Welcome to this exhibition special newsprint following the riders of Swindon Fixed. We plan to give an insight into what makes this group of people, based within the heart of Wiltshire....Swindon, so attached to riding fixed gear. Shown through the medium of photography, we will take a look at an ordinary ride for this group. They will also be giving us a look into their life within our essentials section to see what they see as important and necessary objects to everyday life. They will also share with us there music tastes in our must listen to section.
Photography and Design Jake Archer
What draws you to riding fixed gear over a conventional road bike?
Fixed gear for me is the only logical riding style; you are directly in tune with the bike at all times, and always taking note of what is around you. You are in control, there is nothing else that aids or hinders your riding but the wheels, cranks and your legs. As a university commuter, getting from one side of town to the other in rush hour traffic is easy, tight and twitchy in between cars, but fast. The bike itself holds many connotations, its appearance is slick, dignified and elegant, while people get confused and ask, how do you stop, It has no brakes, you’re just going to die! But it isn’t like that, you are in control and you cannot lose control.
What do you think about the sudden social aspect of fixed gear riding?
The social aspect of fixed gear riding is awesome, social networking goes completely out of the window, back to basics, holding actual conversations and laughing, joking and such. The social aspect of the fixed gear scene represents unity and the family aspects of what it is like to a part of the scene. Thomas Hobbs
SCREENPRINTING For this exhibition special, we have also teamed up with the guys at Swindon Fixed and created two limited edition T-shirts that will be available to buy throughout the show. They consist of imagery used for our article and hand printed by Swindon Fixed rider Jake Archer. The imagery has been converted into a bitmap to create the halftone effect seen and has then been screen printed on to a very comfortable T-shirt from the guys at Hanes so expect quality. Make sure to pick up your garment before they’re all gone as there will only be 4 on sale as these will never been on print again.
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Essentials are our way of looking into an individuals life through the means of materials. They show what the individual sees as an important part of everyday life. Here we have taken a trip down to The Forum in Swindon to visit Matt Hardy, and Swindon Fixed rider, graphic designer and photographer Jake Archer. We hope to gain an everyday lives and hopefully Warning
though,
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Carhartt Vicious Pant Jeans Nike Free Run+ 2 Nixon 51-30 Carhartt Multi-tool dog tags
into how the direction
some
serious
materialistic things play of some amazing brands heat
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a from in
Carhartt x 5 Boro NYC Digger Coat Supreme 5 Panel iPad PORT Magazine
part in peoples around the globe. these
images.
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KNOWN ‘Nation’ t-shirt XBOX remote iPhone 5 MacBook Pro
Matt Hardy - Head of Social Media for KNOWN clothing and The Forum Fixed Gear Bike Slip on (cheap and cheerful to destroy) A4 Sketchbook Ipad 2
Ralph Lauren Hoodie Norse Projects Villads Heavy Shirt Supreme X CDG Colab T-Shirt 2013 City Shorts Supreme Poouch A Bathing Ape Bag Supreme Chamois Shirt Blaze Orange
Jake Archer – Graphic Design, Photography and Swindon Fixed Rider
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Matt Hardy Jake Archer
M83
The Côte d’Azur isn’t renowned for musical greatness but in the resort town of Antibes, on the Mediterranean coast, the coming together of two young Frenchmen spawned the beginnings of Anthemic Electronica. In 2001 Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau came to collaborate on a project know as M83. Named after the spiral galaxy, Messier 83, it could hardly have been more fitting. Creating a sound that provokes thoughts far beyond the depths of our own world. Shortly after there second album ‘Dead Cities, Red Shores and Lost ghosts’, Fromageau decided he’d had enough and left Gonzalez to pick up the writing on his own terms. It wasn’t until as late as 2011, a mere 10 years after M83’s inception, that Gonzalez showed his true potential. ‘Hurry up, We’re Dreaming’, M83’s sixth studio album was released to critical success and a series of high chart positions in the UK and United States. Starting with ‘Intro’, which happens to feature Zola Jesus, the album kicks off with a burst of techno driven electronica, driving drums and simple but anthemic vocals from Gonzalez and Zola. It isn’t your standard intro though; it manages to be an anthem within its own rights. The next track, a fans favorite and the track that has brought this sudden rise to fame, ‘Midnight City’, it manages to carry the same feeling throughout his works yet brings a more modern pop element it, much like that of ‘Kim and Jessie’ from the album Saturdays = Youth’. It also has one of the most epic endings involving a saxophone which when played live is dragged on till the very end, which really gets the crowd in the mood for more. The album lives up to the word ‘dreaming’ through the album, with the gentle uplifting 80’s pop beats of ‘Reunion’ to the calming track ‘Wait’. Quite possibly the most strangest pieces of works produced by Gonzalez is track six, ‘Raconte-Moi Histoire’ (Tell me a story) where a young girl tells the story of a magical frog that can ‘turn your mummy into your daddy’. It’s easy to see why people are starting to take notice of Gonzalez but it’s hard to understand how some people are yet to know of him, yet they would’ve most certainty heard his music as the final track ‘Outro’ was used on all of the Red Bull Sports adverts throughout 2012.
On two very cold nights in 2012, both ends of the year, my brother and me attended two M83 gigs, one in Oxford in the month of January and the other in London in the month of November. Taking to the stage with more energy then a Red Bull factory, Gonzalez takes his audience into a different world. With massive soundscapes and a light show any Pink Floyd fan would be proud of. You soon forget the fact you’re sharing this experience with thousands of others. Unlike most bands that focus mainly on their newest album, M83 make sure to squeeze in hits from there first to there latest so if you turned up wanting to hear the stuff you’re use to, you end up leaving gaining a new musical experience. During the London gig, the saxophonist came out to a number of songs even if he wasn’t involved in the original studio track. Thinking we had seen all we were getting, they came back out for there encore, finishing with the track ‘Coluleurs’, it usually clocks in at 8 minutes but with extra electronic interludes dragging it more to 15 minutes leaving the crowd mesmerized by what we had just witnessed, leaving the crowd speechless. All in all, if you haven’t heard of M83, you’re truly missing out, your iTunes playlist isn’t complete without owning all or at least some of their albums it’s fair to say your iTunes will be a happier place for it and so will your life, or you can go back to listening to your mundane music. Life
is
dull
without -
Jake Archer
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Alex Archer
M83.
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