Santogold’s 'L.E.S. Artistes' is a whole lot of good. With a spin of
the single and the accompanying faux-gore video, it sounds like it was
pieced together over several late nights at M.I.A.’s loft with help
from with invited guests Tegan & Sara serving drinks, Nick Zinner
controlling the stereo with all those obscure late ‘80s noise bands
you’ve never heard of and revered UK beatsmith Switch twiddling a knob
here and there for effect.
All the while Philly native,
Santogold, bellows above it all with rousing, fists-clenched intensity.
CSS’s Lovefoxx was there too, overseeing the green sausage guts
aesthetic of the clip but she passed out in bathtub before the end.
Sounds pretty damn great, don’t you think? Me too. By Dave Ruby Howe
Here at The Cool Hunter we are always on the look out for innovative
gadgets that as well as being aesthetically pleasing, are also
practical and can be used in real world situations. miShare is such a product.
One
of the biggest problems that people have with iPods is that unless you
have a diploma in hacking, it is extremely difficult to share your
tunes, especially without getting a computer involved. That is of
course until now. Want the latest album from your friends' iPod? Simply
connect both iPods to the miShare unit, press the button and away you
go. It's kind of like swapping football cards in the playground,
although much cooler.
Providing that your files are not DRM
protected (that's digital rights management to you technophobes),
everything from movies to photos to songs can be transferred. Even
entire playlists. Nice. There is however one downside – for now the
unit does not work with the iPhone or iPod touch, although we are told
that a firmware update is being looked in to.
Developed in Brooklyn and currently being shipped to all corners of the world for $100, may the sharing epidemic begin. By Brendan McKnight.
Jamie Lidell
- the IDM nerd turned whiteboyfunksuperfreak - is back. His 2005
jaw-dropper 'Multiply' found fans on dance floors, head phones, cafes,
Grey's Anatomy and in Target commercials.
Berlin based Lidell is
an everyman whose cheery Motown soul is simultaneously uplifting and
cerebral and his sophomore effort 'Jim' is a cracker of an album.
Opener
'Another Day' bursts out of the speakers with bird songs and all the
hope and joy of a summer dawn. It's the kind of track that will have
neighbours knocking down your door to join the party every time you
play it.
Backed by gospel choirs and vaulting keys, Lidell's
croon makes you realise how good Michael Buble could be if only he
sounded this good.
The album's first single 'Little Bit Of Feel Good' is as funky as 'Jim' gets.
It's an unmissable plea to the feet-draggers and cynics.
'Jim'
is ten tracks of gorgeous pop and soul. It's a summer record. But
regardless of the season you'll be playing it endlessly and feeling all
the better for it. By Nick Christie
The design brief for the James-Robertson House set upon a steep slope at Great Mackerel Beach overlooking the bay was to provide the owners with a permanent residence that separates living, sleeping and guest spaces in three pavilion-like glass, steel and copper structures.
The Sydney-based team of Casey Brown Architecture abides by principles of lying built form atop of the natural environment, and their house perched above the blue waters of the bay is no exception to the practice. For the James-Robertson House, the architects, who also live on the hillside, employed their local knowledge of climate and topography in the relationship between the natural and the tectonic.
After crossing the bay by ferry, visitors and the very few local residents arrive at Great Mackerel Beach via a pier that jets out from the shore. The homes on the hillside sit at the edge of the Ku-ring-gai National Park – a vast expansive protected area just north of Sydney – and no road access means no cars at all – the dream of many urbanists worldwide.
The structure of the house is comprised of three double-storey pavilions that are anchored down into the rock formations yet seem to hang off the steep hill. The climate-sensitive design allows the vast open areas to capture sea breezes from the South Pacific Ocean just out beyond the Bay. Sunlight is effortlessly filtered through folding hoods, mechanical blinds and eaves and long overhangs. The entire steel structure was painted black, which helps the house fade into its natural environment. Along with the structural materials, the architects placed a copper roof above and used local timber and stone.
The two pavilions below house a guest room and bathroom on the lower level, while the main kitchen, dining and living areas are accessed via an exterior stone stairway. The upper pavilion sits 165 feet above the lower, and can only be accessed by riding aboard a very steep inclinator. The pavilion contains the laundry area below, and the master bedroom and bathroom were placed on the highest point for the most expansive views of the surrounding landscape. By Andrew J Wiener
To p romote the exclusive thrillers and horror films on 13th Street,
the toilet of a nightclub in Hamburg was specially prepared. Just after
entering the room, the light suddenly goes out and the room is bathed
in Black light. And now a bloody crime scene becomes visible on the
floor and walls: "See what others don't see. 13TH STREET. The Action
and Suspense Channel."
The owner couple of this beautiful pre-fabricated cabin on the shores of Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada, has been coming to their large recreational property for a quarter-century. But the big property in a great recreational location translated into lots of overnight guests and no privacy for the owners.
They felt they needed a “getaway,” a place at their own property where they could capture the peace and serenity of the surrounding four-season nature without disturbing any of the existing trees or structures. They needed a place that remembers what the Simcoe cottage-country is all about.
The brilliant, award-winning solution by Toronto-based Taylor Smyth Architects is the one-room Sunset Cabin, a real cabin with a decidedly contemporary feel. The wonderful cabin has won several architectural and design awards and met the clients’ needs perfectly.
It is a one-room (190 square feet in size), self-contained box that was built by furniture craftsmen in four weeks in a Toronto parking lot and installed on site in 10 days.
Three of the exterior walls are floor-to-ceiling glass and of those, two are encased in horizontal cedar-screens for privacy, shade and light effects inside. One of the cedar screens has a large opening providing a direct view of the sunset from the built-in bed. The rest of the screen has random smaller gaps to allow various vignettes of the surrounding nature and to create fantastic light patterns inside. The slats are positioned so that there is no direct view in from the outside, but at the same time, it the inside feels almost wall-less.
The untreated cedar of the outer structure will turn silvery grey over time, helping the cabin blend in with its natural surroundings. In addition, the roof, visible from the existing main building, is a green roof planted with native plants of the area, further ensuring that the building mixes in with the landscape rather than sticks out in it.
All interior surfaces are unpainted birch veneer plywood, including the built-in storage cabinets. Doors at both ends of the cabin allow for cross ventilation. The interior floor extends outside to form a deck where the rustic feel continues with the screened-off outdoor shower.
The owners are apparently spending more time at their property than ever before. They enjoy the cabin year-round, heating it by a wood-burning stove and, if needed, electric heaters. Most likely, they are not inviting guests to share the space, so we can join in only by admiring the images. By Tuija Seipell
From the founder of the cool hunter comes dear-god.net; a startlingly new concept of spirituality where people from all over the planet reveal their innermost hopes and fears in the form of prayers to god.
Dear God is completely non-demoninational and the term god is used in the broadest sense – encompassing every religion’s concept of a higher power; be it a Christian god, a Muslim god or simply a fluid idea of universal energy.
In its first week, the site has sparked an organic revolution, with people all over the world embracing the opportunity to unburden themselves, to share their hopes and fears with others in an effort create hope, healing, inner peace and clarity.
From the poignant and the heart-wrenching to even the light-hearted and the humorous, the posts on dear god cover the gamut of human experience, providing a powerfully raw and honest insight into our world today.
As one online site stated: "After viewing this website I found it to be so honest of the world’s reflection and thoughts. See we as believers probably wonder and ask the same types of questions, but never express them to anyone. There are a lot of different views about what and who God is and that is reflected in this site. Try to not view this with a closed mind….Try not to debate that you know the right answer….Try to view this as an opportunity to peek into the heart of our world".
The logo and site design were created by London based design agency Something Somewhere - the same firm that created the Artic Monkeys website.
Zaha Hadid’s
silvery building resembling a sub-surface ferry or a space ship is the
winning entry in the competition for the design of the Guggenheim
Hermitage Museum in the ancient city of Vilnius, capital and the
largest city of the Republic of Lithuania.
Although
Vilnius is one of Europe's smallest capitals, it has a long, strong and
culturally rich history, beautifully reflected in its well-preserved
Old Town with cathedrals dating back to the 12th century. The Pritzker
prize-winning architect Hadid’s futuristic building will be an arts
centre and a museum, housing selected collections of both the New
York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the St. Petersburg- based State Hermitage Museum.
The jury selected Hadid’s (Zaha Hadid Architects) design over those of
equally famous architects Daniel Libeskind (Studio Daniel Libeskind)
and Massimiliano Fuksas (Studio Fuksas).
A feasibility study,
commissioned by the recently established Jonas Mekas Visual Arts
Center in Vilnius, is expected to be completed by mid-June 2008.
Depending on its outcome, the museum could open as early as in 2011. By Tuija Seipell
Remember when Joey and Chandler from Friends started a foosball craze in the 90s? This new product could well mark a revival of the game and attract a league of new players and also be a hit with those who are already passionate about a bit of table football with the gang.
'11' is a new table designed by GRO design and developed by TIM model makers. It is due to be exhibited for the first time at Milan Design Week later this month.
The thought behind the design was to reflect the many football stadiums built in recent years that are architecturally stunning, have become landmarks and represent the spirit and passion of the game. If the stadiums are becoming so spectacular, then why shouldn't the foosball tables?
Much thought and care has gone into the craftsmanship and concept. The 22 players are finished in bright silver chrome that represents footballers' status in sport and society. The lighting effects and the software controlling the game add further excitement to the atmosphere and to the experience of playing the game.
And now that we have whet your appetite and you have your credit cards ready, we must give you the bad news. For now, only one prototype model exists . However, it will not surprise us if they end up being manufactured very, very soon by the hundreds. By Brendan McKnight.
If you carry a Blackberry, iPod or iPhone, do you have to look like you
have no style at all? Cute accessory bags are fine for weekend hiking
trips, just like boring “businesslike” cases are fine for, well, boring
people, but for the power lunch with the merger guys or cocktails in
high places, you’ll want this bag made of gold python-print Italian
leather.
Grab you platinum credit cards, a few large bills, your well-traveled
passport, and your ever-present favorite device/s — there’s a slot for
each in this baby — and you are set. The bags are hand-made in Spain,
the internal lining is satin and the color options are gold and black.
Oh, and you need to decide if you’d prefer python or rattler. Of
course, you could choose the chic creamy-soft lamb but isn’t that a bit
too tame? The gold python Blackberry Purse is available exclusivey
through the cool hunter. How much you ask? US$390. Order through
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
. By Tuija Seipell
Here is a selection of images straight from the portfolio of the sought-after illustrator Steven Wilson. Because Steven’s impressive client list includes everyone from Coke to Nike, BBC and MTV, it is likely that you have already come across one of his beautiful works.
Steven is inspired by circus imagery, tribal art and 70s rock posters among other things, and he can often be found sifting through flea market stalls looking for obscure books to use as reference. All of this ensures that his work stands out. There is no question that his pieces define and represent a new wave of illustrated art. He has a particular passion for working on albums covers. By Brendan McKnight.
We always thought that fables anthropomorphized animals, plants and
inanimate objects, giving them human-like character. For us, the word
fable evokes thoughts of rich, organic color - a sort of Cirque du
Soleil Varekai world. So when we heard that the new office of the
Amsterdam-based UXUS Design was inspired by the fables, we expected a riot of color.
Instead, we saw a predominantly white interior with transparent walls,
white, gauzy drapery and residential-style floor lamps. A few wall
graphics and some organic furnishings do give a nod to nature and,
without doubt, the office is a cool background for colorful ideas.
It is a stylish base for UXUS, founded in 2003 by USA-born co-creative
director Georg Anthony Gottl, Costa Rica native Erica Gottl, and
French-born co-creative director Oliver J.P. Michell. Their collective
experience spans the globe and their work includes interiors,
architecture, retail, hospitality, identity, graphics and packaging
projects for clients such as Levi's, Nokia and Adidas. By Tuija Seipell.
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