São Paulo, Brazil’s bright-eyed musical prodigy Curumin is preparing to release his second full-length, JapanPopShow, on Quannum Projects. The album comes out digitally tomorrow, on October 7 (the English-language bonus track “In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day” will come with all digital purchases). The physical version (which will include this very cool artwork, plus more) will hit shelves on November 4.

The album’s second single, “Sambito (Totaru Shock),” was just released, courtesy of Soul-Sides. Download it here.

The first single off the album, “Compacto,” is also available for download. You can watch video for it here.

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

Photos surreptitiously taken by John Lee

We were invited to preview the redesigned home of MAD the night before they opened their door to the public. MAD’s new home is 2 Columbus Circle, originally built by Edward Stone in the 1960s and nicknamed the “lollipop” building for the round-topped columns that run along the ground floor of the building. The building was re-designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works to mixed reviews. Historic preservationists fought hard to designate the building a historic monument and of course they hate the building’s redesign. But Brad’s redesign opened up the space and made it functional and friendly.

As for the art, their temporary exhibition “Remixing the Ordinary” is pretty to look at, but much too explicit, lacks mystery, or depth—such as a coral reef sculpture made up of thousands of translucent link buttons or a hanging sculpture made up of linked eyeglasses. The best pieces are the beautifully crafted jewelry in the “Elegant Armor” exhibit because these don’t pretend to be more than what they are.

I generally squirm when confronted with the question of “what is art” vs “what is design”. I felt some of that discomfort when viewing the art on exhibit here. I felt like I was looking at objects undergoing an identity crisis.

TAGS: Events, Reviews

After the mixed blessing that was the film Blood Brothers, Alexi Tan bounces back with a short film for Diesel which will premier in China on October 11, 2008. With music by Miho Hatori, editing by Zhang Yi Fan and starring Liu Ye + Gao Yuan Yuan, this short film will surely be one of the best platforms for the much lauded director to finally realize his creative vision. Check out more here: http://www.bravezine.com/

TAGS: Reviews, Film Reviews

Photo by Phillip Toledano

“My first night, there was a gentleman who called himself Bob,” begins one woman in Phillip Toledano’s new book Phonesex. Toledano shares the stories and photographs of people working behind 1-900 numbers—people who are usually heard but not seen by their clients (or even co-workers).

The photos are taken within their homes, which are often also their working spaces. There’s everyone that you might expect and then some: the bilingual guy who calls himself “a ladies’ man,” the married mother with a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University, the waifish young woman who describes herself as a manufacturer of fantasy. They pose in ripped jeans, tank tops, lingerie, and most often, T-shirts. Their stories are as disparate as the young woman’s combat boots below her white lacy skirt.

In Phonesex, Toledano seeks to explore the mutual self-delusion between caller and operator, the demands of being a “skilled verbal fantasist,” and in short, the theatre that is phone sex.

TAGS: Reviews, Book Reviews

Momma’s Man follows Mikey (Matt Boren), into and through his road of escaping real life. When we meet Mikey, he has been in New York City for a business trip and visited his parents before going back to California. For reasons unknown to the viewer and to Mikey; he has a laundry list of reasons why he cannot make it home. Filmmaker Azazel Jacobs’s real parents; Flo and Ken Jacobs, artist and filmmaker, play Mikey’s parents respectively. Flo and Ken Jacobs are quintessentially the dying breed of New York City artists that have called Tribeca their home and workplace. With a minimal number of characters, the Jacob’s home becomes a secondary character that displays numerous reasons why Mikey would stay in the home he grew up in verses the home he made in California. Their huge loft space is crowded with years of work and memories of the past. Mikey delves into a nostalgic adventure with no certain agenda other than the prospect of going back to his childhood; a life he is so far removed from now. Mikey visits an old friend played by Piero Arcilesi; who also was born and raised in Tribeca to artist parents. Arcilesi plays Dante who never left his childhood persona behind; Mikey revels in Dante’s personality because it is so different than his own. Azazel Jacob has a great amount of restriction when it comes to the extent of where this film could have gone. The script is minimal, but with the words spoken; volumes are said. The scenes between Mikey and his parents are heartfelt, but the emotions seem to recess back to an elementary state, Adding with the minimal basis that this film thrives on, it brings the viewer to a new generation of independent films. The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and is now screening at numerous locations around the city!

TAGS: Reviews, Film Reviews

The slightly larger DSi screen

Tokyo, October 1, 2008.
Nintendo of Japan announced today that an update to their wildly popular portable game unit, the Nintendo DS, will be available in Japan starting November 1. Enhancements to the new unit, called the DSi, include a larger screen (3.25” instead of 3") a more lithe frame and not one, but TWO 0.3 megapixel (640x480) cameras - one on the inside and one on the outside of the case. The DSi also features an SD memory card slot, making it possible to take pictures with the DSi and then view them on a Nintendo Wii. The DSi features a built-in browser, and it’s possible to download games and keep them on the DSi.

TAGS: Reviews, Product Reviews

A new collaboration from Penguin, the world’s biggest publisher of English language books, and Bill Amberg, the British leathergoods accessories brand, hits stores in the UK, Australia and Canada in a holiday rollout stretching from November - January. The perfect Holiday travel companion, the collection of six Penguin classics—The Big Sleep, The Great Gatsby, Brideshead Revisited, A Room With a View, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s—is lovingly bound in leather in an easy, portable size. The folks over at Bill Amberg even included a great leather bookmark, avoiding any excuse for unsightliness like dogeared pages or my favorite, ATM receipts as bookmarks. Pick one up for yourself or for your favorite bibliophile...a book is a gift that keeps on giving.

TAGS: Reviews, Book Reviews, Things We Like

The Joy of Sake was held last thursday at Webster Hall. It was a joy to be a guest at this event. The Joy of Sake featured 327 selections that were entries in the 2008 U.S. National Sake Appraisal in Honolulu, August 26-27. The judging that took place in Honolulu was based on balance, taste, aroma, finish and overall impression based on a scale of one to five.

The event was divided up in floors based on the grade of production of the sake; the top floor was designated for “Daiginjo” classification and the second and first floor was designated for “Ginjo” and “Junmai” classification.  Not only were the best sakes produced in the world on display; there were also were highly notable restaurants that prepared appetizers to go along with the sake tasting. If that wasn’t enough; a large part of the 327 sakes present are not available for distribution in the United States. Here are some of my favorite picks from the event: wd-50’s Chestnut-Horseradish Soup with Smoked Mackerel & Verjus; plated in plastic cups, watching it was mesmerizing, Bond Street’s King Salmon Sashimi with Wasabi Zuke (served in a pipette to be squeezed after the first bite of the sashimi!) and Sushi Samba had Yellowtail Taquitos which was a fresh divergence from the classic forms of Asian cuisine. Now we move on to the sake tasting! Nagai Shuzo had a great “Ginjo” named Mizubasho, the flavors in this gold medal winner were distinctly fruity with a subtle tangy finish. Shindo Shuzoten’s “Daiginjo” named Gasanryu Kisaragi had a beautiful fragrence with a sharp finish. I know there were hundreds more than I stated but these were by far my favorites. 

TAGS: Reviews, Food Review, Things We Like

Photo by iTunes Store. Thanks Apple.

My first experience with Metallica was in 1989 when they came to my home country, New Zealand for the Damaged Justice tour. A friend of mine dragged me to the show, and I was all hip-hop at the time. I turned up to the show in saggy, baggy pants and New Era cap on backwards, and was met with about 600 long-haired be-denimed hessians in a tiny concert hall rocking out to a wall of sound, that I can only describe as - raw power. So much anger. So much power. I was instantly hooked. Suffice it to say, it changed my life, and my CD collection. Since then though the band has grown up, been through some rough times and have been strafed for their anti-music-sharing stance. The last album, the grammy-award winning St Anger, released in 2003 was mediocre at best (even with all its commercial success) and for all intents and purposes, most folks with a penchant for the hard, fast and heavy have moved on to younger and angrier bands.

From the first notes of Death Magnetic, the band tries to hit back at all their critics that have imagined putting the band out to pasture - ever since James Hetfield (vocals) and bassist Robert Trujillo were snapped by the press, shopping at Armani! From the searing “That Was Just Your Life”; which brings back the pace and drive of albums like Kill ‘Em All and Master of Puppets, where drummer Lars Urlich goes ape-shit on the double bass pedals - to the syncopated, and oddly rythmic “The Judas Kiss,” where the entire band gets to show off their tight musicianship, Death Magnetic is a Metallica journey, though perhaps with a couple of minutes left in most of the songs, you’re left with the age old refrain, “are we there yet?” Though I’m not a fan of the rock-radio-friendly lead-off single, “Cyanide,” the rest of the songs on this album are well worth the investment in this album if you’re a die-hard Metallica fan. For the rest of you, I’d save your money and leave this album for the middle aged hessians. 5/10.

TAGS: Reviews, Music Reviews

Ralf Daab is an art book publisher with a focus on finding young, up-and-coming talent for a worldwide audience. Along with the artist Feyyaz, Daab started his publishing and distribution house in November of 2003, transforming his last name into a convenient acronym for “design art architecture books.” His unique collection of design, architecture, and photography books can now be found in bookshops, furniture stores, clothing boutiques, and design shops worldwide; the Germany-based company goes way beyond the traditional markets of New York and London, spanning distribution throughout 120 countries and printing in five languages. And daab produces more than mere books--in addition to edaab, a web community for creative people, there are two daab club cds out, with Volume 3 available in June. This summer, look for daab releases from three artists--Argentinian photographer Fabio Borquez’s presentation of nude females, entitled Chicas, and self-titled monographs from both Japanese freelance designer Nendo Oki Sato and Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola. 

TAGS: Reviews, Book Reviews, Things We Like