Greetings from Brown! Autobot of Flosstradamos was here a week or so ago… and I felt like Professor Chaos in The Simpsons episode of South Park (The Mill did it! The Mill did it!). No? Okay, well anyway, I want to share some delicious new music!
Check out Little Sur, a band out of NYU garnering a ton of attention on the blogosphere lately. You can stream and download their first self-titled EP from the aforementioned link fo’ free. I don’t know how I would exactly characterize lead singer Olivia Gerber’s voice; think a folksier Regina Spector, since she’s backed up by the banjo-slash-guitar skillz of fellow students Jesse Aicher and Josh Meer. Anyway, I won’t bore you with a description of music that you can listen to yourselves, but I think you’re going to love these guys.
And, on a personal note, Olivia is great friends with one of my new suitemates here in Providence (who also happens to be my pediatrician’s daughter - you can’t make this shit up), and she’s totally gorgeous.
“congratulations” out officially today
Listen to MGMT’s newest album for free on their website and watch the video for their single “Flash Delirium.” I heard some of this last summer at Prospect Park with Mer, and embedded within their songs from Oracular Spectacular and their work as The Management, the new stuff didn’t stand out as much. Less melodic, I guess you could call it… but definitely worth a download! I sense huge late night remix potential.
New Keane! (And yes, the only place I could find the video was on Perez.) Here’s the video for their newest song, “Stop for a Minute.” I know Meredith will be dancing a bit across the pond. It’s nothing terribly original from the band, but it’s definitely catchy, and K’naan spices up their sound a bit with a style that reminds me of some old song my grandfather always plays that I just can’t place right now. Also, if you want more songs with the word “minute” in them, this one by K’naan from his Troubadour album has been a favorite driving song of mine for awhile.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Sartorialist, you should be. Head over there and check out the amazing photographs from his Vintage Family Photo Contest. It’s making me itch to sift through my grandmother’s photo boxes this weekend!
Discussion in my cultural anthropology class reminded me of this gem by the Bedroom Philosopher, the stage name for Australian comedian and musician Justin Heazlewood (by the way, what’s up with hilarious indie-folk music coming out of that hemisphere?), that a friend showed me a couple summers ago. The “official video” is funny too, but he’s pretty charismatic live. If you need a nerdy little chuckle..
free bus trip to moma for students
Just got this email from Judith Gilligan in the Studio department and thought I’d post it here for anyone who’s not on her email list… if I didn’t have photography on Mondays I’d be there!
FREE BUS TRIP
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK CITY, MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010
“William Kentridge: Five Themes”
“Parcours d’Atelier: Artist in the Studio”
“Thick Time: Soho and Felix”
“Occasional and Residual Hope: Ubu and the Procession”
“Sarastro and the Master’s Voice: The Magic Flute”
“Learning from the Absurd: The Nose”
This large-scale exhibition surveys nearly three decades of work by William Kentridge (b. 1955, South Africa), a remarkably versatile artist whose work combines the political with the poetic. Dealing with subjects as sobering as apartheid, colonialism, and totalitarianism, his work is often imbued with dreamy, lyrical undertones or comedic bits of self-deprecation that render his powerful messages both alluring and ambivalent.
Bus trip sponsored by the Studio Arts Program – FREE OF CHARGE
All welcome – bus leaves Summit St. (Mather driveway) at 8:30 AM, departs NYC at 5:30 PM
One-way travel either way OK – must sign up by email to judith.gilligan@trincoll.edu
a week too late + a lifetime too early: RIP alexander mcqueen
Alexander McQueen, fashion’s genius maverick, passed away last week on the eve of NY’s fashion week… his death means Lady Gaga, his master label Gucci, and the rest of the world has lost a rebellious fashion icon. McQueen represented the merging of the ridiculous with the sublime, creating amazingly forward-thinking fashion that was reviving the meaning of avant-garde.
Scott Reeds Dual Action Paintings and Prints
February 4th to March 7, 2010
The Widener Gallery (Department of Fine Arts) at Trinity College
Opening reception on Thursday, February 4th 4:30 to 6:30 pm
perfecting the portrait: arno rafael minkkinen
Arno Rafael Minkkinen is a photographer, originally from Finland, who has been for many years capturing amazing portraits (and more abstract works with human subjects) in the wilderness of the United States. I have been captivated by the sublimity in his images and the delicate relationship he presents for us between man and his natural habitat. Minkkinen’s self portraits are some of his best, in my opinion. He demonstrates an almost supernatural talent in the practice of yoga in order to twist his body in impossible ways, alternatively melting into and bursting out of the frame. His personal website on ArtNet is currently under construction, but a Google image search will give you ample introduction to his work.
the 2010 decordova biennial
Possibly the most innovative museum in Massachusetts, the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park will be hosting its 2010 Biennial exhibition, a showcase of seventeen featured artists spanning the last few generations with special connections to New England, through this April. The exhibition takes up the entirety of the museum’s square footage, including the rooftop, and judging by the exhibition page, it is definitely something worth checking out (on a nicer weekend, when this rain ends… welcome back to Trinity!)
