Saturday, February 26, 2011
Portastudio Playlist: A COSY SOUNDTRACK FOR WEEKEND+Live Session 57
A COSY SOUNDTRACK
FOR WEEKEND
+LIVE SESSION 57
Friday, February 25, 2011
New Modern Classic...Farah Vintage Spring/Summer 2011
Farah Vintage
‘Spring/Summer 2011’
Shot by the brilliant Gavin Watson!
![[date-header-bg.gif]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYE3aiPBDWXi-w43FiVfcz7g1sWfQbZekRtSRUquWmWhw6Meh7CwiOGZ_rw2xTPWrmXx1hs9Xdb1po-nZeRoxKqVO1r2IGQRwZqVs3r6Xo7OZP77jnFHpZNSW9kWkvY6Eh_ugorJDgOKe/s1600/date-header-bg.gif)
—Spring/Summer lookbook!
Shot by the brilliant Gavin Watson, the Farah Vintage Spring/Summer lookbook features some great London street shots.
Farah Vintage
- Cole Mohr -
"One of my favorite
Model Era!"
"One of my favorite
Model Era!"
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"Garments aren’t bad either!"
the portastylistic
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Porta's Listen!...Monarchy – Monarchy (2010)
“Raised on drive-time radio and in holiday discos!”
Monarchy
Monarchy (2010)
...is a tad too calculated!
With that monolithic name and a press release packed with words like "widescreen", Monarchy have you braced for a yawn-a-thon. And indeed, the opening tracks of their debut recall horrible turn-of-the-1980s MOR angst such as Ph.D. Before long, however, the duo strike gold by applying 21st-century synths to 1980s pop principles, shimmering like a reborn Heaven 17. They'll play well with the Keane/Feeling demographic, but they probably deserve better.
Their self-titled debut really triumphs when it comes to catchy, clubby choruses, as proved by Black, The Colour Of My Heart and Love Get Out Of My Way.
It’s such a tightly sequenced collection that each track practically jostles for attention, yet the showy disco moves and shimmering synths can’t completely disguise the rather pedestrian vocals.
It’s also a tad too calculated, as though Monarchy’s image was styled before their tunes really kicked in.
They might be paying homage to the 1980s high concepts of Art Of Noise, yet they’re a bit insipid, like a half-fat Godley & Creme.
All about
Monarchy
Hometown: London.
The lineup: Edward Nigma (vocals), Peter Uzzle (music).
The background: One of the biggest mysteries of the moment – apart, of course, from why New Band of the Day only got runner-up last night at the Record of the Day awards – is: who are Monarchy? They're a duo from London whose two songs thus far (Gold in the Fire and Black, the Colour of My Heart) are a little bit synth-pop, a little bit electro-funk, a little bit French disco, and a little bit Yacht Rock – some wag has suggested they'd sound great at a club played inbetween Daft Punk and Scissor Sisters, and that's not a bad call. There have been a few of these wannabe slick, sleek 80s-fetishising types of late, creating soundtracks for imaginary remakes of Miami Vice, and Monarchy already deserve to take their place alongside the best of them – Tigercity, Private et al.
But the question remains: who are Monarchy?! They will apparently be formally announcing themselves to the world in January 2010 but until then they have chosen to remain anonymous and keep their identities a closely guarded secret, which has caused some speculation among bloggers who have suggested it might be Starsmith or Paul Epworth or a couple of members of Hot Chip under a pseudonym. But Starsmith is already busy producing Ellie Goulding, Epworth's got his own album to do, and Hot Chip will have their fourth album, One Life Stand, to promote in February. Meanwhile, the pair are giving nothing away: their MySpace contains precious little in the way of information, and their only interview to date comprised a series of pithy epigrams such as "We swim with currents and stand like rocks". Cheers for that. In fact, all we really know about them is that they will be releasing their debut single on Neon Gold, one-time home of Passion Pit and Ellie Goulding, and that they have done remixes for Penguin Prison and Fyfe Dangerfield, the founder member of the Guillemots.
Their own tracks are fine: Gold in the Fire starts out like a typical electro jam with spacey synth bloops and starry twinkles and some lovely 10cc-circa-I'm Not in Love aahs before the singing starts, low at first but rising to a falsetto as the music builds to a cosmic disco peak. We can't decide whether the lyrics - "crimson drops upon the ground" and "while the angels gently weep", to cite two purple examples – are poetic marvels or plain terrible, but at least they're trying. Black, the Colour of My Heart is slower and reminds us of recent moody NBOTD alumni – and 2010 hopefuls – Hurts. If anything, their remixes are even better. We have no idea what the original version of Dangerfield's Need the Money was like, but Monarchy have turned it into a near-classic of the retro-80s genus, all swelling strings and a euphoric chorus worthy of ELO or David Essex. If they can harness some of that cheesy energy and apply it to their own music, with overloaded tunes and OTT productions, they could indeed do a Scissor Sisters. Fred Falke and Stuart Price, is that you?
myspace.com/monarchysound
facebook.com/monarchysound
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"their debut recall horrible turn-of-the-1980s!"
the portastylistic
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Hot and Covered...MR PORTER| Public launch tomorrow!
MR PORTER
‘The Men’s Style Destination’
Designer Clothing & Accessories for Men!
—Public launch tomorrow!
MR PORTER, the online retail destination for men's style, offering over 80 of the world's leading brands will open for business tomorrow.
We're pleased to announce the arrival of Mr Porter, the man version of luxury shopping site Net-A-Porter. The layout is really crisp and streamlined, involving minimal brain-usage when it comes to picking out a button-down: the clothes are organized into lists, articles, and expertly curated sets of three, among other forms of easy consumption. Also, as we learned in the latest issue of GQ, Mr Porter founder Natalie Massenet has the right mindset to make the site work. In other words, she thinks kinda like a dude: "It's all about gratification intersecting with vanity and inertia." How'd you know?.........................................................................................
"Original editorial and men’s style advice!"
the portastylistic
Porta's say...Happy Cosy Birthday James Dean Bradfield!
A VERY HAPPY
COSY BIRTHDAY
James Dean Bradfield
—MANIC STREET PREACHERS
Happy 42nd Birthday Mr Bradfield! - taken from the deluxe edition of Postcards From A Young Man.
Wire telling about his 42nd birthday and the resolutions he was thinking of ;o)
And James singing Happy Birthday for him.
"Yesterday I was 42. So I was in my hotelroom, looking in the mirror .... I'm gonna change, I'm gonna be nice to everyone, I'm gonna love other bands ... and then I just thought of me, James and Mr. Richard Edwards practising this very song in the middle of nowhere and I just thought F*** that."
The video is a First video i found the Manics and falling in Love from now on. the Video with Steven Wells as partner in GOBTV. There were loads of interesting and fun ideas for this video that Sony gradually knocked on the head. Then the band said they didn't want to be in it (Bored with videos). So there was just James, and we got a bunch of Manics fans who had their own band, the Dead End Dolls to be the Manics....better looking I reckon. Especially the red head in the secretary glasses.
Traci Lords was unavailable, so we got model Blanche to lipsync her bit. Lots of high school political gestures in this vid...most of which you'd never see as they are slogans on the backdrop, and also on the kids' T shirts. "Keep Warm, Make Trouble" was my fave.
Anyway, Swells wrote a very funny piece about making this vidfor the Guardian. I personally do love James's voice so powerful Enjoy the video and go buy the album wich is pretty good - and don't forget to stay beautiful!
PERSONAL EFFECTS
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“My sentiments exactly!”
the portastylistic
Monday, February 21, 2011
New Modern Classic...Thom Browne Spring/Summer 2011 Editorial Shots
Thom Browne
‘Spring/Summer 2011’
Editorial Shots!
For you readers a new generation of fashion leaders THOM BROWNE spring and summer season, the image included in this directory back to popeye's among other books, to walk the streets pondering pop and classical sense of balance between high-level suits made out of brand design unique fusion of the atmosphere, THOM BROWNE I love the French style was brought into the modern choice for the New York city, both delicate and atmospheric color fabric sewn together to make into a strict, single-product brand is worth starting, this is still scheduled to suit Fan The use of exposed, with location shooting soccer more texture impression, while many Japanese go to the parties to the trade representative outfit demonstration, and then also please enjoy the following excerpts Figure Hello.
Here are some editorial shots showcasing Thom Browne’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection. What we love about these styled looks are the pleasantries of the models. Nothing neutral with these: it’s all smiles and shine.
—The Social Register
Thom Browne
POPEYE official site
***
—
Thom Browne
Thom Browne
Facebook/Thom Browne
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—
Thom Browne
Thom Browne
Facebook/Thom Browne
- Thom Browne -
"One of my favorite
Fashion Designer
inspirations!"
"One of my favorite
Fashion Designer
inspirations!"
.........................................................................................
"Welcomed the neo-gentleman!"
the portastylistic
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