Chad Valley - Now That I'm Real (Trophy Wife Remix)
Fellow Oxonians Trophy Wife have twisted Chad Valley’s dreamy dancefloor hit “Now That I’m Real” into a minimal, upbeat funk number – sreaming below. Chad Valley plays the annual Blessing Force London show at Electrowerkz on Thursday, and his Equatorial Ultravox EP is out the following Monday.
Now That I’m Real (Trophy Wife Remix) by chadvalley
Now That I’m Real (How Does It Feel?) from chad valley on Vimeo.
14 Jun 2011
In the future, will we close down all the libraries?
“YouTube are becoming not so much of a brand but a place to go and find things. Sort of like a library.”
Director Kevin MacDonald, who’s just made a YouTube feature film, hints at a future with no physical libraries at all. So think about that.
[Via Don’t Panic]
14 Jun 2011
London agenda for Tuesday 14 June
1. Go see Emmy the Great for free at Rough Trade [Le Cool]
2. Discover the London that never was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists and Secret Agents [Ian Visits]
3. Go shopping in the Piccadilly Arcade [Tired of London]
14 Jun 2011
Wild Palms by Sun Airway
Last year, Philadelphia’s Sun Airway impressed with debut LP Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier. If the spliced strings and dreamy synths of new single Wild Palms, out now on Dead Oceans, are anything to go by, the next one should be equally enthralling.
13 Jun 2011
That's not a butterfly, that's a flying brand
The National Trust has some good news:
“This summer looks set to be the best for butterflies in more than 30 years as population’s [sic] boom, sales of butterfly products increase and butterfly imagery is adopted by big high street brands.”
Hmmm. Yes I can see that butterflies would be happy that their population was booming, were they capable of experiencing the emotion we call joy. But would they really care that their image is being plastered all over the high street?
Anyway, this summer is a great time to see some butterflies. Good places to do so in London include:
National History Museum
Epping Forest
Sydenham Hill Wood
Regent’s Park
Richmond Park
Greenwich Park
And basically any other green space full of nectar. They’ll be abundant through August, so eyes open.
13 Jun 2011
Meet the least powerful man in the city, Mayor Thingumabob
Do you ever find yourself wondering just who the Mayor of London is? You know, the blond fella. If you do, then don’t worry yourself too much. You’re not alone.
A recent survey commissioned by City Hall found that almost one in five Londoners cannot name the current Mayor of London.
And before you assume that this must be a freak result, think again.
In fact ever since City Hall started asking the question eight years ago there has been a sizeable and solid chunk of Londoners totally oblivious to the man ruling over their city.
This block of around one and a half million Londoners are content to live their lives in blissful ignorance without ever bothering to find out the name of the man in charge.
And it’s not just those who can’t name him. When asked how much they knew about what the Mayor does, 59% of Londoners said they knew either very little or nothing at all.
But then who who can blame them? I mean sure we all see wotisname on the telly
from time to time, planting trees, or cycling with Arnie. But how much do we actually see of him doing his job? Whatever that might be.
And I should know. As one of the sad few who bother to turn out to see the Mayor answer questions in City Hall once a month, I can attest that the great London public are not exactly beating down the doors to find out what’s he does all day.
And the reason they’re not beating down the doors is because they understandably believe that he has very little impact on their lives.
He sets fares, but he has no serious tax-raising powers. He can make speeches, but not laws. He sets the police budget, but does not have operational control over it.
And whilst he speaks often of improving the Met, he does not even bother to chair its police authority.
In fact if the current Mayor Boris Johnson fell victim to an extraordinary rendition tomorrow, a large percentage of Londoners would notice no immediate difference to their lives at all.
And yet it doesn’t have to be this way. In the coalition government we now have two parties supposedly committed to localism and devolution.
Under their stewardship the Mayor of London could be given significant powers over how the city is run, from its police, to its schools, to its negligent train operating companies.
If they wanted to, the government could make the Mayoralty truly relevant to our lives and get rid of that blissfully ignorant block of Londoners once and for all.
And yet far from empowering him, the government seems reluctant to hand over even the most insignificant of new powers. Appeals for extra control over the Thames have drifted out to sea, and even proposals to put the mayor in charge of cutting grass and picking up dog mess in the Royal Parks, were withdrawn at the last minute.
And so the man with a bigger personal mandate than any other politician in the country is allowed to carry on with fewer direct powers than the average local council leader.
Yet as the recent Scottish elections have shown, when the public are given the chance to vote for somebody with real powers over and dedication to their region, then they are happy to do so in great numbers.
Alex Salmond is taken seriously because he has been given the powers to have a real impact on the lives of Scots. Future Mayors should be given the powers to have a similar impact on the lives of Londoners
Of course none of the major parties are interested in seeing an Alex Salmond of the South emerge in London. But for the sake of the one in five of us scratching our heads whenever Mayor Thingumabob pops up on the television, it’s something we should now seriously consider.
13 Jun 2011
Tracey Emin - Love Is What You Want
All photographys by David Levene, Courtesy of The Hayward Gallery
Little remains unknown about Tracey Emin, as her life after all is the subject of her very public art works: from the drinking, the sobering, the parties, her travels from Margate to Spitalfields and the emotional trauma in between. Inextricable then she seems to have made art and life, her trademark quilts and signs embroidered with violent outbursts of hate and understated pans of sadness.
Whilst some still remain unconvinced by Emin’s particular brand of nostalgic, self-indulgent artistic explorations this major retrospective is easily her finest to date and one that might persuade even the harshest of critics.
Spanning the length and breadth of her career, ‘Love is What You Want’ is from the start expertly curated by Ralph Rugoff and Cliff Lauson. Matching the melodrama of the artists oeuvre with the layout of the exhibition, the pair have laid out some of Emin’s most famous works in and amongst lesser known, seldom seen pieces of painting, video and photography. Drenched in a pink a hue, ‘Knowing My Enemy’ – a partially collapsed pier – stands tall in the main room, looking over her famous blanket confessionals as the neon light flickers.
Soon we are lead down a dark corridor, with the black walls framing her luminescent neon signs that blaze in lavender purple, bright pink, blue, white and green.
As the Western Cowboy inspired film plays out at the end of the room, the entire exhibition is awash in its soundtrack as the lights static fizzes underneath. The sexually provocative and fiercely feminist artists has also created new outdoor sculptures especially for the Hayward Gallery.
Until 29 August.
The Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo, SE1 8XX
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/tracey
0207 960 4200
13 Jun 2011
The London SlutWalk - awful name, but it was worth it
Interesting to see the internet react to the Slutwalk.
13 Jun 2011
Stockholm's underground is absolutely incredible
More amazing picures here, on a French site whose Babelfished English translation never fails to raise a smile. Question: why are urban transit systems so often hubs for great design? London, Paris, Moscow…
13 Jun 2011
Attention cyclists: Why you should never lock your bike to a tree
This footage comes from Brooklyn (money shot at 1min 35ish), but here in London we’re usually only a couple of months behind their trends. Read a full account at Hypervocal.
13 Jun 2011
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
- The best church names in London, and where they come from
- Summer Camp: Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days
- The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
- Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
- The five best places in London to have an epiphany
- Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
- Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
- 9 poems about London: one for each of your moods
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