IS BREAKING RECORDS JUNE-JULY 2010
ZOMBIES BEWARE:
DIPLO SHOOTS LAZERS ROBYN
HEROINE OF SWEDISH POP COACHELLA HEAT CAUGHT ON CAM
‘
GOOD CHARLOTTE S
JOEL MADDEN GOT THE HEART OF PUNK
ASIAN MUSIC LABELS GO GUERILLA STYLE
+
BORN RUFFIANS COBRA STARSHIP CRYSTAL CASTLES MICHAEL LAU THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS
FRINGE
SOPRANOS
THE
west WING
FRIENDS BROTHERS
GOSSIP GIRL
CHUCK
ROME true
BAND OF
BLOOD
SUPERNATURAL
WATCH YOUR
FAVORITE
SHOWS ON
ENTOURAGE SMALLVILLE
DEMAND
ONLY AT www.MYsandbox.com
AD URBAN ATHLETICS
AD URBAN ATHLETICS
STATUS MESSAGE
The New Pornographers
Joel Madden
LET THE BASS KICK M
usic is so ingrained in our lives that we can’t seem to function without its beat. We are addicted to finding new and up-and-coming artists. We are constantly in search for the next track we can download. Needless to say, locking an interview with these artists is our ultimate high. We even do a victory dance in the office when we are granted an interview. And the best victory dance we did for this issue—for JOEL MADDEN. We met him briefly here in Manila for a gig he was DJing, and since then, we’ve known how cool and friendly he was. The next time, when we ran into him in New York, he was just as easygoing as in Manila. (He even invited us to his wife Nicole’s party!) We are fans of his music, clothing line, DJ skills and are stoked that he is our cover guy for this issue. If music is like a drug, then DIPLO would be our latest addiction. He is largely known for his work with M.I.A., but back in 2003, he was known as one of the first DJs to mix pop music with hip-hop beats (when it was still fresh and new). Now, he is traveling the world spreading his raw beats and electronic mixes for the kids’ consumption, and we just can’t get enough of him. We also interviewed ROBYN, the Swedish dance-pop star who has evolved into a euro-electronic artist. One thing we love about this girl is that she bought her independence from her record label a few years ago and started her own (Konichiwa Records). Oh, and she also has a song, “No Hassle,” produced by Diplo. In our New Kids on the Block section, we pick the minds of some INDIE LABELS’ perpetrators who are pushing boundaries and breaking the mold of big record companies. Their guerrilla style brings them to the forefront of the Asian music scene. Take a look at this year’s COACHELLA FESTIVAL in our Photo Diary and through The Cobrasnake’s eyes in Night Vision. There, you will spot rockstars and rebels who party under the blistering sun or the night sky. So here it is, groupies and connoisseurs, this year’s STATUS Music Issue. Team STATUS
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status is breaking records
JUNE - JULY 2010
BRANDS........................................19 PLACES........................................22 SUBCULTURE....................................23 BEATS.........................................24 SCREEN........................................25 INK...........................................26
60
TECH PACK.....................................28 IGNITION......................................29 ABOUT FACE....................................30 BRICK & MORTAR................................31 GO SEE........................................32 SWAG..........................................39 SNEAKERS......................................40 SHORTS........................................42 T-SHIRTS......................................43 BAGS..........................................44 BANGLES.......................................45 CLUTCH BAGS...................................46 SKIRTS........................................47 ROMPERS.......................................48 BOOTS.........................................49 COACHELLA ‘10 BY CHRIS BERNAY.................56
84 Robyn (Photo by Rankin)
& RECORDS.....................................58 KITTYWU.......................................58 WHITE NOISE...................................59 LILYSTARS.....................................59 Rasa Zukauskaite..............................60
74
66
Gabe Saporta of cobra starship (Photo by James Parker)
joel madden (Photo by Quang Le)
65
DJ Qbert (Photo by Barry Ambrosio)
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status is breaking records
JUNE - JULY 2010
BORN RUFFIANS.................................61 rox...........................................62 rogue wave....................................62 crystal castles...............................63 the new pornographers.........................64 DJ QBERT......................................65 COBRA STARSHIP................................66 JONATHAN MANNION..............................67 ACE NORTON....................................68 DANNY ROBERTS.................................69 COOLRAIN......................................70 MATTHEW LESSNER...............................70 KAI REGAN.....................................71 MICHAEL LAU...................................72
CHAD MAYATE..................................98 THE NEXT JUSTIN BIEBER.......................101
67
DMX by Jonathan Mannion
JOEL MADDEN...................................74 DIPLO.........................................80
70
ROBYN.........................................84 GABA GABA COACHELLA...........................89 HEADACHE MILKSHAKE............................90 PEDESTRIAN 5EX PARTY..........................90 STATUS RELEASE PARTY X ANTONOV................91 BOOMBOX & YACHT V2.0..........................92 BOUNCE MAKE COBRA MODEL.......................92 ADIDAS STREET PARTY...........................93 SOME LIKE IT HOT..............................94 ENCORE 5TH ANNIVERSARY........................94
CoolRain
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Diplo (Photo by Shane McCauley)
STATUSMAGONLINE.COM
Blogsphere Be on the pulse of fashion, music, design and anything that tickles our fancy through our community of bloggers worldwide. Go See Look to the streets for your fashion inspiration. From Manila to New York, we spot the stylish kids trotting the globe. Night Vision Your personal pass to pool parties, barbecues, festivals and events. Now let’s party! Photo Diary A photo is worth a thousand words, so we decided to find out what these talented photographers have to say. Digital Magazine Get STATUS at a click of your finger. You can browse the full digital format magazine at the comfort of your computer. 14 - statusmagonline.com
W
hen Quang Le shot the cover for our third issue, he had all the works of a studio setup where everything was orchestrated to make a glossy photo. But in Joel Madden’s case, Quang’s second cover for STATUS, they went for it straight on outdoors in the great tradition of punk. The result—as we say every issue—our most kickass cover yet!
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CONTRIBUTORS
GINO DE LA PAZ
CHRIS BERNAY
QUANG LE
PATTI GRANDIDGE
Journalist and selfproclaimed non-hipster Gino de la Paz is a fan of the 90s—he loves Totally Kyle and can rap out the opening theme of The Fresh Prince of BelAir. Despite the love for that era, he prefers Hot Chip, Hockey, and Two Door Cinema Club to Justin Bieber and his forward combover. Don’t miss his interview with Swedish pop heroine Robyn.
Based in Buenos Aires, graphic designer and art director Chris got photobug-bitten just last year—attending concerts, thrashing around sweaty crowds, and capturing scenes above and below the stage. He has since fallen Wayfarers over sneakers for the art, citing it as a perfect marriage of image and sound. It shows in his Photo Diary featuring Coachella 2010.
When he isn’t taking pictures, Quang secretly geeks out on Dungeons & Dragons and trashy romance novels. Although his showers are too short for much singing, he cites Rocket from the Crypt’s “Dick on a Dog” as the perfect bathtime anthem. Quang was behind the lens for this issue’s cover (his second for STATUS) and spread featuring Joel Madden.
Patti is an original; she likes to come up with her own tunes to belt out. An avid foodie, she bakes goodies a la Betty Crocker everyday. Her favorite parttasting those sweet concoctions, of course. No wonder she had a blast writing about Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC and Yuko Kitchen in LA.
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Rosario Herrera ART DIRECTOR: Nicole Bianca Po CREATIVE MEDIA DIRECTOR: Patrick Jamora ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Nante Santamaria MARKETING DIRECTOR: Jon Herrera ASSOCIATE MARKETING DIRECTOR: Mesh Villanueva SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Maita Baello JUNIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Patricia Bay, Chey Mayuga Coin Banks in STATUS Library
GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Darwin Manibog EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Kristine Dabbay, Reena Mesias, Raydon L. Reyes INTERNS: Rian Bautista, AF Benaza, Gio Dionisio, Rica Facundo, Nikki Paras, Loris Peña, Tiffany Tuazon, Boo Umaly, Matt Warren CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Raymond Ang, Marla Cabanban, Anna Canlas, Gino de la Paz, Toff de Venecia, Patti Grandidge, Don Jaucian, Sarah Jesri, Shinji Manlangit CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Barry Ambrosio, Paola Aseron, Chris Bernay, Paolo Buendia, Bruce Casanova, The Cobrasnake, Gerard Estadella, Dan Gil, Marcelo Gomes, Rosario Herrera, Heider Ismail, Olga Lader, Quang Le, Stevyn Llewellyn, Marc Pannozzo, Meeno Peluce, Revolution, Michael Rizzi, Nuk Romualdez, Ellinor Stigle, Melvin Sun, Marco Viaña, Harry Zernike
STATUSMAGONLINE.COM CONTRIBUTORS: Mikko Abello, Kristine Dabbay, Gio Dionisio, Rich Rama, Chau Tan CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Joe Alimagno, François Angers, Max Ash, Edric Chen, Coni Dietrich, Stas M, Alvaro Martino, Aries Mulung, Nuk Romualdez, TJ Suarez
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What’s your STATUS? Email us. EDITORIAL editorial@statusmagonline.com ADVERTISING advertise@statusmagonline.com MARKETING marketing@statusmagonline.com INTERNSHIP intern@statusmagonline.com GENERAL INQUIRIES info@statusmagonline.com Read our digital version STATUSMAGONLINE.COM Follow us twitter.com/statusmagazine Status is published by Whiz Kids Publishing. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
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BRANDS | PLACES | SUBCULTURE | BEATS | SCREEN | INK JUNE - JULY 2010
STAND UP
U
nlike their reptilian namesake, KAMAELEON’s grungy ankle boots are made to stand out, not to blend it. The Berlinbased brand creates custom shoes with the finest Italian materials as each piece is embellished with creamy leathers, punky hardware, loud colors, and mad prints— perfect for the edgy woman comfortable with rioting at Kiss concerts and mosh pits.
wix.com/kamaeleon/kamaeleon
POP
ME BACK
N
othing beats imbibing feelings of nostalgia. This is the route MHI is going with their Spring/ Summer 2010 Headhunter collection. With pieces inspired by 80s and 90s pop culture (from industrial music to New Jack Swing), the collection features loose-fitting, large graphic tees, as well as classic and military workwear that will take you back a couple of decades. Always nice to stroll down memory lane.
mhistore.com
GIRL FLIP B
ringing in top-quality gear—from flip-friendly Lakai footwear to Chocolate’s grind-happy decks and accessories, Aloha Boardsports teams up with GIRL Distribution Company— started in the ‘90s by Rick Howard and Mike Carroll who produced some of the sickest skate films with the help of Spike Jonze. With this latest development, they be feedin’ the local skate scene with the goods to rip up the streets in the gnarliest of ways.
girlskateboards.com
SOCK UP
B
ig on optical prints, stripes, and patches, among other eyecandies, what truly sets Mikael Soderlinh and Viktor Tell’s HAPPY SOCKS is their strong color palette. Why settle for plain blue when you can go electric? Wear shorts or fold those denims up. In a time when every piece is a fashion statement, never forget what’s under the belt.
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LLOCKDOWN AB
R
STREET FLAVA
ecently known for their science-lab inspired ensembles, Thailand-based menswear brand PAUL B. may just be what the Big Bang Theory guys need. “Nerd guy in lab with powder color on grey to black,” Paul B describes the look. Coats and jackets in neutral colors are infused with stripes, checks, and patchworks that would make your girl lab partner forget all about the test tubes on the table.
W
ith their raw sarcasm served fresh from the streets of New York, MIGHTY HEALTHY will make you want to stick your tongue out and taste their Spring 2010 collection. Now they’re also dishing up new button-downs, graphic tees, and fitted jackets, maturing their menu for a more fashion-forward man from the metropolis. Getting their pieces may just be the healthy habit you need to acquire this season.
paulbshop.blogspot.com
mightyhealthynyc.com
AUTHENTIC ILLUSION
C
GIRL
vans.com
BOY
onceptual artist Donny Miller takes two iconic VANS shoes to design a slip-on for the Vans Vault Spring 2010 collection. Wanting to “make something everyone was familiar with, but had never seen before,” Miller slapped a realistic print of an Authentic on the classic slip-on silhouette. The effect is an amusing visual illusion—the artist’s clever take on originality. No doubt donning a pair of these will catch a few double takes.
MEETS
I
nspired by NYC streets and men’s closets, Singaporean label AL&ALICIA will remind you of Annie Hall. Get androgynous with their boyfriend blazers, tux-inspired rompers, and oversized tees. Get-ups paired with sneakers also gave the collection plus style points. Adding an offbeat flair to basics by cutting hemlines unevenly, inverting pleats, and tying a necktie like how one ties a bow, AL&ALICIA manages to make you more feminine while still keeping your boyish cool.
alandalicia.com
TRAILBLAZING N
o need to be psychologically compromised just to see mind-bending visuals because RockersNYC’s Spring/Summer collection The Feast of Blaze offers the Psychocandy print on its short sleeved button downs and oversized denim jackets. A loud statement to disturb yawn-inducing getups and boasting of a print referencing a Jesus and Mary Chain record; don’t be surprised if these rockers are indeed making noise.
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TWISTED LOOK BACK I
nfluenced by the 90s (think The Craft), PROUDRACE shows its 93 Til Infinity collection—simple in the colours but rich in the details. From cotton motorcycle jackets, distressed mini dresses, batwing and net tops for the girls, to slash double tanks and Jedi-inspired trench coats for the guys, the result is a collection that every modern guy and girl would want to be wrapped in.
proudrace.tk
Photos by Marco Viaña
HISS OR MISS
Photo by Harry Zernike
W
ith KATHERINE FLEMING’s Spring collection, we see how details can make or break a look, like how choosing one texture or shade can lead to fashion bliss or miss. Fortunately, the brand succeeds in both, as seen in its ocean batik python clutch or oil slick tote in rose leather. Literally creating hisses in the fashion world, their snakeinspired bags capture the texture of luxury.
katherinefleming.com
GENETIC EXPECTATIONS L
eave it to avant-garde designer KERMIT TESORO and artist LEEROY NEW to fuse fashion and sculpture in their futuristic, if not utterly alien, Holiday 2010 collection. Clinical meets couture in their white and nude palette, accented by warped, exaggerated silhouettes. Ornate detailing humanizes these extraterrestrial garments. Remarkable, too, are the gravity-defying shoes, eerily resembling biological mutation and artificial creation, bringing us a hybrid of today’s world and a vision of the future.
I
f you’re lookin sick, you might have the CHRIS HABANA fever. Symptoms include addiction to metal accessories, high fever from jealous stares, and bad hearing from gracious comments. Its Cage Quartz Necklace and the magnificently beat down Positive Bracelet are not for the weak. With the Devils Number in tow and a headband called The Rapture, you will never be cured from this disease.
chrishabana.com
Photos by Ellinor Stigle
HABANAISM
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SWEET
SCIENCE
J
AUTHORED
SANCTUARY
ust like in Clockwork Orange, some sweet science is going on at the MOMOFUKU Milk Bar in East Village, New York. Don’t be too quick to comment on a cookie that carries pretzels, potato chips, coffee, oat, butterscotch, and chocolate chips all in one dough; chef Christina Tosi made headlines with this Compost Cookie. Other munchies include ice-cream, pies, cookies, cakes, and fresh bread—all to be washed down with a bottle of milk, of course.
momofuku.com/milk-bar
O
nce you step inside THE LIBRARY, you know you’ve entered a world of sophistication. This boutique hotel on the shores of Chaweng Beach in Koh Samui, Thailand is a member of the prestigious Design Hotel Group. Lined with minimalist gardens, modern style villas, a spacious sundeck, and a picturesque view of the ocean, the centerpiece of the resort would have to be the pool, its water glimmering vibrant red because of the tiles underneath. Obviously, their theme is centered on what all travelers do when they are on vacation—read. Not only do they lend books but also movies and music. Or if you like to work at the poolside, they provide free WiFi access throughout the resort. In the room, you will find a spacious living area with a high ceiling, white walls, and elevated floor for the kingsized bed and sofa. However, the simplicity of the design doesn’t leave your room bare by any means. You will still find all the necessities you need like plasma TV, DVD player, iMac computer, and wireless headset. Everything in the room is controlled with just a click of a button, from the lights to the air conditioner and shades. Right outside your room is the balcony with deckchairs where you can look over the garden, the pool, and the beach. All in all, the library, which was ingrained in our minds as a dark, musty place you spend long hours studying, is now being challenged with a new look.
thelibrary.co.th
GOOD VIBES T
ucked away at Wilshire side street in LA is YUKO KITCHEN, a spot reminiscent of cute neighborhood cafes in Tokyo. Owned by a Japanese, the food here is authentic and fresh. They’re known for their special plates of the day, varieties of organic coffee, and homemade desserts. Don’t be afraid to try their Hamburger Beef Rice Bowl, Tempura Fish Bow-lito, or Pokki Salad. Match that with their super friendly staff, it’s hard not to be cheery in such a colorful and vibrant setting.
yukokitchen.com
PAGETURNER
T
he Page restaurant offers a delicious menu that pleases both the eastern and western palates.
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Salmon Scramble
Savory Phad Thai
Spicy Seafood Salad
GATHERING LIGHT I
t’s not really bombing since there’s no “defiling” of public property involved. But it is street art. You might have already seen something similar to Germany-based LICHTFAKTOR, but we doubt that’s anywhere near this caliber. When creating “light art,” these folks don’t just focus on the shapes they’re making with their flash lights, biking-lights, flashing LED lights, fireworks, torches, and cameras. Instead, they incorporate the environment
AIRTIME T
aking it from the waves to the wind, kitesurfing redefines the concept of “hanging ten.” The pastime began to thrive in Boracay in 2002 and continues to attract hordes of Andy Hurdman wannabes. A kitesurfer starts out gliding on the water while manipulating the wind with a large kite attached to his board. He then leaps off the surface and flips in midair. It’s not long before he gives an encore, not to show off but to feel the adrenaline rush again.
into the story of their photographs or videos rather than just letting it all fade into darkness. Highlights include their “Wallbreakers” featuring the Berlin Wall and “Star Wars vs Star Trek” which incorporates telephone booths, recycle bins, and electric boxes to portray extraterrestrials on the street. It’s definitely better than those “I Heart You” light patterns you see on your friends’ Facebook pages.
lichtfaktor.eu
Fresher participants, on the other hand, are often daunted by stunts and are satisfied with just cruising. Thankfully, the HANGIN KITEBOARDING CENTER in Boracay provides supervised kiting courses. First-timers should seek assistance from the pros because it’s not a sport for the faint of heart. Albeit, to all the highflying thrill-seekers out there, it’s a bucket list standard. GIO DIONISIO
kiteboardingboracay.com
misheard, missung A
dmit it. Like the rest of us, you once or twice committed a crime against music when you sang the wrong lyrics to a song you misheard. Don’t worry, though, because there’s a whole community of us in the form of AMIRIGHT. COM. Laugh your guts out by
browsing the site’s extensive collection of lyrics that take on a whole new parodical meaning when filtered through the ears of people who couldn’t have known better.
amiright.com
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Photo by Dan Gil
MUSIC REVIEWS
THE LATE ISABEL
BORN RUFFIANS
The Velvet Underground – “Venus in Furs” Frayed at the edges, linear but cyclical, both wrong and right at the same time. You could play that song any way you like for days and it still would sound different the next time you play it….sounding like it’s about to tear apart but doesn’t.
James Holden – “Lump” It’s so of this time and representative of an era. This is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, music that could have been made at any point in history versus music that is undisputedly of this time.
thelateisabel.com
Talking Heads – “Psycho Killer” In top form and ultra-neurotic. Good qualities a band should have.
bornruffians.com
Talking Heads – “Drugs” I think it still holds up in interesting production and performance level today. It’s one of my favourite recordings of all time.
Siouxsie and the Banshees - “The Killing Jar” Siouxsie and the Banshees is the band we would have wanted to be if they didn’t do it first.
Caribou – “Lalibela” Swim is my favorite record Dan Snaith has made. I’m a sucker for his pretty songs like this and “Irene” from Andorra.
The Beatles – “I Am the Walrus” Imagine how different it would have sounded at the time, and it still sounds current today. Plus, one of my favorite The Cure songs, “Lullabye,” has it as a derivative.
Tokyo Police Club – “Gone” Dave is one of my best friends, so I’m privy to new demos he creates. This song has been running through my mind since he first showed it to me last summer.
Chris Isaak – “Wicked Game” When the mood is right, The Late Isabel would play this to an unsuspecting audience. We’d rearrange the song from mood country to dark groove. It’s sensuous.
The Magic – “No Sound” One of my favorite bands from the Toronto area. I don’t know [the availability of] this EP worldwide, but look out for big things from them in the near future.
ROX
Sade - “No Ordinary Love” I love the beat and the delivery... Sade sings it so effortlessly. Rufus Wainwright - “Go or Go Ahead” It’s so tragic and epic. I break down every time I listen to it, gets me every time. Lauryn Hill “Ex-factor” I relate to every word of this song.
Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams” Stevie Nicks is an amazing songwriter, and I just love the band as a whole. Common – “The Light” Common’s lyrics are like poetry, and this song is a perfect example of that: “It’s important, we communicate and tune the fate of this union, to the right pitch”...genius
UNDEAD MELODY I
f life’s a stage, then Mr. Bones and the Boneyard Circus is the act you’ve been dying to see. John Michael Godinez (bass), Shaun Hilario (percussion), Alvin Chan (guitar), Juni Devacais (lead guitar), and Mr. Bones (vocals) will make your “nightmares turn into dreams” with their psychobilly style. Their music “came to life” in Mr. Bones’ “four-walled room with [his] little friend Garageband” and Hilera. They sound and look as if they stepped out of a horror film. But instead of scaring fans off, more are drawn to their dark side. Plus it’s not often that you’d get a theatrical rock sound complete with organ pipes thrilling in the background heard in the “Twisted Boy” or “Haunted Wonderland.” “[We] were worried that people wouldn’t get it, but a lot of people have, and it kicks ass,” says Bones. Influenced by “love, life, and death,” their loud and rough synths will make even the “non-beating hearts” beat. In the future, expect “heavier riffs and more danceable horror tunes,” to follow their album Horror Scene. Don’t be shocked if you’ll get excited as if you’re waiting for a movie sequel because they’re magnetic as much as they’re cinematic. RICA FACUNDO
boneyardcircus.com
LISTEN UP
ONE FREQUENCY
90s-sprung indie trio NADA SURF surely got the decade covered with this June 2010 release if I had a hi-fi —an eclectic array of 12 covers including Depeche Mode’s epic “Enjoy the Silence” and Bill Fox’ powerpop “Electrocution.” Their own take of Spoon’s “The Agony of Laffrite” will definitely illuminate you with an aura of nostalgia. Although teeming with a mishmash of genres, this album will take you to so many periods and places but still under one frequency.
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ON THE SPOT
thisisrox.com
MOVIE REVIEWS
PL AYBACK
Donnie Darko (2001) W
hen you see S. Darko (starring Ed Westwick and Twilight’s Jackson Rathbone), a sequel to the cult classic Donnie Darko, you’d realize that you’d rather replay the Richard Kelly original than stomach this pale follow-up. Before Jake Gyllenhaal reached the peaks of Brokeback Mountain, he was Donnie Darko, a schizophrenic boy who sees Frank, a rabbit mascot warning him about Armageddon. While caught in this whirlwind of enigmas, he runs into Grandma Death who tells him that “Every living creature on earth dies alone.” He progressively breaks down by flooding his school, sabotaging a pedophilic inspirational guru, and falling in love with equally disturbed Gretchen. Ranking with the greats like Eraserhead, the film is a dark portrayal of the mind’s inner trappings. Both the culprit and victim of his thoughts, Donnie is redeemed by making the ultimate sacrifice. As he follows Grandma Death’s foreshadowing words, you’d see how life and demise are but two ends of the same spectrum. Joy Division’s
CINEMANTICS
“Love Will Tear Us Apart” is one of the best tracks in the film’s soundtrack, but contrary to the lyrics—love’s actually what brings everything back together. KRISTINE DABBAY YOU’D SEE HOW LIFE AND DEMISE ARE BUT TWO ENDS OF THE SAME SPECTRUM
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (August 2010)
P
art movie, part comic book, part video game, and a whole load of mindscrew, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World starring Michael Cera is to present “an epic of epic epicness.” The story starts out with a typical lovestruck teenage slacker trying to bag the girl of, literally, his dreams. If that sounds familiar, maybe you’ve seen any of Michael Cera’s films where he played similar roles such as in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Paper Heart, and Juno. Can you say, typecast? As if chasing the girl isn’t hard enough, in Scott’s alternate universe, they are all players in a real-life Tekken-style video game! To win the heart of Ramona Flowers, Scott must duel with her seven evil exes, complete with special moves, visual onomatopoeia, and attribute-enhancing equipment. In the graphic series, creator Bryan Lee O’Malley exercises his creative liberty to make
PART MOVIE, PART COMIC BOOK, PART VIDEO GAME, AND A WHOLE LOAD OF MINDSCREW
the wackiest sequences. No wonder they chose genredeconstructing genius Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) to translate it onto the big screen. The movie is bound to flying roundkick Kick-Ass’s ass or at least give you a blast whether you’re a comic nerd, hardcore gamer, or just someone who appreciates a good movie. GIO DIONISIO
DIRECTOR’S CUT
Star Wars (1977-2008 so far)
C
ommercial and music video director A/F BENAZA geeks out about the movie series, no—empire which actually deserves to be called epic.
Before there were test audiences, licensing options, and global marketing considerations, movies were the best form of escape. There was a time when a movie had the power to inspire creativity and influence design and make icons of its characters that would last far beyond the format of its time. A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. There was and still is, Star Wars. No other film has had such an impact on me that I would devote an entire room in my house and offices to its memorabilia. Strange but familiar— that’s the feeling the film evokes. From Luke’s farm on Dagobah to the X-wing Fighter that he eventually pilots,
what I love about the Star Wars world is it takes very primitive landscapes and contrasts it with high concept technology. Consider the Jedi, a monastic organization with some very strict moral traditions. They were based on samurai culture. This is even reflected in their costumes. The film takes these very familiar historical icons and sets them against barren deserts, giant woodland forests, then arms them with high tech motorcycles with no wheels (speeder bikes), swords with no blades (lightsabers), a battle station that looks like a moon (The Death Star). Yet behind all the FX, the spaceships, the far off planets, and all the different aliens, what makes Star Wars special is its story. It is epic. Star Wars is actually the story of two generations of the Skywalker family. A father who became a hero,
then a villain, and the son who refuses to follow in his father’s footsteps. The weak vs. the strong. Everyone loves an underdog. THE WEAK VS. THE STRONG. EVERYONE LOVES AN UNDERDOG
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BOOK REVIEWS
O ne - S ittin g s
TELL-ALL
PICTUREBOOK
RIHANNA
By Chuck Palahniuk
By Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty sure likes words that begin with R—rough, racy, raw, revolutionary—so don’t think it’s a coincidence that those words also describe her upcoming picture book simply titled Rihanna. The R&B singer teams up once more with English artist Simon Henwood for the project. As artistic director for the Rated R album, tour, and videos, Henwood contributed heavily to Rihanna’s new edgier image. He’s worked with artists such as Devendra Banhart and Imogen Heap, and he’s reputed for shooting Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” video, which bagged a VMA nomination.
The book will be filled with images of Rihanna decked out in designer duds, performing onstage, and in more intimate set-ups. With Henwood at the helm, expect it to be dark, campy, leather-bound, and silverstudded. Complete with the razor-chopped hair and risqué couture that the Barbadian beauty pulls off effortlessly. She’s gone from good girl to bad and, most recently, Rated R. With this latest endeavor, Rihanna stamps herself as an icon— for her fans,for the fashion fiends, the music buffs, and the voyeurs in all of us. GIO DIONISIO
WITH HENWOOD AT THE HELM, EXPECT IT TO BE DARK, CAMPY, LEATHER BOUND, AND SILVER STUDDED
READING GROUP
A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD By Jennifer Egan
In this much-anticipated book, Jennifer Egan, author of bestseller The Keep, scrambles timelines and shifts stories like the Ladies of Furies would. Scattered throughout these tales are phantoms from the characters’ pasts, futures, and current lives.
They say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but seeing the bright and playful typography of Chuck Palahniuk’s cover art for his latest novel Tell-All is enough clue that he is moving on to narratives with less gravitas. After delving into the deep-rooted ennui that his characters in Survivor or Fight Club have, he now introduces us to Hollywood, where power struggles may be superficial but nonetheless remain as impediments. Has-been Katherine Kenton, her hurling back and forth to the highs and pitfalls of glamour culture, is narrated by her confidant Hazie Coogan. Chuck peppers the pages with shameless namedrops (all important names
are in bold letters) and his usual quips (“was-been” short for former husband,) that reading this 179-pager sometimes feels like reading your favorite gossip column. Not as absurd or outwardly subversive as his other works, Tell-All remains substantial despite its sensational nature. Forget that it’s often compared to Bret Easton Ellis’ Glamorama as Palahniuk’s voice retains its sharpness matched with smoother imagery. The latter may be a make or break deal for fans, but that’s Chuck for you—he just doesn’t give a damn. KRISTINE DABBAY
READING THIS 179-PAGER SOMETIMES FEELS LIKE READING YOUR FAVORITE GOSSIP COLUMN
Egan takes the reader into the lives of Bennie Salazar, a punk rocker turned record company executive, and Sasha, a complex woman under his employment. The stories weave through the music scene in San Francisco from the 70s to the 90s and even to a postwar future sometime in the 202-s, giving us one heady mind trip into characters they meet and eras they inhabit. Amidst all the novel’s various styles and tones, a feeling of collective dread hangs by the characters’ heads as they squirm in desperation
only to find they are trapped inside the circle they are escaping from. A Visit from the Goon Squad offers a different view of existence through free-floating lives bound by the heavy distresses of time and music. As a complex character study, Egan posits that the glitches we come across in our lives have eventual impacts. While the excesses of rock and roll have been depicted countless of times, Goon Squad dissects the protracted lives that they leave in their wake. DON JAUCIAN
SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THESE TALES ARE PHANTOMS FROM THE CHARACTERS’ PASTS, FUTURES, AND CURRENT LIVES
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AD *# channel v
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techpack Canon Powershot SX210 -41.1 MP photos and 14x28mm wide- angle zoom lens -Gives control over aperture, shutter speed, ISO -Integrated with YouTube upload function -New fisheye and miniature (making subjects look like miniature-scale models) effects -SDHC and SDXC (up to 2TB) memory card compatibility SRP: $350
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-Has glowing orb which tracks video game movements -Includes a sub-controller with analog stick -Uses Bluetooth to connect with console -Provides vibration feedback SRP: $100
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Stuart Hughes Prive Phone
Magno Wooden Radio -Handcrafted in Indonesia -Made from East Indian wood (used in musical instruments) which enables pure resonance -Has AM/FM radios and works as mp3 player speaker -Portable at 18.1 x 11.5 x 12cms SRP: $220
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-22 ct gold, diamondencrusted exterior -Enabled with WAP, SMS, colour screen -Packaged in a granite, Prive-Stuart Hughes design box -Comes with 1 year free membership to Prive International SRP: $212,400
ignition
A JAZZY FIT
With every car manufacturer designing miniaturized brands to wear its badge, it can’t be more obvious that bigger isn’t always better. Here’s another car that actually “fits” your desired mileage.
A
s SUVs continue to lose their appeal, we all point our attention to the smaller vehicles with half or even less than half of the engine liter count; smaller vehicles that are more stable, more agile, and more economical; vehicles that would be a perfect ‘Fit.’ Enter the Honda Jazz, better known as Honda Fit in other parts of the world. It is one of Honda’s younger brands with only its second incarnation, following the success of the first generation model from 2001—a young brand that appeals only to a young demographic, or at least before. Self-proclaimed car buffs and ones standing between the lines of “careless youth” and “thinking adults” will find themselves amazed. If they prefer the traditional coupe or sedan and choose not to even touch “crossovers,” they have yet to see the classiest modifications done to the snub-nosed Honda from a few years back. What it lacked in body length, it made up on the spacious interior. The dashboard is modern without being tacky, and the overall feel inside will have you imagining your friends inside going on a road trip. Starting the car and stepping on the gas pedal will make you an even bigger believer. Of what one would assume as a “tippy” car, it’s surprisingly stable and agile. Consider the Honda Jazz an “FUV”—a cleverly coined vehicle classification which stands for “Fun Utility Vehicle.” The current model comes in 1.3 to 1.5 L variants and doesn’t stray too far from the previous one. It’s more of a nip-tucked version, updating the exterior styling to something more aggressive and current. Its new proportions are subtle but with a lineup of refreshing colors. Including the vibrant Jazz Helios Yellow among others, the sport and fun appeal of the Jazz is definitely increased. BARRY AMBROSIO
JAZZ-MA-SUTRA
Play “Pimp My Jazz” in www.hondajazzfuv.com
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about face FULL BLOSSOM NARS blush is that everreliable, soft, and sheer pressed powder blush with subtle pink colors that can be worn alone or layered for depth. The prettiest bloom in the bunch wears this.
THE PERFECT GLOW The YVES SAINT LAURENT Touche Blush, its ultra-fine powder, does the matte look trick. This lightweight, loose powder blush is great for all skin types.
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LIGHT AND BRIGHT MAYBELLINE NEW YORK Mousse Blush is a creamy, air-whipped mousse that brightens the face with a radiant rouge.
pop that color CLINIQUE Blushwear Cream Stick is a water-resistant, cream-to-powder blush stick that gives the dramatic glow of rose, leaving you looking very fresh.
GET
Y K E E CH
Expert
Advice
A makeup routine is never complete without strokes of blush on your cheeks. Choose from these blush on formulas,and be pretty in pink.
To save money, mix different colors of blush from your makeup kit to create a new color.
Model photo by Stevyn Llewellyn
BEAUTY BITE
LANCÔME PARIS Easily one of the top luxury cosmetic brands in the world, LANCÔME PARIS has been around for so long. But what this 70-year-old French brand hasn’t done before is opening in Greenbelt 5, Makati, its Philippine flagship store, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. Complete with a makeup wall, a fragrance bar, and dangling balls of lights, it is every beauty queen’s
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divine abode. The Lancôme Paris boutique also provides treatments like massages and facials which, by the way, may be availed by men as well. Their services are made even more personal with the skin care consultation table inside. That’s how one-of-a-kind it gets.
lancome-usa.com
brick and mortar machine-a, london London, 60 Berwick St., Soho WIF 8SU +44 207 9983 385 machine-a.com
A
fixture along Berwick Street, MACHINEA’s space used to be a tailor shop built in the 50s, until it recently transformed into a shop and gallery. Now it flaunts a profound selection of works by young, talented designers like Ada Zanditon, whose pieces have been worn by personalities like Dita Von Teese, Piers Atkinson with his trademark pompoms and berets, Katie Eary and her gold chain epaulettes, as well as androgynous clothing from Euphemia by Millie Cockton. Machine-A’s creative director Stavros Karelis and buyer Paul Joyce help these artists to express their creativity in a different concept, not limited to fabrics and appliqués. Uniting fashion with art and politics, the building itself speaks of craftsmanship and wit, chalking up curated art installations, a performance space, and shockingly creative window installations featuring designer collections and illustrating them in the most eccentric, artistic way possible. Exceptional examples are Katie Eary’s display of Snowball’s rules [from Animal Farm] and one with hanging, bloody heads during Christmas. All these artists in various fields are packed together to transform an imaginative high concept into a unique retail experience that fits perfectly with Machine A’s ideals—one of Aesthetics, Art, and Argument.
stella filante, new york 156 Ludlow Street, New York 646 484 5892 stella-filante.com
L
ending an offbeat option to a neighborhood used to offering predictable fashion, STELLA FILANTE and its stark, wood-covered interior brings a refreshing vibe with its colorful, eclectic selection of womenswear, shoes, and accessories—everything still comme il faut for a New Yorker’s standards. They are known for having pieces with intricate beaded embellishments and vivid, striking patterns, making you feel like you’re buying from an exotic shop while on vacation. Stella Filante also caches bohemian, casual clothing both from established brands like Zadig + Voltaire and American Retro as well as designers that you can’t really find elsewhere (unless you are very well-traveled), such as Manoush, Willow, and Manish Arora. Owners Hasna and Leona Erziak handpick the clothes based on quality and originality; such is enough of a draw in and of itself. The boutique to go to when you want that staple dress in a hard-to-find pattern, Stella Filante’s array of cheerful frocks and accessories will guarantee you constant compliments.
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GOSEE
From NYC to Manila, watch what they’re sporting to tease your street-style fetish.
Sunglasses
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AD *#10
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SWAG j une
/
j u ly
2010
s h a d e s o f f as h i o n
Feast your eyes on what STATUS has in store: from weekender bags and plaid shorts for the boys, to rompers, bangles, clutchbags, skirts, and booties for the girls. Runway shots by Stevyn Llewellyn and Olga Lader
Dita Heron [P21,281.67]
Dita Challenger [P21,872.82]
Dita Holiday [P16,552.41]
Dita AVOCET [P21,281.67]
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A Definite shoe-in
swag
For the real sneaker freakers.
Element Griggs [P4,800]
Gola by Christian Lacroix [P7,600]
Clae Russell [P7,350]
Acupuncture AP 303-72 [P5,527]
Marithé
et François Girbaud [P3,499]
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Kartel Rooney [P3,499]
Vans Mid Skool ‘77 [P3,298]
Adidas Porsche Design [P6,295]
Nike Air Mogan Mid [P3,495]
Nike Braata [P3,195]
Kris Van Assche
Marithé
et François Girbaud [P2,100]
Acupuncture AP302-86 [P5,407]
swag
Fred Perry Kingston Jersey Marl White [P4,598]
Lanvin Tennis A Lacet [P27,398]
Puma 917 Cabana Racer II [P2,870]
Gola Inter [P3,145]
Vans Half Cab Pro [P3,998]
Puma 917 Cabana Racer II [P2,870]
Element Omahigh [P5,250]
Royal Elastics King Low [P4,450]
Vans X Spitfire [P3,298]
Kartel Ronaldo [P3,299]
Fred Perry Oakfield Nylon 2 [P5,095]
Balenciaga Sneaker Pelle S. Gomm [P25,798]
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swag
Topman [P2,095]
mad about plaid This timeless pattern is the one to fall for.
Duckie Brown
Lucky Brand
Volcom [P2,795]
Oakley [P2,295] 42 - statusmagonline.com
Volcom [P2,595]
MarithĂŠ
et François Girbaud [P4,200]
Red Herring [P2,350]
Billabong [P3,100]
swag
Diesel [P2,950]
Bleach Lemur Hands [P895]
Ceasar Salad [P1,990]
Volcom Basic Tee [P1,095]
Puma Original Tee [P1,230]
Sesame Street [P299.75]
Globe The Garry’s Tee [P1,195]
Reef Outlook [P1,595]
FCUK Birds on Branch [P2,400]
Diesel Comet [P3,650]
John Richmond
Lucky Brand Nashville Guitar [P3,950]
Obey Military Black [P1,100]
trade mark tees Leave your mark one tee at a time.
Levi’s Tee [P1,099.50]
Billabong Tee [P1,950] statusmagonline.com - 43
swag
carry on Forget the bulky luggage. The total package is in these weekender bags.
Fred Perry [P22,198]
Tumi [P19,940]
Tumi [P19,940]
AC +632 [P3,480]
Argentinian Designer Collections
Oxygen [P1,099]
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the thicker, the better
swag
Bangles that are definitely worth the weight.
Accessorize Filigree bangles [P600] each Painted ethnic bangles [P450] each
Promod [P595] each
F&H [P249] each
Warehouse Thick bangle [P795] each Gunmetal [P995]
Atelier Avatar [P1,500] each
Firma Gold bangle [P380] Cuffling bronze [P990]
Diane von F端rstenberg statusmagonline.com - 45
color treasure
So much better than finding a pot of gold
Kate Spade [P7,250]
CMG [P1,499]
Schu [P1,799]
Accessorize [P1,350]
Nine West [P4,250]
Rebecca Taylor
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The Ramp [P995]
Poisonberry
Promod
[P950]
[P2,695]
GET BUSY Work these skirts to score those style points.
Narciso Rodriguez
Armani Exchange
[P4,450]
BYSI
[P1,650]
Tuleh
Topshop
[P2,245]
Free People [P4,400]
statusmagonline.com - 47
swag
romper stomper
Another excuse to knock ‘em down.
Lacoste
7 For All Mankind [P6,498]
Armani Exchange
Marithé
et François Girbaud [P13,100]
[P4,950]
Topshop [P2,245]
Erin Wasson x RVCA
F&H [P1,099] 48 - statusmagonline.com
Kamiseta [P1,499]
swag
little
black boots
CMG Staccato [P2,999]
It’s every girl’s must-have.
VNC [P3,770]
Topshop
[P5,395]
Steve Madden [P6,950]
Monica Fig [P5,600]
Academy of Art
Erin Fetherston statusmagonline.com - 49
10:30 am. “Last night’s party was epic! We all woke up late today. Saturday breakfast became brunch!”
ON LAURA Printed Knit Tunic P649 ON LAVINIA Shirred Funnel Neck Knit Top P549 Denim Shorts P699 ON NIKKI Knitted Vest P649 Basic Tee P499
4:00 pm. “Meet up. The plan is to have no plan!”
ON LAVINIA Mandarin Collar Vest P899 Basic Knit Top P549 Acid Wash Jeans P1,099 ON LAURA Draped Tunic P599 Acid Wash Jeans P1,099 ON NIKKI Short Sleeved Jacket P1,499 Acid Wash Jeans P1,249 ON SERGIO Polo P1,199 Gray Jeans P1,299
10:00 pm. “After-dinner drinks at the club!”
ON LAURA Cropped Tee P549 Coated Black Denim Shorts P749 ON LAVINIA Cropped Military Jacket P949 Draped Knit Shirt P599
ON NIKKI Scoop Neck Button Tee P549 Thin Scar f P299
ON LAVINIA tail and Open Back TEE w/ One Pocket De KI ON NIK Cowl Neck Tee P549
ON SERGIO Double Breasted Wo ven Top ON LAURA Strong Shoulder Knit Top P549 Woven Vest P849 ON LAVINIA Dolman Sleeve Top
3:00 am. “What to do next? The city never sleeps!”
ON LAURA Basic White Tee P499 Woven Puff Sleeve Jacket P999 Gradient Denim Jeans P999 ON NIKKI Military Jacket P1499 Cuffed Pants P1199
ON LAVINIA Metallic Vest P799 Metallic Scoop Neck Tank P649 Coated Denim Jeans P1199 ON LAURA Double Layer Tank Top P549 Coated Denim Shorts P749
ON SERGIO Low V-Neck Shawl Collar Top P749 ON NIKKI V-Neck Jacket P1299 Thin Scarf P299
ON LAVINIA Double Lapel Cropped Jacket P999 Basic White Top P499 Acid Wash Jeans P999 ON SERGIO Color Block High Woven Top P1299 Low V-Neck Woven Top P1299 ON LAURA Basic White Tee P499 Woven Puff Sleeve Jacket P999 Gradient Denim Jeans P999
PHOTO DIARY COACHELLA 2010
BY CHRIS BERNAY
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NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
bound by sound
4 Bonjour’s Parties
The Empire Records generation have transformed into an MP3 nation. But here are some independent music labels serving sound guerilla style. Brace yourself for an airwave uprising.
& RECORDS Japan
MINORU HATAKEYAMA
Describe the Japanese indie scene. You know it is tough time. I sometimes compare it to the end of the samurai period. I believe in the end, only good musicians will survive. Story behind the name: I would like my label to be a bridge between artists and audience. I don’t want to be a central player. I just want to be a go-between. What labels do you look up to? I have been influenced by all of the great US indie labels like Merge, K, Kill Rock Stars, Up, Dischord, Sub Pop, Barsuk, Teenbeat, Drag City, Thrill Jockey, and Darla. What sets & Records apart: I just want it to be cool but not too radical. I have been trying to be friendly. I hope it will help the world be filled with love and peace. XOXO, Panda
KITTYWU Singapore
4 Bonjour’s Parties
andrecords.jp Photo by Heider Ismail
LESLEY CHEW & ERROL TAN Story behind the name: It’s a song from Jaga Jazzist. We also felt the name was fitting as we love cats and the ‘Wu’ still kept our Asian roots. What are your influences? The biggest influence would be NY-based label Temporary Residence with their stable of acts like Explosions in the Sky and MONO. How do you choose your talents? We will know it’s good if the music makes our hair stand. Our vision for the Singaporean music scene is… to see someone open a proper midsized live house in Singapore that can rival the live houses in Tokyo, Taiwan, or New York.
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I Am David Sparkle
Amateur Takes Control
WHITEHong NOISE Kong GARY LEONG
Story behind the name: We all knew an unknown 60s British band White Noise. In addition, it relates to the sound of 60s psychedelic, and 80s noise bands such as Sonic Youth, Swans, and Big Black that represent the lowest voice from the underground music scene. How do you choose your talents? We need artists who know their music, not just those with a good sense of fashion. We must not only feel their passion but also their music’s atmosphere.
What sets White Noise apart: We’re into all unfamiliar and strange worlds of obscure and experimental music [that has] crazy never-boring” ideas.
whitenoiserecord.org
Toe
Toe
LILYSTARS Philippines CLEMENTINE
Name bands you’d like to release locally and internationally. I am interested in releasing another obscure band called Arigato, Hato! and if given a chance, would produce the next album of Outerhope. The role scene: Music in formula. minority tides.
you want to portray in the local music Manila either follows a trend or a Lilystars will play the role of the that continuously adapts to the changing
What sets Lilystars apart: We will never put out a bad record especially one that is poorly produced and amateurish even if it will cost us more than we would earn (or not earn at all).
lillystars-records.com
The Camerawalls
The Camerawalls
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M U S E
POISED
TO TAKE OVER After seasons of Prada’s multi-girls campaigns, this 18-year-old Lithuanian model sets herself apart by going solo for the label’s SS 2010 collection. Much like the campaign’s simplicity that calls attention to the clothes and accessories, Rasa Zukauskaite’s beauty and down-to-earth personality stand out. A spot on for sure, she is shooting straight to the top of her profession.
The Angel Wears Prada “Prada…still sounds like the biggest dream. It was the biggest and the most exciting experience I’ve ever had. It was also an honor to work with a professional group and an amazing photographer [Steven Meisel]. I remember, at the shoot, I was standing at a platform which was spinning around the entire time—that was really super interesting! Campaigns are not everyday work, so it’s something I always dream about doing.”
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Tough To Beat “I was kind of a weird girl. Instead of playing with dolls, I attended karate and judo lessons. But it doesn’t mean that I was a bruiser or somethin’. I just wanted to know how to protect myself.”
Through Her Lens “Photography takes the biggest part of my free time. I’m really into it. This hobby probably started when I was a kid because I used to collect the most beautiful pictures from magazines and newspapers.
Color Theory “I’m obsessed with colors, at the same time with flowers—it’s so perfect for summertime. I can’t wait to buy new dresses!”
Life Plan “After high school, I’m gonna try to do what I like most now—modeling. After that, though, I’m definitely going to a university. It’s never too late to study. In fact, I’m still finding a lot of new things and activities which I’m interested in, not only engineering.”
M A E S T R O
A PROPER OBJECTION A “friendly battle between the words and the groove”—this is what BORN RUFFIANS frontman Luke LaLonde testifies to as we anticipate their new album Say It beyond reasonable doubt. By Nante Santamaria Photographed by Marcelo Gomes
W
hile a track glimpse, more so a cameo, in Skins has guaranteed a hipper strain of The O.C. effect, Born Ruffians couldn’t care less when they “sold out” strumming “Hummingbird” to the forever dazed Cassie dancing it away in a supposed NYC party. It’s all cash to buy more time for play. And the more time they have, the better they become. Yet lead vocalist Luke LaLonde doesn’t think they’ve actually hit their stride—an obviously false self-perception he tries to prove against evidence. Exhibit A: their sophomore release Say It out this June shows more ease, allocates more space for breaths, exhibits a clarity that can only come when things have settled. Drummer Steve Hamelin, you see, left midtour for their 2008 debut Red, Yellow & Blue, but he’s now back with Luke and bassist Mitch Derosier, plus they have a new Ruffian stringman Andy Lloyd (formerly with Caribou)— everyone signing this pact to always just “say it.” Exhibit B: this album proves they’re not being trendy when “critics” (ahem, music bloggers) started to draw Vampire Weekend and Animal Collective references. The new result is a dwelledin sound—steadier rhythms and still a couple of animals in
the titles (“Retard Canard” and “The Ballad of Moose Bruce”) but more tamed in the overall arrangements. Besides, as Luke says, “Trends and genres will [eventually] become so confused and pointless that it will no longer be an issue.” Exhibit C: beyond the “yelps and warbles” that might have appalled snobbier tastes, this makes it more lucid that their ruffian verses have concepts sophisticatedly juxtaposed with the requisite post-punk fervor. Witness how Luke spins the words as we interrogate him about the band’s latest plea as renegades of pop.
Playing Young Folk “I see [pop] as 90% of what’s been made in the past 60 years or so. It has become our culture’s folk music. We’re not avant-garde; we don’t write piano concertos or operas, so yes, we are interested primarily in pop music.”
They Like It Ruff “This album as well as the last, we wanted to have a very organic feel. No click tracks and no Auto-Tune, everything has human error and sounds like a band playing music.”
Matching Multiple Choices “Trends morph and change so quickly; now, I believe they are disappearing entirely. I think, with music being so available, it’s becoming clear that artists are pretty much always doing nearly every genre and style of music created. It’s the press who decide a trend by covering specific artists representative of either a fashion style or a catchy tune. I think, as press spreads out and becomes less relevant, the power will go back to the people.”
From Turd to Gold “Sometimes, my lyrics come from a nonsensical, irrational place. Sometimes, they come from somewhere with a great deal of meaning and an honest, specific intent. Some songs contain both these things in one, and maybe that’s part of where the title comes from—a sort of plea to myself to Say It.”
Look Who’s Buying “I think people stopped giving a shit about [“selling out”] a long time ago when they put two and two together and realized the artist was also selling t-shirts and taking money from the consumer for their music in many other ways.”
WARPED READS
Once found quoting Kurt Vonnegut in a track named after the deceased novelist, we ask Luke about other literary influences.
“Charles Bukowski— Factotum, Post Office, Women, and his poetry—pretty much anything.”
“Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me.”
“Cormac McCarthy’s work—Blood Meridian being the last one I read.”
bornruffians.com
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MAESTRO
PUZZLE PIECES A self-confessed “emotional mess” with a music that seeps through the head with its thick beats and gutsy lyrics, ROX picks up the pieces with her debut album Memoirs. By Reena Mesias
S
he writes songs the way she’d write in a diary, and when asked how she feels about it, she answers “it’s pretty scary at first,” that she’s “still getting used to the concept, but it’s a bit late now; the box is open.” Otherwise known as Roxanne Tataei, ROX is a combination of Lauryn Hill’s soul, Joni Mitchell’s lyricism, and Frida Kahlo’s spunk, plus her Jamaican and Iranian roots. “Hearing Jamaican music around my house introduced me to the sound, and you can hear that on my record…the Persian side is slightly more obvious… I always feel more comfortable performing on a rug.” With the stream of female artists taking over the music scene, ROX says “There’s only one of me, I hope.” And she’s right—because of the
feel-good, reggae/soul/jazz elements in her songs, she delivers her honest lyrics into something you can dance to, away from the “woe is me” bandwagon. While talent and hard work are not enough to excel in her career, ROX knows better. She knows that you got to have some sort of inspiration. “What really motivates me is having the opportunity to play my songs and to hopefully move people. If I can make a living from that, I am happy.” And when’s something worth letting go of? “When you’re not happy,” she says. Being an artist whose music is like having an emotional experience, ROX is just ready to roll and prompt a doubletake at the first spin of a song.
thisisrox.com
“I always feel more comfortable performing on a rug..
I
SINK OR SWIM With a name based on random giant waves at sea, indie rock band ROGUE WAVE sets it straight in their latest album Permalight that it’s either you sink or you swim. By Raydon L. Reyes
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was bedridden for a few months, and my doctor told me to forget about playing guitar... So when I started feeling better and started ignoring my doctor, I felt a burning need to make music that felt life-affirming and visceral,” shares Zach Schwartz, aka Zach Rogue, who was first an IT guy before he got laid off and delved into the world of music. “I had no business even being there because I basically had no idea what I was doing. Let’s just say I was overworked and totally unfulfilled.” When he founded indie rock band Rogue Wave in 2002, he found the one thing that he wouldn’t quit on no matter what -even after suffering from a slipped disc before recording their fourth and most recent album Permalight. True enough, the dance-able and occasionally acoustic album revolves around
the theme of overcoming pain and hardship (especially after losing former bassist Evan Farrel to a fire in 2007). According to Rogue, compared to their former compilations, it’s shorter, faster, and more optimistic. As in the track “All That Remains,” “Now we’re born again/ and all that remains/ is all that reminds us of the sound/ you’ve always known.” Along with drummer Pat Spurgeon, guitarist Dominic East, bassist Cameron Jasper, and keyboardist Steve Taylor, Rogue, as hinted by the single “Good Morning (the Future),” is no longer looking back. He declares, “I’m not gonna sit around and cry about our misfortune over the years… I love what we do, and all I do is think about what new things there are to try tomorrow.” Clearly, in Rogue’s case, it’s swim.
roguewavemusic.com
MAESTRO
“…you can say this is a goal of the band, to make you feel safe.”
FRICTION FETISH CRYSTAL CASTLES’ self-titled sophomore album rubs it in that they can sonically go as far as they want in music by transforming painful noises into aural pleasure. By Kristine Dabbay Photographed by Marc Pannozzo
C
anadian duo Alice Glass (vocals) and Ethan Kath (instruments, production) once disjointed toys and electronics to get disturbing sounds that define their style which feels like hearing the collision of broken glass’ onto heaps of surfaces. These shards are heard in “Doe Deer” which can make you feel as if you’re regaining virgin ears with its wall of noise that defies every definition of melody. But like every noiseinfluenced movement such as shoegaze and art rock, its scratchy sound and distorted vocals are puncture-perfect for your ears. Just as the pain ebbs, pleasure builds up, leaving you halfparanoid and half-appeased to have discovered a newfound gratification. Pleased or not with their sound that’s often compared to 80s arcade music, it’s a surprise that they take their craft very seriously.
“We don’t play games,” Ethan says. Their elusive demeanor offstage offsets their riotous live shows. They even had a party in LA that got so wild, the police descended from their helicopters just to interfere. But when asked if these things affect them, they can only react in nonchalance. “We were too fucked up to appreciate it at that time,” Ethan says. In fact, during their “Alice Practice” days, they had a cameo for Skins even if they “have never watched Skins. Neither of us owns a TV. It was just another concert for us.” But certainly, their music hasn’t just made the Bristol kids dance in stupor but perhaps every scenester who’s got some moves to show off. They even hate dance music, yet it’s the club crowd they attract the most. But no matter how
much of a contradiction their case is, the end still justifies the means. Having a band name derived from the home of fictional princess of power She-Ra perfectly frames their vision, Ethan recounts, “The theme song for her fortress includes the lyric ‘the fate of the world is safe in Crystal Castles’...you can say this is a goal of the band, to make you feel safe.” Although before they had the chance to do this, they had to endure the scars of giving way to scratching their itch for electronic music. Alice and Ethan were once part of “real bands” that some cannot believe they traded that for laptops. “The only challenge was trying not to hurt our friends in our previous bands; we were very close to them, and they were very disappointed, heartbroken, resentful, confused. I still feel like shit over hurting them.”
That only goes to show that pain and pleasure aren’t steep points to consider in the emotional curve. While in the middle of doing something you love, you could as well be in some deep shit simultaneously. Actually, most of the time, these polarities can make you feel overwhelmed. This duo though has mastered transcribing them together through songs, hence producing a wonderful sense of musical masochism. Sounds like an aberration, but that’s the point. Crystal Castles was never really about your ordinary sound craving. Since “Crimewave” came out, you knew they weren’t just about virtual success as with their 2004 demos. It’s 2010 now; don’t even bother about their plans soon because it seems like they came from the future in the first place.
crystalcastles.com
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MAESTRO
law of opposites
Censor everything except THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS because their musical irony is so sharp, they can turn contradictions into a canon. With their latest album Together, they’re closing the decade in full throttle. By Kristine Dabbay
"I ALWAYS ASSUME THAT everybody HATEs US."
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D
o you ever feel an almost poetic sense of melancholy while strolling around your favorite city? I’m not talking about maudlin dispositions here but an abrupt rush of sensitivity that momentarily cuts through your apathy. That’s how The New Pornographers’ music is like. Take, for example, the NYC anthem “Myriad Harbour” with its unforgettable guitar riffs and choruses backed with harmonica or “Bones of an Idol” whose soft vocals slowly builds up to a soaring instrumental at the end. The message won’t hit you right away, but when it does—it’s a smash. In the song “Jackie,” it says, “Visualize success but don’t believe your eyes,” frontman Carl Newman proves how much of a verbal voyeur he is. “I like ironies. It’s fun to fool around with clichés, like you do something that’s very overused, turn it upside down and rework it,” he says. Similarly, this Canadian supergroup composed of Carl, Blaine Thurier, John Collins, Todd Fancey, Kurt Dahle, Kathryn Calder, Neko Case, and Dan Bejar don’t believe their eyes with regard to their success. “I think I’m always afraid that it’s all going to end at any second…I thought that for about eight years now. And I still feel that way; whenever we go on tour, I wonder if anybody’s going to the show, and for some reason, I always assume that everybody hates us…I guess it’s a form of selfdefense,” Carl enthuses. This is surprising for a group whose members were already prominent in the Vancouver music scene way before the band started—with Dan fronting Destroyer, and Neko with her solo career
in focus. Though at times, working with too much talent can lead to clashes, it wasn’t much of a liability for them. “We start rehearsing songs, and it’s just a small group. There are only three or four of us, and we get a very skeletal arrangement, and then we start adding things and bringing people in. We just want everyone to have the influence. It’s very important. It’s good to work with a lot of ideas.” But then again, ideas can only take you so far. Onstage, it’s up to you to make it happen. Mixing a pinch of satire here and irreverence there, their performances are reminders on how legends are made. “We’re a strange group of people. Well, we’re all crazy in a way. I like the idea of getting onstage and just presenting yourself the way you are. Not inventing some kind of persona for yourself, just being very honest and goofy.” Never underestimating the need for people skills, Carl’s advice “is to be very supportive about all the people around you. Be nice to people. Do your best.” And if sometimes you do your best, but you don’t trust it, that’s the moment when you have to listen to them. “I would like to send off a message to people that anybody can do it. I like people to see me, and say that he’s just a guy like me, so if he can do this, I can do this as well. I think that’s the most important message,” Carl says. It might be an oxymoron, but sometimes all it takes is putting a little trust to your doubts.
thenewpornographers.com
MAESTRO
SEEKING HIGHER GROUND
Ranking among the godfathers of hiphop, DJ QBERT is mild-mannered and philosophical, proving that he has clearly mastered the temporal realms of his craft. By Sarah Jesri Photographed by Barry Ambrosio
“Music is theatre. It tells a story. It takes you on a journey. It can hypnotize, and I believe it can heal.”
U
ndoubtedly one of the most influential DJs in history, DJ Qbert aka Richard Quivetis is known for his innovative skills and groundbreaking contributions to skratching since the early 90s. Nearly two decades since his first DMC Championship title, Qbert insists that he would much rather jam than battle. His energy is directed at applying everything he knows to advance the science, art, and culture of skratching. That, and healing the world. Back when turntables were vastly regarded as mere record players, Qbert and his band of underground Bay Area skratch DJs, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, opened the doors to a whole other dimension of sound by revolutionizing the use of the turntable as an instrument. He later ventured with Thud Rumble, Ltd., a trailblazing enterprise which
he co-founded with fellow Skratch Piklz Yogafrog in ’96. Top-of-the-line brands like Vestax and Ortofon rely on them to develop mixers and needles because no one gets it better than they do, obviously. More recently, he launched his very own Qbert Skratch University, an online video-based learning facility for anybody interested in refining their DJing skills. “I’m involved in all levels. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner; I’ll ease you into everything you need to know through video exchanges.” After he gauges your proficiency, you will be sent videos on how to execute new techniques. “After about a week, I’ll expect a video update of your progress. You have your own profile where you can let other students view your videos, and the floor is open for you to interact with
the community.” While we hit it off on weather control conspiracy theories (H.A.A.R.P), crop circles, free energy, torsion fields, mantras, and evolution, he tells me while fiddling with what I could make out as a portable cross-fader to “Get on YouTube and search ‘2012 David Wilcock’ – one ‘L’ it’s a 10-part series but it’s worth your while.” It amazes me how his mind is continually present in that soundscape even as he is engaged in conversation. It almost shocks me that he’s still practicing (he was practicing in his room before I arrived), and I figure it’s that kind of devotion that has allowed him to stay on top of his game. “Music is theatre. It tells a story. It takes you on a journey. It can hypnotize, and I believe it can heal. That’s the next frontier for me.”
Indeed, he’s in the Philippines to raise funds for survivors of super typhoon Ketsana which devastated Manila last October. “A lot of events have overshadowed this news since, but thousands and thousands of people remain displaced and are still suffering. My roots lie here, and I’m more than happy to do what I can to help. Typically I’ll plan a tour, but I’m here specifically for this.” Wherever he is, he just needs to scratch that itch to seek a higher ground. “You know about the meditative properties of brass bowls and how certain frequencies can cleanse chakras and balance energy? I want to be able to apply that to the music that I make.”
qskratchu.com
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MAESTRO
“YOU HAVE TO FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN REMAINING TRUE TO YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST AND ALSO DOING SOMETHING THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON THAT’S NOT A MUSICIAN CAN UNDERSTAND.”
THE ART OF POP
With a slew of screaming fangirls, world tours, and a collaboration with Gossip Girl Leighton Meester, COBRA STARSHIP talk about what it is they’re actually trying to do. By Sarah Jesri Photographed by Revolution
I
’m the last person you’d find at a mall gig. I shun it, in fact. Not because the chosen performers are bad at what they do but because it reeks of pop. All I knew about Cobra Starship besides “Good Girls Go Bad,” “Hot Mess,” and “Snakes on a Plane” was that they were the next big mall feature. Interestingly, I took on this assignment without hesitation. Shocking. Sat before me were Alex Suarez (bass/ synths), Victoria Asher (keytar), Nate Novarro (drums), Gabe Saporta (vocals), and Ryland Blackinton (guitars). But Gabe does most of the talking as a frontman would. “We all come from more punk-rock backgrounds, and we started getting into electronic music at the same time. We felt like a lot of electronic bands were going above a lot of kids’ heads, and we wanted to find a way to make it accessible for them.” I ease up, relieved that this was not going to be a deadbeat interview. As a band, two of their biggest influences are Chromeo and Ratatat. “We saw ourselves as a Chromeo for middle America... Like, how can we dumb ourselves a little bit to make sense to an audience that isn’t New York or LA?” he says. In fact, they think that “something about electronic felt more adult” that’s why they want to bridge it to the youth and “really reach out to the children.” I could only appreciate what they meant by children when I got to the gig. A swarm of shrieking tweens turned up to show some love. I muse over how this is what the girlband/ boyband phenomenon of the 90’s has evolved into. At least now, it isn’t some record label exec playing puppet-master, and these guys actually write their own songs and define their own image.”We like to make fun of ourselves a lot. We talk a lot of $#!+. I mean our lyrics are kind of nasty, but I look at the band as a way to express everything in a way that is hyperbole almost. We have some awesome lines like ‘you can ride to the top, but you can’t ride on my cock’ and ‘my ass is awesome, so smile when you kiss it’. I get my inspiration from hip-hop songs.” Aleks and Ryland make the beats, and when they’re set on something, they play around from there just how Victoria plays the keytar and sings back-up. “The keytar actually preceded the band. You see we wanted to pay attention to aesthetics.” With their website’s nifty graphics and myriad of social networking tools and gimmicks, they understand the nature of the industry and its demands, but give their own take on it. “You have to find a balance between remaining true to yourself as an artist and also doing something that the average person that’s not a musician can understand.” That thoughtfulness, the ability not to take themselves so seriously, and some luck with a gossip girl helped catapult them to stardom. Sure the package is painfully pop, but the thing is, this was no fluke. They knew exactly what they were getting themselves into and are now reaping the dinero.
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HIP-HOP FOREVER Photo by Kenneth Grzymala
Having shot the likes of Notorious B.I.G., Lauryn Hill, The Neptunes, and Diddy, photo maestro JONATHAN MANNION shows us through his visually engaging work that genres come and go, but hip-hop is here to stay. By Toff de Venecia Photos courtesy of Jonathan Mannion
Drake
Outkast
Lil Wayne
I
“
’m about to embark on another photographic journey,” explains Clevelandborn Jonathan Mannion who is known to unravel celebrities through his photography. “I feel like there is a new phase beginning that will be looked back on as another thing completely.” Since 1996, Jonathan has been shooting big name hip-hop, reggae, and R&B artists for album and magazine covers, keeping in mind his “defining portrait”—always unguarded and revealing of an artist’s humanity versus his celebrity. “It will be for all to look at—these artifacts at this moment in time,” he says. But before that, his thirst for adventure propelled him to the Big Apple in 1993 where the photographer was able to apprentice under Richard Avendon. He was exposed to the shutterbug’s unparalleled genius rendered greater by his generosity and un-guardedness. “He had more energy than the eight people working for him,” Jonathan recalls. Though it was essentially New York that set him on the path, Jonathan was fortunate enough to have flourished in a creative environment. “My parents were artists. And I grew up creating all the time: painting, drawing, building, photographing,”—something that brought him past the semantics of wishful thinking and into a dialogue with the universe. “It’s the essence of taking a photograph, the conversation and documentation of it,” he says, “that creates a moment unique in time.” In essence, his foresight and foundations were
M A S T E R M I N D
largely preeminent. But his playground happened almost like serendipity, when he was asked to shoot Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt album cover. It was a feat that gilded him through the tinseled cornerstones of the hip-hop industry though, ironically, the genre just sort of fell into his Walkman in high school. “A friend in one of my English classes passed me a TDK cassette and said ‘Press play’,” Jonathan recounts. He was so blown away by Dana Dane, Kool Moe Dee, and Big Daddy Kane that he decided to find out everything he could about hip-hop—so much so that he became a radio DJ in his college days. On the subject of hip-hop, he posits, “It’s all about that feeling of freedom and self-expression. It used to be less guarded and more about working together, but… as it has moved into big business, we’ve lost some of the essence of why we all got started in the first place.” Today’s money grab has deterred this reality, and a lot of con artists have been slipping through the cracks. One of my greatest struggles is that I like to have control,” Jonathan admits. “I’m a perfectionist,” and evidently, a purist. But true to form, the work of an artist is never at bay, and so is Jonathan’s plight. He continues, “I think that we need to get back to the basics of creating things of beauty, not things that simply give us checks. My heart is in creation and I love the possibilities to do so.”
jonathanmannion.com
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MASTERMIND
SCENIC ROOTS
Between turning Zooey Deschanel into a ghost, cloning Mandy Moore, using Ben Gibbard’s head as a coffee grinder, and putting Bloc Party in Godzilla suits, ACE NORTON is living out his childhood fantasies. By Giano D. Dionisio Interview by Raydon L. Reyes Photographed by Michael Rizzi
I
“The concepts [of my early films] were ridiculous—ranging from teenage hitmen to mind-controlling televisions to anything that had an excuse for using blood.”
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magination is the fuel of creation, and director Ace Norton seems to be running on electricity. His videos are filled with amusingly bizarre imagery like a toothbrushturned-popsicle, glow-in-thedark Patrick Wolf, and mad ape scientists. He has a penchant for typography, flashy colors, and all forms of animation— claymation, stop motion, and inanimate objects springing to life. Coming from a family of filmmakers—his father being Billy Norton and his grandfather being William Norton—he recalls his very first “directing” experience when he was just six years old. Ace was visiting his father’s set one day where they were shooting a pilot episode based on the Vietnam War. Ace recounts, “He let me say ‘action...’ Suddenly, propane tanks launched into the air, and explosions fired everywhere.” At that point, Ace remembers thinking, “This is the coolest job ever, that’s what I want to do!” Neither dad nor grandpa seemed indulgent of the kid’s aspirations. “They told me to stay far away from the business. But if it’s in the blood, it’s a hard thing to get away from... I don’t feel like my father took my dreams of being a director seriously until way after I dropped out of film school and began to support myself. He knows how brutal it can get, and I think it was his way of protecting me.” Growing up, Ace also fostered a desire to be a pro skater. Until, that is, one fateful skating accident in 7th grade. He broke his tailbone from a bad landing coming off a flight of stairs. “I was homebound, and I couldn’t do any physical activities so, to kill time after school, I would borrow my father’s 8mm video camera
and make these mini short films,” he explains. This continued through his teenage years. He came home everyday to make self-directed, selfwritten, and self-starring shorts. “The concepts were ridiculous—ranging from teenage hitmen to mindcontrolling televisions to anything that had an excuse for using blood.” By the time he graduated from high school, he had created over 200 short movies. Ace has grown up since then, now sporting greasier bangs and a boho moustache. At 25, he joined the Partizan production house (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and has constantly churned out mindtripping sequences. To date, he’s laced acid in music videos for Smoosh, Death Cab for Cutie, She & Him, The Fray, Norah Jones, and many more. One of his latest accomplishments is Soundscapes for T-Mobile’s Electronic Beats series. He picked up different noises off Berlin, Amsterdam, and LA to create a melodious montage. He also recently finished a Funny or Die short, starring Elijah Wood, called Nine Lives about a man who is repeatedly reincarnated as random objects. Hinting at a fulllength future, he says, “There are a few feature projects in the works. One of them is bound to happen relatively soon, I hope.” Despite bright lights ahead, the LA-born wonder remains grounded by his roots. “I truly enjoy what I do. I love music, and I love making movies. It’s an attitude that influences my style and gets me work. Growing up in Venice Beach surrounded by wackos, winos, bums, skaters, and bizarre street performers has certainly shaped who I am.”
acenorton.com
MASTERMIND
FAULT LINES
“The more perfect the image, I think the less people can connect with it.”
Asked why his blog operates under the moniker Igor + Andre, fashion illustrator DANNY ROBERTS mentions a project that’s “not ready yet.” Maybe he’s finding it hard to string the words along? Or maybe he’d rather just let his raw sketches do the talking. By Anna P. Canlas Illustrations by Danny Roberts
T
he Dream Walking Society is a place inspired by dreams in order to inspire dreams…and its location is in your dreams,” fumbles Danny Roberts—fashion illustrator and none-too-eloquent explainer of his Tumblr account’s spacey handle. Maybe it’s because he’s keeping a secret. (He is. He mentions a project that’s been in the pipeline for the last two years.) But see, what Danny can’t say, Danny can draw. Articulated in textured pen strokes and soft washes of color are googly-eyed femmes of the deer-in-headlights persuasion. Experimenting with oil, acrylic, pastel, pen, ink, and pencil, the artist draws “contemplative, innocent, and doll-like” portraits of up-and-coming models he takes an instinctual shine to. At the moment, it’s 16-year-old Swede Frida Gustavsson, she of the coltish legs and impish face—a pixie with a growth spurt. Drawing
her on an 18-hour flight, Danny did away with the young model’s long blond locks, giving her, instead, a cropped cut befitting her elfin features and bat-lashes. Stratospheric location aside, the godplaying seems just about right. The result is a sketch that serves to simultaneously romanticize and democratize, holding up his usually alltoo-coiffed model subjects in less forgiving yet, ultimately, more charactergiving light, much like his favorite titles Italian Vogue and the Virgin Suicides-dreamy Lula. The rose-colored glasses are surprising, considering the wearer’s former wrestler status. But before he was a fighter, Danny was a lover—of fashion—getting his start taking up Fashion Design at the Academy of Art (San Francisco). “My first three classes there were all fashion illustration or figure drawing classes,” recalls the illustrator. “My teachers told
me I should pursue Fashion Art, so I took their advice.” While in school, he also created a t-shirt line; although, these days, the artist is thinking bigger: that is, to either creative direct or co-design for established labels before launching his own suit and dress line in five years, tops. At the moment, a collaboration with Forever 21 has Danny taking step one, dipping his feet in trend-driven mass retail. Admittedly, though, the man doesn’t really stalk the runways that much, preferring to dress in an instinctive, suited up cazh represented by the likes of Heutchy shoes. Think mid-cut laceups with paint-scruffed soles and the perfectly tapered toe. Then imagine that as the punctuation mark to custom clothing on a muscle man, and you pretty much get an idea of the fashion illustrator’s own style. Which brings us back to the not-so-obvious. How could such a
hard man draw such sensuous portraits of women? The answer might lie in his other passions. When he’s not sweating it out on the mats, he’s sweating the small stuff: the sound of music (He loves eerily harmonic classical scores from David Lynch favorite Angelo Badalamenti, Yann Tiersen, Philip Glass, and Radiohead’s multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood), the perfect shade of grotesque (He cites Aubrey Beardsley and Egon Schiele as two major influences), and the flaws of being faultless. “The development of new technology…[the accessibility of] good photography equipment… [and] the post production photography processes make it a lot easier to create near perfect images,” Danny says thoughtfully. “[But] people are drawn more to imperfections, because this is something that mimics our lives… The more perfect the image, I think, the less people can connect with it.”
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MASTERMIND
a PARALLEL PLAYGROUND Work hard and play harder. This must be Korean toymaker COOLRAIN’s number one rule. He painstakingly crafts a world resembling ours but sprinkles it with his own comic magic. By Kristine Dabbay
A
dults should not stop playing because humans are essentially ‘HomoPlayerians,’” Coolrain coins a new breed of hedonism perfectly matched to the zeitgeist. And like every work that defined the spirit of the times, his main inspirations come from everyday people. “I really want all my characters to be a form of delivery of my love of urban cultures,” he says. Despite citing Michael
Lau, Tim Burton, and Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira as his main influences, his style stands out as it veers away from hyperboles. His characters are slices of life and are often modeled from his friends. “They are real winners of their life,” he shares. “Through my figures, I want people [to] see their passion, not just fashion.” He actually never planned to make toys. But since he loved making
miniature sneakers, this love for small things took him to bigger ventures, making it possible for him to work with giant brands like Nike and Stussy. This year, more projects are in store for him like the collaboration with UrbanDNA hip-hop jewelry and C.F.F.C., a project focusing on fixed, single gear, cycling culture. Truth is, he doesn’t really have a “special material or secret.” Instead
he sources the same materials used in the actual items. It’s really the positivity embedded in his work that shines more than the obvious. “Basically, I focus on the brighter side of life… I do like to make my characters rain into the heart of people around world,” he says, and it’s exactly this kind of outpour that we wish could seep into our systems, so we can break that dreary pattern of monotony.
coolrainz.com
The Woods
CATASTROPHE OF COLLAPSE
Dirty Projectors
The youth is wasted on the young—MATTHEW LESSNER, the 26-year-old budding auteur from Oregon attests to that. By Shinji Manlangit Images courtesy of Matthew Lessner
I
Le Loup
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The Raveonettes
we’re all just tweeting and going about our lives as if everything were completely normal,” Matthew relates. But instead of making a film about the guy who wants to solve the climate crisis, he ended up making a film about those kids who keep on tweeting. Shooting his first film wasn’t easy; there were supernatural beings, an intergalactic vortex in the middle of the forest, and budget constraints. Matthew recounts, “A friend turned me on to Kickstarter.com,” then two years later, with 95 pledges amounting to $11,000, and Lessner working with llamas and alpacas, The Woods
Fool’s Gold
is nearly complete and is gunning for this year’s film festivals. Lessner’s future plans: two more feature films and making a change for his generation of flannel-wearers. “Or maybe I’ll just throw a few bricks through some bank windows and free a caged dolphin or two…”
montelomax.com
Float
t is my firm belief that unless we, as individuals, start taking responsibility and taking real actions… we’re headed for disaster,” thus Matthew Lessner speaks. His feature length debut The Woods is about a group of disillusioned young adults who detached themselves from society to create their own version of utopia. Taking cues from the likes of Camp Nowhere, Lord of the Flies, as well as living in this generation, Lessner’s new film aims to present what he actually sees everyday. “I was listening to a radio interview the other day where this guy was talking about attempting to solve the climate crisis by bioengineering the oceans and changing the color of the sky as a result. Meanwhile,
“Or maybe I’ll just throw a few bricks through some bank windows and free a caged dolphin or two…”
Dan Colen
MASTERMIND Rich Boy
Dash Snow
Paul of Three 6 Mafia
KAI REGAN & THE CORPORATE MACHINE
Ryan McGinley
“KAI REGAN is an immense and inspirational photographer,” says one blogger. “Overall creative hurricane,” says another. Google him enough, and you’ll see the same word hurled again and again— “inspirational.”
“I want my work to be inspiring, even if it pisses people off and they say I can do better than that…”
By Raymond Ang Photos courtesy of Kai Regan
A
t 33, Kai Regan is one of the industry’s freshest voices. From the grimiest hoodlums of the city’s Lower East Side to the glamorous gossip girl of its Upper East Side, Kai presents an unflinching perspective on modern urban life. He captures the hustle and bustle of New York and presents a truly livedin perspective on youth countercultures. It’s a documentary of urban existence that’s striking, unique and, unsurprisingly, increasingly in demand. He’s on top of the world now, but the way Kai Regan says it, you simply have to ask for your big opportunity to get it. “I got my start from a photographer named Jesse Frohman,” he explains. “I went over to his studio one day with a friend to help him out with moving. I told him that I was a hard worker but didn’t know much and that if he needed any help, I would work harder than anybody else on set.” Frohman, an internationally-renowned photographer whose work has been featured everywhere from Clinique to Rolling Stone, took a chance on Kai.
“He laughed and said ‘Sure, come by next week; we have a job you can work on, and if you don’t fuck it up, I will put you on the list of assistants to call’,” Kai recalls. “Long story short, I made the list.” Today, Kai has become an institution in his own right. After an iconic iPod campaign, the floodgates have opened. Today, he has made the transition to motion work, interpreting the art of speed for Nike and directing the muchbuzzed videos for Cobra Starship’s “Good Girls Go Bad” (featuring Blair Waldorf herself, sans headband) and The Virgins’ “Rich Girls.” Most admirable, of course, is that he has been able to do all these on his own terms. While a lot of moldbreaking artists see working with big companies as selling-out, Kai just sees it as a means of expression, albeit on a larger scale. “You get the job because you do something that’s not like everyone else,” he says. “In my case, it’s outside the box. I never got a job by being safe or showing work that I thought would be good for any particular company.” It is this perspective that draws
in big name companies looking for some cred. And yet again, the way Kai Regan says it, you just walk around your city and take pictures. “It’s just life in the streets of New York City,” he says, “at least that’s...[my life] anyway.” Enough lines like that and you’ll have more than, well, enough. But perhaps that’s exactly why Kai Regan is Kai Regan. “I just do what I know,” he says. “I just listen to the surroundings, my environment, my peers, and think about what’s going on now...and use the collective consciousness and the state of what’s what and try to make it relevant.” At the end of the day, all art is expression and all art is an exercise in assessing intentions and desires. Kai Regan? He doesn’t do compromise: “I do what I do. Sometimes people understand it, and sometimes people don’t. I am okay with that...I don’t create work ‘cause I have to... I want my work to be inspiring, even if it pisses people off and they say I can do better than that, then do something about it.”
kairegan.com
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TOYSTOR Y “I admire the individualism and the kind of ‘I don’t care’ attitude of people from that world, and it’s rather similar to my belief.”
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With anticipation growing for the artist’s yearly Gardener release, MICHAEL LAU shows us why big things come in small packages. By Toff de Venecia
P
icture this: a world of fantasy and cosmic reality that eventuates at its own pace, synergizing both familiar and unfamiliar figures into a seeming microcosm of an altruistic yet altogether bittersweet society. It’s a jungle out there, and Michael’s art is progressively keeping up. “After I did a few painting exhibitions, I felt the 2D medium didn’t allow me to break through a lot,” shares Michael Lau, celebrated toymaker and awardwinning multi-media artist who has shown in Colette and has collaborated with the likes of Nike, Giordano, and Sony. “I was very obsessed with 12-inch action figures, particularly the vintage G.I. Joe figures”—an impetus for him to develop the world-renowned Gardenergala series for his third exhibition, based on a comic strip he had done for East Touch Magazine back in 1998. “I was really fascinated by music, sports, fashion, art, and simply the attitude of people in the street world,” Michael says. At that time, a lot of his friends were also practicing the lifestyle; hence, some of them had become real references towards the artist’s one-of-a-kind creations. He continues, “Some of the Gardener characters are fictitious while others are real.” Recent inclusions are Gardener versions of Barack Obama, inspired by Shepard Fairey’s iconic blue and red Hope poster of the United States president, and photographer Terry Richardson as the naked dude named “Zex.” Michael adds, “Since I am creating one new Gardener character every year after the first 99, I try to associate each new character with something that happens or originates from the city or country where the Gardener exhibition is traveling to.” For example, in 2002, when the artist was tasked to show in the UK, he
created a special edition No War character condemning the war on Iraq. In 2006, he referenced a Gardener to runner Steve Prefontaine for a show at the Nike flagship store in Hong Kong. What started as various renditions of a peculiar Maxx character, his girlfriend Miss, and their kooky posse that includes BB, Tatto, Elsa, and Uncle, had expanded to include a selfrendition of the artist for Gardener #96 and other people who have greatly influenced the community. “I admire the individualism and the kind of ‘I don’t care’ attitude of people from that world, and it’s rather similar to my belief,” says Michael. “I don’t just create something for the sake of ‘cool’ or ‘pretty’,” he insists. Taking cue from the likes of Tim Burton and JeanMarie Pigeon, his work has humor in its imperatives. “Tim Burton is a master in character creation. And his work is full of humor,” Lau expresses his admiration, continuing, “Jean Marie—his sculptures gave me a lot of inspiration, and I really like his graphical sense of translating characters into a 3D medium.” This year, Michael plans to bring his Gardeners to places and a new generation who haven’t seen them before. Down the line, he also sees himself doing animation, in a motion picture kind of scale, as well as interior design. But he cringes at the thought of being tapped by a megabrand like Toys ‘R’ Us to give up his art for mass production. “Again, because I believe what I am doing are designer toy/art where the target audiences are not necessarily kids, the thought of working the Gardener towards mass production just hasn’t crossed my mind yet.” Well, what about The Sims: Michael Lau Edition? He replies, “Of course, that would be interesting.”
crazysmiles.com
MASTERMIND
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By Marla Cabanban Interviewed by Raydon L. Reyes Photographed by Quang Le
It was nearly a lifetime ago since Good Charlotte frontman JOEL MADDEN made waves with the ushering of the neo punk movement. Then everyone else proved to be few-hit wonders. Today, this tattooed ace shares precious anecdotes on how his punk heart grew through it all.
CIRCLE
FULL H E A V Y
H I T T E R
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I THINK
the hardest thing has been standing the test of time. 14 years in this band, and we’ve overcome a lot together. We have worked hard and stuck around. We’ve seen a lot come and go. Longevity is not easy in this business, and we are very proud of the career we’ve had,” Joel Madden is recently in the mood for looking back. After all, it’s been a decade since Good Charlotte topped the charts with their brand of punk riding along the coattails of predecessors like Green Day and Blink-182. It was a slew of bouncy pop punk bands that invaded car radios and TV screens back in the early ‘00s. So it was easy to dismiss Good Charlotte as a one-album phenomenon disappearing into the abyss of its contemporaries doing Britney Spears covers and making appearances on the Scooby-Doo movie soundtrack. Easy, but not too easy. “Lifestyles of the rich and the famous!/ They’re always complainin’!/ Always complainin’!” so it says in “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” from the band’s sophomore release The Young and the Hopeless (2002). In the hub of it all, you will find frontman Joel Madden. Before we got familiar with the post-noughties image of him cozying up with Nicole Richie and DJing as a stint during the last Academy Awards, he sang those same lyrics with sincere conviction. The music industry, especially the rock industry, hasn’t been a very kind one. It’s sink or swim, and it’s been especially difficult to thrive in an environment that constantly has to learn different ways to survive fast-changing values, trends, and allegiances. It’s a tall order for a 16-year-old Joel struggling to make music and to make ends meet while growing up in a single-parent household. He relates, “I’ve had so many jobs. I started working at 14 full-time. I made pizza. I worked as bag boy and a cashier at the grocery store. I was a waiter at many restaurants.
I worked in landscaping. I painted houses. I washed hair at a hair salon. Basically anything to pay the bills and take care of my family.” 10 years after their eponymous debut, Good Charlotte has kept their footing steady with the release of their fifth album Cardiology due sometime in August/September this year. “Cardiology is such a mystery to me—the entire branch of medicine dealing with the heart. The heart is such a mystery. The whole record is a journey through the different chambers of the heart and different theories,“ he explains. Their last compilation, Good Morning Revival, was a discreet, intoxicating hit back in 2007. In a way, this was the album that brought this pop punk band into the clubs. It was a far cry from their disenfranchised past. As its track “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl” goes, “The way that you dance,/ the way that you move,/ the way that you stare at me across the room// You carry Dior bags,/ and you got your Chanel,/ you wear Louis Vuitton, HG, and YSL.” This is probably the secret to Good Charlotte’s spunk and longevity. As in the case of Good Morning Revival, the introduction of dance elements and glam street references made them relevant to a new breed of listeners. Though the one ingredient that they have kept consistent from the pop punk years is the fact that they write anthems. Their signature style is being able to possess catchy hooks that people can’t help but sing along to. And this is the sort of singing that’s best done when you’re with a rowdy group of friends celebrating. It’s just that sort of band. Truth be told, this is the chief quality of a hit-maker, and whether or not that’s the intention, if your songs have the potential to be sung along to, it’s going to make one heck of an impression. This is what Joel had to say about their brand of lean, mean, upbeat lyricisms:
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“I think we are a commercial band. But making hits and having commercial success is just a by-product of our positive music. We’ve never made a record just for commercial success. And we felt the first producer we worked with [for Cardiology] was focusing too much Many things have happened between 2007 and 2010 for the band, especially for Joel. Within that span of time, he settled into a relationship with Nicole Richie, fathered two children with her, and put up a charity organization called the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation. He shares, “The last year, we’ve kind of just been on the Manny Pacquiao plan—training hard, spending all our time getting our bodies, minds, and music ready to go.” With regard to Cardiology, we could expect a lot of lessons Madden has picked up during the threeyear hiatus, which have included being appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and patron of various community-based foundations other than his own. Punk boys all have to grow up someday, and Madden has chosen to hang up youthful rebellion in favor of being a devoted father and civic figure. Fans can count on the same anthemic appeal with Cardiology, but they’ll be happy to know that the band is kicking it old school with this new release. Madden has been quoted as saying that Cardiology will sound a lot like Blink-182, aiming to stray away from the electronica-laden Good Morning Revival. It all comes full circle. Good Charlotte made their mark as a pop punk outfit and you can say that when you name your album after the human body’s most essential organ, back to your roots you go, to your essence. “My goals are to be the best version of me that I can be. The best father I can be. The hardest working musician, DJ, writer, producer, entertainer that I can be. The best brother I can be. Be in the best shape, and be the healthiest I can be. So overall, I just want to give it my best shot and be happy knowing I tried my best. Oh yeah, and make people smile.” And with that, he caps it off with his own smile.
goodcharlotte.com
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“I’m always diggin’ on breaking new music in places. Same way that Malcolm McLaren (RIP) did with punk rock and hip-hop.”
OTICA In 2007, a boy, all made up with zombie face paint, was asked by a TV journalist “What do you think?” to which he replied “I like turtles.” In the same year, DIPLO released a mixtape of the same title, roughly translating to “I don’t give a damn.”—such singlemindedness rare among today’s DJ’s. Simply put, you might not be into what he’s playing, but the usual case is this: you’re not into it…yet. By Nante Santamaria Photographed by Meeno Peluce
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“Any woman who wants to have my babies, feel free to contact me, please. Via Twitter is fine.” A
t the deck of Hollertronix, a Philly party partnership with Low Budget (who’s also been M.I.A.’s tour DJ), is a connoisseur—a sound anthropologist if you may—that critics credit for bringing Rio’s Baile Funk to North America. Whatever you don’t care about—“maybe old music. No one cares about that anymore… krautrock, soul, garage punk, ska, reggae...” Diplo enumerates to be his business. Primitive blues, Rwandan beats, Chinese immigrant music—name it; he’s listening to it. Born Thomas Wesley Pentz, Diplo (short for his earlier DJ name Diplodocus) has a tendency to geek out about dinosaurs. When I tell him about the Philosoraptor meme, he rambles about Jurassic Park and the basketball team named after the primitive reptile. Preys to him are all exotica, and precious to his ears are the most colorful of melting pots. Take, for example, M.I.A. who, aside from dating the DJ once upon a time, is also releasing her Diploproduced new album this June. Flashback to Coachella 2010— together with co-DJ and producer Switch as Major Lazer, Diplo executes a killing
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with Chinese lions prancing to their mix of dancehall and reggae, their lewd-shaking crew inciting electrocuted squirms and shrieks. Now more than keen on his choice of suits, Diplo talks about branching out—their Philly block parties to the continent and Heaps Decent, an initiative for young musicians, to higher grounds after their recording stint in the Sydney Opera House. Sup, Wes? Look like’s your Hollertronix partner needs to change his name to DJ High Budget now? What are the biggest things comin’ up for you this year? I’ve been runnin’ around touring Major Lazer all year tryin’ to get people to buy the damn thing but still producing records for the likes of M.I.A., Robyn, Snoop Dogg, Sunday Girl, Kelis, and lots of others. Also been busy promoting Mad Decent crew…Rusko, Maluca, Bonde do Rolê, etc. That and been building a theme park in my backyard in Philly. Also tryin’ to have as many babies as possible. Where is your obsession with exotica coming from? I’m always diggin’ on breaking new music
in places. Same way that Malcolm McLaren (RIP) did with punk rock and hip-hop. You know, everything is exotic to a plain old white boy if you look at it that way. For me, I just always loved the idea of being a DJ…mixing records together. I guess my palette has always been bigger than your average DJ. I saw this interview with Major Lazer himself (the character). Who came up with the back story and that written Jamaican accent? And what do you think of Gorillaz? Gorillaz rule. I dunno about this new album, but I loved the concept, and yes, I guess, in that way, we borrow from Gorillaz a bit, but I always conceptualized Major Lazer to be bigger than a tourin’ bunch of club records with reggae dudes on top. I seen it as a cartoon on Adult Swim, as a comic book, as a t-shirt and toy… I threw zombies in there for good measure. The wimmin are talkin’ about having your babies on a video interview by Ford Models. Aside from being the source of the blond and blue eyes, tell us about
HEAVY HITTER
your genetic parents and their influence in your music. Genetic! My parents hate music, and they only want to be able to fish on Sunday and smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. My mom recently got a MySpace page, and it’s filled with me and M.I.A. and Maluca and lots of popular Christian artists. My mother is very good at [this] gangsters role-playing game that they play on MySpace. Any woman who wants to have my babies, feel free to contact me, please. Via Twitter is fine. Speaking of fashion, you seem to be very keen on your suits to further delight for the ladies. What does Diplo wear on an awards show and what on an intimate gig? Indulge us with the brands if any. I wear suits a lot or at least a sports coat even when I’m DJin’. In Japan, I shop the most. My favorite brands are Comme des Garçons, J.Press, APC, Visvim, Comme Ca, Patrik Ervell, Wood Wood, Ksubi… Other men’s suits I like are Ben Sherman’s new 1969 line and Paul Smith, Hugo Boss... I don’t go to many awards shows, but I have been collecting ‘nuff suits, so I can go straight to the show
now… I wear lots of normal stuff during the day. Jeans and work slacks and stuff. I like that, in Japan, I can even get a pair of something standard like Dickies work pants but with a custom cut and crazy inseam. Your Favela on Blast docu actually reminds me of David LaChapelle’s Rize. Seen that one? It’s like this anthropological trip in black America, only it’s about dance. Any favorite artists in this arena [film]? I’ve seen Rize. It’s cool…a lil contrived, I think. I think that particular dance scene was sort of promoted and exaggerated for the film when it actually was a very small scene. There’s better things you can see in America. You want anthropology of black America, just go hang out in New Orleans for a week, but I think LaChapelle is a great filmmaker... My favorite filmmakers are pretty generic…Werner Herzog and old Jim Jarmusch and crazy old documentaries about America. Maybe Errol Morris comes to mind. You mentioned that it’s probably not
dubstep coming next to electro and that you’re working with Maluca who does some fusion of merengue. What’s on your research playlist right now? For Maluca…jeez, that’s probably the only artists I’ve ever worked with that’s weirder than me. I’ve recently been to Cuba with another Latin group, Calle 13, and that might be the strangest/richest place for music I’ve been to. But Maluca wants to do weird art pop punk as much as merengue. Our playlists are no wave stuff like Swamp Children and ESG as well as new school merengue El Omega and DJ Kyla, but we workin’ on new weird house music and kuduro and outer space stoner metal. Maluca can make it all work ‘cause she’s sexy as hell and believes in the music… How’s Heap Decent going at the moment? Any plans on extending it to NYC/LA or even to Jamaica? 2011 is all about branchin’ this out. At the moment, we are working on making our Philly block party countrywide through the USA. And Heaps Decent in Australia has been killer. They just recently went to the Sydney Opera House to record!
maddecent.com
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"Sometimes, I use robots in my lyrics to put my finger on what is human. It's not really the robot that is important but the emotion." 84 - statusmagonline.com
W
ROBYN REBOOTED How could an ex-teen pin-up and cult electro heroine be one and the same person? There seems to be general agreement that this paradox is what makes ROBYN a true crossover star, further proven in the first installment of her latest release Body Talk Pt. 1.
O R K I N G G I R L
By Gino de la Paz Photographed by Rankin
sk any bloghopping 25-and-under music nerd why Robyn is such an across-theboard Internet favorite, and he or she will most likely cite this fact: her music is both surprising and reassuring, and she still sounds as if you stumbled upon her even if she’s already been around a while. Fans have been biting their nails in nervous angst for new Robyn material, so news of a broken-up-album release, three separate pieces of a whole project, had them clearing space in their hard drives in no time. As Body Talk Pt. 1 finally finds its way—legally—to headphones everywhere this month, Robyn tells us that the songs that made it on to the first installment were the ones that were finished by the time she had to send the record to the factory. “There is no master plan behind the three parts,” she confides, displaying all the poise and quiet soul you’d expect from a pro. “I´m just experimenting with new ways of working that fit my creative process better.” Since charming her way into the world’s pants in the late 90s, Robyn has come to symbolize the somewhat screwed up dynamic between commercial pop and under-the-radar music. The sassy Swede, who turns 31 this month, straddles those worlds in style, her Kim Novak platinum ‘do acting as a beacon for industry mavericks-in-training. Comparatively speaking, the global music landscape from 1995 to 1997 was more innocent. It was around this time that a teenage Robin Miriam Carlsson
A
emerged. Discovered by Swedish pop singer Meja (“All ‘Bout the Money”), she soon adopted the stage name Robyn and broke through with “Do You Really Want Me.” In hindsight, it’s a song that shares the sonic architecture of Mandy Moore’s “Candy”—well-crafted, timeless, harmless pop-R&B. She spent a chunk of her youth working with Max Martin, the hitmaker responsible for giving Ace of Base, ‘N Sync, and Kelly Clarkson their most memorable melodies, so her radiofriendly roots are undeniable. In a 2006 interview with ARTISTdirect, she talked about making music for the masses: “If you were to compare songwriting to science, then writing pop songs would be rocket science. Because everything has to work, and when you’re up there, you don’t have anything to fall back on. Everything has to be perfect.” As humanity began hurtling towards the millenium, the Scandinavian sensation’s career also started to gain momentum. Robyn finally made headway in the hard-to-crack American market with Robyn Is Here. Two of the album’s dance-pop tracks, “Do You Know (What It Takes)” and “Show Me Love,” were certified Billboard smashes. Among her contemporaries, Usher is the only one who seems to be on a similar trajectory; the R&B performer released his first single,“You Make Me Wanna” in 1997—the same year “Show Me Love” and its Calvin Klein–inspired video made its debut—and is still going strong.
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WORKING GIRL But it was the Konichiwa years that proved to be extremely pivotal. In early 2005, Robyn announced her departure from Jive Records, her home for a decade, to start her own label, Konichiwa Records. Being her own boss of her own start-up apparently did her good. The come-hither knowingness that dripped from Robyn, the result of this artistic independence, made the creative stalemate that was 2002’s Don’t Stop the Music, an R&B-inflected memory. Robyn (2005) was repackaged two years later as Konichiwa Bitches, extending the slowburning spaciness of tracks like “Handle Me,” “Be Mine,” and “Dream On.” It was all about the future from here on out, in all its electro-synthy pop goodness. It’s been five years since Robyn’s self-released clutch of streetwise jams made our lives a bit better, and robots have since appeared in a few of her songs. Back then, it was “Robotboy” (“Your battery’s low / Did you crash again?”); now it’s “Fembot” (“I’ve got some news for you / Fembots have feelings, too”). “Sometimes, I use robots in my lyrics to put my finger on what is human. It´s not really the robot that is important but the emotion,” continues Robyn. “When a robot has emotion, it becomes more clear what it is. Robots are not perfect, just like humans.” True enough, Body Talk Pt. 1’s “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do” sounds like an answering machine rant set to rubberband bleeps and a relentless high-hat. “Technology versus nature fascinates me but not in a cold way,” she says. “I’m interested in it more from the perspective of communication. Internet, dancing, love...” The darker, moodier twin of “With Every Heartbeat,” “Dancing on My Own” is the first official single, an ode to unrequited love on the dancefloor replete with jackhammer-like synths. She serenades the club kids some more with “Cry When You Get Older”, dispensing lines like “love hurts when you do
NOW HEAR THIS What’s currently on Robyn’s playlist? 86 - statusmagonline.com
it right” as strobe lights graze possibly drunken bodies. Body Talk Pt. 1 makes it abundantly clear that Robyn loves the act of dancing so much that she even subverted it, maybe unwittingly, to stand for sadness and isolation. That said, one can only look forward to the torrent of innovative remixes this latest album will soon spawn. In the past, names like Klas Åhlund, Soul Seekerz, and RAC were summoned to rework some of Robyn’s tracks. The electro-poppy “Who’s That Girl?” for example, found new life as a B-more banger when Drop The Lime was through with it. Robyn’s proximity to the beating heart of cool has likewise made her an artist’s artist. The Futureheads knocked out an ace cover of “With Every Heartbeat” while Ellie Goulding and Erik Hassle went ahead and redid “Be Mine” without her permission. On the acoustic duet, Robyn smiles, “I take it as a compliment.” Innovating instead of stagnating, Robyn took a hands-on approach to Body Talk Pt. 1 by working on the logotype. At a time when album art seems to be dying, was all this necessary? She says, “I think the visuals of a record still matter. People watch videos on YouTube and look at album covers on iTunes, but they still look at them.” At this point in her career, Robyn has cemented her reputation as a phenomenon, an alien girl-woman who has created a precedent for younger electro starlets like La Roux and Little Boots. With her trademark swagger, she’s confident that Body Talk Pt. 1’s ninja bass lines will deliver. “Of course,” Robyn proclaims, “I always want my music to be good, and this album is, so there is no pressure.” So it’s settled. See you on the dancefloor.
"Technology versus nature fascinates me but not in a cold way. I'm interested in it more from the perspective of communication. Internet, dancing, love..."
robyn.com
UB40
Notorious B.I.G.
“Don’t Break My Heart”
“Kick in the Door”
"Because it breaks my heart."
"Because the beat and the rhymes are both dope!"
WORKING GIRL
Grace Jones
The Flamingos
Seelenluft
“I Only Have Eyes for You”
Manila (Ewan Pearson Remix)
"Makes me wanna shake my booty."
"Best combo of trippiness and soul."
“It puts me in a good mood.”
“Nightclubbing”
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BOUNCE MAKE COBRA MODEL
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ENCORE 5TH ANNIVERSARY
Photos by Nuk Rumualdez
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Greenbelt 3, Makati City KAMISETA Power Plant Mall, Makati City KARTEL Traffic, Power Plant Mall, Makati City KATE SPADE Greenbelt 3, Makati City LANVIN Homme et Femme, Shangri-La Mall, Mandaluyong City LEVI’S Power Plant Mall, Makati City LUCKY BRAND Greenbelt 5, Makati City MARITHÉ ET FRANÇOIS GIRBAUD Glorietta, Makati City MONICA FIG Atelier Debbie Co, Jupiter St., Makati City See monicafig.multiply.com NIKE Nike stores and shoe departments nationwide NINE WEST Power Plant Mall, Makati City OBEY Trilogy Boutique, 110 Alvion Center, Rada St., Legaspi Village, Makati City Tel. 328-1071 OAKLEY TiO2/Oakley, Greenbelt 3, Makati City OXYGEN TriNoma Mall, Quezon City POISONBERRY See poisonberrymanila.multiply.com PROMOD Greenbelt 5, Makati City PUMA Puma stores and shoe departments nationwide ROYAL ELASTICS G/F Entertainment Center, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City RED HERRING Debenhams, TriNoma Mall, Quezon City REEF OUTLOOK TiO2/Oakley, Greenbelt 3, Makati City SESAME STREET SM Department Stores nationwide SCHU TriNoma Mall, Quezon City STEVE MADDEN Greenbelt 5, Makati City THE RAMP CROSSINGS
Crossings Department Stores nationwide Tel. 635-4410 TOPMAN Greenbelt 3, Makati City TOPSHOP Power Plant Mall, Makati City TUMI Greenbelt 5, Makati City VANS Vans boutiques, SM Department Stores, Landmark Department Stores, Urban Athletics, Toby’s, Olympic Village, American Rag, Athlete’s Foot, Sports Warehouse VNC SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City VOLCOM Aloha Boardsports, Power Plant Mall, Makati City WAREHOUSE Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City CREATIVE ARTISTS George Alves (Model) Reco Modeling Agency E-mail: recomodels@gmail.com Barry Ambrosio (Photographer) E-mail: barryambrosio@mac.com The Cobrasnake (Photographer) See thecobrasnake.com Paola Aseron (Photographer) See paoazron.multiply.com Bruce Casanova (Photographer) See flickr.com/brucecasanova Gerard Estadella (Photographer) See icanteachyouhowtodoit.com Sam Fogg (Model) Reco Modeling Agency E-mail: recomodels@gmail.com Bryann Foronda (Model) Reco Modeling Agency E-mail: recomodels@gmail.com Trixie Gallardo (Model) Parkour Philippines Mobile: 0918-933-9767 E-mail: teng_al@yahoo.com Sherlyn Gonzales (Model) Reco Modeling Agency E-mail: recomodels@gmail.com Olga Lader (Photographer) See olgalader.com Quang Le (Photographer) See photosalaquang.com
Stevyn Llewelyn (Photographer) See modernglossy.com Gonzalo Mena (Model) Reco Modeling Agency E-mail: recomodels@gmail.com Emmanuel Natola (Model) Model Shop E-mail: info@modelshop.ph Meeno Peluce (Photographer) See meenophoto.com Loris Peña (Stylist) E-mail: loriz_21@yahoo.com Rankin (Photographer) See rankin.com Bruno Rellosa (Model) Parkour Philippines Mobile: 0918-933-9767 E-mail: teng_al@yahoo.com Revolution (Photographer) See peaceloveandrevolution.com Mobile: 0927-752-7679 Twitter.com/revolutionn E-mail: rev.naval@gmail.com Michael Rizzi (Photographer) See michaelrizzi.com Nuk Romualdez (Photographer) Mobile: 0917-372-9360 Felicity Son (Hair Stylist) See kiehls.com Ellinor Stigle (Photographer) See ellinorstigle.com Melvin Sun (Photographer) E-mail: melvinsun@gmail.com Tiffany Tuazon (Videographer) E-mail: tiffanyjoycetuazon@gmail.com Mario Viaño (Photographer) E-mail: viana.marco@yahoo.com Matt Warren (Videographer) Mobile: 0910-736-4930 Harry Zernike (Photographer) See harryzernike.com Xeng Zulueta (Makeup Artist) Mobile: 0915-983-6581 STUDIO Triptych Studios G/F Sarmiento Condominium, 177 Yakal St., San Antonio Village, Makati City E-mail: miguelmiranda42@yahoo.com
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LETTERMAN JACKET
It was given to Poreotix upon winning the championship title on ABDC. I didn’t know we were going to get them until the other teams came running out to give them to us.
PAC MODERN SHIRT
PAC Modern was the first dance team I was ever on, but I had to leave it abruptly because Poreotix made ABDC. After ABDC, I performed with PAC Modern at one last competition and was able to get my 15-year anniversary shirt.
CHAD MAYATE Supposedly just a temporary member of America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC) Season 5 champion Poreotix, 20-year-old CHAD MAYATE set his place in stone because of his popping feats, hip-hop strides, and trademark smile. A pretty normal guy sans the recent prestige, he brings his killer moves from the dance floor to the basketball court and video console.
poreotix.com
RAMEN
One of my favorite food of all time—I can eat bowls and bowls of it!
SUNGLASSES
It’s a Poreotix trademark to wear sunglasses, but it’s also really sunny in California!
PS3
What can I say? I’m a guy, and I love video games!
SHOETUREhSHOES
I love these shoes mainly because of the white shoetures (white shoe bars). Shoeture was one of our first sponsors even before we made ABDC.
ABdc SEASON 5 TROPHY
There is only 1 trophy, but it’s pretty heavy, and we pass it around our households.
ACURA INTEGRA
It’s my second car, but it means a lot to me because it’s the first car that I bought with my own money. I named her Lana.
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