My favourite, guilty pleasure continues to be for Japanese style mags. We’ve posted some stuff from Free & Easy before and they really do go for what they call ‘The Rugged Ivy Look”. Still can’t read a word of it but the mag always looks fantastic.
Rebound – Yr Heart Out 43
“Attention to detail is important, maybe as crucial as context, when it comes to reissues. It’s easy enough to put out some old music on a CD, but it’s something of an art form to release lost sounds in a way that adds to the magic and mystery” from Rebound (yho 43)
The latest instalment of the very fantastic yr heart out is available from the very fantastic yr heart out blog now. The last few editions of this fine online read have really hit the mark for me sending me back to a whole host of records and CDs I had forgotten about. Stuff i have loved but not listened to for years, things that i bought but for whatever reason not fully gotten in to and a whole load of stuff that for equally unanswerable reasons I had never bothered with.
The latest issue covers some of the best looking and sounding names involved in reissuing stuff over recent years; Kent, Blood & Fire, Soul Jazz, On U Sound and the importance of these labels in documenting and re-presenting the sounds and stories from their respective chosen fields. Indeed presentation is the key here, it’s all in the details. The names of the labels and the fine recordings they compile and package should be familiar to most of you. The stories jump off point is the early 90′s when cd’s were becoming the dominant format and examines how this new format kick started a wave of reissues that had nothing to do with the shoddy best of’s and lazily thrown together compilations that had been around. The cast includes Steve Barrow, Ady Croasdell, Stuart Baker, Roger Eagle and the Intro design co. amongst others.
Do yourself a favour and download it free from the yho site here
And whilst you’re there be sure to check out the back issues and their own fine collection of mix tapes and guides
Brian Cannons Northern Soul Photography Project
Wigan born photographer Brian Cannon (whose cv includes sleeve designs and photography for The Verve and Oasis) has recently started a huge project to document that most unique, mysterious and enduring of subcultural scenes Northern Soul. According to a recent interview on 6Music the project will culminate in the release of a beautifully presented large format book. The projects progress is being charted online and one look at the images posted so far suggest the finished thing should be pretty special. Check out the projects site for some seriously fantastic looking images and for a great interview with Brian on why he decided to set to work on this and what it means to him.
Follow the northern soul photo project here
Check out the projects Facebook page here
All images copyright Brian Cannon
Modcast 24
Episode 24 of Eddie Pillar and Dean Rudlands Modcast has recently gone up online and it’s a fast paced, bewildering affair with motor mouths Gary Crowley and Grant Fleming talking all over each other on the 79 mod revivals emergence from punk, tribe related violence from the era, the making of the style councils solid bond video and a ton of other stuff. Reccomended.
Baracuta 2013
First glimpse of new Baracuta product for 2013 from the latest issue of Sport & Street style mag.
Start! magazine
Nice new, little A5 mag Start! promises to deal with mods, norther, scooters all manner of 60′s cool infused stuff . Issue 1 features (part one) of a decent John Hellier interview, stuff on the London International Ska festival and a piece on scottish soul-funkateers The Questions who recorded for Wellers Respond label back in the day. It’s a smart looking thing that could have done with a bit more content but, hey its early days. I’m just grateful there are still people willing to put the time, effort (and money) into sticking out an actual, hold in your hand printed zine.
More info on Start! magazine here
Pete Townshend & Monkey Picks
Interesting piece on the excellent blog Monkey Picks regarding a recent Q and A in London with Pete Townshend. Monkey Picks is a great blog that features writing on a whole host of modernist topics (in the widest sense of the word) from the sixties right through to the modern day.
Music, style, book reviews is all there. Reccomended
There’s a great post on the recent Jam book Thick as Thieves here
and some footage of a recent bank holiday scooter rally down in Brighton here
More Dean Chalkley
Everything he does looks so damn cool. I found these couple of shots I’d dragged off the internet and was using as a desktop for a while and went back to check out Dean Chalkleys site, in particular, the photographs of the people in his 2 most recent films; The New Faces about the latest bunch of young modernists and the very fine Young Souls.
Check out the full set of these fine photographs here
