Audio/Visual Psychedelic Soundspace Odyssey

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the Boredoms- "visual creation newsun."  Please enjoy.

Fuck Buttons, Use Zippers

On the last day of 2008, I was granted a wish.  I finally found out the name of the song that I kept on hearing on KXLU.  Dj Sean was playing it for a while and low and behold, he played it again today.  This was the first time I thought of calling in and finding out what it was.  Why didn't I think of that earlier?  I'm pleased to present to you "Sweat Love for Planet Earth" by Fuck Buttons from the United Kingdom.

Japanese wunderkind Junya Watanabe wins for best use of zippers from his Spring 05 collection.  I love how he turns the zippers into gold jewelry and makes it all look strangely Egyptian somehow. 

 

Beam me up Kewpie

I remember sneaking off to a Bikini Kill concert when I was in high school.  I told my mom I was just hanging out with a friend because she was afraid of concerts (she's an immigrant and thought they always ended in a stampede).  Emily's Sassy Lime and F.Y.P opened the show.  I saw F.Y.P several times after that show because they have a great stage presence (lots of antics involving spit and swallowing microphones).  Here's the "You'll Hear My Voice" video from Todd C. of F.Y.P., Toys That Kill, and Bible Children.  It's set to a Tarako (cod roe) Pasta sauce by Kewpie commercial.  Charmed?  See more Tarako here.  Curious?  Learn more about Kewpie and Tarako here.  Fascinated?  Dress up Tarako here.

oh oh eye oh oh

I heard this song called UMA by OOIOO on KXLU a while back and became obsessed with it.  It seemed to always be on the radio whenever I was in my car for a week.  I guess all the deejays at the station were obsessed with it too.  Hearing new good songs that I would never find on my own is the best thing about KXLU.  Lets face it,  I'm not a spring chicken and I don't have the stamina anymore to be obsessed with a music scene.  I'm glad someone I trust can do it for me.  KXLU the best station ever.  I was fortunate this time to find out what song it was.  I haven't been so successful with the last few songs that I wanted to find out more about.  So life goes.

This is UMO also by OOIOO.  It has cute creatures in it.

Christmas Musical

This is a super cute, super Japanese potty training video for kids.  I wonder if this video inspired Trey and Matt of South Park to create Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo.

Paris-Tokyo Part Deux

Now that we have covered Japan's influence on European design, let's take a look at from the other side of the mirror.  Jun Takahashi, designer, founder, and president of Tokyo based, Undercover has one of the most refreshing views on fashion.  He is very daring in a unassuming way at times, which I find quite daring.  Lately, his collections have been focused on ladylike dressing, but with a new sensibility.  It's great to see a designer that is not bound by their past or tied to a certain image that has been attributed to them by the media.     

These pictures and video are from the Spring 09 show shown in Paris. 

  

Double Dutch

Victor and Rolf have been around for over a decade now.  They received a lot of attention when their career first started in Haute Couture and rightly so.  Now that they have a bonafide fashion house with men's and women's collections along with top selling perfumes, it's easy to forget about their creative magnitude.  

In 2006, the duo designed an exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam entitled Women from Tokyo and Paris.   This East meets West dance performance accompanied the exhibition.  

Music: Eddy de Clercq, Choreography: Annabelle Lopez Ochoa,
Concept & design: Siebe Tettero, Viktor Horsting, Rolf Soeren

rucky in rove

I know what you are thinking.  I can't get that "lucky" song out of my head.  How do you treat a hang over?  Hair of the dog of course!  This was a performance Kylie did in Japan in the early part of 2008.  All you karaoke fiends can sing along with the subtitles.  

Still feel a little queezy?  Maybe you need a shot of the updated cover by Mihimaru GT (Japanese rap included) that Ms. Minogue is refering to in the clip.