Riflemaker gallery sets the pace for other galleries when it comes to exhibiting the work of female artists such as Alice Anderson and Penny Slinger. It’s something the gallery manages to do in an unselfconscious – putting the work at the centre of the exhibition rather than the sentiment. So it seems fitting that the gallery should play host to the work and undoubtably large personality of Judy Chicago – her first UK show since 1985. The feminist activist whose work and opinions played a part in the second wave movement in the Sixties and Seventies is still a potent voice in promoting female orientated art work and here influence can be seen on the likes of Tracey Emin and beyond. Make sure you check out the exhibition for a broad view of her work then and now.
Dior have graced the windows of historic Paris department store Printemps Haussmann with lashings of tulle, swirls of snow, cascades of sequins and gold plus the odd unicorn for a festive look that we want to capture in a bauble and hang on our own trees – as soon as we can finally justify getting them. Inside, Dior’s pop-up store has Christmas covered Lady Dior style with specially made Dior dolls, snow globes and advent calendars. We’re officially smitten.
From 2007 to 2012 photographer Itai Doron took a polaroid of each of his subjects that came through his studio door. The result is Fifteen Minutes With You, 69 intensely raw and intimate images that weigh heavy with the nostalgia that defunct polaroid photography has quickly engendered. Doron’s images at once recall a studio casting shot but ones that’s grungier, darker and more sexual. As each Eastern European migrant worker, boxer, builder and MMA fighter prepares to pose for Doron they are in turn awaiting their own fleeting moment of fame.
Fifteen Minutes With You is available at The Photographers’ Gallery bookshop, Claire de Rouen Books and online at photobookstore.co.uk.
Since reopening, the Photographer’s Gallery has filled a photographic hole in our lives that only exhibitions such as the gloriously cat-brained For The LOL Of Cats could. Currently also exhibiting is Tom Wood’s Men and Women. A retrospective of the Irish born photographer’s long affiliation with Liverpool’s street life that feels less intrusive and more dreamy than Martin Parr’s similar famed forays into the North West. While the decision to bisect his work along gender lines feels somewhat arbitrary, presumably it is a concession to the natural emergence of a pattern of everyday life that sees women and men flocking with their own kind. What ever the reason, it’s given us another reason to fight the Oxford Street crowds. Men and Women will be exhibited at The Photographer’s Gallery W1F 7LW until January 6 2013
The mesmerising Saint Lou Lou sisters feature in Twin VII out now. We asked them to oblige us with their favourite tracks…
1/ Lover You Should’ve Come Over – Jeff Buckley
If the words melancholy, despair and yearning were a song this would be it.
2/ Song To The Siren – This Mortal Coil
A marvellous version of Tim Buckley’s song. We fell for it after hearing it in a beautiful and absurd love making scene in Lynch’s Lost Highway.
3/ Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush
We’ve been captivated by this song’s power and movement since childhood. It feels like a soundtrack to one of those adventurous but anxious dreams you had when you were little.
4/ That’s Us/Wild Combination – Arthur Russell
Arthur Russell had an extraordinary voice, songs and character. Enough said really.
5/Calmino Del Sol (Todd Terje Remix) – Antena
Great tune to help us get us in the mood, makes us feel glamourous in everyday life. Todd Terje is an amazing producer.
6/ Bonny – Prefab Sprout Hidden gem. One of those songs you hear and can’t get out of your head. Why isn’t this song considered more of a classic?
7/ More Than This – Roxy Music
Well…this is considered a classic. Rightfully! It makes you want to be in love.
8/ Winter Rose (Nicolas Jaar Remix) – The Bees
There’s something special that Nicolas Jaar does to music…this is a good example.
9/ Love With Fun – Riz Ortolani
Soundtrack to the horror movie Cannibal Holocaust. One of the most beautiful pieces of music we’ve heard.
10/ I Wear Your Ring – Cocteau Twins
This song is the climax of ethereal pop. The layers. The flow. The quirkiness. Just acing it.
Just days after Hurricane Sandy and New Yorkers are bravely picking up the pieces following the long dark days that emptied the streets and threatened the very fabric of the city. Who better for Twin’s next playlist than Lissy Trullie, a girl who is New York style through and through. We asked the musician for share some of her favourite tracks…
1/ Koudlam by Sunny Day
This is my wake up song to greet a new day. Although Koudlam was born on the Ivory Coast, and I, on the East Coast, and he is male and I am female, and he speaks French and I speak French badly, I’d like to think we are related. He happens to be a fellow art historian/musician which could be proof of our blood relation… Anyways, this song slays me.
2/ Before My Voice Fails by Gang Gang Dance
Many people tell me that my music sounds very “New York”, but in my opinion this song and this band encompass the infinitely evolving and mutating pockets of unorthodoxy constantly churning out new ideas that give New York its singularity. In my imagination the lyric “Before my voice fails…” means I have to produce and create as much as possible until my body literally give out.
3/ Everything by Micachu & the Shapes
I chose this track by Micachu & the Shapes because I’m absolutely obsessed with EVERYTHING this band does. My introduction to Micachu was through the album Jewellery, which warped my head into shapes unknown. This song is off of their following album Chopped & Screwed, again the music astonished and amazed me. Their new album, Never, will be out at the end of July. I expect to be headless for the rest of my life as they will most definitely continue to blow my mind.
4/ Sulk by Trust
I saw Trust play live without knowing anything about their music and it was so intoxicating I went to see them two more times within one week. When making this playlist I knew I wanted to include their music but having to pick just one track has been an agonizing process. I feel like I’m betraying the rest of the album… But a playlist is a game of favorites, so I had no choice. But please, listen to the entire album, Candy Walls.
5/ The Clarke Sisters by The Go-Betweens
I am still searching for the Clarke sisters. I have so much I want to share with them. I have so much I need to ask them. But I bet if I ever do find these sisters they would probably just ignore me.
6/ Vienna by Ultravox
I’m a sucker for a good ballad but this goes above and beyond. Minimoog, Yamaha SS30, and a Roland CR-78 drum machine. Nuff said.
7/ Believer by John Maus
If you search songs on iTunes using the word “believer” over 100 pages show up, 12 songs to a page, but out of all that mutter John Maus is the voice of my preacher. I love this track, it’s the water that washes away my grit and grime. (Btw, I honestly don’t know exactly how many pages of believer songs there are, it seemed endless. I stopped scrolling at 102 out of boredom.)
8/ Magic Dance by David Bowie
“Slime and snails, or puppy dog tails, thunder or lightning, something frightening…” David Bowie singing with bunch of wily muppets? Epic bass synth, gnarly tricked out guitar solo, and a dash of Bauhaus? (…Perhaps Bowie was inspired by his prior outstanding cinematic masterpiece, The Hunger.) Whats not to love?!
9/ After Laughter (Comes Tears) by Wendy Rene
I wish I could have grown up to be just like Wendy Rene. After Laughter should be a mandatory part of adolescent life everywhere. Rene co-wrote this song with Johnnie Frierson when she was in her early teens. Her voice is a true validation of pain, and not just adolescent pain, but pain of all ages.
If you didn’t have one already, October 31st is a singular excuse for embracing your dark side; whether you’ve kohled your eyes up to the nines or simply put on your favourite moody stare. And no other label has the haute goth look all tied up more than Alexander McQueen.
Tonight the Dover Street McQ store is opening its doors to all spirits to enter and celebrate Halloween McQ style. For those who preregister before the event, there’s a treat of 20 per cent discount. Not a bad trick eh?
McQ Dover Street flagship store 5pm – 8pm. Sign up here.
Twin asked the three lovely Haim sisters whose lo-fi LA sounds we dig for their must have Friday tracks…
1/ Young Americans by David Bowie
Hearing this song is the best to wake up in the morning. It’s our alarm clock.
2/ Straight to Hell by The Clash
One of our favorite clash songs. Their production on this song is a huge inspiration.
3/ Brand New Key by Melanie
The tongue in cheek lyrics in this song always make us smile. It’s fun to put on when we’re getting ready to go out.
4/ Don’t do me like that By Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Our favourite era of Petty. Every time this song comes on on the radio, we can’t help but air-drum to it.
5/ Eine Symphonie Des Grauens by The Monochrome Set
My favorite songs from one of our favourite bands. Love the way he delivers his lyrics.
6/ Changes by 2Pac
The use of the sample by Bruce Hornsby is epic. Love the original, but this song trumps it ten fold.
7/ The Next Episode by Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg
This song reminds us of how much we love Los Angeles.
8/ Ruin by Cat Power
Been a fan of Cat Power’s for a long time, and have been excitedly waiting for her new songs to come out. This one is our favourite so far.
9/ Warm Heart of Africa By The Very Best ft. Ezra Koenig
We just played a show with The Very Best and had the best time dancing with them on stage. This is one of our favourite songs of theirs.
Who are you? Without getting too metaphysical, chances are that the things that define you are your interests, your career, being creative and your relationship with your loved ones. The challenge for generations of women who have children is to assert their identity over the act of being a mother.
While undeniably motherhood grows into the spaces of your time that you previously thought were wholly filled, there’s a tension between being a mum and being an individual. Photographers Jenny Lewis and Tara Darby have sought to show just that in their exhibition More than just a Mum – a collection of portraits of 22 creative mums in London.
Spawned from Jenny Scott’s parenting collective Mothers Meeting, it’s a celebration of modern motherhood embodied by the likes of make up artist Alex Box, set designer Anna Burns, photographer Clare Shilland and stylist Thais Mendes. Tara says: “It is easy for mothers to lose their sense of self and we wanted to celebrate these women and modern motherhood.”
More than Just a Mum is at Exposure Gallery until Nov 6th.
The Eyes in the Heat‘s debut album Program Me was released this month on Kill The DJ records – an all-female, Paris based label. Already named album of the week on Juno, Twin caught up with vocalist Zizi Kanaan to talk music, women and representation…
Where did the name The Eyes in the Heat come from?
It came from a Jackson Pollock painting – but I think we choose it mainly because we liked the suggestive quality of the phrase. I remember when I was a kid I would get severely stricken, almost painfully so, by shyness, and what I remember most about the feeling was this extreme pressure and heat behind my eyes. I felt like I was being watched from all directions, and this sort of extreme projection had the effect of sort of freezing my gaze.
Who are The Eyes in the Heat?
We are Lebanese/American, Zizi Kanaan (artist/vocalist), British musician/DJ Oliver Ho (aka Raudive) (machines and guitar), and Marseille born Jerome Tcherneyan (percussion).
Is it important for you to identify as a female musician?
Yes – but only in the sense that the female musician is still under-represented and far too frequently categorized. I like exploring the point of view of both sexes. I believe firmly that both sexes can strongly identify with the idea of the other. Identity is a construction, there is no one-way to be or see – and this can be as difficult for men as it is for women, constantly feeling they have to uphold a certain accepted role.
What ideas inspire your music? I am really into the idea of the Freudian slip. I think sometimes that most of my lyrics are one long slip of the unconscious. I also love mistakes. Losing control is so healthy sometimes! I love it when you trip, on the street or someplace, and for that one, brief moment, you lose yourself, you lose your sense of control, the sense of ‘you’ becomes dislodged, and for one small second, you are free from all your self-demands…
Do you have any opinions on the difficulties of women building a career in the music industry and the difficulties in doing so?
I think things are still pretty backwards and reactionary. It’s always noteworthy for instance that whenever there is a new all-female rock-group it’s still seen as striking and out of the ordinary, in a way that an all-male band isn’t.
This is an issue that just keeps going in circles, without much progression. In the Seventies and Eighties we had a lot of all-female punk-rock bands, riot grrrl feminist movements, all female post-punk groups etc. whereas we seemed to have moved backwards from that position now.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if the majority of all industries was run by women. Wouldn’t that be strange? Can you imagine it? I often wonder how different things would be if society were run by a mostly female workforce. I think a lot of people still have a difficulty with entrusting the qualities of intelligence and competence to women, and the mere fact that we have to imagine what it would be like for women to be in the majority shows how behind we still are. Why are women still in the position of having to prove themselves…
That’s why it’s fascinating to work with the label we’re on, Kill the DJ. Not only are they the only surviving, truly independent label left in France, but it’s also founded and still run by two women. This gives them a very different take on the whole techno, DJ, post-rock culture, which can often be quite male dominated and very much into ideas of traditional masculine hero-worship. As a band we’re very much working to try and dismantle those sorts of ideas, and so it’s a perfect home for us.
Do you feel like you are part of a particular scene? If so, what is it? We are now part of the Kill The DJ family, which is very energizing. It’s very exciting considering their historical relevance in terms of the feminist/gay/lesbian scene in Paris, and what they have accomplished with an all women outfit. France still feels like a very politically driven place, so it’s great to be involved in that network, that history!
Twin asked Eyes in the Heat for their top nine tracks…
1/ B-52′s – Private Idaho
They have this post-punk meets 60′s garage style – amazing organs and grooves. The vocals are great in this too. This group really rocks!
2/ Talking Heads – Cross Eyed and Painless
The best line of all time ‘lost my shape, trying to act casual’ which is pretty much how we feel a lot of the time.
3/ Frank Zappa – What’s the ugliest part of your body?
We absolutely love this track – short, sweet and desperately to the point. Identity as a social construction, physical beauty, ugliness – it’s all in the mind!
4/ Laurie Anderson – Language is a Virus
She has a huge talent for creating a free narrative that floats through the music, using words like musical notes. She has such an ironic, wry, sharp wit and an interesting take on gender identity.
5/ The Flying Lizards - Get up (Sex Machine)
This band is very unique, somewhere between avant-garde music and post-punk pop. Discordant sounds mixed with sparse beats. Her vocals are beautiful too, very English and satirical. I love this song, and the way they have managed to dismantle and anaesthetize such a ‘sexually – driven’ song.
6/ Jean Shepard - The Root of All Evil is a Man
I love the whimsical melody of this song, it’s so floaty and sweet it almost passes you by how dry and vengeful the lyrics are.
7/ The Watts Prophets - Prostitute
This group were a forerunner to contemporary hip-hop. You can still feel the dark, dripping New York streets in this atmospheric social take on the city’s underbelly life.
8/ Planning to Rock – Doorway
What an excellent, unusual performer – exactly what the music industry needs more of…
9/ Lydia Lunch – Mechanical Flattery
She reminds me of a female Tom Waits – a very sinister, scary song…yikes! what a song to end on… I hope you’re not reading this in the morning. Definitely a song for sleazy, dark venues…
Identifying a comfortable and trendy dog cloth is turning out to be difficult, as more and more cute dog clothes are venturing in the global market on regular basis.
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