Charles Haddon, frontman for UK electro-pop trio Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, reportedly committed suicide yesterday, following the band’s set at the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium. To be honest, I never really listened to much of the band’s work and it’s a strange feeling to ‘discover’ them in the wake of such unfortunate and sad circumstances.
It got me thinking though about how many other people, on learning of this tragedy, felt compelled to engage with Haddon’s music. Read the rest of this entry »
Athiradee Kaalam has taken Bollywood music videos to a whole new level of ‘badass’. Picture an Indian Michael Jackson, Erik Estrada, James Bond, David Lee Roth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and John Travolta all stitched up into one impossibly cool gent who has invaded an episode of Power Rangers.
The unveiling of China’s innovative, congestion-alleviating new bus design caused a web storm this week. But what hasn’t been released yet is what the inside of such a groundbreaking concept will look like. Here’s the answer. Read the rest of this entry »
I finally got around to reading a series of articles—open in my browser for sometime now—on international artists [not] performing in Israel. And in an attempt to post a balanced piece I read a bunch more. It seems to me that there is simply no decision made in, around or about Israel and the West Bank that isn’t political, intentionally or otherwise. Here’s a rundown of the past couple of months and the long list of high-profile artists that have, consciously or not, become political pawns.
A few months ago Danish duo Reptile and Retard completed a massive and very debaucherous tour of China. Here are some of the highlights published by Vice Magazine this week.
The US Copyright Office announced today 6 groundbreaking new rules that bring Copyright Law into line with fair use of new technology. The rules below now prevent you from being prosecuted for the following common practices. However one huge omission is the music industry.
The downfall of the majority of music festivals in China is made obvious by one short quote from Suzhou International Music Festival’s Chief Coordinator, Yu Hui.
“My fundamental belief is that people across the globe are more alike than dis-similar. My belief is there’s a global youth culture, where a youth in India has more in common with youth in NY than with people from rural India.”
Joseph Tripodi, Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer, The Coca-Cola Company.
The best bakery in China sits in the heart of Shanghai’s French Concession district. Here are some images I took this week for an article appearing in New Zealand media.
