Xylos
Self-released
(2009)

From the album cover alone, you’d think Xylos’ debut E.P. was the American answer to Spain’s Delorean or Sweden’s Air France. Instead, it contains five tracks representing the wide range of moods this Brooklyn upstart is capable of, from tropical boy-girl melodies (“In the Bedroom”) to percussion-filled folk (“Yellow Flip-Flops”) to auto-tune textures (“This House We Built”). While this variety of sounds doesn’t exactly seem like full band material, you can hear the group feeling their way through and working toward a comfort zone →

From his self-released Jam! and This Charming Mixtape where he lays it on thick with club remixes of Kraftwerk and Whitney Houston, Theophilus London’s sing-song, rapping melodies are as emotive and beat driven as they get. Well, some may disagree, but you have to give the MC some credit. This sprightly Brooklynite successfully morphs neo-soul harmonies, electro booty bass and underground hip hop all into one. →

Photo Credit: Ian Witlen

Inspired by the Minutemen song, Evil Monito’s “Tour Spiel” highlights the musician’s life on the road. Each week, we’ll check in with some of our favorite artists touring stateside or abroad. We’ll provide an intimate look into what it’s like to be packed in a van or waiting for a flight with the same people for hours on end. It takes a certain state of mind to survive any lengthy tour. Yet it’s the memorable experiences that make life on the road ultimately rewarding, if not interesting. This week we highlight the charming band, Surfer Blood who profess their adoration of SF culture and divulge in a music playlist that keeps them from nodding off while driving. →

The Bloggomist: Three Times a Trend
Fashion Opinion

Weight is a tricky subject no matter which way you approach it. Everyone knows that the fashion industry is notorious for it’s promotion of the rail thin, emaciated body type. There is no secret that it has been under immense pressure for years from watch groups and current and former fashion insiders to steer away from advocating the dangerously skinny aesthetic. →

“This Is Where We Live” by 4th Estate
Any distraction is welcome during this show-stopping storm that weather forecasters have mentioned could rival El Nino’s torrential onslaught in ’98.  Thus in my quest to kill time, I’ve found this painstakingly detailed stop-mo animation by the ridiculously talented 4th Estate Publishers.  It is interesting to note that they’ve constructed everything themselves by hand.  A wondrous effort that hearkens the pre-CG glory days of my childhood hero, Jim Henson, Gumby, and even further back to the myriad of hand-made endeavors by gifted Russian animators. →

Sam Toomey – Mexican Girl in Ute

The World Photography Organization, Sony and UNICEF are awarding six young photographers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Ethiopia for a photographic workshop complete with mentoring from acclaimed photographer and humanitarian Reza. The 6 young photographers will be selected from the entries by a special jury compiled of the World Photography Academy photographers and patrons of this UNICEF program. →

Kim Stringfellow- Abandoned Trailer, Bombay Beach

BCF #11
Honor Fraser Gallery-Los Angeles, CA
01/30/10

Big City Forum invites you to a round table conversation about our relationship to nature, issues of perception, land use and the built environment with artists Rebeca Mendez and Kim Stringfellow. Rebeca Mendez is a professor at UCLA, Design | Media Arts who works in photography and video art installations to explore issues of perception, specifically our relationship to technologically mediated nature. Kim Stringfellow is also an educator residing in Los Angeles, California. She teaches multimedia and photography courses at San Diego State University as an associate professor in the School of Art, Design, and Art History. →

Hugo Chavez speaks on climate change

Just before the New Year, the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark where an estimated 15,000 participants and over 192 countries attended. The summit’s “supreme body,” known as 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15), gathered government officials and environmental ministers to discuss climate change, its effects around the globe and develop plans to reduce greenhouse emissions. 

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Yeasayer
Secretly Canadian
(2010)

Odd Blood may not be the best album of the year, but it may turn out to be 2010′s most unusual and perplexing offering. The psychedelic pop of Yeasayer has always been rather amorphous and difficult to categorize–they draw from worldbeat (“Enya with bounce” says their Myspace), eighties synth pop and tribal drums, creating a futuristic pop music that seems ahead of its time. →

Tabletop Bansai: New Illustrations by Gert-Jan Akerboom
Nano Gallery – Santa Monica, CA
2/20/10 to 3/28/10

Nano Gallery presents its inaugural exhibition “Tabletop Bonsai” by Berlin-based artist Gert-Jan Akerboom. The artist has created a new series of painstakingly detailed hand-drawn illustrations. Akerboom has become obsessed with bonsai and kleingarten (“German garden”), both gorgeously quaint subjects for his new body of work which explores displacement. →