ZIGGY February 2015

JESSIE J Ain’t afraid to work it

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$ Free February 2015

The Heartbreak Issue Bon Iver Sing Jazz 2015 New Romantics TOKiMONSTA How To Dress Well Olympia Le-Tan x Le Sportsac

Contents 4

24 FEATURE: LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Sometimes love ain’t as nice and pretty as boy-meets-girl. Look here for musical proof that when reality bites, so does love.

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Runway: All The Single Ladies Revenge is best served fashionable

Rewind: The Downward Spiral Remembering Bon Iver’s bleeding heart of a debut

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Abc: Go Your Own Way And alphabetical retelling of when bands breakup

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Feature: The Lonely Hearts Club Let the pyjama and pity party commence

Incoming: Jessie J Nobody’s perfect but Jessie J comes close

Collection: Olympia Le-Tan for LeSportsac The French designer writes a love letter to LeSportsac

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Collection: Ben Sherman Spring/Summer 2015 Big Ben gets togged up for the Great British Summer

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Talk: How To Dress Well “I don’t want a new iPad, I want art that moves me”

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Talk: tUnE-yArDs “I do urge people to feel, to be present and be listening to one another”

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Spread: Heartbreak Hotel Down at the end of Lonely Street

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Parties: Super0 Openair Techno prisoners, unite!

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Listings: The Gathering A coming together of indie and you

Hello 6

#34: THE HEARTBREAK ISSUE

“Oh, I said, ‘I’m so happy, I could die’.

She said, ‘Drop dead’, then left with another guy.”

– Elvis Costello, “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”

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

Angel Gwee Chuck Reyes Emma Neubronner Jeremy Fong Loo Reed Rosalind Chua Siufang Lim

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 8

Introduction 9

IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME Conscious uncoupling in a month of coupling

If there’s a love that runs through everything, then occasionally if not inevitably, breakups, fall-outs and, in the parlance of 2014, conscious uncouplings are bound to follow. Love is as much making up as it is breaking up, and however heartrending and bittersweet those endings are, at least there was a beginning at all, Tom Hansen.

And of course, as much as love has continuously commemorated for the many splendoured thing it is (Valentine’s Day, everyone), its breakdown has been equally worthy of cultural acknowledgement. Our most conventionally received ideas of breakups are, after all, contained in the annals of literature, music and film, where everyone from Marcel Proust to Taylor Swift have worked through their own post-

breakup trauma. There’ve been rage and resentment, anxious re-assessments of what went wrong, tear-strewn drama, pleas for second chances and crying in the rain, all filtered through any amount of well-worn clichés. Then again, to use one more overworked platitude, breakups do suck, but past the stuff you do to get over it, there’s another self-empowered beginning to be had.

So yes, the month of February, it being host to the annual day of romance, expects an outpouring of love, but rather than shoot cupid’s arrows all over the place, we observe cruel ends and banana splits. As Ian Curtis, Bon Iver, Morrissey and Marr, and the Twilight readership will tell you, the thing that tears us apart might just be love, after all. And now, for that good sob in the rain…

Listomania 10

BAD ROMANCE As these 7 songs show, there’s a world of hurt when love is lost Words: Indran P

Sinead O’Connor: “Nothing Compares 2 You” As can be expected in a meeting of very dissimilar minds, Prince’s handover of his composition to O’Connor, involved, in her own words, a “punch-up”. Yet, violent origins notwithstanding, this is a gem in the heartbreak canon – rarely is love’s pain and yearning as powerful as it is here.

CeeLo Green: “Forget You” Even though CeeLo’s said that this song’s more explicit title was aimed at the record industry itself, in his meltdown near the end and in his “I still love you! Oooh!”, he’s bemoaning the loss of his lady love here in that big, luscious voice of his.

The White Stripes: “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” In his reworked version of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David original, Jack White brought his garage-blues wizardry to the ‘60s pop standard, making its feeling of hopelessness and desperation all the more soul-searingly intense.

The War On Drugs: “Eyes to the Wind” When TWD’s frontman Adam Granduciel tells you that he feels “like a train in reverse down a dark road” since his girl left him, over those lovely crystalline sounds, you can’t help but die a little.

Beyoncé: “Irreplaceable” As far post-breakup anthems go, Queen Bey’s is amongst the emphatic best. Not only does it not wallow in self-pity, it kicks the errant party into the street with this very scathing warning: “I can have another you in a minute”.

Fleetwood Mac: “Go Your Own Way” “Packing up / Shacking up’s all you wanna do” – Lindsey Buckingham definitely had a lot of unloading to do about his crumbling relationship with Stevie Nicks. Part fingerpointing exercise and part lover’s lament, this song took their issues public on an unforgettable hook.

Tom Waits: “Had Me A Girl” If you think that Waits’ country ballad to every girl he ever ditched – and there are a lot of them since he crosses the map here from LA to France – comes off as braggy, then you’re obviously not hearing his pain or how he desperately tries to believe this lie: “My doctor says I’ll be alright”.

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WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKEN-HEARTED When Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind went in search of lost time Words: Min Chen

It is often loss that brings what you once had into focus. On this hinges the emotional trauma and drama of any breakup, encapsulating not just the end of a failing or failed relationship, but the painful passing of all its better moments into memory. In 2004, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind offered one such picture of a break-up – not an expansive Alvy Singer-esque assessment or Tom Hansen-styled sad-sack moping, but an existential navigation (as only Charlie Kaufman can fearlessly summon) through the power and value of memory, even at a time when it hurts us the most.

In that sense, the breakup carried out in Eternal Sunshine is less a central issue than a framing device. Jim Carrey, in an understated turn, plays Joel, a taciturn introvert undergoing a medical procedure, carried

out by a Lacuna Inc., to wipe all memory of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Clementine, played by Kate Winslet. Cue director Michel Gondry’s arsenal of bells and whistles, arts and crafts, which poignantly and wittily manifest the crumbling of Joel’s memories in highly inventive and dreamlike sequences. Along the way, realising that his sweetest recollections are disappearing alongside the bad, Joel and Clementine (or the projection of Clementine that survives in his head) race to salvage the last nostalgic shred of their relationship. Or, quite simply, to remember. After all, as the movie posits, loss and regret are necessary and possibly, even worth bearing in mind.

Nowhere in Eternal Sunshine is this truth more explicit than in the arc of Mary (Kirsten Dunst), a Lacuna Inc. employee who underwent the

same procedure herself to erase the memory of an affair with her boss. While that remembrance went, her feelings for him did not, recurring once again and driving the nail into Lacuna Inc.’s exercises in lobotomy. And amidst the movie’s high concept, this is its heart: love wins out, and so too, should memory. Joel and Clementine, memories wiped, do unknowingly meet again in Montauk and find themselves on the cusp of yet another fling. Their continuing attraction to each other is such that even as their previous failed relationship comes to light, they resolve to give it another go. History may repeat itself here or it may not, but at the very least, no one’s forgetting this time.

Runway 12

Fendi Spring/Summer 2015

Lanvin Spring/Summer 2015

Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2015

Rodarte Spring/Summer 2015

Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2015

ALL THE SINGLE LADIES All hail the breakover: post-breakup fashion that’s all style and no sweatpants Words: Rosalind Chua Breaking up is hard to do but harder still is bouncing back, newly single, with cool and chic aplomb. Thank God, then, for the breakover. Though essentially a new expression, the breakover has been in practice as long as people have been breaking up.

Here’s Coco Chanel effectively providing its definition: “If you are sad, if you are heartbroken, make yourself up, dress up, add more lipstick and attack.” Call it revenge fashion or a confidence boost, this is killer style that doesn’t just sit quietly on one’s shoulders,

but proclaims its independence, liberation and a newly emerged identity with maximum impact.

See: Taylor Swift, post-Harry Styles. And also see: Spring/ Summer’s delivery of fierce and unflinching breakover options.

For, amidst the self-assured strut of Rodarte’s sea-faring sirens, the forceful minimalism of Balenciaga’s futuristic femmes and the heavy mettle of Lanvin’s party-ready single ladies, surely lies proof that a fizzling romance can make for sizzling chic. Just add lipstick, stir and attack.

THE FINAL PAGE

Bookmark 16

Heartbreak isn’t all that hard to put into words

BLANKETS

BY CRAIG THOMPSON

Words: Min Chen

No mere tale of boy-meets-girl, Blankets is Craig Thomson’s devastatingly poetic retelling of his coming of age against a backdrop of social isolation and grim spirituality, before an equally misfit Raina enters his life, planting an independence in him that even the young lovers’ eventual parting can’t shake.

Inventive in style, sensitive in spirit and powerful right down to its last expressive stroke, this is one graphic novel that hasn’t shied away from wearing its heart and heartbreak on its sleeve – and it’s all the better for it.

TENDER IS THE NIGHT

BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

AGONIZING LOVE: THE GOLDEN ERA OF ROMANCE COMICS

BY MICHAEL BARSON

Love ain’t always a rose-tinted affair, and especially not within the pages of a 1950s romance comic book. The Golden Age of romantic comics, after all, produced as much passionridden tales as it did tear-soaked melodrama, and equal measures of love and laments. Its stories promised the most histrionic of adventures with titles like “With Hate in My Heart”, “Flame of Jealousy”, “Was I a Wicked Wife?” and “Kisses Came Second”, and with striking

renditions of heartless cads and blubbering femmes whose honeymoons have run aground. It is, as Michael Barson’s anthology of romantic comics words it, Agonizing Love, and naturally, it is in here that we’re privy to the genre’s greatest hits. Cover art, stories, advice columns, articles and quizzes, culled from the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s archives of DC, Fawcett, Marvel et al, are arrayed within this volume, offering a beautiful display of the bliss-andsob-racked heyday of romance comics. In here, that first kiss only leads to loss, desire is hell and even in a pre-Amy Dunne world, no one’s marital happiness lasts forever. But then again, that’s love; read it and weep.

“Maybe we’ll have more fun this summer but this particular fun is over,” declares Dick Diver in the midst of Tender is the Night, in a heartbroken sigh at the end of one summer, echoing Fitzgerald’s own state of affairs.

By all accounts, the author was not in the best of shapes when he embarked on his fourth novel in 1932: he was financially destitute and professionally stagnant, while his jazzy and impossibly glamorous marriage to Zelda was being torn asunder by mental ills and extra-marital affairs. All of that he channelled into Tender is the Night, into a narrative that veers from romance to murder to betrayal to that ultimate divorce.

As Fitzgerald’s final act, it was a bitter pill to swallow, but too, an enduringly beautiful send-off.

Diver, again: “I want it to die violently instead of fading out sentimentally – that’s why I gave this party.”

WILD

BY CHERYL STRAYED

With her mother’s passing, a history of drug abuse and a failed marriage behind her, Cheryl Strayed did what few people would do: undertake a thousandmile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail on sheer impulse and pluck.

There’s no eat, pray or love here, but an illuminating journey that with its arduous physical challenges, literally builds Strayed into a stronger individual, and spiritually, enables her to come to deal with her grief by walking and finding her way back to herself.

Nothing is ever a total loss.

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THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL

Bon Iver’s 2007 debut For Emma¸ Forever Ago is the most devastated resident of indie rock’s heartbreak hotel in recent memory. We’re going to visit and we’re not holding back our tears Words: Indran P

Misery hates company “The biographical details behind the creation of an album shouldn’t matter when it comes to a listener’s enjoyment, but For Emma, Forever Ago exudes such a strong sense of loneliness and remoteness that you might infer some tragedy behind it” – Stephen Deusner wasn’t projecting when he made this pronouncement. Breakup albums have always carried more than a whiff of their circumstances into their songs but Emma’s backstory and creation narrative were a large part of what made it. In the throes of a twofold breakup after the dissolution of his band DeYarmond Edison and his relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Justin Vernon retreated to his father’s hunting cabin in Wisconsin in the dead of winter in 2006 to, in his own words, “just ‘be’”. Three months

later, he emerged with Emma, whose inconsolable poetry and earthy, shimmering quality sounded like it was made by a bleeding heart, alone, in a cabin in the woods.

The twilight sad Emma will be remembered throughout the years for one main thing: that it was made with Vernon’s pain and not very much else. “It’s about my struggle through the years of dealing with the aftermath of lost love and longing”, he said of the impetus behind Emma’s creation, and what the universe received upon its release was just that. Within the confines of the cabin where he sequestered himself, which he also used to fantastically devastating effect as a source of natural reverb, Vernon had a simple setup of only a microphone, guitar and his brother’s old drums. The sum total of this arrangement can be felt most bruisingly on the sad, sublime standout “Skinny Love”, the record’s emotional nadir but artistic apex, where regret is immortalised in Vernon’s bloodletting cry: “And now all your love is wasted / And then who the hell was I?” Even when

horns show up later on “Flume”, the pitched-down sounds serve as a tragic siren song complimenting Vernon’s quivering falsetto as he sings about love’s “rope burns”, affirming, in fact, the extent of his pain – forever ago.

Of endings and beginnings Speaking a year after Emma’s release, Vernon described its conception as “the most cathartic experience of [his] entire life”. It’s no surprise why. Like anyone with tremulous concerns to let go, Vernon finally let go in the best way he good. And since then, he’s become a big-tent attraction, creative allies with Yeezus and won a Grammy for his 2011 selftitled follow-up. But it all started during the cruel winter of 2006 with a guitar, a broken heart and the crushing need to cry.

Abc 20

GO YOUR OWN WAYL An alphabetical rundown of bands who’ve fallen out, powered down and broken up, because not everyone gets to be The Rolling Stones Words: Min Chen

as in LCD Soundsystem.

James Murphy didn’t just call it a day in 2011; he also summoned a series of joyous farewell shows that effectively assuaged everyone’s post-breakup trauma.

R A

as in ABBA. Proving there’s no music without muses, Sweden’s preeminent pop group fell apart alongside its members’ marriages. As Benny Andersson bemoaned, “Who are we without our ladies?”

B

as in The Beatles. What started out as Fab ended in 1970 in a spat of lawsuits, backbiting and recriminations that thankfully, has dimmed none of the greatness that went before.

C

as in Crystal Castles.

However sad this one is, Alice Glass’ farewell statement – about her attempts at “sincerity, honesty and empathy for others” – reads less like a goodbye than a fresh start.

F

as in Fleetwood Mac. In a case of too many cooks, people in Fleetwood Mac seem to be constantly breaking up if only to make up again. But save for a two-year disbandment in ’95, the band remains in fine form today.

G

as in Guns N’ Roses.

Guns N’ Roses technically exists only in name today, as Axl Rose continues to work on the process of breaking up with everyone.

J

as in Jet. Shattering fans of “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?”, Jet put an end to its c*ckrock assembly line in 2012. We know, it’s pretty devastating.

D E

N

as in N.W.A. Not possessing of the finest tempers to begin with, N.W.A’s split in the early ‘90s descended into a routine of disses and name-calling that only ceased with Eazy-E’s death in ’95. Ice Cube’s 2006 “Growin’ Up” finally offers this nod to Eazy: “I learned a lot of game from you.”

S

as in The Smiths. The Smiths lived and died as Marr and Morrissey loved and fought. We’ll let Marr have the last word here: “I didn’t form a group to perform Cilla Black songs.”

T

as in Talking Heads. A band that wanted to cut its lead singer adrift and a lead singer that wanted to do that in turn to his band – it’s surprising that Talking Heads got on for as long as it did.

David Byrne did the breaking up in 1991, a process Tina Weymouth remembers as a “tragedy”.

V

as in Violent Femmes.

Of all things, it was Gordon Gano’s licensing of “Blister in the Sun” to Wendy’s that incurred the wrath of his band and ended its three-decade run.

O

as in Destiny’s Child.

Because nobody puts Bey in a corner.

as in Eagles. When a band reunites with an album titled Hell Freezes Over, you know some bad stuff went down to break them up in the first place.

For evidence, see the Eagles’ notorious 1980 Long Beach concert which saw Don Felder and Glenn Frey issuing each other threats like, “I’m gonna kick your ass when we get off the stage.”

M

as in The Mamas & The Papas.

Alcohol and affairs did put a strain on relations within The Mamas & The Papas, but ultimately, it was the most offhand of incidents (John Phillips insulting Mama Cass in front of her hero, Mick Jagger) that tipped the balance in 1968.

as in Rage Against The Machine. RATM’s round of manager-firing and bassist Tim Commerford’s stage-climbing stunt at MTV’s 2000 VMAs may have been equal symptom and cause of Zack de la Rocha’s unhappy exit from the band, citing an undermining of “our artistic and political ideal”.

K

as in The Knife. Bound only by their artistic impulses, The Knife offered the best motive for its 2014 disbandment with, “We don’t have any obligations to continue, it should only and always be for fun.”

as in Oasis. All that head-butting between the Gallagher brothers was no act, but after 18 years, eventually broke up the Britpop figureheads. Says Noel, “I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”

P

as in Pixies. The Pixies are alive and well today, though in the ‘90s, the tension within the group was enough for Frank Black to be breaking up with his band members in the most unromantic of ways: via fax.

W

as in The White Stripes. One of the sweetest and most drama-free of break-ups, The White Stripes quit the scene with the primary reason of safeguarding “what is beautiful and special about the band”.

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In an ideal world, boy meets girl, they fall in love, and live happily ever after. But reality bites and these different musically defined archetypes will show how love plays out in the real world Text: Indran P

LOVE WILL TEAR US APART

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THE BETA MALES

Indie rock has long been advertised as a bastion of countercultural moral rectitude where the perversions of the mainstream are sternly refused entry. But, alarmingly enough, those very ills have been circulating in the indie world for as long as there’s been an indie world. And why the lack of outrage? Trans critic Natalie Reed has an eloquent answer: “It seems like we’re so eager to rest sexism at the feet of ‘them’ – the republicans, the religious, the frat boys – that we end up allowing it to thrive relatively unabated in those corners of our culture that maintain an adequate veneer of ‘enlightened’ principles.”

Whether as an emotional reality or creative guise, indie rock’s beta males, identified by Joe Kennedy as the specimen of the

male species with “an unshakable confidence in [their] own victimhood”, have been serving up retrograde visions of love for a long time. The most recent and decorated culprit of this is Ariel Pink, who has earned the title, “Indie-Pop’s Robin Thicke”, and also released the legitimately great but problematic album pom pom last year, where songs like “Black Ballerina” advanced a very unsavoury picture of desire and love. Reliable proof that you don’t need to be a musclebound jock to be a creep, the sweater-wearing Rivers Cuomo has also been guilty of jaw-dropping feats of misogyny in lieu of a cosmological sense of heartbreak and rejection.

The cult favourite Weezer record Pinkerton is veritably the beta male equivalent of the Mein Kampf, where in such sentiments as, “I did what my body told me to / I didn’t mean to do you harm,” poor old Rivers played the hapless romantic. Tsk.

THE ROCK PATRIARCHS

Everyone knows that when it comes to matters of love and its attendant entailments, the crotch-first ethics of longhaired rock gods have rendered them completely tone-deaf.

In a hilarious webchat with Gene Simmons last year, indie rapscallions the Black Lips presented him with this following imperative: “Mr Simmons, the day of misogynistic, sexist rock ‘n’ roll is over. We call for the complete and utter surrender of the Kiss Army. Lay down your guitars.”

LOLs aside, the Lips’ challenge revealed an intergenerational awareness of rock’s systemic disregard for mutual respect – a pre-requisite of any relationship that claims “love”.

What unites a vast number of rockers of difference stripes is their tendency to “mansplain”, to, in journo Judy Berman’s words, “directly address a woman and bestow upon her some deeply felt but condescending pearls of wisdom,” in their songs. The patronising tone of The Rolling Stones’ “Mother’s Little Helper” notwithstanding, The Doors’ “You’re Lost Little

Girl”(self-explanatory), Led Zeppelin’s “Since I Been Loving You” (“Everybody trying to tell me that you didn’t mean me no good”), the Monkees’ “Cuddly Toy” (“You’re not the only cuddly toy that was ever enjoyed by any boy”) are just a small petridish sampling of how intimate relationships were perceived by the gatekeepers of different schools of rock. And of course, this hasn’t changed much today.

As much as it pains us to say this, one only needs to look at Jack White whom Jessica Misener diagnosed as suffering from the “she-devil / my-baby-wrongedme” syndrome. Much of his work situates him in conflicting relationships and in “Hypocritical Kiss”’s “I know that you’re mad at me / But if you’re thinking like that / I think you’ll see that you’re mad at you too,” it’s plain to see why he ain’t got no love.

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THE RAPPERS

Since rap was rap, rappers have ensured that any notion of love is never far from anything having to do with that other four letter word. Beyond the usual charges of “misogyny”, “abuse” or “objectification”, since, in the rap game, the overlap between love and its more physical concerns is more than skin-deep (uh huh), the questionable perceptions of love here are much more complex and beguiling. For one, because of its origins in the spatiotemporal “streets”, the arduous demands of the “hustle” have necessitated that terms of endearment and pleasantries are unnecessary.

Flipping the script on puppy love’s codes, in an insult that is taken for granted today, the object of affection is known as a “b*tch”, as in Busta Rhymes’ “I Love My B*tch”. That the track features Kelis, an avowed feminist, going “I love you boy” and “he give me joy” throughout also affirms the participatory attitude of the women in the culture.

Besides comparatively sincere effusions like Busta’s, rap’s more popular forms are infinitely more dim-witted in their treatment of man-woman relationships and in particular, women. Lil Wayne’s “Love Me” is an emblem of the puerile male fantasy of metonymically reducing women to their vaginas. And since the deck is too obviously stacked against rappers there, consider instead the violence that Kanye West (“Send It Up”: “I put my fist in her like a Civil Rights sign”) and Tyler, The Creator (discography) enact upon the female body in order to make a point. If, as Cord Jefferson claims, “black male rage” is continued to be “fetishised” in this way, where then, is the love?

THE CRAZY EXES

Way before Destiny’s Child carried the torch for post-breakup triumphalism on “Survivor”, the canon of and by crazy exes was already a rich one in all manifestations of pop culture. But, as observed by muso Hazel Cills, the timeliness of that narrative across the mainstream and the underground was underscored in 2014, which she dubbed “The Year of the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”.

Now, before you raise your sexist/ feminist hackles, consider the evidence: some of the biggest, most discussed hits of either universe last year were of exes who diligently and emphatically underlined their, yeah, craziness.

Leading the charge from her empyrean pop heights was Taylor Swift, who has only gotten more

pathologically entertaining the further she paddled away from her country beginnings. Not only was the monolithic 1989 entirely about ex-beau Harry Styles, its signal hits never pulled any of their insane punches. Case in point: “Blank Space”’s, “Got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane”, to highlight just one bit of sparklingly incriminating evidence. Then, there was indie flame FKA twigs going, “Pull out the incisor, give me two weeks, you won’t recognise her,” on “Two Weeks”. In all these instances, the pop cultural stock figure of the “psycho b*tch” emerged to, as Cills rightly noted, “not let the man have the last word”.

In any analysis that isn’t too trigger-happy with capital e “empowerment” appraisals, this pattern of disclosure was part of what made 2014 a great, weird year for pop.

THE HYPERSEXED

Def Leppard said it best: “Pour some sugar on me / Ooh, in the name of love”. The overt privileging of the carnal aspects of love at the expense of everything else is a phenomenon that has most certainly found its way into every blip in the spectrum of music since pop opened the floodgates. After all, as defined by notable critic Eric Weisbard, pop is a form of “democratised leisure” and the perennial hot topic that is sex has undoubtedly received enough airtime to show up some pretty astonishing views of love.

Done right, these well-lubed ditties have been as amusing as they are revolting. The-Dream’s “Sex Intelligent”’s “And I’ll give her whatever she needs / And you can’t match a love like mine / It’s like tryin’ to rob me with a BB gun / But my love gets it poppin’ like the Taliban,” scores top marks for showing how good he is at loving his girl (very topical too). But of course, there’ve been absolute howlers like George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” (“I swear I won’t tease you / Won’t tell you no lies / I don’t need no Bible / Just look in my eyes”) and Neil Young’s “Down By the River” (“Down by the river, I shot my baby”), that are exhibits of tragic come-hither epic fails. James Brown built his rep as a “sex machine” on and off the stage. Learn from him instead.

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and emphatically shallow in the most picture-perfect sense and artifice taken to a living extreme, she makes all “whys” and “hows” secondary to the spectacle that she is.

THE WEIRD

Love can be shown in the weirdest ways – we all know that.

Just as we know that people react differently to situations based solely on the fact that we are all different from one another. But there’s a universally acknowledged difference between weird and weird. And PJ Harvey’s sophomore and critically acclaimed post-breakup stock-take of an album Rid of Me is weird. Written when Harvey was newly single and by her own admission, “almost psychotic”, the now-Silver record’s title track captured such sentiments as, “Yeah, you’re not rid of me / I’ll make you lick my injuries / I’m gonna twist your head off, see,” which echoed throughout but most notably on the beyondbruised “Hook”: “Now I’m blind and I’m lame / Left with nothing but his stain / Daddy your maid, she can’t sing / She can’t feel, she’s no queen!”. If you need to flex your Freudian muscle, you’re in for a workout here.

Skirting judgement save for a few lonely think pieces for their very patently weird ways are the Decemberists. Scholarly progtimists whose brand of dour eloquence set them apart from the indie world’s roughand-tumble majority, the band has long gotten away with its rape-laden body of work. Yes, rape-laden. With frontman

and songwriter Colin Meloy’s qualifier that his songs feature “touchy subjects”, here are two rape-y pseudo-love scenarios that transpired in two albums seven years apart: in “Odalisque” from debut Castaways And Cutouts, a woman is enslaved, raped, and beaten, and possibly dismembered and in “Margaret In Captivity” from the aptly titled Hazards of Love, said Margaret is “wrecked” behind fortress walls by the man for whom she is a “precious captive swan”. Yikes.

THE SELFTORTURERS

Within a relationship and under the auspices of “love”, how two people see themselves is just as important as what they mean to each other. And while this is a regular make-or-break factor in relationships based on reciprocity, there are some out there who just like it broken. And besides being a pop cultural phenom, Lana Del Rey is the poster-girl of this latter group. Her “sad girl” aesthetic, consummate fatalism (Born To Die) and Lolita tendencies (“Lolita”, “Every Man Gets His Wish”, to name just a few), and her perpetuallysuffering-lover standpoint (“Ultraviolence”: “He hit me and it felt like a kiss”) have promoted many educated after-the-fact pronouncements about what it means to live in a “post-feminist” world, the nefarious effects of the male gaze and as argued expertly by Lindsay Zoladz by way of LDR, the right of girls to be sad. As entirely plausible as this plethora of opinions may be, they cannot gloss over that, Lana, in glorifying, as Zoladz claims, “a seemingly retrograde stance of feminine passivity, weakness, and empty titillation” embodies one of the most dysfunctional views of love. Self-sacrificial

Enter Sharon Van Etten and Lykke Li. The complete opposite of Lana’s abstractbut-cosmological aestheticised suffering, both are indicative of the sheer trauma and emotional malaise that love’s end can cause.

In their gorgeous, crushed-out breakup albums released last year, they brought a bleedingly visceral awareness to the pain of rupture. Van Etten’s excellent Are We There had “Your Love Is Killing Me” which showed how depersonalising a breakup could be: “Break my legs so I won’t walk to you / Cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you / Burn my skin so I can’t feel you”, while on I Never Learn, Lykke Li was likewise unabashed on roilers like, “I am longing for your poison / Like a cancer for its prey” (“Gunshot”) and “A devil’s hand across my heart / As we dance through the dark” (“Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone”). Sometimes, love is anything if not painful.

Feature 26

THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB Words: Min Chen

Breaking up is never easy, or pretty.

But as these four onscreen individuals show, nothing’s more cathartic than letting your heartbreak hang out in a requisite phase of moping, crying and sweatpants-ing. Here’s to all these beautifully sloppy preambles to new beginnings (and how you may wear them on your own broken heart).

NOAH CALHOUN THE NOTEBOOK

The Notebook was destined to be Valentine’s Day fodder the moment Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton did all that kissing in the rain. But in case you’re not caught up on the Greatest Love Story of our time: country boy meets city girl, love ensues and then a breakup. Years on, while Allie has ostensibly moved on, Ryan Gosling’s heartbroken Noah buys an abandoned house and restores it with his bare hands in a bid to win her back. He gets all bearded and woodsman-sy in this process, but only because love is hard work, y’all. And it pays off: the lovers are reunited and Noah whips out the ultimate hey-girl line, “It wasn’t over. It still isn’t over.”

JESSICA DAY NEW GIRL

“You know what happens to people who keep it all inside?

They get old and they get sad and they get weird… You can’t just pretend that it didn’t happen,” is what Jessica Day has to say about handling a breakup. And she should know, for New Girl kicks off with her unceremonious dumping (in a fontrum-inducing scene where she catches her boyfriend with another woman) and proceeds as she deals with things the old fashioned way: by moving on. Sure, there’s that inevitable stage of watching Dirty Dancing on repeat in yesterday’s pyjamas, while feasting on chips and bawling her eyes out, but with a little help from her three new dude roommates, Jess does eventually shine up well enough to move right along (with or without a rebound). She won’t be getting old or sad anytime soon, but don’t worry, she’ll still be weird.

Dirty Dancing Topshop Checked shirt

Hudson’s Bay Company Caribou throw blanket

Uniqlo Relaxed skinny fit tapered jeans

Hay Divina dot cushion

Levi’s Vintage Clothing Cotton T-shirt

Paul Smith Micro dot socks

Palladium Abington Haley boot

Ralph Lauren Sweatpants

Feature 27

BRIDGET JONES BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY

In Bridget Jones, Helen Fielding gifted us a chain-smoking, lovesick heroine with considerably more pluck, wit, candour and backbone than the Carrie Bradshaws of the world. On film, Bridget’s defining moment comes less at the start, when she resolves to find a Mr. Right to a barn-storming lip-sync to “All By Myself”, but when, after an ill-advised fling with her boss, she valiantly commits herself to “vodka and Chaka Khan”, and in turn, to becoming Every Woman.

Following an obligatory phase of consuming questionable cheese, Bridget’s swift enough to end the pyjama-and-pity party, and welcome a new attitude, new job and yes, her very own Mr. Darcy.

kikki.k Leather weekly diary

Uggs Cozy knit slippers

Sleepy Jones Marcel cotton pyjama top

ROB GORDON HIGH FIDELITY

The Rob Gordon at the opening of High Fidelity has just been dumped by his girlfriend Laura and in a manner of coping, attempts a reevaluation of his past relationships to discover, in his immortal words, “How come I got dumped?!” What follows might be a few spots of raving and crying in the rain, but also, a good amount of growing up. John Cusack’s brilliant rendition of Rob has emerged as a role model for all arrested adolescents who’ve tasted the sting of a breakup, but also, a picture of laid-back ease that sees him recount his many heartbreaks as his leisurely refiles his entire record collection.

It’s that same nonchalance that infuses Rob’s slaphappy post-breakup wardrobe, which is hallmarked by what Jack Black’s character deems, “A Cosby sweater. A COSBY SWEATAH!”

Maison Martin Margiela Striped yak wool sweater

A.P.C. New Standard jeans

Stussy Basic logo T-shirt

Johnny Cash Cash

Vans Checkerboard suede authentic sneakers

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TOP OF Modern pop’s biggest voice is a girl from Essex and her name is Jessie J. Before she arrives to headline the Singapore International Jazz Festival, we trace her rise and rise. Hail to the Queen!

Words: Indran P

THE POPS

Incoming 31

Child prodigy Before she became the towering, Cleopatra-esque powerhouse she is today, and even before she blazed a trail at the prestigious BRIT School, Jessica Ellen Cornish was a precocious little star whose first words as a baby were the lyrics to a dub song that also describe her rise and current standing perfectly: “jam hot”.

Fed on a diet of Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Prince and Michael Jackson, she became known for what NME scribe Ailbhe Malone described as her “incredibly potent voice” and it wasn’t much later, that at age 20, she opened for Cyndi Lauper during the doyenne’s 2008 UK tour, prophesying her inevitable arrival into the pop pantheon.

The big hit How’s this for perspective: “Do It Like a Dude”, Jessie’s debut single topped the charts in 19, yes, 19 different countries upon its release in November 2010. A classic example of a universally infectious pop song with a socially conscious, universally applicable message, it testified to a standard of edification that most pop music rarely aspires too these days. It’s all there in the heady, electrofitted patois hook, “We can do it like the man’dem, man’dem”, which raised a torch for feminine empowerment and equality amongst the sexes, echoing a call made by fearless, path-lighting female artists like Lauryn Hill and Neko Case.

The history-making first album Pop debuts have a nail-biting measure of high-stakes makeor-break significance about them. But Who You Are, the first full-length showing from the by now very buzzing chanteuse, did so much more than just hit its mark: it added a new chapter to the history books by crowning her the first British female artist to have six top 10 singles from a studio album. Pre-figuring the overlap of pop, r&b and hip hop styles today, her seven singles, including the ballad “Who You Are”, which made the news for deterring a fan from suicide, affirmed that she was destined to inhabit the stratosphere of pop, without having to vector for “likes” or “shares”.

The new standard 2011 was a big year in music.

James Blake, Warpaint, Yuck and Jai Paul had all burst into the scene just about then but it was Jessie whom the BBC anointed as the Sound of 2011. Who You Are was certified double-platinum by this point and had sold more than all the records of the other longlisted artists combined. In esteeming her in this manner, the BBC was nodding to the global consensus that it was impossible to ignore the titanic force that is Jessie J.

Everyone wants a piece Here’s a little known fact that might just produce a #mindblown moment: Miley Cyrus’ global smash and also one of the highestselling singles in history “Party in the U.S.A.” was written by, yes, Jessie J. Upon inking a deal with Lava records, Jessie penned the song for herself but thinking that it wasn’t “110%” reflective of her more soulful style, passed it on to Miley. Says Jessie, “It was the most amazing way to give me a platform and it’s not the usual way to be known – [a] 21-year-old writing a US hit”. And since then, the most monolithic entities in pop in the likes of Chris Brown, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake – who once called her the “best singer in the world” – have all tapped on her golden pen.

The risky second coming Who You Are established Jessie as a gifted belter whose lungs were versatile enough to take on the cannons of soul and r&b.

But such was the extent of her artistic ambition that she refused to pigeonhole herself as only a torch-song singer. Alive, Jessie’s 2013 sophomore record was a boldly widescreen affair that saw her luxuriate in her simmering style on “Conquer the World” and completely own emergent trends on songs like the dubstep-pop hybrid “Excuse My Rude”. Such a chameleonic turn in the big leagues flew in the face of the dictates of our format-oriented pop culture worldview and presented us with an artist who, to quote the lead single “Wild”, “ain’t afraid to work it”.

A voice; a mentor Most celebrities adopt certain altruistic causes to humanise themselves before their audience and to “give back”. But very often, such supposedly noble endeavours only serve as a photo op masquerading as a CSR initiative for the biggest stars (Rihanna knows what we’re on about). But Jessie really did give back, lending her counsel to the contestants of first two editions of The Voice UK. In a panel that included Sir Tom Jones, will.i.am and The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue, she was by far the most passionately involved with her charges and the BBC has been open that her commitment to them was a great part of what made the show a hit.

Bang Bang!

And then came “Bang Bang”.

Definitely the evolutionary convergence of Jessie’s hip hop, r&b and pop styles, the brassy, unrelenting track featured two of pop’s reigning queens Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, making for a posse cut not heard since Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa, and Pink got together on “Lady Marmalade”. As one of the hottest songs of 2014, its Grammy nod came as no surprise.

Already no stranger to acclaim, Jessie now resides in the realm of superlatives.

An English rose in full bloom The Jessie story arrived at its watershed moment in 2014 with the year-end release of her third album Sweet Talker. A glorious testimony of her high-speed career trajectory, it was her highest charting album to date and the most eclectic in her catalogue.

Mining the talents of a deep bench of stars like Diplo, Max Martin, De La Soul and The-Dream, she showed her deft curatorial hand and made every inch of sonic space work in favour of That Voice. A hit on the sum total that makes up its sheer force, the album marked a dazzling highpoint for Jessie and brightly and boldly underscored her self-topping ways. From Essex to the world – that’s been the going for her and it’s the world’s privilege to watch as she scales her next peak.

Sweet Talker is out now on Lava / Republic. Read on for more highlights from the Singapore International Jazz Festival 2015.

Incoming 32

IT’S JAZZ, BABY! All the smooth moves at the Singapore International Jazz Festival 2015 Words: Indran P

What other sound can add to the exquisite shimmer of the Singapore skyline but jazz? And to celebrate all the showstopping powers of the discipline, the Singapore International Jazz Festival (Sing Jazz) will return to envelope our shores with beyond-virtuosic jazz and jazz-inspired

performances from a magnificent roster of more than 25 artists.

After last year’s stellar showing, which featured artists as diverse as India Arie, Gregory Porter and Jamie Cullum, all of whom have used jazz as a guiding light to map out their artistic trajectories, this year’s incarnation of

the festival promises a return like no other.

Whether you’re a purist who finds beauty in tradition, a rebel who derives pleasure from the burning of boundaries, or a poptmist who likes it sweet and with great dollops of cream, Sing Jazz 2015 more than has

the fire power to make this one of the most scintillating live musical events of the year. The impact of the term “world class” has been blunted by overuse, but, for its scale, talent and all its jazz, Sing Jazz 2015 is truly world class. Here’s a look at just some of its finery.

Incoming 33

CAUSE FOR APPLAUSE:

THE STAR PLAYERS AT SING JAZZ 2015

JEREMY MONTERIO

It’s an honour to have this local jazz powerhouse fly our flag at Sing Jazz 2015. Besides earning him esteem as “Singapore’s King of Swing” and Cultural Medallion recipient, his virtuosity on the piano has allowed him to share stages with jazz legends like James Moody and Ernie Watts.

JESSIE J

“Bang Bang” indeed! Blazing a trail through the prestigious BRIT School, and writing hits for pop overlords like Miley Cyrus and Chris Brown, and stunning the world with her own irresistible songs, the London singer has emerged as a pop supernova in her own right. Head over and get confirmation in the flesh.

BOBBY MCFERRIN YUNA

Said one Pharrell Williams of Yuna’s angelic, star-gazing coo, “Every time she sings a note, you’re just locked in”. Yes, the Malaysian chanteuse is an utterly captivating force and her hit albums Yuna and Decorate pack all the proof. Still, there’s nothing like catching her live to see why she’s an international phenomenon.

SNARKY PUPPY

When there’s a band whose golden touch is routinely called upon by the likes of Justin Timberlake and Erykah Badu, you know their time onstage will be nothing short of electrifying. From space-age fusion to scorching soul, Snarky Puppy’s prowess is custom-built to take your breath away.

His 10 Grammies only hint at the extent of this multi-hyphenate performer and artist’s talents.

Bobby McFerrin is a towering figure in contemporary jazz music for besides being revered for his vocal range that’s been known to swift modes with effortless verve, he’s also a celebrated multiinstrumentalist. Trust that he’ll wow you.

THE STEVE MCQUEENS

CHRIS BOTTI

Part of jazz’s undeniable appeal stems from its versatility and Chris Botti has been conquering the world by stretching the conventions of the form to its lushest, silkiest extremes.

Expanding the lexicon of jazz with hints of pop, soul and r&b, this trumpeter and composer will show just how smooth things can get.

Sing Jazz alumni and purveyors of “neo-vintage soul”, these local cats possess titanic jazz-accented, funk-drenched and soul-powered muscle. Their gifts were recently immortalised on their fantastic debut Einstein Moments and now, they’re ready to take you to school again.

COURTNEY PINE

Whether he picks up the sax or clarinet or sits down to the piano, the multi-instrumentalist Courtney Pine will speak for generations of jazz brilliance.

NATURALLY 7

One thing that Brian Eno and Prince Charles have in common is their love for Naturally 7.

That should speak volumes of the cappella institution whose wheelhouse is the spectrum of music itself. And for that, you can count on your standing ovation being totally natural.

RAMSEY LEWIS

CHAKA KHAN

What more needs to be said about Chaka Khan? Her name is writ large in 40 years of combined pop, rock, soul and, most definitely, jazz history and her influence on those very sounds is undeniable. So yes, her presence ensures that Sing Jazz 2015 is one for the history books.

To the uninitiated: Ramsey Lewis is one of the most acclaimed jazz pianists of our time. Residing in the same rarefied sphere as Herbie Hancock, he’s a veritable institution whose heat-seeking vision brought many non-believers to the fold of jazz. Watching him break the rules live is going to be a supreme treat.

The Singapore International Jazz Festival happens from 5 to 8 March at Marina Bay Sands.

Tickets: $125 (one-day pass) and $255 (three-day pass), available at SISTIC and sing-jazz.com

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LOVE FOOL Go heart-shaped with Bimba Y Lola’s St. Valentine’s Day Collection Words: Min Chen Yes, here it is: this month brings us another installment of Valentine’s Day, the season of love, the time for romance and an all-round magical moment. Depending how far along you are on the spectrum of singlehood, this could be an occasion fraught with either giggly anticipation or solitary dread.

At Bimba Y Lola, though, this special V Day, while denoting all manner of romance, love and romantic love, is also intended to be a celebration of colourful optimism, tongue-in-cheekiness and girly whimsy. And with its St. Valentine’s Day Collection, the label bears loving and lovely proof.

A compact range that nonetheless is heavy with costume jewellery, Amor Bimba Y Lola’s St. Valentine’s Day Collection is resplendent with earrings,

necklaces, rings and bracelets cast in zinc, metal gold and glass.

They don’t just bear standard romance signifiers like beaming hearts and cupid’s arrow-shaped pendants, but also such zany icons like angel’s wings, pistols and watermelon slices in peppy shades from pink to cyan. Why, it’s like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet put through a fruity loop! On top of that, you might want to claim the collection’s headlining snow globe, which is brilliantly crowned with a glitter-heavy heart and the tag “AMOR”. This is one love that’s set to go down with a few good laughs, so make sure yours are hearty ones.

Shop Bimba Y Lola at Mandarin Gallery, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

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HOUSE OF HOLLAND HIGH SUMMER 2014

Chanel Spring/Summer 2015 Clutch Bags Karl’s been topping himself every season with statement bags that bait Instagram as well as they arrest the entire zeitgeist. Our pick from the house’s latest trove of carry-alls goes to its plexiglas clutches which read us the riot act in but a few handy phrases.

Available at Chanel

Words: Min Chen

Catching the final rays of 2014, House of Holland’s roll-out of its second summer collection continues to be as bright, loud and fancy as the rave that birthed it. Holland promises “textures and interesting effects” on this range of sunglasses and here, we have them: on Eggy, which is thickly framed in a red marble acetate that nods at

the French broochwork of Lea Stein; on the graphic, ‘80s silhouette of the Fister V2, which still carries the blue mirror lenses and enamel fingernails of its predecessor; and on the sporty Brow Beater, which looks pretty great for a branding exercise.

Don’t worry; the sun’s still out.

Available at all good eyewear stores

Net-a-porter.com x Levi’s 501® CT Jeans Nothing short of a labour of love, each pair of Levi’s 501® CT Jeans (Customised and Tapered) that emerges from this Net-a-porter. com collab has been handmade from Cone Mills’ White Oak selvedge denim and features an exclusive lab stamp from Levi’s® Eureka Innovation Lab. That’s 72 hours’ worth of work to ensure fits from slim to relaxed to trueto-size.

Available on net-a-porter.com

Dr. Martens Reinvented Collection: Core Applique The old habits of skinheads continue to shape Dr. Martens’ output. Case in point, the label’s new Core Applique range of boots and shoes that hark back to early skinheads’ penchant for “factory steelies” with its application of hardware in ski-hook eyelets and steel toe-caps. And yes, it’s as hardcore as it sounds.

Available at Dr. Martens

DKNY + Pony Quintessentially New York brands, DKNY and Pony have jointly launched a special edition of Pony’s Classic M100 HighTop Sneaker, which bears love for NYC’s street steez in its utterly fresh white colourway and playground of textures like embossed snake skin and leather laces.

Available at DKNY at ION Orchard

Valentino New York Capsule Collection More power to NYC! To mark the opening of its flagship store on Fifth Avenue, Valentino’s pressed us a capsule collection that, quite literally, is an affair of the heart.

Look here for RTW pieces and accessories that are littered with single red hearts that convey the house’s big love for its new Big Apple base.

Available exclusively at Valentino’s Fifth Avenue store.

Sorry.

Grapevine 36

#TALKOFTHETOWN Words: Indran P & Min Chen

INSTAGRAM WATCH

PJ HARVEY RECORDS NEW ALBUM IN PUBLIC

London’s storied Somerset House is the site of a public art spectacle like no other since none other than PJ Harvey herself has been recording her ninth album live and in public there as part of an art installation dubbed Recording In Progress.

Chvrches: “Album two, day one in the studio” The antipodean indie and EDM worlds collided when the Scottish trio sneaked up on the world with The Bones of What We Believe in 2013 and it’s now very official that a follow-up’s due our way soon.

Here’s Insta evidence!

NIKOLAI FRAITURE’S IN A NEW BAND

Putting down his bass and stepping up to the mic, the Strokes’ Nikolai Fraiture will be joined by Au Revoir Simone’s Erika Spring on keyboards, Like’s Tennessee Thomas on drums and Lewis Lazar on guitar, in a new sort-of supergroup called Summer Moon. As of right now, no new music has dropped.

D’ ANGELO PLAYS HIS FIRST STANDALONE SHOW SINCE 2012

Following the success of his surprise comeback album Black Messiah, the man Robert Christgau called “r&b Jesus” has broken his media silence and announced his first show in support of the album. It’s a 7 February date at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Those lucky enough to attend it will indeed be in for a historic evening.

RIP KIM FOWLEY

Kim Fowley – musician, producer, one-time manager of The Runaways, cult hero, lord of garbage, and aider and abetter of madness – breathed his last fabulous breath on 15 January. He was 75 and he will be missed.

RUN THE JEWELS RECEIVE THE MARVEL TREATMENT

RIP A$AP YAMS

Stephen Rodriguez, aged 26, co-founder and managerial genius of A$AP Mob passed away on 19 January. Contemporary rap has lost one of its most visionary movers and shakers. Let’s all pay our respects.

Add this to RTJ’s winning streak: Marvel comics has immortalised El-P’s and Killer Mike’s arresting gun-and-fist logo on its upcoming Howard the Duck #2 and Deadpool #45 publications. El-P was ecstatic upon hearing of this: “I was dancing around the room in my Polo underwear”.

CARIBOU SHARES 1000-TRACK MIXTAPE

In wanting to give the world “a musical history of [his] life”, Dan Snaith recently shared a mixtape of the 1000 songs that have taken him through the years. It’s called The Longest Mixtape and it comes with a disclaimer that it should be played on shuffle. Power to you, Dan, for not taking up that book deal. Hit up YouTube for the tape.

Metallica: “Rockin along...”

Also saluting us from a studio is Metallica, who, by the Instalooks of it, are putting together a follow-up to 2008’s Death Magnetic. Trujillo plays it and says it: “Writing a Metallica song is a journey and a process, and it takes time.” We’ll wait.

Sky Ferreira: “!...Feeling #BLESSED to be apart of this.”

The “Everything is Embarrassing” singer recently announced her next foray into film with her role in the indie drama Elvis & Nixon, joining leading men Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey.

Here’s how she’s rejoicing on Instagram. #YOLO, all.

Profile 37

NO PARTY LIKE THIS

Electric Punanny’s dancehall fixation takes the fun to the next level Words: Indran P

New York City’s Electric Punanny are proof that great parties require three fundamental ingredients: delightfully infectious vibes, big, bright sounds with colossal limb-unlocking power, and DJs who know how to bust a move themselves. Still, that’s selling the duo of Jasmine Solano and MeLo-X a little short. It’s more true that wielding these inhibitionshedding capabilities their own unique way, they have their name – yes, that name – to a party experience like nothing else out there. And over the last six years, the Electric Punanny shindigs, or EP parties, as they are known as by insiders, have been taking over the world one club at a time. We received a sublime helping of the dancehall-led EP bounty when Jasmine and MeLo dutty wined their way into Gem Bar late last year, as well as a privileged account of how their brand of a one-of-akind fun came about.

Like all good history lessons, the EP story reveals a lot about its context. As Jasmine tells us, EP was born in 2008 when MeLo,

who happened to be standing on a stairway connecting a basement where dancehall was playing and the floor above where electro was playing, approached her to start an outfit that would combine the two. Almost immediately, she adds, “Keep in mind that this was before Major Lazer.” Besides timing, EP also had the advantage of having New York as a birthplace.

“Everything is outside the box there, that’s why it’s called ‘New’ York,” avers MeLo, echoing the sentiments of a pan-musical lineage of New York artists that is proof that there’s “something about the city that forces you to keep pushing forward”.

And updating, tweaking and recalibrating their voluptuously kinetic sound is how Jasmine and MeLo have managed to grow into an evermore sensational brand.

“Our core and first loves will always be reggae and dancehall but what makes us special is that we explore the outskirts of those sounds,” says Jasmine of the EP MO, and it’s no denying that each of the duo’s four mixtapes

bear the hallmark of its makers’ platform-breaking aesthetic. From Nigerian hip hop to baile funk to drum ‘n’ bass to grime and even to newer far-left-leaning sounds by producers like Hudson Mohawke and Machinedrum, no punches are pulled in any EP tape or set.

It’s this deep-crate-meets-funcentric musical sensibility that has allowed them to claim Diplo himself as a debtor and given MeLo the confidence to rightfully flex this hard: “We could rock any kind of party; we could probably do a gospel-jazz party in Russia if needed”. And we’ll vouch for him.

If their rip-roaring Gem Bar set is a prophecy of EP’s future, then the world most certainly has some pretty sensual and scintillating parties to look forward to. There’s something about dancehall that unleashes vibes that are primal, raw and irrepressibly euphoric, and EP knows just what it is.

The Electric Punanny mixtapes are at electricpunanny.bandcamp.com

Fresh 38

FATHER JOHN MISTY: I LOVE YOU, HONEYBEAR

A Place to Bury Strangers: Transfixiation New York’s loudest have another elaborately crafted treatise coming our way and like it or not, it’s shaping up to be another haymaking brawler. Even the relatively less hyperkinetic tease “Straight” has background noise that’s ready to maul. But that groove, though.

Out 17 February

BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah: Sour Soul The pairing of Toronto jazz-hop revisionists with one of the rap gods of our time makes complete and beautiful sense. The proof will undoubtedly be in the package but before that, check out Ghost flexing his lyrical agility all over the shadowy neo-noir of “Gunshowers”.

Out 16 February

Dan Deacon: Glass Riffer Dan Deacon has been gloriously distorting popular music with an electro-fuelled, avant-gardeism for a long time now and the prelude to his latest album, “Feel The Lightning”, is all that and more – more fuzz, more vocals, more teeming orchestral arrangements and more of that WTF-just-happened feels.

Out 24 February

THEESatisfsction: EarthEE Much like their friends and labelmates Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction traffic in spectral hip hop that’s custombuilt to dazzle. Starlit and haunted by the smoky plumes of singspoken vocals and ringing chimes, “Recognition” paves the way to their second full-length showing majestically.

Out 24 February

Torche: Restarter Ending their three-year absence following their pop-metal triumph Harmonicraft, the candy-metal kingpins are back with their fourth big one. As always, the only natural thing to do when standing before the towering megaton riffs of songs like “Minions” is to bow, but more so now since everything just got bigger.

Out 24 February

Mikky Ekko: Time That Rihanna picked up Ekko’s “Stay” and turned it into the definitive breakup hit of 2013 testifies to his many singersongwriter gifts, all of which are on display on his debut offering, preceded of course by the very great title track, that already, packs universal tearjerking powers.

Out now

Words: Indran P

Since he left Fleet Foxes, Joshua Tillman has been up to a number of things, like developing his own line of perfume for women named Innocence, working on a novel about postapocalyptic chihuahuas whose working titles are Eureka Royale and Operation: Annihilate Pussy and plunging headfirst into his guise as the wastrel-preachermystic Father John

Misty. Following 2012’s depraved masterpiece Fear Fun, Honeybear will be his second revelation.

Influenced as much by solo-era John Lennon and Muhammad Ali, its songs, like first listens “Bored in the USA” and “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)”, can be expected to be gorgeous and fist-to-the-face shocking.

Out 9 February

Next 39

MUSICAL BABEL Future Brown’s melting pop of sounds is a revelation Words: Indran P “We exist everywhere,” says Fatimah Al Qadiri of Future Brown. Born in Kuwait but based in London, she, together with Daniel Pineda and Asma Maroof, Los Angelinos both and of Nguzunguzu fame, and New York resident Jamie Imanian-Friedman, is proof that art can indeed imitate life. Future Brown is the coming together of some of the dance underground’s most adventurous producers, who, in their solo capacities, have made incomparable club music with sounds culled from every corner of the planet. As a unit, this multi-ethnic, bi-coastal and bi-continental cast has no equal.

And very soon, dancefloors will reverberate with their glorious culture clash. Yes, they are everywhere.

And yet it all began with something as humble as a trip on a particularly potent batch of magic mushrooms.

Returning from said trip, a friend of the group’s said that he had seen an “artificial colour” with “no definitive shade” and which “did not exist in nature”. Fascinated with this concept from an aesthetic and cultural perspective, Al Qadiri

christened her partnership with her three likeminded producers after this vision, blessing the group in its endeavours to make its creative freedom resonate with everyday socio-cultural realities. And the first harvest of this combined musical brain surge brought in the Tink-featuring “Wanna Party”, a woozy, dim-lit trap-house joint which serves as an aural scrapbook of bass music from either sides of the pond, sludgy grime and the alt-est r&b. This was followed by “World’s Mine”, a space-age intercontinental banger where grime legends Prince,Rapid, Dirty Danger and Roachee, traded world-claiming verses over a world music beat made all kinds of sleek.

Then, in September 2014, Warp Records welcomed the group into its roster, putting its name to a connect-the-dots sound that includes everything from Chicago drill to Latin reggaeton. Thanks to Future Brown’s musical Tower of Babel, a more culturally diverse tomorrow is just on the horizon.

Future Brown is out 24 February on Warp Records

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Collection 41

SEALED WITH A KISS

Olympia Le-Tan signs, seals and delivers a love letter to LeSportsac Words: Rosalind Chua

Literature and fashion rarely get to meet, but when they do, it’ll likely be on an Olympia Le-Tan creation. Launching her eponymous label in 2009 on her twin passions of books and embroidery, the French designer – who has clocked work hours with Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel – has garnered much affection for her limited edition clutches and bags that lovingly recreate iconic book sleeves. The Catcher In The Rye, Vanity Fair, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Lolita and Moby Dick are just some of the classic reads whose covers have been handsewn into one of Le-Tan’s bags with a poetic and whimsical beauty that’s downright irresistible to any well-read fashionista. And yes, OLT’s clutches have already won over ladies from Paris (Clémence Poésy) to Hollywood (Michelle Williams, Tilda Swinton), and today, still own the last word on literary fashion.

Le-Tan’s Spring 2015 collaboration with LeSportsac, then, won’t fall far from her bookish roots or feminine sensibilities. Nor will it lack for a great canvas: LeSportsac, after all, has been a notable name in casual carry-alls since it stepped out in 1974, and its heritage nylon bags remain as cool and sturdy as its rep.

Together, OLT and LeSportsac have produced a 31-piece capsule collection of carry-alls that, timely enough for Valentine’s Day, brim over in the name of love.

In the literary tradition of love letters, Le-Tan has produced three original prints that have been stamped all over in her signature playfulness. There’s Blooming Hearts, a lovely sheet of postage stamps rendered in soft-pink; Love Letters, which bears a collage of letters, books and kisses; and Love Letters Blue, which douses

the afovementioned romantic missives in a sky blue. Applied to a range of LeSportsac clutches and tote bags, they drive home the message of love with a whole lot of charm and everyday chic. “Love is such a great theme as there are so many pretty elements to play with: hearts, doves, kisses, secret love notes,” says Le-Tan of the collaborative collection, “What’s not to love!” What’s not, indeed.

Shop the Olympia Le-Tan for LeSportsac collection at LeSportsac, ION Orchard, #B1-12A

TO THE LETTER ALL

THAT’S LOVELY ON OLT AND LESPORTSAC’S JOINT VENTURE

Pouches Here’s something fit for all the smaller things in life, now made extra delightful with OLT’s lovelettered motifs

Portfolio Le-Tan’s Love Letters print graces a handsome LeSportsac model: a portfolio bag replete with pockets that cleverly and handily folds out

Totes Bound to ace anyone’s heart, LeSportsac’s easy and effortless tote bags now sport Le-Tan’s doves and romance-filled message

Clutches Since it ain’t OLT without a bookcover clutch, here be a small series of these minaudières, illustrated in the high notes of love

Backpacks LeSportsac’s Edie and Voyager backpacks get the OLT treatment and emerge with downright sprightly new faces

Weekenders These Weekenders won’t just be carrying off all your troubles, but also effortlessly bear OLT’s Blooming Hearts and Love Letters

Next 42

FEELING GOOD The Preatures bring the good times one sweet hook at a time Words: Indran P Throwbacks are fun for what they are up to a point. Keep clutching on to a sound that enjoyed a heyday that isn’t in line with the current position of the needle of the present epoch and risk the perils of gimmickry. Fortunately, Sydney quintet The Preatures hasn’t had to learn the hard way.

Toting a sing-along ‘70s FM pop sound and dressing their Fleetwood Mac-isms in a strutting aplomb that is thoroughly contemporary, the band has seen its profile explode remarkably, with a slew of hit singles, a major label deal, a string of headlining tours and a Jimmy Kimmel appearance, all testifying to how needed their feel-good ear candy is. Everybody wants a piece and it’s not hard to see why.

Agreeing that the ‘60s-inspired soul pop they brought forth in their debut release, the Shaking Hands EP, wasn’t exciting them anymore, the band devoted its attention to making more upbeat instrumentally driven pop music.

“I really wanted to explore pop writing,” says frontwoman Isabella Manfredi, adding with relish the

new challenge the shift posed for her: “how I could make people feel the most in the least amount of time.” And, trimming the fat to hit the mark with sugary punchiness, the band wrote its first transcontinental hit “Is This How You Feel?” and began a wave that has swept through Glastonbury, Coachella and beyond.

Balancing a soulful smoulder and pop kineticism with a winking knowingness, the song caught the ear of Spoon drummer Jim Eno whose golden touch behind the boards previously benefitted indie titans like The New Pornographers and !!!. Armed with Eno and their newfound pop savviness, Manfredi and co. served up their debut album Blue Planet Eyes in late 2014, ending the year with a feel-good kiss-off that only spells good things for the future of pop. Until the band’s next foray, we’ll be kept warm in its hook-y eternal sunshine. Stay tuned for more brightness.

Blue Planet Eyes is out now on Harvest Records

Profile 43

SAX ON THE BEACH

Klingande turns up the chill with his sax-led jams Words: Indran P

In the scrum to anoint deep house as the sound du jour and alternative to the dance world’s more commercial vibrations, its exact musical parameters have only gotten more and more amorphous. And that’s totally fine with Klingande, the musical brainchild of 24-year-old French prodigy Cédric Steinmyller.

Finding himself knighted as the youngest, brightest start in deep house by zealous punters, the bemused DJ-producer and musician shrugged, and has continued making his patently lush house-pop garnished with an exquisite measure of saxophone sounds. But if they were right about one thing, deep house’s standard bearers had rightly identified in Cédric the dance world’s freshest ambassador of chill. And before he soundtracked the revels of Sunshine Nation’s second birthday at New Asia Bar, he peeled back the gold on his Midas touch and shot the breeze with us.

Much of the buzz around him stems from the proximity of his music to the in vogue signifiers of deep house as well as the sense of abandon it affords, similar, in fact, to the euphoric freefall of EDM. The track that started it all was the resplendent tropical house cut “Punga”, which, over striding but unobtrusive drums, tribal percussion, sunlit synths and keys and yes, a sepia-tinged sax line, announced him to the world. And since it arose not from, as he tells us, “any serious DJ-ing” but out of a simple desire to “make something groovy”, the sudden explosion of his profile, million-plus clicks on YouTube and shoutouts by Avicii were definitely a surprise for him. But if he thought that things were going to simmer down, he was in for an even bigger revelation.

In late 2013, not long after “Punga” dropped, Cédric released “Jubel” into the ether. If you take dancefloor-related concerns seriously, then you already know that it wasn’t long before it became a multi-platinum international smash that led the charge for shimmering, sax-led dance music. Like he says of his musicality, which “treads a line between deep house and EDM”, “Jubel” was a bridge across various sounds that offered scenic views both panoramic and intimate.

But when asked just how he feels about this, Cédric expressed annoyance with there being “too many” producers merely “looping sax sounds over a beat”, resulting in competent but generic songs.

“It should tell a story,” he avers, rightly deserving of the assumption that he’s speaking for and of his own work.

Surely, with Klingande, Cédric has come a long way from his first encounter with dance music where he was enraptured by the boisterous moves made by influential Swedish producers like Axwell and Alesso. These days, his horizons have shifted to accommodate his mission statement: “I want to make songs that are very different from what people are listening to”; which only spells more sophisticated chill for the rest of us.

Get the lowdown on Klingande’s releases on soundcloud.com/ klingande

Shopping 44

Kate Spade New York Love clutch

The Elder Statesman Hand-dyed cashmere sweater

Tory Burch Kammy guipere lace shorts

MM6 Maison Martin Margiela Bow bag

ChloĂŠ Spring/ Summer 2015

Walter Van Beirendonck Spring/ Summer 2015

LIGHT OF LOVE

Miss Selfridge Lace maxi dress

An organically sweetened love affair Text & styling: Min Chen

Topshop Jacquard pelmet skirt

Saint Laurent Band Collar tunic Dolce & Gabbana Lace mini dress Miss Selfridge Sheer tucked shirt

Etro Paisley print polo shirt

Temperley London Toledo floralembroidered maxi skirt

Washed Out Paracosm

ChloĂŠ Eliza loafer

Shopping 45

Ben Sherman Bug print sweater

Dolce & Gabbana Spring/Summer 2015

Valentino Spring/ Summer 2015

Club Monaco Paisley print chinos

Topman Black laddered scarf

Dr. Martens Core print 3-Eye shoe

DARK HEARTS

Miss Selfridge Black floral jumpsuit

Love and romance, Billy Corgan-style Text & styling: Min Chen

Saint Laurent Patti necklace

Givenchy Cutout plissĂŠ silkchiffon gown

Givenchy Butterfly print T-shirt

Bershka Lace cape with fringe

The Cure Disintegration

Topshop Boutique Velvet shift dress with lace collar

Dolce & Gabbana Carmen bag

Collection 46

SUMMER SONG Ben Sherman’s Spring/Summer 2015 puts the sizzle in the Great British summer Words: Min Chen There’s no summer like a Great British summer, when the sun stays out all day, Brighton Rock glows hot and every balmy afternoon is practically an open invitation. It’s at this opportune moment that Ben Sherman enters with its Spring/Summer collection.

Sticking close to its pedigree, the label’s newest array of menswear is a tribute to Britain’s finest season, and presents us with graphic prints and pastel tones that won’t look out of place under the sun.

A British classicism continues to be at work as Ben Sherman trots out its staple button-down shirts,

polo tops, chinos and Harrington jackets. Given fresh print jobs, they now carry new coats of checks, snazzy stripes, motifs (informed by nostalgia for British sports days) and solid shapes in summer-crisp shades of corals and sky blues, as well as denser tones of royal blue and military green. As the season progresses, sweatshirts, marl sweaters and cardigans also arrive with equal warmth and smarts.

The classic stuff aside, Ben Sherman is also no slouch in its serving of Denim and Tailoring options. Its Denim line-up re-

surfaces in its three signature fits – straight, slim and skinny – in shorter options (notably on its EC1 trouser) and in a range of washes that go from indigo to black. And even as the last ray fades on the Great British summer’s day, Ben Sherman’s Tailoring line comes alive with a handsome helping of its House Check suits, heritage blazers in petrol hues and a classic tuxedo.

The sun’s not the only thing that’s shining this summer.

Shop Ben Sherman at Paragon and VivoCity.

Clockwork 47

WITH LOVE This Valentine’s Day, Solvil et Titus’ His & Her’s range takes aim at the heart Words: Rosalind Chua

Put aside The Notebook; when it comes to tracing the passage of time and love, Solvil et Titus has got both on lockdown. While the brand can lay claim to a Swissbred heritage that stretches way back to 1887, its shift to the Asian market in the 1970s has seen the now Hong Kongbased Solvil et Titus emerge as a symbol of love und romance.

All that’s thanks to the brand’s run of commercials since the

‘80s that in various tear-jerking and heart-warming narratives, inform us that love, whether short-lived or eternal, can’t help but find expression in a Solvil et Titus timepiece. Oh, the emotion.

Love continues to be Solvil et Titus’ cause and effect today, as the brand leads off with the new tagline “Time is Love” and a Valentine’s Day launch that’ll lie sweetly on the wrists of you and your significant other.

It goes without saying that Solvil et Titus’ His & Her range comes completely couple-friendly and doused in the brand’s signature romantic sentiment. Bearing vintage features, this pair of timepieces (06-2891-001 for him and 06-2892-001 for her) arrive in clean and unfussy designs that offer elegance and romance in equal measure. Silverwhite in face, the watches’ dials are embossed with matching gold

hands and indexes, circled by a rose-gold bezel and protected by a double convex crystal. An automatic movement guides these timepieces, which are presented on a crocodile-printed brown leather strap. Finally, all those romantic notions of yours have a place to go.

Shop Solvil et Titus at all good timepiece stores.

Paint 48

Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye Mascara

RMK Nail Colour in EX-26 Smoky Beige

Lunasol Tender Clear Eyes in 01 Cool Ballet

The Body Shop Lip Cheek Velvet Stick in 30 Poppy Bronze

Givenchy Ombre Couture Cream Eyeshadow in Top Coat Blanc Satin

WILD HEART Keeper of dreams and heartbreak, Stevie Nicks puts the love in loveliness

Tarte LipSurgence Skintuitive Lip Gloss in Energy

Words & styling: Min Chen

Stila Nude Interlude Color Balm Lipstick in Sophie

Sephora Teint Infusion Ethereal Natural Finish Foundation in 12 Ecru

Topshop Black Velvet Drop Charm Choker O&M Original Queenie Firm Hold Hairspray

La Mer The Illuminating Eye Gel

Make Up For Ever Shine On Iridescent Compact Powder in Beige

Paint 49

PAINTED LOVE Because love’s never just black or white, here are the many shades and sentiments that make up a matter of the heart Words & styling: Min Chen

CRIMSON & PURPLE CLOVER RAIN

LOVE’S FIRST SENSE AND BLUSH SENSUALITY

From left L’Occitane Fleurs de Cerisier L’Eau Hand Cream, Marc Jacobs Beauty (P)outliner Lip Liner Pencil in 304 Primrose, RMK Vintage Drop Gloss in 01 Rose and Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in True Love

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES

From left Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow in Ether, 3.1 Phillip Lim x NARS Nail Polish in Crossroads, M.A.C. x NastyGal Lipstick in Gunner and M.A.C. x Toledo Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner in Designer Purple From left O.P.I. x Fifty Shades of Grey Nail Lacquer in Cement The Deal, Clinique Lash Power Feathering Mascara, Clio Gelpresso Waterproof Shadow in 06 In The Dark, and Chanel Illusion d’Ombre in Mysterio

THE GREY AREA

TANGLED UP IN BLUE

A MELANCHOLIC TWIST Clockwise from top left M.A.C. x Toledo Eyeshadow in MoodyBlu, Dior Addict ItLash Mascara in It-Blue, Marc Jacobs Beauty Enamored Hi-Shine Lacquer in Blue Velvet and Sephora Colorful Duo Reflects Eyeshadow in Stormy Seas

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART

WHEN YOU GO BACK TO BLACK

Clockwise from left Sephora Moisturizing & Plumping Creamy Night Mask, NARS Audacious Lipstick in Bette, Nails Inc Gel Effect in Black Taxi, and NARS Duo Eyeshadow in Pandora

Talk 50

Pop music is still catching up with Tom Krell. But even though his pioneering 2010 album Love Remains signalled the coming of the contentiously trending alt-r&b sound and his 2012 follow-up Total Loss pierced though the obfuscating aura of hype to reveal his spectral artistry, the best thing that can be said about him is that he is a translator of moods. His 2014 masterpiece “What Is This Heart?” affirmed his gift for mining enchantment and meaning alike from emotional states as disparate as euphoria and depression to magnificent effect. And before we received his revelations live at The Gathering, he opened his heart and his songbook to us.

Words: Indran P

SOUL “What Is This Heart?” very rightfully made AOTY lists across the board. How do you feel about the success of the record?

Thank you. I was thinking about this today, actually. On the one hand I feel so excited, happy, stoked and blessed. But I’ve always had this underdog feeling, sort of like a chip on my shoulder where I think that I want my next record to be even better and more beloved. I’m really happy about the record and the way it’s been received and I know it’s weird but the success only makes me want to make the next one more beautiful and strong.

And why did you decide to take such a sharp departure from your earlier work with this colossal sound?

There were so many different factors and on the whole, my life is what influenced it. One of the main things was touring live so much and being face to face

with so many people. Travelling the world was really a decisive and essential thing, for sure. For instance, between Total Loss and this record, I went on tour in Southeast Asia for the first time ever and had a lot of experiences that really shaped me. Just feeling full of life in the truest, most personal sense, was a big part of what made the record.

In retrospect, might this huge sound have been a reaction to the “alt-r&b” wave that you’ve come to dislike?

Oh yes, that’s definitely part of it.

I made a record that sounded like Love Remains because all anybody cared about was the Arcade Fire. Then, I made Total Loss in response to everyone wanting something to sound like Love Remains. I’m on to so something else – I want to make these big emotional things. Frankly, one of the reasons I don’t like the scene around alternative r&b is because so much of it is so cool and so

banal, like a new iPad. I don’t want a new iPad, I want art that moves me.

Love Remains has been called “the biggest breakthrough in home-recorded lo-fi in years”, Total Loss, “a symphony of pain”; where does Heart sit in relation with these records?

I don’t know yet. I’ve gone through different phases in my thinking where I’ve thought that it was a totally new chapter in my writing but there have been times when I thought that it was a continuation of the work I’ve been doing since 2009. It’s more likely that I’ll be able to know in two more albums where the chapter breakdowns are.

But your unfiltered vocals and the way they dominate the mix on Heart definitely point to a new chapter.

To a certain extent, yes. I started thinking about genre and the way it’s spoken of in literature

TO

and film. You can make a realistic novel or a really gritty realistic movie but not a lot of people talk about music like that. So, I spoke to my engineer about making something really realistic, like you were right there. There are different ways to make in-yourface music – you can scream, you can play really loud guitar – but my aim was to make it in-yourface without doing cheap things.

Our challenge was to push the vocals up like that.

This devastating realism is also very much evident in your revealing lyricism on the record.

Yes definitely, 100%. But people shouldn’t take this to mean that writing this record was a trying experience for me. More than anything, it was a relief for me to be able write what I wrote. This extreme realism and nakedness is also captured in the cover art. I wanted the bareness to be understood as a “face the music” kind of thing.

Talk 51

O

It’s known that Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope influenced the spirit of Total Loss. Were there any works or artists that informed your direction on Heart?

Yes, definitely. I put out a mixtape going into Heart to highlight some of the influences. Everything But the Girl’s Walking Wounded; the self-titled Tracy Chapman record; Taking Back Sunday’s Tell All Your Friends; Saves the Days’ Stay What You Are; all these had a part to play in it.

Heart’s overarching theme of modern love was prefigured in one of Love Remains’ most disarming lines: “Don’t forget to check your cellphone”. From your standpoint as an artist, what do you make of the effect that the contemporary fixation on “connectivity” has on human relationships?

It’s hard to know. On the one hand, it does bring people together in the way that you can tell someone across the world, “Don’t forget to check your cell

SOUL

phone,” so you can be in touch with them. But on the other hand, you can also run the risk of alienating people. When people are really optimistic about what technology can do for human relationships, I’m suspicious.

I’m also suspicious in the same degree when people are equally pessimistic about technology. I think it’s really hard to know what this life is doing to us because we’re living it. Things are only clear in hindsight; they only get fixed as what they are in retrospect.

And as far as technology extends to music, you’ve said that How to Dress Well would not be possible without Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak.

That was such a formative record for me. When I heard that record, I really felt that I could make music. It was just such a raw and beautiful record.

What it did vis-à-vis rap was an incredibly courageous act of creativity. Especially when I was

working on Love Remains, I always thought that the songs would be more interesting if I rewrote them to sound more like the Arcade Fire but 808s made me realise that with the right vision and commitment, you can do anything.

You’ve also said that you want you music to be “pop but not populist” and it seems like 808s is a clarification of that aim for you.

That’s right. I think it’s possible to make something that appeals vastly and includes everyone without bowing to the lowest common denominator approach to things. My political commitments frame “populism” as a very negative thing. In America, it’s things like Fox News and in France, it’s anti-Muslim idiocy.

A lot of people who are critical of populism are also critical of “popularity” as such, believing that all popular movements are dumb and banal. I don’t think that’s true. The Sopranos was one of the

most popular shows of all time but it wasn’t populist. It was really amazing, really good TV. In music, I don’t think anybody inhabits that popular but not populist space except for Kanye.

And you’ll be playing where he last played in Singapore. What are you looking forward to the most about being here for The Gathering?

Cool! I’ve never been to Singapore before so just being there is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to travel and feel free. I feel very sheltered and every time I got to new places in Asia, Eastern Europe or South America, I just feel so much human spirit. I’m looking forward to meeting people, eating the good food with them and just being there with them.

Catch How to Dress Well at The Gathering which happens 14 February. Tickets: $118 (standard) and $150 (door), available at eventclique.com

Talk 52

OFF-GRID GODDESS Words: Indran P

The world of beatmaking is in a perpetual state of flux. But even amidst the multitude of far-left sounds, TOKiMONSTA’s (aka Jennifer Lee) boast an inventiveness that is utterly sui generis.

Twisting old school and club-ready hip hop into glitchy atypical forms with radically altered dimensions, Lee has emerged as one of the digirati’s most brilliant of sonic architects, whose freewheeling, extraterrestrial ethos has earned her the open-mouthed esteem of fans as disparate as Flying Lotus and Kelly Rowland. Her 2014 mini-album Desiderium saw her expand the vast perimeters of her musical universe even more and having gotten lost there all too often, we caught up with the Korean-American stalwart before her set at Super0 Opeanair for a guided tour that only took us deeper.

How was your recent Malaysia show?

It was great! Unfortunately, I was only there for a day. The lecture was fantastic, the show sold out, and the energy was incredible.

Even though you don’t play very many shows in Asia, the reception for your music here has been great over the years.

Thanks. That’s always encouraging.

I like that people don’t expect me to slant my sound to appeal to a specific kind of audience, like “Asian” and so forth. But in terms of playing live, I do get a slightly different kind of vibe from an Asian audience. Not so much in Southeast Asia, but in Japan. I’ve noticed that the Japanese are a lot more polite about when to cheer and when not to. They do scream but I feel like their screams are very well placed. In Malaysia, everyone was screaming throughout the entire set. But that being said, it could be just something that varies from country to country.

From your standpoint as an experimental artist, what do you make of the burgeoning interest in more outré sounds in Asia now?

One word: amazing. Being KoreanAmerican, I know how Korean pop culture is; so much of Korea is oriented around pop culture.

There aren’t too many participants in underground or eclectic types of music. But outside of Korea, like in Japan and Singapore, people are a lot more receptive to different kinds of music. As a broad generalisation, East Asians can be very basic in their approach to music. It’s not like that across the board, but there’s a public perception that supports it just by how superficial it is. I’m always very proud when I come out here and I see a supportive audience that’s super vocal. Some people come to Asia thinking that we’re a bunch of mild-mannered people, but I’m like, “No, Asians are crazy people!”

It’s known that the pre-Low End Theory incubator Project Blowed piqued your interest in unconventional sounds. But what actually made you want to make your own music?

This is the great thing about LA, then and now: the weirder you are, the better you are. If you’re just biting off someone else, then people will just think of you as a clone. But if you can create something respectable and different, you’re looked at as special. I grew up there and there’s always been a very positive environment around people who did different things. There are clothing brands that support music; people in indie bands that are huge supporters of initiatives like Low End Theory; cross-generational collaborations between different artists, like Flea working with Thundercat. It’s just so positive – maybe it’s the weather.

Desiderium was an incredibly crafted inquiry into the human capacity to feel loss. But listening to it, one can just as easily construe the overwhelming sense of loss as a presence unto itself. Was this something you consciously worked towards?

I enjoy music that’s cathartic and emotional and I have the propensity to make things that are like that. I don’t if know it’s an everlasting internal sadness that I have, though I am a fairly positive person. Music definitely brings out parts of my character that I may not be in touch with otherwise. It sounds super emo, but I like to feel things! It’s great that you’re telling me that about the music. It means a lot to me that I’ve made music that makes people feel. I don’t ever want to make cold, hard stuff.

And your deeply layered, leftof-center soul sound definitely reaches a zenith on the single “Realla”.

Thank you so much. A lot of it has to do with the vocalist Anderson

Paak. He’s the best. He’s been super slept on but since “Realla” came out, he’s been on tour with Jhené Aiko and he’s getting a lot of shine. I’ve known him for a while and we we’ve wanted to work together but there wasn’t really a right time until I had this one beat that we both wrote to. He gave me some fantastic vocals that I worked into the track and what came out was “Realla”. We have a whole bunch of songs since we’re writing stuff for Kelly Rowland as well and I’m excited for all of it to come out. I work with a lot of songwriters but he’s the one where I’m like, “How did you do this?”

Two of the biggest names in K-Pop G-Dragon from BigBang and 2NE1’s CL are quickly making inroads into the American mainstream. What do you make of this?

It’s incredible and timely. CL’s new manager is Scooter Braun, the same guy who manages Justin Bieber. This gives you a sense of what a big deal she is. She’s also been working with Diplo, Skrillex, Blood Diamonds and a bunch of other high-profile names on her record. I won’t be too quick to say that the world is opening up, but some parts of it definitely are and it’s great for all of us.

In the critical press, you’re often referred to as the “first woman to sign to Brainfeeder”. Does it annoy you to be pigeonholed like that?

I guess, factually, it’s true. I’ve been getting that since day one and everyone’s always like, “Oh, you must be so proud!” But there’s more to me than that.

I’ve learnt that it’s one of those things for which you can’t punish someone for their ignorance. If someone doesn’t understand why it’s offensive, I just go, “Yeah, factually, that is true, but I do have other things that I’ve been doing since then”. But FlyLo’s co-sign means a lot to boys, even. People will still gawk at Teebs or Lapalux for that. It’s inescapable.

Lastly, you started a your own label Young Art recently. What can the world expect from you down the line?

Loads! We’re doing more stuff with Anderson Paak; working on Gavin Turek’s record; the follow-up to Desiderium, which will be out probably by the end of this year and stuff with Kelly Rowland and Isaiah Rashad, separately. All of it will be great!

Talk 53

Talk 54

HAIL TO THE CHIEF

Talk 55

Alchemising Afro-centric elements, colouristic pop smarts, a distinct voice and euphorically pulsing rhythms into a captivating musicality with tremendous dance-evoking power, Merrill Garbus has her name to some of modern indie rock’s finest testimonies in her two earlier albums 2009’s BirdBrains and 2011’s Whokill. But in 2014, her third and beyond excellent full-length Nikki Nack took all her gifts to a higher peak of boundary-torching verve. Before she commandeers the stage at The Gathering, she shares the stories behind her consciousness-expanding sounds.

Words: Indran P Congrats on Nikki Nack. It’s known that you went back to square one, taking singing, dancing and drum lessons as well as a trip to Haiti. How did all this add to the record?

I think that anything that was going to get me out of the musical rut that I was in would’ve helped.

I was bored with doing the same thing with the looping pedal and taking away all the things that I was comfortable with and replacing them with things that I wasn’t as experienced with that were scary, was just a real help to get me out of my old patterns and into new possibilities. The dancing lessons were something I wanted to do in the course of writing a new album and I was surprised by how the feeling of a song could be so impacted by how I could groove to it.

And why did you travel to Haiti, specifically?

Part of it was very circumstantial in that a friend of mine was playing for a class of Haitian dance and was learning from a drummer who then became my teacher. That was just one reason. Sometimes, I feel that things just appear in your life because they are meant to and the music I was exposed to there just resonated so strongly with me. That a rhythm could be paired so specifically with a dance associated with it really interested me. And also, being exposed to the old forms of spirituality that miraculously still exist there was great. To know the power of the music and its role in Haiti’s history and the endurance of the culture was something else too.

Nikki Nack is catchier yet more complex than your earlier work and is definitely an update of your MO. What would you say is the biggest change-up on the record?

That’s a good question. I’d say the

biggest difference with this one was that we started from scratch.

Before, we performed “Gangsta” live a lot before we recorded it.

But this one really felt like a studio album. We’d write the songs and bring them to the studio, not knowing how we’d do them live.

So, in that way, I approached it more as a songwriter than as a performer. I was reading books on songwriting; I knew that our music can be complex but I was also searching for that pop chorus that people would want to dance to.

The lead single “Water Fountain” definitely showcases that new pop sound.

Well, it came from the time I visited New Orleans a few years ago. We were taught about where the 3-2 clap that’s used in so much music came from. I learnt so much about how African music came into the United States and affected music here. This has always been an interest of mine.

I also do a lot of walking as part of my composing process and I came up with the hook based on that when I was out for a walk around Oakland, California, where I live. I must’ve been seeing water fountains, obviously, and to be honest, Oakland was a different place three years ago. It was more rundown and I just thought of what would happen if the water system in the city crumbled. I guess that idea was “pregnant” for me; that little line was a good start to the song.

Yes, throughout your work, and especially on Nicki Nack, some of your brightest sounds have been accompnanied by a very grave lyricism. How does this dynamic play out for you?

I’ve found that it’s a lot more powerful to pair a very heavy lyric with a feeling of ebullience and joy because there’s something about it that strikes you at a different point. If a song starts out really slow and sad, you know what’s coming. But if you’re in the middle of a song and you’re dancing and everything is great, the lyrics will hit in a sudden way that’ll make your knees buckle. To me, it also connects to children’s art like Grimms’ fairy tales that are supposedly these fun, funny light-hearted stories that have some really dark messages. That’s always been very powerful for me because you can take more of a

dark message if the surrounding context is lighter.

You’ve also said that speaking up will always be a theme for you.

In light of all that’s happened, especially in the US and in France, do you think that artists have more of a responsibility to speak out against injustice?

That’s a good question. I always feel like such a nag for telling other artists what to do but, yes, I do. If we can all stay in a conversation instead just disappearing, maybe we’ll have a chance to work these very difficult issues out, hash through them and have a dialogue. And I feel some of the more powerful music these days resonates with people. I just read an article that claimed that musicians are wary of being preachy and I don’t want to tell people what to do myself.

But I think that I do urge people to feel, to be present and listen to one another. There’s a lot to talk about and think through and I want to be there with people instead of just offering a numbing experience.

And speaking of hot button issues that bear heavily on music, would you say that “Gangsta” is a comment on cultural appropriation?

It’s really cool that you see it that way! Yes, I’d say it is! That song really just came from an experience that I had with seeing these kids trying to start a gang. It wasn’t about cultural appropriation in the strictly literal sense and it wasn’t written for that but I love how if you highlight how it’s a personal experience well enough, it can mean a lot of things. I’m proud of it for that reason. The songs that I like to write can hit those cultural nerves and can also be based on stuff that’s really personal and actual.

Lastly, are you excited to be in Singapore for The Gathering?

Oh, totally! I’m so excited. I’ve never been anywhere in Asia before, except over the bridge in Turkey – which was really cool – so I’m so glad to finally be able to come to Singapore.

Catch tUnE-yArDs at The Gathering on 14 February.

Tickets: $118 (standard) and $150 (door) available at eventclique.com

Talk 56

SOUL ELECTRIC Chet Faker is a name that’s been on everyone’s lips recently and rightfully so. Under that self-deprecating guise, but also informed by the legacy of the somewhat eponymous trailblazing jazzman, Nicholas Murphy’s electronica-led alchemic touch to soul music – building from the filigreed r&b of his debut EP Thinking In Textures to his 2014 fulllength Built On Glass – has been making waves that have taken him far beyond his native Melbourne. Pre-Laneway Festival Singapore 2015, the gent stopped by and dropped some deep, earthy notes on matters close to his heart.

Words: Indran P

Talk 57

What’s the latest with Chet Faker?

The last year was incredible. I was on tour most of the time, and it seemed like I pretty much did just that in 2014. I’ve been to so many countries that I’ve never been to before and seen so many people and so much culture at work – it’s been incredible. I didn’t get to write a lot of music because of the touring but it still was a big part of my life.

And what would you say has been the biggest highlight of all that?

Oh man, I don’t think it’s possible to narrow down one thing as a highlight. It’s been the biggest year of my entire life. I don’t even know what my favourite show was!

It feels like 10 years have gone by! But I guess, my best memory would be of the show I played at the FYF festival in California. It was just a good vibe and a really good show.

And on that note, the reception for Built On Glass has been really positive.

I don’t know what to think of it, to be honest. I have this theory that if things are going well, there’s no point in me trying to question why, you know? Why think when you can feel, right? I question things when they are going badly, not when they are going well. I’ll just try and switch my brain off. I must say I haven’t digested all of it, what with me having no time and all, but I’m hoping to make some sense of it.

How different was making the album from the Thinking In Textures EP? The EP was the first thing I ever released. It was really a basic template of one type of song I could make. Most of the songs had the same texture and I really only used two or three instruments over the cuts. Built On Glass was a lot denser. I introduced a lot more sounds like, bass, guitars and synthesizers. And I feel like just the type of songs varied a lot on the album: there are songs at 135 BPM; songs that don’t have any drums, and some that are like continuous blasts without any structure. I experimented more with songs, on the whole. It’s hard to create a world with just six songs, but with an album, you get the chance to really explore some things.

The album is also a lot more personal and two of its standout songs “1998” and “Cigarettes and Loneliness” deal with betrayal and heartbreak. Was it a rough time for you?

Not really. It was just life. I didn’t look back and go, “Man, that was a really hard time.” It was just life, and music, for me, has always been a form of therapy. Sometimes people listen to records and go, “Why are you so sad?” But it’s not sadness that is the final word, it’s catharsis. It’s more like I’m really healthy because I can talk about these things out loud. It only becomes a problem when you internalise these things. But having said that, half the record is a breakup record and no one likes breaking up. I just happened to capture a really big change in my life over those two years.

The lead single “Talk Is Cheap” definitely immortalises a moment that was a tuning point for you.

Oh yes. But it’s funny because I half-wrote that in bed. I was living with my girlfriend at the time and I was driving home one day when I had that melody in my head.

Sometimes, if a melody is catchy enough, I’ll be able to write it in my head and this was one of times.

I just kept adding and messing with different notes to get the chorus and then I wrote down the lyrics to just the chorus in bed and that became the first thing about the song. It was only on the next day that I went to the studio to track it. It’s great that you brought up this song since it was just the other day that I was looking through my phone and I found an early voice memo of it. Also, I brought the saxophone out!

You also have Kilo Kish guesting on “Melt”. Was having a rapper on a track something you always wanted to do?

That was another leap for me. That song was kind of Dilla-inspired, stylistically. I wanted someone who could work that and so, having an MC on it just made more sense than a singer. And I always liked Kilo’s stuff so I reached out and asked if she’d be down to do a verse for it. She was cool and she sent it straight back and it just worked. It went perfectly.

Let’s go back to your breakout hit “No Diggity” that people are still talking about. What made you want to cover that song?

It was just stuck in my head and

it wasn’t like I consciously wanted to cover that song. I was actually making the beat to a song and when it finally came to do the vocals, and this was three or four in the morning, I started messing around and tracking “No Diggity” because I couldn’t get it out of my head. Of course, I couldn’t top the original but it really went well with that beat.

You’ve also said, “Soul music was the last time pop was cool”. Could you elaborate please?

Well, music is personal and it’s all relative, comparisons, in any case, so it’s not really about what soul music was but what other types of music weren’t, for me at least.

For one, there’s the vocals, which are the best in any field. It’s such a human art form and I just have a special place in my heart for it.

Lastly, would you say that your music is a modern take on soul?

Thanks, but I don’t see analog and electronic as two different things.

It’s all sound and music is an amalgamation of all of them and more. I see how, retrospectively, people can say that, but I’ll put a voice memo in a song if it sounds right. Oscillators, numbers or voltage – these things don’t bother me. All a sound should do is help me create good music.

Built On Glass is out now on Downtown / Future Classic

Talk 58

PHANTOM GENIUS

Talk 59

Axel Willner, the creative force behind The Field and recently, Hands, is uninsistently mysterious.

The ambient techno auteur is responsible for several touchstones of modern techno in records like his debut From Here We Go Sublime, his late-period masterworks Looping State of Mind and Cupids’ Head and his 2014 Hands debut The Soul is Quick, which built incredibly detailed sculptures of sound from loops.

That he is a known recluse has meant that widespread acknowledgement in the dance world stems solely from his sounds themselves. So you can imagine how privileged we were when upon finishing a thoroughly transfixing set at Super0 Openair, he granted us a rare audience.

Words: Indran P

Kudos are definitely in order for The Soul is Quick. Do you see it as separate from your work as The Field?

Oh, these two projects of mine are quite different, especially in terms of how they are made. As The Field, I go into the studio keeping in mind everything that The Field has become. Whereas with Hands, I was completely free; I had nothing in mind. It wasn’t sample-based like The Field so I could do anything.

And which approach do you prefer these days?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I’m happy I don’t have an answer. It’s quite nice to go into a project with no pre-determined or specific ideas so I can actually do whatever I want. But it’s also nice to set a standard for yourself with something. That’s what The Field is for me. And, when I come in with proper planning for that way of working, it can be really fun.

Cupid’s Head was hailed as one of the best dance records of 2013.

Yet, you’ve said that making the record was a struggle for you.

Yes, it was good old classic writer’s block. It took a long time to get out of it and when I finally did, it came out sounding like how I wanted it to sound. You see, with everything to do with The Field, I never go into the studio and sit down and try to make something; it’ll just come to me.

For Cupid’s Head, what you might call “inspiration”, took a very long time to come. It wasn’t until “No. No…”, which became the second last track on the album, that something spontaneous came to me.

You are known for the manner in which you structure your tracks with a sonic narrative, and the epic “Comenius Garden” reflects this perfectly. Why is this approach so integral to you?

Thank you for your kind words.

I feel that music has to have a lot of feelings, and for that to be possible, it has to communicate something. With that song in particular, the story’s quite short and simple. There’s this very beautiful little park called Comenius Garden in Berlin, which is still quite hidden away.

I was there when I had the idea for the song. I like that song too.

I remember improvising quite a bit to get the effect I wanted for the climax.

Last year, you surprised the indie and dance worlds with a remix of the Hundred Waters hit “Down From the Rafters”. Do you think we’ll be seeing more crossmusical partnerships between the indie and dance undergrounds in the near future?

Yes, I think so. There have been a lot of changes and lot of new things coming up, which instead of following one particular sound, are a mix of everything.

It’s interesting to observe the changes; why they happen and how they happen. But at the same time, there are certain sounds that are very strict about their original principles, like techno, where there aren’t too many DJs that take other turns.

Your music and musical interests range from the pop of Lionel Richie to the experimental maneuvers of Steve Reich. Would you say that your music is a balance of those two seemingly different poles?

I would say that I’m making my own sound out of these histories of music. I’m obviously inspired by songs I really loved and what I’m doing is a mix of bridging different sounds together and making something of my own out of them.

And speaking of techno, in almost any contemporary appraisal of the discipline, both Looping State of Mind and Cupid’s Head are cited as milestones.

Well, they’re both completely different in how they were made.

Looping State of Mind was made with a band and with me doing all the sketches and then going into the studio with those ideas to record the album. This was different from my first album where it was just me in the studio doing whatever I wanted. I feel that, Looping State of Mind is a little bit more scaled down and produced than Cupid’s Head, which came after a very long time.

So do you think that we’re living in a “maximal” age right now?

Yes, absolutely. I think that mixing everything together is a really good way of doing it. I’d consider The Field to be both maximal and minimal!

Does it bother you that since Looping State of Mind was released, a lot of people have been imitating your approach to loops?

No, not at all. It’s okay!

Yes, Cupid’s Head is a lot more dense, dark and violent.

I think so too. It was just how I was feeling and how you feel is reflected quite transparently in the music that you make. It’s not that I’ve been feeling bad.

I just felt like I wanted to make something that was different in this way.

A while ago you remixed At The Drive-In’s “One Armed Scissor”.

It’s also known that you’re influenced by punk bands like The Misfits. Do you think rock ‘n’ roll still has the revolutionary power it once had?

Yes. Every now and then, a rock band comes up and does something interesting, though I can’t say it’s happened lately.

But I still do believe that rock has that magic. Look at Queens of the Stone Age and Jack White – they’re good examples of what’s great about rock now.

You’re also one of the few electronic musicians who place a strong emphasis on guitar-based instrumentation.

I’ve played guitar my whole life and it’s one of those instruments that I can – and this might sound stupid – express myself with, without any inhibitions. It’s such a versatile instrument; you can use it a thousand different ways.

And finally, you once said that for club music to be enjoyed, it has to be “used” in a club setting.

Would you consider what you make club music?

When I’m playing live, it depends on the crowd I’m playing to and also on how I’m feeling; the context of it all. As for the recordings, I wouldn’t consider them club music. They’re something else. I consider them headphone-music with a few surprises.

The Soul is Quick is out now on Ecstatic

Spread 60

HEARTBREAK HOTEL Photography: Chuck Reyes Styling: Siufang Lim Hair & Makeup: Angel Gwee, using YSL Makeup and Redken Model: Madison Sells @ Mannequin Location: Sultan Hotel

Spread 63

Turtleneck knit sweater by Topshop, tulle pleated skirt by Promod, and double gold cuff bangle by H&M

Elmsley lace bra by Jack Wills, short jacket

by Urban Cottage, and double ringed ring with stone by H&M

Stripe sheer button shirt by Something Borrowed, cotton drawstring skirt by Uniqlo, chunky chain bracelet by Colette, tahiti strap sandal by Birki’s at Birkenstock, and cotton socks, stylist’s own

Crop jacket, lace bralet and bracelet with stone by Forever 21, and drawstring jogger pants

by Dorothy Perkins

Elmsley lace bralet by Jack Wills, lace jacket by Banana Republic, wool blended shorts and ribbed socks by Uniqlo, and gold chain with stone bracelet by Forever 21

Striped off-shoulder long sleeve top by Zalora Basics, faux fur gilet by Topshop, and highwaisted shorts by H&M

Knitted long sleeve dress by H&M

Cotton lace trim bra by La Senza, long knit cardigan

by Something Borrowed, and feather print leggings

by Jack Wills

Collared long robe

by H&M

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Review 71

Words: Indran P The dust can never truly settle on a record like Black Messiah. But at this very early stage, Solange Knowles’ reaction to it testifies accurately to what it means vis-à-vis its time and context: “Not really interested in talking about any other music. Amen?

Amen.” The fact that it came 15 years after his last album, the fact it damn near looked that it might not have existed at all, is only a third of the reasons why no other record matters like Black Messiah right now. There’s also its more than proximate relationship to the national unrest in the US underscored by the recent utterly unwarranted killings of unarmed, innocent black men by the police.

And finally, there’s the fact that during his absence, no one made anything like this unabridgeable, soulfully stirring masterpiece.

D’Angelo is an artist that has always deserved the superlatives that flower-line his steps. But one thing needs to be made clear here: he’s not the titular “Black Messiah”. As he writes in the liner notes, the “Black Messiah is not one man. It’s a feeling, that collectively, we are

D’ANGELO AND THE VANGUARD: BLACK MESSIAH all the leader”. This means there was something purer and more fundamental than ambition that willed him to airdrop this record out of nowhere and throughout its runtime, this humane, half-celebratory, half-mournful feel pervades. This is why it’s so great that “Ain’t That Easy”, a heavy-lidded love song opens the record. Over swirling guitars, and plodding, rubbery beats, D’ Angelo, always the cynosure, mines from rock, country, funk and psych, all to assure his beloved that, “Faithfully, we’ll see this love through”. Though it’s a smoulderingly intimate near-

confessional, its scope cannot be anything but universal.

But Black Messiah is a feat of density, texture and depth, so the assured sensuality of the first song starts and ends there. “1000 Deaths”, coming next, is an absolute wrecker.

From the opening sample of a Black Panther speech, the muddied gumbo of dirty bass and blindsiding guitar heroics, and its explicitly militant urgings, “Because a coward dies a thousand times / But a soldier only dies just once”, it’s a rallying cry and show of strength that is

virtuosic in its reactionary spirit and conception. But if violence is posited as recourse here, it’s held up to scrutiny on the riff-heavy “The Charade”: “All we wanted was a chance to talk, ’stead we only got outlined in chalk”. It’s at this point that Black Messiah as the combined expression of decadence and spiritual ache becomes shockingly clear. The following standard-setting sex jam “Sugah Daddy” only confirms this.

Like its earthily luxurious mesh of sounds, Black Messiah is a catholic embrace of anything intense and immediate and through the pop mode, bridges the emotional, physical, political and spiritual facets of the human experience. The supplicatory “Prayer” expresses a need for deliverance that is answered later on the twinkly funk cut “Betray My Heart” in powerful imagism: “Through the storm, through the rain / I’ll come running to ease your pain / Like the rails that cross the trains / Like the blood in your veins”. D’Angelo shows how deeply these lines overlap if we admit that they’re not mutually exclusive but he underscores that it’s precisely because we don’t that we need to be saved. And that’s why the skyscraping neosoul closer “Another Life” is about lovers, who, in this life, can never be together.

Upon its release, the rock scribe Ann Powers remarked that Black Messiah is “review-proof”.

She’s right. But for all its visceral wonders, for the fact that it is history forged in flesh, blood and sound, we had to say something.

Review 72 Words: Indran P

PANDA BEAR: PANDA BEAR MEETS THE GRIM REAPER

A little known fact about Noah Lennox is that he’s colourblind.

This is possibly why his sounds have that orgiastic technicolor quality that confounds the spectrum and continually keeps pop second-guessing itself. But on his latest and resplendent record, his fixation with tremendously colouristic sounds is a lot more significant.

As suggested in the title, Grim Reaper, like Flying Lotus’ Your Dead!, is Lennox’s inquiry into the difficult subject of mortality, dressed up in his most prismatic colours yet. This superlative brightness is also accentuated by the sheer driving force of the songs’ reeling rhythms. Leaving the dirge-y trudge of his prior album Tomboy firmly in the rearview, blastoffs like “Mr Noah” and “Come to Your Senses”, showcase his newfound speed-freak side as well as a beat-and-bass-driven hip hop edge culled from his stylistic hero 9th Wonder, whose beat-making prowess Lennox has been vocal about studying up on. Even the slower songs possess a breathtaking air of monumentality quite different from Animal Collective’s atonal drone. “Boys Latin”’s dystopic sci-fi sonics is a great example of a lumbering thud made kinetically powerful by the teeming polyrhythms that Lennox weaves.

Still, there’s no denying it: “Dark cloud descended again”.

TORN HAWK: LET’S CRY AND DO PUSHUPS AT THE SAME TIME

Like the work of musicians working also with visual mediums, Luke Wyatt’s possesses an inextricably filmic quality. His earlier singles showed that this, together with his penchant for lostalgic ‘80s synths, would be key elements in his wheelhouse and his fascinatingly titled debut album is a more sophisticated and developed form of affirmation.

The opener “I’m Flexible” merges feather-light guitars over warm 8-bit sounds as a myriad of micro-melodies coalesce and pull apart lower in the mix. Hushed and evocative, it’s a supremely beautiful way to open a record that, for the best and biggest payoff, has to be enjoyed in a single setting. But if the mood here is serene in its evocation of a halcyon past, the later tracks show how oppressively cluttered our media-saturated present is. In particular, the songs “Afterprom” and “Because of M.A.S.K.” employ a fuzzed-out, jarring jangle of notes to muddy the warmth of the sonics, implying the arrival of some otherworldly force. Still, every abrasive Tom Verlaine-alluding moment here is smoothened over by a lush wash of sonics that exude a confidence in their paradisiacal context. For those wanting to hide out from today’s din, Wyatt’s grooves have ample room.

NICKI MINAJ: THE PINKPRINT RAE SREMMURD: SREMMLIFE

The title SremmLife ais everything that it promises: a pop-rap trip with many great spots boasting riches that offer no shortage of aspirational cachet to marvel at.

Already, it’s broken the curse of its January release date to elevate its makers to the forefront of any discussion of cutting-edge rap made above ground. The teaser and single “No Flex Zone”’s weaponised catchiness laid out Slim Jimmy and Swae Lee’s charms earlier: zeitgeist-checking bass-buoyed rhythms set to “turn up” and libidinal boasts in the vein of, “Freak hoes, got several, they tens or better”. But even at that early stage, the brothers’ take on commonplace rap signifiers, like astronomical swag and vice-laden fantasies, showed them to be the wildly competent innovators that they are. This full showing, helmed by the trap savant Mike Will Made It, taps on the freewheeling energy of the pair and offers a masterclass in heady rap of the alcopops variety. That there are less-hyped tracks than other Internet hits like “Throw Sum Mo” or “No Type” isn’t an issue – they’re all bangers.

Oh snap! Nicki’s third release finally sees the light of day and instantly raises eyebrows by riffing on Jay Z’s hallowed career milestone The Blueprint.

With Nicki, the talking points are self-generating but here, at least, it’s for all the reasons that make it an unavoidable magnum opus. Flipping the script on her dance-pop-spangled previous effort Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, The Pinkprint is a tour de force of hip hop traditionalism reactionarily spliced with her irresistible hip hop radicalism. Its songs fall under three general categories and in their thematic specificity, are nonpareil. As far as ghetto-centric eroticism goes, “Anaconda” ensures that no one can get that, shall we say, involved as Nicki. She goes in so hard and in such detail that it’s hard to tell if she’s parodying rap’s derriere fetish, bragging about her own endowments or doing both. Then, there are the throwback, golden age-referencing homage tracks like “Four Door Aventandor”, where in tipping her hat to greats like, in this case, Biggie, she proves that she’s no Barbie. Finally, there are the fire-breathing victory laps like “The Night Is Still Young” that show that Iggy has won the battle and only the battle.

Review 73

OK GO: HUNGRY GHOSTS

J. COLE: 2014 FOREST HILLS DRIVE

Kendrick Lamar casts a long shadow over contemporary rap.

And like those in his age group who share the spotlight with him, J. Cole, though already a certified star, definitely feels it. So before Kendrick drops his atom bomb of a third album, feature-free and auteur-minded, this year, Cole’s beaten him to it with his feature-free and auteur-minded third album. Forest Hills Drive’s conceit is that it’s both a spatiotemporal reality (his childhood home where he weathered poverty and where he wrote his first raps) and a symbol of his back-to basics, anti-Hollywood artistic stance.

And though Cole’s not reinventing the wheel, the sincerity and verve with which he goes about his way here is utterly mesmerising. He talks at length about the Things That Matter and in gripping and visceral ways: “What’s the price for a black man’s life? / I check the toe tag, not one zero in sight”, on the aqueously soulful “January 28th” and calls out white privilege on the dense boom bap of “Fire Squad”, whose punning is both powerful and tragic. Nas was wrong: hip hop isn’t dead. It just needs to come home more.

The pleasure principle in pop has always been the same: good tunes for a good time.

As a band whose “alternative” associations are more imagined than real, and one whose cosmologically sugary sound cuts across mainstream pop ideals and the supposedly more transgressive ones peddled by the underground, Ok Go is deeply vested in pop-fuelled pleasure. To this end, the approach on their fourth fulllength is commendable, but more importantly, effective: have a leftfield producer help them flesh out their not totally disingenuous dying-to-please moves. This works because each side of the equation harnesses the strength of the other towards the realisation of a synergised end-product that checks all the boxes either side was concerned with originally.

David Fridmann brings a slight outré charm to the candycoated electronic sounds that the record is thoroughly drenched in and opener “Upside Down & Inside Out” outlines this perfectly, with its booming EDM-y blocks of sound interlacing with warped vocals and freakish effects, hyperkinetic and playful. For the most part the songs hew this line except on the slower “If I Had a Mountain” and “The Great Fire”, where transgressive hooks shine through the softer nuances. On the whole, a leftturn that paid off handsomely.

CHUMPED: TEENAGE RETIREMENT

What’s this? Really good pop punk? Made today? Yes and yes.

In a time that couldn’t be further from when Saves the Day and their ilk dictated the tenor of the zeitgeist, these fledglings have come out swinging with all their sweet, hook-y, “Does she love you like I love you?” concerns. What Chumped brings to the table is their honey pot of pop, punk and emo, brewed and distilled with elemental grit and very earnest, very beautiful bleeding-heart songcraft, and like the best music that aims for instant gratification, it’s sneakily irresistible. Love, friendship, yearning, acceptance and all the ambiguity and obviousness of these states as inescapable facts of human relationships are debated throughout the record.

And enriching its cred as a great emotional period piece are the hooks which admirably, are gnarly, sweet and stylish all at once. “Hot 97 Summer Jam”, which bears the aforementioned aggrieved lines and “Novella Ella Ella Eh” are the ultimate prizes here for all these reasons, mixing familiar pop punk tropes with powerful musical and emotional twists; the musical equivalent of soul food with new seasoning. Teenage Retirement will get old, but it exists to be returned to.

THEO PARRISH: AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE

“Legend” is amongst some of the most obvious things that can be said about Theo Parrish. Another obvious fact about Parrish is that, of the legends, he has been one of the most vocal critics of the state of contemporary dance music and of course, his own legendary rep prefaces the fact that his dissatisfaction isn’t sour grapes. American Intelligence, then, is his attempt to, in his words, bring “respect” back to music and for this, his execution is awesomely self-correcting.

Unlike the bedrock of his work – superbly crafted and heavily sampled soul-house productions – the music and instrumentation here is entirely his own, with very, very few exceptions. From the dancefloor-beckoning opener “Footwork”, a bass-y, syncopated, body party of a track, to the hypnotically percussive “Cypher Delight” to the minimal and nearly-ambient “Drive”, to the strangled but unrelenting funk of the penultimate “Be In Yo Self”, his ground-up approach is riveting and uncompromising. Like the best have always been able to do, he makes dance music do what it promises to do without any cheap tricks. So what if it’s by a revisionist hand?

Parties 74

SUPER0 OPENAIR @ 24 TURNHOUSE ROAD Words: Min Chen

Parties 75

Last month, a line-up teeming with leftfield electronic greatness and a bill of art-fiendish showcases were dropped directly into the grounds of the former SIA Changi Sports Club. It was recipe enough for an exceptional party – and then some – and the culprits behind this spot of mayhem and mischief were, naturally, Super0.

If this pop-up festival series has proven anything over the past couple of years, it’s that there’s no challenge or convention that could stand in the way of its festivities, where techno, visual art and club culture collide in the most inventive of ways. Super0’s 2015 edition had the honour of kicking off the year’s party season and as you’ll see, it did so with maximum aplomb.

First off, excellent venue: the abandoned Sports Club provided Super0 ample room to lay out its spread of art and music highlights. Squash courts housed David Ledoux’s Tropical Uncanny showcase and Tokyobike’s Art of Cycle display, Reyka Vodka and Edible Gardens’ Alchemy Garden occupied a particularly breezy balcony landing, and the Red Bull Music Academy kept it real in a cosy room overlooking an empty pool. Said-pool, of course, housed Super0’s main stage, offering the event not just a brilliant focal point and the opportunity for some phenomenal projection mapping,

Clockwise from left The Field, TOKiMONSTA, the Silent Disco, My Nu Leng and Ben Pearce

but also, a remarkably sized dancefloor. It’s here that Super0’s brightest attractions unfurled their flags. Sizzling warm-up sets by local heroes from Mr. Has to Zig Zach paved the way for the night’s headliners, including Scharre, who brought diamond-cut techno, and The Field, whose live set went for the sublime and the adventurous with equal force and grace. Beasts were awoken as Ben Pearce dove in with his deep and devilish house style, before Steffi & Virginia had their way with grooves that were funky and soulful right down to the core.

The RBMA room was most certainly heard from too. Here lay no sonic boundaries, but singular, tricky and fearless journeys into the electronic left field, hallmarked by Kiat’s gravity and genre-smashing session, Trus’Me’s soul-smart techno excursions, and

Tim Sweeney’s truly cosmic and boogie-bringin’ beats in space.

What fun! From there, the rest of the night fell into the more-than capable hands of TOKiMONSTA, who let loose a live set edged with hip hop, trap and darn great vibes, and the Bristol duo of My Nu Leng, who ensured the bass dropped hard and deep.

Elsewhere, records flew off the racks of Curated Records’ pop-up shop, interactive theatre vignettes un-folded with help from the Pangdenomium! troop, and the Silent Disco held no shortage of people in headphone-assisted thrall. Anywhere you turned that Saturday at the Sports Club, Super0 had something to give.

And that that something was as bold and playful as it was hurt none. More power to Super0, then, for keeping the faith and the fun.

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TYCHO @ THE VICTORIA THEATRE Words: Indran P

What: Electric dreams Like Caribou, Daedalus and Com Truise, Tycho is an electronic dance project devoted more to exploring a particular sonic aesthetic and mining as much of an emotional reaction from it than it is to making people dance.

And as with the masterminds behind those aforementioned acts, Scott Hansen’s gorgeously minimal techno-leaning productions have cast him in a particularly singular light. So, it came as very pleasant surprise that in early 2014, on Awake, his third album as Tycho, he revealed a broader, more expansive and more filigreed level of sonic detail and a newfound penchant for a little razzle dazzle. And this night, along with the band that made Awake possible, he showed his twinkling virtuosity.

Who: Dance-heads and the indie faithful One of the main things that Hansen has quietly accomplished with Tycho over more than a decade is that he has shown that making music that is impossible to dislike isn’t just a poptimist’s prerogative. Even before the rounded grooves of Awake, his warm, shimmering sounds had a beauty about them that seemed custom-built for those reflective moments that we all have, at one point or another. This accounted for a mixed crowd of club kids and indie scenesters, all ready to immerse themselves in the cosmological lushness of the Tycho universe.

How: Audio-visual beauty Sight is just as important as sound in Hansen’s artistic endeavours and his first showing here was a lovely realisation of his multidisciplinary vision. Performing on stage with his backing band and a backdrop of sepia-tinged visuals all rendered in lightly pastel shades, Hansen furnished an utterly transfixing experience worthy of the most intricately detailed dreams. Corresponding with Awake’s exploration of physical and psychic space – rendered with immaculate skill by bassist Zac Brown and drummer Rory O’Connor – were scenes of ice caps, panoramic views of landscapes, tracking shots of channels of water and a beautiful, white-clad girl who appeared throughout as possibly the human muse to Tycho’s otherworldly evocations. Ending this balancing act of audio and visuals, ethereality and groove, on the serene high of closers “Awake” and “Montana”, Hansen marked yet another hushed triumph.

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Nosh 78

WOODLAND DELIGHTS

Shelter in the Woods serves up rustic best Words: Indran P

Recently reopening its doors after undergoing some renovations and having a new chef take the reins in the kitchen, traditional rotisserie restaurant Shelter in the Woods is poised to be an arcadian retreat and fount of succulent goodness.

With an update to its menu and its rustic, earthy interior, the sanctuary at Greenwood Avenue is the perfect destination for an away-from-it-all indulgence of fantastic offerings.

One only needs to step into the confines of Shelter in the Woods to reap the rewards of its christening. Its wooden furniture, quaint décor and warm lighting furnish a thoroughly inviting ambience that any diner would find in sweet tandem with the delight

of anticipation. Which is where the items on the menu come in, of course. As a starter, the Shelter Charcuterie Board offers a sampling of the restaurant’s fine selection of pâtés, with the Pork Head Terrine, Cream Pork Pâté, the Provençal Pâté and the definite highlight, the Pâté En Croute, a mixture of pork, foie gras, veal, mushroom and pistachio baked in a pie pastry, paving the way for the larger plates. And for those opting for a lighter start, the Endive & Roquefort Salad, a refreshing serve of Belgian endives, walnuts, Roquefort cheese with fruits and vegetables as well as the Lyonnaise Salad, a savoury combination of a frisee salad with Dutch smoked bacon, will do just fine to get things going.

That same dynamic of flavours and textures – undoubtedly a result of consulting chef Masashi Horiuchi’s care and craft – translates into a grander and vaster way in its larger plates. And amongst the many surefire hits in this category are the Rotisserie Suckling Pig and the Rotisserie Rack of Lamb, each cooked to melt-in-mouth perfection in a traditional flame rotisserie.

Boasting fragrant aromas and a resplendent savouriness that eschews gaminess for depth, these big plates and other highlights like the Duck Leg Confit and the Seafood Casserole are simply delicious, mouth after mouth.

The crowning cherry on this experience is a spread of desserts that are likewise must-trys. Of these, the Thin Crispy Apple Tart, topped with Fuji Apple and brown sugar, marks the perfect end to the woodland sojourn and like everything else that preceded it, is a glowing testimony of and for many returns.

Shelter in the Woods is located at 22 Greenwood Avenue. For enquiries, call +65 6466 6225

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POP GOES THE BOTTLE Art and spirit meet on Absolut’s The Andy Warhol Edition Words: Min Chen Already prescient about most things, Andy Warhol’s foreknowing was far from absent when in 1986, he first laid eyes on an Absolut Vodka bottle and declared he wanted to “do something with it”. Absolut was quick to grant that wish, commissioning the pop artist to create a unique piece of art that captured the brand’s, well, spirit.

Warhol delivered with an artwork that blew up the Absolut bottle to fill an entire canvas, and jazzed it up with crayon strokes and pastel hues. It would be the first artwork to grace the Swedish vodka’s collection of commissioned art – later to be filled by the likes of Keith Haring and David Levinthal – and certainly not the last time that Absolut and Warhol came to share breathing room.

Last year, Absolut rolled out its Andy Warhol Edition. Produced alongside The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, this

limited edition launch pretty much brings the artist’s iconic Absolut painting to life on a sleek black-painted bottle that pops with accents of blue, pink and yellow. And Warhol, who reckoned that art belongs as much in a gallery as it does in the world, would approve. The bottle was further launched upon our shores in an exclusive bash dubbed A by Absolut held last December at The Mill at Jalan Kilang, and from the iconic objects on display to the Factory-inspired cocktails on the menu, it’s obvious enough that Absolut’s got its art in the right place.

Absolut: The Andy Warhol Edition is available in limited quantities at selected outlets.

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MAD LOVE

NOW UNTIL 26 APRIL @ MAD MUSEUM OF ART & DESIGN Words: Min Chen

Having long troubled everyone from writers to philosophers to artists to Taylor Swift, the subject of love has been explored and surveyed from length to breadth, all the while escaping being trapped into a single, definitive interpretation. But it’s just as well: being equally personal and universal, love’s ultimate definitions and expressions are less one thing than everything. It’s twee, it’s beautiful, it’s blind, it’s in the eye of the beholder, and most of all, it’s a pretty maddening thing, isn’t it?

Mad Love then, currently on show at the MAD Museum of Art & Design, comes appropriately named. Having invited a number of international artists to recontextualise the hot topic of love, the exhibition is a display of the subject’s many extremities

– sex, desire, amongst others.

Amongst the headliners at Mad Love are Wing Shya, the prominent photog and Wong Kar Wai collaborator with a grasp of sensuality; Yonehara Yasumasa, whose provocative photographs are lending him comparisons to Araki; and Madsaki, the Japanese street artist who pulls no punches. Elsewhere, more looks of love arrive alongside Swiss furniture designer Natanel Gluska, Chinese visual artist Liang Yifeng, Japanese illustrator Tomoko and photographer Frank Le Petit. The love at Mad Love will be anything but inhibited, for, whatever is being said about the subject, love’s most definitely in the air here.

The MAD Museum of Art & Design is located at 10 Tanglin Road, #01-01/02-01

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THE GATHERING 14 FEBRUARY 2015 @ FORT CANNING GREEN

CHARLIE LIM

Unstoppable since his debut EP in 2011, Charlie’s been ensuring that his lushly emotive gifts are received by all. This night, you’ll do well to reach out for them.

REAL ESTATE

What started on Real Estate’s 2009 debut Days as effervescent psych-pop musings evolved into gorgeously crafted confessionals on 2014’s Atlas. Adding a breathtaking veneer of ethereality to the rawness of the human experience (“How Might I Live”), these bleary eyed troubadours have surely got new tricks that deserve our utmost attention.

Words: Indran P

This Valentine’s, prepare for a treat that’s bigger than bouquets, chocolates and teddy bears. Having ushered Empire of the Sun, Darkside and The Flaming Lips, amongst a host of ground-breaking talents to our shores, The Gathering will unleash its biggest spread of acts yet. Bona fide legends, scene-stealing upstarts, next-level sonic explorers and the pride of the local scene will share the stage on this day of love. From the twee-est ditties to the most exciting sounds to find a home in indie rock in recent times, you’re in for a memorymaking musical blowout that’s the best of its kind.

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN

Their singular dance on a tightrope between lacerating bite and candied poptimism has ensured that these Scots own a lane all of their own. And if almost two decades of unmatched sugarvenom, immortalised in classics like Dear Catastrophe Waitress aren’t enough, the group released its excellent ninth album Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance just last month, ensuring that music that both cuts and glimmers is an ongoing reality.

TEMPLES

Never mind that Johnny Marr and Noel Gallagher have esteemed them as the best new band in British music. Temples’ 2014 debut full-length Sun Structures has the rippling melodies, gloriously mind-tripping textures and fuzzed-out brilliance to start its very own Summer of Love.

HOW TO DRESS WELL TUNE-YARDS

Make no mistake: Merril Garbus is ingenious musical eccentricity incarnate. Hell, don’t just take our word for it, look into the psych-y, prog-gy, funky depths of her latest coup Nikki Nack and see why you should get psyched to see her. Warning: sensory overload.

PLEASANTRY

This homegrown indie supergroup released its debut LP Synapses last year to glowing acclaim, while showcasing its graduation to a higher plane of artistry, one where lilting grace, exquisite groove and racing, polyrhythmic manoeuvers coalesced seamlessly.

One of the biggest winners of 2014, Tom Krell’s “What Is This Heart?” was such a magnificently bar-raising feat that ensured that he’ll never again be known only as the creator of alt-r&b. And the altitudinous transcendence he proffers on tracks like “Repeat Pleasure” offer just a few splendid clues on the world-shaking moves he’ll make live.

CARIBOU

Drawing from all founts of his achievements as an extraordinary drummer, sui generis producer and math wiz, Dan Snaith’s body of work is amongst the dance cannon’s best leftfield testimonies.

Tickets: $118 (standard) and $150 (door), available at eventclique.com

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POPTART

Words: Indran P

6 February @ kyo $20/25

Yes, our beloved indie-dance night now has a new home in kyo and Poptart’s puppeteers weelikeme and KidG will be taking their underground ethos to the literal underground. As usual, expect a barrage of sounds that’ll include everything from rock headbangers to club bangers.

LILY ALLEN 2 February @ The Star Theatre $128 - $168, sistic.com.sg Sheezus is in the building!

The UK’s pop provocateur ended 2014 in the spotlight, where as usual, she courted both controversy and critical acclaim. Sheezus, her third album and “mumback” after her second pregnancy, was packed with sassy hits like “Hard Out Here”, “URL Badman” and the newsmaking sugary-venomous

title track, which took aim at pop royalty like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna and even Beyoncé – by name.

And besides delighting us with her singular outspoken ways, Allen, one of the most fearless and original Top 40 roost-rulers can also be counted on to serve up old hits like “Smile”, “LDN” and “Alfie”.

PARA//EL PRES. NICOLE MOUDABER

NEW FOUND GLORY

6 February @ Velvet Underground – Dance $28/33

12 February @The Ground Theatre, *SCAPE $78 - $118, peatix.com

When you make explosively melodic techno that catapults you from the New York underground and into club culture capitals like London, Berlin and Ibiza, you must be pretty damn good. It’s that simple with this Carl Cox-certified sensation. Bring your best self and groove like you mean it.

Remember back when you were lost in the catchy, riff-y feels of “Hit or Miss (Waited Too Long)”, “My Friends Over You” and “I Don’t Wanna Know”? Well, now’s the time to throwback hard and celebrate those times with the makers of the soundtracks of your past life!

ZOUK SOUNDSYSTEM PRES. KURA

ANORAAK

13 February @ Loof

7 February @ Zouk $28/33

At 25, Kura already has music on Hardwell’s Revealed Recordings, Tiger Records and Flashover Recordings, owned by non other than Ferry Corsten. To find out why this electro-house prodigy is such hot property right now, study up on “Odyssey” and “Bumbershoot” and then shimmy on down.

Frédéric Rivière has been the indie world’s source of chill for more than a minute now. Having supported the likes of Neon Indian, Mika, and Metronomy with his exultant Motown, Italodisco and pop combination of sounds and released his critically feted debut album Wherever the Sun Sets, he promises exquisite chill at the Looftop.

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PAUL WOOLFORD 21 February @ kyo $20/25

NOPARTYHERE PRES. TODD EDWARDS

ZOUK SOUNDSYSTEM X VISION TOKYO PRES. DJ ASAHARA

14 February @ Zouk $28/33

GOLDIE

13 February @ kyo $20/25

28 February @ Canvas $28 (presale) / $35 (door)

Let’s see: besides being the godfather of UK garage, Todd Edwards is also the only artist that Daft Punk has collaborated with twice and who had a pioneering hand in developing the ubiquitous pop style where vocals are laid over a collage of samples. Basically, you’re in for a legendary night.

That he’s known as the “King of the Jungle” is testament to Goldie’s slaying brand of drum and bass. His very arrival on our shores has come to portent a hard, heady night of bashingly powerful tunes with a driving hook-iness unmatched by anyone. For reggae, breakbeats and everything in between, there’s no better night.

PARA//EL PRESENTS RAYSOO

JUST BE

28 February @ kyo $20/25

13 February @ Velvet Underground-Dance $28/33

Sounding in on Para//el’s boundary-pushing revelry will be Raysoo, a towering figure behind the decks at Zouk KL. Gifted in extracting the danciest best from disco, house and techno, this visionary jock guarantees a nextlevel revel that you’ll be talking about way after it’s over.

This alumnus of Space Ibiza got his leg-up into the big time with his 2006 scorcher “Erotic Discourse”, which was later picked up by what reads like a roll call of the dance pantheon: Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, Francois K and Erol Alkan. And since then, jazz has joined his techno-house mastery, bringing more brains and beats to any party.

From the storied decks of Tokyo’s most revered nightlife bastion comes none other than DJ Asahara!

The simmering soul and silken grooves of recent hit “Asahara / Bridge Entertainmeit / R(err’e) del Mondo” is just the latest confirmation of why he’s one of the most respected house DJs in all of Japan.

But his colossal bag of tricks

also bears the freight of enough 4/4 and big-room bangers to bring out your inner dance fiend. Also, his party-starting prowess has been amply testified to by the heaving crowds time and again at Japan’s legendarily notorious house party, aptly titled WICKED!, so trust that this will be a rousing night where life will be anything but still.

Finding his rep as acid house sensation too constricting, Matthew B became Just Be, and it’s all just as well for the rest of us since he now is a rave-gifting beast with a house, breakbeat, techno and ambient thrust. Hit play on “Dusty Finger” to get yourself in the mood before you head over for a workout like no other.

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STOCKISTS Where to shop

3.1 Phillip Lim x NARS Available at narscosmetics.com Banana Republic Located at Paragon, #02-06/06 & #03-06/07 Ben Sherman Located at Paragon, #03-48; VivoCity, #01-24 Bershka Located at ION Orchard, #B2-09/10/11 Birki’s by Birkenstock Available at birkenstock.com Bobbi Brown Located at ION Orchard, #B2-45 Chanel Fragrance & Beauté Located at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B1-134 and ION Orchard, #B2-43 Chloé Located at Ngee Ann City. #02-10 Clinique Available at Tangs Orchard and Tangs VivoCity Clio Available at selected Watsons stores Coach Located at Paragon, Raffles City Shopping Centre, Takashimaya, VivoCity, Wisma Atria, DFS Galleria, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa COS Located at ION Orchard, #03-23; and Westgate, #01-41/42 Club Monaco Located at Ngee Ann City, #B1-41/47/48 Dior Fragrance & Beauty Available at counters at BHG Bugis Junction, Isetan Scotts, Isetan Tampines, Isetan Katong, Robinsons Raffles City, Robinsons Centrepoint, Takashimaya, Tangs Orchard and Tangs VivoCity Dolce & Gabbana Located at ION Orchard, #01-24 & #02-12; and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #01-60/62 & #B1-138-140 Dorothy Perkins Available at zalora.com Dr. Martens Located at Wheelock Place, #02-17A; Orchard Central, #03-05 Etro Available at mrporter.com Forever 21 Located at Orchard Xchange, #B1-01 to 35 Givenchy Located at Paragon, #01-41 Givenchy Beauty Available at Metro, Isetan Scotts and Sephora H&M 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 Jack Wills Raffles City Shopping Centre, #01-19 L’Occitane Located at ION Orchard, #B2-33; Ngee Ann City, #B1-33A; Paragon, #B1-24; Plaza Singapura, #01-65; Raffles City, #01-40; Suntec City, #01-319; and VivoCity, #01-10 La Mer Available at Robinsons Orchard La Senza Located at ION Orchard, #B2-50/51 Lunasol Available at counters at Takashimaya, BHG, Metro, OG and Isetan M.A.C Located at Ngee Ann City, #B1-13/13A, and Sephora at ION Orchard 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 Marc Jacobs Beauty Available at Sephora at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

Miss Selfridge Located at Orchard Gateway, #01-13/14; Paragon, #03-48A & #03-49; VivoCity, #01-66; and Wisma Atria, #01-25/26 MM6 Maison Martin Margiela Located at ION Orchard, #01-08 Nails Inc Available at Sephora at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands NARS Located at TANGS Orchard Beauty Hall, L1 O&M Available at Sephora at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands O.P.I. x Fifty Shades of Grey Available at Sephora and all fine department stores Promod Located at Paragon, #03-15/16 River Island Available at riverisland.com RMK Available at counters at Isetan Scotts, Isetan Serangoon Central and Takashimaya Shopping Centre Roger Vivier Located at Ngee Ann City, #02-12F Saint Laurent Located at ION Orchard, #01-25; The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B1-116 Sephora Located at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Something Borrowed Available at zalora.com Stila Available at Sephora at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Tarte Available at Sephora at Bugis+, Ngee Ann City, Great World City, Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, VivoCity and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Temperley London Available at net-a-porter.com The Body Shop Located at ION Orchard, #B2-39; Centrepoint, #0147/48; Ngee Ann City, #B1-34; and Wisma Atria, #B1-37 The Elder Statesman Available at mrporter.com Topman Located at Knightsbridge, #01-05/05; ION Orchard, #B3-02; Raffles City, #02-39; Tampines Mall, #01-25/26/27; and VivoCity #01-72 Topshop Located at Knightsbridge, #01-05/05; ION Orchard, #B2-01; Raffles City, #02-39; Tampines Mall, #02-16; and VivoCity #01-72 Tory Burch Available at net-a-porter.com 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 Cottage Available at zalora.com 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 Zalora Basics Available at zalora.com

Directory 87

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 Supplies & Co Raffles Hotel Arcade,#03-07 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 88

THE ZIGGY CROSSWORD

Across 1 In Internet parlance, a lack of success, an epic __ (4) 4 Marr and Morrissey’s 1983 hit, “This __ Man” (8) 7 Tom Krell’s sophomore record (9) 11 Swans’ 13th album, To Be __ (4) 13 Singapore’s only indie radio station (4) 14 Swearing in the court of law (4) 15 The sixth planet from the sun, circled by rings (6) 17 A nice way to address a lady (5) 18 To live together (7) 21 What came after Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (4) 23 Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer (3) 24 A person who says no (8)

Down 2 Inventive word play and mental acuity (3) 3 A score of zero in tennis (4) 4 She’s Every Woman (9) 5 Ready, willing and __ (4) 6 Liz Phair’s cult breakup album, Exile in __ (8) 8 The muses of Dr. Martens’ Reinvented collection (9) 9 Hell froze over when this band reunited in 1994 (5) 10 Olympia Le-Tan’s calling card (5) 12 A beneficiary of Vivienne Westwood’s Pirate Collection (7) 16 Batman’s boy (5) 19 Ω (3) 20 2013 track by Rihanna featuring Mikky Ekko (4) 22 Creator (5)

Crossword #1 key Across 1: Rainbow 3: Gaultier 5: Tame Impala 8: Acted 10: Elf 12: Rosy 15: Neo 16: Skrillex 18: Rakes 20: Sweet 21: Kellogg 22: Dome Down 1: Rustie 2: Filum 3: Gob 4: Elephant 6: Kimbra 7: Happy 9: Coach 11: Florrie 13: Streak 14: Ono 15: Nests 17: Let 19: Pedal 23: Egg

#2