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JUNE 2016 ISSUE #213
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A ROARING RIOT
the kills
the resistance issue
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Saturday 25.06 5pm - 12am Studio 1939
Music Line-up:
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Yllis Kidg Meow K Darren Dubwise
Barbershop Music For The Record The Analog Vault Vinylicious Records
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This month, we look at ‘resistance’ from another angle. Whether you’re pushing on at the gym with your iron pumps or working the endurance to meet your clean-eating goals, we have all the right directions to point you to.
CATCHA MEDIA GROUP group head of publishing luke elliott chief operating officer ken tsurumaru chief executive officer patrick grove regional advertising enquiries voon tze khay [tzekhay@catchacorp.com T: +60-12-307-6737]
Get your athleisure wardrobe (page 38) sorted out before heading out for a nutritious meal (page 71), or get your dose of #fitspo with our recommended fitness gurus of YouTube. To help you keep track of your progress, we’ve also lined up a series of fitness trackers (page 66) you should know, as well as Apple Watch apps (page 70) that will get your wellness on point.
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Resistance is futile,
OOPSY-DAISY In our May 2016 issue on page 17, we misspelled Miss Sofie Chandra’s name. Our bad!
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CONTENTS THE KILLS
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As The Kills, American singer Alison Mosshart and British multi-instrumentalist Jamie Hince are the garage rock anti-heroes that parked their steeds near the needle of pop culture – and never left. For their upcoming fifth effort Ash & Ice, the duo pushed farther and shot higher than it ever has, reverberating with an even darker and more exciting energy than that it’s always emanated. Image courtesy of Kenneth Cappello.
NO WAVE
Punk-er than punk and more militantly original than rock & roll..
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NO SWEAT
Eight brands that are taking the lead in the athleisure scene.
KOCHE Christelle Kocher’s line of streetwear is more than just hype.
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spin cycle
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Sportswear meets everyday togs for a casually cool look.
on and on
Summer beauty essentials that’ll outdo the weather.
LIFTING SPIRITS O u r f a v o u r i t e Yo u T u b e # f i t s p o g u r u s w i l l g e t you into a sweat.
active duty
Hi-tech wearables to aid in your quest for health and fitness.
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14
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WHOLESOME HUNGER Nutritional grub spots that are sure to win you over.
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JUNE 2016
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C ONGRATULATION S @JEMMYPOPS! POP T HESE FUNKY SHADES ON THE NEXT TIME Y OU’RE OUT CAFE-HOPPING WITH YOUR F AVO U RITE MAGAZI NE. THIS MONTH’S SNAP OF THE MONTH WINS A PAIR OF POLAROID SUNGLASSES WORTH $120, COURTESY OF SAFILO.
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obsessions
There’s no such thing as a bad time for ice cream. Good day, bad day, rain or shine – ice cream is the friend who will sit by your side come what may. Thanks to the good folks at Pint Society, I can now look forward to a monthly delivery of creamy, comforting sweetness in ice cream that’s dropped off at my doorstep. On top of the joy of having two pints sent right to my home (no more trips to the supermarket on a lazy Sunday, yay!), the team’s also got a serious knack for unique flavours. From Pina Colada-flavoured yumminess to a Pisang Goreng flavour in the works, I can’t wait to see what PS has in store for the next drop.
cream of the crop Aaron Kok Fashion Writer/Stylist @ak.ok
pintsociety.rocks
IN THE MOOD
Jazmin Kelly Six Editor @adoseofpretty
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For their ability to uplift spirits and calm the mind, the allure of scents ranks highly in my books. More than just looking to perfumes for that everyday fragrance boost, I also enjoy dotting my work space with scented candles and running weekend baths with aromatherapy oils. Meet the latest addition to my inventory: London’s Aromatherapy Associates. For over 30 years, the brand has been gifting the world with its range of therapeutic-grade essential oils that are rich in nutrients and antioxidants. Get a taste with this Miniature Bath & Shower Oil Collection, which contains 10 b o t t l e s o f b l e n d e d e l i x i r s t o w a s h y o u r s t r e s s a n d w o e s a w a y.
$101 (box of 10 x 3ml), available exclusively at sephora.sg.
i put a spell on you HERE’S TO THE THINGS WE LIKE TOO MUCH.
ZEF TO DEATH
Trent Davis Lifestyle/Online Writer @trentobentogram
I’m a firm believer of not feeling guilty about the things you take pleasure in – but there’s no doubt that I’ve got an unhealthy obsession with South African rap-rave phenomenon, Die Antwoord. Between taking potshots at Lady Gaga and laying down the groundwork for their upcoming album with Cypress Hills’ DJ Muggs, the ever-enigmatic duo’s run of cryptic messages has finally culminated in the mixtape, Suck On This , to tide us over. More sexual than ever while flexing more rap than rave, Ninja’s breakneck rhymes and Yo-Landi’s high-pitched hooks deliver a long-awaited return to form in cheeky tracks like “BUM BUM”, “DAZED & CONFUSED” and “GUCCI COOCHIE” featuring the lulls of burlesque icon, Dita Von Teese.
dieantwoord.com
If there’s ever been a time we can safely and unerringly describe as “post-guilty pleasure”, it’s now. In the glare of the all-seeing gaze of the Internet, all our fetishes, likes and dislikes, perversions and obsessions have room to thrive (mostly) unjudged. But all of this isn’t enough to stop me from sneaking into any Starbucks outlet and whispering my order for a “Venti Mocha Frappe”. This happens all the time and even when I qualify with, “skim milk, no whip”, it doesn’t make me feel better about what I’m doing or where my life is at. I’m ashamed – but I can’t stop. I have a problem and it’s delicious. Help! Starbucks is everywhere. There’s no escape.
I’M A FOOL FOR YOU Indran P Music Editor @bigocean
SINGAPORE
SERVIN’ UP THE FRESHEST CONTENT
OUR EXCLUSIVE WEB HIGHLIGHTS THIS MONTH CHAT: ALEX M.O.R.P.H.
WE CHAT UP THE HARD-HITTING GERMAN TRANCE DJ BEFORE HE LIGHTS UP CANVAS THIS MONTH.
VILEBREQUIN SS16 SWIMWEAR COLLECTION
PLAYFUL ANIMAL PRINTS AND CHILDLIKE SCRIBBLES ADORN THE MEN’S SWIMMERS FROM THE FRENCH BRAND.
IN DEFENSE OF MILLENIAL MUSIC
IF YOU THOUGHT TODAY’S POP STARS ARE REPETITIVE AND CONTROVERSIAL, IT’S TIME WE TOOK A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE.
BIMBA Y LOLA SS16 ESSENTIALS THE SPANISH LABEL LOOKS TO GREECE FOR INSPIRATION THIS SUMMER FOR ITS COLOUR-POPPING, PRINT-HEAVY COLLECTION.
RISE UP & RESIST
BEFORE YOU RAISE THE FLAG AND JOIN THE MARCH, TUNE IN TO THESE ESSENTIAL ACTIVISM ANTHEMS.
LINA BADA LANDS IN SINGAPORE
THE AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE-INSPIRED SCENTED CANDLES, OILS AND PERFUMES MAKE THEIR WAY TO SOCIETYA.
THEY SEE ME TROLLIN’ THE O.G. PERFORMANCE ARTISTES WHO TOOK US FOR A RIDE AND REFUSED TO PLAY BY THE RULES.
HEARTBREAK HITS FOR THOSE MOODS THAT ONLY A SAD SONG CAN FIX, THESE TRACKS WILL HAVE YOU FIGHTING BACK THE TEARS.
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go high or go home Text Indran P Images Various Sources
Kurt Cobain made it known that it’s better to burn out than to fade away. It’s this resistance to temporary comforts that seethes in the music of Montreal duo, Solids. Singer-guitarist Xavier Germain-Poitras and drummer Louis Guillemette hail from a background in hardcore punk, so you know they are well-versed in metaphysical and musical transcendence. Theirs is a roiling soundscape of razor-wire riffs and gut-punching drums that are distilled through a filter of pop-minded hookiness. Listen to their new EP, Else, and you’ll discover that they even refuse to sit pretty on punk’s laurels – harnessing its anger but delivering its message on a dreamy bed of contagious melodies. Bless up.
solids.bandcamp.com
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K C A L B
G A FL
THE KILLS
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IN THE TALES OF YORE, THE BLACK-CLAD, BLACK-HATTED CHARACTERS RIDING INTO TOWN COMMANDED A CERTAIN ALLURE AND MYSTIQUE. “ WHAT ARE THEY UP TO?”, ALWAYS ACCOMPANIED THE FEELING OF EXCITEMENT AND UNDERCURRENT OF SUSPICION THEIR PRESENCE INSPIRED. AS THE KILLS, AMERICAN SINGER ALISON MOSSHART AND BRITISH MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST JAMIE HINCE ARE THE GARAGE ROCK ANTI-HEROES THAT PARKED THEIR STEEDS NEAR THE NEEDLE OF POP CULTURE – AND NEVER LEFT. WHAT THEY BROUGHT IN TOW WAS A DANGEROUS PUNK-ROCK-BLUES TRIBRID WITH A SNEAKY POTENCY THAT COULD MAKE YOU DANCE AND SUDDENLY GRAB YOU BY THE COLLAR AND DASH YOU AGAINST THE WALL. IF WHITE IS THE COLOUR OF PURITY AND CONSENT, BLACK IS THE COLOUR OF REFUSAL, AND THE FOUR PRIOR ALBUMS OF THE KILLS ARE COVERED IN IT. YET, FOR THEIR UPCOMING FIFTH EFFORT, ASH & ICE, THE DUO PUSHED FURTHER AND SHOT HIGHER THAN IT EVER HAS – REVERBERATING WITH AN EVEN DARKER AND MORE EXCITING ENERGY THAN THAT IT’S ALWAYS EMANATED. HERE, HINCE TAKES US TO THE SOURCE.
Text Indran P Image Kenneth Cappello Interview courtesy of Domino Records
I PREDICT A RIOT When their debut Keep On Your Mean Side dropped in 2003, certain facts about Mosshart and Hince quickly became obvious. With their skin-tight threads and cigarette-smoky swagger, they certainly looked the part. But what set them apart from the well-dressed mannequins squinting at the camera in fashion magazines was the contents of their music. Like The White Stripes, The Kills operated in a guitar-drums mode. But that’s where the similarities ended. Over Hince’s razor-edged guitars, blasted drum machine beats and ominous melodic tics, Mosshart’s vocals explored the tension between ethereality and aggression. This continues over five albums to this day. So we had to know: What’s changed? Never hearing his voice much in The Kills’ music, we’re pleasantly surprised by Hince’s gritty drawl when he answers our call in London. And after a contemplative pause – a thing he’s wont to do – he picks up on our query. “The world’s changed so much since we first started”, he prefaces, thinking back to a time when he wrote letters to venues when he was booking tours, and surmising that The Kills have changed, too, “incredibly”. When asked how, he unhesitantly replies: “We’ve gotten better”. The proof is in the work. Take for example their third album, 2008’s Midnight Boom, produced by indie hip-hop lightning rod XXXChange. It’s by bravely working with other sounds within their supposedly limiting framework that The Kills has been able to make the “less is more” claim. “I
think that when you’re writing songs, it has to be a one-man/woman dictatorship”, he offers, alluding to his partnership with Mosshart: she pens the songs and he provides the sonic impetus around it all. “To me, no good art has come out of trying to get everyone to agree”, precedes a confident chuckle. Thence the floodgates have remained open. NOTHING COMPARES TO 2 Rage is the incumbent champion of hard-hitting music that betrays no trace of compromise. But the Mosshart-Hince partnership, one of the left-leaning indie world’s most interesting and well-yielding meeting of minds, is built on love. We ask him to describe his relation to Mosshart and are quietly awed and stunned by his finality and sweetness: “Inevitable”. After a short pause, he lets on, “It’s just psychic; there’s nothing we can do about it and I’m glad”. The story of how they met is well known: she had overheard him playing music in an upstairs flat while she was on a European tour with her former band. Sixteen years later, he’s still gushing: “We’ve grown to love each other over time – that’s an important part of why this works. But it’s not just about love, it’s about talent as well. Her talent keeps me really excited”. YEAR 0 It’s impossible to overstate the importance of a guitarist’s fingers to his craft. So no one can imagine how Hince felt when he slammed a car door on his left hand, requiring a tendon transplant and eventually losing a finger. It’s enough to make you want to inflict so much violence on peddlers of the smug “life happens” phrase. But Hince took a
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more measured – and constructive – approach and taught himself how to play the guitar anew. Being forced to step back and perceive your life from a distance can’t be easy. So we tiptoe towards how he coped with all that. Unexpectedly, he hits us with a silver lining: “It revitalised me and made me a better guitar player. That I might not play guitar ever again made me appreciate that this record had to be something special”. A NEW MYTHOLOGY Like a good system, Mosshart and Hince have their own ways of working and communicating with each other; their own language. Musically, this translates to a non-denominative range that frames music itself as the medium. On Ash & Ice, they communicate this language to the listener in vastly interesting ways. The single “Heart Of A Dog” is unstoppable. Its hard drums, ragged, bluesy guitars and syncopated beat belie a heart-worn soul that Mosshart emotes expertly. It’s not practiced, it’s realised. “She was on a writing retreat, on an island off the coast of Seattle. I sent her a drumbeat and she wrote that song to it”, is the background furnished by Hince. One line that jumps at you is “I want strings attached”, a sentiment antithetical to the shape modern life has taken. Hince feels it too, but on a more personal level: “It speaks to who Alison and myself are, as people. We’re dogs – and masters”. That Alison is a “master” in the high-testosterone genres she’s neck-deep in is fantastic. But Hince too, has made immense strides. Cue up the lead single “Doing It to Death” and you’ll discover that it sounds like a dark, dubby, R&B song. Apparently – and shocker alert – Hince is a massive dub and dancehall fan. He tells us that he wants Ash & Ice “to sound like a rock band produced by King Jammy or Lee “Scratch” Perry” – bam! That’s why we hear what sounds like single-note riddims over a nocturnal beat; gritty and glittering urban noir. Losing a finger means Hince can’t play chords so well, but this allows him to tease out the expressive colour of single notes in ways he never knew he could.
Ash & Ice is proof that the halls of tradition are littered with illicit doors. If unlocked, they’ll bring you to wholly new and enchanting worlds. There are no #statements here, no talking points over which hype and scandal can grow. Only the mark of band that has yet again planted its black flag on a new feat of sound. Who needs bells and whistles when you hear a roar?
Ash & Ice drops June 3 on Domino Records. thekills.tv
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no is the most powerful word
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QUESTION: WHAT’S PUNK-ER THAN PUNK, AND MORE MILITANTLY ORIGINAL THAN ROCK & ROLL? WHAT HELD UP A MIDDLE FINGER TO EVERY MUSICAL FORM THAT CAME BEFORE AND AFTER IT? ANSWER: NO WAVE. HERE, WE CELEBRATE THE MOST BAD*SS SOUND THAT EVER ASSAILED YOUR EARDRUMS.
NEY YORK, NEW YORK No wave was a New York thing. Yet, oddly enough, its existence was fuelled not by the city’s reputation as fertile creative ground, but rather, its decline. They may’ve planted the flag but by 1977, New York’s pioneering punks – Television, The Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie –were co-opted by major labels, leaving the city bereft of the spirit of DIY ingenuity. It didn’t help that across the pond, photogenic, foul-mouthed acts like the Sex Pistols and The Clash were fast becoming the signifiers of punk’s new dawn. It was from this vacuum of innovation that no wave arose, helped by the fact that in the late ’70s, the city was a wasteland, with entire downtown neighbourhoods abandoned – allowing for artistes to live on almost nothing. It was the perfect place to say ‘No’. This wasn’t lost on Brian Eno, who happened to attend an event whose flyer simply read, “BANDS” in the city in May 1978, at the alternative arts venue Artist’s Space in Tribeca. At this five-day fringe fest, no wave’s eventual standard-bearers, DNA, James Chance and the Contortions, Teenage Jesus And The Jerks, and Mars, took the stage. In them, Eno glimpsed the creative ferment unfolding in New York at the time: “The New York bands proceed from a ‘what would happen if’ orientation…What they do is a rarefied kind of research’”. Under his direction, a compilation album, No New York, was soon released, emerging as the official calling card of no wave and announcing New York as its birthplace.
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JUST SAY “NO”
Pushing the envelope – think about how tired a declaration this has become. Think about how often its red-faced advocates (so-called ‘creatives’/‘influencers’) have fallen short of its imperatives and folded the proverbial envelope on themselves. Not so with no wave. “The anti-everything of no wave was a collective caterwaul that defied categorisation, defiled the audience, despised convention, and s**t in the face of history”, said its spokeswoman, Lydia Lunch. For her and her ilk, the arch-nihilism they felt was symptomatic of a “desperate need” to “rebel against the complacency of a zombie nation dumbed down by sitcoms and disco”. The complacency of American society compounded with paranoia from the debacle in Vietnam, widespread political corruption, rampant poverty and the failed revolution of the flower power movement were impossible to ignore. Inspired by proto-punk hero Richard Hell’s anti-anthem, “Blank Generation”, many no wavers produced their own scathing missives in which “No” was writ large – a potent symbol of their rejection of their soul-numbing present. Teenage Jesus And The Jerks offered up the searing “Burning Rubber” in 1978, which became emblematic of the urban squalor and disenchantment of the times on lines like, “The leaves are dead / The door is closed / The garbage screams at my feet / I just want to be alone”. Sonic Youth, at the earliest stage of their
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career, on their first release, the self-titled 1982 EP, were also in on this. On closer “I Don’t Want To Push It”, Thurston Moore chants the telling lines, “There’s no more to borrow / There’s no more to steal / And no more to feel”. It was at this point of total abjection, when the human spirit was at its lowest that no wave signalled a way out. As journo Marc Masters offered, “There is only one question to which no wave offered a ‘Yes’: ‘Is there anything left when you start by saying ‘No’?”
BEYOND ROCK & ROLL As The Contortions’ Don Christensen recalled, “The whole punk and new wave thing was supposed to be something different, but we watched them just turn into the same sleazy thing”. And like others in the no wave vanguard, his bandleader, James Chance’s biggest gripe with the newly-famous was that “they hadn’t really gone beyond anything that had come before”. Governed less by a sound than by a Year Zero impulse to start anew, no wave was the ultimate rock sacrilege, described vividly by Simon Reynolds as a “defilement of rock’s corpse”. If anything, the way in which these bands used the standard rock format to stage their revolt against it was the best testimony for its short-lived existence. For example, Lydia Lunch later admitted that she still doesn’t know a single chord on the guitar. Much of her music was made with knives, beer bottles and broken glass to create “short, fast sound stabs”, felt especially on hard-edged missives like “Orphans” and “The Closet”. Her comrades in Mars were more stylistically radical, playing every instrument like a drum, incorporating African elements to make what bassist Mark Cunningham called “ecstatic trance music”, devoid of tempo, tonality and unified rhythm.
Besides such reactionary acts, no wave also boasted consciously adept musicians who produced fantastic feats of sound, such as Glenn Branca. Composing symphonies for the electric guitar to be performed by a large ensemble of handpicked players, which he called a “guitar army”, he stunned audiences into total submission. James Chance, too, was another virtuosic figure, who combined the influences of Iggy Pop, James Brown and Albert Ayler, into a freeform mix of punk-funk, a style he invented. Together with The Contortions, he made no wave’s more accessible but most physically demanding music – with his harrowing alto-sax tormenting the skin-tight rhythms of his players, whom he pushed to crushing extremes. DNA, too, made immortal, influential sounds with their uber-angular grooves, as its members channelled their experimental theatre backgrounds into their music, making guitarkeyboard-drum onslaughts that disassembled as they progressed.
EPITAPH
Text Indran P Images Various Sources
What made no wave and its manifest eruptions so attractive to a select few was also what made it utterly repulsive to the larger mainstream – no one mourned its untimely self-combustion. But this much is true: No other scene in modern popular or underground culture has mirrored no wave’s transformational energy on a generation of people. It’s difficult to imagine that any form of music appraised as “modern” or “cuttingedge” would be what it is today, if not for that one incendiary moment when no wave smashed into our pop cultural windshield. Rather than the sound of worlds colliding, it was the sound of collision itself – a symphony of resistance so deafeningly sublime.
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AFTER A LONG, HARD RAIN, IT OFTEN FEELS AS IF THE GROUND ITSELF LETS OUT A THANKFUL SIGH BEFORE BEING BATHED IN RAYS OF LIGHT. AUSSIE ALT-ROCK HEAVY-HITTERS THE TEMPER TRAP CAN TESTIFY TO THIS ELEMENTAL PHENOMENON. AFTER THE SMASH-HIT SUCCESS OF “SWEET DISPOSITION”, THEY RELEASED ANOTHER ALBUM, ONLY TO UNEXPECTEDLY HAVE THEIR LEAD GUITARIST, LORENZO SILLITTO, WALK OUT ON THEM. BUT NOW, THEY’RE BACK. BEFORE THEIR THIRD ALBUM THICK AS THIEVES HITS SHELVES, HERE ARE 10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT THE BAND WENT THROUGH IN THE PROCESS, COURTESY OF FRONTMAN DOUGY MANDAGI AND GUITARIST JOSEPH GREER.
They went through some big changes. Dougy: Some of us got married; some of us had kids; we lost a member. There’ve been some big changes. Somehow, through it all, we’ve become closer as a unit. We have a clearer vision about who we are and where we want to go. Their lead guitarist left them. J: He told us earlier on, before we started working on the album. It’s then that we decided to trim the fat and make bigger sounds with less people. We had to make more out of less.
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They looked to The Rolling Stones for inspiration. J: We wanted it to sound quite raw, like The Rolling Stones. Our sound had to be simple and direct. Amps and overdrive were the basis for a lot of the riffs. We didn’t go out of our way to make it overly complex. That’s for the listener to explore.
They wrote with outsiders for the first time. D: It doesn’t always work, since you have to navigate around someone else’s idea of how you should sound. Usually, you start off on a blank page and see if it happens. That’s why we were really picky about the people we worked with. The moment it got too un-Temper Trap-like, we reined it in. Their lead single “Fall Together” is thunderous. D: We worked with Justin Parker, a producer who made beats for Lana Del Rey, on this one. He roped in another young producer, Richard Cooper, as well. It sounds huge. They never saw “Sweet Disposition” coming. J: We were just an unknown Melbourne band when we wrote “Sweet Disposition”. Then, a few things happened – like it being featured on the 500 Days Of Summer soundtrack – that took it to a crazy level. It’s funny how, sometimes, something in the musical ether connects and the song has a life of its own. They are not “The Sweet Disposition Band”. D: There are people who associate us too much with that one song, and that sucks. If anything, it gives us the initiative to work really hard and
prove otherwise, that we’re not flash-in-the-pan one-hit wonders. After all, a single is a gateway to the album. They swear rock’s not dead. J: Everything is different now – the way people consume music is so different. So the way you play the game has to be different as well. With social media being so huge, you have to focus on non-musical aspects, like taking photos for Instagram. But we stand by our music, fully. D: We’re old-school in the sense that we’re not a laptop band. We put a lot of hours into playing our instruments well. Their 10-year plan. D: 10 years down the road, I want people to remember Thick As Thieves as the soundtrack to a moment in their lives; that it soundtracked people finding their soulmates, etc. It’s an honour for a band to remembered in this way. J: I want Thick As Thieves to be remembered for the work, care and craft that we put into it. I want people to know that we’re here to stay.
thetempertrap.com
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS THE TEMPER TRAP music
Text Indran P Image Jon Bergman Interview courtesy of Laneway Presents
They’re happy and relieved. Joseph: It’s a nice feeling to have Thick As Thieves out now. I remember thinking at several points while we were making the record about how we’d feel the moment it was released. It’s great to be at this end of the process – and a little surreal.
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INTO THE
JEREMY BALVIN ENTERED INTO THE PENUMBRA OF BASSY MUSIC AND SQUIRMING BODIES IN 2012 WITH A TRACK CALLED “MARIJUANA”. HE WAS THEN THE DRUMMER IN SYNTHPOP BAND, STEPDAD, AND WITH HIS DEBUT FLOURISH SHOWED WHAT A PRESCIENT PRODUCER HE WAS. EVEN BEFORE SOUNDCLOUD GREW TO ITS MYTHIC SIZE AND POSITION OVER ALL OUR CONTEMPORARY DANCE SENSIBILITIES, HE HAD SERVED UP A DEEPLY FELT, EXPERTLY EXECUTED SHIMMERING ELECTRONICA IMPRINT THAT HE’D TRANSCEND ON SUCCESSIVE RELEASES LIKE HIS PARALLELISM EP. HE DISHES HERE BEFORE HIS MUCH-ANTICIPATED LOCAL DEBUT. Hey Jeremy, we’re glad to have you here on your first Asia tour. What are you looking forward to doing on this tour? Happy to come over! I’m most looking forward to the food, the food, and the food. Tell us, was your moniker at all inspired by chrome sparking? When I was in high school, I came up with the idea to name my music Chrome Heart, in order to illustrate the dichotomy of the acoustic sounds I was using in tandem with electronics. Thankfully, that was already taken (I don’t think I would have kept that name), and Chrome Sparks popped into my head as a substitute. It may be one of the only ideas I had in high school that I’m still into. Talk us through the conception of Parallelism. For a period of time, I was making tracks using only my three favorite synths and nothing else. These three tracks came out of this time, and are all linked together by the same instrumentation. I also was frequently going out to clubs in Brooklyn to dance at that point, and that definitely worked its way into this release. I haven’t yet made a release this dancey, and I can’t say for certain that I ever will again. The artwork for Parallelism was also something else. How do you decide the visual direction for Chrome Sparks? I trust wholly in my dear friend Tonje Thilesen, who has done art for the last three EPs I’ve released. She’s a Berlin-based photographer whose work and aesthetic I admire deeply.
CHROME SPARKS
Text Indran P Images The Windish Agency Interview courtesy of Moonbeats Asia
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Has your background as a percussionist shaped your music? Rhythm and groove have always been the most important aspect of music to me. There’s something so cathartic and primal about playing drums; it has and always will be my favorite thing to do. I think that can be felt in my music, even though now I use mostly electronic drums. “Marijuana” was the track that got you a lot of attention. How did you feel when it first started blowing up? I was surprised and a bit baffled, as I’ve never spent such a short amount of time working on a track in my life. I really just tossed it together and put it up on a mixtape with some friends, so it definitely caught me off guard when it spread the way that it did. What are the differences between playing live and recording? How did you decide on the current lineup for the live band? Recording is a long, solitary and arduous process for me. Somewhat to my detriment, I never really think of how something will be done live when I’m recording, so when I’m trying to figure out how I can recreate the tracks live, it’s usually a huge headache. I’m currently playing as a duo with my old buddy from youth orchestra in high school. We used to do duo percussion and marimba recitals together, so nothing’s really changed other than that I switched to keyboard and people actually buy tickets to see us now. It’s known that you once had lunch with the hilarious Megan Amram. What was the experience like? So fun. She’s just as funny to be around in person as she is online. What’s your next move? I’m working on finishing up a lot of new music. Keep an ear out!
Catch Chrome Sparks live at Canvas Club on June 3. chromesparks.com
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TJR We’re really diggin’ your new Beatport chart-topper, “We Wanna Party”. You and Savage have great chemistry on the track. “We Wanna Party” was inspired by 2 Live Crew’s “We Want Some P**y” and a night in Vegas! I used to play a bootleg of the song, but I noticed one night when I played it in Vegas, the girls in the crowd didn’t sing the chorus. The idea popped in my head to create a version that was bit more female-friendly. I always wanted to work with Savage on a track so we contacted him for this project and he nailed the vocals. Savage has a powerful voice that gave the chorus extra energy and set the overall party tone. What are the ingredients of your bounce? Well, my tracks are simple but clever and catchy. Plus, I like to include memorable vocals to compliment the melody. This combination is always my foundation when I’m creating. Aside from that, my songs have a lot of energy and are upbeat. It’s no secret I like to have a good time and my music represents that feeling. What made you give up golf for music? Golf got me into college and college is where I discovered underground dance music and DJing.
Going out to raves and DJing was way more exciting when I was 19 in college, rather than waking up at 8am on the weekends to stand on the putting green and practicing for hours. I still love to play golf, but the choice to pursue music and DJing over golf wasn’t that difficult. How has the move to Los Angeles been? Moving to Los Angeles was a massive decision that changed my life. I hated living in Connecticut and knew nothing would happen to my music goals if I stayed there. The trickiest part was finding a job in L.A. but luckily, I landed one with my friend’s father’s company. Once the job was secure, I packed everything up and made the move. You also seem to have become friends with Pitbull. Pitbull is a pro and one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. He was very easy to work with. He delivered his vocals for “Don’t Stop The Party” in only a couple of days when he was touring Europe. It was quite impressive. We finally met on the set of the video. We drank vodka and partied in his trailer with his friends till the wee hours of the morning. Great dude!
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Europe has long held the torch for dance music. How do you think America is weighing in? This is true, but it’s changing. The big room-progressive electro hybrid led by the Europeans is still very popular but U.S. artistes like Chainsmokers, Skrillex and Diplo are making bass music for the radio, which is garnering global appeal. I think America has found its sound and is starting to influence the global scene. Lastly, is there a bridge between your new sound and your roots in techno? I think my sound now is an adaptation of my older acid and techno sound. My nasal sawtooth leads are quite acid-like and I use a lot of techno-styled riser builds for my tracks. I prefer techno riser builds over progressive chord progressions because they maintain energy and keep people moving on the dancefloor.
Bounce with TJR at Zouk on June 24. soundcloud.com/tjr
Text Indran P Image Justin Setareh Interview courtesy of Zouk Singapore
MASTER OF BOUNCE
“LET’S MAKE IT BOUNCE!” – THIS IS TJ ROZDILSKY’S RALLYING CALL AND MISSION STATEMENT. THANKS TO HIS DECADE-PLUS INVOLVEMENT IN THE GAME, PARTY-MINDED DANCE MUSIC HAS BEEN BLESSED WITH SOME OF ITS MOST BANGING GROOVES AND COLOURISTIC HUES. THEN, THERE’S THE BOUNCE. THOUGH A PRODUCT OF MELBOURNE, THE KINETIC, TECHNICOLOUR SOUND HAS BECOME AN ENDLESSLY EXPLORABLE EXPERIENCE IN THE HANDS OF THIS L.A. DJ-PRODUCER. IT’S NO WONDER THAT THE WORLD IS THANKFUL THAT HE CHOSE TO STEP TO THE DECKS RATHER THAN CONTINUE HIS ONCE-IMPENDING CAREER IN GOLF. YOU KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO BE PING-PONGING ON ZOUK’S DANCE FLOOR ONCE HE’S UP – BUT BEFORE THAT, HEAR HIM ROAR.
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TECHNO SISTERHOOD ME & HER
Text Indran P Image Schwarz Interview courtesy of The Council
THE BEST PARTNERSHIPS ARE THOSE THAT RESULT IN SOMETHING GREATER AND VASTER THAN THE SUM OF THEIR PARTS. BY THIS METRIC, SWISS DUO ME & HER ARE AN EXCELLENT MEETING OF MINDS. TOGETHER, VIETNAMESE-SWISS PHUONG AND GERMAN JEN ARE NOT JUST THE SYMBOL OF THE AGENDA OF MULTICULTURALISM, BUT ONE OF THE BEST THINGS TO HAPPEN TO LEFT-LEANING TECHNO. TRAFFICKING IN SPHERICAL DARK TECHNO, THEY’VE BROUGHT A MISTY, SHROUDEDLY ENCHANTING SOUND TO THE MIX; EVEN AFTER THE RECORD STOPS ON “LOST”, YOU’LL FEEL ITS ALLURING REVERBERATIONS. THEY’LL BE SPINNING YOU RIGHT ROUND LATER THIS MONTH AND HERE, PHUONG FURNISHES SOME PRE-GAME TIPS. Origin story. We met through a mutual friend. Jen was DJing at my birthday party and asked if I knew someone who’d DJ with her as she got tired of doing everything alone. That’s how we met and formed ME & her. We know, it’s not really a romantic love story.
When we started, we played more commercial music but it was so exhausting for the both of us as it wasn’t really the music we felt; it took so much energy from us. We even used to fight in the DJ booth and that was the point where we decided to change everything and only play the music we want to.
Difference is power. Actually, we’re both so different but we still complement each other. We travel a lot and get to know a lot of different cultures. We get inspired a lot while travelling – you can hear that in our productions. We always try to show different sides of us.
Working with Billie Foundation on “Lost”. We met Billie through a good producer friend of ours and the first time we heard one of his tracks, we utterly fell in love with his voice. So we just decided to send our track to him and ask if he would be interested to collaborate with us. He agreed immediately; it was so easy and fun to work with him.
Clash of styles. Jen is more into harder dark techno beats and I’m more into the melodic and deeper stuff. But I’d say it always depends on the crowd – we want to take them on a journey and the mix of both style is decisive. Techno for an answer. Jen is from Germany so she grew up with techno. I grew up with soul, funk, hip-hop, and rock and only got into electronic music when I was 19.
Journey to India. It was a total different world! We loved the open-minded crowd and we felt so welcome and saw that they really appreciate our music. There are so many young talents out there and India has really great potential. It was our second tour in India and you could already see how the scene grew in only one year! We visited the slums and learned so much from them. That’s something we miss in the music industry.
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The best part of all this. We are so happy that we’re together. It’s always better when you can share good but also bad moments with each other and motivate each other. If you can share the happiness with someone, your experiences will be more fulfilling. We have different strengths so we split up our tasks – that works perfectly. Next adventure. For us, South America and the U.S. are desirable destinations. Australia would be very interesting too. Downtime. We are pretty wide-ranging when it comes to music. We think that if you are a musician, you should listen to all kind of genres to get inspired and also to give your ears a little journey beside the music you are specialised in. Chill-out, soul and classical music are great to relax to as well.
Catch ME & her live on June 2 at Headquarters. meandhermusic.com
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How was it like working for so long in a band framework and then going solo in an electronic medium? It was a gradual transition that actually began with MONSTER CAT. I started playing around with production when we were writing The Violet Hour, and along the way, my taste evolved. It was a way for me to explore more spontaneous kinds of creation. I started putting together a lot of sketches that would become beats, and that’s how I transitioned. One of the most striking things about the music you’re making as Yllis is that though it’s utterly contemporary, it does not have any identifying sonic marker. Yes, I think that’s something that just happens with me. When I do something that’s kind of different and I like it, I move towards that direction instead of away from it. So I always end up trying to make something based on a reference and making it different. This EP comes at a time when I’m listening to the kind of music that explores this kind of style, this formlessness. What are some of those artistes or records? Arca and PC Music, for sure. What’s exciting with
them is that they are a bit more fluid with their referencing as well. That’s inspiring and it’s what drew me to those textures. I’m just trying to forge something new. On that note, let’s talk about “parade”, a very sexually charged song. Is this new terrain for you? It’s not really new. With this record, I tried writing love songs. Even “wiik”, to me, is a super weird kind of sex song. There’s a line there, “Let me hold you naked”. I think I was trying to explore love in a different kind of way, in a way that I relate to – which might be a bit strange and weird, but I guess we’re all a bit strange and weird inside. I was trying to explore the edges of that. Today, music as a whole has become overtly sexualised and it’s the mainstream that interrogates notions of sexuality the most. What are your thoughts on this? I do feel that representations of sex are quite varied in music these days. It’s quite good that The Weeknd’s like, “I’m dark and sad and I love you but I take a lot of drugs”. But you’ve also got Bieber’s “I’m sorry, and I love you” schtick; and
FKA Twigs doing her strange bondage-y “hurt me” thing. On that same note, with sex seemingly the main focus in music, would you say music today is more revolutionary than it’s ever been? I think all music is political. Even, say, a Zayn Malik song. He’s aligning himself with a certain viewpoint. Even in today’s pop music like Bieber’s, the fact that he has a dancehall banger is itself political. He’s a young, white pop star – one of the biggest in the world – who aligns himself with black culture. That’s amazing. And what would you say your music resists? What I’m trying to do with my music is to paint a picture of what a globalised culture looks like. I think that’s where we are heading but cultural hegemony is still present. As Singaporeans, we have quite a unique view on the world. We are able to understand both Western and Asian sides and I wanted to have a say on what music is like in 2016, and what it can be in the future.
soundcloud.com/yllis
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IN 2016, THE PHRASE “NEW DIRECTION” SEEMS QUITE QUAINT WHEN DESCRIBING A MUSICIAN’S STYLISTIC CHANGE-UP. BUT EVEN THE JADEDNESS OF THE TIMES CAN’T DETRACT FROM MONSTER CAT FRONTMAN WANG’S NEW INCARNATION AS YLLIS. WHERE HE ONCE STOOD AT THE HELM OF ONE OF SINGAPORE’S FINEST ROCK BANDS, GUITAR IN HAND, HE NOW ALCHEMISES BEATS AND ELECTRONIC TEXTURES THAT READ LIKE IDM-LACED MANIFESTO-CONFESSIONALS – ABOUT HOW WE’RE LIVING AND LOVING IN THE FRENZIED TECHNOLOGICAL PRESENT. BEFORE YOU DIP INTO THE LOVELY, BEWILDERING DEPTHS OF HIS DEBUT EP, ISLAND-01, DROPPING LATER THIS MONTH, HERE’S THE MAN HIMSELF WITH THE KNOWLEDGE. music
Text Indran P Image Callum Aldrin Smith
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COOL BRITANNIA THESE BRITISH ACTS ARE TAKING OVER. WOLF ALICE
‘Alternative’ may be the masthead of the ’90s, but this London quartet has been gradually exhuming it into contemporary relevance with a ferocious live show and uncompromising teen spirit. It shows in the music and that’s why its debut LP, My Love Is Cool, is so vital.
THE BULLETPROOF BOMB
Remember when the Arctic Monkeys emerged with its dirty, youth-drunk, rock-sized anthems? Likewise, these Sutton lads are set to bring forth a renaissance of chanty, guitar-powered jolts with a genre they call “fun”. Teenaged though they may be, they’ve got the musical firepower and confidence like the rock gods of old.
NO HYPE MAN There’s a clip in hot Internet rotation now of a recent chat between Skepta and Pharrell. When asked about how he celebrated his birthday recently, Skepta, unblinkingly, says that this was the year he realised that instead of celebrating that one day, we should take into account all that we’ve done that year and celebrate that instead. He then elaborates that if you haven’t been working hard that year, there’s nothing to celebrate. It’s a powerful moment in an otherwise pedestrian video – but then again, Skepta is full of powerful moments. This is a pivotal time for the Tottenham MC and producer, born Joseph Junior Adenuga. While he’s not technically ‘new’ to the scene, it’s only now that the world is taking notice of what he’s been up to. For the past decade, he’s been a beacon in the bowels of the U.K.’s grime movement, heard mainly by the in-the-know cognoscenti. He’s the self-crowned “King Of Grime” but that label hasn’t resonated as much outside of the U.K. until recently. With well-deserved and very public co-signs from Kanye West and Drake, both him and grime itself have experienced an explosion in profile and exposure. All this adds to the high-stakes event that is his new album, Konnichiwa. “It’s the album of the world. It’s now. It’s today. But my intention is to spin the globe in another direction”, is Skepta’s mission statement. Made for, in and pulsing with the spirit of the streets, Konnichiwa’s focus bears the weight of the world. And against the suffocating hype that’s coalesced around his every move, he couldn’t be more focused on making the best music he can. The lead single “Man”, sublimates a sample of Queens Of The Stone Age’s “Regular John” into a surreal, unsettling motif as a bassy, grimy beat slaps the mix forward. And as we encounter the knife-edge of a line like, “Told me you was a big fan / But the first thing you said when you saw me is / Can I get a pic for the gram?”, Skepta reminds us all to watch out.
helloskepta.com
CIRCA WAVES
If you caught this Liverpudlian band during their 2015 tour stop here, you know what this quartet brings to the table. Swashbuckling guitars and breakneck rhythms are how they move – and how they’ve won a global following, present company included.
Text Indran P Images Various Sources
BLACK HONEY
For much of their existence, this Brighton band has been deliberately mysterious. It’s only with the late-April release of their debut EP, Headspin, that we know the names of ’em four players. But when you hit play on songs like “Madonna”, you’ll know the full force of the Pixies-invoking appeal.
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ART ANGELS RADIOHEAD
Besides its supreme self-correcting and self-topping consistency, what’s made the English quintet’s rep as capital-G geniuses is the alluring mystery that surrounds its creative processes. We all know about Thom Yorke’s stance on mega-corporations like Google and YouTube – which he likened to the Nazis – but there’s an impregnable mystique that inheres enduringly to the music his band makes. Earlier in April, we got a foretaste of this when Radiohead erased its online presence, effectively going off the grid: the opacity of its website decreased incrementally until it went blank, as did its profile and cover photos; tweets and Facebook posts vanished and a few U.K. fans received pamphlets in the mail reading, “Sing a song of sixpence that goes / Burn the witch / We know where you live”.
Then, “Burn The Witch” happened. The band’s first single in five years, it is the first herald of its still-untitled larger opus – instantly recognisable as a Radiohead song. What does this mean? It means that it adheres to the band’s MO of being superlatively brilliant; a hyper-detailed manifesto that, for all its underlined-in-red truths, is still a glowing enigma. With Thom Yorke’s passionate howl and majestic string arrangements, and strummed acoustic guitars that have a violent percussive quality, the band takes aim at our fetid, superficial, but also unimaginably dangerous culture. “Stay in the shadows / Cheer at the gallows” and “Red crosses on wooden doors” all point to the pandemic of media-crazed opinion that consumes and inescapably permeates our everyday lives. In their nothing-like-it way, the band has drawn a line that connects Snapchat to Donald Trump to witch-burning – all in one song. Imagine what the album will be like.
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BRAVE NEW WORLDS FOUR TIMES RADIOHEAD SHOCKED AND AWED.
THE BENDS (1995) This was the last time that Radiohead would ever sound like a ‘rock’ band – and they made rock sound better than it ever had in years. After reeling from the one-hit-wonder stamp via “Creep”, the band reinvented itself on guitar-rock next-levelism with a global bent.
OK COMPUTER (1997) Big feats always invite comparisons so it’s fitting that Radiohead’s third full-length is frequently compared to The Beatles’ White Album. On this time-stopping masterpiece, the band served up experimental flourishes like “Airbag” and “Karma Police” that still puzzle and amaze.
KID A (2000) Amidst Y2K fears, Kid A entered the pop cultural bloodstream and changed everything. Guitars sat this one out as brass instruments, found sound, samples and jazz, electronic and neo-classical sonic elements merged to make up a shrouded, bewitching soundscape.
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IN RAINBOWS (2007) Besides its then-revolutionary pay-what-you-want price, the band’s seventh album is a constant in the ‘Great’ lists because it’s its most affectingly human record – dealing as it does with the theme of mortality, in a manner that was ingenious but not self-consciously bombastic.
Text Indran P Image Various Sources
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We lost David Bowie at the start of the year; now Prince is gone. This is the right time to feel that things will never be the same again. But this is also the time that a new Radiohead album will be released. In April, Brian Message, a partner at Radiohead’s management firm, promised that the matchlessly singular band will deliver its ninth album this month and that there’s, “nothing out there right now that sounds anything like it”.
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OH, INVERTED WORLD THE SHINS My gateway drug. This was the album that showed me there was a world outside Hanson and Destiny’s Child.
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TAMIL FOOTWORK EP IYER The concept of Tamil Footwork in itself blew my mind. Iyer did a brilliant job marrying two types of music from very different worlds.
“212” AZEALIA BANKS This track is a faultless mix of elegance and absolute disrespect for everyone and everything.
“CLOUD COVER” HYROGLIFICS One of those tracks that instantly make you want to meet its producer and get into his brain.
“DO THE ASTRAL PLANE” FLYING LOTUS This is my hype song. It’s so upbeat and multi-layered; I don’t think it’ll ever stop making me feel amazing.
SINCE I LEFT YOU THE AVALANCHES This album’s like time travel – different doors to different times in your life. You’re emotionally exhausted by the end.
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Text Indran P Image Various Sources
“QUITTERS RAGA” GOLD PANDA It makes you think of mornings (the good kind) – bright, optimistic and engulfing.
SOMETIMES, IF YOU SCRATCH THAT CREATIVE ITCH RIGHT, YOU’LL ARRIVE AT SOMETHING PALPABLY BRILLIANT AND DESERVING OF CELEBRATION AND ATTENTION. THAT’S HOW IT’S BEEN FOR PREMA ALEXANDER. ARMED WITH A NON-DISCRIMINATORY AND VORACIOUS MUSICAL APPETITE – AND WITH AN URGE TO SEE HOW THE SOUNDS THAT WERE INTRIGUING HER COULD BE COAXED INTO NEW FORMS AND WORLDS – SHE FOLLOWED THE DISCIPLINE OF DJING AND DISCOVERED THAT SHE HAS MORE THAN JUST A KNACK FOR IT. FROM HER STINTS WITH ATTAGIRL TO HER APPEARANCE AT FESTIVALS LIKE 100 + 50 BANDS, HER SETS TELL A STORY THAT SPANS FROM INDIE TO DANCE WITH A LOVELY BOOM. BEFORE YOU CATCH HER AT HER NEXT OUTING, PEEP THE TUNES THAT HAVE LIT HER WAY.
THE AUDIENCE’S LISTENING CUT CHEMIST This album decides its own rules. It’s self-referential, raw, full of life and super fun.
“GUNSHOTTA” MACHINEDRUM This one almost functions in parts – like three different tracks in one – and it gets more visceral with each.
“TAKE ME TO LOVE” MONSTER CAT That riff alone had me listening to it obsessively. It’s hypnotic – the track ends and you feel like you have to play it again. music music
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ENDLESS
SUMMER We danced the night away at the last Super Moon Party; now’s the time to gear up for 1-Altitude’s Summertime Madness. Returning for its third year, this rooftop beach fiesta promises great music, great drinks and one hell of a view. Come June 17, loosen your tie and shed your heels, because your weekend wind-down kicks off at 6pm. This may not be Ibiza, but summery vibes abound as 1-Altitude transforms its rooftop into a scenic beach paradise for one night only. Breaking away from convention, the sea is a little farther away than what you would usually expect from a beach party. Instead, treat yo’self to a spectacular 360-degree view of Singapore from way up on the 63rd level as you frolic in the sand with sun-kissed goddesses and hunky dudes. We hear the sunset will be absolutely stunning, so be sure to glam it up that night if you want that perfect Instagram selfie. Can’t think of what to wear? Here are a few ideas that will make sure you fit the dress code to a T. Sunnies, board shorts and bikinis are just some summer staples, while nothing brings on the beach vibes more than tie-dye and tropical prints. Slap on a little bronzer and grab your nicest flip flops, ‘cos this party calls for coordinates that scream summer chic with a touch of glamour. As the sun sets, immerse yourself in downtempo sounds by Singapore-based Dutchman, DJ Lindo
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Martinez, resident music-man of 1-Altitude. Known for his tech house accents tinged with soul vibes, his smooth tunes will have you grooving to the beat. Joining him will be resident band AJS, a trio that plays acoustic covers of contemporary Top 40 hits, as well as ’70s and ’80s throwbacks. Local DJs Leonard T and Jack T will also be on hand to take the party to a whole ’nother level. To keep you psyched all night long, fire twirlers and LED-clad dancers ensure that there will be enough visual splendour to make you forget that you’re in the heart of the CBD. If you feel like your outfit still needs an extra somethin’ somethin’, roving body painters will be happy to give you a glowing makeover that could easily compete with neon city signboards. What’s a party without drinks? Quench your thirst with a wide selection of summer cocktails at four different drink carts featuring Moët & Chandon Ice Imperial, Grey Goose, Heineken and Chivas 18. We can’t think of a better way to beat the June heat. And for those of you who are always putting off going to the beach because of “work”, you have no excuse now. See you at the top.
Summertime Madness happens at 1-Altitude on June 17.
Text Jerlene Ng Image 1-Altitude
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PARTING GIFT
BASSES LOADED
By this point, New York arch-experimentalists Swans have no selling point besides what they do on tape. Led by honcho Michael Gira, the band’s three-decade-plus career has been one of the most uncompromisingly original runs in the history of music. Which is what makes their impending 14th album, The Glowing Man, a bittersweet affair. Though we’re promised noisy next levelism of bruising brilliance, Gira has intimated that this will be the “last album release of Swans’ current incarnation”. Who stays and who leaves is anyone’s guess, but let’s rejoice in the music before we reminisce. swans.bandcamp.com
WHAT THE WHAT? Yes, so shocking is this news that we had to borrow from Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. With Chester Bennington leaving his post as the dearly departed Scott Weiland’s replacement, Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor will be handling singing duties for the Stone Temple Pilots while they look for a new frontman. We know Taylor can sing, but his choice to do it with STP is borderline puzzling.
The funny thing about The Melvins is that their scope and sweep in left-leaning guitar music is so vast that it’d be reductive to think of them as a “rock” band. Yet, it’s the contents of their legacy is such that unless you list all the scenes they’ve spawned and enriched, you have to think of them as a “rock” band. In any case, there’ll be a whole lot of blistering rock when they uncage their new album, featuring work from six bass players. Hence the awesome title. themelvins.net
MASTERPIECE ALERT
ART. ROCK.
“One step follows the next which leads the way to the next. There will be missteps but as long as the vision is whole, the mountain will fall”, wrote the legendary DJ Shadow about his ardours over his forthcoming sixth record, The Mountain Will Fall. Twenty years ago, his sacrosanct debut release Endtroducing prefigured the postmodern way music is consumed and made today, so all ears will be on this unveiling. That he’s enlisted star players like Run The Jewels and Nils Frahm for this project is testament to his powers as a selector. Listen to “Nobody Speak” and obey. djshadow.com
There’s something about freakishly fragmented music that always lends it to descriptors like “intellectual” or “arty”. No matter, Toronto outfit Weaves doesn’t pretend to be any of the above. The band just makes really twistedly intense music that lets you know they’re smart kids. Using looping technology to pile sonics onto their deluge of sound is just one of the ways they’re killing it right now. Before their debut self-titled album drops, cue “Candy” and get your trip on. weavesband.com
LUSH IS THE DARK Shirley Manson can do no wrong. Strange Little Birds, the incoming sixth album from alt-rock libertines Garbage, will further drive that home. Birds comes after the band’s 2012 coup, Not Your Kind Of People, and is the band’s attempt at revisiting its approach on its debut record. Manson has also promised that it will be a “romantic” record, so expect an exquisite, updated version of “Stupid Girl”. garbage.com
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epic fails like never before
Some of the indie world’s best and brightest fell into some socially mediated booby traps. Here, we air their dirty laundry.
GOLDEN SOUNDS
FATHER JOHN MISTY
Hard-drinking, hard-touring, hard-rocking bands are a rarity these days, but Nashville’s Diarrhea Planet are amongst the brave few that are keeping the faith. Besides their “lifestyle choices”, they’re known also for their four-guitar barrage, and when their impending third album Turn To Gold drops, you can bet that your ears will be gleefully ringing. Here’s a warning: The track “Hot Topic” is them doing black metal. diarrheaplanet.bandcamp.com
By now, Joshua Tillman has made it abundantly clear that his Father John Misty guise is a hyperliterate, smarter-than-thou character who plays on the preacher-wastrel dichotomy. Yet, he took the bait a BBC journalist laid out for him and had a minor meltdown on camera.
BIG SCREEN BROS
When asked if FJM is a “loverman” and “lothario”, Tillman belligerently answered: “Why would I callous my smooth, bourgeois hands for the sake of some character?”, signalling the start of a massive train wreck. Lesson: Don’t fall for the obvious.
YACHT This saga is flat-out weird. In lieu of promoting a new music video, Californian dance-pop leaders YACHT thought it’d be cool to play the ol’ sex tape trick. Claire Evans and Jona Bechtolt alleged that a “private video” between them had been leaked, inspiring thousands of supportive fan messages. Understandably, when the whole thing was revealed as a PR stunt, everyone
COMEBACKS ARE MADE OF THIS
was upset. Joining the ranks of musicians who condemned YACHT’s attentiongrabbiness, Best Coast frontwoman Bethany Cozentino called it “exploitative” and “s****y”.
AZEALIA BANKS With most “controversial” figures, there’s always the love-hate line to be walked. Not with Ms. Banks; not this time. Angry that Zayn Malik hadn’t expressed contrition for the alleged crime of copying one of her music videos, she hurled racial and homophobic invectives at him on Twitter. We’re not going to dignify her bigotry here with a reprise but just know that her words were so vile that Twitter suspended her account. There are rumours that she might also be banned from entering the U.K. in future.
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Remember when dance-punk was a thing? Remember how Canadian duo MSTRKRFT stood proud and tall over all the other electro-house peddlers? Well, they’re baaack! Seven years after their last album, 2009’s Fist Of God, Jesse F. Keeler of Death From Above 1979 and Al-P are returning with their soon-due new one, The Operator. And, get this – it’s inspired by military jargon they discovered online. While you’re making sense of that, hit play on “The Party Line”. soundcloud.com/mstrkrft
Text Indran P Images Various Sources
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If you’ve seen the Amy Winehouse documentary, then you’re clued in to how great a director Asif Kapadia is. He seems to have a yen for revisiting the lives of British icons since he’s announced that the team behind Amy will soon release a documentary about Oasis called Supersonic. The filmmakers were given “unprecedented access” to the band, according to a media source. Needless to say, there’ll be a lot to be entertained by. lortonentertainment.com
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-DEBRIEF.
BY RAZI RAZAK
EXIST TO RESIST
How heavy is your heart? We were always told if you believe, great things can happen. I’ve always been interested in subculture and how its represented in art and music. The world is a very different place now as it shapes our present time. We live in an age in which ideas – important ideas – are being adapted from the past along with its aesthetic achievements. To understand this dynamic, we need to look at where we stand in terms of growth – not maturity, but potential. In this sense, the regional aspect of creative scenes is unavoidable and it seems that more and more people are demonstrating how we are conditioned to respond. The things that are good for the people are good for themselves, but the reality of the world changes everything and it constantly demands active participation and engagement in shaping our culture. We need to represent our values and educate ourselves in order to provoke previously unexamined links between art, music and the world in which we live.
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How often do you put yourself into the unknown or the uncomfortable? How often do you take calculated risks in your creative decisions? It’s worth trying to put oneself in the position of those who didn’t know what was coming next. My hypothesis is that we don’t allow ourselves to imagine – and what we can’t imagine, we can’t build. We need to represent values that bring greater visibility to the issue in contention. We have to decide whether or not the result goes beyond the tolerance of those interests. But, in a sense, we’re only ever guessing about where the limits of the imagination lie. What are we fighting for in this city? We live so much by an ethos of competitiveness that we need to cultivate the connective, relational self as thoroughly as we have cultivated our structure in politics. If you spend enough time thinking about how things can or will be, I suppose it becomes a habit. And to the extent that you think you can influence that future, perhaps you become ambitious as a side effect. It’s strange to pause and think about how everyday life has changed in constant dynamic interaction with popular and vernacular culture. The issue at hand is how we break our routine, because our growth in culture didn’t get better by chance – it got better by change. So, as we stand at the edge of a post-format world, one thing is certain: things will keep changing, and quickly. People are too busy and distracted to recognise that. Culture is shaped by both our values and what we come to value. All is connected: art, music, fashion, and design. This builds stronger connections within the community and deepens the understanding of creativity. The act of creation in this context is the highest form of respect. Being creative does not only mean being different, but also being influential in society’s growth. To create a new norm is to challenge the conventional thinking of art and culture. Creativity no longer has an antonym in finding a new normal. It’s about boundaries, culture and fluidity. We must celebrate difference and commit to understanding ourselves outside of the norms we have been filtered through. We need to be independent and in control of creative output. We must own the power not just to create, but also to transform our uncertain future for a new generation. Expect resistance, for resistance is growing.
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HOPELESSNESS ANOHNI
(Rough Trade Records Ltd)
Remember Antony Hegarty of Antony And The Johnsons? Like the much-missed Prince, he has taken the step of making a statement by changing his artiste name to ANOHNI, and embracing the pronoun, “she”. It’s not a persona, not a non de plume for a mask, and definitely not a marketing gimmick, but an act speaking volumes of powerful intent and artistic vision. Against drone wars; against effacement of liberties; against environmental issues – she is making the political personal. The music is not inconsequential; teaming up with Hudson Mohawke and Oneohtrix Point Never, her indomitable, dramatic voice is sublimated through laser-tipped electronic music. Let us not diminish and unpick this, track-by-track, and instead embrace HOPELESSNESS in its entirety, the only respectful response to ANOHNI’s own brazen and bold truth-letting.
TOO MANY VOICES ANDY STOTT (Modern Love)
Fragmented, incomplete, beatless, minimal, textured – if you can’t deal with these descriptions, it’s best not to listen to Too Many Voices. Andy Stott has always tried to deconstruct techno – sharpening synths to glassy shards or poking at them till they are sandpapery – and manipulating vocals to emplace them in a dub or isolate them to create a sense of desolate space. But he doesn’t draw outside the box until you cannot follow his lines – there’s always a beat, a rhythm, a voice that keeps it centred. His latest continues the trajectory: “Butterflies” and “New Romantic” are Stott’s own takes on new R&B and ’80s New Romantic balladry respectively, while “Selfish” is a skittering grime-music-meetsTetris track. Meanwhile, with his go-to singer, Allison Skidmore, Stott blesses the title track with chopped-up treatment.
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PICKS OF THE MONTH NEW MISERY Cullen Omori
BLIND SPOT Lush
BECOME ALIVE
Dave Harrington Group
(Sub Pop Records) It’s a classic case of ‘new me’ vs. them: frontman of the dissolved Smith Westerns, Cullen Omori, has released his solo debut, which any fan would compare to the output from his former band pals, Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich – both of whom partnered up to form Whitney. Where the latter duo has set their sight on AM radio folk-pop, Omori is seemingly, dreamily, afloat in a transit between his past glam rock work and hazy pop-rock; it’s an easy bridge for fans to cross over to his side.
(Easy Sound Recording Company) Rogue Wave has gone the ‘one-step/ two-step/misstep/back’ drill like most pop rock bands who have survived six albums. And they also suffer the same malaise that the OC-era indie pop-rock bands are suffering: too soft to be edgy, too outsider to stay mainstream. Rogue Wave gently coasts on in the dreamy opener “Take It Slow”, but takes on a darker synth-pop tone in “What Is Left To Solve”. Neither delusional nor grand, just sitting pretty on the fence.
Rogue Wave
(Edamame Records) Shoegaze gets another boo(s)t up the butt with the return of another legendary luminary, Lush. We dust off and put out the AstroTurf welcome mat (after 20 years!) for this too-short EP. “Out Of Control” chimes as a controlled, spacey love ballad; “Lost Boy” could read as a haunting reference to band member Chris Ackland (who committed suicide); “Burnham Beeches” trots along as an upbeat pop song; and “Rosebud” closes out, a strumming rumination on sleep/mortality.
(Other People) Improv, avant-garde jazz-tronica is Dave Harrington’s latest chin-scratcher. Once coupled with Nicolas Jaar as DARKSIDE, he returns to solo territory with multiple musicians in tow. It’s like being rolled in abstract, arabesque wallpaper – sometimes, you are mesmerised by and immersed in the patterns of the tapestry of sounds; sometimes you just get suffocated and glaze over. What we don’t get: why was a straight jazz number “All I Can Do” tacked on at the close of the album?
WALTZED IN FROM THE RUMBLING
ALWAYS STRIVE AND PROSPER
THE SHIP
SLEEP CYCLE
(Secret City Records Inc) Imagine mid-career Radiohead whisked with Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire, spiced with some Flaming Lips – you get Plants And Animals (the group, not actual flora and fauna). That the Montreal trio’s fourth album sounds like a best-of-blend of all these great bands makes this a great outing for them – even if not entirely groundbreaking nor original. Feel the shivers (or just get the feels) on “We Were One” and “All Of The Time”.
A$AP Ferg
(RCA Records) To beat A$AP Rock, A$AP Ferg’s brought his own famiglia mafia of famous stars (Skrillex, Missy Elliot, Rick Ross, Chris Brown, and Chuck D) to up his game. Yes, the throaty, chesty rapper’s really supersizing it to escape the Trap Lord, but the lunge for success means the album’s full of chart bait and all over the block. Just pick any track and watch it blow up. Best for the block bro partay: “Hungry Ham”, “Strive” and “New Level”.
(Warp Records Ltd) To hear Brian Eno still pushing the envelope (all of his own making, at his own pace) even after 40 years is both comforting and revitalising. Eno sings (well, intones) on this record, shifting gears between ambient and vocal tracks. It’s only four tracks long but “The Ship” and “Fickle Sun (i)”, at 20 minutes long a piece, are substantial listens, with “Fickle Sun (ii)” and “Fickle Sun (iii)” intriguing for being a spoken word piece by Peter Serafinowicz and a cover of The Velvet Underground’s song “I’m Set Free” respectively.
(My Animal Home) Josh Dibb’s (AKA Deakin) solo debut was one that almost didn’t come to be. Without going into the deets, his Kickstarter campaign in 2009 to fund a solo project failed because he was assailed by self-doubt, with the funds raised ending up being donated to a Malian NGO. But this Animal Collective member did get his solo made finally: a six-track journey into the self and its anxieties. It’s a minor triumph, dialing down the psychedelia of his band for a more kempt but no less creative showing.
CRIME CUTZ
HONEY
THE IMPOSSIBLE KID
WHITE HOT MOON
Plants And Animals
Text Chris Ong Ujine Images Various Sources
DELUSIONS OF GRAND FUR
Holy Ghost!
(DFA LLC) If you still can’t get the disco out of your pants, here is Holy Ghost! to spit some shine back on your shoes. It’s not flare-y disco circa the ’70s, but skinny synth-disco of six years back (think LCD Soundsystem). It’s having a moment again and the duo continues what it does best: mid-level, friendly, retro-syruped synth-pop. Simple, fun, brief – just don’t expect beefy when the cuts are all lean.
Brian Eno
Aesop Rock
Katy B
(Rhymesayers Entertainment) (Virgin EMI Records) Aesop Rock’s been at it for two Upon first listen, Katy B’s latest sounds less like an album than a compilation. So varied decades. All that experience, that learnt production and writing techniques, and and unconnected are the songs that the only anchor is Katy B herself, and that’s the the mad spitting skills (he’s not known for being a multi-syllabic virtuoso for concept, apparently. Working it like some nothing) culminate in his most personal underground dance darling (she did hail album yet. Even if it’s a squarely familiar from the grime scene), she crossed arms Aesop Rock sound (beats are intricate, with a plethora of artistes, from Four Tet layered, tumbling and rumbling), it’s to Major Lazer to Kaytranada. It’s more hit all him, and it’s all done by him. Hear than miss, with the dopamine kicks being “Turn The Music Louder”, “Calm Down” and the man push his perspective on life in “Blood Sandwich” and “Rings”. the title track.
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Deakin
Pity Sex
(Run For Cover Records) Mashing emo rock, power+punk+noise pop, and shoegaze rock all in one mess (but manicured, mind you) is Ann Arbour’s Pity Sex. It’s a slow growth with each release; for this, the production’s clearer (still fuzzy, but pedicured), and Britty Drake’s wistful voice infuses more melancholia into the interplay with Brennan Greaves’ aloof delivery. What we don’t mind rolling in the hay with: “Plum” and “Burden You”.
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ZOUK SOUNDSYSTEM PRESENTS HENRY FONG
SATURDAY JUNE 4 AT ZOUK Imagine this: You’re a grad student with a burning desire to make dance music. A few years later, your music is celebrated by the likes of Hardwell, Avicii, Armin Van Buuren, and Calvin Harris, to name just some heavy-hitters. So, yes, Fong’s brand of big room progressive and electro house is certified to shake you good. zoukclub.com.sg
ZOUK SOUNDSYSTEM PRESENTS R3HAB WITH HONG
FRIDAY JUNE 17 AT ZOUK Catapulted into the limelight thanks to a string of successful original material and remixes, R3HAB’s music style is recognised on club floors worldwide. With a penchant for energetic, big room productions, the tunes of this Dutch DJ will pump you up for a night full of partying. zoukclub.com.sg
SOULJAM FEAT. THE PROFESSOR AND OLLIE DES & RITZ
SATURDAY JUNE 18 AT REFUGE SOULJAM brings the Soul Train of the ’70s straight into 2016. Without missing a beat, they will be spinning no-frills hip-hop and classic funk and soul tunes. Ready your best dancing shoes and don’t hold back from busting a move for the hippest trip in Singapore. refuge.sg
DAMIEN RICE LIVE IN SINGAPORE
SATURDAY JUNE 4 AT THE STAR THEATRE “Still a little bit of his song in our ears…”, oh, Damien. Fresh off his appearance at last year’s Neon Lights Festival, this Irish troubadour is back to serenade the audience off their feet. His most famous hits, “The Blower’s Daughter” and “Cannonball”, need no introduction. Don’t forget to bring the tissues. sistic.com.sg
ZOUK X CITI PRESENT DENIZ KOYU WITH HONG
SATURDAY JUNE 18 AT ZOUK Born in Germany, this DJ got into the EDM scene when he was just 18 and has since received support from acclaimed DJs such as Avicii, Swedish House Mafia and Tiësto. “Tung!” with him and his addictive marriage of progressive and electro house as he brings the party to a new high. zoukclub.com.sg
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EP!C PRESENTS KNIFE PARTY
FRIDAY JUNE 10 AT ZOUK This Australian dance duo isn’t here to advocate knife violence, they’re here to rock the house down with their aggressive brand of electro house. They are one of the most influential electronic acts to break the scene in the last few years and fans of this twosome have raved about how mind-blowing and body-moving their live sets are, so don’t miss out. zoukclub.com.sg
WEHBBA
SATURDAY JUNE 11 AT CANVAS German DJ Alex M.O.R.P.H has been able to rework his sound year after year, delivering a wide palette ranging from warm, progressive trance to wild, booming tech-trance. Boasting a career spanning nearly two decades, Alex definitely knows how to work a crowd. Save the date and get your moves on. canvasvenue.sg
FORWARD FEAT. MIND AGAINST
SATURDAY JUNE 11 AT KYO Some people are in it to party but others are in it to take dance to the next level. The Italian-born, Berlin-based duo of Alessandro and Federico Fognini belongs squarely in the latter camp. Mixing techno with IDM, these guys have forged an imprint that finds a middle ground between Aphex Twin and Boards Of Canada. Go to space with ’em. clubkyo.com
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DISSONANT SESSIONS WITH MARC ANTONA
SATURDAY JUNE 25 AT KYO When your state-of-the-art studio is located in one of Ibiza’s most picturesque districts, you know you’ll always be inspired. And for Marc Antona, his proximity to Iberia’s natural wonders shows in his exquisite, soul-charged house tracks. His sets are known to be journeys, so get ready for a great, long night. clubkyo.com
Text Indran P Images Various Sources
ALEX M.O.R.P.H.
SATURDAY JUNE 25 AT CANVAS In music territory that seems to be dominated by European DJs (we’re looking at you, Holland), Wehbba stands out by being one of Brazil’s main EDM ambassadors. No newbie to the scene, this former dentist has been spinning house and techno records for a decade, and has worked with many respected artistes, including Swedish legend Christian Smith. Count us hyped. canvasvenue.sg
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Text Aaron Kok Images Jacquemus
Every now and then, fashion takes a great leap forward. Often enough, this progression is first confronted with shock, divisive opinions and the occasional disdain. First met with scathing reviews from confused onlookers, the French label helmed by Simon Porte Jacquemus is evolving into a design force to be reckoned with. Jacquemus doesn’t play by the rulebook, and this season, he throws his usually cheerful palette out for one that’s emotional and dark. Keeping to his original tune of avant-garde design, Jacquemus explores the dichotomy of clothing and art with spliced-up half-jackets, dresses and crisp white shirts. This isn’t reinventing the wheel – to hell with the wheel. Jacquemus has made his own.
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FOR THE ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT PUNK
The Russian Renaissance of hyper-cool labels is upon us, and one of the country’s underrated exports is Gosha Rubchinskiy. While the work of his peers are often raw, technological and at times blatant, Rubchinskiy is perfecting this movement with his craft. From a commentary on commercialism to his reflection of Soviet-era ugliness, he expresses niche ideas brilliantly with the use of torn-up denim joggers and printed sweatshirts that sell out every season. Complementing his faded aesthetic, expect jumpers printed with his Cyrillic name, faux fur coats and cargo pants, as well as sport jackets in ’90s shades of neon green, navy, black, teal, and red. gosharubchinskiy.com
FOR THE FEMALE HUSTLAS
Known for her thumping beats and high-octane concerts, it only seemed like a natural progression for Beyoncé to start designing activewear. She is, after all, an avid champion of promoting healthier living through exercise. Teaming up with Topshop to create Ivy Park, which debuted its first collection this season, the new line of activewear includes tees, corded sweatshirts, leotards and body suits – most of which sport a boldly emblazoned logofront. Working with enhanced fabrics that promise non-pilling and sweatwicking properties, the pieces also boast double-faced polyamide elastane to flatter different body types. No reason not to get into formation now. topshop.com
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no sweat FOR THE MINIMALIST STRETCHER
In our opinion, yoga wear is akin to the denim of the performance wear world, thanks to its universal appeal, versatility and comfort level. Designed in Italy, No Ka’Oi aims to provide wearers with what it terms “action couture” – meaning the pieces skimp not on the chic factor. Spring/ Summer 2016 sees a fiesta of colours collide to create a myriad of easy styles to wear from mat to coffee meets. Using Italian-graded materials that deliver breathability and comfort on the skin while you get your “om” on, the label seeks to clothe the modern woman who appreciates frillsfree and functional design. nokaoi-apparel.com
FOR THE COOL CAT
In an ongoing design partnership with streetwear mammoth adidas Originals, Pharrell brings his iconic sense of wit and style to this year’s drop. Titled ‘DREAM / AWAKEN’, this season continues the ‘Pink Beach’ story, which takes its cues from the vision of a sunny island filled with soul and luminous vibes. The pieces feature a mix of the classic logo with hand-drawn doodles in pop shades. Hawaiian shirts and floral-dotted shorts come together in tropical fashion, and can be paired with any one of the chic, cushy kicks. With anything Pharell-related, this will attract its fair share of attention, so make a run for it. adidas.com/PHARRELL
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FOR THE OL’ SKOOL FELLA
Whether you remember Champion’s red, white and blue logo from your formative years or got to know the label through Vetements’ recent parody, it’s undeniable that this legendary sportswear name is back to champion its rad, ’90s-inspired pieces. This season, the iconic logo appears on a line of sweatshirts, sliders and joggers in the form of an all-over print or blown up for dramatic purposes. Expect plush knit sweatshirts and basketball shorts in bright pink and orange, or ombre-toned in grey and blue. Collaborating with the likes of Todd Synder and Urban Outfitters, we’re glad to see Champion return a champ. champion-eu.com
FOR THE CITY GOTH
Rihanna is known for a few things: her chameleonic style, cinematic music videos and generally giving no f**ks. Taking cues from the health goth movement, the Fenty x Puma collection prowls on the dark side with black, white and the occasional grey. Inspired by the streets of Tokyo – which parlayed into a series of streetwear reflective of her Eastern influence – duster coats are given kimono sleeves, while lace-up jersey corsets and dresses thread a fetishistic vibe. Also included is a series of luxe pieces like fur hoodies and lace tracksuits so you’ll stand out from the regular gym crowd. puma.com
SPORTSWEAR AS EVERYDAY WEAR IS FINDING INCREASING FAVOUR WITH SHOPPERS WHO SEEK PIECES THAT PACK FUNCTION WITH FORM. BORN OUT OF A REACTIONARY NEED TO KEEP FASHION PRACTICAL, BRANDS ARE ANSWERING THE DEMAND WITH A SLEW OF NEW OFFERINGS. BE IT TEAMING UP WITH HOT MUSICIANS OR REJIGGING TIRED LABELS WITH NEW IDEAS, THE ATHLEISURE SCENE HAS NEVER FELT FRESHER AND MORE CURRENT. HERE ARE EIGHT BRANDS YOU SHOULD KNOW.
FOR THE WES ANDERSON HEROINE
Text Aaron Kok Images Various Sources
Combine preppy with a classic college look and Tracksmith comes to mind. Based in Boston, the label aims to dress runners in stylishly simple active gear sans hefty price tags. Think the perfect blend of retro meets prep – soft-handed tees and shorts in primary shades of red, yellow and blue with white piping and peppered with college jersey sigils. Its signature diagonal stripe also shows up on various tank tops and running tees, accentuating the brand’s old-school-meets-new-age design approach. All you need is someone to frame you up with obsessive symmetry and you would look just the part in one of Wes Anderson’s film sets. tracksmith.com
FOR THE MASTER OF HYPE
If Paris is the birthplace of couture, then L.A. is the mecca for urban streetwear. Taking cues from the city’s laidback ease, Fear Of God was started by Jerry Lorenzo in 2013 as a capsule collection of side-zipped hoodies. Today, it is one of L.A.’s most coveted brands to break into an international market. However, Lorenzo believes that his brand is still a primary reaction to the needs of his wearers. In an interview, he firmly stated, “I consider what I’m doing as a necessity rather than fashion”. Blending ’90s grunge with street leanings, FoG is the label to sport right now. fearofgod.com
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Named after Swedish tennis legend Björn Borg, the label may be known for its underwear line being emblazoned with the Björn Borg logo, but it is moving beyond its reputation for intimates. Staying true to its sporty personality, the brand is gaining traction for its fashionable yet functional line of sports attire. This season, it propels athleticism to the next frontier: outer space. Taking inspiration from the history of space travel and the journey to seek new frontiers during the ’70s and ’80s, head designer James Lee borrows from the retro styles, colours and silhouettes of that bygone era. Lee’s designs intermix space age attire with a 2016-relevancy – think The Jetsons going to your neighbourhood gym.
Some of the outfits in this collection truly embody the spaceman theme and wouldn’t look out of place at a NASA training facility. While fitted ringer tees and elastic shorts are a dime a dozen at any downtown gym, Lee deliberately mixes things up to remind us that his athletes aren’t training for just any earthly triathlon. Rather, Lee propels his designs forward with silhouettes and details that are as intriguing as they are futuristic. Meanwhile, the technology that goes into developing the brand’s performance materials that is used in these wearable workout togs has stood the test of time – another way that Björn Borg is combining something old with something light-years ahead, both literally and metaphorically.
Text Jerlene Ng Images Björn Borg
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Close-fitted and streamlined, these athletic pieces are reminiscent of old-school boxing uniforms, complete with the requisite wristbands and headgear. Striped elastic waistbands adorn every piece – working as a welcome callback to the brand’s roots on the tennis court – as they race down sleeves or wrap around bare midriffs. At the same time, nylon tops and metallic tabi-toed boots reference astronaut suits, offering a refreshing perspective on the clash between old and new. The two key colours of fire engine red and navy blue rule the day, while accents of emerald green and bright orange disrupt the simplicity of the outfits. Rounding out many of the looks are ribbed knee-high gym socks, with colourblocked sections that inject a pop of liveliness into otherwise understated ensembles.
BJÖRN BORG SPRING/SUMMER 2016
In one of last year’s most significant scientific discoveries, we learnt that liquid water flows on Mars, thus affirming that it can support life. In the not-so-distant future, humans could very well live on the red planet too, with volunteer crews departing on their one-way journeys by 2026. While this timeline may seem ambitious, Swedish sports fashion brand Björn Borg pays tribute to this bold endeavour with its Spring/ Summer 2016 collection, ‘Training for Mars’.
LIFE ON MARS
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THE INVISIBLE ZDDZ SPRING/SUMMER 2016
Text Aaron Kok Images ZDDZ
B AT T L E There’s a certain sense of spite each time you reach the comments section on a Facebook post that involves or relates to millennials. Often, the generation before looks at today’s youth with a sort of disdain – complaining or alluding to the fact that they have it too easy, and should be contented and happy. Yet, in a U.S.-published study led by the Department Of Health & Human Services, it finds that one in five teenagers are users of illicit substances. In fact, the study further aggregates that by the time these youths reach 18 years of age, an American teenager would have dabbled in some sort of abuse. Back home, teenage depression has been reported to be on the rise as well. All this goes to show something: whatever the baby-boomers think about the generation succeeding them, it’s clearly far-removed from the truth. Russian designer Dasha Selyanova sees this social concept with clarity, and through her Spring/Summer 2016 collection, discuss this in a way that few dare to. First launched in 2011, ZDDZ is known for its streetwear – influenced by the grit of growing up in an urban landscape – mixed with graphic patterns and brazen logos. With her new seasonal collection titled ‘Help Yourself’, Selyanova’s main message to the new generation is simple: rather than drown yourself in the haze of substance abuse and psychological surrender, the only way to fight the things that get you down is to acknowledge that you have that power within to do so. Sounds abstract? We thought so too, but her points soon become clear. Her streetwear influence is still as prevalent – she can’t disappoint her fans, after all – but this season, things take a very punkish turn. Think Malcolm Mclaren given a warrior-worthy makeover. Keeping most of the looks androgynous, her collection begins with an all-white-shirt-and-pants look that feels clinical and somewhat foreboding. Over the next few fashion
looks, things get edgier, with torn-up bandeau tops, floor-length mesh cardigans and distressed denim all making appearances. Her reflection of battling the unseen enemy comes through in small details that bear large significance. On one look, the shirt bears the word “INSECURITY” placed over the wearer’s heart, while a belt that’s been made to look like a chain hangs dangerously around the waist. Elsewhere, “ANXIETY” is made to look like a name tag worn on a uniform, suggesting that psychological issues could well replace one’s identity if left unattended. Yet, amongst all these vaguely depressing buzzwords, Selyanova tinges her collection with words of encouragement. “SLEEP BETTER, LIVE BETTER” accents the knee underneath a burgundy coat that is softly tailored with an elongated silhouette. The plethora of jackets in the collection feature dropshoulders, with ample arm room in their sleeves. This creates a softer silhouette, which helps to balance the collection’s hard-edged approach to Selyanova’s inspiration. In her colour palette, Selyanova sticks to a largely monochromatic wheel, punctuating it with the occasional washed-out pink or blue. Permeating shades of crimson seem suggestive of a more tumultuous mindset, as if serving as a rallying colour. The strong reference to punk culture was neither mistake nor coincidence, since punks were famous for taking a stand and resisting the societal values that they disliked. And similarly, through her thoughts and her Spring/ Summer 2016 line-up, you could count Dasha Selyanova as fashion’s newest punk icon.
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focus label By now, we are all aware of the direction that streetwear is going in – where athleisure is less of a buzzword and more of a lifestyle descriptor. With that, there is a global paradigm shift that believes that with the right branding and marketing tactics, a moth-eaten sweatshirt can be slapped with a five-figure price tag and peddled to the hungry masses who lap it up for bragging rights. These days, the difference between a regular sweatshirt and a couture sweatshirt is the tag that’s sewn on the back. It’s all hype with no gravitas, and that’s something that Christelle Kocher – founder and designer of Koché – is looking to address.
Kicking off the collection with an embellished sports bra, a pair of high-waisted jeans and topped with a denim parka embroidered with patches of knitted yarn, Kocher’s focus is on how she can make couture grittier and edgier. Cue the onslaught of tops and tanks
THE BODY BEAUTIFUL KOCHÉ SPRING/SUMMER 2016
covered in iridescent pailettes, ostrich feathers and distressed patches of denim. Sportswear is sportswear, but does it still count if your running shorts are covered in flashy sequins? That’s the question Kocher is asking through her designs, and they make for an interesting discussion. Some pieces are easier to adopt. Wide-legged pants and denim culottes appeal to a wider range of shoppers, while sporty parkas pack enough of a style punch to be worn in or out of the gym – but it is where she takes chances that her skill in embellishment really shines (literally). Kocher sticks to a largely simple wheel of colours – black, white and denim blue form the base, allowing for shots of neon green, pink, sienna, and purple to add verve to the daywear pieces. At the evening section of the collection, her looks transition back into black and white again, allowing the exquisitely embellished surfaces, creeping lace insets and the tendrils of wool yarn to come back into focus again. Her last look from the collection features a heavily beaded cocktail top made from a network of pink and black knotted yarn; but when paired with nylon wide-legged pants and black leather creepers, the preciousness of her handiwork feels more relevant than ever. And while it’s too early to tell if this is Kocher’s vision for her brand in the long run, it’s safe to say that this season’s outing makes for a promising start.
koche.fr fashion
Text Aaron Kok Images Koché
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Since the brand’s founding barely a year ago, Kocher is still finding her footing in the middle worlds of old couture and modern fashion. Having worked with luminaries like Dries Van Noten and Chloé – as well as currently serving as the artistic director of feather embroidery house, Maison Lemarié (who works with bigwigs like Dior) – her exposure to old-world techniques and traditional production methods come into great use for her Spring/Summer 2016 collection. Here, she melds couture’s stuffy-but-undeniably-beautiful appeal with a casual, modern vision that feels very au courant.
profile
BREAKING NEW GROUND
Text Aaron Kok Images & interview courtesy of Pedder Red
About how they met. Xiao Xiao: We’ve always loved art and design when we were younger, but it was when we went to Central St. Martins in the U.K. that we discovered our love and passion in fashion. It was the people around us in school that really inspired us, and it motivated us to take that step into the industry. After graduation, Cynthia went back to Hong Kong to work as a visual merchandiser and fashion buyer. I went back to Beijing to continue working as a fashion designer. It was only after gaining a few years of working experience that we decided to launch our own brand. About Spring/Summer 2016. Our collection tells a story about a girl from Miao – a Chinese ethnic group – who ventures out to explore the modern world. She goes into a strange, new city where the lifestyle is modern yet beautifully simple. We took inspiration in the form of traditional Yunnan clothing and ornaments; for example, the Miao clothing is a treasured style of traditional Chinese fashion where dresses are designed with strong contrasting colours. Textiles are embroidered with intricate floral and geometric designs, and often styled and matched with
detailed beaded headpieces and accessories. Similarly, we wanted to create a slightly more feminine and summery vibe without using classic fine lace. So we developed an oversized floral texture in an eye-catching colour for a new look. To give a sense of the modern world that our heroine finds herself in, we took reference from Scandinavian architecture and combined cleaner lines and silhouettes with these traditional details. About the Pedder Red collaboration. We saw that Pedder Red had previously teamed up with Korean fashion label Kye, so we approached them to see if they were interested in working with us. To our delight, they took us on board for the collaboration, and we are very grateful. Personally, we love the beaded sandals the most! It’s a must-have piece for the summer. About fitness. Cynthia: Between us, Xiao Xiao is the more active one. One of her favourite hobbies includes dirt biking. I, on the other hand, love the sporty look but good luck getting me to move a muscle!
CYNTHIA & XIAO
THESE DAYS, NEW DESIGNERS COME AND GO WITH NARY A CARE IN THE WORLD – ONLY A FEW REALLY TAKE ROOT IN THEIR CRAFT. CYNTHIA MAK AND XIAO XIAO ARE QUITE THE OPPOSITE OF THAT. BORN AND BASED IN THE BUSTLING METROPOLIS OF HONG KONG, THE DUO’S EPONYMOUS BRAND HAS ESTABLISHED ITS MARK IN THE FASHION SCENE IN JUST FOUR SEASONS. AFTER BEING IDENTIFIED AS A RISING ASIAN LABEL, CYNTHIA & XIAO IS NOW TEAMING UP WITH PEDDER RED TO PUT OUT A LINE OF FOOTWEAR TO MATCH ITS SPORTY-MEETS-COUTURE LINE OF APPAREL. HERE’S WHAT WE LEARNT FROM THE TWO AT A RECENT SIT-DOWN.
the influence of social media. However, we do consider how we express our designs and ideas into imagery for the screen; we prefer using social media as a story telling of our journey about the brand. About their plans ahead. As an emerging brand, we’re always trying to expand. We went to Shanghai Fashion Week this season to develop our presence within the Chinese market. Furthermore, we are also looking to grow into the U.S. market. We hope that within a few seasons, we can start to hold seasonal presentations to show our new collections.
Available at Pedder Red, #03-04 Ngee Ann City. About resisting social media’s effect on fashion. We don’t really design our collections based on fashion
cynthiaandxiao.com
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ON STANISLAV LEATHER, DENIM AND COTTON PATCHWORK T-SHIRT KTZ AT SUPERSPACE LINEN PANTS LOEWE ON MARY SPANDEX BRALET H&M DISTRESSED JEANS H&M COTTON TRACK JACKET ADIDAS ORIGINALS RINGS (WORN THROUGHOUT) TOPSHOP GOLD-PLATED CUFFS VITA FEDE AT DAZZLING CAFÉ PEARL BRACELET SWAROVSKI CANVAS SHOES VANS X NINTENDO
SPIN CYCLE
FOR DAYS WHEN YOUR WARDROBE IS NOT COOPERATING, MIX SPORTSWEAR WITH EVERYDAY TOGS FOR A CASUALLY COOL LOOK. PHOTOGRAPHY CHUCK REYES STYLING AARON KOK STYLING ASSISTANT JERLENE NG MAKEUP WEE MING USING SHU UEMURA HAIR JANSON TAN / KIMAGE STUDIO MODELS MARY M / AVE AND STANISLAV O / LOOQUE SPECIAL THANKS TO SQ LAUNDROMAT ALL WATCHES APPLE
COTTON T-SHIRT PARRA AT ACTUALLY SHORTS SANDRO DENIM JACKET H&M SUEDE SNEAKERS ONITSUKA TIGER PINS AND HEADPHONES STYLIST’S OWN
COTTON KNIT DRESS PH5 AT SOCIETY A DENIM JACKET TOPSHOP CRYSTAL AND METAL CUFF ATELIER SWAROVSKI LEATHER SNEAKERS PEDDER RED
COTTON T-SHIRT TOPMAN KNIT JOGGERS UNIQLO COTTON PARKA COAT COS CANVAS SHOES VANS X NINTENDO
VISIT YOUTUBE.COM/JUICESG FOR A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THIS SHOOT.
POLYESTER TOP WITH LACED SIDES EIGHTSLATE AT THE AUTHORITY MERINO WOOL JUMPSUIT (WORN AS PANTS) PERFECT MOMENT AT NET-A-PORTER.COM CRYSTAL AND METAL CUFF ATELIER SWAROVSKI HEADPHONES SKULLCANDY
wardrobe trend
PAINT BY NUMBERS
toga
cotton shirt, poa, paul smith
UNLEASH THE ARTSY SIDE OF YOUR STYLE PERSONALITY WITH BRUSHED PIECES. TO AVOID LOOKING LIKE A JACKSON POLLOCK PAINTING, KEEP THE BASE COLOUR PLAIN AND LET THE STROKES DO THE TALKING. WE’VE SET OUR HEARTS ON THIS MENS-INSPIRED SHIRT FROM PAUL SMITH, THANKS TO ITS GENIAL MIX OF COLOURS AND ENERGETIC SPLASHES. DIP IN AND HAVE FUN.
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wardrobe trend
stone pendant necklace, $35.90, mango printed cotton t-shirt, poa, tsumori chisato
painted cotton blouse, $175, iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m isola marras at farfetch.com
polyester jumper, $120, cmeo collective at tangs
acetate sunglasses, poa, super by retrosuperfuture at dh sunglass
viscose printed scarf, poa, calvin klein
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cotton blend dress, $99, kain at kainlabel.com
linen pants, poa, daniela gregis at danielagregis.it
Text & Coordination Aaron Kok Images Various Sources
silk dress, poa, thakoon at club 21
painted denim jeans, $285, polo ralph lauren
leather strap watch, $336, marc jacobs
leather bucket bag, $58.50, j.crew at jcrew.com
polyester midi pleated skirt, $37, shein at shein.com
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leather sandals, $149, zara
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issey miyake
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wool jumper, $150, brooks brothers
WHILE NOT KNOWN FOR BEING THE MOST MASCULINE IN THE SPECTRUM OF SUMMER HUES, PURPLE HAS THE ABILITY TO LIVEN UP YOUR WARDROBE WITH AN OFFBEAT SENSE OF FUNK. DITCH THE NEED FOR SUBTLETY AND GO FOR A HEAD-TO-TOE LOOK IN PURPLE, STARTING WITH A CLASSIC PASTEL JUMPER. JUST REMEMBER TO KEEP PROPORTIONS IN CHECK AND PLAY WITH A VARIETY OF SHADES SO YOU’RE MORE BARNEY STINSON THAN BARNEY THE DINOSAUR.
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comme des garçons
hood by air
versace
PLUM PICKS
wardrobe trend
cotton baseball cap, $22, urban outfitters at urbanoutfitters.com
watch with resin strap, $222.90, g-shock at amazon.com
cotton hoodie, $39.90, h&m
cotton twill shirt, $79.90, topman
knit backpack, $46.90, topman
cotton t-shirt, $12.90, h&m
slub cotton t-shirt, poa, sperry
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sneakers with multi-colour thread detail, $69.90, zara suede sneakers, $85, puma
Text & Coordination Aaron Kok Images Various Sources
selvedge denim jeans, $250, leviâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
wool trousers, $350, commes des garcons
stretch cotton trousers, poa, pt01 at pt-pantalonitorino.it
cotton shorts, $30.50, jcrew at j.crew.com
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dry selvedge jeans, $230, a.p.c at kapok
vault
acetate glasses, poa, ray-ban
terry cloth sweatband, $8.50, suddora at suddora.com watch with rubber strap, $109, lacoste
BLEEKER GEEKER cotton t-shirt, $99, lacoste
cotton t-shirt, $195, moncler
polyester sports jacket, $45.90, h&m
polyester backpack, poa, herschel at bratpack
polyester running shorts, $69.90, adidas
AHHHH, 2007. THE YEAR THE TITLE OF “GEEK-CHIC POSTER BOY” WAS PASSED FROM SETH COHEN FROM THE O.C. TO MICHAEL CERA’S AFFABLE HIGH-SCHOOL JUNIOR, PAULIE BLEEKER IN JUNO. CHANNEL HIS ADORABLY AWKWARD STYLE WITH A LOOK THAT BALANCES PREPPY WITH ATHLETIC GEAR.
leather sneakers, poa, k-swiss
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burgundy chino shorts, $56.90, topman
Text & Coordination Aaron Kok Images Various Sources
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shop tassel chain earrings, $25.90, mango
beaded earrings, poa, valentino dreamcatcher earrings, $9.90, h&m
mixed metal drop earrings, $26, steve madden
metal earrings, $12.90, h&m
THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN
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FEATHERED, METAL-PLATED, BEADED OR STONE-SET, TRIBAL EARRINGS ARE COMING BACK IN A BIG WAY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; JUST IN TIME FOR THE SLEW OF SUMMER FESTIVALS AHEAD.
chain and feather earrings, $36.90, topshop
Text & Coordination Aaron Kok Images Various Sources
gold-plated earrings, poa, house of harlow at inhabit
metal earrings, $35.90, sam edelman at samedelman.com
leather and gold earrings, $262.50, miguel ases at miguelases.com
metal earrings, $60.30, love rocks at loverocks.co.uk
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SUNNY DAYS AHEAD 050
JACK WILLS
We’re often told that university days are our most formative years. It’s through bonding over nightly revisions and after-class activities that you make lifelong friends. It is also in this time that you’ll start to find footing in your style and dressing – because good riddance, school uniforms. In college, it’s all about comfortable, stylishly simple pieces that make practical sense. Enter Jack Wills – the “Fabulously British” brand, founded by Peter Williams and Robert Shaw, that’s been outfitting university students for the past 17 years. Named after Williams’ grandfather, Jack Wills has since grown out of its Salcombe store into a global chain with over 70 outlets worldwide. The DNA of a Jack Wills piece is easily recognisable. It’s easy to wear, versatile and brimming with a youthful verve. “When I started thinking about a premium brand, I had a vision of what I remembered in Salcombe,” Williams once shared in an interview. “I thought, ‘What if I could create a brand that could bottle what being at a British university was all about, and all the cool amazing stuff that goes with that?’ If I could create a brand that epitomised that, it would be very compelling”. And that’s what you can expect from the moment you step into a Jack Wills store – a celebration of the founder’s English heritage combined with a very modern outlook of the clothes worn by today’s young adults. To take a sneak peek at its summer offerings and celebrate its soon-to-open sophomore store in Singapore, we were asked to join Williams and his team in Hong Kong for an English-themed getaway. On a lawn within the Victorian-designed 1881 Heritage compound, which the Jack Wills team transformed into an English-styled garden, we got up-close with the Summer 2016 range of women’s and men’s offerings. Also on hand to greet us was Williams himself, who cheerfully talked us through the collection. Amidst the hobbin’ and the nobbin’, these were the five highlights of our whirlwind stop through Jack Wills’ summer party.
A WALK IN THE GARDEN Key to the collection preview was the setting. Right in the heart of the Tsim Sha Tsui district, 1881 Heritage’s colossal compounds embodied that perfect blend of old-meets-new – having previously served as the former headquarters of the Hong Kong Marine Police. With the help of lush floral arrangements, vintage trunks and sun chairs in the brand’s signature pink and blue stripes, the building’s outdoor lawn was transformed into a verdant garden where drinks flowed endlessly and the summer collection took centre stage. fashion
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THREADS FOR LADS Summer 2016 sees Jack Wills take inspiration from the rowers and the boats that dot the Salcombe waterfront. As nautical as it sounds, the collection steers clear of tired cliches with frills-free clothing. The key look comes in the form of a two-piece shorts suit made from seersucker fabric with faint stripes. The striped pattern is also present on several jumpers and shirts, albeit more preppy than sailor-like. Just like the undulating waters, blue tones pop up everywhere – from shirts in cornflower blue to indigo-coloured jumpers. One particular highlight is JW’s classic sports hoodie, updated with an indigo dyeing technique. To reflect the collection’s waterfront inspo, the seasonal print features a tiled pattern of little rowers paddling across fitted short-sleeved shirts and tailored shorts.
FEMININE AND FUN The women’s line also takes its bearings from the same mood board, while retaining the brand’s DNA of flattering femininity. Borderie anglaise is employed to great extent on several pieces, creating dainty patterns that trim a variety of frocks and separates. This embroidery technique leads the collection into a second act of pieces made from delicate floral lace. Notable looks include a sundress that sashays elegantly as the wearer moves, and a two-piece set with a lace hem. Knits remain a key texture, as Williams shares that their “knits sell well because they can be worn for about nine or 10 months in a year”. Prints-wise, the women’s line features three key styles – a blue and white gingham, a phthalo blue and red floral pattern, as well as a tangle of sailor ropes looped into infinity. Part countryside, part Riviera, but wholly English.
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SHOPPERS HAVEN On the second day of our escapade, we took a tour of the Jack Wills Hong Kong flagship store, located at Leighton Centre. Spanning over two floors, the space is the perfect embodiment of everything Jack Wills stands for. A giant 4WD sits in the middle of the womenswear floor, with an in-built screen showcasing a reel of the latest collection. Along the walls, various leather trunks and stuffed pheasants sit on ledges that overlook the store’s offering of ready-to-wear, intimates and active wear offerings. A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II sits patriotically over a fireplace, while another wall features a mish mash of framed slogans such as “REVOLT” and various vintage posters and photos. For a space-scarce city like Hong Kong, it’s surprising to find capacious changing rooms within the store – they’ve even managed to fit each room with a bed and a nightstand!
Text Aaron Kok Images courtesy of Jack Wills
STYLE AT HOME Similarly, you can expect to feel this sense of homeliness in the local Jack Wills store at Raffles City and the Ngee Ann City outlet that will open this November. “We aren’t into the whole fast-growing approach when we open up new stores”, explains Williams when asked about the expansion plans in Singapore. “We want to take our time, find the right place, and progress from there”. Noting that the digital stratosphere is constantly growing, and that online shopping is an inevitable part of the current retail experience, the brand is also looking at what else it can do to grow its digital presence. In the meantime, hit up the Raffles City store for all your prep-chic needs.
jackwills.com
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hit list
GILDA SU
Good Hair Don’t Care I get my hair done at Ritz Salon. They understand my hair and really listen to what I want. It also helps that they have a rainbow of colours for me to choose from. Must-have RÊVASSEUR Item Definitely one of our printed tees. They come in a large variety of colours and all the prints are unique to each collection. Author Infatuation Enid Blyton has been a major influence in my life. She has the most amazing way of storytelling that’s left me enchanted from day one.
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Midnight Snack Carrot cake. I get my fix from a store at Newton Circus, since it’s close to where I live.
Craziest Purchase Ever A pair of studded boots from Junya Watanabe. They were really expensive and I remember working part-time to pay for these. Still the coolest nonetheless.
Rebel Inspo Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons. She has broken all sorts of conventional and societal rules regarding dressing stereotypes. It’s also reassuring for a designer like me to know that I don’t have to be like everyone else – I can do my own thing.
Style Icon Isabella Blow. She has such an amazing sense of style, it’s as if her clothes could tell stories. fashion
MARCHING TO THE BEAT OF HER OWN DRUM, FASHION DESIGNER OF RÊVASSEUR AND CO-OWNER OF MULTI-LABEL STORE SUPERSPACE IS BEST KNOWN FOR HER UNAPOLOGETIC SENSE OF STYLE. BETWEEN HER QUIRKY DESIGNS AND CONSTANTLY CHANGING HAIR COLOUR, SU’S TASTE IS BOLD, DEFIANT AND ONE-OF-A-KIND. THIS MONTH, SHE LETS US IN ON WHAT SHE’S DIGGIN’. facebook.com/revasseur
Dream Customer The late Anna Piaggi. When I started designing, I wanted to send her my designs one day. It would’ve been amazing to see how she could take my design and make it into her own.
Tune Of The Moment Recently, I’ve been tuning in to Korean hiphop, which makes me dance.
Text Aaron Kok Images Various Sources Portrait Hanie Kaur
Style Staple I love hats! I can’t understand why people don’t wear them more. They complete an outfit, and you can put it on in a second. What’s not to like?
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summer sacs When you’re out chasing the sun and creating summer memories, the last thing you’d want is a cumbersome bag that’ll get in the way of your fun. So thank your lucky stars, because Kipling’s Summer 2016 range will serve you well with functional bags that are as durable as they are stylish. From the eye-catching monkey prints in pool blue, wheat and aqua, to earthy hues of olive, scarlet and black, the line of shoulder bags, bucket bags and totes will provide you with plenty of storage solutions on the go. To up the fun factor, there’s even a line of miniature backpacks that are not only cute, but can also provide room for daily essentials like your phone, wallet and lippie. $69 to $255, available at Kipling, #B1-31/32 313@Somerset.
PH5 To some, knits can seem like a plain, casual fabric. But put it through the eyes of PH5’s founder Wei Lin and creative director Mijia Zhang, and suddenly the nondescript material takes on a life of its own. On their recent stop through Singapore, we get to know the duo and the philosophy of the brand.
What inspired your Spring/Summer 2016 collection? The whole collection was inspired by the Japanese art of origami, and you can see that come through in some form on the pieces. For example, a key look would be a printed grey dress that has pleats at the bottom. We had this pleating technique customised, as well as the stripes to match the pleating. You see some sort of folding technique move through the entire collection.
COLE HAAN X MASTERMIND For fans of Japanese streetwear cult brand, mastermind, this pair of chukka boots is a must-have. Teaming up with Chicago-founded brand Cole Haan, the collab takes the best of both brands and collides it into singularity. The JAPAN ZEROGRAND Chukka offers comfort, lightness and flexibility in motion that is bar none – something that Cole Haan has perfected – while its appearance is given a sleek, monochromatic makeover. And just to add that extra oomph, mastermind has stamped its logo on the tongue and on the side of the boot’s upper. Swoon!
What sets you apart as a brand? We try to be different and offer more interesting pieces because anyone can do monochromes or tees, but knitwear is something entirely different. We’re lucky to have a factory that specialises in complicated knitwear production. This allows us the freedom to experiment with different knitting techniques and fabric technologies. What does the brand name PH5 mean? In chemistry, there’s a pH scale of 1 to 14 – pH7 stands for neutrality and pH5 is slightly off-centre. That’s what we are: we don’t see our brand as overtly feminine, but our designs aren’t ‘street’ to the point of androgyny either. We have a touch of femininity with some level of casualness. It’s also a scientific name, because we want to imbue the brand with a scientific touch – almost like a ‘fashion lab’.
$499, available at Cole Haan, #02-11 Paragon.
What do you want the Singaporean shopper to take away from your brand? Singapore is a very diverse metropolis and, from what we see, women here are very independent. That spirit is something we feel fits with PH5 because we want to dress people who aren’t afraid to try something new.
WALK THE TALK
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Text Aaron Kok Interview and images courtesy of SocietyA
With a striking front and in-store colour-changing LED lights to electrify the shopping atmosphere, be treated to a plethora of need-to-wear sneakers from sole-giants like Reebok, adidas Originals and Pro Keds at The Social Foot. Aiming to be more than just a retail space, the store is also involving the sneaker community with future plans to host talks, sneaker customisation sessions and more. A little birdy even told us that the team is working on securing store-exclusive designs from its stable of brands. Living up to the “social” in its name, you can even take your new kicks to the GIF corner, where you get to create your own personalised GIF to be shared on your social media accounts. When you’ve got a great thing to wear, you need to tell the world about it. #01-19/20 Orchard Central.
Available exclusively at society-a.com.
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no matter the weather
Regardless of what the weatherman says, these two new lines will gear you up for your workout.
ZARIIN Designed by sisters Mamta and Vidhi Gupta, jewellery brand, Zariin, takes pride in producing quality pieces for the forward-thinking and stylish female. We love the bold eclecticism of its new line, but if we had to pick an item to covet, it’d be this chain-link wrist candy. Inset with alternating pieces of black onyx and milky howlite, the 22-karat gold-plated bracelet is just the right amount of bad-*ss. Stack it up with other bracelets or pair it with a classic watch – either way, you can’t go wrong.
$239, available at Curator’s Den, #02-20E Great World City.
FRINGE FESTIVITIES
COME RAIN… With our tropical climate going from scorching one moment to storming the next, the best way to get some exercise in would perhaps be to hit the gym. With its first boutique opened recently, Calvin Klein Performance will tog you out stylishly with the Spring/Summer 2016 line of athletic apparel. Expect to find running tops with coordinating shorts, yoga gear, sports bras, hoodies, capris, jersey T-shirts and tank tops, as well as accessories like exercise mats and backpacks. No more “rainy day” excuses for ya.
BREAK A SWEAT
Available at Calvin Klein Performance, #B2-06 Wheelock Place.
POP CULTURE …OR SHINE When getting that summer bod in order, don’t forget to pack some swimwear into the beach tote. Leave the tired, stretched-out pieces at home and let Forever 21 sort you out with a new bathing suit from its Neoprene Swim collection. Comprising 15 separates made from sturdy neoprene material, the collection includes zip-up bandeaus, strapless tops, halter-neck pieces and high-waisted bottoms. These sporty-chic pieces are the perfect way to dress for a rollicking time on the beach. Flex a little creativity by mixing and matching different colours and get your tan on.
Available at Forever 21, #01-10 to #03-21 313@Somerset.
Proving that time need not be a static object on your wrist, the POP collection by Swatch is here to add multi-dimensional fun to your standard timepiece. While each watch features the brand’s classic round face, with a simple push from the back, you can literally pop the face out of the strap and turn it into a necklace pendant, a clip-on timer or even a wall clock. For those who still prefer to have their time ticking on their wrists, choose from one of the genial patterns and colours to suit your mood of the moment. Fun, spirited and transformative? This collection is checking all the right boxes. $55 to $140, available at Swatch, #01-01 orchardgateway. fashion
Last seen in the ’70s, the relaunch of the Superga Sport label sees the comeback of the brand’s swallow tail logo on all models in the collection – with the highlight being the ‘Panatta’ shoe. Once a favourite of tennis star Adriano Panatta – whom this shoe is named after – a first look at the collection reveals simply designed footwear that look and feel good, both on- and offcourt. The cotton canvas uppers provide your feet with breathability, while the vulcanised natural rubber soles allow better grip. Choose from six different models in a variety of colours, including burgundy and military green, to better match your workout style. $129.90, available from June 15 at Superga, #B2-04 Wheelock Place. Text Aaron Kok Images Various Sources
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Summer’s lineup of music festivals calls for the comfiest footwear options that’ll keep you on your feet all night. Stepping in to fill your need for featherlight shoes, Minnetonka’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection perfects the art of melding bohemian designs with the practicality you’ll want to have on your peds. With a sportier approach to its moccasins, the collection boasts a newly introduced athletic-inspired sole, while retaining the brand’s signature upper design and whipstitches. As the unofficial festival design detail, fringe is subtly incorporated and topped off with a simple bow. Available in summery sherbet hues of coral and mint, as well as neutral colours like black, mocha or wheat, you’ll never have to worry about packing an extra pair of flats in your festival tote again. $89, available at Leeden Classic, #04-17 orchardgateway.
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Text Jazmin Kelly Six Images Various Sources
gym skin Effortless with an emphasis on natural beauty, the ‘no-makeup makeup’ look has long been a coveted ’do for many. Yet, we all know it takes way more effort to actually nail the look in our climate without looking too ‘greasy’. Combining fresh-from-the-gym skin with last season’s strobing craze, this summer’s pared-down mien starts with a glow-enhancing primer that illuminates and hydrates at the same time. Set the base with a liquid foundation that’s sheer, then add a light touch of highlighter at the top of the cheekbones to lend a pearly radiance. Pair this with a wispy wind-blasted ponytail that’s loose and low, and you’ve got yourself a ‘real-woman’ trend you could ace with ease.
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THE SUN ON OUR SIDE IS RELENTLESS AND WITH THE SWELTERING HEAT ON THE RISE, STEADFAST FORMULAS ARE WHAT YOU NEED – TO KEEP YOUR ’DO LOOKING AWESOME WITH YOUR MAKEUP INTACT ALL SUMMER LONG. GET ACQUAINTED WITH THESE ESSENTIALS.
M.A.C PRO LONGWEAR NOURISHING WATERPROOF FOUNDATION While the creamy formula offers full, intense coverage that is long-wearing, it does not weigh down on the skin – making it very comfortable to have on all day. It is on the thick side, but still easily blendable to create a flawless, matte finish that will keep active sebum under control. $62 (25ml), available at M.A.C counters.
KAT VON D LOCK-IT LIQUID FOUNDATION This powerful formula offers such high coverage, it can even conceal tattoos – and that’s what you get when it comes to Kat Von D Beauty. Made to withstand all-day wear while promising to be transfer-proof, it dries fast and sets quickly to a full finish. For a more natural look, go easy on the application. $56 (30ml), available at Sephora from July.
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K-PALETTE W SERIES ESSENCE IN EYEBROW Combining a pencil, powder and brush, this creamy formula allows you to fill in the sparse areas with natural-looking pigments, while the complementary translucent powder creates a soft, smooth finish. Available in five shades, it is is also infused with 20 beauty essences, and stays put despite sebum and sweat. $23.90, available at Watsons and Sasa.
EYEKO BROW LINER Equipped with a thin precision brush tip for greater detail and control, this liquid brow liner mimics fine brow hairs to create fuller-looking arches. While the pigments that go on are subtle, they are highly buildable and will stay put once set. Available in two shades with a water-resistant finish. $32, available at Sephora.
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BY TERRY SUN CRUISE LINE DESIGNER Whether you prefer thin bands or bold strokes on your peepers, this versatile liquid formula allows you to draw as you please with easy control – thanks to its slender foam tip. Water- and sweat-proof, it dries very quickly on application and can last through a beach outing without smudging. $60, available at Escentials.
YSL DESSIN DU REGARD WATERPROOF STYLO An intense formula that offers high colour payoff in one stroke, this creamy option glides on effortlessly without tugging to create a pigmented finish. Application is smooth and swift, and once the colour sets, you can expect them to sit pretty for at least eight hours. Available in four shades. $40, available at YSL Beauté.
URBAN DECAY AFTERGLOW 8-HOUR POWDER HIGHLIGHTER
TARTE TARTEIST CLAY BLUSH PALETTE
If you’re looking for subtle colour with a gleaming effect, this is for you. Made from finely-milled powders that are super soft, the creamy formula applies sheer and is easily buildable. It blends extremely well into the skin and offers a glowy effect with lightdiffusing particles to accentuate key points. $39, available at Sephora and Urban Decay stores.
Already wildly popular, thanks to its non-comedogenic Amazonian clay formula that’s long-lasting, now you can tote about four pretty shades in one – with colours ranging from coral to mauve. Housed in a sleek gold palette, the powders offer the same smooth finish we love, complete with sebum-absorbing and skin-soothing abilities. $56, available at Sephora.
MAKE UP FOR EVER AQUA ROUGE Definitely your go-to for a hot summer pool day out. This is probably one of the most stubborn – in a good way – formulas we’ve ever come across. Without drying out the lips or causing any cracks mid-day, the creamy formula wears loud and proud, and delivers solid pigments that last and last. $43, available at Sephora.
STILA STAY ALL DAY LIQUID LIPSTICK
Text Jazmin Kelly Six Images Various Sources
Another cult favourite that wears extremely well, this season sees five new shades added to the range. On application, it feels light, but dries down to a high-octane matte finish. It is infused with vitamin E and avocado oil to keep the pout hydrated, while the pigments cover with a featherand transfer-proof hue. $36, available at Sephora.
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CLEAN AND PREEN WITH ALL THAT OUR SKIN ENDURES ON THE DAILY, WASHING YOUR FACE AT THE END OF THE DAY TO REMOVE GUNK AND GRIME IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ANY SKINCARE ROUTINE. WHETHER YOU’RE LOOKING TO DEEP CLEANSE OR TAKE MAKEUP OFF, THIS NEW CROP OF FACIAL CLEANSERS WILL HELP YOU ALONG.
SHU UEMURA ANTI/OXI+ CLARIFYING CLEANSING OIL
OIL
A versatile option for most skin types, oil-based formulas are the go-to for effective double-duty cleansing. It effectively binds with surface sebum to pull it away from the skin, while removing both stubborn makeup and sunscreen at the same time.
FRESH SEABERRY SKIN NUTRITION CLEANSING OIL Comforting with a great slip, this formula works best on dry skin types as it leaves behind an emollient feel for smooth, hydrated skin. It feels gentle on application but works to thoroughly remove waterproof makeup. Thanks to its blend of antioxidant-rich omega oils, this nourishing formula also softens and rejuvenates the skin at the same time. $68 (150ml), available at Fresh and Sephora stores.
ESTEE LAUDER ADVANCED NIGHT MICRO CLEANSING FOAM Most foaming formulas are stripping and strong, but this creamy option is mild and cleans gently, making it suitable for daily use. Both a nice ‘perk-me-up’ in the mornings and pleasant closer in the evenings, its soothing fragrance of lavender and chamomile relaxes the mind as it washes, while keeping the skin feeling moisturised. $52 (100ml), available at Estee Lauder counters.
LANCOME ENERGIE DE VIE FOAMING CLEANSER As a counter to the hectic lifestyles of modern urbanites and the toll it takes, this invigorating formula aims to bring back a sense of life and energy to fatigued and dull skin. Boasting the protective properties of goji berry and French lemon balm, the cleanser helps to combat the effects of oxidative stress, leaving skin feeling clean and renewed. $55 (125ml), available at Lancome counters.
FOAM
Though foaming formulas work up a great lather and offer the best ‘clean’ feel, they can be too strong and drying for some. Thanks to its ability to thoroughly remove dirt, sebum and bacteria, acned and oily skin types will suit best.
EUCERIN WHITE THERAPY GENTLE CLEANSING GEL
GEL
Great for combination and mild oily skin types, gel-based cleansers are light and gentle, and eliminate mild sebum without over-stripping the skin. For a deeper cleanse, leave on for five minutes like a mask before washing off.
Troubled and sensitive skin will find comfort in this one, which calms and soothes with the plant-based anti-inflammatory licochalcone extract. Infused with melanin-busting ingredients, it targets acne scars and dark spots to renew and regenerate skin’s radiance. A gentle, alcohol-free formula that lathers and cleanses well, it removes shine without leaving the skin feeling tight. $21.90 (150ml), available at leading personal care stores.
SENKA PERFECT GEL An unassuming product that wins at what it does. This is a concentrated gel formula that is fast-acting and great at removing dirt and heavy-duty makeup – you either wash or tissue off. It has a smooth and supple consistency that feels velvety on the skin, and a pleasant scent that’s inviting to use anytime of the day. $8.90 (160g), available at Watsons.
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Text Jazmin Kelly Six Images Various Sources
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Designed to draw away pollutants from the environment on skin’s surface, the formula contains moringa seed extract, along with papaya and green tea, to purify and detox the skin. Slather on the product on dry skin to dissolve grime, then splash with water to create an emulsion that will wash away. The result is soft and supple skin. $125 (450ml), available at Shu Uemura counters.
trend
chris chang cream colour base in rich coral, $40, m.a.c cosmetics
fineliner ultra-skinny gel eye crayon in blacquer, $35, marc jacobs beauty at sephora
femme nude lip stylo in nude no 6, $47, hourglass at sephora
2016 orgasm blush, $65 (supersized), available at nars counters from may 27
rouge cream lipstick in r53 love you too, $22, sephora tarteist lip paint in tbt, $28, tarte at sephora
Text & Coordination Jazmin Kelly Six Images Various Sources
modern twist kajal liner in squid, $31, m.a.c cosmetics
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TOO COOL TO CARE
caviar perfect texture finishing spray, $39, alterna at sephora
LONG BEFORE MILLENNIAL ICONS OF “EFFORTLESS COOL” RULED OUR SOCIAL FEEDS, FOUNDING LADIES OF THE ROCK SCENE, LIKE PATTI SMITH, EPITOMISED THOSE VERY WORDS BY RAISING THEIR MIDDLE FINGER TO CONVENTIONAL, OVERDONE BEAUTY – EMBRACING, INSTEAD, THE STRENGTH OF SELF-ASSURED SEXUALITY. TAKE THEIR LEAD WITH OUT-OF-BED LOCKS, NUDE-PEACHY HUES AND A SMIDGEN OF KOHL LINER.
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ombre blush in soft flush, $18, nyx at sephora
surf bomb sea salt spray, $35 (150ml), original & mineral at sephora
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THE FACE SHOP X MY OTHER BAG Gone are the days where we expressed ourselves solely through our clothes or shoes. In 2016, even our cushion compacts serve as an extension of our style. Teaming up with with canvas bag label, My Other Bag, The Face Shop rolls out three limited edition versions of its top cushion compacts. Dressed up in designs of iconic bags, the unique packaging of the CC Cushion Intense Cover, CC Cushion Ultra Moist and Oil Control Water Cushion allows you to tote-tally express your ‘It bag’ leanings, while doubling up as convenient mid-day touch-ups that you can bring around in your actual It bag. $32.90 (15g) each, available at The Face Shop.
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MASKED HEROES Products that ready our mien for makeup are a dime a dozen, but a primer that preps skin for face masks? Now that made us sit up! Meet the Origins Maskimiser Skin-Optimising Mask Primer. It contains a marine algae complex that helps hydrate and soften the skin, leaving it more receptive to the active ingredients of a mask. After priming, gently detox skin with the By All Greens Foaming Deep Cleansing Mask. Rich with benefits of spirulina, spinach and green tea, this creamy self-activated clay mask transforms into a cooling foam to remove makeup, dirt and pollutants, revealing radiant and refreshed skin. $38 (95ml, primer) and $69 (70ml, mask), available at Origins counters.
SUMMERTIME HUES With names like ‘Pool Shark’, ‘Tan Lines’ and ‘Do Not Disturb’, the vibrant Summer 2016 collection from NARS evokes images of a lazy mid-year vacay spent basking under the sun. Inspired by the French Riviera, the series features fun and colourful illustrations by contemporary artist Konstantin Kakanias that make you want to pack your suitcase and head for the nearest beach resort. Dip your brush into the iridescent teal-green or periwinkle Dual-Intensity Eyeshadows to turn up the heat and accentuate ’em cheeks with soft peach and raspberry tones. Key must-haves are the new Lip Covers, which effortlessly saturate the pout with lustrous slicks of coastal colours. From $40 to $68, available at NARS counters.
PLUMP PICKS Constantly shuttling between frigid airconditioned rooms and the heat wave outside can dry out your skin, leaving it rough and prone to breakouts. To keep your mien baby smooth, the Hada Labo Hydrating Essence delivers a moisture-locking shield, while hydrating thoroughly for up to 24 hours by replenishing moisture in the deepest levels of your skin. For those with normal to dry skin, pair this with the Super Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Lotion to increase skin’s elasticity and reduce lines. Don’t forget to pat the moisture in! $31.90 (30g, essence) and $22.90 (170ml, lotion), available at Guardian and Watsons.
TAKE COVER
POUT AND ABOUT The DIY spirit lives on in Lipstick Queen founder, Poppy King, who turned to concocting her own line of lipsticks when she could not find the perfect lippie in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. While the brand is known for its vibrant red lipsticks, it also offers less intensely pigmented options. For a sheer, just-bitten pucker, swipe on the Saint & Sinner Lip Tint, which comes in four gorgeous shades: pinky nude, rose, deep red and wine. Infused with black soybean extract, this silky formula won’t leave your lips high and dry, but soft and moisturised. $37 (30g), available at Escentials.
Sure, we can BeautyCam ourselves to utter flawlessness for social media, but what about days when we have to look just as good IRL? Enter Make Up For Ever’s Ultra HD Stick Foundation, which glides on smoothly to offer medium to full coverage – making skin look even-toned and moisturised with a soft satin finish. To prevent those pesky pimples and dark circles from peeking through, dab on the Ultra HD Concealer on any imperfections. With its red and yellow undertones, this medium coverage concealer aids in colour-correcting and brightens the skin for a fresh facade. $50 (7ml, concealer) and $72 (30ml, foundation), available at Sephora.
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WHIP YO’ HAIR
LUXE TREAT
Newsflash: as your scalp ages (yes it does!) or gets clogged with residual product and daily grime, its ability to support a full, healthy head of hair decreases. But because we can’t see underneath that mop, this is often neglected until clumps of hair gather at the shower drain. Give your mane a hand with the Moist Diane Extra Vitalising Shampoo and Treatment. The silicone-free formula ensures a clean scalp, promoting hair growth and preventing clogged follicles. Boasting sakura essence and Moroccan argan oil, the duo helps to deeply cleanse and moisturise your locks, offering complete care from root to end. $16.90 (400ml) each, available at leading personal care stores.
As you wind down in the evening, your skin, too, takes the time to recover, repair and regenerate itself. Help things along with an extra boost from the YSL OR Rouge Maskin-Cremè. An intensive night treatment that nourishes and revitalises skin, it works as both a cream and mask to cater to different needs. For a quick treat, work the velvety formula in with the petal brush and leave on for 15 minutes, or let it sink in overnight for a resurfaced glow in the morning. 389 (50g), available at YSL Beautè.
fragrance department
GLOW GETTER
Two essential summer scents to get you in the mood.
RALPH LAUREN TENDER ROMANCE EDP What was it like falling in love for the first time? We might not be able to find the right words to describe
We’ve all been there – we try to achieve that effortless, dewy complexion but end up looking like a shiny mess after five minutes in the sun. To combat this, try the Moonshot Microfit Cushion, which has an ultra-light, non-oxidising formula that allows for afternoon touchups without caking. Its anti-darkening formula also brightens skin tone while leaving a cooling effect on the skin. If you’re all about that summer glow, the milky pink texture of the Moonflash Cushion works both as a base and highlighter, allowing you to strobe away till you’re visible from the moon. $36 (12g) each, available at Sephora.
Text Jerlene Ng Images Various Sources
IT’S A MIRACLE Not everything ages as well as wine and with constant exposure to the sun, signs of skin ageing can become more apparent with time. To help protect and repair skin’s surface, Philosophy unveils the Ultimate Miracle Worker collection that promises to help skin improve with age. Joining the family is the Ultimate Miracle Worker, a multi-rejuvenating cream that offers protection from all light spectrums; the Ultimate Miracle Worker Night, which combines the concentrated power of a serum with the nourishing benefits of a cream; the Lightweight Emulsion, which is perfect for our humid climate; and the Eye Cream, which targets lines, wrinkles and puffiness. From $90 to $120, available at Sephora.
it, but Ralph Lauren master perfumer, Honorine Blanc, has distilled that unforgettable feeling into Tender Romance – a scent that evokes the soft caress of skin and warmth of an affectionate embrace. This creamy and bright combination springs from the opulent oriental fragrance family, combined with the delicate fragrance of white magnolia. The complementary ginger and cashmere woods create a crisp introduction, grounded by a sensual warmth in the dry down.
From $23 (10ml, rollerball), $116 (50ml) and $159 (100ml), available at leading departmental stores.
TORY BURCH JOLIE FLEUR EDP COLLECTION There is a fragrance to suit every mood. To keep up with your whims and fancies, Tory Burch has rolled out a wardrobe of three scents, named the Jolie Fleur Collection. Dressed in pink, blue and green respectively, Rose is an aromatic blend of roses, woody cashmeran and musk for the feminine and romantic, while Bleue complements the understated, elegant woman with its aroma of tuberose, grapefruit and sandalwood. Lastly, the dewy fragrance of lily of the valley makes Verte perfect for the easygoing tomboy of any girl squad, with notes of mandarin, neroli oil and jasmine.
$42 (6ml, rollerball), $139 (50ml) and $179 (100ml), available at leading departmental stores.
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MINIMAL MANE-TENANCE
GEM FROM THE SEA
Maybe it’s the clean, minimalist packaging, or perhaps the great quality you can almost always expect; there’s a certain sense of je ne sais quoi that makes Swedish products a lusthave. Haircare brand Sachajuan is no exception. The brainchild of renowned Swedish hairdressers, Sacha Mitic and Juan Rosenlind, this Sephora newcomer is sure to delight. Give your quiff an extra oomph with the Spray Wax, which offers texture and shine with a quick spritz without leaving a sticky mess. For a thicker-looking mop, the Volume Shampoo creates structure for fine hair, rebuilding hair fibres while enhancing volume and a healthy sheen. $34 (200ml, spray wax) and $36 (250ml, shampoo), available at Sephora.
With the relentless heat beating down all summer, cool off with a refreshing mask that promises to soothe and calm. Meet the Peter Thomas Roth Blue Marine Algae Intense Hydrating Mask – a deeply nourishing gel mask that’s suitable for all skin types. It is infused with nutrients from blue marine algae that combat dehydration, and antarcticine, sourced from Arctic glacial ice, which aids skin in retaining moisture even in the most extreme climes. To keep your mug radiant and plump, leave a generous coat on for 10 minutes, twice a week, or use daily for intense nourishment. $97 (150ml), available at Sephora.
POST-GYM ROUTINE
BANISH THE BLEMISH
062 Staying true to its spa origins, Arcona, a Los Angeles-based skincare brand, formulates its products sans preservatives and in small batches to keep them fresh and potent. To ensure your face stays as pristine as a blank slate, try the aptly-named Tabula Rasa Pads on problem areas. Its acne fighting formula heals blemishes, reduces enlarged pores and even soothes ingrown hairs and razor burn – talk about multi-tasking! For those with acne-prone skin, apply The Solution Pads to your face and neck after an evening cleanse. The nighttime treatment helps repair sun damage and stimulates exfoliation, resurfacing your skin as you sleep. $44 and $70 respectively, available at Sephora.
Having the right workout gear for your weekly gym sesh is a must, but don’t neglect the post-gym essentials. To counter the effects of fatigue, soreness and perspiration after a good burn, Origins rolls out its post-workout collection trio to ease your body back into bliss. Start with the Exfoliating Body Wash in the shower to remove dirt and impurities, then follow with the Warming Lava scrub – a wateractivated heating scrub – which helps increase blood flow and relieves soreness. Complete the routine with the Cooling Moisturiser, which instantly replenishes skin’s hydration. $43 (200ml, body wash), $66 (150ml, scrub) and $68 (200ml, moisturiser), available at Origins counters.
SCRUB A DUB DUB
With all that whitening and glow-y skin talk, it’s easy to think that skin-brightening is mainly a woman’s concern. But guys can have radiant skin too! To combat the effects of late nights and dull skin, try For Beloved One’s Melasleep Brightening Lumi’s Key Jelly. A nighttime jelly that halts the pigmentation process as you sleep, it calms and moisturises skin at the same time so you can wake up to a revitalised complexion. Also in the series are the Toner, which removes dead skin cells; the Lotion, which provides round-the-clock repair; the Essence, which accelerates skin metabolism and fades spots; and the Bio-Cellulose Mask, which aids in generating collagen and elastin for smooth, bright skin. From $57 to $99, available at Sephora.
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Nothing like a sensual bath ritual to calm frazzled nerves and wash the day away. Up your tub game with Aveda’s Beautifying Radiance Polish, the latest addition to the brand’s Beautifying body care franchise. A body exfoliant that works to remove build-up of dead skin cells and hardened skin, it delivers a refreshing aroma of bergamot, rosemary and lavender, and leaves skin looking brighter and smoother. The nourishing plant oil blend of organic safflower and olive gives parched skin a dose of much-needed hydration, while the mineral-rich salt crystals buffs skin comfortably. $59 (200ml), available at Aveda.
Text Jerlene Ng Images Various Sources
BRIGHT HERE, BRIGHT NOW
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rule or resist Text Trent Davis Images Various Sources
The war between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance has seized our attention once again. And with a string of films hitting theatres in the near future, it’s hard to resist the urge to keep our eyes on the screen. It’s thus refreshing to enjoy the Star Wars canon with tabletop entertainment that’s similarly from ‘a long time ago’ in Star Wars: Rebellion. Commanding fleets and soldiers across two boards – featuring 32 of the galaxy’s most notable systems and 150 miniatures – the game pits two to four players against each other through missions and card combat with the fate of the galaxy in the balance. Lead Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in sabotaging the Death Star, or embrace The Dark Side through Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine in crushing The Resistance. Whichever side you choose, “May the Force be with you.”
US$99.95, available at amazon.com.
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lifting spirits C . T. F L E T C H E R
When the going gets tough, the tough get going – and few embody this claim quite as well as Compton-based bodybuilder, C.T. Fletcher. After suffering severe health problems due to a diet primarily made up of fast food – in a bid to become the biggest and baddest competitive bodybuilder to walk the earth – the former world champion beat the odds and continued to mould Herculean muscle, despite being told he would die if he did so. Now imparting his wisdom and experience through workout videos of biblical proportions, Fletcher’s expletivefuelled motivational style will have you commanding your muscles to grow. ctfletcher.com
YA N I TA YA N C H E VA
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If you’re still not convinced on the aesthetic of women with muscles, one look at Yanita Yancheva’s abs will quell all doubt. Having appeared alongside Lazar Angelov in possibly one of the raciest workout videos to hit the web, the Bulgarian fitness model and personal trainer has been building her brand and biceps significantly since her debut TV appearance on Survivor BG back in 2009. Offering short, adrenaline-pumping workout videos that hone in on key exercises and muscle groups to tone up and slim down, Yancheva will make you rethink working your booty in the gym instead of the club. facebook.com/yanita.yancheva
M I C H A E L VA Z Q U E Z
As if plucked straight out of a Missy Elliott music video, gravity-defying breakdancer, Michael Vazquez, offers intensive workouts that’ll have you feeling the heat all the way from the gym to the dance floor. Similarly, Vazquez had to put in the hard yards to achieve his physique – overhauling his party-hard lifestyle and unhealthy habits with the birth of his son. Combining calisthenics and exercises centred on core strength and constant movement, Vazquez’s regime will help you get those abs without crunches or hours on the treadmill. That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy – you will be sore, but you’ll learn to love the burn. michaelcvazquez.com
NIKKI BLACKKETTER
Like many before her, Nikki Blackketter changed her ways from party girl to fitspo role model after finding a newfound addiction in weightlifting. Bringing viewers along on a video journal voyage to achieve a competition-ready bikini bod, the blonde bombshell shares her training experiences with weights, cardio workouts and dietary challenges. While sharing her private moments led to an awkward public breakup with fellow fitness enthusiast, Christian Guzman, that didn’t stop Blackketter from kicking *ss and taking names – proving that you can still be a ‘girly girl’ with breathtaking biceps. youtube.com/nikkiblackketter
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WHILE SOME MAY REMEMBER THE EARLIEST EXAMPLES OF TELEVISED FITNESS GURUS SPORTING UNKEMPT AFROS AND SWEATY LYCRA, TODAY’S ACTIVE LIFESTYLE ENTHUSIASTS NEED ONLY LOOK TO YOUTUBE – A MECCA OF MUSCLE-BOUND MENTORS – FOR A HEALTHY DOSE OF FITSPO. HERE SOME OF THE PLATFORM’S MOST INSPIRATIONAL ROLE MODELS THAT’LL SPUR YOU TO GET OFF THE SOFA AND INTO A SWEAT.
CHELSEA KARABIN
Sporting biceps that’d put plenty of gym bros to shame, Chelsea Karabin, perhaps better known as ‘ChelseaLifts’, stands apart from many YouTube fitness enthusiasts in that her carving her body is both her passion and field of expertise. Armed with a degree in physical activity and a minor in nutrition, the professional power-lifter and certified strength and conditioning coach also knows how to open a can of whoop-*ss if needed. Plus, she has a second-degree black belt in the Korean martial art, Tang Soo Do. After watching a round of her iron-pumping videos, you ladies will have no excuse when it comes to heavy lifting. chelsealifts.com
L A Z A R A N G E LO V
This is who G.I. Joe dolls should’ve been based on – after all, it was in the army where the Bulgarian beefcake found his love for bodybuilding. Turning to weights after childhood dreams of being a professional basketball player didn’t come to fruition, the strongman’s epic arms and abs videos have shot him to fitness fame. If the mere sight of his eight-pack doesn’t give you a kick in the pants, the qualified nutrition expert and certified personal trainer offers personal mentoring and nutrition planning through his online fitness academy – opening the door for those who also dream of being able to do laundry on their abdominals. lazarangelov.com
JAZMINE GARCIA
What started as a virtual diary of her journey to becoming a bikini competitor has since launched 21-year-old Jazmine Garcia to social media stardom as a role model for women looking to stay in shape. Powered by a bubbly personality and a regular publishing schedule, Garcia’s videos range from informative workout instructionals to travel vlogs, grocery hauls and recipes for waistline-friendly munchies, like low-calorie protein cookies. With an honest and infectious perspective on life both in and out of the gym, viewers are equipped with all the essential info without forgetting the fun in staying fit. youtube.com/jazminegarciafitness
Text Trent Davis Images Various Sources
CHRISTIAN GUZMAN
Not everyone looking to get into shape wants to get jacked, and the same goes for role models in the fitness realm. Christian Guzman demonstrates that you can get shredded even if you have a smaller frame. At only 23 years old, the Texan titan has documented his staggering physical transformation since the age of 19, allowing viewers an intimate look into both his personal development and business beginnings. As well as offering insightful instructional workouts to help you achieve your desired body, Guzman also serves as a strong voice for career aspirations and never quitting on your dreams. christianguzman.com
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F I T B I T A LTA
Finally, there’s something for the fashionconscious with the Fitbit Alta. Featuring an OLED touch screen that displays both activity readings and smartphone notifications, the slim-line stainless steel device automatically detects when you begin exercising, while sitting comfortably in a range of interchangeable straps. Allowing users to switch out the rubber band after sweaty workouts for a blush pink leather strap or gold stainless steel bangle, it will make sure you don’t forget about your goals after a night on the town – giving you subtle nudges in the form of vibrations to get you back on your feet. $198, available at authorised retailers.
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MICROSOFT BAND 2
Going beyond the expectations of an activity tracker, the Microsoft Band 2 is more akin to wearing a PC on your wrist that cares about your wellbeing. Combining a GPS, UV monitor, and barometer with a continuous optical heart rate monitor to keep a finger on the pulse at all times, the wearable offers in-depth insights through the complementary Microsoft Health app so you know exactly what to improve on. Armed with quick responses to calls, calendar alerts and text notifications, users can forgo any fiddling at all by relying on the Cortana digital assistant to get the job done. US$174.99, available at microsoftstore.com.
ACTIVE DUTY GARMIN VIVOSMART HR+
Upping the ante on its renowned activity tracker, Garmin’s Vivosmart HR+ is a formidable competitor in the realm of wrist-worn tech. Equipped with the same features as its predecessor – but this time with GPS to track your distance and pace while mapping your running route – the device measures heart rate around the clock with an always-on display to let you know when you’re in your prime. As well as keeping you connected to the social sphere with smart notifications, it also learns your current activity level and pushes you to outdo yourself each day with challenges and achievable goals. US$219.99, available at buy.garmin.com.
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J AW B O N E U P 3
Marrying a lightweight, elegant design with the features of a full-fledged fitness companion, Jawbone’s revamped UP3 keeps the style-savvy happy with a wearable that won’t clash with your wardrobe. Packing comprehensive sleep-tracking functions that measure deep, light, and REM sleep, while plotting your heart rate on an easy-toread graph, Jawbone’s similarly improved app gives you more than enough to go on without the need for a display on the wrist. Serving as a stylish tech companion for lighter forms of exercise, its intuitive Smart Coach gets to know you better the longer you wear it, leaving little reason to ever take it off. $289, available authorised retailers.
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POLAR A360
With an elegant and effortless user interface, Polar’s latest addition to its longstanding series of fitness trackers sees it simplifying appearances and refining functionality. In addition to 24/7 tracking, the A360 shines when it comes to heart rate-based training by suggesting exercises catered to the appropriate intensity, based on your metrics. Providing guidance during the day as to how much exercise is needed to get you up to speed, and how you can diversify your workouts to ensure you’re not neglecting the burn-inducing reps, personal feedback is delivered to the display immediately after your workout to keep you at the top of your game. $299, available at polar.com.
MISFIT SHINE 2
Forgoing a display for a halo of lights, the Misfit Shine 2 is both minimalist and discrete, while bringing functionality through its touch capacitive face to keep you up to speed on your movements and social happenings. Sporting simple, multi-colour animations to keep you motivated, the Shine 2 stays with you from workouts to bedtime, while doubling up as a remote control for your smart gadgets. At only 8mm thin and tough as nails with an aircraft-grade aluminum body, the modular device can be worn anywhere from the wrist to the neck. $148.40, available at misfit.com.
HARD WORK IS THE ONLY SUREFIRE SOLUTION TO STAYING IN SHAPE – BUT THAT’S NOT TO SAY THAT A HI-TECH HELPER WON’T ASSIST IN ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS. KEEPING CLOSE WATCH OVER YOUR MOVEMENTS AND RESTING STATES, THESE WRIST-WORN WEARABLES MAY BE THE ADDED EDGE YOU’RE LOOKING FOR IN ACTIVATING A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE.
Text Trent Davis Images Various Sources
MOOV NOW
While most activity trackers take a passive approach to managing your health, Moov Now gets right up in the business of those who take a little extra push to get moving. Going beyond activity tracking and playing the role of fitness coach, the wearable’s omni-motion sensor analyses, talks to you, and coaches your form as you complete exercises through its complementary app. In addition to the rugged design that’s suitable for workouts in any environment, its battery can last up to six months before being replaced – saving you from technical hiccups as you make your way through the app’s numerous workout programs. US$59.95, available at welcome.moov.cc.
UA BAND
If coordination is the name of the game, the UA Band belongs right next to your Under Armour attire. Joining hands with HTC, the sleep and fitness tracker stays true to the sporting brand’s reputation with a rugged, water-resistant build and understated appearance. Able to measure sleep, resting heart rate, steps, and workout intensity when paired with the UA Heart Rate strap, the band becomes part of a larger ecosystem when synced with UA’s dedicated apps and partner devices. Wearers can also control music for added motivation, as well as the VIRB action camera for high-octane outdoor adventures. US$180, available at underarmour.com.
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POCKET YOGA
3 MINUTE MINDFULNESS
Living in a fast-paced city means we’re constantly on the go; stress, inevitably, follows us along the way. When the hectic everyday proves to be too much, it’s nice to get a quick time-out in the form of this app. In three short minutes, it urges you to relax by changing the way you breathe through various rhythmic exercises. This in turn helps you reduce stress and anxiety, which brings about a calmer state of mind and better sleep at night. Free
Too shy to do the downward dog in a group? This app is for you. Categorised into three types of practice, Ocean puts the focus on cardio for a good burn, while Mountain builds strength with power moves, and Desert on flexing ’em muscles to unwind and detox. Whether you’re a beginner enthusiast or semi-pro, the app offers three difficulty levels to suit your ability – with visuals to get your poses right – while allowing you to choose from a range of durations. $4.48
LARK
Keeping track of your food intake via a journal is a great solution, but how many of us really take the time? If proper nutrition is what you’re after, turn to Lark to help move you along. Instead of laying a guilttrip and obsessing over calories, the app acts as a friendly personal nutritionist that uses a chat interface to dish out advice on what to eat and avoid. It even checks in with you periodically to see how you’re doing. Totes fun! Free
O N T H E W AT C H WHILE THE APPLE WATCH OFFERS BUILT-IN ACTIVITY AND WORKOUT APPS THAT LOG ONE’S DAILY ACTIVITY LEVELS AND BEHAVIOURS, THERE’S A SLEW OF COMPLEMENTARY APPS THAT WILL HELP TAKE YOUR WELLNESS AND FITNESS GOALS FURTHER – LIKE THESE SIX.
R U N TA S T I C
Those who are serious about their runs will need a tracking app like Runtastic to cover all bases. Whether you’re a casual jogger circling the park in the evening, or a hardcore marathon trainer working the circuit, this app will map out your route and record the distance covered, run duration, calories burned, pace, and heart rate. The fullfledged tracker even offers feedback and encouragement via a voice coach so you’ll stick to the course and hustle on. Free
STREAKS
SEVEN
Consider this your personal trainer on the wrist. It comes with pre-programmed workouts to cater to your fitness needs, whether you’re looking to do a full body workout or want to zone in on targeted areas like the belly. Through a series of fully-illustrated seven-minute HIIT routines, you can customise a session from 12 different exercises, with workout and rest durations set to your preference. This is accompanied by realistic voice prompts including that of an intense drill sergeant or motivating cheerleader. Free
All apps are available for download via the Apple App store. navigate
It’s always easy to want to do something, but to actually get down to doing it, that’s another story altogether. To nudge you along, Streaks lets you create up to six different tasks per day, so you can build a consistent ‘streak’ of good habits over time. By creating a sense of accountability, it keeps you focused on the tasks at hand and allows you to mark them off when completed. Be careful though, break the chain and your ‘streak’ will reset to zero. $5.98
Text Jazmin Kelly Six Images Apple & Various Sources
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grub
WHOLESOME HUNGER
WHILE MANY FEAR THE THOUGHT OF ‘EATING HEALTHIER’ AS A SLIPPERY SLOPE TOWARDS A DIET SOLELY COMPRISED OF LEAFY GREENS, THE BURGEONING OPTIONS THAT’VE POPPED UP IN RECENT TIMES PROVE THE CONTRARY. GIVING FAKE FOOD THE BOOT AND FOCUSING ON NUTRITIONAL MEALS THAT DON’T COMPROMISE IN FLAVOUR, THESE THREE SPOTS ARE SURE TO WIN OVER EVEN THE FUSSIEST OF EATERS.
THE GREEN BUCKET Though this hole-in-the-wall spot is easy to miss with an undiscerning eye, The Green Bucket is a secret garden within an industrial building worth keeping a lookout for. Rejecting the idea of a boring salad and, instead, serving up boxes packed with mouthwatering proteins and wholesome veggies, the joint will have your salad-shunning friends quickly eating their words (and their greens). Sizes range from small ($6.90) to large ($9.90) with a number of customisable bases, proteins and toppings to suit your appetite.
NINJA BOWL
Text Trent Davis Images Various Sources
Whether it’s grains, poke or Japanese don, bowls are all the rage – and Ninja Bowl takes a stab at the culinary trend with aplomb. Sourcing inspiration from the Land Of The Rising Sun, the up-styled cafe concept places mouthwatering Japanese favourites from the land and sea in a healthier context, offering a number of options to form the base of your bowl with the likes of white quinoa, orzo pasta, and Ninja Rice – a blend of vinegared Japanese pearl rice and brown rice with a dash of seaweed flakes.
The purple sweet potato and brown rice both serve as hearty options to lay the groundwork for your meal, while tantalising proteins include a well-marinated but not-overpowering Korean BBQ Chicken, and tender slices of lightly seasoned Rib Eye Steak (+$1.50) that gets salivation working in overdrive. Topping it off with crisp broccoli, roasted baby potatoes and sauteed button mushrooms (+$0.50) round up a homely balanced meal, while dressings like the tangy Rosemary Balsamic and aromatic Japanese Sesame deliver a healthy harmony of flavours. #01-01 CT Hub 2, 114 Lavender Street, tel: 9383-8131.
The Tsukiji ($16) pays homage to its namesake in combining the star of the dish, pan-seared tuna tataki, with crunchy asparagus, edamame, in-house pickled cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, topped off with an oozing onsen egg that completes the melange of textures. The Genki ($16) serves up a generous portion of unagi atop melting roasted pumpkin, crunchy Korean mung bean sprouts and pickled beets to round off the eel’s distinctive taste and sweet sauce, while the Noka ($14) brings us back on land with roasted baby corn, mixed nuts, semi-dried tomatoes, and 24-hour braised beef cheek that melts in your mouth. 15 Duxton Road, tel: 6222-8055.
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KITCHEN BY FOOD REBEL Whether you’re on top of your nutritional knowledge, giving up meat, or are just beginning your journey to healthier living, Kitchen caters to all in the CBD who wish to throw a curveball at their diets. Categorising its grub into three different ‘levels’ to ensure allergies and dietary restrictions don’t make their way into your day, one thing that’s constant across the organic eatery’s menu is that there’s something for everyone with sandwiches, salads, and hot dishes that boast nutritional goodness. The Towering Thomas ($21) is a wholesome spin on the typically grease-filled chicken burger, with a juicy handmade chicken patty, sauteed mushrooms, and sweet potato puree, topped off with an egg, with a side of crispy, ovenbaked sweet potato fries. The Rebel Pie ($18) reinterprets the Shepherd’s variety with a touch of sweetness – marrying tender slow-cooked Australian grass-fed beef mince and sweet potato mash; while the Thai-Inspired Quinoa ($16) is a colourful and equally fragrant rendition of the trendy protein – tossed with beets and invigorated with lemongrass and lime leaves. 28 Stanley Street, tel: 6224-7088.
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CLAIRE JEDREK
IF YOU’VE EVER WITNESSED CLAIRE JEDREK BEHIND THE WHEEL, “DRIVES LIKE A GIRL” CAN ONLY BE TAKEN AS A COMPLIMENT. BUT BEING SINGAPORE’S ONLY PROFESSIONAL FEMALE RACE-CAR DRIVER SIMPLY ISN’T ENOUGH FOR THE 33-YEAR-OLD ADRENALINE JUNKIE, WHO TACKLES MOTOR SPORTS AND FITNESS FROM ALL ANGLES – AS A PRESENTER, PARTICIPATOR AND TRAINER. WE CATCH UP WITH THE RACE QUEEN TO FIND OUT WHAT LIFE IS LIKE OFF THE TRACK.
Workout Tunes I need vocal music with hard beats that carry me through with long workouts. I still prefer older sounds from The Prodigy or any Jay Z album.
Favourite Fitspo Personality I follow a few fitness pages rather than personalities, and tips on things like what you can do with just a weight plate. I do follow Emily Skye on Instagram though.
Guilty Pleasure Hands down a basic cheddar, brie and well-salted butter sandwich. I can eat sandwiches all day.
clairejedrek.com
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Favourite F1 Driver Lewis Hamilton – I love how he has transformed the Mercedes brand. Fernando Alonso is not far behind.
Latest TV Addictions After House of Cards was over, my life was enriched with the English Premier League (which is ending), because I’ve been part of a large group of friends on the Fantasy Premier League over the last two years – but no worries, as a new season of Formula One is in place. I seem to live season by season.
Dream Ride I’d love a few track cars from different eras. A sequential Porsche 997 GT3 cup car because the skill to downshift is becoming obsolete, and perhaps the current paddle-shift 991 GT3 cup car. Aesthetically for the road, I’d love a Mercedes SLS for the gull wings.
Trusted Gym Attire You can see me in Under Armour all day long – from the gym and the office at The Karting Arena, to shoots and filming.
App Essential Right now on my iPhone is an amazing organisational app that I live by called Streaks. It reminds me of things that I must complete daily, like three sets of 25 squats, drink 250ml of water, etc. I think we can always find time to do what we want; sometimes we just need a reminder.
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Must-Have Skincare I’ve been religiously using SKII for the last six months. I’m quite in love with the travel-sized Mid-Day Miracle Essence; I’m on and off planes every month and my skin gets ridiculously dry, so this is perfect for a quick fix.
Text Trent Davis Images Various Sources
(image: www.brenwho.com)
Cafe To Cool Down At I’m not really one to sit down for long, but on weekends you can find me for a quick brunch at Choupinette on Bukit Timah Road.
arty
I N S A - B O R D I N AT E BEHAVIOUR
Text Trent Davis Images Netflix
INSA ELUSIVE, RESPECTED, AND ALLERGIC TO AUTHORITY: U.K. STREET ARTIST, INSA, HAS ALL THE TRAITS OF A COMIC BOOK ANTIHERO – MADE ALL THE MORE FITTING WHEN HE ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE TO COME UP WITH AN ARTWORK FOR NETFLIX’S RELEASE OF MARVEL’S DAREDEVIL SEASON TWO. PAINTING IN SEVEN CITIES ACROSS THE GLOBE TO FORM A HYPNOTIC ANIMATED GRAFFITI GIF (OR GIF-ITI), THE SPRAY CAN-WIELDING GLOBETROTTER’S LATEST WORK MAY BE THE GREATEST EPISODE IN HIS JOURNEY YET. What spurred the idea to create your Daredevil GIF-iti in numerous cities around the world? I am really interested in trying new ideas and pushing boundaries with my work. I have always wanted to create a piece of work that used the globe as a canvas. When discussions started with Netflix, I was so inspired by its global availability that it was the perfect opportunity to try something on a grand scale. Like the international connection of your GIF-iti for Netflix, the world is becoming connected in ways previously unimaginable, thanks to the Internet. Has this influenced the way you approach your art? I am really interested in how the Internet has changed our shared global experience. Most of my current work is directly influenced by this online/offline life we now live. Most of the art I make exists outside of the country I reside in, but I can share my work instantaneously with a global audience. I think it’s impossible for anybody creating art in the modern age not to be affected by the Internet in some way. Despite street art’s origins in anti-authoritarian messages and dissent, graffiti is now frequently used to promote other ideas. What do you think is the new form of artistic dissent? I agree that a lot of this art form has been co-opted and accepted by mainstream society, and that has killed some of its soul. I have a lot of respect for the kids still out there doing damage and illegal graffiti, despite efforts by the authorities to stop them. As for the new rebellion, I just don’t know. I have yet to see any youth
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movement that has been as big and defiant as graffiti art. I hope that future generations won’t become too apathetic to break the rules. I’m very excited to see what comes next! Many of your previous artworks featured women in a graphically explicit nature. Have you had to change the way you depict women in your art with the changing of attitudes towards gender equality? That previous body of work was always painted from my feminist perspective, so I didn’t change to meet changing attitudes. The fight for gender equality is not a new thing. I was always very deliberately painting hyper-objectified female bodies and the relationship we have with them in this consumer culture. I did reach a point when I felt the message was often misunderstood and the irony was lost. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that questioning the excess of female nudity by adding more female nudity to the world perhaps wasn’t the best way, but it’s all part of the journey of my work. Who’s your favourite Marvel superhero? He’s more of an antihero than a superhero but I always liked The Punisher, and that’s another reason why I was happy to work on the release of Marvel’s Daredevil Season Two. What kind of hero do we need right now? The world needs heroes like Jeremy Corbyn (U.K. MP) and Bernie Sanders; good politicians that care about people more than money!
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UNBOUND & UNREHEARSED
The latest smartphones to create waves in tech.
HUAWEI P9 We’ve seen smartphone makers team up with lens manufacturers before, but Huawei’s P9 might just be the most exciting collaboration yet. Armed with a dual rear camera equipped with Leica lenses, the P9 not only touts clearer images with the camera brand’s distinctive image production, but also gives users more control with manual
From comedy giant Will Ferrell to method maverick Leonardo DiCaprio, often the finest moments are captured when the actors go off-script. Taking that philosophy in the vein of Who’s Line Is It Anyway? and kick-starting Singapore’s first ever festival dedicated to the art of improvisation, Singapore Improv Festival is sure to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before – literally. Presented by The Improv Company, the three-day spectacle rounds up 10 homegrown improv teams to flex their wit and creativity, where even entire musicals are performed on the fly. Make plans for a weekend of breaking plans. From June 3 to 5. For more info, visit festival.improv.sg.
functions and a slew of moody effects. Sporting a slim, sleek design and a 5.2-inch display with 96 per cent colour saturation, the smartphone is the obvious choice as a companion for pros and photography on the fly.
From $768, available from late June at all
PICTURE THIS
authorised retailers.
OPPO R9 Successor to the coveted R7, OPPO’s latest smartphone takes the same stylish and streamlined metallic design and puts it on a diet. Weighing only 145g and measuring a mere 6.6mm thin, the lightweight device boasts a jaw-dropping 1.66mm bezel, making sure your focus stays on its 5.5-inch AMOLED display. OPPO knows that the party is in the front, equipping a 16MP front-facing camera for sharper selfies and 13MP in the rear, while offering
Seeping through his childlike illustrations and kawaii scultpures, the aggressive dispositions and charged vocabulary of Yoshitomo Nara’s subjects point towards a deeper sense of isolation and disillusionment, which has led to their exhibition everywhere from MOMA to the album art of Mike Patton’s violently chaotic Fantomas project. In a rare showcase, Nara’s works make their way to our island for the solo exhibition, Picture Box: A Collection Of Works By Nara Yoshitomo. Presented by Japanese gallery, Kato Art Duo, art aficionados will have the chance to view a selection of woodblock prints and lithographic works, exploring the artist’s provocative messages in their seemingly innocent portrayal of childhood. From June 16 to July 18 at Kato Art Duo, Raffles Hotel Arcade #01-26.
increased battery life, super-fast charging, and a better user experience with the improved ColorOS 3.0 interface.
$649, available at OPPO concept stores and authorised retailers.
LENOVO VIBE X3 As a trusted name in PCs, Lenovo has been steadily flexing its muscle in the smartphone game, and its latest is a showstopper. Teaming up with AV experts, TheaterMax, the Vibe X3 is a juggernaut that puts the entertainment experience into the palm of your hand. With high fidelity audio capabilities for headphones, Dolby Atmos stereo speakers, a vivid 5.5-inch Fll HD display, and a 21MP rear camera, the smartphone also allows users to convert any multimedia content into a virtual reality-enabled format to immerse you in your favourite moments.
$649 (bundled with VR headset), available at authorised retailers.
PLAY THE MARKET Held over two days at two different locations, The Market Hop presents over 50 creative merchants seeking to soothe all of your desires – from gastronomical splendour with the likes of Korean-Mexican tacos from VATOS and fine-crafted fusion from Atipico, to local lifestyle brands like Hush Candles’ hand-poured soy candles and The Letter J Supply’s timeless calligraphic works. As well as wallet-friendly deals on DREAM furniture, visitors will also get the chance to test-drive the new MINI Clubman and MINI Countryman to rev up the excitement. From June 4 to 5. For more info, visit themarkethop.com.
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BEER BLAST Returning for its eighth edition, Beerfest Asia 2016 unites beerlovers for a bubbly evening of cold brews, mouthwatering grub, and thrilling live performances at Marina Promenade. Raising the stakes this year with a whopping 500 beers on show – including Archipelago Brewery’s new Singapore Blonde Ale, Chaoying’s Flensburger Winterbock, and SABMiller’s Fat Yak – pick your poison while challenging your mates to games of beer pong and foosball, before the showstopping acts pay tribute to the likes of David Bowie, Bon Jovi and Queen. From June 16 to 19 at Marina Promenade. For tickets and more info, visit beerfestasia.com.
K+ INSTGRM
Until June 15 at K+ Curatorial Space, Scotts Square #03-14/15.
Different countries and even cities like their burgers done in different ways, but how many of us have the time or the chips to tour the world for the sake of beef patties and buns? Thankfully, Hard Rock Café Sentosa is bringing the burgers to us this month with the Asian edition of the World Burger Tour. Celebrating 25 years of serving up rockin’ good food on our soil, the famed restaurant tasked its chefs around the world to create tribute burgers based on their cities, so you’ll have the chance to chow down on three unique burgers from the U.S. – including the pizza-inspired Big Little Italy Burger (New York), the hot Italian relish-based Giardiniera Deli Burger (Chicago) and the deli sandwich-inspired Golden Gate Burger (San Francisco) – as well as the Satay Burger conceived right here in our backyard. Now that’s beef worth talking about. Until June 30, available exclusively at Hard Rock Café Sentosa.
COMIC ARTIST SONNY LIEW WINS SINGAPORE BOOK AWARDS’ BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR HIS AUTHORITYUNDERMINING GRAPHIC NOVEL, THE ART OF CHARLIE CHAN HOCK CHYE – PROVING THAT ART, LIKE TRUTH, CANNOT BE SILENCED.
game plan
PS4 titles to glue your eyes to the screen this month. Resistance is futile.
The game that pioneered first-person shooters
DOOM
Homefront: The Revolution
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
is back – bigger, bolder and bloodier than ever.
Rebooting the narrative of a North Korean conflict of
In what could very well be the final chapter in Nick
Revisiting the story that spurred countless
its original, Homefront: The Revolution once again
Drake’s adventures, the latest instalment in the
imitations in gaming and film, the visually
sees American soil in turmoil. Building a frighteningly
Unchartered series sees the retired fortune hunter
captivating reboot plunges you into the pits of
realistic dystopian reality, players must rise up
back with a vengeance to uncover a historical
outer-space Hell once again for an experience
from the shadows and join a guerilla Resistance to
conspiracy and untold treasures. With larger open
more brutal than before, but faithful to the original.
overthrow an oppressive police state. Take to the
environments to explore and gripping gameplay
Charge your way through bazooka-wielding demons
abandoned streets and immersive environments in
mechanics, players will spend hours on their globe-
and unholy abominations, while finding creative
enacting revolution through action-packed gameplay,
trotting journey to uncover the spoils of the hunt, while
ways to dismember the enemy that’d make even
while facing questions on the cost of freedom that will
facing unprecedented challenges and sacrifices that’ll
the hardcore fans wince.
weigh on your mind long after the game is over.
test Drake’s limits, as well as your own.
Available for download on the Playstation Store now at store.playstation.com.
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Text Trent Davis Images Various Sources
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While scrolling through the thousands of images on your Instagram feed, how long do you spend appreciating each photograph before hitting the heart icon and moving on? Forcing viewers to rethink quality over quantity, K+ puts the spotlight on local talent and their Insta-art in the exhibition, K+ instgrm. Showcasing the works of 13 Singaporean Instagrammers selected with the help of photographer Aik Beng Chia, the exhibition follows the slow art philosophy of taking in the innovative artworks with time and attention – both things that are in short supply and deserving of the creative minds that use the popular photography app as their platform of expression.
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
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RECESS PRESENTS GTA AT ZOUK GO HARD WITH HEART
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RITUAL 1ST ANNIVERSARY FEAT. DANIEL BORTZ & DAMIAN AT K YO TECHNO PRISONERS
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RUNWAY 57 FEAT. NORA EN PURE AT CÉ LA VI FLYING HIGH
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ALTIMATE’S 2ND ANNIVERSARY AT ALTIMATE TWO TIMES THE FUN
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CANVAS & BUDWEISER PRESENT GOLDIE AT CANVAS BASS TO THE FACE
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BEAT CAMP FEAT. ANDREW CHOW & GRAVITY AT REFUGE BEATS AND BEYOND
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EMONIGHTSG FEAT. RYAN KEY OF YELLOWCARD AT REFUGE ONLY ONE
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YOUNG & DANGEROUS AT MILLIAN DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT
S H O P AT T H E S E S T O C K I S T S ACTUALLY #03-18 ORCHARDGATEWAY
ONITSUKA TIGER #02-09 VIVOCITY
SUPERSPACE #02-18 ORCHARDGATEWAY
PEDDER ON SCOTTS SCOTTS SQUARE LEVEL 2
SWAROVSKI #01-25 TO 27 TAKASHIMAYA
LACOSTE #01-35 TO 37 VIVOCITY
RALPH LAUREN #01-01 TO 03, #02-02/03 SHAW CENTRE
TANGS 310 ORCHARD ROAD
LEVI’S #B2-24 ION ORCHARD
SABRINA GOH #02-14 CAPITOL PIAZZA
LOEWE #01-18 MARINA BAY SANDS
SANDRO #B2-108 MARINA BAY SANDS
MANGO #02-23 TO 24 313@SOMERSET
SOCIETY A #03-07 ORCHARDGATEWAY
H&M ORCHARD BUILDING
MARC JACOBS #01-11, #02-12 MANDARIN GALLERY
SPECTACLE HUT #B2-45 MARINE BAY SANDS
VANS #B3-61 ION ORCHARD
INHABIT #02-16 MANDARIN GALLERY
MONCLER #01-17 ION ORCHARD
SPERRY #03-111 MARINA SQUARE
ZARA LIAT TOWERS
ADIDAS ORIGINALS #01-09 TO 12 PACIFIC PLAZA BRATPACK #02-10 ORCHARD CINELEISURE CALVIN KLEIN #02-25 VIVOCITY CLUB 21 #01-07 FOUR SEASONS HOTEL COS #03-23 ION ORCHARD DH.SUNGLASS #02-04 ORCHARDGATEWAY
KAPOK #01-05 NATIONAL DESIGN CENTRE K-SWISS #03-110 MARINA SQUARE
THE AUTHORITY #03-03 ORCHARDGATEWAY TOPSHOP/ TOPMAN #B2-01/#B3-02 ION ORCHARD UNIQLO #03-27 TO 34 313@SOMERSET VALENTINO #01-03 ION ORCHARD
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FASHION
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final word
MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY
JIMI HENDRIX VS. THE VIETNAM WAR
084
The Flower Power revolution didn’t actually live up to its name, but one thing we can all agree on is that it threw a party like no other movement ever had. To this day, people still talk about Woodstock 1969. Many scenes over its four days made it to the history books but one stood out the most: Jimi Hendrix playing an incredibly distorted, psych-rock version of the American national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”, proving that the best way to say “F the Man!” is to do it on your terms.
TAYLOR SWIFT VS. APPLE This one’s legitimately epic: One of the biggest pop stars in the world going up against one of the biggest companies in the world. You’d think that T-Swizzle would be too busy with her forcibly amassed #girlsquad and/or too rich to care – but she really does. And in 2015, with a harshly worded letter, Swiftasaurus Rex shamed Apple and got it to pay artistes during the 90-day trial period of Apple Music. Who’s next? Tidal? Spotify? Temasek Holdings?
PRINCE VS. WARNER BROS.
PINK FLOYD VS. THE BERLIN WALL
Economic enslavement is just as nefarious as the more physical manifestation of the concept, and we all know that musicians are ‘slaves’ to their record labels. Always brilliantly – and strangely – ahead of the curve, Prince refused to bound by the shackles of his contract with Warner Bros. When the label refused to release some of his music, he changed his name to the ‘Love Symbol’ . Warner was then forced to release music under this ‘moniker’ instead. See the lesson here, kids? He stood his ground and became a thing.
The wall that Donald Trump wants to build already existed. The Berlin Wall, built by the German Democratic Republic in 1961, is one evil example. Designed to keep East and West Germany separate, it stood for 28 years until a confluence of factors led to its gradual tear-down. So you can imagine what a powerful moment it was when Pink Floyd played their anti-war epic The Wall on July 21, 1990 near Potsdamer Platz, as the Wall was being demolished. We hope history doesn’t repeat itself his year.
N.W.A. VS. POLICE BRUTALITY The year is 1988. You’re a young black male innocently hanging with your friends and some cops come up to y’all and force you to lay face down in the street with guns to your heads. What do you do? Easy. Since you’re in a little group called N.W.A., you hunker down and write a little song called “F**k tha Police”, effectively inventing gangsta rap, giving the American penal system more enemies than it already had. Justice is a two-way street.
THE SEX PISTOLS VS. CHEAP JOURNALISM
MALALA YOUSAFZAI VS. THE TALIBAN
Or, more accurately, The Sex Pistols vs. late-’70s decency. The story goes that on December 1, 1976, the antithesis of the Fab Four were invited as guests on the U.K.’s then-leading talk show, the Today Show. Things were fine until host William Grundy began goading them to “say something outrageous”, prompting the F-bombs that followed. Besides outraging the public, this stunt also cost Grundy his career – The Today Show was cancelled and he became a professional book reviewer…
At 19, Malala is the youngest laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize. Even before she took a bullet to her forehead courtesy of a Taliban gunman, the Pakistani teenager was blogging under a pseudonym for the BBC about the harsh realities of life in her native Swat Valley. In her beyond-precocious writings, she championed education for girls at a time when the Taliban were burning schools to the ground. And now, even though the media attention has only made her more open to hostile forces – there’s already been one attempt on her life – her voice is louder than ever.
BREE NEWSOME VS. AMERICAN RACISM Sometimes, a symbolic victory is cause enough for celebration. And 23-year-old American activist and filmmaker Bree Newsome deserves a whole lot of it. Last year, she scaled a 30ft pole at the South Carolina Sate House and removed the Confederate Battle Flag – one of the most potent racially-charged symbols in the world. Though she was soon arrested, her heroic act sparked a debate and a month later, the flag was removed for good. You go, girl!
Text Indran P Images Various Sources
WHEN SOMEONE UNJUSTLY FORCES THEIR WILL ON YOU, YOU PUSH BACK. WHEN THE OPPRESSIVE FORCE IS AN INSTITUTION, A GOVERNMENT, A CORPORATION, OR HISTORY ITSELF, YOU FIGHT BACK EVEN HARDER. TAKE A LEAF FROM THESE AWESOME ACTS OF RESISTANCE.
July - September 2016
back with a bang! Singapore Drum Festival is back with an exciting line-up of activities that will drum up your heartbeat, brush up your skills and level up your talent with drum performances, workshops, competition and drum camps.
Check Singapore Drum Fest Facebook for updates!
A Date with Louis Soliano
Drum Off Singapore
Ultimate Weekend
Dennis Chambers
Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legendary drummer featuring piano virtuoso Benny Green from the USA.
Modern drumset competition.
Inaugural Legacy Drum Camp in Singapore.
27 July, 8pm
Open Category 24 July, 11am
Amazing drum performances by international and local musicians, as well as exciting Drum Off Singapore Finals.
Auditions for:
Junior Category 31 July, 11am Semi Finals 13 Aug, 3pm
Official Sponsor
Official Magazine
16-22 Sep
19 Aug, 6.30pm 20 Aug, 12.30pm
Official Ticketing Agent
Ticketing website: www.apactix.com
Organised by