When I Grow Up

Hi Everyone! 

First off, I wanted to apologize.  I've been pretty busy with the holidays, so I haven't had time to post anything on the blog lately.  I'm back now, though!

I hadn't quite finished posting my favorite things of 2009, so I'm going to push to have that wrapped up by the end of the week!

I'm going to start up again by writing about another one of my favorite musical acts of 2009.  Karin Dreijer Andersson is not a new face in the music industry, although most to not know her by her real name.  She has been involved in the music industry for over a decade now.  Her career began creating some great pop music over a decade ago with the group, Honey is Cool.  She then teamed up with her brother and started an electronic group in 1999 that, in my point of view, is one of the most influential groups of this decade.  The Knife moved electronic music from an over produced world of synthetic music to a very sparse and dark world that is much more expressive and real than most of the music that is generally lumped into this genre.

Karin then broke off and decided to work on a solo project.  The album was released this year and is, without a doubt, one of the best albums released this year.  It continues with the dark and sparse sound created under The Knife, but pushes it even further.  There is an immense contrast created between the music and the lyrics.  There is a very innocent aspect in the lyrics of every song.  I also admire the fact that there was a lot of thought put into this album.  Each song builds on the previous track and it's one of the few albums of the year that I can say is a complete experience, worth listening to from beginning to end.  This album, like those created by The Knife, will have a lasting impact on music.

Crazy in Love

One of the artists that I truely admire as an artist and a gift is Antony Hegarty.  He is the lead singer for Antony and the Johnsons, which have created some of the most powerful songs that I've heard in the past 3 years.  This year, Antony and the Johnsons relased The Crying Light, their 3rd studio album.  This album was much darker than their previous albums, but there was also a great intimacy in every song in the album.  Antony sings his personal emotion and heartbreak with the intention of making you feel what he feels.  It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite albums to be released this year.

I was also fortunate enough to see Antony and the Johnsons live this year.  It was the most beautiful concert I've seen all year, if not in my entire time in Columbus.  Every song was taken to a new place.  They also provided one of my absolute favorite moments of the year.  Many bands play covers during their concerts, and most times, you leave feeling like it was just a rendition of the original, nothing new and unexpected.  Antony and the Johnsons broke that stereotype in the way no other band I've seen has ever done.  They got on stage and covered Beyonce's Crazy In Love.  Their version of the song was actually more powerful than the original in my eyes.  The mood of their rendition seemed to have brought out the true emotions of the lyrics.  It was one of the most powerful stage moments I've witnessed all year.  With that, I leave you with the video of the studio version of this cover.

Stillness is The Move

I've listened to Dirty Projectors for quite some time now.  I'm not going to lie, I purchased a lot of the early music from this band because everybody else was listening to it.  I can't say that I was really a fan of what I was listening to.  That all changed with the release of Bitte Orca.  This is their most accomplished album to date.  It's much more accessible than their previous work, while maintaining the artistic quality of their music that have kept them popular in the indie scene for so long.  It was a refreshing change for the band, but also a refreshing album for the times.  The video I've placed below is the first single off the album, "Stillness Is The Move", which is by far my favorite song on the album.  Also, so show the reach that this band has had this year, I've also attached the recently released cover of this song by Solange Knowles.  I know, you may be confused, but you won't be after you listen to the song.

Givenchy Spring 2010 Men's

Most of you have noticed by now that I tend to focus on womenswear rather than menswear, which is pretty ironic considering that I am a man.  I have the mentality that trends transcend gender, so the trends that I see in womenswear will definitely impact what's happening in the menswear market.  I also tend to feel that menswear collections are not inspiring.  That mentality has changed over the past couple of seasons since a couple of designers have hit the runway.  No other designer makes me more excited about the future of menswear than Ricardo Tisci.  His past two collections represent the spirit of Givenchy to the core, but are very masculine and forward thinking.  They push menswear to a new place.  These are the collections that make me look forward to the future of menswear.

Alexander Wang Spring 2010

I am still compiling my favorite moments of 2009.  Although this collection is actually not going to see the salesfloor until 2010, the creativity was exposed in 2009.  For Spring 2010, Alexander Wang did something which is normally a HUGE no-no:  take a quite literal interpretation of American sportswear and send it down the runway.  Normally, literal interpretations of anything do not work.  This collection took actual American Sportswear(we're talking garments worn in the early days of American football, baseball and wrestling) and moved it forward to an unexpected place.  The result was a very playful collection that pushed American design to a place not often seen in New York - a great combination of commercial appeal and artistic expression.  There were standout pieces of outerwear as well as knitwear in this collection.  The accessories are TO DIE FOR!(as usual!).  What makes this most surprising is that Alexander Wang's clothes come at a price point that many can afford, so I have a feeling that this collection is going to have quite an impact come January/February 2010. 



P.S. - Girls, it's time to grow the hair out.  The messy side braid was the hairstyle used the most down the Spring 2010 runways.  Perfect it while you're all hybernating through the winter!

Girls - Lust for Life

My list of favorite things of the year cannot be complete without an homage to Girls.  They are, without a doubt, my favorite new band of the year.  Their musical influences run the gamut, yet their sound is so fresh and unexpected.  This probably has a lot to do with the fact that Christopher Owens, the lead singer of the band, grew up in a cult and was disconnected from what influences music today.  The end result is a tribute to the old, but taking it somewhere new.  One of the best of the year, by far!  Here's the video for "Lust for Life", the first track off of their debut album.  I decided to post the NSFW version of the video because I think it's more true to the meaning of the song.  Yes, it's racey, but powerful.  Enjoy.

My Girls

One of my favorite albums of the year was "Merriweather Post Pavillion".  It is a piece of conceptual music making unlike anything that I've heard in a very long time.  What shocks me the most about this album is that it has a level of accessibility that many other conceptual albums don't have.  Many of these tracks are just great dance songs that I would love to hear on a night out.  I'm also amazed by the fact that this album was released at the VERY beginning of the year, yet it still stands as one of my favorite things of the year.  In honor of this great album, I'm posting my favorite song off the album, "My Girls".  I could dance to this song all night on repeat and not even flinch!

Nina Ricci Fall 2009/2010

As mentioned in my previous post, few designers have been able to compel us to view a design house as a whole new entity from what we historically associated with it's past.  Olivier Theyskens has made this happen twice now - once at Rochas, and again at Nina Ricci.  It was sad to hear that he would be leaving Nina Ricci, especially after having created some of the the most devastatingly romantic collections that I can remember in recent history(believe me, I can remember LOTS of collections).  Olivier's final collection for Nina Ricci was exquisite.  Not a flaw in the entire collection.  All of the looks were like works of art.  AND THE SHOES!  Fetishists everywhere gasped at the sight.  I don't think anyone will ever really know if this was just a progression of his asthetic for the house, or a final farewell to the house.  I like to think it was the latter.  It was definitely one of my favorite events of 2009.

Givenchy Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2009/2010

Out of all of the fashion shows that we've seen in 2009, few exemplified the culmination of a designer's work more than Givenchy Haute Couture Fall 2009/2010.  Ricardo Tisci has had a very difficult road to climb while he's been working at that house of Givenchy.  His initial collection for the house were not well received at all.  Since that initial collection, he's managed to create a mini empire, building upon the hertiage of the house, while moving it forward into a new direction.  No other collection exemplified that more than the Haute Couture collection for Fall 2009.  Ricardo managed to keep to the traditions of Haute Couture while placing his official stamp onto all of the elements that we expect from Givenchy.  I personally see this collection as a great moment in the evolution of a house with a long history.  It was the moment where this house was able to evolve to another plane.

Two Weeks

As mentioned in the previous post, I'm going to be posting some of my favorite things of 2009.  Another video that I really enjoyed was for "Two Weeks", by Grizzly Bear.  The most amazing thing about the video is that it's not even commitioned by the band.  This is a fan video made for this song.  It's really amazing.  One of my favorite videos created in 2009!

Life In Technicolor II

We are now in December of 2009.  As the year wraps up, I'd like to post some of my favorite things of the year.  First off, a video from Coldplay.  I think a lot of people don't realize that Coldplay has really great music videos for a lot of their songs.  This video follows that tradition.  I think it's really great!  The track is "Life in Technicolor II", off the album, Viva La Vida.  Enjoy!

Coldplay - Life in technicolor ii (official video)
by Coldplayer74

That's Gay.

I love Current.  Watch it all the time.  My favorite show is InfoMania, which puts a nice comedic spin on news and information that comes out throughout the week.  One of my favorite segments on the show is "That's Gay".  Watch below and you'll know why.