Burn It

It seems that Cory Kennedy-Levin has taken a natural step in her hipster poster child evolution, and contributed vocals to an electro record by Heartsrevolution that will be sold at Colette. Despite, or perhaps because of the fact, that you can't tell that it's her singing, without knowing beforehand, it's pretty decent. The beats are fine and there's an apocolyptic/danse macabre theme to the lyrics that goes quite nicely with the fact that it's CKL singing. Give a listen at Heartsrevolution's myspace (it's called Prism Effect w CK).

Radio, Live Transmission

Qu'est-ce que vous pensez? The French subtitles are a bit distracting, but Control seems pretty well made. I don't know if it's fair to compare its accuracy to the real Ian Curtis and Joy Division, but as a story itself, it looks kind of entertaining.

Objects of My Affection

I love Nordic peoples...
Jens Lekman - Black Cab
The Knife - Heartbeats
The Concretes - Say Something New
Shout Out Louds - 100 Degrees
Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks

The Absence Of God

Halos, stained glass, angel wings, nuns' habits, pierced hearts worthy of martyrs, and yes, a few crosses. Religion was hot hot hot at Jean Paul Gaultier Couture SS07, and he pulled most of it off wonderfully. JPG always does variety very well, and this show was no exceptino. Some of it was quite wearable -- the little black frocks, the flowing goddess dresses. Other pieces -- namely the dresses with attached habits and the stained glass-effect gown -- are best saved for the photoshoots. Although the inspiration was rather obvious, and sometimes it wasn't carried out with the best of taste, this show was a nice break from all the main spring themes of flowers, robots, and the Orient. However, I'm slightly confused as to what JPG's actual message about religion was. Is it that people may look saintly, but that image can hide an inner sinner (oooh, rhymes)? Or is it that beauty is goodness, and that's what our salvation is? Or maybe it's that he just wanted to shake things up by making a burlesque star wear a halo and a cross, but he didn't realize it's been done, and that it may look pretty, but there isn't any real meaning behind it? Oh well, the clothes are pretty for the most part.
Special sacrilege gift: If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle & Sebastian...click.
The divine was either sleek, chic, and subversive, or beautiful, frothy, embellished, and worthy of fairy tales.

The evil was either trashy, unflattering, or in the case of that pink dress, just awkward.

Pictures from style.com and elle.com

Clap Your Hands Say What?

Yeah!

So, in case you were wondering, there actually is a place for retarded wailing in music, as long as it's backed up by passionate and meaningful lyrics, and delightful and beautiful melodies. This is Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!'s niche. Their new album comes out January 16th at their website, and in stores January 30th. Two new songs from it:
click and and click.