Bondage

Betsey Johnson just put out a black stretch dress with a zip up the front (below), but I'm sure I've seen this dress before....yes I have (kind of) - last year. Ever ahead of the curve, Amanda Benefiel designed and made this (right) for her own label: Another Happy Birthday. People need to start paying attention to these guys, or you just might miss something special happening right under your noses here in LA.

The road so far...

You've got to love the recaps that preface the season premieres of Supernatural (The CW) - slamming hard rock with action replays of all the Winchester brothers' gruesome dispatch of supernatural freaks. So trashy, so teen-appeal, so my cup of tea apparently. Ultimately, I suppose, my fondness for this show stems from an all-encompassing fascination with ghouls and freaks of supernatural origin. They seem to have consistently provided a good balance of bad jokes, brutal supernatural violence, and enough atmosphere to give me the occasional scare, that this show continues to hold my interest. But then with my genuine appreciation for teletrash, they really don't have to work hard to tickle my fancy...

Faux-Persian no maux!

Just as an aside - I dispensed with the alter-ego that speaks English as a second language with a strong Persian accent. Actually, "dispensed" might be too strong a word - let's just say I took some grammar lessons or something. Alper Kakir is alive and well.

Close to the ground?

The Social Registry - based in Brooklyn, NY - are home to a host of brilliant artists with diverse sounds, such as Psychic Ills, Electroputas, Blood On The Wall, and Gang Gang Dance. They are one of those independent labels that I will always want to follow and it's definitely safe to assume that whatever they put out is going to sound different to the vast majority of what you will come across elsewhere, making them a must-check-this-out destination for anyone with an ear for something fresh. The track I selected from the August released Troubled, Shaken Etc. by UK act Sian Alice Group is something of an enigma. It opens with an insistent vibraphone volley that melts into a beautiful world of softly-distorted keys and a four-to-the-floor ambient bump that gallops - especially when the the afro-rhythmic percussion drops in. Sian Ahern has a haunting voice that floats above it all, and cuts to the core. But this is not music to talk about - go listen, and while you're at it, check out the video too:

“Close To the Ground”

Close to the Ground? More like close to God.

Round-up

This post is just a round-up of some tracks worth mentioning, but more importantly worth listening to. I was recently away for a month and without my laptop (oh my!), and I found myself with rather a lot of time to read. As is my custom, if I'm not able to buy new music to listen to, I'm reading about new releases and making lists of stuff to check out. The following tracks are from several albums I picked up recently, of various genres and moods, and are listed track - band - album:

Close to the Ground - Sian Alice Group - Troubled, Shaken Etc.

Don't Know Till You Try - The Postmarks - Memoirs At The End Of The World

Mirror's Image - The Horrors - Primary Colours

Love Long Distance - The Gossip - Music For Men

Eat Your Heart - Micachu - Jewellery

Quicksand - La Roux - La Roux

Sky Might Fall - Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon (The End Of Day)

The Reeling - Passion Pit - Manners

Moonlight Dance - Sally Shapiro - My Guilty Pleasure

Timebomb - The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules

The Frozen Lake (The Symmetry) - Circulatory System - Signal Morning

All Live But The Ending - Circlesquare - Songs About Dancing And Drugs

Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - The Field - Yesterday & Today

I'll say a little something about these tracks in the following posts, but for the most part, the music really says it all.

Karin Dreijer Andersson meets the Troxler

So potent is the voice of Karin Dreijer Andersson (most popular now for both her collaborative and solo work) that I am having hard time to find words. I was hearing about this The Knife quite late (2006) by someone who was having the taste very much in question after a flippant (good word no?) remark about The Libertines are being "far superior to Babyshambles". I do not have to say to you my friends, I was not taking with seriousness his (in my opinion) uneducated and very possible to be poor advice. But then I was ending up with a copy of 2006's Silent Shout on a chance while I was making the (I am aware illegal) maneuver of "music-swapping-with-a-friend". To be like frank, the album was blowing my mind - over and over again on the long-haul flight from Los Angeles to London for that christmas. Apparently, this marvellous band was making the two albums before this one that were not having the proper reception in the world. Silent Shout was making for them a success which was then having the previous albums re-released in 2006: The Knife and Deep Cuts. These two albums, whilst not having the same brilliant complexity, nevertheless are serving as an interesting demonstration of the evolution of this group - one of the best things to come from Sweden since the meatballs (first appearing in the print of a Swedish cookbook in 1754). For those of you who have the interest and have not heard, it is perhaps a good idea to listen.

Getting to the point: one of the most exciting releases for me of the 2009 - Karin Dreijer Andersson's solo project Fever Ray debut - the self-titled "Fever Ray". Upon first listen, it is not so different from some of the more ethereal tracks from Silent Shout, but further listening reveals more. The songs from the album are not having the common structure and form of the pop songs, and her words are not really having the clear meaning (at least for me to understand). This is making for the surreal experience, and for this I was listening many times over to the whole album (really until I couldn't listen anymore). Then, as is custom with such things, they are releasing the remix EP of the track "Seven". Featuring such dance music luminaries as Marcel Dettman and Seth Troxler (two of my most favorites), this EP is an absolute must-buy. I was most pleased to hear the somewhat unusual combination of Fever Ray and Seth Troxler; some of his releases this past year have been so dark and minimal, one might expect such an approach to this remix. It is not so here. This track is hypnotic, atmospheric, and kind of an analog disco gem from the future. I invite you listen to it on repeat for a while!

http://feverray.com/2009/08/24/new-fever-ray-single-seven/

To Be "In The Know"

Hello my friends! My name is Alper Kakir - I am a London-born Persian, and I have spent most of the 26 years of my life so far having so much interest in the worlds of the fashion and the music. I would like to be able to share with you some of my insight, and to hear from you also the opinions of the persons of the world.

For me, to know what they are selling on the most fashionable shopping stores in your city is not to be "in the know". To be "in the know" is not an understanding of what is fashion to the normal persons - it is a state of the mind. The persons that are "in the know" are already wearing what they will be selling in the fashion stores in 1 or 2 years time, and they are listening to the music that is not today playing on the radio and on the television. Unfortunately I am not one of these persons, although I am lucky to know a few persons like this. For the purpose of this blog then, I have chosen the name "Au Courant". The meaning of this very wonderful expression that the English language is borrowing from the French, is up-to-date or with the times.

It is possible for people like you and I to have great style and be very trendy (to be au courant!) by the thinking carefully and the being selective: the fashion industry is taking many ideas from many places and showing it all to us everywhere - on the buses in London, on the large poster-boards in American cities of Los Angeles and New York, and in the beautiful shop displays in Paris, as well as on the television and movie screens across the world. It is up to us to decide what from all this we would like to have for ourselves. I ask of myself and for you too if you like, to be thinking, "What does this shoes say about me? Which color and fabric of scarf will look nice to my shirt? Should I roll up the legs of my new jeans? Why does that person wear such loose-fitting clothes when they are looking like they are having a good body?" When we are using conscious of our appearance, the world is being a more beautiful place, and we can be happy.

To be happy for me is also very important the music, because I like to say the "music is food for the soul". It is not important if one music is fashion or not - there are many musician in this time, and there is something for every person. The most important is for you to feel that this music is somehow giving the nourishment of life to you. I listen to many different styles of music, just as I am liking to wear many different styles of clothing. I like to enjoy the full life, and there are always many occasions for many expressions through the fashion and the music.

That is enough talk of these things for now, but I would let you know what I am thinking for the upcoming months. I would like this blog to be a place that we can share in the love for music and fashion from many places in the world - I will share for you my experiences with such things as the live music, the music from the record shops and internet, and the clothes I am seeing (and wearing!) in the magazines, and on the persons of the cities I am going to. I am now visiting with family in Monte Carlo - it is very fortunate to have my mother living in such a place! We have been spending days by the beach, and taking the car with the roof down along the coast to many beautiful places. I will be visiting Paris for fashion week (ooh la la!), and perhaps taking a week in London before returning to the place I am for this time calling home - Los Angeles. I will leave now for you this quote to think about...

"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud."

- Coco Chanel