Bam Thwack Mam Tor
Mam Tor [mamtor.com] are a fairly new publishing house seeking to revitalise the comic and pulp fiction genre, taking their cues from Sci-fi paperbacks from the 60s and 70s and comic/magazines such as, the now quite ancient, Heavy Metal [heavy-metal.net].
They are just about to release their first picture book by Matt Coyle [mattcoyle.net] entitled ‘Worry Doll’ (that’s a pic from it above). Apparently it’s the story of ‘a suitcase full of dolls who stumble across the murdered corpses of their host family in their living room, who flee the crime scene and embark on a nightmarish road trip in popular culture today’. Yikes! And with creepily lush, and almost photorealistic illustrations to match. Check out the Worry Doll preview on the Mam Tor website.
Felt-tip Fiesta
The prolific and multi-talented Holly Wales has added some more good stuff to her foliosite [eatjapanesefood.co.uk] including this image of a playing card produced for Art Directors Club für Deutschland (ADC) [adc.de].
Review Review
What happened to The Architectural Review [arplus.com]? I grabbed a couple of ‘vintage’ copies from the excellent Archiv warehouse off Brick Lane, one from 1962 and another from 1970. I wanted to buy more but I was feeling a bit ‘kid in a candy store… er… sweet shop’ so I managed to stop at 2 ARs and a couple of issues of Design [vads.ahds.ac.uk] from the late 60s.
So, with my interest peeked, I sought out the latest edition of said magazine. No wonder I hadn’t noticed it before. What happened? I guess almost half a decade had passed but today’s The Architectural Review feels like a magazine on the edge of extinction (and coming under Emap’s current remit they should be very weary of this). Gone are the crazy fold outs and different types of paper stock, special colours and lush blueprints (in black, natch). I’ve never seen Gill Sans looking so tired and unloved. Maybe it’s punishment for helping push the social housing agenda of the 60s. I dunno, but with the recent glut of ace architectural magazines at the moment AR needs to step up or go the way of Mondial House [lightstraw.co.uk/mondial].
Three Poses a Pound
Got a thing for old Photo Booths? Well, you’re not alone. There’s a whole community of like minded individuals waiting for your call as well as a list of Photo Booth’s around the world [photobooth.net/locations] so if you ever get the urge you can find one close to you (the non US section needs a bit of help though, if you are outside the US and know of any near you why not add it to the list). There’s also a brief history of Photo Booth Art (?) [photobooth.net/art] over the years, a contact form in case you’d like to hire one yourself and loads more, making photobooth.net one of the quirkiest and most comprehensive fansites along the internet highway. *Bring Bring* Hello? Who’s that? Jeez, I told you not to ring me at work.
“If you work at a magazine, as we do, you hear a lot about the ‘death of print’ which makes sad because, well, we like making a magazine and we would like to keep doing it forever…” — Greg Foley
The latest issue of Tokion [tokion.com] magazine should be of particular interest to maglophiles everywhere. Their annual ‘Creativity Now’ edition features a round table discussion with design directors from quirky periodical titles such as Colors [colorsmagazine.com], McSweeneys [mcsweeneys.net], Purple [purple.fr] and America (designed by ex-The Face Design Director, Graham Rounthwaite). The discussion is chaired by V Magazine [vmagazine.com] design supremo, Greg Foley, and yes, that old chestnut, ‘the Death of Print’, rears it’s ugly head once again.
Vent Fury at Foster
Well, actually that’s only a suggestion, although considering what Foster + Partners [fosterandpartners.com] have done to Spitalfields Market… anyways, New London Architecture is an organisation set up to put Londoner’s back in touch with the people who are moulding the modern face of the city, i.e. the architects. They do this through a number of activities including various exhibitions (such as the recent Legible London exhibition [legiblelondon.info]) and the excellent NLA website where you can have a bit of a general rant about things [newlondonarchitecture.org/haveyoursay] or rummage through on comment on various projects [newlondonarchitecture.org/projects]. It’s a brilliantly easy idea, I just hope someone up there (possibly whizzing around London Eye in his helicopter) is listening. Below is a fist full of projects that caught our eye from the NLA website…
Baron’s Bazaar
Art Director extraordinaire and most obvious successor to Alexey Brodovitch’s throne, Fabien Baron finally has a portfolio site up and running for his agency, Baron & Baron, Inc. [baron-baron.com]. On it you’ll find a fist full of classic covers and spreads from titles such as Interview, Harper’s Bazaar [nmca.boico.net/harpersbazaar_us], Arena Homme (for which he also acted as Editor), Vogue Italia and Paris Vogue [nmca.boico.net/vogue_paris] as well as perfume bottles, crystal skulls, furniture and loads more. The site makes for an awe-inspiring overview of Baron’s career to date, which we’re grateful for because it’s not really like he needs to sell himself now, is it.
Askul Goes to Stockholm
In a rare case of designer/client synergy, Stockholm Design Lab [stockholmdesignlab.se] have been producing packaging for a range of beautifully understated (and very modern) products for japanese office supply group, Askul [askul.co.jp]. Harking back to the ‘International Design’ and Corporate Identity ideals of the 60s, they look both nostalgic and bang up-to-date at the same time.
Super Graphisme
I didn’t imagine it. There was a trend for painting massive graphic murals (I’m talking several stories high) on old brick buildings around the late 70s/early 80s. About the time when bright, primary colours came into fashion (for Melbournians think Knox City Shopping Centre circa 1980). I recently found evidence in a 1971 edition of French house magazine La Maison de Marie Claire, as these scans from said magazine show. Any chance of a revival, do you think? Seems like a cheap way to do up a crappy old building.
Back to the McCarthy Era
Before Stereolab there was McCarthy. Strangely McCarthy sounded nothing like Stereolab, despite acting as a base for the talents of Tim Gane and, later Laetitia Sadier. McCarthy wore their ideals on their sleeves which seems suddenly a strangely appropriate thing to do considering the current political climate. Tracks with titles like ‘Should the Bible be Banned?’ and ‘We Are All Bourgeois Now’ have the destinctive sound of early 90s jangly indie pop but many of the topics seem no less relevent today.
Cool thing is that Cherry Red Records [cherryred.co.uk] have opened up their Digital Downloads website [The site’s URL should go here, but it’s too wierd and long so just click if you want to go there] so you can experience (or revisit) many of the often overlooked bands from this era like McCarthy [cherryred.co.uk/mccarthy] and the ever excellent Denim [cherryred.co.uk/denim]. The newly launched Rough Trade Digital [roughtradedigital.com] online store also offers a chance to rummage through their racks from the comfort of your own home. Suddenly it’s as if 2000 never happened.
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