TOP PSYCHEDELIC TRACKS

THE BYRDS | Eight Miles High (1966)

‘66 was the year that psychedelic music really started to come into its own; The Beatles unleashed their backmasked Revolver on an unprepared world, the Beach Boys offered up Good Vibrations and The Byrds introduced their transitional album The Fifth Dimension. Side two, track one was the spectacular ‘Eight Miles High’; with its blatant drug references and warm, ethereal harmonies, this eerie and highly experimental track was crucial in opening the doors for psychedelic music and developing the distinctive West Coast style.

JULY | Dandelion Seeds (1968)

This little-known, retrospectively-celebrated Ealing-based band produced one of the finest and most underrated records in the history of psychedelic music. Dandelion Seeds, an off tilt and dark track is as trippy as its album cover art suggests; the band’s name bleeds from the nose of a reptile-covered hippopotamus. Built on a killer zoom bass groove, Dandelion Seeds is a pop, R&B and world music hybrid with a touch of distorted blues thrown in for good measure. Fuzz guitar fades in and out, ghostly vocals linger, tempo increases and decreases, conga drums roll; it's too much good to handle.

13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS | Levitation (1967)

Levitation is a whirling and swirling, spooky and sinister piece of glorious, golden psychedelia. Tanked up on LSD and peyote, short-lived Texan quintet the 13^th Floor Elevators produced some jaw-droppingly dope music that’s still as exciting today as it was upon its conception, even despite its crackly lo-fi production. This track sounds so overheated; the gnarling, snarling, bluesy guitar, the reverb, Roky Erikson’s deep-southern screeches and Tommy Hall’s electric jug work up something so exceptional, it's on the verge of bursting into flames. Probably the most legal trip you could have.

SYD BARRETT | Love You (1970)

Anything from Barrett’s debut solo album The Madcap Laughs is worthy of a place on this list for showcasing his unique brand of psychedelic folk, but Love You stands out by a mile. This love song is a burst of sunshine, a glimmer of joy on an otherwise downbeat album that gives a powerful insight into the crazy diamond’s shambolic state of mind. Probably made on one of the better days of his LSD-induced post-Floyd meltdown, this track sounds like a very spaced-out Syd got his hands on an ice-cream van and took it on a colourful and chaotic ride through London; rambling and jaunty, his nonsensical Cambridgeshire drawl erratically overlays a distinctively chirpy music hall piano. Dischordant and totally haphazard, but this is where its brilliance lies.

 

SILVER APPLES | Program (1968)

New York based Silver Apples were way, way, ahead of their time, zooming off into the cosmos at break neck speed with their otherworldly sounds. The duo’s avant-garde blend of psychedelic and electronic sounds was groundbreaking, and Program is a great example of their unparalleled style, featuring synthesizers and heavy sampling, of which they were pioneers. Program’s pulsing, monotone drum machine beat predicted the dance music revolution over a decade before it actually happened. 

STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK | Incense and Peppermints (1969)

The quintessential psych song, and a popular one at that; reaching number one in the U.S. charts in November ’67. With Incense and Peppermints, L.A.’s Strawberry Alarm Clock had produced a classic track that was stereotypically flower power in its subject matter and style; mentions of ‘beatniks’, ‘lunatics’ and ‘the colour of time’ met with sweet vocal harmonies and a melange of wonderfully psychedelic sounds made with harpsichord, flute and organ.

LOVE | Singing Cowboy (1969) 

Love didn’t end with Forever Changes, as many claim. And this track is the reason why. After the dissolution of the classic line-up, Arthur Lee reformed Love and produced the underrated album Four Sail, which features the epic Singing Cowboy. This fuzz-heavy, rolling ballad in all its marching drum and maraca-filled glory showcases a neo-Love sound that is much more psychedelic and electric in composition. Lee’s ferocious vocals are well suited to this new sound, and lyrically, Singing Cowboy has great autobiographical importance; with lines like ‘When you say goodbye, don’t you cry’ it’s difficult to tell if Lee is lamenting or renouncing his lost Love.

CAN | Yoo Doo Right (1969)

Yoo Doo Right, a gripping twenty minute tour de force, is the product of what happened when elaborately-structured psychedelic sounds collided with the antithetic and minimalistic burgeoning genre of Krautrock. Taken from Can’s debut album ‘Monster Movie’, this tribal-tinged track marries the simplicity of repetitive, hypnotic drums and bass with progressive jamming-style psychedelic influences (it was edited down from 6 hours of improvisation) and extended guitar solos.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND | Venus in Furs (1967)

Whilst most other psychedelic bands were doing the colourful, flowery, Haight-Ashbury thing, somewhere along the East Coast the visionary Velvets were on to something completely unprecedented, offering up a darker, alternative psychedelic programme which explored the recesses of the human mind. Venus in Furs, a five minute ode to the eponymous sadomasochistic novel, is an Indian raga-infused wall of noise produced with detuned guitars and viola and overlaid with a haunting funeral procession style drumbeat.

FUNKADELIC | Free your mind and your ass will follow (1970)

George Clinton takes you on one whacked out trip through space with this track from the eponymous LP which, according to Clinton, was made with the intention of finding out ‘if we can cut a whole album while we're all tripping on acid’. This mind-blowing ten minute masterpiece is laden with religious subversion and offers up some blinding Hendrix-esque guitar freak outs and feedback control courtesy of Eddie Hazel. You can hear the funk being born.

ANNIE COLLIGNE

Armed with an old 6 x 6 film camera, Annie Colligne is a rising talent making a distinctive and strikingly colourful mark on portraiture photography with her highly saturated images. Born and raised in London and currently Brooklyn-based, Central St Martin’s alumnus Annie has photographed the likes of Charlie Le Mindu, Surfjan Stevens and the late Sebastian Horsley. With an ever-expanding portfolio of images that are imbued with tragicomic mood, her unique and alternative approach to portraiture lies in her ability to juxtapose cheerful vibrancy with unsettling peculiarity.

Unlike traditional portraiture photography, Annie’s subjects are often embellished, even camouflaged by dominant patterns, textures and fabrics. The rapport between subject and object is explored heavily throughout her work; her ‘Linda’ series in particular, contrasts comical adornments with the dark and unusual appearance of her subject, actress Linda Leven. Annie continues to push the boundaries of portraiture in her ‘Project with Sarah May’, a collaboration which sees said set designer shrouded from head to toe in striking fabrics. I caught up with Annie to ask a few questions about her practice.

What inspires your photography?

Annie Colligne: Found photography, going to junk shops, flea markets and pound shops or dollar stores.

What took you to America?

AC: When I turned 28 I suddenly had a bit of a life crisis. I felt like I needed to be somewhere else other than London (I grew up there) and before I knew it I was completely on my own in New York, living in a very strange women's hostel on the upper west side. Initially, I was only meant to spend 3 months here, but I just loved it (NY not the hostel) and didn't want to come back. I am lucky as my mum is American so I have a passport which makes life a lot easier. I just love walking around the city; there is so much to ogle at and so many interesting conversations to eavesdrop on. I find it a lot easier to photograph people here too; people don't question what your motive is, they are just happy you are interested in them.

Are there any recurrent themes in your work?

AC: Yes definitely. An obvious one is colour: I love the contrast of intense colour with a slightly off, sombre atmosphere. I'm also very into costume and general body adornment; I really like objects that interact with the body. I like my photographs to have a bit of mystery to them too: that is always what I find interesting in other people's pictures.

At what age did you pick up a camera?

AC: I probably started taking pictures properly when I was about 17. My dad was quite into photography so he bought me a developing tank. At first I was more into the process of developing, but then I realised I also liked composing pictures. After that there was no turning back: I knew pretty much straight away that I wanted to be a photographer.

Who is Linda Leven and what does she do?

AC: I met Linda in the street in New York; I had just moved here and was looking for a project. I was walking down 5th Avenue and there she was, wearing a gold leather jacket and a Jackie O headscarf. I asked her if I could take her picture there and then, and she said if I wanted to take any more she was up for it and that's where is all began! Linda used to be a ballet dancer but spent most of her life working for IBM. Now she does a bit of acting and modelling for artists; she and her boyfriend really enjoy photography and do shoots together on the weekends for fun. I just love her slightly gothic look contrasted with the bright colours she wears.

What’s your cure for a creative block?

AC: I think a cure for creative block is to at least start something, even if it's a bit half-arsed — you never know what it might turn into.

In your opinion, what is more important in photography, technical-training or a creative eye?

AC: I think having a creative eye is way more important than technical training. There are so many photographers now and with digital lots of people's work is starting to look the same. You really need a creative eye to make a photograph your own. It's not like being an illustrator, you can't just draw something in, you are dealing with real objects and people and making others see them how you do is a difficult task. Having said that, it is handy to be technical as it can open up new ways of working.

Are you working on any projects currently?

AC: I am discussing a little portrait project with Julie Verhoeven that I might shoot in the next couple of weeks: I want to photograph her and her surrounding as I think she is amazing. I'm also working on a little still-life side project involving some old human hair I bought in a junk shop and I want to continue taking pictures of Linda as I hope to make a book out of them at some point.

http://www.collinge.com/

THE DEATH OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

America is a land of black and white, or as Leonard Cohen once accurately wrote, “the cradle of the best and the worst”. A discordant melting pot of extreme ignorance (source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE, electing George Bush as president, and subsequently re-electing him) and pioneering intelligence (Microsoft, Apple and the advent of the internet), of infinite wealth and shocking poverty, whose landscape encompasses beaches, dusty deserts, rocky mountains and snow tipped glaciers. This is a land where Seinfeld and My Sweet Sixteen co-exist, a land that cultivated Woody Allen, Brian Wilson and conversely, the Backstreet Boys. A supreme power with a finger in every pie; it is often said that America rules the world. But is that all about to change? This is a brief tale of the rise and fall of the American Dream.

Free from the royalty and the class hierarchy that ruled over the ancient civilizations of its European colonisers, America was a nation built on ideals that sounded sweet; ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!’ declared the founding fathers. What was initially a revolutionary democratic concept that had the individual’s best interests at heart has been subject to severe corruption over the centuries, leading to a tragic love affair with liberalism that spawned the century of the self and introduced free market capitalism that caused the downfall of America. It’s little wonder the self became sacrosanct in the U.S given the discourse of individualism that was touted endlessly at the public after the Great Depression and the World Wars. “Rugged individualism” was President Hoover’s favourite expression during his time in office, and boy, oh boy did he use it like it was going out of fashion. Then along came Ayn Rand; whose extreme pro-capitalism, anti-altruism philosophies heavily influenced post-war politics. But the most effective method of cementing individualism and liberalism came in the 1950’s when the corporate machine spied the perfect opportunity to cash in on mans quest for happiness; the American Dream. The American Dream in its original essence was honest; it promoted the idea that man was born free and that with hard work, success and opportunity would come to him regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The latter-day, degenerate version has an ethos along the lines of ‘man is born to buy’. Founded on seductive consumer capitalism and a whole lotta debt, it promised every man material plenty and allowed him to live like a king. Millions across the USA were able to lay their claim on a slice of this bourgeois dream.

I’ve often thought that the American Dream is summed up perfectly in the opening sequence of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet: the sun shines over a safe, sleepy, middle-class neighbourhood, where white picket fences line neat lawns, the roses are damn well-pruned and the only sound to be heard is the gentle buzz of garden sprinklers. Everything is idealistic and idyllic, until Jeffrey’s father has a stroke; this is where the dream ends and America wakes up. This is what is happening right across those 50-states, right now. Waking up from the American Dream was never going to be easy; as George Carlin once put it, "it's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." The dream was an illusion, as all dreams are. Never in anyway viable; it was an abstract concept built on borrowing and debt and fuelled by greed and exploitation that ended in economic collapse. As millions lose their jobs and standards of living decline, people want answers and scapegoats. The answers lie closer to home than most Americans would think.

It’s no secret that the USA is living in an all-consuming age of avarice; vanity and materialism are rife and greed can be visually measured by the obesity epidemic that affects two-thirds of its population. The average U.S citizen has interpreted the American Dream as a god-given right, has absolutely no sense of responsibility, and spends his life in a self-righteous, ignorant, idealized bubble, waking up to a bowl of diabetes-inducing Captain Crunch and falling asleep to Fox. Meanwhile, moral tensions grow greater every day over how just 4.5% of the world's population can annually consume 20% of its energy, clock up 251 million tons of trash and recycle a meagre 28%.

Egotism is a strong word, it implies placing oneself at the centre of one’s universe, it implies no concern for others, and it is rather well-suited to the majority of American citizens, and to America as a collective. The nation’s desire for hegemony is well known, as are the countless pretexts they have given for it; war in the name of ‘benevolent imperialism’, in the name of spreading their democracy, in the name of human rights… says the country that still enforces capital punishment. We all know this faux-philanthropy has its real origins in OIL, authority and the interests of the nation. The statistics show that the outlook for America is bleak; with a debt size unprecedented in its history, ($9,988,826,849,315 as I write), an unemployment rate of 9.1% and no plan in place for getting its public finances under control, you do the math[s]. Even if the American economy stabilises and begins to grow once more, without a change of ethics there is no bright future; America NEEDS to forgo its ego.

That’s all folks.

MOON DUO

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/10441/1/rise-moon-duo

RISE: MOON DUO

A project of Wooden Ships frontman, Ripley Johnson and his partner Sanae Yamada, the duo cast a spell with their minimalist, electronic, drone-infused sound.

Moon Duo’s mesmeric, minimalist, California-drenched sound has been garnering them many followers; the San Franciscan twosome, comprised of Wooden Shjips frontman, Erik ‘Ripley’ Johnson and his girlfriend, keyboardist Sanae Yamada, produce synapse-firing sounds with a stripped down set-up of synthesizer, guitar and drum machine.

With undertones of Neu!, electronic duos Silver Apples and Suicide and rock outfits Spacemen 3 and the Stooges, their sound blends Kraut and electronic and throws in the occasional psychedelic guitar freak-out for good measure. Repetition is dominant, and propulsive, motorik beats, repeated keys patterns and two chord riffs roll like waves. The chosen title for their current album ‘Mazes’ seems apt, as like their driving, droning sound, it evokes journeys and progression. We caught up with Moon Duo in London last week, on the final leg of their UK tour…

Dazed Digital: As a couple in life and now in art, have the dynamics of your relationship changed? 
Moon Duo: Surprisingly the dynamics haven't really changed. It's different now that we're working together every day but if anything it has made communication better.

DD: Sanae, is Moon Duo a musical debut for you?
Moon Duo: Yes, this is Sanae's first band.

DD: Where has been your favourite tour stop so far?
Moon Duo: There have been a few highlights. Two legendary clubs: Vera in Groningen and Loppen in Christiania. And Berlin is always amazing.

DD: Do you have similar music tastes?
Moon Duo: We have very similar tastes. But we both like all kinds of music so there's a lot of room for overlap. We record shop together, so we're usually in sync, turning each other onto things.

DD: What is your recent album Mazes all about, thematically speaking?
Moon Duo: Generally it's about finding one's way in life, making decisions and where those decisions lead. We were about to move from San Francisco to the mountains of Colorado at the time of recording, so that was heavily on our minds

DD: What have you been listening to at the moment?
Moon Duo: We listen to a lot of Zamrock. The new Kurt Vile is a recent favourite. Just picked up some Demdike Stare. And Cave is always a favourite in the van.

DD: What’s behind your name?
Moon Duo: It's funny because I find the choosing of a band name to be such a small decision at the time, but you end up living with it for so long. The moon is something that every person and every culture has some relationship with, and we're a duo, so that part is obvious. There's a lot of symbolism attached to the moon and lunar cycles, so it can mean so many things. We like the ambiguity of that.

DD: Erik, there are inevitable aesthetic similarities between Moon Duo and Wooden Shjips, but how do you envisage both bands developing? Will they remain alongside one another or diverge?
Moon Duo: Whenever I envision some sort of plan or development, the reality ends up being completely different, so it's hard to say. I feel like they have already diverged quite a bit, but it's better to not impose any restrictions on things. I'm curious myself about where it will all lead. We have a new Wooden Shjips album coming out on Thrill Jockey in August/September, so perhaps it will be clearer then.

ANN WOO

http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/10407/1/rise-ann-woo

RISE: ANN WOO
 

The genre-juxtaposing, emerging fine art photographer speaks to us about her suspicion of meanings in photography.

Ann Woo divides her time between two towering cities; born and raised in Hong Kong, she completed a BA in fashion design on home soil, then continent-hopped to study at the New York International Centre for Photography and thereafter began practicing as a fine art photographer. Woo displays a distinctive style; measured and minimalistic, her photos emanate a sense of appreciation for ideal. With an impeccable eye for colour and attention to detail, her images feature miscellaneous subjects that range from playing cards to caves.

Her photographic approach encompasses a range of genres; within her selective portfolio portraiture, landscape and still life shots lie juxtaposed amongst one another. To the viewer, Ann’s work is seemingly conceptual and meditative, however, she is hugely preoccupied with upholding absolute objectivity in her images and the question of representation in the photographic process remains at the forefront of her work. We caught up with Ann in Hong Kong, to find out more about her practice…

Dazed Digital: What draws you to photography?
Ann Woo: I tend to have an obsession in looking at beautiful things. Photography makes it possible for me to look at these things over and over again.

DD: Are there any ideas you communicate implicitly or explicitly in your photos?
Ann Woo: I do not try to communicate any ideas, neither implicitly nor explicitly. I try to avoid any pre-constructed meanings in photographs. I choose to photograph things that I’m simply fond of looking at and I would analyze these impulses afterwards. In other words, if a photograph of mine somehow attracted a person’s gaze, and that person happened to ask questions about it, I would be happy to explain the process of my thinking or impulses. I have never believed that photographs can carry any meanings, and at the same time I feel suspicious about intentions behind meanings in photographs.

DD: Which photographers do you admire?
Ann Woo: Bernd and Hilla Becher, Thomas Struth, Hiroshi Sigimoto etc. 

DD: Would you say that a photograph is an opinion?
Ann Woo: No, a photograph is a photograph, a 3 dimensional object with a two dimensional image sitting on one side of the object. People have opinions. Sometimes, a person might have opinions about a photograph – but not necessarily.

DD: Do you prefer shooting with film or digital and why?
Ann Woo: I prefer shooting on films for my own work. I feel fortunate enough to be at a time when film and processing are still available. Films and cameras have the unique ability to capture moments in the most objective way (not including the process of printing negatives on photo papers. Also, it is important to remember that it is always ‘the person’ who gives subjective meanings to photographs.)

DD: What’s next?
Ann Woo: In the near future – I will be involved in a group show called “Always the Young Strangers” coming up soon at Higher Pictures in New York, from May 19 to July 9. For my own works – there will be more sunsets, more playing cards, more flowers and more landscapes coming up soon.

ARTICLE 12: WAKING UP IN A SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/10379/1/article-12-waking-up-in-a-surveillance-society

ARTICLE 12: WAKING UP IN A SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

Presented as part of the London International Documentary Festival at the Barbican, 'Article 12' is a provocative documentary that seeks to expose the threat to human freedoms and rights posed by increasing global surveillance. Directed by Juan Manuel Biaiñ and featuring interviews with leading academic Noam Chomsky and musician Brian Eno amongst others, Article 12 takes its name from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the twelfth article of which states mans right to privacy.

With London ranked as one of the most surveilled cities in world, this compelling exposé provides an eye-opening debate on the potency of surveillance from its voyeuristic effects on mankind to the incurred social control of populations. In these times of increased dependence on computer-mediated communications, where our moves are easily tracked, Article 12 serves as warning of a potential cultural catastrophe, which could see the future slip into an Orwellian society of mass surveillance and depleted personal and political freedoms. We spoke with director, Juan, to find out more…

Dazed Digital: Where did you get the idea for the documentary? Is surveillance an issue that you personally feel strongly about?
Juan Manuel Biaiñ: Yes I feel very strongly about surveillance and privacy. The years I worked in IT gave me a deeper understanding of the vulnerabilities of the computer world and the scope for surveillance - everything is programmed in such a way that it will always leave a trace. We deal with it today with the Apple Iphone and Google Android tracking devices that record the users' every day activities and send that information to tertiary companies.

I also feel strongly about these issues because as an Argentinean, I remember the times we were under military prosecution and when the right to privacy was systematically violated resulting in the large-scale erosion of personal liberties and ultimately, to mass victimisations, persecutions and death. This made me think about the effects of surveillance per se and also of who is behind it and ultimately motivated me to make this movie.

DD: Can you take us through your creative process?
Juan Manuel Biaiñ:  I just develop the projects that I feel passionate about. In general, I follow political and social issues in the attempt to make a difference and create a dialogue between the contributors to the film and the public. 

DD: How potentially harmful do you think mass surveillance could be to our society?
Juan Manuel Biaiñ: That depends on the country and, most importantly, on who has the power. Here in London there are cameras all over the place and all the electronic communication is recorded. So, in some cases, you can say this makes you feel safer; but, essentially surveillance or the lack of privacy changes how people feel and interact. In the end, we need to think about who runs this surveillance society? Governments change and people change, so we need regulations to prevent these kinds of things. I think it is time we thought about the creation of the Digital Habeas Corpus.

DD: Any advice you could give to fledgling documentary makers?
Juan Manuel Biaiñ: If you have an idea that you feel strongly about, keep it and dedicate yourself to making it happen.

DD: Would you agree that most people have a generally nonchalant attitude towards the abridgements of privacy that take place everyday?
Juan Manuel Biaiñ: Yes, I agree and I think that is a problem that we need to address as soon as possible. For that reason I made Article 12: to raise awareness, to make people talk about this, and to give a perspective over the current state of surveillance and privacy. This is just the first step to bringing about social change.

DD: In your opinion, what can we do as individuals to sustain a free world?
Juan Manuel Biaiñ: The existence of our digital personas is a fact; they are mirrored representations of the physical personas to which they should have a direct and singular connection. Existing laws regulating our digital movement and our digital personas have not been established properly yet. What is valid, however, is that in most cases, they have direct impact over our physical lives. Companies and governments decide whether we are eligible for mortgages, loans and life and health insurances by accessing data about our digital personas.

Other people are discriminated against based on the same criterion. Persons have become pure exchange tools on a market where power is the currency. The first step is to take ownership of our data – our representation in the digital world – irrespective of race, social status, or religion. Consequently, this asks for the creation of a regulatory body – the Digital Habeas Corpus.

LUIS DOURADO

http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/10197/1/rise-luis-dourado

RISE: LUIS DOURADO 

The Portuguese illustrator and visual artist is launching a one-man assault on realism through fantastical and mysterious sci-fi tinged compositions

Barcelona-based, Oporto-born Luis Dourado creates fantastical and mysterious sci-fi tinged compositions. The illustrator and visual artist works primarily with photomontage to produce pieces that turn reality on its head. Manipulating images to the point that they take on a new and almost hallucinatory form, his vivid and abstract digital collages strike a disorientating chord. Famous faces are obscured, dismantled and reconstructed in geometric designs and black and white photos of times forgotten take on new life with an injection of digitally-imposed, rainbow-hued auras.

Shifting between different mediums and choosing whichever he feels best to explore themes of control, memory and illusion, Luis’ surreal work combines contrasts of retro and modern, analogue and digital, tradition and technology. Dazed Digital caught up with Luis in Barcelona…

Dazed Digital: How would you describe your style?
Luis Dourado: I think my style varies a little bit from series to series but it is always connected; crossing a couple of techniques such as collage, manipulation, and drawing. I do prefer to "touch" a couple of different aesthetics and try to create links between works using ambiences, usually dark and dreamy.

DD: Having lived in Oporto, Berlin and Barcelona, which city would you say has most nurtured your creativity?
Luis Dourado: I think every city gives you a completely different input. Oporto and Barcelona have always been places in which I work with comfort. My last winter in Berlin was quite a surprise; something fresh and really interesting that somehow fitted the kind of artworks I usually create. The winter was very dark, cold, I spent a lot of time at home and that exercise made me come even closer to the pieces I was working on and that really stimulated me.

DD: When creating your art, does your preference lie with analogue or digital methods? Do you feel that with digital you lose a certain intimacy?
Luis Dourado: I think both analogue and digital methods are valid and wonderful to explore; but I’ll never choose only one. I like to spend time with objects and work with analogue techniques that are always more intimate than the digital ones. Still, I think that with digital you can go really "trippy" and explore sci-fi, surreal aesthetics; reaching results you would never get from analogue, but if I could do it without using the computer I would.

DD: Any medium you haven’t tried yet, but would like to?
Luis Dourado: Yes, many actually! I would love to try installation. I do have a lot of ideas that somehow search to come out from the paper and become 3D. I’m now working on a new series pretty much tri-dimensional inside a digital print; I think it would be lovely to try that out in a room with objects.

DD: Does your art carry a message?
Luis Dourado: I don’t think it’s a message but rather a common visual "experience". All the series search for strange places and try to present surreal "truths". It’s funny because once a friend told me that my works were kind of "still nightmares" and I never saw my pieces as something "evil", but yes, something dark and magical somehow...

DD: Eyes, or rather the lack of, seem to feature enormously in your work. Are you ommetaphobic?
Luis Dourado: Haha, no! I think that removing the eyes usually brings out the dark atmosphere and energy in someone. I also get the feeling that after taking the eyes out, a new character is revealed and it’s exactly this "new" one that I’m interested in. 

DD: Any works in progress?
Luis Dourado: I’m now mainly working in my new personal series "Domains", "Body Crying" and "Untitled Love Series" from which I posted a couple of pieces online. I’m also preparing my first book with originals, maybe for the end of the year. Meanwhile I’m collaborating with other artists and initiatives with my own work; I’m really interested in finding new contexts and ways to share them.

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND

http://www.somethinkblue.com/article_detail.php?article_id=361

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND

Documenting the people who live underneath Las Vegas.

Las Vegas, city of lost wages and languishing morals, is so fervently dedicated to gambling that it is now home to a staggering 1700 gaming venues. Rising up from the vast and dusty Mojave Desert, Sin City is a scintillating, multi-fluorescent hub of activity; a harsh contrast to the eerie inertia of the barren, arid hinterlands of Nevada. It’s brash display of tawdry opulence, coupled with a love for liquor, gluttony and commercial sex render it the ultimate adult playground, and considering this clear monomania for debasement, it’s a wonder what manner of men are actually able to reside in this cultureless metropolis. 

In a series of revealing images, LA-based, Manchester-born photographer Austin Hargrave captures the lives of several Las Vegas residents, but certainly not the kind you’d imagine; delving deep into Sin City’s underground, Hargrave and his camera shed shocking light on a community that is both socially and geographically withdrawn.

10ft below the kaleidoscopic carpets of Caesars Palace, in the subterranean recesses, lives the pariah of this shining city; a homeless community rumoured to be 700-strong. An underground populace has long been acknowledged as a merely fictional phenomenon, thanks to celluloid portrayals such as Luc Besson’s ‘Subway’ and Virgil Vogel’s ‘The Mole People’ whose subterranean protagonists are either callous criminals or monstrous mutants. But Las Vegas’ damp underbelly plays host to a wide range of individuals – those who’ve found themselves in unfortunate situations, addicts and alcoholics, as well as innocent folk who’ve lost their way. Unsurprisingly, many rely upon Sin City’s gambling glory to make a living, spending their days endlessly credit hustling.

Cool, dark and bare, the 200-mile labyrinth of flood tunnels populated by this society couldn’t be a more powerful example of the extremities that co-exist in the Western world if it tried. And yet, whilst the two worlds oppose, they also run parallel; like the midnight chancers that pace the casino floors on the Vegas strip above, the denizens of the underground are also playing roulette; with their own lives. Day in day out this secretive community exposes itself to the perils of the storm drains that include flash flooding and venomous black widow spiders lurking in the shadowy crevices. The Nevada heavens rarely open, but when they do, they can be deadly; in the past few years alone, a tragic amount of drownings have occurred. Most astonishing of all are the living arrangements inside the tunnels; spaces are furnished with beds, wardrobes and shelving units, and contain many of the mod-cons of present-day living like showers and stereos. As beneficial as these storm drains may be in providing shelter and privacy, this earthly divide between the city’s ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ could well prove to be majorly detrimental to support that this lost community badly needs; ‘outta sight, outta mind’.

HARMONY KORINE RETROSPECTIVE

PAMELA DES BARRES: THE LIFE OF A ROCK 'N' ROLL GROUPIE

http://www.somethinkblue.com/article_detail.php?article_id=330

PAMELA DES BARRES: THE LIFE OF A ROCK 'N' ROLL GROUPIE

“I rushed home from school every day to throb along to Mick while he sang ‘I’m a king bee baby, let me put it in’ [...] Someday I will touch and feel him, I know it. Mick my dear, dear PENIS!’’

Pamela Des Barres was not the first virtuous schoolgirl in heat to be giddy and lovesick for rock n roll and its idols. She certainly proved to possess cosmic clairvoyant capabilities, though, as within the space of few years she would be seducing a myriad of rock deities, including her delectable teen-dream Mick Jagger. Like many of the post-war baby boomers growing up in the sixties, Pamela was catapulted from traditional suburbia to its antithesis; radical and unorthodox hippiedom. It was no surprise then, that the vocation she pursued was as one of the first and most famous groupies. Now a published author, Pamela has released a set of memoirs that recount her adventures as an original groupie and share her unique experiences of what it was like to be part of a generation that threw caution to the wind.

THE WEST IS THE BEST

The first (and best) of Pamela’s memoirs to chronicle her super groupie past, ‘I’m With The Band’, is a deeply personal foray into her involvement with the Laurel Canyon music scene of the late 1960's. Affectionately named ‘Gods Golden Backyard’, The Laurel Canyon neighbourhood of Los Angeles achieved considerable notoriety as the epicentre of the heady ‘hippie’ counterculture movement. At a time when the incensed Californian air was heavy with protest and moral drama, and significant cultural shifts were beginning to take shape, an impressionable, doe-eyed Pamela found herself in the eye of a very trippy storm. Spending her formative years at seminal music bar Whisky a Go Go, the beating heart of the burgeoning hippie movement, she made the acquaintance of musicians such as the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Love. Pamela later met two incredibly forward thinking musicians who would change the course of her life forever; Captain Beefheart and creative mentor of her groupie group (the GTO’s), Frank Zappa. Pamela’s narrative gives a delicious, acid-hazed snapshot of the hippie lifestyle; the thrill of being part of the first generation to rebel, to taste sexual liberation and to expand its consciousness. Beautifully unapologetic, ‘I’m With The Band’ shines an unflinching light onto the groupie phenomenon; Pamela gives a detailed account of a free-love lifestyle wild enough to shake the palms on the Sunset Strip. The Golden State’s groupie supreme dallied, fellated and fucked her way through what seems like an endless list of revered rock royalty; Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Jim Morrison, Robert Plant, Keith Moon and Noel Redding all get a mention. Bizarrely, there remains a very innocent and vulnerable element to her character, even as she casually recalls some of the more shocking anecdotes from her past such as Jimmy Page’s S&M penchant and Chuck Berry’s No. 2 fetish. Let it be remembered, however, that this chapter in history was not merely a fornication free-for-all, and that the ideals of the movement ran deeper than sexual promiscuity.  The fervently anti-authoritarian hippie movement advocated a total rejection of the stagnant, conservative American values and outdated ideas that existed, in favour of peace, communalism and sexual freedom. At long last colour exploded into the dull grey landscape of post-war America. Love was ubiquitous, emotional utopia close...

A LIBERAL REBELLION

Love them or loathe them, no historian could deny the profound impact that hippies and their far-out philosophy made on the Western world. There are of course those who will refute that it was in any way positive, insisting the movement was nothing more than a series of events perpetrated by a purple-hazed youth, which spawned negative consequences for society such as the popularisation of drugs. The hypocritical Nicolas Sarkozy once blamed the sixties for ‘a crisis of morality’, yet without this decade, the twice-divorced French president almost certainly wouldn’t be president at all. The Sixties movement stood for freedom, equality and acceptance of diversity and their ethics remain to this day. We are indebted to the counterculture movement for the many freedoms we now have; it was a time that created a rising consciousness of homosexuality and bisexuality, of gender roles and racism. However, it’s perhaps true, also, that the liberal ideals of the movement were a double edged sword and that ideas of changing the world for the better were actually counterproductive. Is the flower power generation in some way accountable for the present-day ‘Me’ generation? The ‘Me’ generation, or its alternative Apple-inspired moniker the ‘iGeneration’? It seems that nowadays morality is a choice, not a duty.

That said, it would be impossible and ignorant to classify the status quo as being wholly symptomatic of a single movement. Disregarding the positive or negative consequences, what the hippie movement essentially did was contest authority, an action always worthy of great applause. Those who are willing to challenge authority are imperative to society - and such a generation has seldom been more essential than it is in the post-recession era of privatisation and impending plutocracy.

To end on a - legally - high note, rumours are a-circulating of a film adaptation of ‘I’m With The Band’, with Zooey Deschanel touted to play Pamela, if the film is anywhere near as impressive as the book, it’ll be a box smash.