After losing my wallet and luggage in one day, I managed to burn off enough CDs to play before Meshell. After all was said and done, the vibe was right.
More to follow...
Levi's Fenom by HF.
Jacket by Neil Barrett.
Bag and USB stick by Dior Homme.
Belt by Marc Jacobs.
Massimo Vignelli calendar at Crate&Barrel.
Shoes by Pierre Hardy.
Jacket by Headporter.
Candle by Fabien Baron for Colette.
My dad turned me on to Sister Corita Kent, who he's been a fan of for a long time. She was a nun who created beautiful serigraphs (mostly) around social justice issues. This box/book set is amazing.
Went 'home' for Thanksgiving in Chicago this year. What a nice view from my parents new place. I've always loved big cities, and high-rise living ain't a bad way to go.
I also discovered a cool book called appropriately titled 'Hand Job', focusing on more playful typography. I had totally forgotten about being included in this-- I never got a copy!
My favorite place to go so far is a great little boutique in Wicker Park called Hejfina. Great selection of clothing, books, furniture, and small products.
I'm getting ready to head over to Europe for a couple weeks. I will be doing some gigs, seeing friends, and getting lots of inspiration hopefully.
The trip goes a little something like this: Amsterdam > Rotterdam > Vienna > Berlin > Paris
Photography by Rahav Segev.
I start things off playing with Meshell Ndegeocello on Monday November 26 at Paradiso in Amsterdam. This is one of the best venues for progressive music in the world, and I've had the privilege to play there a couple times for the Kindred Spirits music festival. It will be great to see all of the interesting people in Amsterdam-- definately one of my favorite cities for design. And If you haven't picked up Meshell's new record, it's amazing.
On Friday November 30, I'll be rocking with the Strange Fruit crew in Rotterdam along with my main man Has (Rawjak) from Singapore. I've been eager to check Rotterdam for a while, being the home of one of my favorite architects: Rem Koolhaas / OMA. I'm also excited about finally meet the guys from Strange Fruit, who took some inspiration from our NYC nights, apparently. They brought Taylor McFerrin out a couple months back, and he had lots of good things to say about it.
Then on to Vienna, to join with the Loud Minority guys for a party on Saturday December 1. The main man behind this collective/party is Claus Prechtl, who I've been speaking to for years through our mutual involvement with the music scene. We finally got to meet in person this summer at Boca in Italy (what a good time!) I can't wait to reconnect with all the Vienna crew.
From there, we're on to Berlin and Paris. Everyone is saying that Berlin is really the place to be right now for good art and cheap rent. I keep hearing many comparisons to NYC in the 70's/80's. It will be interesting to check, and I'm excited to see old friends like Mode2, Dirk Rumpff and my man Simon Schaefer who does a lot of projects for Recon/Nort.
Paris will be an overload I'm sure, so I'm quite happy not to DJ and just hang out. I haven't been there in almost 10 years, and since my interests have change (matured?) quite a bit, I think its one of the ultimate destinations for me at this point in my career. I have never visited the Colette shop, so that will be great!
If you are in any of these place, please reach out.
Soon after the tragedy of Jay Dee's passing, I knew that we needed to commemorate him somehow in Straight No Chaser. Everyone seemed to be writing tribute pieces, so I thought it might be more interesting to do something visual. What resulted was this wonderful Rorschach-esque portrait by Ian Wright-- actually a study for a piece I had asked Ian to do for my wall at home (I'm gonna bug you about that soon mate!). I thought I would share it since many of you have probably never seen it, and it captures him so well.
You can see the same technique applied to the 'hand-job' version of the Rude logo in the post below.
There are many connotations of the word RUDE that extend beyond the Oxford dictionary. The most obvious example would be in Jamaican music/culture-- 'rude' signifies something that is cool or of a certain (high) quality. In the Kingston dancehalls, the sharpest dressed men were and are referred to as 'rude bwoys', for example.
However, the origin for our "rude-thing" comes from a completely different and somewhat unlikely source (when you look into the history). Back in '81, two friends in England rented some studio space (that's how you did it back then) to play around with a new Roland CR78 synthesizer-- one of the first programmable drum machines. What resulted was an EP under the name Sun Palace, with a B-side that would go down in history.
I'll never forget hearing 'Rude Movements' for the first time. It sounded like something from the future, but was clearly rooted in the past. It stuck with me for years, and opened me up to the whole LOFT scene that happened in NYC in the 80s (i was too young to experience it for myself), and a lot of those classic records. What was funny however, was that it was made by a couple of unassuming guys, who were very far away from all of that. I think sometimes the best music is made with a certain naiveate.
Aside from the tune, I also loved that name, and kept it my mental database for years. When the time came to begin our Straight No Chaser party in NYC, it was a perfect fit. Its just seemed to capture the feeling of what we were doing. Over time, it naturally was shortened in speaking. When I was asked by PUMA to do a shirt to commemorate our first summer series (which featured what I think was a pretty forward-thinking bill for that time: Waajeed, SA-RA, and Ge-ology), I decided to simply put 'rude.' on a red shirt. The rest is history.
Two or three years ago, I somehow managed to get a hold of one of the original producers, Mike Collins, and struck up a little friendship over email. I had meant to do a proper story of the record's creation for Chaser, but I failed to make it happen. Luckily, Mike recently put up a site with his own memories of how the record came to be. He is nice enough to include us in his history, and I am very grateful. Check it here.
And for those of you not familiar with the tune, you need to be.
So my homegirl Julie is making some moves with her jewelry line, Crunchy Jewels. Besides being one of the flyest librarians on the block, she finds time to construct these lovely one-of-a-kind pieces-- necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Most of the current pieces are made for (and inspired by women), but they are fairly unisex by nature, so look out for some men's stuff soon. (I think there's a bracelet named after the inimitable Jay Lew.)
She's working on a distribution deal in Japan with Des Pres, and you can find them in select NYC area shops like Brooklyn's Stuart & Wright.
Thanks to Junior and Lil' Dave in Philly for inviting me to do a guest mix for their long-running radio show Eavesdrop. You can check it out here.
One of my favorite sites on the web, Newstoday, just relaunched in the form of QBN. I've been fortunate to contribute to this site over the past 5 years as an editor, and its been a great experience. I'm still exploring the new format, but so far I'm loving it. You can toggle between the new magazine-like frontpage, and the more classic 3-column. The expanded job board is a great resource, and they've added some new editors into the mix, like my friend Mike Cina. Good job guys!
Its been a hectic past few weeks, but lots of fun thanks to the posse over at exposure. We worked on a very successful project that bred many new ideas (big up yaself, Tom), and also involved one of the most expensive invites in printing history (not really, but almost).
Last week was the debut of the My Favorite Things radio on Shibuya FM. I think it went well, although its hard to get used to the idea of talking. I much prefer to let the music run!
So, here's an 'only-the-beats' version for DOWNLOAD. Enjoy.
Azymuth / Os Cara La (Shawn J Period remix) / Far Out
Flying Lotus / Tea Leaf Dancers / Warp
DJ Spinna feat Phonte / Dillagence / CDR
John Robinson / Intro/Outro / Shaman Work
Eric Lau feat Guilty Simpson / For The D / Fat City
Jerry Goldsmith / Hour of the Gun (MDCL mix) / Six Degrees
Drumlesson / Rex / Sonar Kollektiv
Ruben Blades / Plastico (Bugz Ricanstruction) / CDR
Emiliano Salvador / Son En 7/4 / Sonar Kollektiv
RAMP / Paint Me Any Color / Luv n Haight
KemeticJust / In the Morning (KZR mix) / Xenithsound
Leroy Burgess / All Into You / Soul Brother
My homie Matteo aka "Crazy Finger" is in town for a little research trip. He's working on the follow up book to his Proud2BeAFlyer/Sticker coming out next year.
Its great to have visitors, because they always turn you on to a new spot that you had no idea about. In this case it was appropriately, Luzzo's, one of the best pizzerias in the East Village.
After that we checked out the new annex at Turntable Lab, featuring an extended selection of books and clothes. I picked up this J Dilla Ruff Draft cassette/shirt box set. Definately a collectible.
Yeah yeah Kaws might be the most collaborated-with guy right now, and its its certainly nothing new for Comme des Garcons... but I still get a kick out of these.
Speaking of Singapore crew, my man Earn Chen has been running a great little brand with James Lavelle (mo'wax fame) for a few years now called Surrender. I love the quality and detail of even their simplest pieces. The t-shirts are always super high-quality, with small embroideries and interesting screen printing techniques.
Recently, they've been collaborating with people like Base Control, DITA eyewear and Neighborhood. Now, for a limited time check the store (in the cave) at DPMHI in London.
My good friends Putri and Tetsuro just got hitched a couple weeks ago. I was devastated that I couldn't fly out to Singapore (and Bali!) for the wedding and party. The photos are making me even more regretfull. They also had one of the coolest wedding invites ever.
We're looking forward to having you guys back in Brooklyn!
I was happy to discover that the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya just moved to a huge new store on Bryant Park. I became a fan of Kinokuniya when visiting Singapore for its massive art/photo/design book selection. The new location has two floors, a cafe, and a lots of magazines.
I picked up a recent issue of +81 for the cover done by Madsaki.
I love his style. Here are some variations on a theme, part of his 'Sunsex' series.
GoodShapeDesign in the new umbrella for Wayne Pate's creative output. You probably remember the Soul Rebel clothing line he founded back in the 90s. He's now focusing on a new range of shirts and screenprints for sale. Struggle Inc's Cody Hudson is the first to take part in his guest artist series. I am honored to be next. I better come correct!
Mode 2 touches down at the Maharishi DPMHI shop in London for a show of new paintings inspired by his love of music. Now residing in Berlin, Mode has long been involved with the music world, lending his illustration to club nights like That's How It Is and Rude, and labels like Island Blue.
The show is running from October 26 at 2-3 Great Pulteney Street, Soho, London W1.
Imaginary Forces have created an amazing short film cleverly using the work of Paul Rand.
I always look forward to catching up with Swifty. Most of the time he's holding down the family these days, but he's also been getting into a lot of different mediums lately, and indulging some childhood fantasies.
Here are some recent projects including t-shirt collabos with Addict, some new prints, plus the Swift-camo Sith helmets. Check for a new website and prints for sale soon.
I ran into my friend Peter Sutherland the other day- an amazing photographer and super nice guy. Many people know him from his documentary film PEDAL and the book Autograf (but he's also well into soccer and ping pong).
Anyway, my man stays busy, and he's just dropped a new book BUCK SHOTS. From messenger bikes to graffiti, and now deer. You have to appreciate the variety of interests. Out now on one of my favorite and most progressive publishers of the moment, powerHouse.
Anyone who has lived in the South (east) here knows about Chick-fil-a. Its the best fast food there is (I've heard about some rumored competitors on the W Coast). Its one of the things I miss most about being in Atlanta because they don't have one in NYC... Luckily, I recently found a clever way to circumvent the problem. Holler.
The infamous Dingwalls session are returning to London this month with the original selectors, Gilles P and Patrick Forge. For those that don't know, this was the party that really set of the whole 'acid jazz' revolution, and where the concept (and need) for Straight No Chaser mag originated back in the late 80's. The music, the vibe, the fashion, the graphix, the attitude- the dancing. I think in a lot of ways its a blueprint to much of this music scene we're involved with today. Especially to those of us who weren't there.
I remember what an influence it had on me as a teenager far away in Atlanta. The whole late 80s / early 90s London scene incorporating jazz and hip hop with design and style really opened me up and eventually impacted my course. Its nice to see the guys returning to the roots again.
When I went to Japan last year, I was lucky enough to visit the station as a guest on both Shuya Okino and Alex from Tokyo's shows. With such a great line-up that also includes legends like UFO's Toshio Matsuura and The Loft's David Mancuso, it's quite an honor to be asked to present my own selection. I must give a lot of credit to my friend Akihiro Yamamoto for helping to coordinate this effort, and my man J-Bless for his technical prowess.
The show will only be airing live in Tokyo, but I'll be making it available online shortly thereafter. Stay tuned.
rude presents
MY FAVORITE THINGS
with Tyler Askew & friends
1st Tuesday of the Month
Shibuya FM 78.4 TOKYO
8-9pm
Akihiro at the Rude HQ.
A nice little spot just opened in TriBeca appropriately called Tokyo Bar.
The interior is covered in manga comics and neon graphics by Mash Comics. I heard that Mr. Kashiwa Sato is behind the identity and creative direction. He helped lauch the massive Uniqlo store/campaign here earlier this year.
...and Opening Ceremony have something going on in a new space in Soho apparently...
A few things I'm feeling...
Iman Who Was I Trying to Fool (Mark E edit)
Kanye West A Million and One Questions (Roc-a-Fella)
Scienz of Life Metaphysics (Shaman Work)
Supreme Team See (Stones Throw)
Meshell Ndegeocello Different Girl Every Night (Universal Fr)
Spinna Dillagence (CDR)
Al Jareau My Favorite Things (1965)
Sleepwalker x Shuya Okino Piece of Your Mind (Especial)
Sabrina Malheiros Sintonia (Far Out)
Blue James Think 2007 (CDR)
Marco Di Marco Repeat After Me (Venom mix) (Arision)
V/A Sunday Blue compiled by Toshio Matsuura (Blue Note)
V/A Nueva Vision Compilation (Compost)
