I saw The Temper Trap performed on Jimmy Kimmel a few days ago and I was pleasantly surprised. When you see what a band looks like before they perform, you tend to judge based on looks and by looking at them I thought I was in for something like Coldplay or The Fray.
When they started to play “Sweet Disposition” I thought I was listening to U2 but it wasn’t until lead singer Dougy started singing that I knew I was listening to something special. He hit incredible high notes and instead of straining to reach them he delivered it all remarkably smooth. I was sufficiently impressed with just that, but when the verses started in I was in for another surprise as Dougy’s voice dropped much lower and started to channel the sound of Morrissey. It should please a wide variety of people and you should expect to hear it all over the radio very soon.
Their debut CD Conditions came out a couple weeks ago and it’s remarkably solid (especially “Love Lust” if your looking to check out other songs). A great sound to bring us into the winter season.
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DOWNLOAD: The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition (download courtesy of dailybeatz)
Leave it to The Cool Kids to recognize the rise of electro-pop and recruit fellow Chicago-ans (sp?) Hey Champ to do a song. It’s a little odd to hear the Kids rapping on anything but their own productions, but the warm guitar and synths that Hey Champ contribute show a new side of the hip-hop duo. A great little tune for nursing hangovers which I know my buddy Pete is doing right now (Happy Birthday!).
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DOWNLOAD: The Cool Kids X Hey Champ – (We Are) Champions
BONUS: Sadly, I haven’t posted any other Hey Champ songs. Time to fix that. If you like the overall sound of the previous song and could do without the rapping, give this a try.
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DOWNLOAD: Hey Champ – Cold Dust Girl
One of the coolest eyewear makers in the last year (besides Super) has been Moscot. They make classic shapes that have become one of the most sought after lineup of frames. They’re limited edition collaboration with Common Projects have been the most difficult $285 frames to come by.
Complex Magazine’s latest Cut & Show features Moscot Eyewear and Eyecare. It goes into the New York store and gains some insight into the family business and history behind the brand. It’s all in the details.
Bape made it big with their shoes after a slight modification to the Air Force 1. It wasn’t sneaky and it wasn’t meant to be subtle. Somehow after some initial years of struggle, Bape made it big and their modified AF1 sells for triple the price. They’ve used the same formula with Rolex to create Bapex. For their Holiday 2009 line, Bapex has recreated the Rolex Submariner, which is looking clean in black, gold or silver. There’s something fascinating about Bape’s formula of using iconic pieces in fashion and rebranding them. They started with items accessible to many (AF1) and made them accessible to few (Bapesta). Now they’ve taken what’s accessible to few (Rolex) and made it accessible to many (Bapex). It seems Nigo has figured out something about consumer society.
Bell & Ross has been established as the watch for cool kids with a couple thousand dollars for their wrist. They’re Swiss made, French designed, and originally made by a German watchmaker in 1992. The military watch, has a simple aesthetic and aircraft inspired dials. The watchmakers recently launched a Limited Edition Watch Series with a surprisingly large list of options. Each Limited Edition piece from the campaign comes numbered and engraved to ensure you feel super special. Here’s a few of the standout pieces.
One of the coolest things Nike has come up with is the NIKEiD program where you get to customize your own kicks. You choose the shoe you want to work with, pick some fabrics, colours and your logo. The first time I walked into 22 Mercer Street I was disappointed when half of the shoes in the store weren’t for sale cause they were examples of what you could make in the NIKEiD program. At 22 Mercer Street you can book an appointment with a consultant and design your own shoes to be shipped to you (in the United States). For those not in New York, you can hit up NIKEiD online and now you can hit up your iPhone too.
What’s new with the iPhone App is PhotoiD. It lets you use photographs to colour up your kicks. You can take pictures on your phone or bring some shots out of the archives. The program takes the key colours from your photograph to create a starting colourway for you to work with. What’s also awesome is to get the kicks is only $10 more than retail.
Sidenote: Sorry the example is nasty to the max. All more agreeable colourways were already made.
7 minutes of beauty one-liners followed by Roger Daltrey’s wail.
The battle between iPhone and Blackberry is ongoing and ever-present. Here’s one more reason to side with team iPhone (besides Ping, PushGmail and that it’s the greatest piece of technology so far in our lifetime). Gucci came out with an iPhone app today and it’s pretty impressive. It’s a departure from the usual fashion apps that simply transfer information from their website.
Gucci iApp has a few legitimately exclusive features making it worth the $0.00 purchase. Synced with the launch of the Gucci Icon-Temporary Project, Gucci got together again with Mark Ronson for some multimedia/fashion syncing. The coolest parts of the iApp:
1. There’s a pair of Ronson + Gucci shoes that are available for purchase exclusively through the iPhone app
2. Gucci Beats – You can create songs by combining different instrumentals and vocal loops compiled by Mark Ronson
3. Gucci Music Chanel – Check out playlists curated by Ronson as the Gucci Icon Temporary Project makes its way across the globe
I’m a sucker for modern synth pop. Australia’s Infusion recently gave us their latest, “So Soon” and it is the perfect slice of psychedelic electronic pop I’m always on the look out for. It reminds me a lot of Macintosh Braun with the soft ominous vocals adding real emotion to the onslaught of electronic blips and bleeps.
This is the first single of their upcoming album All Night Sun Light that will be dropping December 15th.
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DOWNLOAD: Infusion – So Soon
