société Perrier requires little more than being “the best in nightlife, art, music, fashion, travel, mixology and cocktail culture.” To learn more about a few of the fashion designers, DJs and drinks that have what it takes, check out our favorite picks from the site below.
Australian twin sisters and former models Liv and Mim Nervo have already cut their teeth in the music industry writing pop hits for Ke$ha and Kylie Minogue, but their newest endeavor includes tag-teaming as DJs, while also producing a record of their own. Their single “We’re All No One,” featuring Steve Aoki and Afrojack debuts 6 September 2011. Having opened for Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale tour, the two are already well on their way to being a double threat.
Those of us that never got the chance to experience New York’s Studio 54 in the glamorous, hedonistic glory of its disco days can hear vivid recollections from two former staff members on SiriusXM. The Marc and Myra show recounts first-hand tales of the legendary club and its famous patrons, including Andy Warhol and both Jaggers.
All kidding aside, Stonerokk and Graham Funke, aka the Captains of Industry, are seriously legit DJs, as exemplified by their strict, records-only policy. Here, they recall a few celebrity encounters and the one song they refuse to play.
A world traveler and bon vivant, fashion designer Catherine Malandrino is an enthusiastic advocate of new media and its facilitation of the globalization of fashion. Adding to her roster of collaborations with fashionable pop stars such as Madonna and Beyonce, Malandrino hints at a unpcoming project with Lady Gaga.
An impressive demonstration of morning-after caregiving, the Standard Spa in Miami offers hangover-plagued guests a menu of restorative elixirs containing ingredients like coconut water, honey, ginger—some with booze, some without. Those suffering from at home will benefit from this quick video course in morning-after mixology.
In its latest incarnation, the ever-morphing downtown gallery space Grand Opening offers up fashion two-ways: after dark, the space hosts runway shows by emerging and independent designers such as New Form Perspective, Pip-Squeak Chapeau and Gemma Redux, while daytime hours reveal a pop-up shop selling the previously-showcased wares.
Harness iOS music-making potential with new interface pedals
New Signal Process made a splash in the digital music scene last year with their BreakOut pedal, allowing musicians to interface their instruments directly with the plethora of iPad and iPhone apps. This week they dropped two new pedals which deliver even more options to digital music masters.
The BreakOut Stomp was birthed in response to guitarists and bassists badgering NSP with product suggestions. Fusing the concept for the original device with a classic stompbox, the new model incorporates an easily foot-toggled switch which allows it to seamlessly integrate with a pedal board. Indistinguishable from any high-grade audio pedal from your local music shop, the difference is the ability to access innumerable effects—limited only by how comprehensive of an app collection you have.
The second edition to the line, the BreakOut Stereo, was created with masters of digital harmony in mind, specifically DJs and producers. Two separate stereo outputs make it easily adaptable to almost any situation, providing the most possibilities for interfacing with systems on the road or in an at home studio. Interfacing with Apple devices gives you access to all the features bundled up in your mobile-friendly synth and drum machine apps, essentially giving you limitless music making potential on the go.
Both pedals sell from the New Signal Process store; the Stereo runs $135 and the Stomp $155.
Internet radio’s first legal mixtape library
Far from the days when it was just Pandora and Last.fm competing for internet radio space, today there seem to be as many music streaming sites as there are mashups that helped drive the phenomenon. Whether you regard the remix as a modern artform or scourge of the entertainment industry, hour-plus-long club mixtapes, musical performances like Girl Talk and many other copyright-flaunting forms are here to stay. Enter Dubset, a new online venture not concerned with just promoting the art of the mix, but being the first legal site to feature the work of DJs.
Dubset uses their own digital tool, MixScan, to pick out all the songs in every DJ’s mixtape. When someone listens to a mix in the Dubset library, Dubset logs that play so that artists within the mix can be compensated. Constantly updated by DJs, the free library is available from the website or from an iPhone with an app.
Browse through Dubset’s site and you’ll find the expected DJ profiles, as well as options to follow your favorites and browse through all the mixtapes by “venue” and “genre.” If you’re the type to bootleg favorite club soundtracks on your phone or dig up the obscure file posted in the cloud the next day, you can now legally relive your favorite nights, right from your computer.
Online reinvention, imagination and the art journey in our interview with Los Angeles’ newest creative transplant
Owing as much to ’80s pop icons like Grace Jones and Madonna as she does to more contemporary influences (she counts M.I.A. and Jeremy Scott as friends), the eccentric style of 24-year-old British artist Kesh has the same “downtown” roots that has defined generations of young creative types. Having graced the pages of Vogue, WAD and i-D, dressed stars from Mariah Carey to Lupe Fiasco when she was a fashion designer, worked with Kanye and Interscope Records and held a stint as fashion editor at Super Super Magazine, the enterprising former DJ recently launched a new website Kesh Continues from her new home in Los Angeles.
These new moves come on the heels of her growing reputation for merging photography, digital manipulations and hand illustration to create artworks that layer geometric shapes, bold colors and portraiture—the first two of her printed offerings, Fetrinite and Velene, were bought by fans in 26 countries. To find out more about her projects, we caught up with Kesh in her L.A. “cave” for a quick chat about art, age and inspiration.
Before I used a blog, because I felt it was the right tool to document my journey as an artist and share the developments of my skills. The displayed pieces were created over a number of years and in several different countries, so the blog gave me the ability to share my experiences and adventures. I decided to create the website because I felt that the time was right. I was satisfied with my body of work and ready to display it all in one place.
At times, I feel that age is an obstacle. Being a young artist in 2011 has practically become cliche. The association of age and competence is always there, but not always valid.
Some are directly relative by being part of a collection or coming in sets, but all are relative to the journey. I date each piece to mark the history of my work and think that the timeline is what links them all together. Over the years it will become clearer for I will discover new tools to use and discover different influences.
Artist is the best way to describe what I am, what I do. The mediums may vary, but at the end of the day it’s all art.
There are many things that inspire me from day to day but for me, imagination is my biggest influence. The world inside your head can be an amazing place if you want it to be.
Our video on how three friends from Brooklyn collaborate to make the most creative show in radio
In our latest video we hung out with childhood friends and DJs Chances With Wolves to learn about the musical philosophy behind their radio show. We also went with the dynamic trio that makes up the group, Kenan Juska, Kray and Mikey Palms, to see exactly how they tear up the airwaves once a week on East Village Radio.
Sixpoints beer, a Jambox giveaway and DJs Chances With Wolves at our NYC event
Regularly unearthing rare tracks to play on NYC’s beloved indie station East Village Radio, the three-person DJ outfit Chances With Wolves treats listeners to an earful of cleverly-themed playlists and underground sounds every week. From Nina Simone to artists more unknown, their musical ingenuity has made them a Cool Hunting favorite and the subject of an upcoming Cool Hunting Video, shot by the talented Greg Mitnick.
Those in NYC can check out the boys and their musical style in person at our Jambox DJ Shopping Night tomorrow, 14 December 2010 (from 7-9pm), at our holiday pop up with the Gap. Chances With Wolves will supply the tunes, you can chug some Sixpoint beer, and Jambox is giving away one our collaborative limited-edition speakers in Cool Hunting Green.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
