Art students have long been relied upon to inject an irreverent attitude into the music industry and Chicks on Speed are no exception. Since 1997 the transnational collective have mashed-up performance art and music while continually smashing through clichés of femininity.
Their song We Don’t Play Guitars typified their DIY post-punk aesthetic and while they found a home within the Electroclash movement of the early Noughties, they remained joyously un-boxable. The group, aka Melissa Logan, Kiki Moorse and Alex Murray-Leslie, opened for Kraftwerk, released albums, designed clothes, appeared naked on stage and achieved cult status.
For their latest show, HAPPENING, they present sculptural objects that double as stage show props. From wearable guitar shoes with sensory strings to cigar box synthesizers, they twist the conventional band into a work of art. Each object plays upon male fetishes and in particular their DayGlo plastic stiletto is an ironic take on the cliché of male rock gods hammering out guitar chords.
With the spirit of Dadaism and the energy of anarchism Chicks on Speed continue to live in a world where what the lady wants, the lady gets on and does.
Chicks on Speed: HAPPENING is at Kate MacGarry gallery until 30 January 2011 katemacgarry.com
As promotional stunts go, Nike’s Destroy to Create campaign rules. Corralling a whole gang of contributors – many of them (like Harry Malt) from the Twin family – to be a part of a special merger of art, sport, music and mayhem marking the launch of their Destroyer jackets. Lucky for those who weren’t there to see the chaos unfold on the night, Niall O’Brien filmed the proceedings.
The ‘Destroy to Create’ artworks are currently on show at 1948, Arches 477- 478 Batemans Row, Shoreditch now.
Canadian musician Leslie Feist is known for her collaborations with bands like Kings of Convenience and Broken Social Scene, but it is as a solo artist that the former rapper turned songstress has found fame. When three years ago her third album ‘The Reminder’ sold over a million copies, Peaches’ former flatmate suddenly found herself everywhere; from Sesame Street to iPod adverts.
Now a documentary entitled ‘Look at What the Light Did Now’ illuminates the creative process behind the album. Through flickering Super-8 footage shot while recording ‘The Reminder’ in a crumbling French mansion and her electric live performances the film is a beautiful and poetic insight into Feist’s artistic world.
But it is her partnerships with the people she calls her ‘amplifiers’ that pull her vision into reality – from shadow puppeteers to a firework conducting video director, as well as her many musical collaborators. Feist says: “I would feel a little bit like the peacock. Ultimately the peacock’s just this scrawny bird but there’s this beautiful fan around it, and it distracts from the scrawny bird and is this beautiful thing that’s bigger than it.” The result is a creative mosaic that sings sweetly of artistic truth.
‘Look at What the Light Did Now’ is at the ICA 3 December 2010 listentofeist
This month Twin’s art editor Francesca Gavin curates ‘Syncopation’, a ten-day Berlin exhibition that explores personal notions of selfhood. Gavin’s work as a curator, editor and writer is already varied, yet: “My true alternative self is a musician,” she explains.
Gavin grew up making music, performing below fleapit cinemas; steeped in the embrace of jazz and folk. Her grandmother’s record label Dial Recordings, which released Charlie Parker and Mile Davis’ records, sparked a love of soul, jazz, hip hop and black music culture and its relation to art.
The show presents the work of artists and musicians Cory Arcangel, Frankie Martin, Jeremy Shaw, Matt Stokes (pictured, top) and Mark Titchner, and is one part of a bigger exhibition – Despina Stokou’s project ‘D12’. Like the Detroit rap group who failed to find twelve members, instead asking six MC’s to create alteregos, Stokou has invited six artists to showcase theirs.
Head to the private view to catch a live lounge jazz performance by Gavin, accompanied by Julien Quentin. The party continues at Bierhaus Urban from 11pm with Jeremy Shaw and Gavin on the decks. Deeply buried true selves may just be revealed.
Jayson Scott Musson, How to Hip Hop, 2010, video still.
21.10-31.10, Grimmuseum, Fichte Straße 2, 10967, Berlin, open daily 2-7pm. grimmuseum.com.
The after party is on the 21.10, Bierhaus Urban, Urban Straße 126, corner Graefe Straße
Stylist, creative director, jewellery designer, Polaroid artist, cult film producer, boutique owner: Maripol’s CV reads like a Soho House members list. But no, this is one woman’s work. Wholly appropriately, then, is it that her first monograph, entitled ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, should be a mixed media scrapbook.
Drawings, designs, Polaroids and writings chart her creative journey from a stint at the famous Fiorucci house to her recent collaboration on a line of accessories with Marc Jacobs. Thrown into the mix are snapshots from her work with Grace Jones, Deborah Harry and, most notably, Madonna, whose iconic ‘Like a Virgin’ style was Maripol’s brainchild. This is one seriously covetable coffee table book.
Both a project and a persona, Fever Ray is the solo venture of Karin Dreijer Andersson, one half of brother-sister duo, The Knife. In taking to the stage at last month’s Bestival she concluded a world tour that lasted eighteen-months. The experience has seen Andersson forge her own distinct musical identity, with a sound that’s not entirely at odds with her established stylistic reputation.
“The songs are about the subconscious.” she explains, “A lot of it is like daydreaming – dreaming when you’re awake.” It’s an atmosphere that’s heightened through fantastical on-stage design. Lampshades switch on and off in time to her songs, visually enhancing the undulating bass rhythms of her set, providing a fitting backdrop to her theatrical stage persona. Masked, feathered and cocooned in tribal robes, Andersson layers her haunting vocals on top of pulsating beats in songs such as ‘When I Grow Up’ and ‘Triangle Walks’. Like a surrealist siren she draws in the crowds. The word on everyone’s lips as they stand captivated by her unique performance is – mesmerizing.
Alison Mosshart is one of the most genuinely rock and roll women alive. Once again – with her musical partner Jamie Hince of The Kills – Mosshart is the face of the brand Zadig & Voltaire. Ok, the merger between fashion and music has been seen before – think Mark Ronson with Gucci, Kanye West with Louis Vuitton – but we love it anyway! Photographed by Olivier Zahm – the editor of Purple magazine and France’s answer to Terry Richardson – the band’s poise and pout is enough to make us head to their shop to find out whether their collection is as cool as their campaign.
Fusing dark synth, surrealist lyrics and the occult – you can’t accuse Swedish pop band The Knife of being predictable. Working out of Stockholm, the brother/sister duo, Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer, have been making electro hits together since 1999. Staying deliberately secluded from the mainstream, the twosome seem to want their music to stay a dark secret. The enigmatic band are touring one of their most unusual projects to date – an opera entitled, ‘Tomorrow, in a Year’.
Commissioned by experimental Danish theatre group, Hotel Pro Forma, the libretto is all about natural selection, taking inspiration from the father of evolution, Charles Darwin. We caught the show at The Barbican last month. It’s an astounding amalgamation of art and science – covering everything from evolutionary theory to Darwin’s love letters about his daughter, Anne. Innovative, enthralling and chilling – it’s opera, but not as we know it.
‘Tomorrow, in a Year’ the album is out now. The opera will be showing at the Melborne International Arts Festival from 21st – 23rd October.
Holly Miranda is the modest type. Her softly spoken, dreamy debut album, ‘The Magician’s Private Library’, concerns that limbo state between sleep and wakefulness. Even though it’s produced by TV on the Radio’s David Sitek it doesn’t shout for attention like many of its Brooklyn peers. Musically, Miranda inhabits an altogether quieter space. This is soulful, thoughtful and deep-spun pop that requires a bit of hush. And we’re happy to oblige.
Holly Miranda plays Borderline on the 26th July, and Westminster Library on the 27th July. ‘The Magician’s Private Library’ is out now on XL Records.
As night falls, four spotlights cross the stage at Somerset House to spell out the name of a band whose success this year has been huge. “It’s good to be home,” announce The XX. Without a chart hit, the minimalist Wandsworth trio have found love everywhere from the critics to Shakira, who covered ‘Islands’ at Glastonbury. Tonight, they stick to their simple set-up – the softness of Madley-Croft’s voice complimenting Sim’s deeper, husky tones, while on an elevated platform, Jamie Smith plays electronic drums. Up close, The XX thrill, and in the process give power to all the shy, introverted and Emo kids of the world.
Under the cover of darkness 15-year-old best friends Nadia Dahlawi and Sara Jade would run away from their boarding school to see their favourite bands play rowdy sets in London bars. Not content as spectators, during their half-term break in 2003 they tried their hand at their first club night – arranging an impressive line-up including Art Brut and Les Incompetents.
A year later their label Young & Lost was born. Since then, the duo have become London’s indie scene sweethearts, and can claim credit for putting out 7 inch singles from bands such as Golden Silvers, Noah and the Whale and Good Shoes, as well as DJing and promoting their own nights with acts like The XX and Laura Marling.
Now, aged 25, the Young & Lost girls have stepped away from spinning their golden empire for long enough to release a compilation, celebrating the release of fifty singles in five whirligig years. From the long-gone sound of Larrikin Love, to new flamboyant crooner Othello Woolf and the Bombay Bicycle Club – this is a fairytale chronicle of the journey of two clever musical madams. A story to be continued.
Gil Scott-Heron has come a long way since the Seventies spirit of ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’. Forty years on, he’s back, and touring with the self-analytical, poetic and redemptive, ‘I’m New Here’. Scott-Heron offers up the wisdom of his growing years in vocals that are deeper, darker and more resonant than ever. These days he’s more melancholic than anarchic. ‘I’m New Here’ is intense and thought-provoking and rather beautiful – just not what you’d expect from ‘the godfather of rap’.
Gil Scott-Heron plays at Somerset House tonight as part of ‘The Summer Series’. ‘I’m New Here’ (Rough Trade) is out now.
Chelsea Leyland, the lithe blonde British actress who played at Twin’s New York launch party, shares her soundtrack for summer:
1. Richard Hell- Blank Generation
2. The Clash- Bank Robber
3. David Bowie- Never Known a Girl Like You Before
4. Florence and The Machine- Girl With one Eye
5. Prince- Cream
6. Jamie T- Sheila
7. Shelly Thunder- Kuff
8. Pantera- Cemetary Gates
9. Notorious BIG- Ten Crack Commandments
10. The Cramps- Human Fly
Twin headed down to the Scala last week to catch up with Au Revoir Simone – the Brooklyn trio that puts out inimitably cool and wistful electronic pop. The ladies were in town for a rare London gig to celebrate their third album – Night Light – which is released next month on the ever hip label, Moshi Moshi.
We like quirky names – tell us where you got yours…
Annie: It’s from the movie Peewee’s Big Adventure. There’s a waitress in the movie called Simone who helps Peewee follow his dreams. So she inspires Peewee to go find his bike and he inspires her to leave her small town in Texas where she’s been waiting tables. And it’s something that they say when she’s leaving for Paris.
How would you describe your music?
Erika: I used to say lo-fi electro pop or keyboard pop, but I feel like with our new album we’ve entered this new…can we just say dream crystal?
Heather: I like it.
Annie: I don’t like it…
Erika: Nothing’s appropriate anymore…we’ve evolved so much.
Annie: I would say it’s all electronic music that doesn’t sound electronic…
Ok, so where do you get your influences from?
Annie: There is this band from Brighton called Electrelane and they have a way of making songs be simple but sound really big and beautiful.
Heather: And Stereolab – they have these amazing electronic soundscapes and
they’re warm too.
Erika: And we just played a show in Paris with Air, where we were all on stage together and we learned ten of their songs and they learnt five of ours and we did some covers. That was really cool, I feel we can relate to the way they write – they’re really attentive to the sounds, having several relationships with the sounds.
What’s the music scene like in Brooklyn?
Annie: It’s fun, its supportive, it’s collaborative – networking is so easy because everyone is so creative…almost everybody in our neighbourhood is a graphic designer or a photographer or video director, so there’s a really multi-talented support network.
Who are your favourite designers?
Annie: Oh there’s this designer called Rachel Antonoff, she’s new.
Annie: Yes she’s amazing.
Heather: We all like Philip Lim.
Erika: And there’s this website from New York called Refinary29.com that we all like. They have a great blend – not thinking about labels and designers. For me it’s just about finding rad stuff. We get to travel so much, this year I got to collect dresses from a beach shop in Singapore and amazing pieces from India.
So tell us, if we go to Brooklyn, what boutiques should we visit?
Erika: There’s this incredible one over on the Lower East Side called The Reformation and it’s this girl who had a clothing line called ‘Love by YaYa’ and she takes for example 80s silk pieces and cuts them to make them more contemporary.
Heather: Bird is really good; there are a lot of stores on the Lower East Side
We blame Coco for helping to make teeny tiny red shorts, yesterday’s eye make-up and ox-blood DM’s ubiquitous with this summer’s teen style. It’s just a shame we can’t all rock this look as effortlessly as she does. Ok, so we at Twin were as sceptical as the next lady about Sumner’s rock progeny roots – but her nonchalant attitude, husky vocal timbre and clever hook-up with Robyn on the sensational track ‘Caeser’ have won us over. If you can’t wait for Coco’s forthcoming debut album, ‘The Constant’ – then check out her re-working of Neil Young’s, ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’. Put together with Fyfe Dangerfield of the Guillemots, here Sumner follows in the footsteps of Saint Etienne who covered the classic brilliantly in 1990.
Coco’s own limited release is due out any moment now on the Luv Luv Luv label. Watch it here… Or better still, see her in the flesh – I Blame Coco are playing tonight at The Flowerpot in London.
It’s hard to imagine luminous skinned, flame-haired beauty Karen Elson being bullied at school. But now the model, and mother of White Stripes Jack White’s children, is having the last laugh. The title of her brilliant blues-inspired new album stems from her school time nickname, ‘The Ghost Who Walks’. Haunting and atmospheric – with a lyrical dexterity that’s comparable to a fledgling Nick Cave – Elson shows the vocal strength and timbre of Cat Power, or an Americana PJ Harvey, as she moves between murder ballad to lonesome lament.
Her transition from model to musician is definitely a family affair – produced by her husband, her band mates include The Dead Weather’s Jack Lawrence and Meg White’s husband, Jackson Smith (son of Patti). It’s not far from the circus-like vaudeville group, Citizens Band that she was once a part of. Ultimately, there’s no doubt that Elson is both beautiful and talented – for which we love and salute her – but she’s also so incredibly lucky. What other musician could hope to launch their music career post-thirty? The people of Oldham must be dead proud.
‘The Ghost Who Walks’ released on Third Man/XL records, out now. www.karenelson.com
Hailed as folk music’s answer to Lady Gaga, 19-year-old Geordie songstress Beth Jeans Houghton usually performs wearing a peroxide wig and a metallic bra. As the story goes, three years ago she emerged from the crowd at Green Man festival after Devendra Banhart asked for a member of the audience to get up and sing a song. Since then, Houghton has been fine tuning her sweet, breathy vocals on winsome tunes such as, I Will Return, I Promise.
An album is now on its way, and Houghton has already supported Bon Iver, Mystery Jets and King Creosote. This month she takes centre stage, touring the UK with her band, Hooves of Destiny. While her look maybe brash and glam, don’t be fooled. Behind the quirky facade lurks a well of gentle folk tunes full of mandolin and magic.
Remember that perfect car journey cassette tape? Or lovingly writing out a track list for the boy you liked? Mixtapes were the way we shared our music love. Sadly, the days of the comforting clunk and click of a cassette player are as long gone as those crushes.
Spotify and others have tried to revive the art of the mix through shared play lists and the like – but somehow it’s not quite the same. Luckily we have discovered The Mixtape Club – who have found a way to bring back the magic of the compilation. It began with burning mixes onto CD’s for friends while at art college, fast-forward a few years and Micah Panama and Brian Thomas, who live in San Francisco and Brooklyn respectively, have created their own website dedicate to the mix.
“We started the site with a simple mantra: ‘The Mixtape Club is an organization dedicated to the art of the mixtape’,” says Panama.
Each month they invite ten designers and friends to submit ten tracks along with an original artwork album cover. The mixes are available for that month only and then they do it all over again.
“A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do,” says Panama.
This month’s mix brings together tunes from Animal Collective and Sébastien Tellier to Madeleine Peyroux and A Tribe Called Quest. Amongst the cover art is a dreamy barren wood photograph taken by designer Yuri Angela Chung, as well as a DIY paintbox style thumb picture by Driko Moto. Who said MP3s have no soul?
It’s no surprise that this long-haired, leggy beauty counts Jane Birkin and Lou Doillon as her style icons – she looks as if she’s part of their French family. But actually American singer-songwriter Diane Birch is the daughter of a Seventh-day Adventist preacher. Often seen sporting a wide-brimmed black hat, heavy fringe and a mix of vintage clothing which drapes over her 6ft frame, we are currently doting on Birch’s bohemian look. And her voice is as beautiful on the ear as her looks are on the eye.
Diane Birch’s album ‘Bible Belt’ is out now on S-Curve Records. www.dianebirch.com
Right about now, no one does girlie, kooky and indie better than Zooey Deschanel. With those big doe eyes – and a just retro enough wardrobe – her pretty look and ethereal sound, courtesy of She & Him Volume Two, makes her our summer pin-up du jour. Zooey we heart you!
She & Him Volume Two is out now on P-Vine, Double Six and Merge Records, produced by M. Ward. www.sheandhim.com
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