ZIGGY March 2015 by ZIGGY

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The Slow Issue Belle & Sebastian Topshop Denim Laurel Canyon Wing Shya Slowcore

Contents 6

26 FEATURE: ARE YOU READY FOR THE COUNTRY The mellow gold produced during Laurel Canyon’s late ‘60s heyday is still the best advertisement for keeping it real and taking it easy

Lookbook: Joan Didion for Céline Didion and Céline in a joint picture of enduring and effortless style

Feature: Slow Dancing in a Burning Room No speed here, but 10 slowburning masterpieces

Runway: The Big Chill Easy, breezy silhouettes made for lying back in

Incoming: St Vincent “I wanted to make a party album you could play at a funeral”

Rewind: Miguel The man and his wash of velvety smooth and slow jams

Collection: H&M Studio Spring/Summer 2015 Definitely not the last resort

Profile: Anoraak To the beach with the sun-andsea-lovin’ producer

Shopping: Five Easy Pieces Time and trends have got nothin’ on these five wardrobe perennials

Talk: Belle & Sebastian “I just wanted something that’d be good coming out of the PA in a club”

Talk: Wing Shya “I like being stupid. You have to be stupid sometimes”

Parties: Laneway Festival Singapore 2015 How do we love Laneway? Let us count the ways…

Parties: The Gathering 2015 We came together

Cover image: Universal Music Singapore / Laneway Festival Singapore

Hello 8

#35: THE SLOW ISSUE

“Slow down, you move too fast.” – Simon and Garfunkel, “59th Street Bridge Song”

Editor in chief Min Chen min@ziggymag.sg

General Manager

Writer

Contributors

Indran P indran@ziggymag.sg

Yu-Jin Lau jin@ziggymag.sg +65 9844 4417

Amanda Tan Chuck Reyes Emma Neubronner Jeremy Fong Loo Reed Marie Soh Rosalind Chua

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without permission from the publishers. The views expressed in ZIGGY are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. Every effort has been made to ensure all information in the magazine is correct at the time it is sent to print. MCI (P) 083/04/2014 ZIGGY is published every month by Qwerty Publishing Pte Ltd. Printed in Singapore by Also Dominie Pte Ltd (L029/09/2013)

Introduction 10

TIME IS ON YOUR SIDE So leave your #FOMO behind Brian Eno, he who forwarded the soft, still and impressionistic strain of music known as ambient since the mid ‘70s (see page 24), has rightly been emerged not just as its contemporary figurehead, but naturally, as its most robust of advocates. “People do dismiss ambient music, don’t they?” he once reflected, “They call it easy listening, as if to suggest that it should be hard to listen to. That’s a very 20th century, art-world kind of idea: that art is only really valid if it takes you by the lapels and attempts to wake you up from your useless bourgeois existence.” To Eno, ambient music’s intentions are to “produce calm and a space to think”, which would entail regularising one’s environment (as opposed to shunning it completely) to find the meditative peace within its madness. It’s also a process that Eno terms “active surrender”, i.e. “the idea that here’s nature, the fabric of things or the ongoing current or whatever, and what you can do is just ride on that system, and the interference you need to make can sometimes be very small.” That’s of course mirrored in how he even stumbled upon the ambient palette in the first place (via a collusion of incidents involving a broken leg and a faulty stereo system), and might as well

serve as a missive for a life led Slow. Such an existence, after all, has no need to play active catch-up with modern-day haste, but in hanging back and affording time for contemplation, it better uncovers the scenic amidst the speed. Then again, living Slow doesn’t mean a total Camus-esque retreat from modern living, but as Slow adherent Carl Honore puts it, it aims to cultivate “a middle path, a recipe for marrying la dolce vita with the dynamism of the information age”. Slow spares our idle hours and our reveries all-new import, just as it urges a fresh consideration toward our environment. Not for nothing did Henry David Thoreau famously retire to his beloved Walden Pond in the 1850s with the words: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately… and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Our Slow Issue, then, actively surrenders to the scenic route and the leisurely pace of things in the form of slowcore, slow jams, analog living, enduring fashion that’s undisturbed by seasonal trends, and a Thoreau-inspired meander into Laurel Canyon. We’ll be taking it slow, but don’t worry, we have time to spare.

Introduction 11

Lookbook 12

STAY GOLD Joan Didion fronts Céline’s Spring/Summer 2015 campaign with the most minimal of fusses Words: Min Chen

In 1968, Time magazine commissioned Julian Wasser to photograph a young Joan Didion at her LA home. In a shoot Wasser remembers as “nice and relaxed”, Didion – fresh from the publication of Slouching Towards Bethlehem, her first collection of essays stamped throughout with her precise and often disquieting prose – was photographed alongside her Corvette Stingray, sporting a long-sleeved dress, a cigarette and a face of steady pensiveness. Didion’s edgy

intelligence is indeed plain to see in these now-iconic series of portraits, but it too found expression in her effortless and enduring style. And in a sign of how timelessly Didion’s played it, she now acts as muse for Céline’s Spring/Summer 2015 roll-out. Her Wasser pictures have been lovingly recreated by Daria Werbowy and Tyrone Lebon for the brand’s Resort outing, and Joan herself – now 80 and still crafting volumes as fine as 2005’s The Year of Magical Thinking – has

been shot by Juergen Teller for the campaign’s crowning image. Clad in a black sweater, and accessorised by a large gold pendant and an oversized pair of sunglasses, Didion here looks as fiercely and gracefully chic as the day she stood by that Corvette and nonchalantly smoked for the camera. Many other great things have been crammed into this one image: the evident synergy between Phoebe Philo’s crisp minimalism and Didion’s

elegant severity, the High Fashion celebration of an intelligent and complex being, and more vitally, an embrace of ageless beauty (also mirrored by Saint Laurent’s S/S campaign starring Joni Mitchell). In an era of thirst and trends, Céline’s unerringly sensible yet sophisticated message for S/S is statement enough, though more so, is Didion’s untroubled response to the amount of likes her highfashion appearance has generated: “I don’t have any clue.”

Listomania 13 Grizzly Bear: “Two Weeks” Grizzly Bear’s songs have always had the latitude to combine breathtaking atmosphere with deeply personal and even banal themes. Here, it’s as simple as asking a lover to have a heart, as Ed Droste affectingly croons: “Would you always / Maybe sometimes / Make it easy / Take your time”.

STILLNESS IS THE MOVE Just as it’s sometimes slow and sometimes fast, time is quiet as it is loud. These 7 songs will explain Words: Indran P

Teenage Fanclub: “Time Stops” That moment when the gentle blush of optimism blankets you with waves of sublime, lifeaffirming joy – that’s what “Time Stops” is about. We don’t allow this to happen often enough, but hearing Gerard Love sweetly say, “Time stops when you find that feeling,” certainly helps. Twin Shadow: “Five Seconds” Combining two age-old songwriting tropes, speeding down a highway – he loved to ride – and the headlong dive into love, George Lewis Jr gives the simple hook, “Five seconds to your heart / Straight to your heart,” an undeniable kinetic force. Cyndi Lauper: “Time After Time” There’s no question about it: this is the greatest paean to unconditional love ever written. Its simple synth melodies are unforgettable and its undying refrain that is purpose-built to unlock/build the reserves of memory is exactly that: undying. FKA twigs: “Pendulum” No one else animates the slow pauses of musical time like FKA twigs and this crushingly beautiful centrepiece from LP1 shows how she can make five minutes feel like an endlessly torrential period of sorrowful desire. The Strokes: “12:51” Basically, “12:51” is the witching hour for Julian Casablancas. It’s that time when he’ll want you to kiss him, to ditch the party and go kick it with him and just, you know, profess your love for him. Sabres of Paradise: “Clock Factory” Conditioned as you are by the Pavlovian manoeuvers of electronic music today, you can’t be blamed for thinking that nothing happens in this technoIDM hallmark. But listen closely to the creepy and creeping sounds and “Clock Factory” plays like the most immaculately crafted horror movie score ever.

Screen 14

IT TAKES TIME Boyhood is Richard Linklater’s very long game Words: Min Chen

If there’s anyone who understands and appreciates how film craft is a long, long game, it’s Richard Linklater. “Film is not a good medium if you need instant gratification,” declared he in 1994, before picking up on a career that’s seen him questing for that enduring high, however endless and drawn out a process that might entail. The 12 years he spent making Boyhood, then, is as much a feat in filmmaking as it is a major test of patience and a leap of faith. With it, Linklater put together a coming-of-age narrative that though fictional in construct, presents an authentic and honest passage of time. None of this happened overnight. Time, of course, has been one of Linklater’s key motifs – from the 24-hour spanning Dazed & Confused and Slacker to the

Before series of films (each of which also take place in a day), which appear every decade to check in on the relationship of your beloved characters, Jesse and Céline. But none of the above have sustained Boyhood’s 12-year-long production schedule. In the spirit of Michael Apted’s Up, Linklater visited his cast every year since 2001, when they’d spend a couple of weeks laying down scenes and building upon the existing narrative. The result is a film that though largely plot-less – in Linklater tradition, natch – unaffectedly depicts a coming-ofage by well, coming of age in real time. Played by Ellar Coltrane, the titular boy Mason begins the movie as a frisky child with eyes in the Texan sky, but several crosscountry moves, stepparents, beers and girlfriends later, emerges as a quiet and pensive young man

on his way to college. No time cards inform us of the progress of time (there are key cultural and political references, though) and no Life Event markers are in place, but then again, none are needed. Boyhood finds its energy in the passing of the ordinary day-to-day (also see: Dazed & Confused), where, as the film will have it, we seize the moment less often than the moment seizes us. It took 12 years for Linklater to get to Boyhood, one of 2014’s most highly acclaimed and award-showered films, and as he advertised back then, it’s been the opposite of instant gratification. Instead, it’s a labour of love and an achievement in the kind of filmmaking that, unconventionally in a cinematic era of blockbustersized immediacy, takes its very own time.

Runway 16

Stella McCartney Spring/Summer 2015

Christophe Lemaire Spring/Summer 2015

Dries Van Noten Spring/Summer 2015

3.1 Phillip Lim Spring/Summer 2015

Chloé Spring/Summer 2015

THE BIG CHILL Not today, Jeremy Scott; here’s style that takes its time in the slow lane Words: Rosalind Chua Hey, it’s Spring/Summer, and hardly the season for your heavy velvets and brocades. Rather, even a fleeting glimpse of the latest runways will present silhouettes that hang loose and stay breezy, all in the name of ease and comfort. Shunning wild styles and mad statements, these looks make the best of free-flowing silk as much as casual denim to paint an abiding picture of festival girls, resort dwellers and utilitarian classicism. There’s Dries Van Noten hewing close to nature in his ethereal spread of slouchy and wispy separates, highlighted by wilderness-inspired embroidery

and toe-freeing sandals; and Christophe Lemaire’s latest workwear offering, which comes roomily cut and loosely shaped, and not lacking in a handsome nonchalance. Meanwhile, Chloé worked the season’s key player, denim (also seen in the presentations of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, amongst others), into relaxed utility wear, while Stella McCartney nailed every loose fit in smocks, jumpsuits and parkas that billowed in every easy way. Trends and tomorrow can wait; these are threads that are very much content with takin’ it nice and easy today.

Rewind 18

LET IT SIMMER Slow jams set the heart racing by taking things down a notch. Here’s Miguel with a modern update of this powerfully sensual sound on his excellent 2012 album Kaleidoscope Dream. Words: Indran P Born Again The story of Kaleidoscope Dream issues from the most interesting element of any artist-history narrative: reinvention. Before he became the guitar-toting, pompadoured, all black-tie everything superstar, Miguel was a fresh casualty in r&b’s fall from pop cultural relevance. The lukewarm response to his tradr&b-referencing 2010 debut All I Want Is You was symptomatic of the dip in popularity of the earnest, mellifluous urgings that titans like R. Kelly, Ne-Yo and The-Dream had made sacrosanct to Top 40 programming for a long time. As is known, the coming of David Guetta’s EDM machine was irresistible and latter-day r&b saints like Usher, Chris Brown and Rihanna went the way of the drop. Not Miguel, though. Even at the very outset, his slow-drip delivery of his hushed vocal style made him an outlier and honing that over a trio of early-2012 surprise-drop mixtapes called Art Dealer Chic that previewed

the luxuriant slow-burners of Kaleidoscope Dream, he unveiled himself to the world anew.

New sounds for a new time “R&b had to evolve,” was Miguel’s response to a question about how he felt with being part of the alt/neo/PB-r&b movement. The gestalt shift in the r&b cosmos was a direct precursor for the unprecedented nature of Kaleidoscope Dream, and Sasha-Frere Jones provides an eloquent survey of its new dimensions: “If r&b was once the main mode of dissembling attractively and seducing openly, it is now America’s confessional booth”. This sea-change played out musically in the transition from what Michael Cragg called “real” r&b’s focus on “life in the moment” to alt-r&b’s fixation on “distant, disconnected slow jams”, with the collective sum of the new descriptors aptly characterising Kaleidoscope Dream. As promised in its christening, the record melted soul, psych, arena rock, funk, hip hop and r&b throughout its tracklist of consummate hits. From the his falsetto verses on the slinky, bass-gutted, pastelhued opener “Adorn” to the magnificently gauzy shoegaze of “The Thrill” to the arms-raised gospel of “Gravity”, Miguel re-

established himself as an auteursavant whose razzle-dazzle, though born of the zeitgeist, would surely outlive it. Smooth, silky and slow Many of the artists who stood under the alt-r&b umbrella have expressed dissatisfaction at what the term has come to imply. Again, Miguel sees things differently: “I’m comfortable with the term because it suggests more artistry within a genre that has become more of a cliché of itself”. And Kaleidoscope Dream is an unabashed cliché-smasher. There’s the artless modesty of “Adorn”; jitters about having sex with the lights on in “Use Me”; the send-up of masculine insecurity on “Pussy Is Mine” and the God-questioning “Candles in the Sun”. And all of it comes at you in a sophisticated slowmotion wash of velvet sounds.

Abc 20

ANALOG ODYSSEY R

Slow down with this A to Z of analog heroes and landmarks that recall much simpler, lo-fi, paperbased and Jack White-approved times Words: Min Chen

as in Jack White, possibly the most hot-blooded advocate for analog living: “We need to re-educate ourselves about human interaction and the difference between downloading a track on a computer and getting turned onto music that you can hold in your hands.”

K A

as in artisanal. It’s a trending topic these days, but any appreciation thrown in the way of artisanal goods can’t be bad. These, after all, are labours of love, skill and artistry that don’t come by as easily as Ikea.

as in Fashion & Sustainability. More than just a passing fad, Kate Fletcher’s coinage of “slow fashion” in 2007 has introduced eco awareness and consumption consciousness into our wardrobes. Her 2012 book Fashion & Sustainability says it all and more.

as in K Records, Calvin Johnson’s temple to independent music, the DIY movement and lo-fi culture, where the cassette was king.

as in lo-fi. Though borne out of financial and equipmental restrictions, lo-fi is a genre unto itself today, spawning releases by Vivian Girls and Wavves, on which every fuzz and flaw is worn as proud aesthetic.

B C

as in C86. A cassette comp of 1986’s hottest guitar music (The Pastels, et al), NME’s C86 didn’t just conveniently birth indie pop in its shambling sound, but tied the scene forever to an analog-based aesthetic.

as in Hi, How Are You. Recorded in his parents’ basement, 1983’s Hi, How Are You was just one of Daniel Johnston’s cassette releases, which, with its childlike art-folk and emotionality, would set the heart and tone of lo-fi to come.

as in 8mm. Far from a longlost format, Kodak’s 8mm film may be largely sidelined by the digital onslaught, but in young film enthusiasts, it continues to be cherished for reasons beyond nostalgia.

as in the Moog synthesizer, which was key in furthering various pop and prog persuasions, and once occupied John Lennon for four whole hours in his attempt to conjure flying saucer sounds on it.

as in vintage. Because trends are for the trendy.

as in Wes Anderson. From his visual signatures (where typewriters, bound books and record players abound) to his partiality to 16mm and 35mm film (see Moonrise Kingdom), Wes Anderson’s nostalgia for the analog age is more profound than yours.

as in Young Marble Giants. Simplicity was built right into YMG: the band built its own drum machine, recorded swiftly and cheaply, and thrived on introverted, minimal instrumentation. Kurt Cobain took note.

as in DIY. Equal movement, ethos and spirit, DIY believes that if something needs doing, you’re the best person to get it done. Joe Strumer thinks so too.

as in Sew U. A child of the ‘90s’ indie-proud milieu, Wendy Mullin founded Built By Wendy on her handcrafted clothes and guitar straps, and in 2006, kept that DIY spirit alive with Sew U, the first of her sewing manuals that believed that U can do it too.

L as in Band of Outsiders, the LA-based label that’s keeping the art of analog alive with its Polaroid-made campaigns. Says Scott Sternberg, “The [Polaroid] look felt exactly how I wanted these campaigns to feel – like a daydream.”

as in Record Store Day. The independent record store is more than just a room with LPs on its racks. As Record Store Day reminds us, they are in fact musical havens ripe with culture and community, and deserve celebration everyday.

as in The Impossible Project. Polaroid is dead, but with The Impossible Project, it is not. Purchasing the last-standing Polaroid factory in 2008, TIP has undertaken to produce its own instant cameras and film, if only to keep the analog dream alive.

as in Pendleton. In addition to its ongoing quality control, Pendleton, as part of its centurylong legacy, stays conscious with its responsible production and use of sustainable materials in its name-making wools and blankets.

as in Quentin Tarantino, lover of celluloid: “I can’t stand all this digital stuff… I mean, it’s just television in public. I shoot film. I came into this for film.”

as in zines. Zines may have run parallel to the punky heydays of the ‘70s and ‘90s, but today, this perfect meeting of paper, ideas and the DIY ethos still thrives in the underground and wherever people are still saying yes to print.

Genius 22

SØLV TAKES IT SLOW How one Norwegian label uncovered the new black in the slow of quality and sustainability Words: Min Chen

In 2013, three years after launching their label SØLV, Mari Stølan and Oda Midtlyng Klempe weren’t exactly happy with how things were going. Appraising the growth of the company, Stølan recalled, “We had become the perfect example of a sustainable business losing its mission in its ambition to grow.” And true enough, while SØLV was established, in its co-founder’s words, on “the long-lost values of consuming – loving what you own, caring for it and maybe passing it on”, and had crafted supremely timeless runs of wools and outerwear, the label had fallen victim to overproduction. Says Stølan, “Visiting our retailers and seeing our beautiful garments hanging on last-minute sales racks made us feel as if it were shampoo and toiletries we were selling.” With sustainability and the hope to foster greater appreciation for its garments in mind, SØLV’s founding duo had some gearshifting to do. And what Mari and Oda did next was drastic, cutting out the retailers and external contracts, and going back to “just being two people wanting to make a difference”. Where their old business model involved dispatching two seasonal

collections to retailers each year, they now invited customers to pre-order the collection online before it goes into production. Sidestepping overproduction, excess material and unnecessary waste, what SØLV had left to give was quality, creativity and the promise of sustainability. And though each garment required a whole six months to produce, Mari and Oda discovered that most of their clientele were more than willing to wait for the arrival of their purchases. In fact, the waiting time allowed SØLV to involve its customers in the production process, by sending them updates and postcards as their garment makes its journey from the spinning mill to the weavery to the sewing factory. There’s no denying the fine craftsmanship that goes into a SØLV piece and in turn, the pride and love that it’s bound to kindle in its new owner. It’s the “relationship based on knowledge and transparency” that Mari and Oda set out to establish with SØLV and as it turns out, all they needed to do was slow things down. “Everything done slowly opens up a new way of seeing, thinking and being,” notes Mari. So yes, as it places purpose before profits, the label’s latest methods and processes may be more costly and time-consuming, but the rewards hit harder and last longer too. It’s been enough to get Stølan to declare, “It is only time that fashion takes a larger step away from its trend-based ways and considers slow the new, permanent black.” Truth.

Icon 23

EASE UP CHIC MADE EASY BY JEAN SEBERG’S PATRICIA

Saint Laurent Classic marinière long-sleeved top

Borsalino Rabbit-felt fedora hat

THE MORE OF LESS

Topshop Striped Pinny sundress

Repetto Tito slipper in nappa calfskin black

Who needs a trend guide when Jean Seberg’s serving up enduring chic in Breathless? Words: Rosalind Chua Of all the many joys that arrived with Jean-Luc Goddard’s Breathless in 1960 – the raw exuberance, the jump-cut spontaneity and the sheer youth of the whole thing – none were as potent as the presence of Jean Seberg. Sure, Belmondo’s Bogart-modelled gangster had his moments, but Seberg’s gamine Patricia Franchini was unmatched in modernity and nonchalance. She arrived onscreen selling the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris and proceeds to charm her way into Belmondo’s apartment, where the pair carry on a languorous seduction. With equal naiveté and knowing, precocity and unpredictability,

Patricia is a goldmine of observations like, “I don’t know if I’m unhappy because I’m not free, or if I’m not free because I’m unhappy,” as much as a breath of fresh and insouciant chic. Hers was the most understated of wardrobes – a striped shirt, a summer dress, a T-shirt – but with Seberg’s easy and effortless poise, made for an unflappably stylish revelation. Proving that less can be more, and a classic fashion staple is just as contemporary, Seberg’s Patricia isn’t just an archetype for French chic, but also, for the art of slow fashion. Turns out, elegance is indeed refusal and every wardrobe essential you’ll ever need, you already own.

Equipment Margaux striped shirt

3.1 Phillip Lim Pencil stretch tapered pants

Muse 24

ENJOY THE SILENCE In defiance of popular music’s emphasis on movement, ambient music makes it a point of presenting panoramas by taking it real slow. Join us as we stop time and take in the view Words: Indran P Two words: Brian Eno Brian Eno is ambient music. Rarely has a sound, sensibility and technique been so thoroughly the result of one individual’s endeavours. Though he had precedents in the works of two late-19th century composers Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, it wasn’t till 1975 when he released his landmark Discreet Music, that generative composition, the theoretical system informing ambient music, broke away from its more technical and esoteric domain. As he revealed in the liner notes, he hit on an idea for the record after not being able to increase the volume of 18th century harp music playing

in his room as he lay on his bed recovering from a car accident. Emanating what Mark Richardson rightly deemed “emotional neutrality”, Discreet Music was the pioneering acknowledgement of minimal sounds that could serve as “a sonic mirror, reflecting back at the listener whatever he presents to it”. From then till 1985’s ThurSday Afternoon, a continuous 60-minute loop of static, synths and piano notes, he’d continue to live out his ambient manifesto: making music that could “accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular [and that is] as ignorable as it is interesting”.

Tabula rasa Unlike other musical developments – hip hop, punk, new/no wave (hail Eno) – ambient music didn’t come into the world screaming with revolutionary bluster. It was a new phenomenon whose essence wasn’t reactionary but creative – a musical blank slate. Crucial to its existence was the synthesizer, which afforded such a manipulation of sound that Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hutter proclaimed in 1977, “Electronics is beyond nations and colours; with electronics everything is possible. The only limit is with the composer.” Unsaddled by history, unlike the piano, synthesizer technology allowed musicians to strip away at pop, cutting it up and cutting it out, giving rise to the minimalism on which ambient sounds are predicated. On this point of ambient music’s erasure of pop tropes, especially linear drum-led rhythms, the inimitable Arthur Russell was emphatic: “Music with no drums is successive to music with drums.” Untethered from all the musical coventions that showed the listener what to feel, ambient music’s implacable character

made it endlessly explorable and stimulating – it was proof that electronic music could do more than move the body. Only in dreams Absent of a context that isn’t provided by the listener, ambient music is the closest we’ll come to producing dreamlike sounds in waking life. Jordan Czamanski of techno duo Juju & Jordash attributes this to the main achievement of ambient music: by not satiating the demands of the body, ambient music can “service introspective musings – the brain at its own tempo”. There is nowhere to hide in an ambient track and if we don’t consent to submitting the full extent of our attention to the beatless, kaleidoscopic layers of droning sound, we’ll never know the sensations and without sounding whimsical, revelations we might encounter. Take it from one Aphex Twin’s reaction to his own ambient opus Selected Ambient Works II: “You get a really weird presence and you’ve got that hum. You just feel electricity around you. That’s totally dreamlike for me”.

Bookmark 25

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IDLE Four reads that show that slow is easy, so don’t be too hard on yourself

ZEN POEMS

EDITED BY PETER HARRIS

If the feverish pace of contemporary life has gotten you down, let Zen be a balm with its intuitive insight and reflective thought, all of which are manifest even in its simplest and quietest of poems. And thanks to Everyman’s Library, we have ourselves a pocket-sized volume of such poetry, featuring the works of Zen practitioners like Hanshan, Shinkei and Wang Wei. In fact, so mindful are these poems that Yang Wanli’s 12th century verse goes as far as to instruct, “Don’t chant poems! It’s annoying for others to have to hear you.” Indeed, it is.

Words: Min Chen

THE OPEN ROAD BY DAVID CAMPANY

The American road trip is no myth, though as immortalised in song, film and literature, it most certainly is mythical. Of the road, Stephen Shore’s written about “the sense of possibility and freedom that it represents”, Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” romanticised it all from Pittsburgh to the “cars on the New Jersey Turnpike”, while Ed Ruscha painted 26 of its gasoline stations between LA and Oklahoma. Also familiar with the road’s transient beauty are the photographers who fill The Open Road, David Campany’s compilation of well-shot road trips. The travels and photographs of Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Ryan McGinley, Nico Krebs, William Eggleston and more are gathered here, documenting car culture, hitchhikers, empty landscapes and in turn, America. “The road is life,” wrote Jack Kerouac, and here, it too is muse.

SLOWNESS

BY MILAN KUNDERA

One of Kundera’s lighter and shorter volumes, Slowness sets out with the question, “Why has the pleasure of slowness disappeared?” before going on to observe what a culture steeped in speed (a “form of ecstasy”) may have lost along the way. The exploration is carried out across two century-spanning tales: one being a libertine affair set in 18th century France and another modern-day one of a narrator and his wife visiting an old country chateau for an increasingly frantic

entomological gathering. In between both stories stand time as it is and as it is consumed – with “prolonged suspense” and sensuality in the former, and with a diluted form of hedonism, ie. speed, in the latter. “When things happen too fast,” the novel tells us, “nobody can be certain about anything… not even about himself.” And as Slowness paces to the end with Kundera’s inventive surrealism and comic timing, as the past and present tales collide, it reminds us of what we lose in hastening toward our destination without savouring the journey.

HOW TO BE IDLE

BY TOM HODGKINSON

Hardly anyone knows about idling as well as Tom Hodgkinson, who’s made doing nothing his everything. His anti-work, prolife philosophy is all over How To Be Idle, in which Hodgkinson celebrates all manner of loafing from sleeping in to slow feasting to “pad[ding] around the house in your dressing gown like Sherlock Holmes”. And armed with ample quotational support from the likes of Bertrand Russell, Hemingway and Jesus, you’re not gonna be alone the next time you find yourself hitting the snooze button.

Feature 26

ARE YOU READY FOR THE COUNTRY How Laurel Canyon’s slow and simple heyday produced the ultimate in mellow gold

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

Indeed, Laurel Canyon was a dream for its earliest residents of the late-‘60s. “There was a freedom in the air,” recalls Graham Nash, “a sense that we could do anything.” It was a feeling of possibility that came naturally with the shifting of the hippie ethos, making way for a garden of new promises.

Words: Min Chen

“I live in the middle of the great hallucinogenic wasteland – Laurel Canyon, on one of the hot streets with the rest of the stars… lotsa action, having a wonderful time,” said Frank Zappa in the late ‘60s, half in jest and half in scorn, though his cynicism was hardly misplaced. Prescient in more ways than one, Zappa was first to see right through the hippie-hallowed Summer of Love of 1967, divining the cash and commercialism that would come to flood the underground (and it most certainly did). As famed groupie Pamela des Barres remembers, “He could see where all the hippie bullsh*t was going. And when everybody else got weirder, Frank got less weird.” Hence Zappa’s move to Laurel Canyon in 1968, where he set up a rustic vantage point from which to take in all that was hot, wonderful and actionpacked about it. Frank’s return to the garden was not the first or last relocation to the Laurel Canyon: Jim Morrison, The Mamas & The Papas and Arthur Lee had preceded him, and after Zappa would come an influx of musicians, singers and songwriters drawn to the neighbourhood’s bucolic idyll. In there soon wandered the likes of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Judee Sill, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, JD Souther and more. For, far from the neon hustle of the greater Los Angeles area, Laurel Canyon

offered an escape, quietude and eventually, an artistic community, where the late-‘60s and early‘70s Californian sound was ultimately distilled. Culling the most American of influences – folk, country, rock ‘n’ roll, bluegrass, psychedelia – and aided by the peaceful seclusion of their geographic location, these singer-songwriters crafted songs that were mellow, melodic, highly personal and largely apolitical. Like Zappa’s own move to the canyon, these songs turned away from the prevailing hippie ethos and instead, championed the kind of introspection and countryinflected atmospherics that certainly wouldn’t win it points with the counterculture. “A lot of the music harkened back to a simpler time and place,” notes Chris Darrow. And indeed: the scene at Laurel Canyon, for the short time before the corporations moved in, extolled the virtues of a life led slow and simple, by taking it easy, keeping it honest and letting your roots show. Sorry, kids, there were no “hot streets” here, but in the following canyonevoking playlist, golden pastoral scenes and Californian dreams.

Crosby, Stills & Nash: “Wooden Ships” Here, CS&N unfurled antiVietnam war sentiments (“We are leaving, you don’t need us”) as much as post-’60s revelations against mellow back-porch blues. The Mamas & The Papas: “Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)” One of the first on the scene, The Mamas and The Papas are seen here rejoicing in the transformative powers of the canyon’s beauty, waters and yes, the young girls too. Joni Mitchell: “Ladies of the Canyon” Probably the most Laurel Canyon of albums, Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon hit all the right spots in its questioning of hippie utopianism (“Woodstock”), pining for Graham Nash (“Willy”) and on its title track, celebrating the canyon’s female inhabitants in all their sunlit, gypsy-shawled glory.

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COUNTRY ROADS

Roots and country rock barely stemmed from the Laurel Canyon, but it definitely found its keenest evocation here, with help from The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and conditioning by American white roots blues like Music From The Big Pink. “We wanted to turn away from all the intensity and social foment, and just sort of go have a picnic,” clarified Bernie Leadon, whilst laying back.

CLOSING TIME

The idyllic bliss of the Laurel Canyon wouldn’t and couldn’t last forever. The record companies eventually closed in, success brought egos, drug habits and limousines to the canyon, and its residents were viewed with a new cynicism. By the mid-‘70s, all that countrified innocence and introspection had hit the city, and Warren Zevon’s one-time remark, “I don’t know whether LA’s changed or I have,” could certainly echo well within the canyon in-crowd.

James Taylor: “Sweet Baby James” Never more cowboys, canyons and highways could be crammed in one place than in James Taylor’s mellow and bucolic lullaby.

A CASE OF YOU

“The process of writing a song is really the process of confronting something internal,” once said Jackson Browne of a practice that the Laurel Canyon crowd did not take lightly. Introspection guided the hand of many of its songwriters, who produced tracks that while exposing internal anxieties and reveries, also offered glimpses into the many (and incestuous) ties that bound the Canyon crowd.

Judee Sill: “Jesus Was a Cross Maker” A runaway teen troubled by substance abuse, Judee Sill was also endowed with a prodigious musical talent, which she poured into rustic hymnals – her selfstyled “country-cult-baroque” – that were fixated on her long quest for redemption. On her name-making single, she casts her man of the moment, J.D. Souther, as “a bandit and a heartbreaker” and over a lilting melody, urges, “Please come down flyin’ low for me”.

Carole King: “I Feel The Earth Move” Shedding her Brill Building beginnings for canyon-esque composition and craft, Carole King emerged with 1971’s Tapestry, containing “songs of love, songs of raw feeling”. King’s introspection and brisk folk-pop shines well on “I Feel The Earth Move”, on which her soulful warmth melts gently into a serene earthiness. Joni Mitchell: “A Case of You” With Blue, Joni more than wrote the book on soul-baring, gutwrenching songcraft. The hearton-sleeve-ness of the whole thing culminates with “A Case of You”, which would lead James Taylor, her ex-beau and the song’s subject to declare, “Everyone who writes songs writes autobiographical songs, but hers are sometimes alarmingly specific.”

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: “Our House” Hey, Graham Nash’s in love. If you’d ever wondered about the domestic on-goings within Nash and Joni Mitchell’s Laurel Canyon abode, it’s all here: fireplace, vase and two cats. “Well,” explained Nash, “it’s an ordinary moment.”

Neil Young: “Southern Man” “When Neil came out with the Levi’s and the patches on the cover of After The Gold Rush,” recalls record producer Denny Bruce, “suddenly everybody had to dress that way.” Indeed, there’s no underestimating the countrified impact of Young’s third album, which, sartorial influence aside, typified Americana in rootsy beauties like “Southern Man”. Eagles: “Take It Easy” Co-penned by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, “Take It Easy”, in its easy-breezy sound and earth-bound lyrical content, cut a free-wheelin’ trail (“Just find a place to make your stand”) for all other country rockers in the Golden State to follow. Linda Ronstadt: “Faithless Love” “Everybody’s going to the country. Obviously we screwed it up pretty badly for human beings. They’re trying to seek shelter in any way they can,” said Linda Ronstadt in 1970, her own excursion to the country hitting its mark with 1974’s Heart Like A Wheel. See it for “Faithless Love”, written by her then-paramour J.D. Souther, and for pastoral images of raindrops, rivers and broken roads.

Eagles: “Hotel California” For a song that’s so intricately linked with California, the Eagles’ chart-smashing, easy-listening pressing didn’t actually have the nicest things to say about the Golden State. As a metaphor for Hollywood itself, the titular hotel was where one could “check out any time you like / but you can never leave”, duly exposing the desperation and self-destruction behind the high life. Joni Mitchell: “People’s Parties” “This, I think, is a lonely time to live in,” said Joni Mitchell on the release of her Court & Spark. On it, she likewise bemoaned the mid-‘70s by casting off her folk sound for a jazzy palette and the “stone-cold” air of Malibu. “People’s Parties”, in particular, while sparkly on the outside, is also a bundle of sad and weak “nerves and feelings”. Jackson Browne: “The Pretender” By 1976, the boy that stood on the corner of Winslow, Arizona, in “Take It Easy” had grown to the world-weary being on The Pretender. Latterly described by writer Richard Cook as “the summary and summit of postWoodstock despair”, the album’s title track sees Browne delivering the quintessential statement of ‘70s fatigue: “Say a prayer for the pretender / Who started out so young and strong / Only to surrender”.

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SLOW

Sometimes, speed is needless. In these 10 albums, you’ll find marvels and revelations that will slowly but surely take you in. Let’s all fade in, slowly. Text: Indran P

LOW: THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE

Like all pioneers whose pathlighting endeavours have come to be defined by an infinitely reductive terminology, Low frontman Alan Sparhawk hated the term “slowcore” and even offered another lens through which to regard his band’s work: “Slowcore. I hate that word. The most appropriate is anything that uses the word ‘minimal’ in it, but

I don’t think anybody’s made one up for that”. And as with the protestations of other mavericks, his were largely unheeded. Low’s Things We Lost in the Fire is a widely acknowledged slowcore perennial, an essential in the canon that is namechecked without fail in any discussion about it. Low’s trudging ethereality always had a certain grace but that wasn’t what made Fire the Great List mainstay that it is. Rather, it was

that five albums in, the band had finally perfected the marriage of what Ryan Schreiber called its “sloth-pop” with a bracingly unambiguous lyricism that allowed its songs to cut deep and keep the blade lodged in. Opener “Sunflowers”’ lines, “When they found your body / Giant x’s on your eyes / And with your half of the ransom / You bought some sweet sunflowers / And gave in to the night,” foreshadowed what was to come – ever so slowly.

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RED HOUSE PAINTERS: DOWN COLOURFUL HILL

not loaded stadiums or ballparks,” he intoned in his elegiac, oddly masculine baritone on “24”, giving one the impression that he was alluding to years of struggle the band endured in an indifferent San Francisco scene. But by the song’s terminating verse, “To every love given child / Oldness comes to rile / The youth who dream suicide,” it had unspooled into an overwrought metaphor for mortality itself. Then, there was the music. Not packing the

BPMs as it was, Down Colourful Hill was also remarkable for the sheer length of its songs: three out of its six songs clocked in seven, 10 and 11 minutes respectively. And in hindsight, it seemed like Kozelek knew exactly what he was putting the listener through, for 20 years later, when asked about a new project, he had this to say: “I didn’t want to put myself, or anyone else, asleep with another quintessential Mark Kozelek album”.

BLOOD ORANGE: CUPID DELUXE

The lay of Cupid Deluxe’s ultralush sonic terrain can be summed up in a line from its secondlongest and from a conventional standpoint, least “eventful” song “It Is What It Is”: “Time will tell if you can figure this and work it out / No one’s waiting for you anyway so don’t be stressed now / Even if it’s something that you’ve had your eye on, it is what it is”. Throughout the album, the simple take-it-easy palliative is taken to beatific (“Chosen”), emotionally

gutted (“Chamakay”) and earnestly imploring (“No Right Thing”) vistas of expression, on a genre-meld that though utterly contemporary, throws back in its sheer ease and seamlessness to the halcyon musical past of the ‘80s. But in every emotional entanglement chronicled here, Hynes’ hold on time and timeliness is supreme. It’s to slowcore’s credit that Cupid Deluxe exists.

Mark Kozelek isn’t a funny guy. So any humour on his part is bound to be of the darkest, blackest shade. Down Colourful Hill, the Red House Painters’ debut, opened with a joke that like all that would shape his future work, was funny on the surface but whose premise would grow incrementally grave as the song progressed. “So it’s

It’s hard not to gush about a record that gushes with emotion in a original and brilliant way from start to finish. With Cupid Deluxe, Dev Hynes left the race for indier&b market share and reached for the crown of in-a-lane-all-hisown-auteur. Funk, soul, grime, soft-rock, Prince – all are present here and never in any rush to assert themselves.

DANCING IN BILL CALLAHAN: DREAM RIVER

increasing machismo of grunge. But being a Callahan creation, and arguably the finest thus far, it marked the culmination of his magical gift of slow-burning human dramas. On his other acclaimed releases like Red Apple Falls and Knock Knock, he showed how he could say more in five words than others could in an entire song. But on Dream River, he really took his time on the songs, letting the pauses speak

for themselves. The repetition of “beer” and “thank you” on “The Sing” and the way he drew out different resonances with each utterance has already gone a long way to affirming his genius for economy. And even when things got chaotic, like the hurricane he observes tearing up his town on “Summer Painter”, his stoic quietude was mesmeric in its heartbreaking thrall: “Then came a quiet / No one should know”.

CODEINE: FRIGID STARS

not a defensive manoeuver but a word of honour. A slowcore milestone, Codeine’s debut album was also a significant indie moment that was a casualty of its own lack of glamour from the very outset. When Immerwahr, guitarist John Engle and drummer Chris Brokaw became Codeine in 1989, hardcore held sway over the American underground, Jane’s Addiction were the gods of the alternative nation and Sonic Youth were on the come-

up for making loud, gnashing sound-art. Frigid Stars, then, was a reflexive reaction to the entire continuum of leftfield rock music. Prefiguring Modest Mouse’s biting cynicism, it was a collection of dread-drenched songs with a spirit that was more honest than theatrical. The line, “See a smile / make it sad,” on “D” was what gave slowcore its pseudonym in “sadcore”, but as Immerwahr once said, “emotional heaviness” was all that Codeine was about.

Anyone who thinks that Callahan’s 2013 opus – and career milestone – Dream River is an outlier on this list can be partially excused for thinking so. It’s not “slowcore” in the conventional understanding of the term, set against the backdrop of the cultural cause-and-effect that saw it as a counterstrike against the

Here’s Stephen Immerwahr with something that he can be expected to say: “Stuff sounds good slowed down”. Codeine is slowcore, and having never veered from its blueprint of dragged-out rhythms, reverbed guitars and nasally dolorous, high-in-the-mix vocals, across their two supremely influential albums, its frontman’s claim is

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CAT POWER: MYRA LEE

It shouldn’t come as a shock that Chan Marshall has earned herself the mantle of “Queen of Sadcore”. After all, besides being a onetime – and longtime – girlfriend of Bill Callahan, she’s made an incontestable career out of making music that honestly, sounds just like how John Payne describes it: “Forlorn guitar or piano-accompanied musings on

life, love, confusion, blades of grass, this colour and that abstract painting”. Rather than cramming big ideas into cheap shells, she’s married an implacable streamof-consciousness style with a distinct and often devastating introspectiveness to singular effect. But before Callahan and her surprising tenure as muse for Marc Jacobs, there was Myra Lee. Rock, folk and blues, stripped of all their sanguine parts and melted into a new lo-fi whole, the 1996

release announced the Cat Power sound and framed the ethos that’d characterise her future work. The violent acoustic opener “Enough” held in germ the post-grunge confusion and anger she’d become famed for dramatising later, while on the lightly twinkling diptych of “Top Expert” and “Ice Water”, which defied the gravity of conventional song structure, her place at the upper echelons of indie rock’s farthermost fringes was evident.

A BURNING THE ARAB STRAP: PHILOPHOBIA

of a superlatively wounded and delicate essence. Therein lay what would make Arab Strap a ‘90s touchstone, and on its sophomore album Philophobia (Greek for “fear of falling in love”) the band played on the modus it established on its first album and delivered a performance that was unforgettable in its own way. Melancholia and ennui, delivered at an aesthetically staggered pace were the gears that, pardon the

irony, propelled the slowcore wheelhouse but on Philophobia, Moffat and Middleton pushed these tropes to an emotionally naked extremity. Consider such scenes as this one in “Packs of Three”: “It was the biggest c**k you’d ever seen, but no one knows where that c**k has been”. Philophobia told a story of wrecked and wretched life and made sure you listened – the prize was in the slowly unwinding punishment.

THE ANTLERS: HOSPICE

and its unravelling as she slipped away. The extent to which all this is autobiographical is still debated to this day but has no bearing on how thoroughly compelling and powerful it is as a musically realised narrative work. The beautifully laboured pace on Hospice wasn’t in service of a prosaic emotion or sentiment. Documenting the ardours and the attendant spectrum of feelings that arise from hoping against hope, the record eschewed cynicism and conveyed instead

an emotional payload with an undeniably cinematic level of realism. Opening with the ghostly instrumental “Prologue”, which framed the (sur)real scope of the protagonist’s experience, the record chronicled emotional abuse (“Kettering”), shortlived joy (“Bear”) and finally, resignation (“Wake”), on layers of filigreed, intricately textured sounds whose scale oftentimes gave slowcore a quality it never had before: anthemic.

These Scots got together at the same time as Mogwai but would go down a diametrically opposite path. Where Mogwai trafficked in guitar-heavy build-and-release epics, Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton wove bleak, sordid tales that encompassed the depressing realities of life in post-Thacherite Britain around instrumentation

A little background is necessary to understand the existential depths from which 2009’s Hospice issued forth: frontman Peter Silberman, in a moment stemming from “social isolation”, holed himself up in his Brooklyn apartment and wrote an “all-encompassing” record about a hospice worker’s encounter with a female patient suffering from terminal bone cancer, their burgeoning romance

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ROOM MOJAVE 3: EXCUSES FOR TRAVELLERS

each reflection, so generously furnished by slowcore, M3’s third full-length was a veritable slow-burning treat. Travellers is special for how nicely it resides in a nexus of pop, folk, country, rock and blues sounds and how it draws out the emotive powers of each to enliven the push-pull tensions of human relationships, without having to break a sweat or bust a lung for emphasis. Guys like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty wouldn’t lend their names to something as formulated as “slowcore” but

throughout this album, Halstead’s ethereal croon more than capably invokes theirs amidst hushed, swooning-in-slow-motion sounds. There’s the lovelorn opener “In Love with a View”, where soft keys and lightly percolating pedal steel guitar accompany his declaration that he “was happy to fall” for the woman who’d later spurn him; “My Life in Art” the seven-minute banjo-led tale of a stripper doomed to fail – it’s a gives-as-much-as-you-put-in triumph.

THE FOR CARNATION: MARSHMALLOWS

the indie world reacted anew. “This music is too minimalist to even be called ambient; it’s almost non-existent!” railed Bret Love, alluding to the fluttering, silence-approaching essence of songs like “On the Swing” and “Winter Lair”, where Macmahan’s sweet whisper-croon floated on lumbering pre-Band of Horses minor-key guitars and percussion so faint, it seemed more implied than actual. Undoubtedly, this posed a frustrating

proposition to many. But with his pure plainspoken honesty and unadorned vocals, Macmahan offered the comfort of a parallel fate to anyone going through a particularly emotional moment in their lives. “I have no debts / Except to you,” he said, on “Lmyr, Marshmallow”. That the only accompaniment to those words were looped echoes of piano keys should serve as proof of how little rhythm mattered compared to the content of a feeling.

Slowdive couldn’t have made this list for obvious reasons but Mojave 3, the Neil Halstead-helmed alt-country spinoff are beyondworthy candidates. Leaving his guitar-as-weapon mode behind for a sound more suited to the bucolic contemplativeness afforded by the English countryside and the musical time and space with which to savour and indulge

As the leader-genius behind Slint, Brian Macmahan, released 1991’s Spiderland, a math/postrock landmark and a light-giving testament for the left. Then, three years later, Macmahan did a jaw-dropping 180 on Marshmallows, the debut mini-LP of his slowcore-centric new band and after the initial shock,

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The queenly focus of her death stare holds eternities in its unblinking regard, just like her unique allure, it’s trafficstopping – you just can’t look away. That’s St. Vincent for you. With three albums of ingenious guitarcelebrating indie rock to her name, Annie Clark is one of the most singular musical figures of our time. But in 2014, on her fourth album St. Vincent, she emerged anew as a funk-deconstructing goddess with the footwork to go with her sonic feats of freeze-dried lushness. At Laneway Festival Singapore 2015, we were privy to how powerfully this translated live, before we caught up with her on the Melbourne leg of the festival’s tour to find out about her new sounds and new moves. Words: Indran P Image: Laneway Festival Singapore

FATAL

Congrats on a truly fantastic set at Laneway Festival Singapore 2015. What did you think of the show? Oh, it was so fun! It was the band’s first show in a month, the longest we’ve gone without playing together. We were just so excited to play there and the crowd was so exuberant. We loved it. It’s known that you have been touring intensively since St. Vincent was released last year. How has that been for you? It’s been madness. There’ve been some really high highs and a couple of lows but for the most part, we’ve been on a manic go-go-go mode. We haven’t even caught our breath at all. We sense that same frenzied energy on St. Vincent as well. Though the songs are monolithic, they contain some very trying revelations. Yes, there were a lot of things that went into it. I’ve said before that I wanted to make a party

album you could play at a funeral. I wanted to have big beats and grooves and also a heart. I also tend to be a melancholic person at times, which is a stream running through me that I will probably will never lose. A lot of it was just about my life as I was living it. “Ratttlesnake”, for example, was about me literally being chased by a rattlesnake. Yes, it’s interesting that you called that experience a “new mythology” for you. Well, I was kind of referencing William S. Burroughs in talking about a new mythology. But also it follows very closely the myth of the Garden of Eden. It’s just that in this new mythology, I was running for my life! The song literally happened and I wrote it as it happened but when I look back, it feels like it’s a metaphor for something. That’s like the album as a whole: thoroughly funky but mysterious and foreboding.

That’s just kind of an act, you know? I like when pop songs have fangs, and I like when good melodies get subverted and perverted by other things and other elements. It’s just my natural instinct to turn things around. What’s interesting to me is taking organic sounds played by real human beings and perverting them to sound inorganic and inhuman. It’s fun to exist in that uncanny valley where it’s just close enough to humanoid to where it’s uncomfortable. You’ve also said that you “spend a lot of time trying to make things that aren’t effortless look effortless”. Would you say that this extends to your increasingly ornate live shows as well? I would say so. For me, freedom comes from structure. I was thinking how in the early days of machines and computers, the tasks they performed were routine. Which is not to say that they were mundane. They were just didn’t involve cognition, like in

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ATTRACTION

things like, “A + B= C”. I kind of applied that to the live show and had a “routine” and choreography. But, of course, the difference was that I’m a human, so I am reacting in real time but there’s a whole swathe of information that I don’t have to think about or process in real time and I still can be emotionally present because certain things are pre-planned. I don’t want to be a rock band playing some rock songs. Our live show has to feel like a real, elevated show.

And are you also as involved in planning the choreography as you are in making the music? Well, yes and no. The show is choreographed by Annie-B Parson, who I worked with on the Love This Giant tour with David Byrne. She’s really brilliant and she only works with novices; I have no dance training. The moves are very gestural. It’s not like hip hop; I don’t pop it and lock it – I couldn’t anyway. She’s great at knowing what people are capable

of doing and what’s going to look good on someone’s body. We had a dialogue about it and I sent her some videos of Pina Bausch choreographing The Rite of Spring, which is a pagan rite of passage where a virgin dances herself to death. The end of the piece is her falling and falling, trying to get up and falling. So I told Annie-B that I wanted to learn how to fall.

Is it difficult playing guitar while dancing? I’ve played guitar for 20 years now so there are certain things I don’t have to think about. I have a certain amount of faculty. Adding the movement was a challenge, especially with the singing, but once I got it down, I got it down. And it also helps if you’re on heels! Let’s talk about the lead single “Birth In Reverse”. It contains one of the most enigmatic lines in the album in “I’m still holding for the laugh”. What’s the joke? Life. Existence. I take a lot of inspiration from comedy and

stand-up comics. I love Chris Rock, Bill Hicks and Louis CK. They have to stand on stage and wait for the audience to get in on the joke. Which is like me in the song: I’m waiting for my life to start. It’s a nod to cosmic absurdity. Even the music is a little fun but sneaky. I was winking at Andy Gill from Gang of Four. “Birth In Reverse”, with its deceptive simplicity, has a companion song in “Regret”, which reads like a sociology of loneliness. Do you see it manifesting in society as alienation or a conscious choice for solitude? Well put. I think it can be both. There’s always a point where self-imposed solitude tips over into scarier things. I think that human beings today are very fundamentally similar to human beings in days of old in that our basic needs are the same. We may have slightly more ephemera now, but our needs are the same. I think the myth is that it’s easy to

love someone, to give yourself to someone. But human beings are so complicated. That’s why they’re so interesting. You close the album in a very devastating way with “Severed Crossed Fingers”. We won’t ask you what it’s about because that story is yours. Rather, did the song do for you what you wanted it to do when you wrote it? Good question. Interpersonally, no, because pain is pain; it does fade but it doesn’t disappear instantly. Certain things don’t exactly heal but they get better with time. I’m glad that I wrote it. It’s better for me that I’ve written it than not written it. Lastly, you’ve been touring for a year. When will you rest? You know what? We’re going to Bali! I’ll rest on the beach and wear SPF100 sunblock. It’s going to be great. I’m so excited! St. Vincent is out now on Lomo Vista/Republic

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#AROUNDTHECAMPFIRE Words: Indran P & Min Chen

INSTAGRAM WATCH

GIORGIO MORODER IS WORKING WITH SKRILLEX DAVE GROHL NAMED AMBASSADOR FOR RECORD STORE DAY 2015

Hear his roar: “I believe that the power of the record store to inspire is still alive and well, and that their importance to our next generation of musicians is crucial. Take an afternoon (and some hard earned lawn mowing money) and please support them”.

The disco legend recently revealed that Disney has approached him to soundtrack a new Tron videogame and that he’s enlisted the brostep god himself to help him out: “We have about five themes, electronic stuff and let’s see if he’s interested in remixing or re-working one of the songs”. Make good, Sonny.

PASSION PIT READY KINDRED

Quiet since they released their 2012 blockbuster Gossamer, Passion Pit have announced that their third album Kindred will drop 21 April. Lead single “Lifted Up (1985)” is already doing the rounds and showing Chvrches how to indie-dance.

@kimkardashian: “Kanye gave Dave the shoes off his feet #Yeezys” ‘Ye recently unveiled his muchanticipated collaboration with adidas, including the Yeezy 750 Boosts, sending hypebeats and the chatterati into overdrive. And while the drops are notoriously unattainable for most, all Dave Chappelle had to do was ask.

ZANE LOWE TO LEAVE BBC RADIO 1

After standing at the helm of the ship for more than a decade, the London-via-Auckland jock will be crossing the pond to work for Apple. It’s not clear what his new designation will be. The great Annie Mac will be taking over his slot.

BECAUSE I SAY SO

AZEALIA BANKS VS ERYKAH BADU

Banks has now added Erykah Badu to her list of enemies in a recent Twitter beef, that, like all of them, began with a perceived slight: When Badu replied to a fan’s tweet asking if she had listened to Banks before, with “Tried”, the gates of twit-beef hell were opened. Also, Banks will grace the April cover of Playboy.

RIP SAM ANDREW “Just as the Mercury Prize lands like a voodoo doll in the hands of the unlucky recipient… a Brit Award generally goes to a lot of shrivelled young souls who have not earned it.” – Morrissey, giving awards shows the side-eye

The leader of Big Brother & the Holding Company passed away last month aged 73. In allowing one Janis Joplin to sing on “Piece of My Heart”, he gave the world a truly unforgettable song and paved the way for one of the most uncompromising voices of our time.

@laurajanegrace: “What a day! Thanks so so so much @mileycyrus” The “Wrecking Ball” singer has started a foundation called Happy Hippie to combat teenage homelessness. Against Me! played a show for the charity and its transgender frontwoman gramed this pic and sparked rumours of a possible Miley x Against Me! project. Keep yr ears peeled.

JACK WHITE’S GUACAMOLE RECIPE

Following a 2 February show at the University of Oklahoma, Jack White’s tour rider was leaked by the OU Daily student newspaper. Nothing exceptional is in it (mirroring White’s irate openletter response: “I actually don’t ask for ANYTHING”), save for the fantastic inclusion of an apparently “delicious” guacomole recipe.

@badgalriri: “happy birthday bob” So… anyone thinks that badgalriri’s posthumous birthday wishes for the venerable Bob Marley are a touch gauche?

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WELCOME TO HEARTBREAK Petite Noir lights up in cold, dark places Words: Indran P When you encounter a young artist whose vision is summed up by, “If you don’t have a big vision, don’t have a vision at all,” you know that any output that bears his/her name is bound to be uncompromising. Unlike the bedroom virtuosos and “urban” cool kids putting their stamp on the flourishing alt-r&b sound, 24-year-old Cape Town singerproducer Yannick Iluga is on to something legitimately dangerous, and for these very reasons, is all the more inaccessible. “It’s like new wave but with an African aesthetic. It’s a cross between both worlds; it’s a worldly thing,” Iluga says of his devastatingly reimagined pop sounds. Petite Noir is the culmination of Iluga’s artistic intent after years of tinkering with sounds that couldn’t be further afield from what passes from him today. First, there were his years playing guitar in church, then the descent into metal. After a stint in the metalcore outfit Fallen Within taught him that he couldn’t be in a band “because there was arguing all the time”, he

began to be drawn into the world of electronic music. When at 16, he came upon Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreaks, he had a “mindblowing” epiphany. It was Ye’s levelling of musical barriers that impelled him to combine distinctly European sounds like new wave and post-punk with Afrobeat, and distill the separate parts through a lo-fi aesthetic that has come to be known as “noir-wave”. In January, “noir-wave” received its founding document in The King of Anxiety, his debut EP. Elevating his David Lynch-meetsIan Curtis doomy baritone which he previewed on the 2012 single “Till We Ghosts” with a richer, more soulful dimension along with a seamless genre-meld on chillingly lovely songs like “Chess”, Ilunga has done something damn near impossible in 2015: give us something unexpected. It’s a heartbroken inner look-around that comes with revelations from worlds colliding – it’s Petite Noir. The King of Anxiety is out now on Domino

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THE TIES THAT BIND SMARTLY DESIGNED AND EXCELLENTLY CRAFTED, TUDOR’S FABRIC STRAPS ARE WORTH THE WRIST

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At the Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show in 2010, the Tudor Heritage Chrono was unveiled to the world. Echoing its 1970s predecessor, the model was a marvel of stylised and polished design, though more interestingly, was also presented with an additional fabric strap. Woven with black, grey and orange lines to mirror the racing stripes widely recognised in the world of car racing, this humble strap complemented the Heritage Chrono’s already handsome face with dashing edge, and was immediately embraced by the watch-wearing public. All of Tudor’s Heritage models have since been offered with additional and individual versions of a fabric strap, marking not just a simple design choice on the part of the brand, but also, certifying the intuition and savvy of the Tudor Style Workshop. A strap is born The fabric strap can trace its origins back to the British military, when, before the woven stripes and colours, it was employed for its affordability and durability. These were intended to run through spring bars set across the back of a watch and though economical, these tough nylon straps more than kept watches safely on wrists. NATO then standardised the use of nylon thread-through watch straps in the mid ‘70s, giving them a stock number, and disseminating them amongst soldiers and divers. Today, the fabric strap’s functionality has also been made fashionable, having been seized upon by watchmakers and watch collectors who’ve reassessed its stylistic possibilities.

Heart and craft Tudor’s involvement in fabric strap-making is no idle pursuit. For one, it’s been one of the first Swiss luxury watch brands that’s been shrewd enough to spot the elegant potential of the fabric strap way back in 2009. Always keen to enhance the experience of watch-wearing, Tudor’s Style Workshop alighted on the fabric strap and as part of its quest for perfection, set about re-interpreting it with a new sophistication, attention to detail and unparalleled workmanship. The Tudor Style Workshop first appraised the design of the fabric strap: making it adjustable in length, following cues from the seatbelt system of vintage sports cars, and

incorporating so-called “tunnels” in which the strap could be inserted and kept firmly in place. Then, to bring these fabric straps to life, the Tudor Style Workshop sought out one of the few traditional passementerie companies in France for its Jacquard weaving technique. And the Jacquard is vital to a Tudor strap, not just for its dense weave and high thread count that promise flexibility and sturdiness, but also for the technique’s allowance for experimental maneuvers. The fabric straps that emerge from the Tudor Style Workshop, then, are as much a guarantee of technical excellence and innovation as they are an aesthetic boon to the brand’s Heritage models.

Still strapping Today, the fabric straps that continue to accompany Tudor’s Heritage line are more than mere ornamentation. Offered in a variety of styles, and crafted with fabrics like silk, cotton and polyethylene fibres to achieve specific effects, these straps are rich enough in texture, design and workmanship to far surpass its basic form and function. A more recent stand-out in Tudor’s fabric straps is in its Heritage Ranger model, which arrived with a camouflage-woven fabric strap to build a picture of rugged elegance. The Tudor Style Workshop’s continued innovation and investment in fabric straps remain entirely exceptional, and like these straps themselves, are bound to last long, well and good.

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Death Cab for Cutie: Kintsugi Naming an album after the Japanese art of making pottery by fusing broken pieces of ceramic with gold is oh-so-Death Cab. But Kintsugi captures the influential band (now a trio) at a critical point in its career and “Black Sun” offers a bracing glimpse into a different kind of high-stakes feels. Out 31 March

Purity Ring: Another Eternity Megan James and Corin Roddick are proof that you can be indie darlings while also having the honour of being creative allies with Danny Brown and Ab-Soul. Having aced the test of internetage longevity, the duo is poised for its big return. “Big” because lead single “Push Pull” is massive. Out 3 March

MODEST MOUSE: STRANGERS TO OURSELVES

The Prodigy: The Day is My Enemy Here’s Prodigy honcho Liam Howlett offering some us-vs-them perspective: “If the dance scene is made up of DJs, that don’t bother us. We’re in different zones.” Indeed, there’s nothing quite like The Prodigy and the proof is in the violent, unrelenting power or ravedestroying beasts like “Nasty”. Out 30 March

Matthew E. White: Fresh Blood “Rock ‘n’ roll is cold,” announces the soft-singing gospel-pop troubadour on the titular track off his forthcoming sophomore record. It’s an obvious bait-andswitch move on his part since the song itself is a rollicking ‘60s rock jam whose hip-moving groove is irresistible. We already know: Fresh Blood will be good. Out 10 March

Seven years – that’s how long it’s been since Modest Mouse last delivered an album-length missive of gut-wrenching, hangdog revelations mixed with art-damaged leftfield pop smarts. The drought ends with Strangers To Ourselves, which will see the band back at its gorgeous and heartbreaking ways on cosmologically

Action Bronson: Mr. Wonderful Bronsolino reportedly named his second album after himself. After all, with a production bench that sits Mark Ronson, 40, Omen and Party Supplies, as well as a tracklist that includes 24-carat gems like “Easy Rider” and “Actin Crazy”, “wonderful” is a foregone conclusion. Out 24 March

Of Montreal: Aureate Gloom Kevin Barnes is a verbose guy: In the lead single of Of Montreal’s 13th album “Bassem Sabry”, “Cycloptic brooding” and “cold voltage crucifixion” clue us in to the fact that he’s “sad”. But that, and all that live wire funk is why we love him. Out 3 March

Words: Indran P

downcast, alt-everything, indie-forever songs like “Lampshades on Fire” and “Coyotes”. Initial chatter around this sixth album centred on the possible involvement of Big Boi and Krist Novoselic but really, as fab as the two undeniably are, they’re not needed here. In the meantime, we expectantly wait. Out 3 March

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PRETTY LUSH Zimmer’s chillout sounds spread slow flames Words: Indran P Like his older namesake, Baptiste Zimmer is in a lane all his own. In a time when the needle of dance culture favours echobooming floor-shakers, the globetrotting Frenchman has consistently furnished the scene with superornate, irresistibly blissed-out tunes that prioritise earthiness, sensuality and charm over quick-trigger, indistinct manoeuvers in their noble purpose to bring forth the dance. “Noble” because anyone attuned to the latest vibrations in dance will agree that if you’re not trapping or dropping, you’ve got an insurmountable hurdle before you if your aim is to unlock limbs. But with the same confidence that allows him to proclaim that, “eventually people will shift to the more mellow side of it when they’re tired of big drops”, when we checked in with him, Zimmer

has boldly and dare we say, admirably, defied the odds. By its maker’s own admission, the sum total of the Zimmer sound includes: “Sunsets, happiness, passion, groove, simplicity”. Individually, these descriptors read like the handiwork of an assiduous PR apparatus but when you – as we have – experience the Zimmer touch live or on wax, the evocations of certain shades and flashes of each and all these descriptors is undeniable. It all started in 2011 with his single “Cruisin”. A kick-off-your-shoes nu-disco romp custom-built to soundtrack the ultimate pool party, the song served as a great herald of his debut EP Horizontal Disco, which, very aptly, is exactly how Zimmer describes his sultry jams. “‘Horizontal’ is a reference to poolside lounge chairs, and to

the bedroom,” he says, referring to his specialty for slow-burners that not so much unwind as ripple into successive pools of shapeshifting sounds. So, it bears repeating that Zimmer is an enfant terrible in dance world. Perfecting the luxuriant slow-mo ways of his early period, his recent Stay mixtape presents the listener with an über lush world to, according to his design, “make you never want to leave your bed”. Yet, lest you think that he’s trafficking in just one trick, you best consider how this time around, his twilit sounds come speckled with driving beats, that, though unobtrusive, are nonetheless kinetically powerful. “My first love is slower music, but when you play from 2 to 4am in a dark, sweaty club, you

can’t play lush beats all night,” he acknowledges when asked about this exciting new development in his body of work. And to this end of putting the power of bodies on the dancefloor in the wee hours, songs like his remix of Wunder Wunder’s “Midnight Hours” stay true to his slow-mo orbit but shake things some with a deft, psychedelic touch – dreaminess and danceability condensed into a single experience. Heady, intoxicating and inviting, the Zimmer soundworld is an enchanting place. When asked about how its parameters will change in 2015, he obliged us with a promise of “more original music” and “some surprises on the road”. Win and win. Listen to the Stay mixtape at soundcloud.com/zimmermusic

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REBEL REBEL Vivienne Westwood brings her Worlds End to Opening Ceremony Words: Min Chen

Punk may be through with us, but fashion, it seems, is not yet through with punk. While the movement’s initial shriek may now be but a fading echo, its image and style live in on fashion’s continued and reiterated use of tartan, studs, pins, pictures of Sid Vicious and the like. But step aside now, all of you, and let the grand dame through: Vivienne Westwood, who alongside Malcolm McLaren, was central in shaping the look and feel of ‘70s punk and post-punk, has lately teamed up with Opening Ceremony to bring back some of

her most iconic pieces from her Worlds End boutique. From SEX to Seditionaries, whatever the time and label, Westwood has evidently been staying true to her punk origins (for one, Worlds End is still located at 430 Kings Road), so that her entire body of work is a revelation of what a good bit of pushing can do to boundaries. Likewise, Westwood’s Worlds End capsule collection with OC comes forward with “the aim to spread the word of positive activism”. And to do that, she’s

brought back select pieces like the geometric-printed Savage Jumper from her Spring 1982 collection, the 2010 Drunken Anarchy oversized button-down (itself a rework of a 1976 Seditionaries shirt), and a bomber jacket from 1984’s Clint Eastwood collection, as well as signature motifs and slogans (“+5º”, “CHAOS”). In here, Westwood’s unorthodox approach to style remains evident, as does her faith that fashion can be forward too. Ridden throughout with slouchy fits, asymmetrical cuts and

an everlasting DIY ethos, the collection shines brilliantly with Dame Westwood’s many influences – from punk to pirate to tribalism – though the ultimate intention of which was, in her words, “to create the look of an urban guerilla – a rebel”. And in the capsule’s punk-ish provocation and unconventionality, her job is once again done. Shop the Vivienne Westwood Worlds End x Opening Ceremony collection at openingceremony.us

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FRED PERRY SPRING/ SUMMER 2015 AUTHENTIC COLLECTION Words: Min Chen

Alexa Chung for AG Spring 2015 Only a meeting between jeans-maker AG and her royal It-ness Alexa Chung can birth a collection this denim-strong and free-spirited. Onto this 20-piece collaborative range has Chung emptied her ‘60s and ‘70s inspirations to present us with “the missing pieces of [her] dream denim wardrobe”, including dungarees, tees, smocks, sweatshirts and cut-off shorts. Available at net-a-porter.com

adidas Superstar Vintage Deluxe Pack adidas looks set on taking over the year with its Superstar, beginning with its #OriginalSuperstar short film (starring Pharrell, Rita Ora, amongst others) and now, the release of a Vintage Deluxe Pack of Superstars. No better time than 2015 to revisit this 1969 hero, which resurfaces in its iconic shell-toe design and primary-hued colourways. Available at adidas stores

Fred Perry’s Authentic Collection is spending this season doing what it does best. Delving into its source codes of mod and sportswear, the label is turning over a range of separates that resonate equally with classic simplicity and razor-sharp modernity. The mod subculture again gets its due in the launch of gingham shirts that have been slimly tailored, accented with cut-andsew panels, and coloured in with Breton stripes and Drake’s London prints. Meanwhile, Fred Perry’s sportswear staples like knitted shirts and tees are refreshed with features

Inès de La Fressange for Uniqlo Spring 2015 For the third time, French model and designer Inès de La Fressange has put her own touches onto a Uniqlo collection and boy, is this one as easy as it is elegant. Channelling a Mediterranean spirit, this Spring ‘15 range is all light femininity from its floral print dresses to its nauticalinspired Oxford shirts to its sporty nylon jackets. “Fashion is one of life’s joys so let’s enjoy it together!” says Inès. Okay! Available at Uniqlo

VEJA Spring/Summer 2015 Positive change might just begin with your feet. Just observe how French label VEJA has been crafting its cleanly designed shoes with eco-minded materials like organic cotton and vegetable leather. Its S/S serving remains swell for employing recycled fabrics, Liquid Rubber Technology and Tilapa fish skin leathers to put together its minimally chic silhouettes. Available at Robinsons The Heeren

like raglan sleeves, taping, checkerboard motifs and an ‘80s-indebted colour palette. All of these stripes, cable knits and polka dots, however, won’t be burying Fred’s true-blue authenticity, so get them on. Available at Fred Perry Authentic Shops at Orchard Cineleisure and ION Orchard

Gap Spring 2015 Gap’s Spring looks may be denimheavy, but there’s no denying the incredible lightness of its cuts and washes. Putting the cool in casual are such key pieces like a collar-less bomber jacket, cutand-sew midi skirt and crop pants for the ladies, as well as a series of well-printed shirts and shorts, and Henley tops for the gents. Available at Gap

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THE LAST RESORT H&M Studio’s Spring/Summer 2015 offering is made for soaking up the sun in Words: Rosalind Chua

As H&M Studio steps out with its Spring/Summer wares, the everlasting summers of Miami and Palm Springs are now yours to have. With resort living and the sunlit outdoors in mind, the trend-led and premium line by the Swedish style giant is dealing us a collection of loosely hung silhouettes, garden-fresh prints, sportswear accents and a shade of ‘70s influences. Pretty much, it’s everything you need to survive a season on the beach, Miami or otherwise. For the ladies, the dominant silhouette is a drapey one, crowned by fluid kimonos, wrap jackets, pyjama sets and shorts, with an organically shaded colour palette that’s only mildly disturbed by snakeskin and

flamingo prints. There’s also a cull of oversized shirts, a sports vest and a tennis shirt that hint at an athletic influence, while a distinct ‘70s air informs the denim pieces consisting of a jacket and flared jeans. Gents get to claim a trove of seriously sportswearskewed jackets, sweatshirts and track pants, which are offset by preppy cuts of smart shirts and blazers. With its emphasis on the essentials, H&M Studio’s message is plainly one of sun-kissed effortlessness and playfulness that definitely won’t fall short in the glamour department. Like the season that birthed this collection, it’s a dish that’s been served hot. Shop the latest H&M Studio collection from 12 March at H&M, Orchard Building

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LIFE IS BEACHY

Anoraak makes the sun, sand and sea pop! Words: Indran P “I wanted to close my eyes and feel like I was cruising on a sunny road – the sounds came this way” – thus goes the myth behind the 2008 electro smash “Nightdrive with You”. The silky, syrupy synths and sheer cosmic sense of chill the song inspires is enough to hit the brakes on any charges of “chronological irregularity” that may arise from its creator’s words. More on its creator: Anoraak is the brainchild of French producer Frédéric Rivière, whose resume alone distinguishes him from the much of the others who share a similar designation under the heaving Soundcloud hovering above pop culture today. A

multi-instrumentalist whose first musical foray was in the indie rock scene in the South of France, he has been gifting the electro cannon with productions that reflect the soulful ethos of rock that work in tandem with the byzantine bounce of dance music to creative shimmering, sunlit sounds that evoke scenes of the best beach party of your life. In the seven years that have passed since his blockbuster single, Anoraak has accomplished much in the way of perfecting his contextually specific brand of pop. “Life’s a beach,” is a beyondubiquitous cliché that isn’t just

the trump card of sunscreen makers. For Anoraak, it’s the governing system within which his distinctive sounds are made. And when asked what it is he likes so much about the beach that it’s become more than a geographical locale but a philosophical lodestar for him, he answers unblinkingly, “Everything”. And the proof is in his music. From his ‘80s-checking titular debut EP Nightdrive With You to the feel-good electro-rock of his debut album Whenever the Sun Sets to his sophomore Chronotropic, which marked the first time he included other musicians on an Anoraak project, there’s a pervasive earthiness and sepia-tinged carefree energy that no other place but the beach emanates and inspires. Especially on Chronotropic’s more romancecentric songs like “Falling Apart” and “Behind Your Shades”, this plays out in how remarkably stylish and stylised the songs are,

with every beat and every bassline destined to do good justice at any rave/jaunt at a grateful beach under skies either sun-drenched or starlit. Asked if he’s proud of what we put across to him as “the Anoraak sound”, he bemusedly admits that while hearing that he has a distinct sound is “the best reward”, “there’s no particular research” that goes into his defining musicality. And even when he jokingly suggests that we approach his music as “EPM”, short for “Electronic Pop Music”, his quips only let on that in him, we have a musician whose singularity stems from an organic and damn well effortless grasp of a sound and sensibility. And soon, we’ll have more since, as he promises, “A new EP is ready!” Beachy keen good times, here we come! Listen to Anoraak at soundcloud.com/anoraak

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HARDCORE WILL NEVER DIE Sick Feeling is punk incarnate Words: Indran P Don Delillo once referred to New York as a “contaminated shrine”. So it’s only right that Sick Feeling hails from one of its festering boroughs, Brooklyn. Then, the music that this four-piece makes lends itself easily to “punk”, or more accurately, “hardcore”. But don’t get too carried away with extrapolating the “outré” cachet of the band, for as much as it makes the musical equivalent of a fist to the face, its christening has to do with more, shall we say, physiological concerns. Frontman Jesse Miller-Gordon says that he named the band after his chronic nausea, adding: “I puke all the time. It’s crazy”. But that’s not the only reason why Sick Feeling is not your average punk band. Besides its mouthpiece being a fashion journalist for Vice, video director for Le1f and tour manager for Mykki Blanco, there is a decade-long age gap between guitarist Don Devore and bassist Danny Wood, both 37 and Miller-Gordon, 27 and drummer Alan Yuch, 25. But none of this has gotten in the way of these four minds making music that offers

one fundamental thing: a release from our apparent powerlessness. In January, the band delivered its first full-length manifesto Suburban Myth. Consummately brutal and imposing like the best hardcore, it lives up to the canon’s musical and political aims by dismantling the prevailing ideology of normalcy one lie at a time. Over rhythms courtesy of haymaking drums and churning bass and guitars that switch between Converge-like eruptions of gravel and the fretboard blitzkriegs that Greg Ginn made his name on, Miller-Gordon shrieks gutwrenching truths that he, as an impassioned youth, finds at odds with the world he was promised as a child. The minute-long torchraising roiler “The Americans” spells out Suburban Myth’s agenda perfectly: “Young men fighting a dead man’s crusade,” taking punk into the blood-gushing moment of the here and now. Taken with the entire album, it’s a reminder that we all have a reason to scream. Suburban Myth is out now on Collect / Terrible

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LIVE IT YOUR WAY

Levi’s® all-new 501® CT Jeans are tapered and customised to fit even you Words: Rosalind Chua

The reigning king of jeans, Levi’s® has had a 150-year-old vantage point from which to watch its jeans being worn and torn, on top of being patched, shredded, ripped and tailored. Yes, a pair of Levi’s® won’t just weather the elements with you, but is ready to take on any manner of customisation that might come its way. And after decades of watching its 501® wearers do the job, Levi’s® has lately taken it upon itself to do it for us. Just check in on its newest baby, the 501® CT (Customized & Tapered) jeans, which sees the Original 501® reinvented with a custom taper from the knee to the ankle, a tailoring job that’s long been favoured by jean-wearers for its perfect fit. These jeans come in three great fits – Down-sized (slim), Upsized (relaxed) and True-to-size (regular) – though, in general, offer more room in the waist and sit lower, so the overall effect is that of a laidback silhouette. And in line with the Californian inspirations behind Levi’s® mainline collection, the 501® CT jeans is Spring-ready with its myriad of authentic denim washes, fades and distresses. A lived-in look is offered here, but as an arbiter of authentic selfexpression, the best customisation job you could give a pair of 501® CT jeans is your very own. Shop the Levi’s 501® CT jeans at selected Levi’s® stores

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FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS Hailey Baldwin puts on Topshop’s Spring/Summer 2015 collection of denim, and all of it fits Words: Rosalind Chua As Topshop preps its Spring/ Summer spread of denim, it’s also found the perfect face to flaunt it with. Hailey Baldwin (daughter of Stephen and niece of Alec) has stepped up to represent Topshop’s denim collection with a whole lot of daisy-fresh pizzazz, in a campaign that features pickings from the high street label’s latest mainline and denim drops. This season’s range of Topshop jeans is once again a good-looking one that features nine key silhouettes in myriad authentic washes and fabrics. Classics like the ankle-grazing Leigh and slim-fit Baxter remain staples, while new additions come in the form of the high-rise, raw-hemmed Binx, the straight-cut Girlfriend, and the high-waisted and flared Jamie Flares.

Your casual, street-smart and timelessly chic summer wardrobe begins here, and in that same fashionable frame, the campaign, shot in London by Harley Weir, sees Hailey carrying off all of the above looks and styles with a fluid ease and grace. It’s enough to get Topshop’s Creative Director Kate Phelan gushing, “Hailey has an energy and vitality that shows the collection of jeans, and its different moods and personalities. The sexy Leigh, the tomboy Mom and the fashion girls’ favourite Baxter – Hailey is all these girls.” And in between the many key cuts of Topshop’s Spring/Summer 2015 denim launch, there’s surely a girl that’s you too. Shop Topshop at Knightsbridge, #01-05/05

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FIVE EASY PIECES Leave fast fashion behind: behold these five fail-proof wardrobe perennials thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve remained unruffled in the face of time and trends Words: Min Chen

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Alexa Chung for AG Jeans Denim skirt

Bershka Denim dungaree dress

Saint Laurent Blue selvedge A-line patchwork long skirt

Topshop Cropped shorts

ASOS Cropped utility denim jacket

Polo Ralph Lauren Slim-fit chambray shirt

Gap Light wash distressed skinny denim jeans

Dorothy Perkins Denim shirtdress

H&M Studio Denim jacket

Levi’s Vintage Clothing 1967 505 Jeans The Outsiders (1983)

THE BLUE ALBUM DENIM IS STILL THE WARMEST COLOUR

Miss Selfridge Denim dark wash pocket dress

No other material has come close to the sartorial impact and longevity that denim so effortlessly possesses. It’s weathered more than a century’s worth of cultural and stylistic shifts – graduating from the coalmines to the streets and runways – so that aside from its casual cool and utilitarian ruggedness, it can also boast a rare timelessness. Once denim enters your wardrobe, it ain’t gonna leave.

Alexa Chung for AG Jeans Tennessee denim overalls

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COS Dress with asymmetrical sleeve

Topshop High-neck Victoriana dress French Connection Lace panel dress

COS Sleeveless midi dress

Miu Miu Embellished mini dress

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Topshop Flapper dress

McQ Pleated duchessesatin mini dress

INTO THE BLACK

THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS AS UNIFORM

Versus Leather mini dress

In a fine act of prescience, Vogue, upon the unveiling of Chanel’s first little black dress in 1926, proclaimed it “a sort of uniform for all women of taste”. This many years on, it’s still right: the LBD has earned ubiquity for its effective and elegant chic – one that’s relevant in any age, even if only in one colour. Versatile to the bone, this famous black number has looked as good in Dior’s New Look portfolio, on Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and on Diana, the Princess of Wales, with its immortality surely guaranteeing it a spot in the closet of any tasteful woman.

Miss Selfridge Black rollneck dress

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A.P.C. Louis W. Ferris suede bomber jacket

Givenchy Convertible leather biker jacket

River Island Outsized lavender blazer

Ben Sherman Bomber jacket

Topshop Waist-tied trenchcoat

Kate Spade New York Alivia jacket

Inès de La Fressange for Uniqlo Sports jacket

sport b. Hooded jacket Taxi Driver (1976)

Christopher Raeburn Funnel-collar parka

sport b. Leather vest

SECOND SKIN LEAVE YOUR JACKET ON

At its most basic function, a piece of outerwear offers shelter from the storm, but worked right, it too can be a sartorial revelation. And in between the timeless silhouettes of trenchcoats and parkas, bomber and biker jackets, military and sports coats, the world of style offers enough of an outerwear buffet that’ll keep you warm and lookin’ cool. Pick well and pick right, and you just might end up with a second skin that’s just too good to take off.

Saint Laurent Khaki camouflage western military parka

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Out of Print Ender’s Game print T-shirt Vampire Weekend Surf City print T-shirt

Uniqlo SPRZ NY T-shirt with Robert Mapplethorpe

Moschino Barbie™ print T-shirt

Uniqlo UT U2 Zoo Tour T-Shirt

Saint Laurent Bombhead print T-shirt

Star Wars for celio Printed T-shirt

Dazed & Confused (1993)

FINE PRINT

Raf Simons Printed T-Shirt

THE PRINTED T-SHIRT STAYS TRUE

The printed tee isn’t a complicated thing. It’s the plainest specimen of clothing that happens to carry a graphic message, and yet, can’t help but endure as such. Though essentially casual, the visual-fronted T-shirt has survived as more than just band merchandise, but lately, has also been a runway concern for the likes of Saint Laurent and Moschino, making it an equal statement of intent and of style. More power to the print, then.

Worn By Kevin print T-shirt

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Ben Sherman White shirt with printed collar COS Asia limited edition unisex white shirt

Inès de La Fressange for Uniqlo Oxford shirt

Calvin Klein Jeans White shirtdress

Maison Martin Margiela Pinstriped sleeveless poplin shirt

Pierre Balmain Mulberry bib-front silk-satin shirt

Band of Outsiders Cotton Oxford boyfriend shirt

River Island Sheer panel longline shirt

Pulp Fiction (1994)

SHIRT THING

THE WHITE SHIRT IS STILL MIGHT

Acne Studios Addle cottonpoplin shirt

“When I put on a white shirt,” Tom Ford once said, “it’s the same feeling as getting into crisp, fresh sheets at night.” And you’ll have to sympathise, for rarely is a single item of clothing armed with the ability to smarten up, tie together and finesse your Outfit of The Day with enough aplomb that you feel equally self-assured. No surprise that it remains a mainstay in any good lady’s and gent’s wardrobe, and continues to be trotted out regularly to work its crisp and composed elegance.

Maison Kitsuné Slim-fit Oxford shirt

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Aesop Protective Lip Balm

M.A.C. x Cinderella Iridescent Pressed Powder in Coup D’Chic

Urban Decay Naked Concealer

Sephora Brow Enhancer in Beige Shimmer

TAKE IT EASY Learning laidback beauty up-keep from Cat Power, the queen of slow herself Words & styling: Min Chen

Fresh Life Body Lotion

Lunasol Stain Color Lips in Fresh Orange

RMK Casual Solid Foundation in a201 + b02

Bobbi Brown Bobbi’s Brown Eyeshadow Palette Estée Lauder Resilience Lift Restorative Radiance Oil

The Body Shop Colour Crush nail colour in A Sunny Affair

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Make Up For Ever White Definition 2015 Powder Foundation Make Up For Ever’s White Definition entry for 2015 is a powder foundation that brightens and protects, resists heat and humidity, and corrects complexions to achieve the clarity your face deserves.

Estée Lauder Crescent White Full Cycle Brightening Moisture Creme Get your complexion acquainted with Estée Lauder’s all-new Crescent White Full Cycle Brightening system for supple and even skin.

Chanel Le Blanc Brightening Moisturizing Lotion Chanel’s Le Blanc line continues to do good things in the name of bright and translucent skin with its Le Blanc Brightening Moisturizing Lotion, which hydrates, balances and prepares your skin.

Philosophy Brighten My Day All-Over Skin Perfecting Brightening and Hydrating Cream Philosophy has just expanded its Brighten My Day series, amongst which you’ll adore its Brightening and Hydrating Cream for its work in reducing dark spots, improving pores and building a uniform complexion.

WHITE HEAT Set your mien aglow with a dose of these brightening solutions Words & styling: Min Chen

Clinique Even Better Brightening Moisture Mask Used two to three times a week, Clinique’s Even Better Brightening Moisture Mask will deliver intense hydration, brighten, smoothen and improve your skin’s natural radiance.

Lancôme Blanc Expert Cushion Lancôme’s Blanc Expert Cushion combines the powers of a BB/CC cream, a primer and a foundation into one sensorial fluid. It’ll keep your complexion fresh and dewy for up to four hours, while refining your skin’s tone and texture.

SK-II AurActivator CC Cream Armed with holistic brightening, SK-II’s AurActivator CC Cream moisturises and works a cosmetic radiance, sure, but below the skin’s surface, also unleashes a unique Soft Aura White Cocktail to re-activate that radiant aura of yours.

innisfree Whitening Pore Skin Aimed at whitening skin and reducing pores, innisfree’s Whitening Pore Skin packs tangerine peel essence to promote smoother complexion and combat enlarged pores, as well as Western milfoil extract to keep your skin glowing.

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COAST GUARD With its JPT-PW36, Tsovet is awakening wanderlust Words: Rosalind Chua Having been founded and raised in California, Tsovet has certainly had its share of beaches and clear skies, while also ably channelling the laidback chill of the surf, sand and sun into its creative pursuits. “We live what we make and we make what we live,” is Tsovet’s promise, as it sets about producing premium timepieces that eschew the fickle tides of fashion to instead make classic statements and lasting impressions. Lots of

attention has also gone into the engineering, development and design of a Tsovet time instrument, and the results are in the brand’s vintage-skewed yet modern-minded range of watches, inspired at various moments by nautical and avionic adventures. What ultimately unites these timepieces, though, is a collective urge for freedom and exploration, an impulse that’s all but natural for such a beach-facing brand.

And further exploration was definitely on the cards when Tsovet embarked on its latest watch, the JPT-PW36. Crafted with the purist in mind, this timepiece is similarly clean and pure in design, boasting a Miyota quartz movement and a practical 36mm dial that’s been topped off by high-contrast dots, dashes and plain numerals, and a raised inner-ring. The straightforward simplicity and minimalism at work here is plain beguiling. Also subtle

is the watch’s final touch: the hand-stitched Horween leather strap, which slips in a touch of earthy authenticity. Fit for both air and sea-bound travel, Tsovet’s JPT-PW36 is timed and primed, whichever coast you happen to end up on. Shop Tsovet at Clout 9, Isetan Scotts, Robinsons The Heeren and selected authorised retailers

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WORN FREE Nixon’s Born Worn collection is a gathering of industrial hues and faded patinas that celebrate character, mystique and experience. Just watch how these well-worn wonders proudly bear their wear-and-tear. Words: Rosalind Chua

The Corporal Nixon’s Corporal carries its military influence far beyond its christening and into its tough and slick design. Its Born Worn variation arrives with an additional edge of ruggedness – a gunmetal stainless steel case offset by a mildly distressed navy patchwork strap – to accompany its Japanese quartz movement. There’s no fuss, plain function and pure heavyduty form.

The Private Similarly committed to military service, The Private matches the Corporal’s modern minimalism, fronted by a steel case that measures in at an compact 37mm. For Born Worn, it steps out as Black Tape, a monochromatic version accompanied by a genuine leather band, and in Gunmetal / Navy, where a frayed navy strap ties up a stony, scratched-up face.

The Sentry Leather More than getting the job done, The Sentry Leather covers the bases of robust construction and stark design, offering up a picture of simple determination. It’s available in a good variety of colourways, the newest of which sees its greyscaled 42mm stainless steel case matched against an indigo leather band.

The Time Teller Hands down, the Time Teller is the most iconic of Nixon’s designs. Led by a clean and precise design, it’s been reinterpreted with a world of hues and materials, without once losing its high-minded concept. Its latest iteration is monochrome from its brushed stainless steel bezel to its black leather strap, safe for a mustard-coloured second hand that provides a vivid highlight.

Talk 58

Dan Snaith is proof that you can hold a PhD in Mathematics and be one of the most imaginative musicians of our day. In 2014, he released Our Love, his first fulllength since the 2010 landmark Swim, further enriching the lexicon of contemporary club music with a beating heart whose rhythms and sentiments are singular as much they are universal. In offering his personal vision of love, Snaith

LOVE IS ALL elevated his storytelling gifts with sublimely evocative compositions that offer a deep dive into all the joys and complexities of the most crucial element of human relationships and in all art. Before he stepped onstage at The Gathering, he had a heart-to-heart with us where he shared his genius as well as his love. Words: Indran P

Talk 59

You play solo shows as a DJ and tour with your band the Caribou Vibration Ensemble. Which do you prefer? I feel really lucky to be able to do both; they’re really such different things. DJ-ing is more about me sharing the music that I love and creating a kind of party, whereas playing together with a bunch of live musicians is irreplicable. That kind of interaction can’t be reproduced. Also, getting to see people react to the songs that I worked on for a long time and witnessing the fact that it means something to them, these are only possible for me as Caribou. If I had to choose one, I’d pick playing Caribou’s music live. But again, I’m fortunate to be doing both. Your profile as Caribou has blown up exponentially since Swim. Were you shocked by the overwhelmingly positive response?

more of myself into the music that I was making. So Our Love is an affirmation of the people receiving the music in that way. And as you were making the record, did you feel the pressure of having to make something with others in mind for the first time? I felt it in a nice way. I knew that people were waiting for something like Our Love as a follow-up to Swim. But I’ve been releasing music for 15 years and I’m just more confident than I used to be. If Our Love happened 10 years ago, I might’ve felt kind of overwhelmed; it might’ve thrown me off a bit. But now I feel like I know what I want to do. It’s always hard making something that I’m happy with but I just have to keep working at it. Well, you’ve updated the driving sounds on Swim with an expansiveness and delicacy on

Collaborating with Jessy Lanza [singer-songwriter, producer], who’s also a huge r&b fan, on the album, was also something I needed to build up my confidence for. I really wanted to connect with that world and she was big part of that. You curated a 1000-song mixtape recently that includes Missy Elliott, Pusha T and Arthur Russell. Do you think that in 2015, the barrier between “high” and “low” art exists, at least in music? When I listen to music, I’m listening for ideas. Timbaland, on those Missy Elliott records, was the first person to make me realise that you could do something as interesting and challenging in popular music as you can in classical or orchestral music. That was a real revelation for me as teenager because before that, I’d always focused on

Yes, it’s common consensus that Caribou’s music definitely resides on a higher, more emotional plane than the dancefloor. Thank you. I’ve been very lucky with how the music’s been received. But if you look at music that people have danced to over the years, like disco and soul, there has always been dance music that people have poured their souls into. There were also people like Arthur Russell who lived in both the dance and songwriting worlds, so I’m definitely not the first. But I see myself fitting more with that tradition than with Sven Väth! How do you feel about the Carl Craig remix of “Your Love Will Set You Free”? Oh, I’m so happy. He’s one of my biggest heroes from a production standpoint. About 10 years ago, he did a remix of a Junior Boys song. Those guys are friends of

AROUND YOU Yes. The reception that Swim got was a big part of why I wanted to make Our Love. I felt this change in the way people reacted to my music. Talking to people, I could see that it connected with them and that it meant something in their lives – it was so incredible. I’ve always previously thought about what the music means to me because I make it mostly for myself. This changed my whole perspective. But you’ve also said that Our Love is your most “personal” and “confident” record. Swim was the record that I started having the lyrics be about things happening in my life and making the music more personal. The fact that out of all my work, that was the record that really connected and blew up in this way that I’d never expected meant that I felt more confident to push that even further. It was a long process of me feeling like I could put

Our Love, especially on “All I Ever Need”. I think that came about because I was thinking of communicating with one person specifically a lot of the time. When somebody puts on this album, I want it to speak to them. At the same time, I made songs like “Can’t Do Without You” for festivals like The Gathering; as you said, it’s a bigger, more expansive song. With the other songs, I was thinking of communicating as directly as possible with one person. That called for something that was more delicate and personal. There’s also a new r&b element in your music now, best reflected on “Second Chance” and “Back Home”. Yes, that’s a new thing in my music. I’ve been a fan of r&b since the late ‘90s, especially of early Timbaland productions. And right now, it seems like it’s the most exciting sound in music.

listening to the most technically proficient musicians. Dance music, hip hop and r&b really changed that around for me. They should be considered on the same level as anything that’s “high” art. Hip hop and r&b, for me, are the contemporary pop music of my adult life. Do you see any separation between your incarnations as Caribou, Daphni and Manitoba? I’m legally not allowed to use the Manitoba name since I got sued by Dick Manitoba from the Dictators. That’s why I changed from Manitoba to Caribou. It was a continuation of the same thing. Daphni, however, I wanted to be about a more dance-specific world. That’s why the Daphni album Jiaolong doesn’t seem to contain all the things that Caribou music contains: there are no vocals or songwriting. It was more about what I was going to play for my DJ sets.

mine and I was so jealous that they had a Carl Craig remix and I didn’t! When Swim came out, he tweeted that it was great; he was one of the first people who gave me any sort of feedback about it. Then, with Our Love, the remix happened! It’s fantastic. And lastly, you’ve made an album about the entirety and totality of love. Does it intimidate you think of what’s next? I don’t know. I never have a sense of what I’m going to do next or where the music is going because it just kind of follows my life. Like, my life will develop and it’ll make sense to make music of a certain type – it’s a diary or document of my life. I’ve just followed my nose thus far and it’s worked out better than I can ever imagine. Our Love is out now on Merge / City Slang

Talk 60

No, Royal Blood isn’t here to save rock from death or irrelevance. Rather, powered by the twin engines of drums and bass, the Brighton duo is loud and kicking proof that rock ‘n’ roll is still very much a bleeding, sweating and eardrum-tearing entity, tides and trends be damned. Breathe easy now, Dave Grohl. For reference, visit the band’s 2014 debut, which turbo-charged through 10 tracks of Jack Whiteindebted garage blues and hard rock, and raced to the top of UK charts in record time. And better yet if you caught Royal Blood’s almightily shredded set at Laneway Festival Singapore. We did both and as a bonus, got to catch Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher for the following confab on their pet rock.

HAMMER OF THE GODS Words: Min Chen

Have you guys had to do some adjusting to life as Royal Blood? Mike: We’re almost done adjusting now, ‘cos we’ve been doing it for about 18 months or something, so we’re in the groove of it. Still, the band rose pretty swiftly prior to those 18 months. Mike: We appeared very quickly to everyone, but we spent a lot of time behind the pulpit preparing ourselves. Then again, we’re as surprised as everyone else by the speed with which everything kicked off. Have you learned anything on the road? Mike: Um… not really. I mean, this is just what we enjoy doing, travelling the world and playing music. The road does make you a better band as well, no? Ben: Definitely, the more you play the better you get, just as a natural thing. And even the songs that we wrote that are on the album, they evolve live, like there’s different stuff that we come up with and put in. It’s fun to keep it fresh that way.

What was it that brought you two together as a band? Ben: Friendship, really. Mike: Yeah, we’ve known each other for 10 years. It’s very comfortable starting a band with each other, ‘cos we’ve been playing music together for so long and it wasn’t like starting a band with a stranger.

Do you remember the first things you wrote together? Ben: Yeah. Mike: The record, really… that’s it! Why the decision to set up as a two-piece? Ben: Well, Mike played the bass and I played the drums, and it was as simple as that, really. It works and it’s good for us. Mike: It’s going really well! Ben: We’ve played in bands for the last 10 years – together and with other people – and this one is my favourite one. So why rock? Mike: Rock is our go-to in terms of style and it’s the music that excites us the most. But we just have a loyalty to good songwriting and that’s all we try to do, really.

Ben: Rock’s got a real live feel to it too. When you see a good rock band play live, it has a big impact instead of… Mike: It’s expressive. Ben: Yeah, it’s full-on, it’s in-yourface and it’s loud.

done in one sitting, it was done in segments as we were developing and writing. Ben: And we’re really happy with it. We wouldn’t have put it out if we weren’t happy with any aspect of it, so it’s good.

And while your debut was all those things, it also has quite a bit of emotional weight to it. Was there a conscious effort to subvert the usual rock clichés that begin with sex and drugs? Mike: Well, I mean, I didn’t write about that ‘cos that’s not what I wanted to write about. I don’t know how conscious it was, but it was just a more honest thing, really.

And you’ve got Jimmy Page saying nice things about it too. Ben: Yeah, it’s been amazing! It’s nice to have so many people behind us, investing in rock music and in our band. It’s pretty sweet.

Any chance you’ll be evolving beyond rock music? Mike: I think just as we evolve as musicians and people, the music will evolve with us. We have a very different take on what we want to do now, as compared to the time we started writing the first record. What was the process of making your first album like? And what make you of the final product? Mike: It was great. It wasn’t really

It’s similarly sweet that guitar music continues to be this loud and relevant in the digital age. Mike: Yeah, but it’s always gonna be relevant. Songwriting is primarily what turns me on to a band and I don’t really care how they do it, a good song is a good tune, really. But like everything else, everything comes in and out of trend and fashion, and I think we’re on the cusp of a new wave of guitars again, which is great ‘cos it means that drummers come along with that! Royal Blood is now out on Warner

Talk 61

Talk 62

EVERYBODY DANCE! Whether too twee, fey or precious for mass appeal, Belle & Sebastian was always the best testimony of the kind of prismatic sensitivity that is the indie world’s light-giving torch. So, you’d think that on their ninth album, they’d want to uphold that legacy, wouldn’t you? Not a chance. Pulling the rug from under us all, the Glaswegian titans turned in a funky, rambunctious performance on the brilliantly restless Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, embracing disco and house elements into the folds of its jittery charms. Before he treated the stage at The Gathering to some of this, guitarist Bobby Kildea explained his band’s career-defying twists and turns. Words: Indran P

Talk 63

Peacetime has been widely hailed the most enigmatic Belle & Sebastian release. Have you had the time to consider how different it is from its predecessors? Well, I think the difference stems from some key things: we worked with a new producer Ben Allen III in a new studio, located in a town in Atlanta, Georgia that we hadn’t played in for 10 years. We made our last two records in Los Angeles with a different producer so this automatically was new dynamic that was bound to show in the music. Yes, the injection of a discotinged dance element into your sound on Peacetime is quite remarkable. To be honest, the dance direction wasn’t calculated – we didn’t say we were going to make a “dance” record. It’s just that you can only write the songs that you write and we wanted to explore different ideas of production, and Ben was able to harness that and see that through for us. Also, the record before this, Write About Love, was more introspective and probably, perhaps unconsciously, influenced how the songs here are more upbeat. We’ll be able to play them live, which is something we couldn’t do with Love since it didn’t really lend itself to us playing the bigger stages we were on at the time. It feels like this freer approach ties in with Stevie Jackson’s claim that Peacetime is about “letting go”.

Certainly. We definitely took a lot more chances; we were trying to surprise ourselves and challenge what we could already do. Ben Allen definitely helped us on that score. It didn’t always make for being comfortable in the studio, which was good. I think our complacency had pushed us into a rut after our last record and this helped. We were really taking it on. One thing I should add that is quite important is that we had our friend and live bassist play bass on the record. This was the first record he’s played on and he gave it a whole new dynamic as well. It was an injection of freshness. And in that spirit, lead single “The Party Line” is an exuberant blast of dance-pop. Thank you! It was written as pop tune, you know? We were really focusing on the elements that would make a pop record sound great in a club atmosphere when we wrote it and it was something I wanted to explore more, production-wise. So we recorded it live as a band and we took it apart after. Ben made the beats for the verses later. I just wanted to hear something that’d be good coming out of the PA in a club and I think that we captured that. On the flipside though, the sleeve artwork and songs like “Allie” and “The Cat with the Cream” contain a very strong political charge. Did you intend for the record to operate on this dichotomy? Well, Stuart [Murdoch] was the one who wrote the lyrics. But

I will agree with you that it’s a strongly political record, reflected especially so on “The Cat with the Cream”. I’m not sure at which point of our timeline that Stuart wrote it but I was very aware that when he brought it to us that there were things in there that he had never been so upfront about or explored in such great detail before, which was interesting. Going back to your previous work, Dear Catastrophe Waitress is universally your most beloved album and it’s also special in marking a turning point in your sound. What does that record mean to you? At the time, it was our first album with the producer, Trevor Horn. He’s a fantastic producer who made some wonderful records that we all loved. I remember it being an exciting time for the band as well. We had just signed a new deal with Rough Trade, and were touring heavily and playing these great shows. We’d just lost Isobel Campbell as well; she had left a year before we started recording it. All in all, I’d say I look back on Waitress with a lot of fondness. I think the record after that was a reaction to all the orchestration on it and the sheer hugeness of its sound. We learned that it’s [Dear Catastrophe Waitress] also very popular among the fans. We still play a lot of songs live off it, which is always a sign of a great record. We had a great time working with Trevor and also the era that we were in was so different from today. Bands could sell a lot of

records and afford to go into studios with these big producers. It was a good time. Belle & Sebastian has been around for 20 years now. What keeps challenging you now and within the band, how have you kept things musically exciting? That’s a good question. It brings us back to when we were doing this new record and we were trying to think in terms of how we could make it fresh and interesting for ourselves and our own production techniques. In the midst of all that, we still did what we do: go out and play our shows. But that being said, this record has changed things quite a bit for us. Even our live shows are going to be experienced differently now. We’re going to have screens where we’ll show short movies we’ve made for the songs on this record as well as some older ones as well. We’ve been working very hard at getting the films together for that. That’ll be interesting and different. You last played in Singapore in 2010. What did you remember about that show? Yes! I was just thinking about it just now and I find it remarkable that it’s been five years since we last played in Singapore. I remember playing in a beautiful theatre and doing a signing with some lovely fans in the foyer of the venue after. Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is out now on Matador

Talk 64

A MOOD,

A MOMENT,

Talk 65

There’s no overlooking a Wing Shya photograph. Heavy with atmosphere, textural in mood and sublime in its momentarily suspended beauty, the Hong Kong photographer’s 20-year body of work is illuminated throughout with a unique cinematic bliss. Of course, it helps that Wing spent the better part of his career working alongside Asian cinema’s most singular of visionaries Wong Kar Wai, shooting stills for films such as In The Mood For Love and Happy Together, and acquiring a good sense of drama. Wing’s splendid aesthetic and narratives were certainly all over his showing at the Mad Love exhibition at the MAD Museum, and also come though in our chat with him about the joys of experimentation and stupidity. Words: Min Chen What got you to pick up a camera? I actually watched a movie when I was 15, called Boat People. It starred George Lam and in the film, he was holding a camera. I thought that was so cool, so I wanted to pick it up!

to me.” From that day, I started working for him. Just five minutes after seeing my work, he said, “Come with me to Argentina. We start tomorrow.” Maybe it was the perfect timing, because he needed somebody to do stills, and so I went.

a particular photo, I would remember the style so I would shoot more of it. He taught me naturally and changed my style organically by how he chose the photos. I also got to do experimental stuff because he gave me that space.

A cinematic influence does run through your work. Was it there from the beginning? Actually, when I started, I was a normal student doing black-andwhite photography, before I went off to university and studied fine art. When I went back to Hong Kong in ‘91, I started applying fine art to my photography and was also working on different things like design and videos. I think it was only in ‘93 that I really became a photographer – part time, but at least I got paid! Then I got a chance to work with Wong Kar Wai and he changed my style from that of a fine art pointof-view to one that was more cinematic.

And how were your earliest experiences on a Wong Kar Wai set? At the very beginning, I knew nothing about still photography. I made so many mistakes, like using a flash during In The Mood For Love, and having to pay the whole crew and buy Christopher Doyle a beer for the extra hours! And sometimes after they did a shoot, they’d find me in the frame! I was also very scared at the start about failing, and because I was new, I didn’t trust myself and I kept shooting. Normally, a stills guy would get the image in one roll, but I was so scared that I was shooting 10 rolls at one time. I was afraid I wouldn’t get the shot or it wouldn’t be in focus, but that fear made me unique because I shot so many things and Wong Kar Wai liked it. He thought I was a super crazy, passionate and stupid kid! He liked me because I was stupid!

How much did experimentation play a part in your work? Because I came from fine art, finding new and different ways of doing things was more important than being a machine. On the first day of In The Mood For Love, Wong Kar Wai did a test shoot for the clothes, actors and lighting, and for that, I brought all sorts and brands of films to shoot with. I just kept shooting and testing each roll of film before we chose one to shoot with. And coincidentally, for the movie, Wong Kar Wai picked a film that was made in the 1960s. He didn’t know which film he’d picked, but the colours were perfect for In The Mood For Love. So I called up the film company in Japan and asked to buy the film. They said they were closing down the company, so I bought all the film they had left for the movie. I have so many stories like this, about finding different ways to photograph and to get to the end result; for me, it’s fun.

How did you get to work with him? At that time in 1997, I was working in the area between art and commercial, and producing a lot of collages and work that people found really alternative and unusual. And someone introduced me to Wong Kar Wai as a new guy that was doing something really weird. So I showed him some stuff that I had done that nobody really liked, and he was like, “Just give it to me. They don’t like it, but just give it

Have you lost that stupidity? No, I’m still stupid! I like being stupid. You have to be stupid sometimes. What else did you learn from working with such a visionary? He taught me how to choose photos. When he said he liked

And to you, what makes a great photograph? I like many kinds of pictures – Natural Geographic photography, fashion shoots and so on. Different subjects and styles can be good, and I don’t just love

A MOVIE

something specific. I like seeing different styles put together. For myself, though, it’s different because I know what I like. For me, I see things like I would a movie, so when I see that the light or mood or moment is right, I just think, “Wow, it’s a movie,” and I will find a way to capture it. That attracts me the most: the mood or the space for imagination. What are your thoughts on photography in today’s postdigital age of social media, where anyone with an iPhone could be a photographer? It’s good. I think photography should be enjoyed, and that everybody should have their own camera to document their lives. Those people also force me to grow as a photographer and improve myself. When they pick up on new techniques, I will choose to go somewhere else. Because they’re there, I don’t need to be there. And finally, what is it that keeps you doing what you’re doing? I try not to be too comfortable with what I’m doing, because I get bored. If I’m constantly shooting the same girl and the same chair, it gets boring. At the same time, I don’t want to be selfish especially when I’m doing commercial work and I care about those end results. But for my personal projects, I need to make myself happy, by growing and doing something I’ve never done before. For that, I still enjoy making mistakes and working by trial-and-error.

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Shirt dress by HermĂ¨s

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SEA CHANGE Photographer: Chuck Reyes Stylist: Amanda Tan Hair and Makeup: Marie Soh Model: Brianna Blount @ Mannequin

Shirt by HermĂ¨s, dress by Paul Smith, and sandals by Calvin Klein

Shirt by Paul Smith, blazer and shorts by HermĂ¨s

Printed blazer, pants and blouse by A|X, and shoes by HermĂ¨s

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Cardigan and pants by HermĂ¨s

Dress by COS, and oversized vest by HermĂ¨s

Oversized coat and pants by HermĂ¨s

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Review 77

SLEATER-KINNEY: NO CITIES TO LOVE Words: Indran P We’ve lived with a SleaterKinney-shaped void since 2005’s The Woods. In these 10 years, rock has helplessly been edged out of favour from popular attention by the prominence of dance music and a new rap renaissance, to say nothing of how much less interesting indie rock has become since Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss cut the chord on us with their 2006 hiatus. Nothing’s like it was in the ‘90s, which means that in addition to the band’s legacy, No Cities to Love is going up against the zeitgeist itself. So when she said, “I didn’t want it to feel casual, I didn’t want it to feel like a weekend expedition. The stakes had to feel high,” about how she approached her band’s eighth record, Brownstein was doing more than being ambitious. She was making us a promise. The ten years apart haven’t kept the Brownstein, Tucker and Weiss from delivering a performance that claims no precedence from their body of work and yet enriches all the pre-existing signifiers of the Sleater-Kinney sound. The Woods, their last move, was their most ambitious and detailed, and self-challengingly, they’ve made No Cities their most streamlined and accessible point of entry – pop songs trimmed of the cloying blubber and filed to a sabre’s point. You can expect a band that made “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone” to be winkingly in control of all that it’s doing, and as opener “Price Tag” reveals, No Cities is custom-built to edify, indict,

delight and destroy. A SleaterKinney song contains varying proportions of politics and fun, and here, the daily struggle under a capitalist system run amok is dramatised by a striding, leveling punk rhythm that follows in the wake of Tucker’s vocal earthquake. The next song “Fangless” demonstrates two well-known facts about the band: that they are feminist torchbearers and that they don’t need a bassist, ever. Calling out an abusive man now greatly diminished in, “You were born in a shout / But you will die in a silent skull,” over a groove-heavy melding of brightly pullulating new wave guitars and dance-y drums that approach funk territory, the trio again rewards you for what you like about it. The angular pummeller “Surface Envy” is next and besides being

the loudest song, highlights the best and most identifiable aspect of No Cities. Surveying the scene after building it and being of it is cause for both celebration and reflection, and along with “A New Wave”, it’s at this point that the three acknowledge how much they mean to each other. Tucker’s measured, “Invent our own kind of obscurity,” is a smart and sweet response to the dehumanising effects of fame (“Hey Darling”) and the “unbelievable masquerade” of phonies that gets a sludge-rock send-off on the closer “Fade”. But the songs themselves are so monumentally arranged, it’ll almost escape you – through every deft stroke by the fascinatingly tangled guitars and Weiss’ liberating pound – that Sleater-Kinney have made personal facts resound with cultural impact.

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FATHER JOHN MISTY: I LOVE YOU, HONEYBEAR

Father John Misty is like Rick Ross, a carefully devised persona. But unlike Ross, who dutifully colours within the lines of rap-game clichés, Misty is a reactionary prophet whose message is that existence is a cosmic joke. But if you believe that he’s invested in some nebulous Greater Good, then you’re buying into the cliché that Misty gives a damn. He clearly doesn’t, which is what makes this sophomore record so excellently nuanced. His elegant collapsing of lowbrow and highbrow aesthetics and concerns is a self-reflexive critique of his own endeavour, meaning that even he isn’t spared from the Joke. Consider the masterful “Bored In the USA”: on the surface it’s the flipside of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The USA”, but he when lists the ways the American Dream has failed (e.g. “subprime loans”), he’s met with a routine laugh track – perfect. Further proof that he’s no Laurel Canyon do-gooder appears on “When You’re Smiling and Astride Me”, a mercilessly trolling soft rock slow-dripper where he admits that he’s the “aimless, fake drifter and the horny manchild”. It’s only on its closer that Honeybear hints that there might be a possibility of salvation: in the most enduring of clichés, “true love”.

JOEY BADA$$: B4. DA. $$ Joey Bada$$ and his Pro Era delegation have always mined the historical grooves of New York’s golden age tradition much more than his peers and neighbours in A$AP Mob. While Rocky bowed to the zeitgeist with the 2 Chainz-co-starring “F**kin’ Problems”, Bada$$ knelt before the shrine of Biggie on the dusty boom bap of “Survival Tactics”. And this debut moment of his career is a further push forward in that trajectory. The curtains part on B4. DA. $$ with “Save the Children”, a smooth Statik Selektah instrumental complete with scratches, over which Bada$$ blends the socially conscious titular hook with nimble wordplay as in, “They don’t want the beef n***a, let alone the cattle / They just wanna ride the saddle; so sad though”. His rep as a frontrunner amongst rap’s youngblood is also evident on the highpoint “Paper Trail$” where a boom bap beat courtesy of NY legend DJ Premier is the parchment on which he narrows in on rap’s perennial problem with materialism and big-ups NY gods Wu-Tang: “Cash ruined everything around me”. Those looking for trap-clotted bangers are advised to look elsewhere. This is a view of a young scholar studying the classics as he writes his own.

MOURN: MOURN

Jazz Rodriguez Bueno, the frontwoman of this Catalan quartet, was ushered into punk by her father’s PJ Harvey records. Subsequently, she discovered coming-of-age gold in the fierce empowerment sworn by Patti Smith and the bleeding-heart introspection of Sunny Day Real Estate. Given that, like her, all of Mourn are still in their teens, their first full-length outing plays like an artful and respectful condensing of these three forces and all the attendant moods and attitudes adopted by each. All this means that Mourn is an unabashed venting of bottled-up feelings due to the rightly named phenomenon of “growing pains”, particularly the social interactions that transpire within the often merciless teenage universe. The going here is peppered with after the fact reactions like on the named-name “Jack”: “You think you’re awesome / I say you’re boring”. There are two reasons why you can’t call this callow or asinine: first, they’re teens. And second, the music is patently take-no-prisoners ferocious. Hearing Bueno shriek, scream and yell while alternating between abjection and authority on gathering hurricanes like “Your Brain is Made of Candy” and“Silver Gold” promises its own cathartic deliverance.

MARK RONSON: UPTOWN SPECIAL

It’s because of the insular nature of the American Top 40 club that Mark Ronson has been pegged as a not very much more than a well-meaning and eager advocate from across the pond. He’s clearly aware of this, and his fourth full-length exudes that go-forbroke, dying-to-please ethos that simultaneously speaks for all that works here and all that doesn’t. Make no mistake, Uptown Special is patently Hollywood-minded: it’s an on-trend funk-soulpop-rock throwback, featuring Stevie Wonder, about two West Coast scam artists involved in a triangular conflict with a mad-desirable femme fatale, with lyrics written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Michael Chabon. Where all this works is on the album’s first half, particularly on the Bruno Mars-assisted “Uptown Funk”, for self-evident reasons. Then, as if in abject retaliation to its kinetic fun, Ronson subsequently turns in a jaw-droppingly turgid comedown, almost as if to reclaim some “artworld” ground. The contrast is astounding, as is Stevie Wonder’s only function here: playing harmonica. If it came down to picking a side, we wish he’d go with the first for the simple reason that he’s so great at it.

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FUTURE BROWN: FUTURE BROWN

Experimental phantom Fatima Al Qadiri, underground authority J-Cush and canons-melting beat-making duo Nguzunguzu make up Future Brown. Besides its art-imitates-life multi-cultural sound, Future Brown also reflects a global sweep of tastes, one that no other force in hip hop or dance music is exploring. Tink starts the party on the cavernous “Room 302”, sending up rap machismo with, “I’m trying to seduce you / I got a couple hundred ways to use you,” before Atlanta pair Shawnna and DJ Viktorious kick down the doors on “Talking Bandz”, bragging about their money in flows both spitfire and Auto-Tuned, as the grime-trap background booms with a glasses-in-the-air flourish. Throughout the album, the mood is shot through with a nocturnal sense of anticipation and excitement. Even the dancehall of “No Apology” and the reggaeton of “Vernáculo” throw a starlit backdrop behind their parent sounds to headily sensual effect. Later, Chicago’s young guns gather on “Killing Time” as do London’s legends on “Asbestos”, to trade vividly detailed stories of cloak-and-dagger nighttime exploits. Despite hosting all these different voices and sounds, Future Brown is a cohesive, immersive dip into the future of clubland and a front row seat before the crumbling barriers of the disparate “urban” worlds.

VIET CONG: VIET CONG

DRAKE: IF YOU’RE READING THIS IT’S TOO LATE

Two recent events in A-list rap point to a possible paradigm shift within its universe: In December last year, J. Cole dropped a guest-free, banger-less album about Issues Of The Day out of nowhere, and now this, Drake’s surprise-drop guest-free, almost hook-less, album/mixtape. Here, Drake eschews studio trickery/ gimmickry to give the listener an openhearted and barefaced look at Drake, the Individual. “You & the 6” is a prize for its exemplary gravity in this respect: Drake address his single mother, swears love and tells her that though he “don’t call enough”, she “raised him right”. Even rap-game bravado isn’t without bitter reflection, and on “Know Yourself”, his words sting but his eyes are downcast: “What’s the word these days? / Buncha n****s chasing after women they don’t even know”. This world-weariness connects because the music is faultless. A single piano motif on “Energy”, and the gorgeous, crushed-out r&b pacing of “No Tellin” are just some hints as to how much Drake really means it this time.

This is a punk record. But it’s not an aggressive-for-the-cameras three-chord-faux-statement. It’s a monstrous, masterful opus whose faithfulness to punk is more spiritual than “aesthetic”. Insiders know that Viet Cong have a backstory: frontman-bassist Matt Flegel and drummer Mike Wallace were part of Women, makers of some of the most imposing indie rock music of the late aughts. Flegel’s reverbed desolate baritone will inevitably earn him comparisons to Ian Curtis, which is unfair because they’ll all detract from how seamless and necessary it is to the booming whole that is the Viet Cong sound. And just what this is evolves unexpectedly throughout these seven songs. Opener “Newspaper Spoons” blankets clattering drums in reverb to simulate syncopated blasts of thunder, while a lo-fi whirlwind of guitars peels away by degrees as a beautiful synth figure ripples into the mix. The post-punk diptych of “Bunker Buster” and “Continental Shelf” further surprises by swelling into math-rock and anthemic proportions respectively. Lyrically, this is a document of haunting disillusionment. The bitter satire on “Silhouettes”, “Relay, reply, react, and reset,” says more about the soulless extremes of our technology-addled times than any finger to any man.

BJÖRK: VULNICURA Björk herself has called this a “complete breakup album”, but taken for what it is, it’s a uniformly incredible work from an artist whose singularity is more undeniable than the Great Lists that appraise her achievements. Vulnicura, which is a combination of two Latin words that translate into English as “wound” and “cure”, is such an accomplishment because it shines a light on a strength of Björk’s that’s often dwarfed by her planetary focus: directly addressing harrowing emotional states. She’s already down on her knees on the sky-scraping string-led opener “Stonemilker” when she pleads, “Show me emotional respect”. The specificity of the person she’s addressing gets amplified on the 10-minute digi-classical masterpiece “Black Lake” in her devastating desperation: “Did I love you too much / Devotion bent me broken / So I rebelled / Destroyed the icon”. Hired hands Arca and the Haxan Cloak also have to be commended for furnishing an exquisitely lush soundworld whose staggering scale and teeming elements monumentalise Björk’s bloodletting disclosure. Cue the Antony Hegarty-guesting “Atom Dance” where classical, Mediterranean and ambient tropes coalesce and pulsate in technicolour splendour.

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LANEWAY FESTIVAL SINGAPORE 2015 @ THE MEADOW, GARDENS BY THE BAY Words: Indran P Images: Laneway Festival Singapore / Chugg Entertainment In 2005, Caledonian Lane, a dirty lane in Melbourne’s Central Business District was the site of the very first Laneway Festival. 10 years later, besides travelling through four other Australian states, Auckland and even Detroit, the festival has also set up shop in Singapore. Why all this background? Simple: it’s important to know the humble history of a phenomenon that evolved into the preeminent indie rock extravaganza that we have the utmost pleasure of experiencing year after year. And as we’ve come to realise, the Singapore leg of the tour has a knack for outdoing itself. Five years older and five years better, this year’s iteration gave a mammoth sold-out crowd of 13,000 the biggest-ever treat in 19 of the most scintillating acts in the local, regional and international sectors of the indie-tronic cosmos. The honours fell on Malaysian quartet Enterprise to sound off the commencement of the day’s programme. Theirs was a set of electro-rock destined for the dancefloor and even those who weren’t working it before the stage, preferring instead to picnic away or soak in the very generous sun, were seen moving their shoulders along to the bursts of catchiness coming at them. Overuse has blunted the impact of the descriptor “world-class”, but after a quick survey of the festival

grounds, we learnt that the sheer scale of the festival’s extra-musical offerings such as its food and beverage options and interactive setups by its sponsors matched that of its musical payload – world-class. With 16 f&b vendors, including Kith, Shiraz, The Brat, Casuarina Curry and Tiong Bahru Bakery, the area by the left of the Garden Stage was a veritable gastro-hub providing scrumptious nourishment for attendees throughout the day. Likewise, the sponsorship activations impressed with their fun-proffering powers. In particular, the handy and stylish festival packs, complete with a mini battery-powered fan and poncho, courtesy of Dr. Martens, the H&M x Grafunkt collab that manifested in earthy, hypermodern work-of-art benches where we caught our breath, and the massive Sailor Jerry barber shop, tattoo parlour and bar were a blessing.

Clockwise from left Mac DeMarco goes surfing, Courtney Barnett, Pond, and Angus & Julia Stone

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Over at the Bay Stage, Eagulls were the first international band to do their good work. Conflating all the sub-histories of rock, including that of punk, post-punk and hardcore, the five-piece were responsible for the fest’s most unrelenting and uncompromising show. Next, like clockwork thanks to the side-by-side stages, Aussie psych-rock pranksters Pond took their turn to puzzle, charm and awe, but dutifully turned up the noise on the very leveling metal of “Giant Tortoise”. Keeping the cause of rock alive in a very different way on the Garden Stage after, was indie rock’s currently reigning prince Mac DeMarco, who lived up to his position by heaping equal parts of his blissedout blues-rock and wildly offbeat humour on the crowd throughout his set, which came complete with shimmering songs like “The Stars Keep On Calling My Name” and “Blue Boy”. At the same time, his legendary irreverence brought communal whoops of laughter, like when he almost lit up a cigarette before launching into “Viceroy”. Heeding DeMarco’s advice to stick around for “Celine Dion”, we then received the rippling, ripping garage-rock wisdom of Courtney Barnett, whose unvarnished tell-alls like “Avant Gardener”, the audience gratefully lapped up, while over at the Cloud Stage, Malaysian electro-pop outfit Pastel Lite got hips swaying. This was mirrored later when Angus & Julia Stone brought a beautiful sense of gravity with their ethereally harmonic and tender touch, as homegrown electronic force .gif conjured an enchanting soundworld at the Cloud Stage.

The booming swells of noise we then heard in the distance came from Royal Blood, who made the festival’s most glorious and mythic rock. Though limited to vocals, drums and bass, the sparest of the festival’s set ups, the duo’s planet-swallowing take on hits like “Little Creatures” could’ve rattled the framework of an arena. As if to offer a soulful counterpoint to the sublime rock, local supergroup Hanging Up The Moon and Jungle, emerged at the Cloud and Bay stages respectively. Jungle, in particular, countered with dance. And speaking of dance, there was a lot of that when its envoys in Future Islands and Rustie took their respective stages. At a press conference earlier in the day, Samuel Herring told us, “Future Islands is born of the heart,” and his intensely impassioned delivery, particularly on “Doves”, was poignant and powerful proof. Sweden’s indie-pop hitmakers Little Dragon then prefaced the Banks-Chet Faker clash with their patented electro-soul allure, which both neo-r&b chanteuse and neor&b raconteur would expound on before their gathered legions. Responding to the shrouded minimalism of the two was the multi-hyphenate force of nature FKA twigs, who held court on the day’s sexiest, most smouldering showing. She was a mesmeric vision in her gold get-up. How she balanced the visual splendour of her moving form and the emotional devastation of songs like “Pendulum” and “Two Weeks” was an art unto itself. Meanwhile, Jon Hopkins was up to big moves of his own with his alternately

From left FKA twigs, Rustie, Little Dragon, Future Islands, St. Vincent

pristine and shattering strokes of electronica. Lastly, it fell on St. Vincent to bring things to a close. Immaculate and imposing, just like her artistic persona, her performance, dedicated as it was to the “freaks and others of [our] beautiful city”, was one of bezerker guitar-led freakouts (“Marrow”, “Huey Newton) and magnificently filigreed lushness (“Prince Johnny”, “Regret”). Clad in a black latex cheongsam and fishnet stockings but stabbingly icy and controlled in her demeanor, she gave us a transfixing display of her fathomless powers. This was Laneway’s fifth coming in Singapore and it was the best. Historic and monumental, it affirmed to no less than a sold out crowd, with a lineup that was terrific front-to-back, that, where there’s great music, the people will gladly go. And on that note, we cannot wait for the sixth.

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THE GATHERING @ FORT CANNING GREEN Words: Indran P Images: Dominic Phua and Marcus Lim / Forefront Entertainment Tom Krell said it best: “It’s a really lovely day!” Indeed it was. On the universally observed day of love, local promoters The Gathering furnished us with a monumental celebration helmed by some the most exciting local and international talents in the indie world. Given its auspicious date and luxuriant setting, it was only right that local troubadour and guitarist Charlie Lim lit the torch on the proceedings. Having already shared stages with titans like De La Soul, Elbow, Sigur Rós and Kimbra, he reinforced his rep as a faultless performer, sending his soulful soul-pop smoulder into the stratosphere, duelling and, it’s not an exaggeration to say, besting, the scorching heat. Announcing that Lim and his band “were great”, contemporary r&b’s chief deconstructionist How To Dress Well next strode on stage to do his heart-melting work. Turning in a masterful show of restraint and intensity, drama and lucidity on his career-defining 2014 album “What Is This Heart?”, Tom Krell and his white-clad band proceeded to deliver a start-to-finish set of powerfully impassioned songs from that album. Highlights like the intricately layered yet colossally bass-y “A Power” and “Very Best Friend” opened, joined later by the crystalline “Repeat Pleasure” – we didn’t need Krell’s joking affirmation that it was “a beautiful song” to come to that same conclusion. He then launched into the closing diptych of “Set It Right” – which contained a jawdroppingly immaculate freestyle of Rich Gang’s “Lifestyle” – and the careening majesty of the epic “Words I Don’t Remember”, which saw his voice crack with an urgency worthy of MJ.

From left Belle & Sebastian & you, Temples’ James Edward Bagshaw, Tom Krell as How To Dress Well and tUnE-yArDs’ shaman Merill Garbus

Local indie supergroup Pleasantry then followed suit, adding to the triumphs of their 2014 debut album Synapses with the lilting and lovely coos of frontwoman Samantha Teng and an adroit balance of ethereality and groove. Their shimmering sound paved the way for the frothy pop of Real Estate. Expanding the scope of their reverb-drenched world to suit the live setting, the band gave the festival its first anthemic moment in “It’s Real”, as the “whoa-oh-ohs” resounded after every chorus. But if things were approaching “idyll”-territory, the technicolour-ed presence of tUnE-yArDs manifested next to assure us of wild, colouristic fun. Living up to her charms as a rambunctious visionary, bandleader Merrill Garbus served us the full bounty of her Afroleaning left-of-centre pop sounds on song-chants like “Hey Life”,

“Gangsta”, and after announcing that it was her “ukulele’s first trip to Singapore,” “Powa”. Bowing out with a spontaneous clap-jam with the audience that segued into the wildly exuberant “Water Fountain”, she was certainly one of the fest’s best-ofs. Bringing back the rippling ‘60s, next, were British psych-rock scene-stealers Temples, who, in their dizzying hits like “Test of Time” and “Sun Structures”, certainly gave truth to Johnny Marr’s claim that they were the best new band in Britain. Then, under a star-speckled sky, the Dan Snaith-led danceeverything force that is Caribou emerged to play the night’s most spectacular set. Saying little, he marshalled his three supporting musicians into empyrean renditions of his latter-day hits like “Can’t Do Without You” and “Mars”, while getting behind his drum kit for a shattering turn on “Bowls” and adding to the

heaving funk of “Odessa” with his recorder. The sheer force of the monumental freak-out of closer “Sun” was something that took everyone by surprise – exquisitely tectonic and resounding. Finally, headlining giants Belle & Sebastian took their turn. Not pulling any of their twee punches, the Scottish indie gods launched into a magnanimous sharing of their discography, invoking standards like “I’m A Cuckoo” while busting out the disco-funk of newer songs in the vein of “The Party Line”. Proving that nothing had been lost to the zeitgeist, Stuart Murdoch’s invitation to get onstage and dance was met by a surge of fans who got the oncein-a-lifetime chance to dance along with the makers of “The Boy With The Arab Strap” as it was played before them – with all that happened, feel free to come to your conclusions on what kind of February 14th this was.

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SMOOTH OPERATOR

The storied past and unique processes behind Auchentoshan’s seductive aroma Words: Jeremy Fong

The Single Malt whisky that emerges from the Auchentoshan Distillery is one smooth and refined character. It’s a subtle flavour that’s the result of a century-plus legacy and fine traditional processes, ensuring that Auchentoshan whiskies arrive with both the most delicate of aromas and the riches of histories. As one of the last distilleries still active in the Scottish Lowlands, Auchentoshan boasts a back-story beginning in 1823 that’s seen it survive six different owners, financial difficulties, a barley crisis and the Second World War, whilst keeping intact its unique production process. The Auchentoshan Malt Whisky is the outcome of a triple distillation (when most Scottish whiskies are distilled twice), a method that takes the spirit up to 81% ABV, and defines its elegant flavour profile. Further matured in fine oak casks, the whisky that Auchentoshan finally delivers to your glass is one that’s also deep and complex.

Hence: the Auchentoshan Single Malt Scotch Whisky range, running from the American Oak to the 12 Years Old to the 21 Years Old to the Silveroak. In particular, the 12YO should make for a warm entrance, it being coloured by seductive aromas of toasted almonds and caramelised toffee, before being matured in bourbon casks, so that its sweet and lustrous flavour is followed pleasantly by a lingering nuttiness. Equally golden to the eye, the Three Wood can claim its own cult following for its hints of butterscotch, cinnamon and hazelnut, which gift it its fruity and oaky-sweet complexity. And as you enjoy a glass of Auchentoshan’s Single Malt Whisky – whether straight up, on the rocks or as a cocktail base – know that you’re also toasting to the best of its past, its continued authenticity and of course, the enduring character of this mellow dram.

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MATTERS OF TASTE

boChinche’s new look and new tastes that are as scrumptious as ever Words: Indran P

In any field, the balance of style and substance is an inarguable standard of excellence. Recently, Singapore’s pre-eminent Argentine restaurant boChinche underwent a makeover, emerging with a distinct edge that is met with corresponding flair in the introduction of new dishes. So, yes, enjoying the interesting update of boChinche’s exotic menu in its redesigned space spells one thing: excellence. Where it once had a quintessentially sleek and modern feel, the interior of boChinche now boasts the rugged earthiness of vintage street art styles that lend it a dashing industrial chic. But since boChinche’s charms have never been purely cosmetic, its menu too gets an equally inviting and impressive reworking. Its niche of hearty grilled fare and classic hot starters is now complimented with the Cold Bar, a spread of chilled small plates that testify to Argentina’s far-ranging culinary influence. From this bevy, the Chilled Pea Soup, served with yoghurt, shallots and chopped mint and the 30-month-cured Iberico Shoulder, which comes with pickles and focaccia bread, are particular highlights, for besides being a refreshing counterpoint to the classic paradigm of food served hot, are incredibly flavourful and savoury. Likewise, boChinche’s famed grill bears new tantalising options. There’s the undeniable must-try, the Bife ancho Ribeye Steak, a delectable cut of beef that packs an exquisite smokiness as well as a luscious melt-in-mouth texture. Together with the Free Range Chicken and Whole Sea Bass, this new chapter of the boChinche experience spells great things for meat-lovers of all stripes. Still, such is the scope of Chef Jacquet’s vision that the vegetarian grill option Green Asparagus, Baked Brie and Grated Granola has won enough taste buds over to become a bona fide bestseller. Floor-to-ceiling, starter-to-main, the all-new boChinche promises a feast for the senses. To find out why that’s not an exaggeration, head down there yourself. boChinche is located at 22 Martin Road and opens from Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 11pm.

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VIBE BEACH SPORTS & MUSIC FESTIVAL 2015 21 MARCH @ SILOSO BEACH, SENTOSA Words: Indran P

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Moving to the beat is a universally beloved way to have a good time. Add the exhilaration and endorphinreleasing thrills of competitive sports into the mix and the fun gets multiplied

tenfold. As Singapore’s first-ever lifestyle beach festival, Vibe will make good on all these party-ready, body-moving offerings amidst a supremely blissed-out backdrop of sun, sand and sea.

Never before has a day of athletically-centric activities, soundtracked by a winning line-up of seven of the most renowned and soughtafter local and regional DJs transitioned into a full-on night-time

blowout led by some of the most forwardthinking names in all of the EDM world. Enough dallying; put your game face on, limber up, and get to dancing!

DREAM TEAM MEET THE MVPS AT VIBE MILES SLATER

JOHN O’CALLAGHAN

This Irish trance maverick comes Armin-certified. Known for his fearlessly progressive touch, O’Callaghan has consistently enriched the lexicon of the discipline, lacing it with a host of sounds, such as prog-house on “Deep Dream” and even techno in his other guise Joint Operations Centre.

AN21

Antoine Joseffson is a big deal not because he’s Steve Angello’s brother. After all, familial ties don’t get you nominated for the World Music Award for World’s Best Electronic Dance Music Artist, world-conquering tunes do. And of these, Antoine has several. When he comes out to play, you know you won’t stop moving.

A towering presence in the local scene, where he’s gifted clubs with the best of broken beat, tech house, dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass, Kenneth Francis has also done good, boundary-burning work in Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia. Be prepared for some legendary moves.

ON YOUR MARKS! VIBE’S FUN AND GAMES

JEAN BAPTISTE

STYLUXTAKUT

An open-format wiz, this savant of sound was also a World Finalist at the 2012 DMC championship and at Rane & Serato DMC World Finals that same year. What this means is that you’re in for some world-class sounds.

“Eclectic” has become shorthand for any jock capable of dropping more than one distinct sound. But the ability to drop baile funk, disco, boogie, electronica, hip hop, house and techno belongs to an altogether different class of unclassifiability and to Jean Baptiste.

This local veteran has been standing at the vanguard of cutting-edge sounds since 1999. From helming his own night Philes of Sound, to shaking the floors of Zouk, to releasing music on Soul Shift Music – he’s carried the torch higher and further.

ANAND

More aptly known as Presha, this homegrown drum ‘n’ bass warrior helms the decks at Ku De Ta and ensures that his audience gets everything from roilers to chillers.

ZUMBA

Led by French celebrity instructor Alix Pfrunder, Vibe will also be the site of a record-breaking attempt for the largest Zumba dance in Singapore. This one’s for the record books!

BEACH SOCCER AND VOLLEYBALL

JOSHUA P

KENNETH FRANCIS

He may have been named after one of the most iconic jazz musicians of the 20th century but this young Londoner possess a different heat-seeking skillset. From London to his current stomping ground of Hong Kong, he’s blazed a trail with house, nu disco, hip hop and lounge sets which are famed for their entrancing chill.

DJ YUKI

One of Asia’s best disco and r&b peddlers, Yuki Yamaguchi holds court at the globally esteemed Potato Head Beach Club and Rock Bar at Ayana Resort. His upbeat, shimmering style can be heard on his high-profile remix of Goldroom’s “Embrace” and, right here, in the flesh.

In partnership with the Volleyball Association of Singapore and ProAm Beach Soccer from the US, Vibe is bringing us two high-stakes team sports events, the winners of which will earn bragging rights as well as sweet cash prizes! Tickets: $90 (at eventclique.com) and $110 (at the door) for all-day access, and $35 for Zumba, $180 to $210 for volleyball and beach soccer participation. Visit vibebeachfest.com to stay updated.

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FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL ASIA 2015 13 & 14 MARCH @

CHANGI EXHIBITION CENTRE Words: Indran P

Avicii

Ferry Corsten

The Prodigy

It’s ours! By now, you should already know that one of Asia’s biggest festivals will be staged on our very shores. For two years, we’ve had to make the trek across the causeway to take in the wonders offered up by the likes of Cosmic Gate, Armin Van Buuren, De La Soul and Paul Van Dyk, but this year, we’ll receive the live-and-direct transmissions from Future Music Festival Asia’s biggest-ever bounty of acts right here at home. Famed for its uncompromising big-name acts, this year’s incarnation of FMFA goes oneup on itself with a roster that sees buzzing newcomers sharing stages with long-revered legends across two days. On day one, EDM godhead Avicii, architect of planet-swallowing anthems like “Levels” and “X You”, will lock arms with the big beat behemoths The Prodigy who can be expected to preview some of their forthcoming new material,

as well as house titan Sander Van Doorn, the EDM supergroup New World Punx comprising the twin dance turbos of Ferry Corsten and Markus Schulz, and – wait for it – Giorgio Moroder! What other indication of FMFA 2015’s monumentality would you require besides the presence of the disco legend and the promise of his Daft Punk-prefiguring sounds? Never second best, day two promises an unquenchably fantastic time as guaranteed by electro house phenom Afrojack, cross-generational electronica giant Fatboy Slim, Aussie drum ‘n’ bass kingpins Knife Party, individual sets by Ferry Corsten and Markus Schulz and yes, hold up again, Public Enemy! When was the last time you caught a bill with legends who were worshipped by legends themselves? Never? Well, it starts here then. But FMFA 2015’s highlights don’t end with the big names alone.

Nero

Gorgio Moroder Sander Van Doorn

Criss-crossing canons and scenes, the likes of Art Department, Gorgon City, Bassjackers, Example, Robin Schulz, Blasterjaxx, Nero, Protoculture, Tchami, Singapore’s own Mr. Has, Lion City Boy, Nez, Rah, Andrew T and many more have been enlisted to shake you good and loose. So if you’re looking to burn the rubber off your dancing shoes, now’s the time – FMFA 2015 is upon us. Tickets: $148 (one-day) and $208 (two-day), available at futuremusicfestival.asia and SISTIC

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PARA//EL PRES. CLAPTONE

BASSIC PRES. JACQUES GREENE (DJ SET) 7 March @ Velvet Underground – Dance

14 March @ Velvet Underground – Dance $28/33

$28/33

Not too long ago, this New York-via-Montreal producer told us that his music “aims to make you FEEL something”. The emphasis was his and his passion certainly isn’t unfounded. In his relatively short career, not only have the warehouse scene in Brooklyn and Art Basel’s after-parties become sonically richer, the canon

of pop-leaning dance music (not the Guetta variant), too, has become vastly more exciting. There’s his high-profile remix of Ciara’s “Body Party”; his gameelevating single “Only One” with neo-r&b phenom How To Dress Well, and his prismatic house-elevating debut EP Phantom Vibrate, to speak for him. Do your dance a favour and listen.

ZOUK SOUNDSYSTEM X MIXMAG ASIA PRES. MAT ZO

6 March @ Canvas $18 (presale) / $25 (door)

TOTAL ECLIPSE

It’s not because he’s one of the few insistently masked DJs around that Claptone is an enigma in the dance world. Rather, it’s because his swirling, psychedelic sounds have no close kin except in something as nebulous as “deep house” that makes Claptone one delightful mystery. Here, he offers us a sneaky peek behind the mask.

DETROIT SWINDLE

7 March @ Loof

6 March @ Zouk $28/33

Emerging from New York City’s legendary DJ collective the X-Ecutioners, Total Eclipse was instrumental in developing hip hop through the group’s trailblazing contributions to turntablism. Built From Scratch is hallowed ground – now you’ll get to meet your maker.

HENRY SAIZ 7 March @ kyo $20/25 Here are some facts about the young prog trance auteur: formerly from a rock and jazz background, he won over the giants in Above & Beyond, signed to their Anjunabeats label, made a floor-melting track “Easy” with Porter Robinson, and got into the good books of forces as disparate as Daft Punk, Sasha and Burial. Convinced? Good.

With a scholarly approach to techno, electronica, house and disco that stems from his background in sound design, Henry Saiz has gotten props from John Digweed and Pete Tong alike, besides Ibiza’s grateful legions. To get some of his Reality treatment in the flesh, you already know what to do.

It’s possible to speculate that the Danish duo of Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets calls itself Detroit Swindle because it hijacks the best of the city’s legendary house and soul tics and updates it with a modern deepening of scale. Or maybe, it’s ‘cos they make damn good house. Either way, head over and party.

Where are you now and how’s life been treating you? I am everywhere and it is good. I have been been blessed to be in demand and I work tirelessly to channel the positive energy to everywhere I go. You’ve apparently also spent time wandering medieval landscapes. What is it that drew you to these vistas? Over the centuries I have been often drawn to the dramatic. It resonates with my spirit and makes me feel alive. The medieval times were crazy and some of the things I see at your modern events often remind me of them – emotions stripped back and visceral. And as a dark-age wanderer, do you reckon our post-Internet age still has a capacity for magic and mystery? Good question. Before this new digital age it was simple to perform tricks and a lack of information meant that many charletons were able to pretend to be magic. The Internet has taken away a lot of this shroud and so I happy to see many of these fakes fade away. How has your experience as Claptone shaped your own worldview? Over the hundreds of years that I have been in existance I have seen many changes and always had to adapt. But one theme is constant and that is the power of rhythm to move us all. What are you most looking forward to doing on our fair isle? I hear that Singapore is a magical place and a gateway between cultures. I am looking forward to absorbing the energy that lies at this intersection and sharing right back to you.

Listings 93

ERLEND ØYE

19 March @ The Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel $78 - $100, eventclique.com

VELVET SOUNDSCAPE WITH JEREMY BOON & ZUSHAN

JOHN HECKLE & TAPIRUS

You don’t need to be a scene historian to know that Velvet Underground – Dance is the bastion of future-charting, cutting-edge sonic possibilities on our shores. This night, the storied venue will celebrate the musical redirection to house in all its jazzy, soul and Afro-inspired glory as well as the latest addition of Zushan to the Zouk family.

Between these two Midnight Shift artists lies a wealth of sound: Liverpudlian don John Heckle has made it his chief concern to stun crowds into dance-fuelled submission with his live arsenal of three turntables and drum machines while Suriname mystic Tapirus will shock you with his fractured and fantastic micro and macro sounds.

28 March @ kyo $20/25

20 March @ Velvet Underground – Dance $28/33

KENNY DOPE 14 March @ kyo $20/25

Four Grammy nods and an encyclopaedic knowledge of house, hip hop, Latin, jazz, funk & soul, reggae and breakbeat are what this American titan brings to the table. Whether your like revels stuffed with big, quaking beats or lined with sexy, syrupy soul, this fine gent will set you right with his powerhouse charms.

No longer the Whitest Boy Alive, Erlend Øye is now back to his bookish balladry, with a new album of effervescent folk-rock to show for it. Legao (Portuguese for “cool”) was recorded with Icelandic reggae band Hjálmar, which means that you can expect a certain groove to accompany Øye’s sweetly romantic moves.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

17 March @ The Esplanade $48-$108, sistic.com

RHYE Ultra-luxe pop has long been the Rufus Wainwright guarantee and lucky are we to receive the combined gifts of his singular tenor and eclectic (multi-) instrumentation. Last year, he released his first greatest hits collection in Vibrate: The Best of Rufus Wainwright, sending us a winking promise of the majesty we can expect from him live.

25 March @ The Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel $68 to $78, eventclique.com It’s so easy to predict that this will be a great gig because it’s damn near impossible to dislike Rhye. Some may turn their noses up at neo-r&b but Rhye’s music cuts through the cool-finding curation of

genre-mongers to present a minimally distilled showcase of two things: Robin Hannibal’s gift for shadowy, twilit textures and nocturnal grooves and the quietly staggering range of Mike Milosh’s vocals. On its debut

2014 album Woman, the pair showed how gracefully and gorgeously these streams united on cuts like “The Fall” and “Open”. And soon, we’ll be treated to these slowly unwinding marvels live.

Directory 94

STOCKISTS

Where to shop

A|X Armani Exchange Located at ION Orchard, #B1-03; Ngee Ann City, #B1-03/03; Paragon, #02-13 to 16; The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B2-15; VivoCity, #01-202A to 203; and Westgate, #01-25/29 Acne Studios Available at net-a-porter.com Aesop Located at Millenia Walk, #01-43; Suntec City, #01-335; Ngee Ann City, #B1-50; and 52 Club Street Alexa Chung for AG Jeans Available at net-a-porter.com A.P.C. Located at Raffles Hotel Arcade, #02-08 ASOS Available at asos.com Band of Outsiders Available at net-a-porter.com Ben Sherman Located at Paragon, #03-48; Orchard Gateway, #01-04/05; and VivoCity, #01-24 Bershka Located at ION Orchard, #B2-09/10/11 Bobbi Brown Located at ION Orchard, #B2-45 Calvin Klein Located at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #01-16/17 Calvin Klein Jeans Located at ION Orchard, #B1-08; and Paragon, #02-40/41 Chanel Fragrance & Beauté Located at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B1-134 and ION Orchard, #B2-43 Christopher Raeburn Available at mrporter.com Clinique Available at Tangs Orchard and Tangs VivoCity COS Located at ION Orchard, #03-23; and Westgate, #01-41/42 Dorothy Perkins Located at Orchard Gateway, Raffles City, City Square Mall, Bugis Junction, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, Wisma Atria, Junction 8, Causeway Point, Tampines 1, Jem and Bedok Mall Estée Lauder Located at ION Orchard, #B2-52; and available at Isetan, Metro and BG Bugis French Connection Located at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B2-112

Fresh Located at ION Orchard, #B3-45 Gap Located at VivoCity, #01-129; Centrepoint, #02-12/02-101; and Wisma Atria, #01-17A/19, #B1-20/22 Givenchy Located at Paragon, #01-41 H&M Studio Located at 1 Grange Road; ION Orchard, #B2-28; Suntec City Mall, #01-307 to 311; Jem, #01-01, #02-01/02/03 & #03-01/02; VivoCity, #01-19/20; Kallang Wave, #01-01 & #01-74 to78; nex, #01-12 to #01-33; One Raffles Place, #01-03 to 06 Hermès Located at Scotts Square, #01-12; Liat Towers, #01-02A; Takashimaya Shopping Centre, L1 & L2; and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B1-41 Inès de La Fressange for Uniqlo Available at Uniqlo at ION Orchard, Bugis+, Liang Court, Suntec City Mall, JEM, City Square Mall, Chinatown Point, Plaza Singapura, Parkway Parade, Causeway Point, VivoCity, 313@ Somerset and Tampines 1 innisfree Located at Takashimaya Shopping Centre, #B2-34/35; Plaza Singapura, #01-63/64; and Bugis Junction, #01-109/110 Kate Spade New York Located at Raffles City, #01-24; ION Orchard, #03-27; and Takashimaya, L1 Lancôme Available at counters at Takashimaya, BHG, Metro, Tangs, OG, Robinsons and Isetan departmental stores Lunasol Available at counters at Takashimaya, BHG, Metro, OG and Isetan M.A.C. x Cinderella Available at M.A.C at Ngee Ann City, #B1-13/13A, and Sephora at ION Orchard Maison Kitsuné Available at kitsune.fr Maison Martin Margiela Located at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B1-10 Make Up For Ever Available at Sephora at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands McQ Available at Club21b, Forum The Shopping Mall, #01-07 to 09 MiH Jeans Available at mrporter.com Miss Selfridge Located at Orchard Gateway, #01-13/14; Paragon, #03-48A & #03-49; VivoCity, #01-66; and Wisma Atria, #01-25/26 Miu Miu Located at ION Orchard, #01-27; Paragon, #01-01/02/03; and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B1-32/33/34 & #B2-30/31 Moschino Located at Paragon, #01-04/05 Out of Print Available at outofprintclothing.com Levi’s Vintage Clothing Available at mrporter.com Paul Smith Located at Hilton Hotel Singapore, #02-24/25; Mandarin Gallery, #01-08; and Isetan Orchard, L2 Philosophy Located at Ngee Ann City, #B2-03A Pierre Balmain Located at Scotts Square, #01-11 Polo Ralph Lauren Available at mrporter.com Raf Simons Available at mrporter.com River Island Available at riverisland.com RMK Available at counters at Isetan Scotts, Isetan Serangoon Central and Takashimaya Shopping Centre Saint Laurent Located at ION Orchard, #01-25; The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B1-116 Star Wars for celio* Available at celio* at Suntec City Mall, Plaza Singapura, CityLink Mall, Bugis+ and Jem Sephora Located at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands SK-II Available at counters at Isetan, Metro, OG, BHG, Tangs, Robinsons, Takashimaya and Sephora sport b. Located at Wisma Atria, #02-00 The Body Shop Located at ION Orchard, #B2-39; Centrepoint, #0147/48; Ngee Ann City, #B1-34; and Wisma Atria, #B1-37 Topshop Located at Knightsbridge, #01-05/05; ION Orchard, #B2-01; Raffles City, #02-39; Tampines Mall, #02-16; and VivoCity #01-72 Uniqlo Located at ION Orchard, Bugis+, Liang Court, Suntec City Mall, JEM, City Square Mall, Chinatown Point, Plaza Singapura, Parkway Parade, Causeway Point, VivoCity, 313@Somerset and Tampines 1 Urban Decay Available at Sephora at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Vampire Weekend Available at vampireweekend.com Versus Available at net-a-porter.com Worn By Available at wornby.co.uk

Directory 95

DISTRO Where to find ZIGGY

ART, DESIGN AND MUSIC STORES

BooksActually 9 Yong Siak St Grafunkt Park Mall, #02-06; 85 Playfair Rd, Tong Yuan Ind. Bldg, #02-01 Lomography Gallery Store 295 South Bridge Rd, #01-01 The Substation 45 Armenian St Tokyobikes 38 Haji Lane Vinylicious Records Parklane Shopping Mall, #01-26

BARS & CLUBS

Acid Bar & Alley Bar 180 Orchard Road, Peranakan Place Bikini Bar 50 Siloso Beach Walk Sentosa #01-06 Blu Jaz Cafe 12 Bali Lane Club Street Social 5 Gemmill Lane Maison Ikkoku 20 Kandahar St Outdoors Café & Bar 180 Orchard Rd, Peranakan Place Overeasy One Fullerton, #01-06 Paulaner Brauhaus Millenia Walk, #01-01 Sauce Bar Esplanade Mall, #01-10/12 Tanjong Beach Club 120 Tanjong Beach Walk, Sentosa The Merry Men 86 Robertson Quay, #01-00 Canvas 20 Upper Circular Rd, #B101/06 The Riverwalk kyō 133 Cecil Street, #B1-02, Keck Seng Tower Mansion Bay 8 Raffles Ave, Esplanade Taboo 65/67 Neil St The Butter Factory One Fullerton, #02-02/03/04 Zouk Singapore 17 Jiak Kim St

HOTELS

Hotel 1929 50 Keong Saik Rd Klapsons The Boutique Hotel 15 Hoe Chiang Rd New Majestic Hotel 31-27 Bukit Pasoh Rd Sultan Boutique Hotel 101 Jalan Sultan, #01-01 The Club Hotel 28 Ann Siang Rd The Quincy Hotel 22 Mount Elizabeth W Hotel 21 Ocean Way, Sentosa Cove Wanderlust Hotel 2 Dickson Rd Wangz 231 Outram Rd

HAIR & NAIL SALONS

Artisan Hair 42A Lorong Mambong, Holland Village Choeur Raffles Hotel Arcade, #02-23 Essensuals Orchard Central, #B1-20; 1 Vista Exchange Green, #B1-22 Hairloom The Arcade, #03-08 Kizuki Raffles Hotel Arcade, #03-03/04 Manicurious 41 Beach Rd Next Salon 271A Holland Ave, Holland Village; ION Orchard, #03-24A Prep Mandarin Gallery, #03-34 The Golden Rule Barber Co. 188 Race Course Rd, #01-02 The Panic Room 311A Geylang Rd Toni&Guy 170 East Coast Rd; 24B Lorong Mambong; Rochester Mall, #02-01 What He Wants 181 Orchard Rd, #03-30; The Cathay, #01-06

SCHOOLS

LaSalle College of the Arts 1 McNally Street, Block E, L1 Reception Nafa School of Performing Arts 151 Bencoolen St NTU Students Activities Centre 50 Nanyang Ave, L1 NUS Radio Pulze 31 Lower Kent Ridge, National University of Singapore Office of Student Affairs, Level 3, Yusof Ishak House, Tembusu College University Town, NUS, 28 College Ave East, #B1-01 Thunder Rock School 227A Upper Thomson Rd

AND EVERYWHERE ELSE

Bottles & Bottles Parkway Parade, #B1-83K/L; Tampines Central 1, #B1-28; 131 Tanglin Road, Tudor Court Shopping Gallery Camera Rental Centre 23 New Bridge Rd, #03-01 Mini Habitat (Showroom) 27 Leng Kee Rd OCBC Frank VivoCity, #01-160; Singapore Management University, Li Ka Shing Library, #B1-43; Nanyang Technological University, Academic Complex North, Ns3 01-01; Singapore Polytechnic Foodcourt 5, (Fc512) The Central 6 Eu Tong Seng St

FASHION BOUTIQUES

actually Orchard Gateway, #03-18 agnès b. ION Orchard, #03-24; Isetan Orchard, Wisma Atria; Isetan Scotts, Shaw House; Raffles City Shopping Centre, #01-26; Takashimaya Department Store, L2 Ben Sherman Paragon, #03-48; VivoCity, #01-24 Dr. Martens Orchard Central, #03-05; Wheelock Place, #02-17A Fred Perry Orchard Cineleisure, #03-07A; ION Orchard, #B3-01; Mandarin Gallery, #03-08 Front Row Raffles Hotel Arcade, #02-09 Granny’s Day Out Peninsula Shopping Centre, #03-25 J Shoes City Link Mall, #B1-22 Leftfoot Orchard Cineleisure, #02-07A; The Cathay, #01-19/20 Little Man 7C Binjai Park Mdreams Wheelock Place, #B2-03 New Balance *SCAPE, #02-15; 112 East Coast Road, #02-25; Tampines Mall, #02-18; Novena Square, #01-39/42 Porter International Wisma Atria, #03-06 P.V.S Orchard Cineleisure, #02-05 Rockstar Orchard Cineleisure, #03-08 STARTHREESIXTY Wheelock Place #02-08; Marina Square, #02-179; VivoCity, #02-09; Paragon, #03-08 Strangelets 7 Yong Siak St Surrender Raffles Hotel Arcade, #02-31 The Denim Store Mandarin Gallery, #03-09/10/11 Topshop & Topman Knightsbridge, #01-05/06; ION Orchard, #B2-01 & #B3-01B; Raffles City Shopping Centre, #02-39; Tampines 1 Mall, #01-26/27 & #02-16; VivoCity, #01-72 Vans ION Orchard, #B3-61; Orchard Central, #01-22/23; Marina Square, #02-160; Orchard Cineleisure, #03-07; VivoCity, #02-111/113 Victoria Jomo 9 Haji Lane Wesc myVillage @ Serangoon Gardens, #01-04; 112 Katong, #02-19

F&B ESTABLISHMENTS

Bar Bar Black Sheep 879 Cherry Ave; 86 Robertson Quay, #01-04; 362 Tanjong Katong Rd Coq & Balls 6 Kim Tian Rd Cupcakes With Love Tampines 1, #03-22 Doodle! Pasta Oasia Hotel, Novena Square 2 Feedex 137 Telok Ayer St, #01-01A Forty Hands 78 Yong Siak St, #01-12 Habitat Coffee 223 Upper Thomson Rd IndoChine Restaurant 47 Club St Island Creamery Serene Centre, #01-03; Holland Village Shopping Mall, #01-02 Kilo 66 Kampong Bugis Kuro Clarke Quay, Blk 3C #01-11 Little Part 1 Cafe 15 Jasmine Rd Loysel’s Toy 66 Kampung Bugis, Ture, #01-02 Oblong Place 10 Maju Ave Oceans of Seafood PasarBella, #02-06 Open Door Policy 19 Yong Siak St PACT Orchard Central, #0216/17/18/19 Papa Palheta 150 Tyrwhitt Rd PARK. 281 Holland Ave #01-01 PasarBella 200 Turf Club Rd Potato Head Folk 36 Keong Saik Rd Selfish Gene Cafe 40 Craig Rd Shots 90 Club St Skyve 10 Windstedt Rd, Block E, #01-17 SPRMRKT 2 McCallum St SuperTree 18 Gardens by the Bay, #03-01 Sushi Burrito 100 Tras St Symmetry 9 Jalan Kubor #01-01 The Forbidden City 3A Clarke Quay, Merchant’s Court, #01-02 The Fabulous Baker Boy The Foothills, 70 River Valley Rd Veganburg 44 Jalan Eunos; Golden Shoe Carpark, #01-28D; Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3, #02-05; 200 Turf Club Rd, #01-32 Wheeler’s Yard 28 Lorong Ampas

REST OF THE WORLD Zouk Kuala Lumpur 113 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Word 96

THE ZIGGY CROSSWORD

Across 1 Carole King’s Grammy-awarded second album (8) 4 Stuart Murdoch’s first feature film, __ Save The Girl (3) 5 A microorganism (4) 7 1989 film starring John Cusack, Say __ (8) 9 A Leeds four-piece featured on C86, The __ Present (7) 12 Belle & Sebastian’s song, “I’m a ___” (6) 14 St. Vincent and David Byrne’s love child (13)

18 A reimagined version of a musical track (5) 19 Everyone’s favourite online shop (4) 22 Director of acclaimed British film, Kes, Ken __ (5) 23 Non-conventional, innovative, progressive (7) 26 Distress (3) 27 Tyler The Creator’s first mixtape (7)

Down 1 The general direction toward which something is changing (5) 2 An informal vernacular (5) 3 Golden brown (3) 4 1969 John Wayne film, True __ (4) 5 Slowdive’s lead singer, Rachel __ (7) 6 All-girl trio featured in Levi’s 501® CT campaign (4) 8 Doom and __ (5) 10 The King of Surf Guitar, Dick __ (4) 11 Of the shape of a cube (5)

13 The site of famed ‘70s punk boutique, SEX, 430 ___ Road (5) 15 Indebted (3) 16 H&M’s 2011 collaborator (7) 17 Brian Eno’s 1975 album, Music For __ (5) 18 An Amy Winehouse hit (5) 20 Mac DeMarco’s second album, __ Days (5) 21 The result of a lack of speed (4) 23 An unproductive habit (3) 24 Smell (4) 25 Trouble (3)

Crossword #2 key Across 1: Fail 4: Charming 7: Total Loss 11: King 13: Lush 14: Oath 15: Saturn 17: Madam 18: Cohabit 21: Tusk 23: Ame 24: Naysayer Down 2: Wit 3: Love 4: Chaka Khan 5: Able 6: Guyville 8: Skinheads 9: Eagles 10: Clutch 12: Adam Ant 16: Robin 19: Ohm 20: Stay 22: Maker