NICHE THE FESTIVAL ISSUE
no4 / October
CONTENT
NICHE
MAGAZINE
n4 o
FEATURES Street Scene.......................................................................150 Outside Lands....................................................................128 FYF Festival......................................................................120
CRESCENDO Via Tania..............................................................................90 Balmorhea..........................................................................112 Kumisolo.............................................................................84
MODUS VIVENDI Carin Wester..........................................................................8 Sandra Backlund..................................................................16
CONCEVOIR Fumi Mini Nakamura..........................................................36 Brendan Monroe..................................................................44 Megan Whitmarsh...............................................................24
PICTURESQUE Mathew Scott.......................................................................66 Serezha Komarov.................................................................54
INDUSTRIELLE Cover By Nick Asokan, Brian Vu, and Chris Bernal Artwork By Brian Vu
4 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
Mathias Hahn......................................................................86 Marco Dessi.........................................................................78 My Amenity.........................................................................84
Carin Wester • 8
Sandra Backlund • 16
Mathias Hahn • 86
Mathew Scott • 66
Fumi Mini Nakamura • 36
Brendan Monroe • 44
FYF Festival • 120
San Diego’s Street Scene • 150
San Francisco’s Outside Lands• 128
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MASTHEAD
NICHE Writer At Large Art Director
Tiara Chiaramonte Brian Vu
Director Of Photography
Nick Asokan
Website Designer
Chris Bernal
Contributing Writers
Contributing Photographers
Lisa Bielsik Ritu Ghiya Elizabeth Field Daniel Clarke
Peter Gehrke Adamsky Hélène Giansily Colleen Durkin Chris Bernal Brian Vu
Inquiries contact@fittheniche.com Advertising advertising@fittheniche.com Submissions submissions@fittheniche.com www.fittheniche.com
6 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
Artwork By Brendan Monroe
8 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
FASHION FASHION
M+W
Autumn / Winter 09 The Early Birds
Modus Vivendi
CARIN WESTER THE ESSENTIALS By Brian Vu
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14 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
Chic and decadent are some of the words that begin to describe Carin Wester’s latest collection entitled “The Earl Birds.” In this Autumn / Winter collection Wester has outdone herself and set herself apart from other designers. Wester says the collection is inspired by different character’s lives. The collection is based on young children from the 80’s rock stars who have this kind of rich and bored way of dressing but with a creative twist. Every character has their own way of expressing themselves, dressing and living that binds together the collection into a blend. Wester graduated from Beckman’s School of design in 1998 and started her career as a designer shortly after for the brand “Paul & Friends.” For eight seasons, she designed the women’s line. In 2003, she decided to break away from this label and start her own entitled after her name. The Women’s line is inspired by rock stars. Pieces like high suede pants with leather inserts, over knee motorbike boots, side opened relief coats, shiny and twisted patterns are based on this idea. “Decadent and flamboyant” can be described the men’s line. This line includes essentials such as loose crepe shirts, sharp pleated pants, knitted frill scarves in multiple colors, high collar shirts, and ankle boots. Since her brand launched, Wester has been nominated for “Nojesguidens” fashion award and won the prize for newcomer of the year by Elle. Nowadays her collection includes her female line (Carin Wester) and her male line (Wester) and her limited and handmade line (W). You can find these collections are sold in several stores in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, England, Germany, France, Australia, and the United States.
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FASHION FASHION
W
Autumn / Winter 09 Control - C
Modus Vivendi
A FAR CRY FROM NORMAL
SWEDISH DESIGNER SANDRA BACKLUND BRINGS INNOVATION TO FASHION By Brian Vu Photography By Peter Gehrke, Adamsky
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20 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
When you think of knitting, you might think of simplicity and relaxation but, for Sandra Backlund knitting could take up to three hundred hours to finish a collection. She makes knit pieces that defy the typical standard of knitting and turn it into an art and business. Sandra uses new and old techniques for her pieces. Knitting enables Backlund to create her own fabrics and make her own decisions. As she explains, “The handicraft process and the handmade feeling is very significant. I do experiment a lot with different materials and techniques but I think I have found the ultimate way to express myself through my heavy wool collage knitting. It is a freedom to be able to make your own fabric while you are working. I am interested in almost every traditional handicraft technique. For me it is the absolute challenge. All the levels of skills you have to pass before you can even think about starting to improvise. It is the real thing and everything that the modern fashion industry is not.” Control - C is Backlund’s fall/winter 09-10 collection. The collection is considered as an ending to a new beginning because up until now Backlund has been doing everything herself by hand. Through White Club, Sandra Backlund was introduced to Maglificio Miles, an Italian knit wear producer. Together they collaborated to do a first production test. Blacklund discusses the collaboration, “ It was of course a big step for me to go from working alone in my studio, inventing pieces while doing them myself by hand, to suddenly be a part of a team of experts within a field of knitwear that I never before have had the chance to get to know. I was overwhelmed by all the possibilities I saw for this collaboration and even though I will never give up doing my hand knitted pieces, I now see how to develop my collections in ways that I never thought possible.” Sandra has a very impressive resume. She has collaborated with Louis Vuitton for special knit wear for their Autumn / Winter 07-08 collection. She has also been selected by Franca Sozzani of Vogue Italia to be her protégé for the Protégé Project presented in Florence. Sandra Currently has been given the British Fashion Council New Generation sponsored by Tophshop.
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Concevoir ART
MEGAN WHITMARSH A NEW AND INDIVIDUAL WAY OF PAINTING By Brian Vu
24 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
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“I am lucky to not have any other job but this was not always the case and I don’t take my freedom for granted.”
Take a close look at her pieces and you will be shocked. Megan Whitmarsh is not the typical artist who uses the typical materials. Instead, Megan uses a new technique, threading. Whitmarsh has been threading her paintings since the 90’s while attending grad school in New Orleans. She now lives in Los Angeles where she is living a very busy life. Niche got the chance to interview the influential artist as she talked about her new addiction to fake paint splatters, her love for King Kong, and the artists that have influenced her. Where do you currently live and work? Highland Park Los Angeles What surface do you usually work with? What are your favorite materials? I love fabrics of all kind. I am really into fake paint splatter fabrics lately. I love hot pink yarn and metallic thread. What are the Yetis all about? Do they Serve a purpose? It’s a surrogate character representing a lonely misfit I guess. I always liked King Kong. What do you like to do on your free time? What else are you passionate about? I have two year old twin daughters so between them and my art I don’t have time for much else. Do you feel like you have responsibility as an artist? I don’t think artists have more responsibility than anyone else. We are all responsible to each other to be decent, kind, respectful, and frugal in our use of resources. What does color mean to you?
Color is evocative and emotional and gratifying. I love all colors. My Dad used to show me the spectrum made by a laser in his lab. It is one of my early childhood memories. When did you start to thread your paintings? In the mid 90’s while in grad school in New Orleans. I was bored with my painting abilities and wanted something new to look at. What artists have influenced you and how? When I first started making piles of soft sculptures I described them in a press release as “ early Claes Oldenburg meets late Lynda Benglis + the Muppets”. All of these artists are great influences. I also love Niki de Ste Phalle, Yayoi Kusama, Florine Stettheimer and Philip Guston. I like art that has some clumsiness but is made with intensity and thoughtfulness. Have you handled the business side of being an artist? I don’t expect to make much money and I like how I spend my time so I don’t feel unhappy. I am lucky to not have any other job but this was not always the case and I don’t take my freedom for granted. Where do you see yourself as an artist in ten years? I hope I feel surprised by what I am making ten years from now and can’t foresee it! Favorite musicians... Joni Mitchell, X-Ray Spex, Michael Rother, Flock of Seagulls, Dolphinforce, Hawkwind. Favorite movies... Zardoz, Woman of the Dunes, Shaolin Soccer, Dark Crystal, High and Low.
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Concevoir ART
BORN TO BE WILD FUMI MINI NAKAMURA LETS US IN ON HER SPONTANEOUS LIFE MOVING FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER By Tiara Chiaramonte
36 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
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“I enjoy talking about my experiences in life, memories as child and as adult, feeling and thoughts about who I am and who we are. It’s something we all have common, we feel, we think, we express etc. We all share that and create each other’s life.”
Intricacy, creativity, magic, and inspiration are only a few of the attributes found in Fumi Mini Nakamura’s artwork. She tactfully combines monochrome design which is ignited by a flare of vibrant colors to accent the portrait. The style of Nakamura’s artwork evokes the sense of her childhood home Japan. The portraits exhume a vivid history of Japanese art with the added touch of nature. The influence of Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa can be seen in pieces like Sink Black Boat With My Heart. Nakamura is currently working as an active freelance illustrator and designer in the New York City area. We recently had the pleasure of sitting down to an interview with her. What was your childhood like in Japan? I remember my childhood being FUN! I was always outside playing with neighborhood friends and classmates. Very active! How did you feel about your move to the United States at such a young age? I was very against the idea of moving to the United States. I was eleven years old / 6th grade with lots of close friends. I was ready to go to high school with all my friends and never expected to be far apart from
them ever. It was scary for me to move to different country with new languages (I didn’t know any English before I moved out here). I guess the whole idea of “unknown” place worried me a lot and on top of it, I was having a blast with all my friends and never wanted to leave. Why did you move to New York? This is actually a funny story. My current partner/ boyfriend got a very amazing job offer in New York around October 2008. I had a pretty stable job being a junior graphic designer at a big corporate office. My plan was to move to New York eventually after finding a job. However, the conflict with the unstable world today, I got laid off by the company literally 2 days after my boyfriend got the job he has now. So I decided to move to the Big Apple. Although I’ve always wanted to move to New York City because of the creative field, amazing schools and opportunities out here. I’ve visited here in 2004 and 2005 for short period of time and I absolutely loved it. Now I’ve lived here for a good 8 months, I feel like I made a great choice to go along with my boyfriend. It wasn’t easy at first... New weather (we moved out here in December and wow, SNOWS! which affected my mood and made me very miserable), starting from scratch (Making new friends and creating my own network. Luckily I had some friends I knew from past out here, but it was still not enough!), expenses, and learning about the city itself
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it was very struggling. It’s still hard but I am having a blast! What are your favorite places to go in NYC? My favorite places to go in New York City so far is Strand Book Store in Union Square and the City Bakery in Flatiron District. They are my absolute favorites! Strand has the amazing selection of books! I can stay there for hours and hours! The City Bakery has amazing baked goods and coffee/tea. I love to do writings and sketches at there while I enjoy their amazing chocolate chip cookies and iced tea! I also love to go to all the museums! They are the best resources of inspiration and learning techniques! When did you start drawing, and what interested you about it? I started to draw when I was very little. My mother used to draw pictures for me and I learned that way. I was always interested to draw but never serious till I was fourth grade. My best friends and I wanted to make comics! Very nerdy! Then after I moved to the United States, all I did was drawing because I didn’t know any English when I moved out here. ZERO! When did you know that you want to pursue a career as an illustrator and why? When I entered high school, my parent suggested to ask my art teacher for summer school recommendations. I knew that I had always wanted to do something in creative field and I was passionate about drawing. Anyways, my parent thought attending summer school will open up my point of view on what I wanted to do as a career (plus they were very supportive about going to art related career). I went to SFAI in 2000 Summer and CCAC in 2001 and 2002 Summer. I took drawing, painting, illustration and printmaking classes. I always enjoyed printmaking and that’s what I had in mind for few years, however in 2002, I thought about it more and realized printmaking would be a bad choice. I thought being a fine artist would be a tough career path to go through. There are millions of different artists to compete for galleries to submit to. It’s not that I wasn’t confident about what I can do and my creativity, I didn’t want to risk being a fine artist. After a deep thought, I chose illustration class and that was a best choice I made as a teenager.
The illustration is part drawing and part designing, I thought. You can still have your style and do job with it! How cool is that? That’s how I pursued a career as an illustrator! How would you describe your artwork to a stranger? I always think about that, especially because illustration does require “stories” to tell . I am very bad at explaining things in words. Even with how well I can speak English, describing things in exact words are so challenging. I guess what I mainly want to tell others about my work is “experiences.” I enjoy talking about my experiences in life, memories as child and as adult, feeling and thoughts about who I am and who we are. It’s something we all have common, we feel, we think, we express etc. We all share that and create in each other’s lives. Where do you see yourself with Miniminiaturemouse in drawing in five years? Hopefully, I will continue with illustrations and some designs for sure. But also I would like to develop another project. The idea I have is to create a collection of unique limited edition books. I’ve been building relations and networks with so many people, and I would like to support and build good relation with others. What are some of your favorite movies? My favorite movies are Afterlife, Harold and Maude, and Tokyo Tower, Me, Mom and Sometime Pop. Who do you look up to artist wise? Lately I look up Odani Motohiko’s amazing sculptures. I am also enjoying and inspired by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s installation pieces. Do you have any advice you would like to share with aspiring illustrators? Start now! Most people I know usually wait for their career till after graduating from college. I did various freelances, exhibitions and publications while I attended college full time. I kept myself busy and build career. If I began that after college, I would struggled and would’ve take another 5 years to get to where I am at now. Also I would be so frustrated that either going back to school or do something else.
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Concevoir ART
BRENDAN MONROE AN EXPLORATION OF WHAT MAY EXIST By Daniel Clarke
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48 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
“I’d like people to have the idea of the changing states of life and biology as well as opening up an investigation into the possibility of what exists.”
Monroe’s art, to say the least, presents a wondrous blend of whim and wonder. His gentle approach to the bizarre guides us to an abstract world of analogous colors. The mysteries of the microscopic world are transformed into an imaginative wonderland. His pictures display a variety of images resembling cellular structure, fibrous tissue, and flowing bloodstreams. Brendan Monroe and his wife are currently working out of a studio in Stockholm. However, as they only recently relocated Monroe’s art can still only be found in galleries in California. There will be an exhibit of his work at the Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, Ca October 17th, 2009 - November 14th, 2009. It says that you are moving to a new location 1/3 away around the world, where is your current studio, and where are you moving to and why? Yea, it’s been a sort of crazy summer for me. I’m currently in Berkeley and going to move to Stockholm. My wife was accepted to a grad program there, so we’ve been planning, moving and working at the same time. But I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to be an interesting change and an adventure. Stockholm is an awesome city, you are very lucky. I know you work with a lot of materials, but what are your favorite to work with? For painting, I like to work with acrylic on paper. I like to use watercolor paper and do a lot of layering with paint and color. One of my favorite results from this is the texture of the surface, it can be smooth, but deep at the same time. For sculpture, I like wood. Wood can be soft when carving and sanding, but also very strong and durable. When wood is finished it also has a really amazing inherent beauty in the grain. What message are you trying to convey through your artwork?
I wouldn’t call it a message. I would say it’s more like a mood or feeling. I’m always thinking of placing myself into my work and in that way I hope that others can almost go into it as well. I like to make living environments that I try and make as real as possible. I’d like people to have the idea of the changing states of life and biology as well as opening up an investigation into the possibility of what exists. Describe your design process... I like to draw ideas in sketchbook or scrap paper. Then I take those ideas and try and paint them on a larger paper. Usually though, in the process of painting a lot can change, even the complete idea can change. Once in a while I keep the same idea all the way through. What are you doing when you aren’t in the studio? I like gardening. It’s really relaxing to me and there is something about nurturing growth that’s also really rewarding. I also like cooking a lot, when I have time. What do you have planned for the rest of 2009? I have a show coming up in Los Angeles! This is something I’ve been working on since about March and I still have a bunch more to go. The show opens on October 17th at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica. I’m going to come back from Stockholm for it. Name some of your favorite musicians / bands... Mount Eerie, Smog, Daniel Johnston, Beatles, Laurel Aitkin, Alton Ellis, Zoe Keating, Michael Harrison, Stars of the Lid, Coleen. What were you like as a child? Hm, I think that’s a better question for my mom. But I’ll try the answer. I think I kept myself occupied with building things, discovering things and drawing stuff. I lived by the beach and used to go walking for hours through tide pools searching for little creatures. I also used to build tree forts and set booby traps for my little sister. My dad used to pay me for artwork, which was pretty cool of him, even though it was like 2 for a dollar.
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PICTURESQUE
IN YOUR DREAMS
PHOTOGRAPHER SEREZHA KOMAROV TELLS US ABOUT HER NEW SERIES By Brian Vu
54 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
PHOTOGRAPHY
Sasha, 25 years I saw this dream in the morning. I am sitting in the commision in the prison, that decides to let you free or no. Prisoners have to chose - the one, that will hurt himself more, than others, but will stay on the mood - will be free. The rest will stay in jail for 10 more years. So I’m sitting and watching, how a normal man is cutting himself somewhere near liver, nut even cutting he is shreding himself in despair - he is very scared, it is a great pain for him, but he doesn’t stop. Trying to calm down. And soon starts to do it once again. Cries in pain, and starts at once. 55
Elizabeth, 22 years. I always have strange dreams, where I can’t understand where my is exactly me, and whre me is sleeping. So not long ago I had a dream, where I fought with pilot and airplanes, they were crazy. I also had an airplane. But the main thing, that another me - the real me, new all the story, the script, and the story ended with my defeat. So I edited the story, like a movie, but it couldn’t help. So when we got to the place in the story, when something bad would happened, I knew it, so I changed myself with another me from reality and change the course of the story.... Oh, it was a long story with a happy end.
Andronik, 20 years. Till I was 13, I had one regular and continuous dream. My brother and I had two-storeyed bed, and it was right next to the window. So I am sleeping, and suddenly window opens and baba-yaga (russian witch from a fairy-tales) flies into my room, and takes me with her into the night. It was a regular dream, and every time I had it, there was something new, continuation. It was a scary dream. Sometime later I found how to know, that I am in a dream and control the situation. So I used this skill, and dreamed of girls.
Ilya, 16 years. When I was small, I had a lot of scary dreams. But they were not classical. The main fear was connected with infinity. For example - I’m walking through the well-known place, but there is no end of the road. Or we are returning home from the country house, and cant pass one village, all the way we are going throug it, and i can end. It was really scary.
Dasha, 22 years. In dreams, I usually have so many interesting events, that when I return to the reality can remember almost anything. But I can tell about the most mystical story. Here is one of them: I had a dream, where I’m at my grandmother’s house. It is countryside. Around the village only forest, fog, and storks. She had the nests of these birds, right near her window. I’m sitting next to the window, doing something with hands, probably drawing. And everything around me is like from my childhood: curtains, pussy willow, old TV, and even the smell around me is so familiar. And suddenly a dark power appears, something like Dart Wader, that wants to kidnap me and stretching to me. And at that very scary moment, I realize, that my granny is near me, she protects me, and everything is now calm and safe. The picture I was drawing was not finished...
Everyone has their own personal passion that begins to feel more like an extension of ourselves. For Serezha Komarov, photography is that passion. Komarov is a completely self taught photographer, but she does admit she’d like to work with different people. Ultimately Komarov’s goal is to become a director of photography.
How did you get into photography? When did you decide that you wanted to become a photographer? My girlfriend came back from a trip and brought an old USSR camera. Since summer 2005, it all started. It was like more for fun, than serious. A lot of things changed, photography been a passion of my life and now it is my big big love.
She recently teamed up with Objective Reality, a photography education website. What Komarov decided to do was the Dreams series. The Dream Series is a positive series of young humans dreaming of something magical and surreal. Niche recently got the chance to interview this talented photographer. Read on.
Are you self taught or were you trained? I’m absolutely self taught, changed a lot of cameras, made plenty experiments. Everything that I know and all the skills I have - I gained by myself. But to be honest, now I feel, that I want to be more open, to work together with different people, share experiences. But my main aim is to be a director of photography. This summer I finished my first education - a film producer,
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Misha, 22 years Here is my dream. I’m standing at the edge of the world, holding a reel - pulling the nets, that go to the dark under me.So i pull it and pull, pull and pull, and suddently pull out my own dead body. I’m coming closer to take a look at myself, so here am I, near face, and suddently a blue body opens its eyes. I am waking up.
and started to study second time on a cameraman department. What are you trying to accomplish through your photos? The answer on this questions is always floating. Today I can say that I try to capture, find, and gain the beauty around me, that is parallel to my soul. I am on my way from more documentary photography, to abstract, humanistic, surrealistic photography. Man, human is the most interesting thing for me at the moment.
How technical is your photography? Two last years I was practicing “simple” photography. Trying to capture the world around me. Trying to find that very moment and stop it. Emotions, feelings,
action was very important for me. Now so many thing are changing in my life. And my style and technical part of work is changing too. Tell us more about your Dreams series... I started it with the help of Objective reality (objectivereality.org - photography education). I had a task, to make a concept of serial portraits of young people. The awareness came later. I met with different people, and they showed me the way into their world. Dreams are something magical, it is one of those things, that we can’t explain at all. It is my favorite series, cause I can do it all my life - collect dreams of people around me, so I have big plans on it. I also like to do it on Horizontal camera, to make the exact panoramic frame. I don’t do it in postproduction.
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Ulyana, 21 years. Once in a dream, my friend decided to study stomatology. I helped her to do some organization tasks. The strangest thing was the uniform, unique for each subject. We had special pictures with examples: silver knitted jacket with sequins, dress from 80s, etc., everything was so colored. And the woman, who gave us such uniform said, that nowadays it is so trendy to be a stomatologist, if you know what I’m saying. And with that bag of uniforms we went home. On the way home a strange man followed us. We started to run, he started too, then we shoot at him with our laser-gunfingers. My friend run faster, and this man caught me and I woke up.
Misha, 23 years. When you can see yourself, your hands in a dream - it means, that you know that you are in a dream. You watch your dream, from the first person. In such dreams one part of you watches the dream, but another can control and imagine the scenario of dream. Sometimes the action is in slow motion, you can see your hands is not in focus, or the effect like image in the film is going down, shifting. When I started to see such dreams, I started to control dreams, started to use jumping skills. My jumps became more and more long, then suddenly I found, that I can fly or almost fly, through and over the obstacles...
Marcelo, 13 years. After I watched the series on Discovery, where a cool guy shows how to survive in very hard conditions. I found myself on an uninhabited island, where I used his methods to save my life. I hunted on a wild boar, fished with handmade equipment on a river Zambezi. And in the end I climbed on a mountain and the helicopter took me home.
Kolya, 21 years. I had a dream, where we were sitting with governor of California - Arnold Schwarzneger, we talked in english. And in the end I asked him: “what can you say about my english?”, and he relpied to me in russian, but I couldn’t understand a word. So I woke up with a feeling, that my english is much more better, than russian of Terminator!
PICTURESQUE
66 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
PHOTOGRAPHY
OPEN INTERPRETATION MATHEW SCOTT SHOWS PEOPLE HOW HE SEES THE WORLD By Ritu Ghiya
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Insightful describes Mathew Scott’s style perfectly. His photographs take everyday scenes and turn them into in depth reflections on human nature itself.
job to know how and what everything does, but when its just myself, its pretty lo-tech, just film, and my camera.
Scott’s projects include “The Book of Mathew,” a personal endeavor documenting the social landscape of America, and “Observing: Venice,” a portfolio filled with portraits taken at Los Angeles’ own Venice Beach. We got to sit down with him to discuss his affinity for color, open areas, and future projects.
Is there something that you want people to take from your photography? It’s open to interpretation...I know thats a vague answer, but thats really the best way I can put it.
Where are you from? I am originally from Portland, Oregon, then I lived in San Francisco for nine years, and Now I reside in Santa Monica... For now. How did you get into photography and why did you want to pursue it? I have always been into art- I started out as a graffiti artist, which lead to studying painting. I then moved on to graphic design, and finally settled on photography. No matter what I was doing in school, I always took a random photo class to get access to the darkroom. After a while, I realized Photography was the only thing that never got boring for me, so I went with it. Can you recall the first photo you took that gave you the WOW factor? It was in high-school. It was the first time I had used a medium format camera. I shoot a portrait of this gutter punk kid in downtown Portland, and he had this rat on his shoulder. I shot it in B/W, and after I printed it, I was blown away at the detail and crispness of the image, before that I had been shooting cheap 35 mm cameras provided by my school. I realized then what I can do with a camera. How technical is your photography? That really varies- I have a good knowledge of the technology, and the new fancy tools that are always coming out, but I like to keep things simple. On a big job, things are obviously more advanced, and its my
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What are you trying to accomplish through the lens? In my personal work, I am trying to show others how I see the world, my point of view. I like to take ordinary people, and scenes, and put them on display, and get the attention they would not normally get in the fast paced, every day world. Your photos include very deep shaded colors, what does color mean to you? Color is everything. It controls the mood, it guides your eye throughout the image- It is very important to me. What are some of your favorite locations to shoot? I like open areas- places not so traveled, outside of the city. I like places where the city seems to border nature. Its not always about the location, as it is about the time of day. When I get the perfect location, and the sun is just right, thats when I feel the most inspired. What do you have planned for the rest of 2009? I am starting to shoot more commercial work, advertising jobs, editorial assignments. So far, 09 has been one of my most productive years to date. Some of your favorite photographers are... A short list would be... Bill Owens, Stephen Shore, Larry Sultan, Todd Hido, Alec Soth, Joel Sternfeld, Nadav Kander, Robert Adams, William Eggleston, Robert Frank, Richard Avedon, Arnold Newman, Philip- Lorca diCorcia, Larry Clark.
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Concevoir
DESIGN
MARCO DESSI FUNCTIONALITY MEETS INGENUITY By Brian Vu
78 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
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ence about ri e p x e e th ade transfer to a table m in decided to , I , re rd tu a c o u b str rd sition. to a stable ise with ca folding po e th e After exerc nding sheet materials n fi e ddibe rooved to d ed aluminium.They a d g n a is g l a in ri ld te fo ld ma inium.The d into the fo t. out of alum re inserted and bolte en rcing elem gs a fo le in n re e d a o f o o W tion ve the func tionally ha O
I PINOCCH
PRATER CHAIR The idea for this chair comes by reflecting traditional Viennese chairs. The rigorous approach and the playful details of these have been reinterpreted in a contemporary way. The chair is made of plywood with black phenolic-resinglue between the layers. The single parts are CNC milled and assembled. By milling, the glue becomes visible which gives the strong graphical impact.
Concevoir
DESIGN
MY AMENIT Y NATURALLY FUNCTIONAL By Brian Vu
BiOrb life P60 Set apart from anything else on the market, the designer aquariums feature a crystal clear acrylic front and back and are finished with seamless gloss coloured acrylic wrap. Available in three striking colours; chilli red, ice white or piano black, the handmade range are a unique must have item for 2009. Each aquarium within the Collection has a unique advanced slim line Intelligent LED Light that provides an automatic 24 hour lighting cycle, including a natural gradual sunrise, sunset and blue moonlight. This sophisticated lighting system provides a healthier environment for the fish and fascinating night-time viewing for the owner. Available in three sizes – a 30 litre square style and a 45 and 60 litre portrait style, the new Collection incorporates the biOrb’s advanced filtration system keeping the water cleaner and clearer for longer, providing a healthy habitat for fish.
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Magno Desktop Set 6 The Indonesian designer Singgih Kartono who won with wooden radio numerous international prices of creation and ecological engagement (among other things Brit design Award in 2009 mark of design Award Japan in 2008) formed within the scope of his design series “MAGNO” a beautifully designed and handmade desk set that he makes in his workshop in Temanggung, Central Java under socially friendly conditions. Wood is the most important material in the work of the Indonesian designer, because it is “a living material”. In approx. 4 hours handmade originate from an attractive combination of East Indian rosewood and mahogany to wood • Pen-card-envelope holder • Envelope opener • Tape dispenser • Mini stapler • Cutter For his products Kartono falls back on the plantation wood which comes from the immediate surroundings of his workshop. This excludes the relation of uncontrolled wood. To compensate the consumption of the raw materials also in the long term, the workshop encloses even a tree school which distributes free of charge seedlings to the inhabitants of the village
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DESIGN
MATHIAS HAH N REWORKING THE CLASSICS By Ritu Ghiya
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Originality. Functionality. Innovation. Industrial designer Mathias Hahn flawlessly satisfies the need for aestheticism and practicality through all of his projects. His pieces do not only work as actual furniture but also look like art. His identity as a personal designer and as a professional designer in the acclaimed Okay Studio has been gaining momentum in the industry and design business. And we had the opportunity to sit down with him to discuss his projects, philosophy, and love for pumpkin seeds. Tell us about where you are from and your job‌ I am living in London since a while now, but originally I am from Germany. I studied at the University of Essen and graduated there as an Industrial Designer. In 2004 I came to London to do a second degree at the Royal College of Art, studying in the Design Products course under Ron Arad. Finishing the RCA in 2006 I was one of the six founding members OKAYstudio, a London based Design Collective. Since then I am working both, directly with industry and on self initiated projects in the field of Product Design. How did you get into the field? I initially started getting into Design by doing a lot of illustration for several jobs already at a young age. I was thinking of becoming a Graphic Designer and worked in a couple of advertising companies. At some point I got the task to work on some furniture for one of the clients, and realised that I would like to combine the 2 dimensional process with the work on physical objects and functional topics. That was when I switched to Industrial Design, and started working towards becoming a Product Designer. Can you tell us about Okay Studio?
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We started the studio right after the RCA, where we all studied together in the same course. Initially, we were a bunch of friends with different backgrounds and ambitions, trying to create an environment for ourselves, to continue with our work. This meant foremost, finding a space and setting up a workshop and studio together. Since the beginning, we did not have any kind of manifesto or theoretical framework, the idea was simply to create the right environment, where we could work as a collective formed from individual Designers. (And this probably is still the only directive for us.) We never intended to create a brand or identity, and are not a company or joined business. However, when we had the chance for an exhibition in Cologne early 2007, we needed to come up with a name for ourselves, and created OKAYstudio. Since then we generated quite some interest in our work, and managed to set up several group exhibitions alongside our individual activities. After last year’s successful OKAYstudio exhibition at the ARAM gallery in London, we will present another exhibition of the group featuring some invited friends, during the London Design Festival this September. Describe your design process? The way I approach projects varies a lot, according to the nature of the topic, and purpose of it. In my opinion the process is not about, what medium to use, or what tool to apply, it is rather an attitude towards the subject. For my own way of working, it is a mixture of playful experiment and functional thinking. I usually have in mind what the product is for, and what it is, that I want it to do. Having a natural interest in materials and manufacturing processes, this includes working a lot with models and material from the early stage. Therefore a lot of the process is defined by experimenting and working straight with physical models. This is the same for working with engineers
on manufacturing techniques for production as well as doing mock-ups and experiments on individual projects. It does not matter if I work in a production site, trying to implement new ideas into the existing framework, or if I am in the workshop, experimenting in the small scale. The nature of the process remains the same, and is a lot about experimenting, observing, and the curiosity for how things work. On the day-today basis while being with the guys in the studio, I got credited with the reputation of being annoyingly focused on details when it comes to design, I guess this part of the story as well… What is your design philosophy? In design terms a lot of my interest is focused on generating objects that have a place in a real life context. To make things that are going to be used in everyday life. The interesting bit for me lies within the realities of mass manufacturing and experimental design. There is a lot of discussion going on about differentiating industrially manufactured product design on the one hand, and more experimental approaches towards design on the other. For me this separation does not make a lot of sense, as they both describe the same thing in a different context. Working on a one-off production to explore a topic, or experimenting with manufacturing techniques for the mass market, can both be incredibly enriching for the whole process. The personal preference for the results of this process for me is the object, that allows to serve. What are some tools or software that you use everyday? There is a broad variety of tools I am using, and I always try to find out about new ones, as every project demands a different set of skills. I basically switch a lot between concepts and ideas on paper/computer, and the hands-on approach of testing those ideas in
models or mock-ups. But it also may be that it works the other way around. I might hit on an interesting topic while working in the workshop, and then go back to the drawing board. The most essential tool to me still is the sketch, and I think it is very important to be able to work with the minimal equipment of paper and pen. But in the end, it would be impossible for me to design the way I want, without having a workshop and 3D/2D software at hand. Also, I think it makes no sense to artificially separate the computer based tools from the traditional ones, preaching for one or the other. At times it can be the best, to get a rapid prototyped model, and go to the workshop to amend and change it… …often realising, it is time to go back to the sketchbook again... … and making another cardboard mock-up… What was the first product that you designed? I remember building a switchboard for a ‘machine that could do anything’, when I was in my grandmother’s house. What is your audience that you are appealing to? And what are you trying to accomplish through design? I am not sure who my audience is, but I try to make things that can be used in people’s everyday life. If someone appreciates an object for what it is, or the way it works, and this leads to someone enjoying the use of it for a long time without needing something new, this is exactly what I am hoping for. Describe a normal day in the life of Mathias Hahn… I never know what the day brings, but many days involve a match of table football in the studio… Lastly, What are you currently obessessed with? Right now it is peeling and eating pumpkin seeds. My
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A TRUE POP STAR
KUMISOLO IS NOT AFRAID TO ADMIT HER LOVE FOR POP MUSIC
By Brian Vu Photography By Hélène Giansily
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It may not be considered fashionable to listen to Pop music today as it was in the nineties, but one musician, Kumisolo is an exception. Kumi Okamoto is not afraid to admit her love for the genre proving that she only has good intentions. As Kumi explains, “I don’t have much ambition to transmit a message or something, but I hope people who listen to my music will be cheerful. It’s like when you eat fruits and you say - I do something good to my health. I hope my music is like fruits for listeners.” Currently, Okamoto lives in France, where she has lived since 2001. In France, she met O. Lamm, one of her many collaborators. O. Lamm played a huge part in Kumisolo’s arrangements. The two have a close relationship because they have similar tastes in Pop music. They often exchanged Japanese eighties idol or bossa nova songs. Recently, Kumisolo has collaborated with Portland based musicians Yacht for a remix of Dance Music. As she describes the experience, “My friend Mehdi aka ‘shobo shobo’ who did the artwork for my album jacket introduced me Jona from Yacht and since, we kept in touch. When they came to Paris, I asked him to record his voice for the introduction of my album. I also asked him to remix my single and he agreed! I realized that I was so lucky to meet Jona. He is just wonderful.” Kumi discusses a few things that fans may not know about her is that the T-shirts were handmade by herself, she lives with her cat, she plays the trumpet, and loves Mario Kart.
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AA BONDY
COMBINING FOLK AND BLUES
By Tiara Chiaramonte
A.A. Bondy’s latest album release, “When the Devil’s Loose” is a modern take to folk and blues that would please any listener from the discerning music enthusiast to the casual music fan. Each song on this new album is raw and thought provoking. Bondy truly shows his range as an experienced musician with songs that are not only musically rich but, lyrically as well. Niche recently sat down with Bondy to discuss his music, nature, and newest album. Bondy is a realistic man who understands the difficulties in the music business but, realizes ultimately the only person he has to please with his music is himself, close friends, and family.
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Tell me what you find challenging about being a musician... Umm I don’t know I guess thinking about it too much is a problem. Sometimes you make records and all the songs are kind of like handed to you and things can go down relatively easy. The hardest thing is staying in that space where you can kind of conduct what’s coming to you. Channeling it through the paper. Getting out and playing that’s just the job part. And also really, not staying closed off. It is a business certain aspects of it are aspects of it you don’t wake up finding yourself wanting to do. It’s a job. Everybody’s goes through phases where they can’t stand what they’re doing but I don’t feel like that way a lot of time. That’s one of the things you gotta get that muscle good and strong and it depends on why you’re making music. On the whole what they’re trying to do is sell records and get that kind of success and then there’s other people who are going to do whatever it is they feel to do at the time and hopefully they’ll make a living at it. A lot of people forget that there’s people there to help you get somewhere they’re not people that have to be pleased to let you through the gate. I’ve been through both sides of that. I want people that I care about to like the record you have to be ready to do whatever you want to do regardless of whether anybody likes it or not. How was your tour with Conor Oberst? It was really fun. A lot of good guys. And a couple guys that were out with them I knew for a long time. It was pretty laid back.
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If you could only listen to three songs before you die what would they be? I don’t know that I would necessarily listen to music. I’d lay on the beach and watch the waves come in or watch some fireworks I don’t know that I could project myself into a place where three songs left to live what would they would be I can’t imagine what would that feel like. How is it different from being in Verbena to your solo project? We just stopped playing together. We kind of killed that horse. We didn’t give the horse away we killed it. And so you know when I stopped I was over it. It took awhile for things to re-order themselves to make things because I felt like making them. A lot of it was getting my head turned around with making records for big record labels. And I just didn’t want to fool with it anymore. And at sometime point I realized didn’t have to be like it was. Whatever it is, the most important thing is that you’re as happy as you can be with whatever you did. Otherwise you end up with a record that doesn’t sell anything that you’re not happy with. I love the sound of your music, it’s very bluesy and folk what are some of your inspiration for your sound and music? Umm… I’m not sure that I know anymore, you know, I don’t know how to explain it kind of late night umm… birds... Umm… sometimes just music. I don’t really notice as much as other things. When somebody talks or laughs stuff that I’m not
always aware when it happens. I find it hard to just give off a list of people of music. What growth do you see between American Hearts and When the Devil’s Loose? I like it. I guess there are some nerves in putting something out there that you’ve made. I don’t think I grew on it much between the two. That’s probably the only thing. I like it. I’ve gotten to a place where I don’t listen to things once I finish them. I like playing them after their done and figuring out what they can be. You kind of labor over this thing in the studio it takes away from how you would feel about that stuff. The best moments are when you record it live and hear it back if it’s good I leave it alone. It’s hard you’ll never be able to experience it like everybody else does. It’d be interesting to do that. Seeing as that’s never going to happen unless I get amnesia. So I don’t feel much growth. I loved the lyrics for “When the Devil’s Loose” what was your inspiration for it? Well, it’s kind of funny I wrote that song for my ex brother in law’s band. I was staying for awhile in New York. And I’d be writing son in their kitchen every morning. And they recorded it originally it was “Don’t go Around with the Devil’s News” they thought it was loose and I thought that sounded better. There was really no big plan behind it.
inspiration? Do you like vampires? Why the choice of spelling vampire with a “y” instead of the traditional “i”? I think it might be the original spelling as far as the spelling goes. I think I did it to not do it with an “I.” That song was written a long time ago. I got a text message about me trying to market on all the vampire stuff going on lately. But, there’s always a lot of vampire stuff going on. It’s a subject nobody’s tired of. It’s a more realistic take on the vampires as opposed to beautiful teenage vampires. I wrote that song and I don’t remember writing it. It came out over a period of time. Sometimes you just get songs. You don’t pay attention to it. It’s umm… yeah. That’s kind of what it is. There’s a song about werewolves it kind of takes the same perspective of werewolves that I did on vampires. Not the fantastic Hollywood idea. The song is more about the woes of being vampires. What got you into music? I feel like there were always instruments around when I was growing up but I never leaned into it that hard at the time I would just pick things up here and there. I started playing guitar at 16 that’s the age that everybody starts doing it. Played in bands had record deals all that kind of garbage. I kind of ducked out for a couple years. I didn’t really think I was going to do anything else. I just ended up with a bunch of songs. And started it going again.
The song, “Oh the Vampyre” was fantastic. Classic folk style story telling. What was your
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VIA TANIA
AUSTRALIAN-BORN TANIA BOWERS TAKES ON AMERICA By Elizabeth Field Photography By Colleen Durkin
“Through a series of many events over the years, hundreds of enlightening moments and a handful of pennies dropping” Tania Bowers became the musician Via Tania. Tania’s latest album, Moon Sweet Moon, is eccentric and wonderful reminiscent of her own personal fashion sense. But, this polished album posed quite a challenge for her in the studio. As she explains, “One day, I will record in a week in one place with one band. This was the opposite of that. ‘Moon Sweet Moon, the difficult second album’ which is a true cliché for me. But now that it’s its own thing, I try not to judge it. I really do feel like it doesn’t belong to me anymore, still, I am proud of it.” This album also had difficulties with the song writing process as Tania said, “Sometimes the songwriting process is like pulling teeth, and sometimes it just pops out. I’m not a disciplined person. I am more a product of my environment.” Regardless, of the troubles that may have occurred in the process of making her latest album, Via Tania is a sensational artist. She continues to gain world-wide recognition that is well deserved.
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How long have you been making music for? Forever it seems. I started pretty earnestly when I was 14 . It was a band with my old sister Kim, my cousin Sharmin and myself. We were called KI-TA-SHA get it? We still sing those songs and crack up , there was some awesome shit in there. If you weren’t a musician, what would you be? I still would flit about doing lots of different things but by this point I think I would have been an art director for photo shoots / campaigns or really imaginative TV shows / movies . How did you, Tania Bowers become Via Tania? Through a series of many events over the years, hundreds of enlightening moments and a handful of pennies dropping! Basically when the teenage years set in, music was the thing that kept me excited about life. There was also general expression and a need to close my bedroom door to the world, but sticking with it and realizing that writing songs was the best thing to do ever , sort of led it to pave it’s own way. The ‘Via’ part is really to avoid any responsibility. Can you tell us about your new album - Moon Sweet Moon? Were there any challenges in making the album? If so, what were they? I can! Mooners was a totally insane undertaking. One day I will record in a week in one place with one band. This was the opposite of that. But I hope that it conveys a little of what I was thinking the past few years. My friends always kid with me ‘ Moon Sweet Moon the difficult second album’ which is a true cliché for me. But now that it’s its own thing, I try not to judge it. I really do feel like it doesn’t belong to me anymore, still, I am still proud of it. It’s nice to finish something! But just so you have a quick run down it involved all of these things: Chicago. Moving. Melbourne. Writing. Confusion. Grant winning. A year. Chicago again. France. London. Iceland. Back to Melbourne. More recording. More writing. Gigs. New musicians. Old musicians. Another year. Break-ups . Chicago again. Reinvention. Patchwork songs. A year or two. Bits and pieces. Memories. Wondering. Hoping. Texas. Re-recording. Discovering. Finishing. How does Chicago inspire you? I like being around people that do lots of stuff and do it well. I try and surround myself with people that are
more skilled, more interesting, more educated and more dedicated than me. Chicago has a lot of those types. It’s been good training. Describe your songwriting process... Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth and sometimes it just pops out you know? I’m not a disciplined person. I am more of a product of my environment. So my ‘work’ really goes into my environment and setting up the day for inspiration. I don’t sit in front of musical instruments for hours on end. I try to visit them often but they are in short bursts. Repetitive though. Obsessively repetitive. Things going on in the back of my mind for days before they come to the front. Sometimes the melodies are there but I have nothing to say so I just wait till I do. You have a unique sense of fashion and makeup, how would you describe the way you dress? Totally random. I like so many different kinds of things. I’m usually a lot more impressed with style than fashion. How things are put together over any one garment. And I love history of course. I will sit through terrible movies if they are period pieces I probably take in clothing and decor from movies as much as the story line. I remember certain relatives in my family growing up who had serious style passion and are always making things. It was definitely passed down to me, that side of things. What do you think music nowadays needs more and less of? I can’t believe Auto-tuning the hell out of something has been done consistently since that Cher song ( I just googled it ) in 1998 people. What are you currently addicted to? Odwalla Carrot Juice has been on sale at the Dominick’s by my house for about a year. One day it is going to go back to it’s real price, and initially I did buy it because it was on sale, but now I am seriously addicted. I’m a bit sad when it’s not in the fridge when I open it. In fact just writing about it , I am going to have to go over there and get some. Lastly, do you have anything else planned for the rest of 2009? Getting hitched! Writing a ton more songs to record. Getting to know a new synthesizer I just bought.
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A NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
NATIVE TEXANS, BALMORHEA, DESCRIBE THEIR MUSICAL INSPIRATION By Elizabeth Field
A rustic orchestra teeming with sounds of the Deep South seamlessly blending classical, folk rock, and experimentalism. The band Balmorhea accomplishes such an eclectic blend of music as they note, “We are interested in broadening genre lines. We enjoy being able to fit partly into many genres, but not squarely in any single one.” Their third album, All is Wild, All is Silent, is clear evidence of that they are capable of combining many genres of music. It was created to be a loose narrative based on the journals of an early Texas settler and his quest for new land and new life. Balmorhea also explores different human emotions their music. This allows their listeners to perceive a range of emotions from fright to awe. The band has created an album ranging from simple ambience to understated post-rock tendencies. As Balmorhea explains their music, “Our music is an extension of ourselves. Our aim is simply to create music through which the listener may be able to come closer to basic human emotions such as the grandeur of beauty, grief and love. Music, and especially instrumental music, is rare in the fact that it can illicit unwarranted reactions to its stimuli and honestly alter our perceptions. That fact alone is reason for our involvement.”
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How did you form as a band? Rob Lowe and myself (Michael Muller) met working at a summer camp and when we both ended up in Austin for school and work we realized we had an odd aesthetic similarity in our musical tastes from which our friendship bloomed. We each had some songs written before Balmorhea began (Rob even self-releasing a limited run of hand-made discs under his own name). One day we began tinkering with our respective solo works until they became our self-released and eponymous record in late 2007. From there, members, instruments and ideas were expanded. How would you describe your sound to a stranger? A mixture of classical, folk, rock and experimentalism. We are interested in broadening genera lines. We enjoy being able to fit partly in many genres, but not squarely in any single one. So the best way to describe the sound would be a description of the instruments that make the sound. We make music with piano, acoustic guitars, banjo, electric guitars, a three-piece string section and drums. What are you trying to accomplish through music? Our music is an extension of ourselves (as with every musician), tending to be influenced by the people, landscapes and emotions in and around us. Our aim is
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simply to create music through which the listener may be able to come closer to basic human emotions such as the grandeur of beauty, grief and love. We simply create music that reflects ourselves and if a listener can glean insight into their own lives or be moved on a tangible level, then we are thrilled to connect in that way. Music, and especially instrumental music, is rare in the fact that it can illicit unwarranted reactions to its stimuli and honestly alter our perceptions. That fact alone is reason enough for our involvement. Describe your song writing process... Rob and myself create ideas or melodies. We will bring the idea to the other, work out a basic structure, then bring in our wonderful string section who will improvise until they or we hear what will eventually be written as their part for the song. We have done complete collaboration while rehearsing as well as even writing simple pieces in the studio amidst recording. It seems to work best for us though, to write, rehearse, play live, rehearse some more, and then record; as the songs need time and space to solidify their own intricacies and accents. How is your latest album All is Wild, All is Silent different from your previous one, Rivers Arms? AIW, AIS was more thought out and was created with
a narrative structure in mind, whereas Rivers Arms was a collection of songs from over the course of a year of writing and playing live. AIW, AIS was based from the journals of an early Texas settler and his quest for a new land and new life, all the while being perplexed, frightened and in awe of his new surroundings. The allegory carries over to our everyday existence of leaving comfort and familiarity for the allure and majesty of the unknown. The song sequence follows a loose fictional narrative of this character, but was left open enough to allow for multiple interpretations by the listener. Tell us about your current Remixes album for All is Wild, did you handpick these artists to remake your songs? If so, why did you choose them? The remix project was an idea we had because so many of our friends and musical colleagues collaborate and encourage each other’s projects so much. We thought it’d be a fun experiment to have some of our dearest friends and musical cohorts lend their touch to our recordings. We asked each artist individually if they had any interest in the project based on previous work they had done. And to our joyful bemusement, they all said yes. The remixing artist was then given the original recordings and asked to choose a track to remix. Each of the remixing artists share a similar
aesthetic, and as a whole the group was able to take what we had created and discover a new element to the work. Some songs were just restructured, some added to, some taken away from and some completely scrapped and rerecorded. The process of working with each artist and glancing into a vision of how each sees or hears the world was and is very special indeed. Who are your main influences - music wise? Each of our members have loads of musical influences. Spanning from contemporary minimalist music such as Arvo Pärt and Philip Glass, to roots American music such as Townes Van Zandt and Gillian Welch, to the great composers, some of today’s indy bands and everything in between. What do you have planned for the rest of 2009? We have just finished a French feature-length film score with original music as well as for a short film for some Austin filmmakers. We will take a couple months to relax and begin writing new material before a European tour in October and readying our next full-length, which is tentatively slated for a late February release on Western Vinyl. After that, more touring, more music making, more touring, and on and on it goes.
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FYF FEST
INDEPENDENT LA FESTIVAL BOOKED FROM A LIVING ROOM By Lisa Bielsik Photography By Brian Vu
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The Thermals
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No Age
In 2004, the first Fuck Yeah Fest was booked independently by Sean Carlson in his living room with the help of Carlson’s friend, Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks), the two were able to successfully book the festival each year without even getting together. For the past five year’s Fuck Yeah Fest has taken place annually in Echo Park. But, this year the festival moved to the Los Angeles Historic Park in order to raise awareness for state parks. The location this year caused the festival to be referred to as “FYF Fest”. The lineup this year contained a mixture of artists that had an appeal to a similar genre of music. One of the major draws of the festival was that artists like Converge, Cold Cave, Lightning Bolt, and The Dillinger Escape Plan rarely play shows in the LA area and many people came solely to see those sets. Woods, a lo-fi folk band, took the Redwood stage second. Although most people had not come to the festival that early there was still a small crowd that was lucky enough to be there for their set. While many people are not be familiar with Woods yet their impressive live performance and the 2009 release Songs of Shame, will help to spread the word about this great band. This year had a volunteer program for anyone who was willing to help educate guests about local organizations. And between sets, guests were able to spend time shopping for records at the Origami Vinyl tent, or check out the books Stories bookstore had to offer. Towards the end of the night as the crowds began to grow weary No Age revived everyone with their energetic performance. They got the crowd moving and gave an awesome show. There was only one big disappointment of the night and it was that Dan Deacon dropped off the lineup on short notice but overall FYF fest was a very enjoyable experience with some amazing bands.
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Wavves
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Woods
Mika Miko
Times New Viking
Crescendo
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OUTSIDE LANDS A HISTORIC AND INSPIRING PLACE FOR MUSICIANS AND FANS TO MEET By Lisa Bielsk Photography By Brian Vu
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Bat For Lashes
Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band
It is not often that a city park gets completely shut down but, on August 28, 2009 San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park was closed to the public in order to hold the second annual Outside Lands music festival. Golden Gate Park is a prominent landmark in the city of San Francisco. Residents take pride in the rectangular, 1,017-acre park located in between the Richmond and Sunset districts. The historical value of the park was truly highlighted and appreciated because to the festival. “It’s fucking inspiring to be here,” Matt Johnson of indie pop duo, Matt & Kim, remarked while on stage.
natives, The Dodos. The Dodos played on the Sutro stage, which featured tribal-esque artwork from the New Jersey-born artist, Matt Leines. Despite not being very familiar with the Dodos music their set was completely enjoyable. After checking out The Dodos, I headed to the main stage, Lands End, to see the Silversun Pickups. The band pleased the crowed by playing their well-known singles in addition to the fans’ catchy favorites off their last two albums. Day 2
Other performers paid their respect for the park and its beauty by advising their fans to dispose of trash and to keep the park clean. Directors of the festival even separated the recyclables from other waste by placing designated containers throughout the park.
The majority of my time on Saturday was spent watching back-to-back sets on the Panhandle Solar stage. I arrived just in time for Portugal. The Man, an experimental indie rock group from Alaska. The multitalented group was surprisingly entertaining live.
Day 1
Next was Bat for Lashes, who I had heard a lot of acclaim about. I was highly anticipating the set and it exceeded my expectations. The crowd was unable to keep their eyes off of front woman, Natasha Khan because of her captivating voice and dance moves. Khan made for one of the best sets I saw at the festival with her mix of ambient and electronic music.
The Southern California heat had followed us to the bay area upon our arrival on Friday afternoon. The unusual bay area weather had reached the high 90’s, a record heat for this year. Despite the fact that no one was really comfortable with the heat, the first day had an impressive turn out. I chose to start off my day watching San Francisco
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Deerhunter playing was quite a highlight at the festival for me. They started off their set by playing the title
track off their first album, Cryptograms, but the majority for their set contained songs off their most recent full-length release, Microcastle. One thing surprising thing was that they did not play any noise during their set like they typically do. In addition to the music, the festival provided many other programs in tents. My favorite tent feature was The Beatles Rock Band tent, where attendees were allowed to preview the game on stage. Day 3 Sunday was surprisingly very cold and gloomy compared to the day before. First set I watched was Atmosphere on the Twin Peaks Stage. He had the whole crowd chanting “God Loves Ugly” back at him from the first song. Atmosphere’s crowd participation added to the energy of his set. The next highlight took place of the day took place on the same stage. The Dead Weather which features members of The White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, The Raconteurs, and The Kills. I had heard of this band described simply as “Jack White’s new band”, but they go far beyond that label. The talent amongst the members reciprocated perfectly creating a solid alternative rock set.
Brooklyn, New York. My initial plan was to only watch a part of their set but, by the first song I knew I had to stay the entire time. The poppy duo was genuinely happy to be there. I recognized their single, ‘Daylight’, which they played even better live. The crowd loved Matt’s witty remarks and Kim’s craziness. Next was Modest Mouse and I have always been a fan of their older music so I was skeptical about their set because they would probably play new music. Fortunately, the majority of the songs they played were off of The Moon & Antarctica and Good News For People Who Love Bad News. While some people may be disappointed that they did not play their singles, I was happy to hear them play older songs like ‘Dramamine’. Some might argue that M.I.A. disappointed them live, but I would passionately defend her because I was personally surprised by how much I enjoyed her set. She egged the crowd on through the set by tossing out glow-in-the-dark horns and encouraging them to throw their hands in the air. It was truly impressive how organized this festival was in its’ second year. The wide variety of musical genres featured would leave any avid music fan of any genre completely satisfied.
Another pleasant surprise was Matt & Kim from
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The Dead Weather
The Dodos
Atmosphere
MIA
The Morning Benders
Matt & Kim
Modest Mouse
Crescendo
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M C SI U
STREET SCENE
THE 25TH YEAR ANNIVERARY BRINGS AN ECLECTIC AND MEMORABLE LINEUP By Tiara Chiaramonte Photography By Nick Asokan and Chris Bernal
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Band Of Horses
Black Eyed Peas
Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band
The downtown of a major metropolitan city may not seem like the best place to hold music festival but, Street Scene proves it can be done and done very well. Every year downtown San Diego closes down entire streets in the middle of their city to host Street Scene, a music festival with an eclectic mix of bands ranging from indie bands, pop stars, and even famed rap artists. Day 1 When I arrived to Street Scene the weather was warm and breezy and we were ready to embark on a two day musical journey that started with Devendra Banheart. The indie folk star had broken his rib at an earlier show and was unable to stand during his set so in order to compensate Little Joy’s Rodrigo Amarante accompanied him on stage. Despite the physical setbacks Devendra gave a strong set that moved the audience to dance from his opening song with “Little Yellow Spider” to his closing “Carmensita.”
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Next I walked over to the Casbah stage which had the dynamic duo Matt & Kim and the indie band Deerhunter playing back to back. Matt & Kim gave an energetic performance and the fans went wild when they played their single “Daylight.” Deerhunter performed with a nonchalant grace and even casually smoked a cigarette on stage. After Deerhunter, I rushed to the second main stage Fulana to see Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band’s set. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley band gave truly amazing and memorable set. The band even brought Rilo Kiley’s lead singer Jenny Lewis onstage to perform a rare performance of Rilo Kiley’s hit song, “Portion for Foxes.” Backstage after the performance we had the pleasure of briefly meeting some of the band members of Conor Oberst, Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, and the drummer of Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley band and Rilo Kiley, Jason Boesel. Modest Mouse played the next set on the Fulana
Stage and their set was very well performed and passionate although they did not play any singles some casual fans might have been excited for. The night finally ended with the Black Eyed Peas who opened with their hit song “Let’s Get it Started” which truly pumped up the crowd. Day 2 The second day of Street Scene started with the famous nineties rap group Public Enemy on the Fulana stage. While they gave an entertaining performance of some of their classic songs, Flavor Flav arrived late which made every performance following thirty minutes off schedule. After Public Enemy the following act on the adjacent main stage Fulano was the indie band Of Montreal. While there were some initial sound problems the band made up for it with their unique performance consisting of stage actors in costumes and creative outfits.
Faint on the Zarabanda stage. They gave a surreal, energetic, and passionate performance that made every member of the audience sway and dance during their set. I then rushed to the following band on the Fulana stage the Silversun Pickups. They had a very impressive set containing everything from their famous singles like Lazy Eye but also had a good mix of their older music. The final band we saw that night was the highlight of the day was Jack White’s newest band The Dead Weather. The band’s lead singer Alison Mosshart, originally from the Kills, was amazing. She channeled the energy of a sixties rock star kicking things over on stage and even smoking a cigarette while singing. White played the drums surprisingly well for most of the set. While White sang one song it was clear he was giving the stage to Mosshart who stole the show. By the end of Street Scene I left the two day music festival extremely exhausted but also very musically satisfied.
As a result to the time delays caused by Public Enemy we had to leave Of Montreal’s set early to see the
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Deerhunter
Devendra Banhart
The Faint
The Dead Weather
Matt & Kim
Public Enemy
Silversun Pickups
Concevoir
ART VISIT
REGULAR
VINTAGE THAT FUSES ROCK N’ ROLL AND DISCO By Lisa Bielsik Photography By Brian Vu
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“If we could sum up our store, we would do it with the song ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’ by KISS because we’re rock n roll, but disco at the same time.”
Your typical teenager does not typically have a successful business but when Dana Harvey Jr. was only nineteen years old he opened the Go!Rilla gallery and store in Santa Ana, CA with the help of his eighteen year old girlfriend, Melissa Redman. The two were able to host events at their gallery and meet many influential people including Brian Chor. Chor became a close friend and together, ideas began forming amongst all three of them. Eventually, Harvey became sick of running a gallery and dealing with artists and wanted to start a clothing line. Unfortunately, there was not enough funding to begin such a venture into the fashion industry. But, after some creative thinking the Go!Rilla team all realized how much they enjoyed vintage shopping and decided to open a vintage clothing store. After growing up poor the three developed many skills in picking out unique vintage pieces and it helped that in the past few years vintage clothing had become increasingly popular. Together, they started spontaneously collecting a mixture of weird items. They began storing the items they’d found at the gallery and eventually collected $300 worth of merchandise. The idea of starting a vintage store came naturally after that. The three only had $3,000 to get started but they spent the money wisely. At first they started off with the vintage finds they had stored at the gallery. They also sold records out of their own collections. Each contributed to the store’s stock and continued to shop vintage. The name “Regular” came as an epiphany. “The name ties into our love for The Smiths,” stated Redman, “What an ordinary name for an extraordinary band!” The intentions behind the name were to keep it simple, while still being unorthodox. “If we could sum up our store, we would do it with the song ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’ by KISS because we’re rock n roll, but disco at the same time,” Harvey says.
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INDEX
A
AA BONDY
www.myspace.com/aabondy
ATMOSPHERE
www.myspace.com/atmosphere
B BALMORHEA
LOS ANGELES FYF FEST www.fyffest.com
K
KUMISOLO
www.kumisolo.com www.myspace.com/kumisoloproject
M
BAND OF HORSES
www.marcodessi.com
BAT FOR LASHES www.batforlashes.com
BLACK EYED PEAS www.blackeyedpeas.com
BRENDAN MONROE www.brendanmonroe.com
C
CARIN WESTER www.carinwester.com
CONOR OBERST & THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND
MARCO DESSI
MATHEW SCOTT www.mathewscott.com
MATHIAS HAHN www.mathiashahn.com
MATT & KIM
www.mattandkimmusic.com
MEGAN WHITMARSH www.meganwhitmarsh.com
MIA
www.miauk.com
MIKA MIKO
www.myspace.com/mikamiko
www.conoroberst.com
MODEST MOUSE
D
THE MORNING BENDERS
THE DEAD WEATHER www.thedeadweather.com
DEERHUNTER
www.myspace.com/deerhunter
DEVENDRA BANHART www.devendrabanhart.com
www.modestmousemusic.com
www.themorningbenders.com
MY AMENITY
www.myamenity.de
N
NO AGE
www.myspace.com/nonoage
THE DODOS
O
F
www.sfoutsidelands.com
www.dodosmusic.net
FUMI MINI NAKAMURA www.miniminiaturemouse.com
4 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
PUBLIC ENEMY
www.publicenemy.com
www.balmorheamusic.com
www.bandofhorses.com
P
SAN FRANCISCO’S OUTSIDE LANDS
R
REGULAR
www.everydayregular.com
S
SAN DIEGO’S STREET SCENE www.street-scene.com
SANDRA BACKLUND www.sandrabacklund.com
SEREZHA KOMAROV www.serezhakomarov.com
T
THE THERMALS www.thethermals.com
TIMES NEW VIKING
www.myspace.com/timesnewviking
V
VIA TANIA
www.viatania.com
W
WOODS
www.myspace.com/woodsfamilyband
WAVVES
www.myspace.com/wavves
Artwork By Brendan Monroe
4 NICHE • OCTOBER 2009
Myspace www.myspace.com/fittheniche Twitter www.twitter.com/nichemag Tiara Chiaramonte tiara@fittheniche.com Brian Vu brian@fittheniche.com Nick Asokan nick@fittheniche.com Chris Bernal chris@fittheniche.com www.fittheniche.com