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.

One explanation is offered by one of the world’s most famous literary critics, Frank Kermode—who also also died this week. Here’s a quote from John Sutherland’s obituary in the Guardian:

Why is it, Kermode asked, when the alarm clock by our bed goes “tick-tick”, the brain insists on hearing “tick-tock”? The reason, he suggests, is our human addiction to beginnings and (even more addictively) endings: “Tick is a humble genesis, tock a feeble apocalypse.” We’re wired, in other words, into teleology.

While no statement has been issued on behalf of the band. It’s this Kermodian addiction to endings that would see Ou Est Le Swimming Pool immortalised in the eyes of their fans should they choose to split. Perhaps with the benefit of some still very distant hindsight, the success of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool’s scheduled October album release will offer some consolation to Haddon’s family, friends and fans.

Edit

: Short statement posted on the Ou Est Le Swimming Pool MySpace site.

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.

[via @klustout]

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.

Japanese Designer, Jun Yasumoto‘s ‘Suburban Train Seating‘ is made up of a series of retractable ‘modules’. The design offers a range of possible positions, efficiently caters for different size commuters, and maximises the use of space and ability to circulate through the carriage.

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.

The latest spate in cultural boycotts of Israel have been linked by some to the flotilla incident, in which Israeli military engaged with a fleet of aid vessels, carrying supplies to Gaza. Footage (below) captured and smuggled out of Israel, by a New York-based documentary filmmaker raises serious questions about the use of “proportionate force” by the Israeli military, against the fleet dubbed ‘the Gaza Freedom flotilla’.

Since the incident, Pro-Palestinian Activist groups have campaigned hard for international artists, slated for Summer performances in Israel, to cancel/boycott. Some articles like this one hosted by pro-Israeli blog FrontPage.com seem destined to be one-sided. However, they, along with other Israeli media, make some fair points.

The well-publicised cancellation of Elvis Costello’s appearances was labeled by some Israeli press as hypocritical and, after reading Costello’s statement, their reasoning is clear. Despite insinuating an apolitical stance, Costello’s cancelation and ensuing statement were, by their nature and delivery, charged with political intent.

The promoter for the Costello shows, Alive Productions posted this in reply:

“Back in February, when you confirmed the performances in Israel, you were surely aware of the situation in the Middle East, and the existing long conflict between the two nations with different wants and dreams. You are probably familiar with the history and the global reality that we in Israel are confronted with…”

Statements issued by other bands, like The Pixies, walked a finer diplomatic line. And some tried to sit on the fence. But as Leonard Cohen found out, choosing to perform in Israel and the West Bank, means making enemies in both.

Prior to Cohen’s scheduled performance in the West Bank, The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel told the Guardian:

“Ramallah will not receive Cohen as long as he is intent on whitewashing Israel’s colonial apartheid by performing in Israel.”

The official reasons for canceling vary, but the following bands have all canceled performances in Israel since the flotilla incident: Elvis Costello, The Pixies, Klaxons, Gorillaz.

The history of the cultural boycott on Israel hasn’t been limited to musicians. Rob Harris cites other well-known celebrities like Jane Fonda, Danny Glover, David Byrne (formerly of Talking Heads), Harry Belafonte, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, and [surprisingly] John Pilger as signatories on a letter responding to the Toronto Film Festival’s decision to include Tel Aviv as a theme of interest, stating, “Intentionally or not [the festival] has become complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine.”

However, perhaps the most balanced explanation of the boycott campaign was offered by Independent Palestinian MP, Mustafa Barghouti, who told the Guardian:

“This is not boycotting the Jewish people, or the Israeli people, it is boycotting the occupation. More and more people are convinced that something should be done and the peaceful and non-violent way to do it is by boycott, divestment and sanctions.”

A number of artists including Metallica, Elton John, Kool and the Gang, Rod Stewart, Placebo, Editors, Rhianna, and Diana Krall (Costello’s wife) have not cancelled shows.

The final word goes to Melbourne Film Festival Chief Executive, Richard Moore, who echoes my personal stance, stating, “We will not participate in a boycott against the State of Israel, just as we would not contemplate boycotting films from China or other nations involved in difficult long-standing historical disputes.”

I’m very interested in learning more about the on-going situation in Gaza and its affect on entertainment and indie culture, both at a local level and internationally. Please post your thoughts.

[image credit]

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 article is accompanied by some very sexy images shot by Rasmus Weng Karlsen

…this long, half-nightmarish trip, riddled with police interference, sleeping on floors, eating suspicious-looking food and long days spent in a tiny van on sketchy highways–balanced out by lots of running around naked, swinging from ceilings, drinking pijos [actually spelled pijiu in Chinese Pinyin] (Chinese for beer), turning crowds into moshpits and partying with Chinese rockers–they were appointed one of the top five live acts in all of China.

Sounds like a typical week on the road. Though it’s extremely unlikely—and I’m willing to be convinced otherwise—Reptile and Retard were named in the top five live acts in all of China, they are an example to other international indie bands looking to tour China.

During the World Expo in Shanghai the police closed down random bars and clubs to demonstrate their power. We performed at a trashy punk-venue called Yu Yin Tang and, the expectedly, police turned up to close down the place, finding it too rowdy. We were a bit scared the moment they walked in but, as a reflex, our singer, Mads, just kept going. The crowd followed him and it ended up being one of our best shows, there was so much energy in the air. The cops eventually left.

[via Vice Magazine]

Where costs are a concern, a two-piece obviously minimizes the headache for promoters. But more importantly, they’ve been to China several times, they’ve combined their visits/tours with study and managed to secure bookings on a few ‘good’ festivals. The single most important factor though is that they met someone on the ground they could trust. Mads of Reptile and Retard explains below in an excerpt from an article posted by Mache on Layabozi:

Esben (Retard) and me [Mads], we are studying here [China]. We go to a private school called The Khaospilots, it’s a leadership, project management, and creative processes education…And about The Khaospilots we are educated to know how to navigate chaos, so we learn to be able to be creative with what happens along the road, you know it is like a hippie business school.

No we didn’t. We had some contacts, some friends that were here last year and told us some things. But we were really lucky to meet Michael [of Dada Bar], nobody knew us, and it’s hard to be a band that nobody knows and he took us under his wing, and helped us a lot.

The World Expo in Shanghai has been an amazing opportunity for a handful of international acts to dip their toes in China, without too much risk of drowning in debt and bureaucracy. I recently caught up with Yves Klein Blue here in Shanghai, an Australian indie pop-rock act who were invited to play a handful of shows for the Expo’s Australian Pavilion. Their experience echoed the comments made by Reptile and Retard, below.

With a dose of unwavering enthusiasm that transcended cultural and language barriers, Michael (lead for Yves Klein Blue) left the shy crowd with no option but to dance, eventually resorting to jumping off the stage mid-song and dragging/dancing a few people front and center. Watch the short clip below to see what I mean.

Shanghai Talk Magazine asked Reptile and Retard the difference between shows in China and Europe, and how they came to play at the Danish Pavilion:

It’s more of a challenge to connect with an audience that speaks a different language, but we can do it, it makes it more fun!

Last year we met Martin Røen, the guru of music exchanges between Denmark and China. At that time he was organising a tour for Danish punk phenomenon Clean Boys. Later, he was hired by Expo to put together the official music program for the Danish Pavilion. Martin invited us, as one of the youngest bands, to officially represent Danish Culture at the World Expo.

Here are a couple of free Reptile and Retard tracks:
Breathe Out by Reptile and Retard
Jesus by Reptile and Retard

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.

1. Defeating a lawfully obtained DVD’s encryption for the sole purpose of short, fair use in an educational setting or for criticism

2. Computer programs that allow you to run lawfully obtained software on your phone that you otherwise would not be able to run aka Jailbreaking to use Google Voice on your iPhone

3. Computer programs that allow you to use your phone on a different network aka Jailbreaking to use your iPhone on T-Mobile

4. Circumventing video game encryption (DRM) for the purposes of legitimate security testing or investigation

5. Cracking computer programs protected by dongles when the dongles become obsolete or are no longer being manufactured

6. Having an ebook be read aloud (ie for the blind) even if that book has controls built into it to prevent that sort of thing.

Did the RIAA not get the progress memo? And does this mean we need to wait another 3 years for an independent review of US Copyright Law and a chance at preventing repeats of tragic crimes of bureaucratic ignorance, like one that ended Mass Hyperbole music blog earlier this year.

[via CrunchGear]

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.

Yu Hui, chief coordinator of Suzhou Int’l Music Festival was quoted in a CNTV post earlier this week, saying, “To stage a successful event, I think you have to accomplish four things. Number one, you must have good quality music. Number two, you must invite good quality artists. Number three, conduct a good marketing campaign, and number four, satisfy your audience.”

I’ve given Yu the benefit of doubt and annotated his four points, clarify what makes a successful music festival:

1. Good quality music [sound] –which means allocating a budget for decent PAs and sound techs that know what they’re doing.

2. Invite good quality artists [line-up] –interpreted as acts that can at least replicate their sound in a live environment (the rest is fairly subjective).

3. Conduct a good marketing campaign –being a foreigner, I’m not part of the core target market, but to my knowledge there’s been very little creative strategy and creative application of social media by China’s major music festivals.

4. Satisfy your audience –deliver on your promises for a start. But if there are only 4 main elements needed to accomplish a successful music festival “satisfying your audience” should be 3 of them.

The four points above might get you by for a gig. But an outdoor festival is a entirely different beast.

Watch the video below posted last year by Wired on How to Throw a Three-Day Music Festival. And read on for a brief explanation. Perhaps this should be required viewing for China’s wannabe festival producers.

Compare Yu’s points to the four of the points outlined (below) by Superfly Productions co-founder Rick Farman, who produces Frisco’s huge Outside Lands festival. The difference in focus between the two lists is disparate.

1. Secure location and official approvals –enough said when it comes to China.

2. Production –staging, sound and everything to do with the performance of the artist.

3. Site operations –everything that’s going on during the festival, including layout of systems like sanitation, electical, security etc.

4. Concession stands –Outside Lands is renowned for incredible food stalls and other local, onsite vendors who contribute to the entire festival experience.

After writing this article and trying to hunt down my bookmarked examples, I cam across this post on China Music Radar (CMR) also posted today…and aptly titled ‘We think the same thing, at the same time‘. While this post is intended as a brief and very broad response to the CNTV & Yu Hui, the problems with China’s music festivals are numerous and run a lot deeper. The CMR article, guest written by Pet Conspiracy front-woman, Helen Feng, outlines many of these in more detail and from an artists point of view.

The bottom line…in-experience. And a penny for your thoughts…

“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.

[Economic Times]

I also recently read a list of “10 Things To Do Before I Die”, written by a young blogger in Bangalore, India. Comparing this post to other posts on the same subject, by teens in major cities around the world, there are a lot of similarities. For what this quick bit of very superficial, dirty, shotgun research is worth, here are the 10 most common things ‘global youth’ want to do before they die.

1. Meet a companion
2. Pro-create
3. Do something risky
4. Achieve material wealth
5. Travel to a far-away place
6. Create some sort of legacy
7. Witness something unique
8. Make their parents proud
9. Live in New York
10. [something personally or culturally relevant]

Tripodi’s is an interesting theory, but personally I’m much more interested in #10 on the list above –the wild card. There is little dispute that differences across the globe are narrowing, commonalities broadening and that metro-consumer desires are a growing global culture. But even if we assume that Tripodi’s theory is 100% accurate, doesn’t it make more sense, from a marketing stance, to identify the cultural differences?

Maybe this way brands will actually spawn some greater crossover between, for example, youth in rural India and a major metropolitan centre like Bangalore. That is, rather than perpetuating the divide between regional and metropolitan youth consumers, speak to them on the [personal/cultural] terms that make them unique from other young people. Needless to say, cultures aren’t entirely contained by geographical borders, so these more tailored messages could also be distributed digitally by identifying the different tastes of a brand’s online audiences.

NB: I believe the same global forces causing the growth of a global [youth] culture will also affect a change in the traits that make us different.

I’ve learned a lot about China’s youth culture since relocating to Shanghai. And I’m currently working with a couple of international sporting/fashion brands to help them adjust their China product and marketing strategy accordingly –more on that in the next couple of weeks.

While China is the focus right now, my research is part of a longer-term goal to identify and specialise in emerging youth entertainment markets. Also on the radar at the moment is India, Vietnam and Thailand.

Below is my response to an article posted on Ruby Psuedo’s blog. The original post, ‘10 Notions to consider about how kids use their phones… Up and at ‘em again: Vanity‘ is 12 months old. But the themes are still being widely discussed.

Physical manifestations of technology—like phone handsets—undoubtedly accompany an element of vanity (like any other ‘wearable’ good). And the idea of phones as a fashion accessory is by no means a new idea. But the maintenance of a digital presence is just a function of technology, social trends and the migration of everything that once existed offline, online (and vice versa). As you pointed out in a previous post, there’s no such thing as online/offline anymore –which means [save the proportional few who would tend towards vain anyway] kids living through social applications are not vain. The cloud is just part of where they/we live.

In short, how kids choose their handsets is often seeped in vanity, how they use them isn’t.

Thoughts?

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.

My mate Dave O’Brien is Head Baker at Baker & Spice, Shanghai.

1/F, 195 Anfu Lu,
near Wulumuqi Lu
French Concession

安福路195号1楼,
近乌鲁木齐路

The concept and shop front was setup under the direction of global-based professional baker, Dean Brettschneider in 2009, to service the popular Wagas cafe chain in Shanghai.

The best part about food photography? Eating it. The food that is.