Ah Presets, you haven't let us down. When a pre-release copy of The Presets new album 'Apocalypso' landed on the Coolhunter desk last week, it was with great anticipation that we gave it a first spin. And Bam! straight away, it hit us – that crispness of sound, Julian Hamilton's semi-comatose delivery and the wailing synths - it was indeed The Presets we have come to know and love. 'Apocalypso' is a more complete album than its predecessor 'Beams', the songs more fully formed and subtly layered.
With the pounding 'My People' a club staple for months now, the album's second single 'This Boy's In Love' has all the hallmarks of glittering synthpop classic with its rising verses and dream-like chorus backed by tear-drop piano keys. Elsewhere, 'If I Know You' sails by on skittering hi-hats and while Hamilton croons atop pulsating bass. On the album closer 'Anywhere', The Presets get emotional as sparse four-to the floor drums and empty vocals get overtaken by bouncy synth stabs and a New Order-esque, lighters-in-the-air crescendo.
The new album 'Apocalypso' drops on April 12, followed by a world tour. It's going to be a monster year for The Presets. By Nick Christie.
Since being established by Dennis Pahitis twenty years ago, Aésop skin
care has become an uncontested success story in the notoriously fickle
beauty industry – focused on providing its worldwide clientele with the
highest quality botanical skin care, rather than subscribing to
mainstream-cosmetic anti-aging hype. Aésop now have 78 international
stockists, plus 20 signature stores including stores in Paris, London,
Sydney and their most recent Melbourne addition, Flinders Lane.
In keeping with Aésop tradition – that every store is different;
conceived and designed individually so as that each store is a
reflection and celebration of its location – the Flinders Lane store
does not disappoint, providing its customers with a design and
infrastructure that is just as alternative as Aésop’s skin care
products. Located in one of Melbourne’s most interesting precincts, the
Flinders Lane store interior is made entirely of industrial-grade
cardboard; from the display shelving, to the massive eastern façade,
and even the counter tops– proving that cardboard can be both striking
and structurally sturdy if it’s engineered well.
Designed by local interior architects Rodney Eggleston and Anne-Laure
Cavigneaux of March Studios, the ambient new store has drawn attention
from all sorts of passers by. Store manager, Kate, says she wasn’t
expecting how amazed customers would be by the store’s design. “It’s
clear it’s a very tactile environment. Most people come in and tend to
want to touch it all.”
The Flinders Lane store is located at Shop 1C, 268 Flinders Lane,
Melbourne. For a full list of Aésop products and stockists visit www.aesop.net.au. By Anna Byrne.
We've often wondered how certain high-end brands manage to maintain
their global exclusivity especially as the number of millionaires and
billionaires continues to skyrocket. Drive down prominent streets in
Beverly Hills, Dubai, London and you're certain to pass more than a
handful designer Italian and German sportscars. Chances are the valet
parker at your local Ritz Carlton will have sat behind the steering
wheel of cars totaling more money than most of us could only dream of
making in a lifetime.
Thankfully the expert minds at Ferrari have devised a plan nearly
guaranteeing you'll have a difficult time parallel parking between the
same Ferraris your neighbours are driving around town. Ferrari
customers are undoubtedly accustomed to getting what they want out of
their cars, but now the ability to add personalisation has become
paramount - and here's all you need to know:
Book a trip to the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy where you will
meet with a consultant in a special dedicated atelier area. Rivaling a personal fitting by Valentino for the Oscars, your
consultant will welcome you to the new One-To-One Personalisation
Program where you will design your own Ferrari 612 Scaglietti,
accessory by accessory, detail by detail.
The front-engined rear-wheel drive flagship Ferrari 612 Scaglietti is
the only two-door four-seater in the line. The 612 is available with
Ferrari's SuperFast gearbox that allows a driver to shift the paddle
shifters located on the steering column in an astonishing 100
milliseconds. Whilst shiftting away, the V12 is capable of reaching top
speed of 320 kph.
The new model comes complete with an electrochromic panoramic roof that
covers the length of the top of the cabin. With a turn of a knob, the
entire ceiling changes from opaque to translucent, instantly adjusting
the level of sunlight that may penetrate the interior.
OK, so we’ll admit that Ferraris are not quite as common as we make
them sound, but we’re also sure it’s refreshing for some of you to know
that with the assistance of a personal design consultant, you can soon
be cruising the streets in a truly unique Ferrari. By Andrew J Wiener
Royal College of Art graduate (UK) Cristian Zuzunaga has
devised a fabric based on a 'pixel' concept, which is being produced by
Danish manufacturer Kvadrat and sold through Moroso.
Hot Chip's new album 'Made In The Dark', is a
wild ride. From thepopping, stomping squelches and whistles of 'Out At
The Pictures', tothe LCD Soundsystem-esque groove of 'Ready For The
Floor', the albumjumps frenetically between styles and influences.
With
moments of delicate intimacy, soulful croons and
straightforwarddance-pop, Hot Chip truly are the kings of hipster
electro-pop.
Full of infectious, imaginative hooks and
schizophrenic mood and tempochanges, you can lose yourself in 'Made In
The Dark'. With somuch to process, it's an album that will reveal its
more subtleelements on repeat listens.
Music for sound-tracking times of bliss and glee. By Nick Christie myspace.com/hotchip
Alexandre Herchcovitch has come a long way since his humble beginnings
of making his mother's party clothes. Having launched his first
collection in 1994, things have only gotten bigger for the
Brazilian-born designer.
Trained at the Catholic institution Santa Marcelina College of Arts in
Sao Paulo, his designs have been sent down the runways of New York,
Paris and London. Best known for avant-garde designs and eclectic
prints, his trademark skulls became an icon of Brazilian youth in the
nineties.
2007 was a memorable year for Herchcovitch. It was a year of branching
out, particularly with his redesign of the uniform for McDonald's
employees in Brazil, and the opening of his first store abroad. In this
daring project, Herchcovitch chose Tokyo where a good part of his
collections are purchased and where he has become somewhat of a fashion
guru.
The 1,076sq ft store, which sits in the hip Daikanyama district carries
his men's, women's and denim collections and is operated in partnership
with Japanese fashion distributor and retailer H.P. France.
Changing the way the world thinks about Brazilian fashion, coupled with
his new Japanese store and concessions in New York, Herchcovitch is
fast becoming a big and serious name in the fashion world. By Brendan McKnight.
We're back to tell you about another missed opportunity to add another supercar to your fleet. Bugatti
has built the Veyron 16.4 'Pur Sang,' or 'pure blood.' The
Veyron, a special addition version, is one of the world's fastest cars
ever made with a top speed of over 400 kph. Again, all five models have
been pre-purchased for approximately $2 million each.
Bugatti has been off the radar for quite some time, but with the
introduction of the 'Pur Sang' clad in a revealing paintless carbon and
aluminium structure, the Volkswagen-owned manufacturer has clearly
repositioned itself among the world's most exclusive and exceptionally
engineered automobiles. By Andrew J Wiener
We don’t go to the movies to admire the theatre, but would it kill
theatre owners to build even one with an edge? Time and time again, we
are disappointed in the new, mega multiplexes that are boring beyond
belief in their sameness and recycled ideas. So, we must admit that
there is not much to celebrate but are seeing little glimmers of hope
and ingenuity once in a while.
One example is the AMC Pacific Place Cinema in Hong Kong refurbished by Hong Kong-based James Law. The entrance areas to the six
auditoriums seating 600 in 1.2-meter wide leather seats plus the a VIP
theatre for 39 offer some unusual eye candy, but we are still wanting
more. If you know of a truly cool movie theatre, please let us know via
the contact page on the bottom of the site. By Tuija Seipell.
Fiat has opened ew London flagship showroom and it is well worth
the visit even if you have no desire to purchase one of the swanky new
500's. The Marylebone store features a heavily chromed interior (look
out for the exhaust pipe clad columns) and is fresh and modern without
being intimidating or overbearing – think Austin Powers
love den meets the science lab of the future.
The space is split over two floors. The first floor is the showroom with a handful
of vehicles, a whole lot of shag pile carpet and a gift shop to boot.
Here you can purchase pretty much anything for the Fiat enthusiast from
cufflinks to handbags to miniature models that open up to become USB
sticks. Yep, Team Fiat has thought of everything. Downstairs is a more
minimalist white multi function space designed for corporate meetings,
fashion shows and art and design exhibitions. This space currently features the 'Fiat Workpop 500' exhibition where prototypes
of Fiat accessories that have been designed by 22 young product
designers are on display. The public can vote for its favourites, and
in a Survivor like contest, the winner's product will go into mass
production and eventually on general sale. Where will you be able to
purchase these you may be asking? In the gift shop of course. By Brendan McKnight
What do you do after becoming one of France's highest-paid male
models? You become a fashion photographer, of course. Or that's what Robert Jaso did, anyways, and by looking at the fruits of his work, we think his change of career was a wise choice.
The Slovakia-born Jaso who moved to France with his family at the
age of five and fell into the fashion world by accident when he was
spotted by a booker This started a successful 10-year stint in front of
the cameras. A decade is a quite some time for a model, so when Jaso
was looking for a change and something with more longevity, photography
seemed like the next obvious step in his career. Having already had
such an amazing first-hand look into how the fashion industry works,
Jaso then spent several years working on and refining his own signature
style that can now be seen in magazines around the world.
Still based in Paris, but being sent to all corners of the globe to
work on various campaigns and shoots, he currently spends most of his
time working for Italian Vogue.
With a passion for creating stories and a keen interest in all
things technical and aesthetic, Jaso creates carefully constructed
images that are strong and beautiful with a hint of quirkiness. By Brendan McKnight.
Gianluca Fallone
is a designer/illustrator based in Argentina and at only 23 years old
has managed to build up an impressive folio that includes working with
clients like MTV, Nike and Cartoon Network.
Fallone's stance is simple 'I love type and design, and particularly
like when both are present' – which is evident in much of his work.
Inspired by Japanese Animation and comic books, which were triggers for
his 'illustration - design rollercoaster', his pieces are beautifully crafted and extremely detailed. Putting a mark on the
Argentinean design world, we are expecting to see great things from this young and amazingly talented artist. By Brendan McKnight
The little brand blurb that accompanies this new range of luxury motorcycle helmets from Ateliers Ruby is “good looks…for everyday heroes and heroines”. Which is just too cute. So is the story behind them.
Parisian designer Jerome Coste drew on Steve McQueen iconography,
old-school racing cars and quite possibly the six separate head traumas
he’s survived when he set about developing the Pavillion range of
motorcycle accessories for Ruby. He also sold his own motorbike to
finance the production of the full carbon fiber shells, the kind used
in Formula One racing. The “inside garnish” (to quote Coste) is a soft
lining of decadent burgundy nappa lambskin, chosen for its comfort and
anti-bacterial properties. Henceforth providing a “reassuring cocoon”.
Clearly a design pedant, Coste has given his helmets a unique signature
quirk – a small crest that runs along the top, as inspired by the
armoury worn by medieval knights.
The Pavillion range is available in three colours Shibuya (peppermint,
named after the Tokyo Shopping District), Concorde (black) and St
Honore (white) and are accompanied by an equally sweet range of twill
silk scarves in various retro racing car shades.
Again to quote from the branding blurb: “Lady Ruby, your guardian angel wishes you a bon voyage”. Bless. By Sarah Wilson
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