Stay Where You Are by Looking Glass
Drummers traditionally get a bad rap, but think of all the great music that’s been made by former sticks people once freed from the shackles of rock timekeeping: Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue, anything by The Carpenters, Screamadelica. Hoping to be more Gillespie than Ringo is Jim Wallis, aka Looking Glass, drummer with Americana-tinged Londoners My Sad Captains. Fittingly, today’s MPFree conjures images of a weed ‘n’ whiskey fuelled hotel room jam session involving Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Jonathan Donahue (Mercury Rev) and you can catch Jim at the Old Queen’s Head September 20, where he’ll be thrilling punters with his one-man-band themed live show.
11 Sep 2012
Pigs ear bunting, sex-faced elephants and a ten foot high bra. Meet the art of Ayuko Sugiura
Ayuko Sugiura has finished hanging her pigs ear bunting in the corner of the WW Gallery. On the ears are inscribed letters which spell out HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
So I know 2012 has been a year of bunting. Bunting is very much on trend. But how to explain this?
“The pigs’ ears have a kind of beauty,” says Tokyo-born Ayuko. She’s a recent graduate from Slade and this show is her first solo exhibtion.
“Everybody knows bunting, it’s for happy occasions. But [on my bunting] we can still see the hairs and veins.”
Across the room, a translucent silicon cathedral is under construction. Visitors to the show will be encouraged to step inside it and look out through shimmering silicon strands. For art-interested Londoners, It might be the first cathedral they’ve entered in a very long time.
“Religion is powerful. I’m interested in a big huge group of people trying to believe the same things. It sounds dangerous…The cathedral is made of silicon [which is used] as a surrogate of human skin.”
Ayuko’s show is called Second Skin. She wants you to step inside the cathedral so you can wear it.
On the walls are pretty objects. Here are some silicon sheep ears.
And a yonic pink elephant.
What’s going on here? What does the artist want us to feel?
“The attraction of stupidness”
Ayuko Sugiura says.
“There is a connection…the things I think are always about humans. I want to use [materials] around our life. We always ignore the structures inside our own bodies.”
Ayuko talks about creating hybrids, new forms from familiar materials. On another wall hangs an enormous bra, hung like a religious icon, another object close to our bodies and our skins.
It’s an interesting show.
Second Skin is on until the at the WW Galley until October 6 2012. The gallery is open Wed-Sat and the nearest station is Chancery Lane. Their website has the details.
11 Sep 2012
Weather and portents for the week ahead
Weather
It has not rained for 10 days now. The earth in the city parks is as grey and hard as stone. Joggers would rather run on tarmac, it’s easier on their knees. Leaves, sucked dry, droop downwards – as if eager to begin their autumn fall. But the wind is rising. The city’s thirst will soon be slaked.
- Monday – Clouds build. With the night comes rain.
- Tuesday – The wet earth exhales in relief, bringing cooler temperatures.
- Wednesday – The seasons observe an uncertain truce.
- Thursday – A fickle day. Don’t trust it.
- Friday – The autumn wind sweeps summer far away.
The full BBC weather forecast is here.
Portents
There are no portents acting on the city’s inhabitants this week. Instead, your meaningless lives will be subject to the blind caprice of fate.
10 Sep 2012
Boris gives £95,000 job to former Evening Standard editor
Boris Johnson is to pay the former editor of the Evening Standard £95,000 a year to advise him on volunteering, he announced today.
Veronica Wadley, who campaigned vigorously for Boris’s election in 2008 will become the mayor’s new “Advisor, Team London, Volunteering, Charities and Sponsorship.”
Part of her role will be to promote “positive volunteering.” Her job will set London taxpayers back a total of £118,655 a year. The first year will be unpaid.
Boris previously appointed Wadley as the London chair of the Arts Council.
In 2008, Wadley’s newspaper repeatedly criticised the former Mayor Ken Livingstone for allegedly awarding jobs and contracts to “cronies.”
News of Wadley’s appointment has so far gone unnoticed by the paper.
07 Sep 2012
Free Gonzales "Solo Piano" show tonight
Ahead of his sold-out Barbican performance on October 20th, Chilly Gonzales does a free set of compositions from his “Solo Piano II” album tonight at Rough Trade East. Come and hear the multi-talented former electro-clash rapper tinkle the ivories from 6.30pm – it’s evocative, airy stuff, perfect for the tail end of the summer. Get down early, or expect a queue.
07 Sep 2012
Melt by 6001 Hulls/Dad Rocks!
This sounds interesting: Denmark-based Icelander Snævar Albertsson, aka Dad Rocks! is releasing an EP of mash-ups, by young Sheffield producer 6001 Hulls. The EP, which features twisted versions of tracks from Albertsson’s 2011 debut Mount Modern, will be available October 10 via his own Father Figure imprint and is entitled Ac!d Dorks. 6001 Hulls, aka Jack Hetherington, first approached Albertsson via Facebook and the latter was so impressed with the Yorkshireman’s handiwork – describing some tracks as ‘truly inspiring and much better than my work’ – he commissioned an entire EP and promised to put it out on his label. Dad Rocks will be touring the UK throughout October with Tall Ships, including a date at XOYO on the 22nd.
07 Sep 2012
Snipe Likes: Black Moth Super Rainbow
Pittsburgh collective Black Moth Super Rainbow is something of an enigma by all accounts. Members have come and gone, albums have been scrapped and plastic bags have been placed over faces (don’t try this at home, this is incredibly dangerous), in the name of artistic secrecy. However their music isn’t as severe or as artfully dour as you’d expect: scuzzy glam guitars mix with added synth juice to create something altogether ‘fun’. New album Cobra Juicy, their first in three years, is out October 9 via their own Rad Cult label.
06 Sep 2012
Cascine Records Is Two
US indie label Cascine is two years old today. Their sound is a slick mix of atmospheric, synthy alt-pop with shades of R&B, chillwave and lush electronica. Check it out on the label-made “standouts” compilation below.
06 Sep 2012
City Skills: The best public places in London to have a sleep
If you need to sleep during the day in London, but find yourself far from the soft pillows and immaculately-clean sheets of home, where should you go? Here are a few ideas. Some are the product of personal experience, others the fevered imaginings of fitful afternoon dreams. I’m always on the look out for new locations, so please supplement the list in the comments or tweet me your top snoozespots.
Any park, square, or open space
The obvious solution – the only requirement is that the ground be dry. There is no shame in a park snooze, and as long as you avoid the sunny-day lunchtime rush then space and peace are plentiful. I won’t list the many options – your local knowledge will guide your nodding head. But some places are better than others. Lincoln’s Inn Fields I find particularly amenable. It’s relatively secluded from major roads, birdsong is varied and plentiful, the ground is neither too stony nor too lush. There’s even a little hollow in the North East corner which perfectly supports, as if by design, the curve of the human spine. It’s what dreams are made of.
Museum/gallery toilets
If a grassy public square is the ideal setting for a pleasant snooze, the museum toilet is its wretched antithesis. Be warned, for this is the resting place of the damned. Only seek it out in extreme states of drowsiness, and even then with caution. For there is a good chance you will come out more tired than you went in, and with far less dignity.
And yet, if all else fails, if the weather is so bad that outdoor sleep is impossible, these cubicles may be your only hope. The benefits are few but important: they are free and private, and the larger galleries allow a touristic anonymity that will cloak your shame. My advice is to seek out the quietest toilets in the furthest corner of the largest buildings. Basements are good, so if in doubt wander down. Tate Britain, the British Museum and the V&A are all reasonable bets. A self-imposed nap limit of 15-minutes is wise, for no other reason than basic self-respect.
The tube
People sleep on the tube every day, and it’s easy to see why. Nab a seat next to a plexiglass support and let sweet Morpheus do the rest. To an exhausted wanderer, the motion of the carriage can recall the gentle rocking of a childhood pram. The ever-changing cast of fellow-travellers whirl before your eyes like a baby’s mobile. The dulcet tones of the train driver float like a lullaby…
Perhaps I go to far. But a tube carriage is probably the most accessible, reliable place for a nap wherever you are in the city. And no matter where you wake up, you can always hop back the way you came. The safe option.
A county championship cricket match
Not the spot for an ad hoc kip, perhaps, but there are few better places for a pre-meditated summer-time snooze. You can get into the Oval for £10 and Lord’s for £16 to watch a County Championship match. That makes this the luxury option, but the rewards are great: comfortable seating, a perfect level of background noise, and the dream-inspiring romantic associations of the game itself. Take a pillow, a blanket, a novel, and a flask of horlicks. No one else will care, they’ll all be sleeping too.
Napping pro tip 1: Wherever you go in London, always have a cardigan about your person. In addition to their aesthetic charms and practical uses as a layering garment, they can be quickly transformed into a makeshift pillow or a small blanket depending on local conditions.
Napping pro tip 2: Earplugs are an indispensible aid to the urban snoozer. A good quality pair is a sound investment.
See also:
The enormous benefits of a 10-minute nap
More indispensible Snipe city skills:
The best places in London to drink alone
The best places in London to break up with someone
The best frozen pizzas on the London convenience store market, ranked by value
05 Sep 2012
Snipe Likes: Everything Everything
Manchester based, oddball-pop heroes Everything Everything are back with a new album in early 2013, entitled Arc. Stream the suitably eccentric lead single below. Video above. Upcoming tour dates include a likely sweaty and extremely rammed Village Underground, October 23.
05 Sep 2012
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
- An interview with Desiree Akhavan
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
- The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
- Nice Interactive timeline lets you follow Londoners' historic fight against racism
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?
- The five best places in London to have an epiphany
- Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
- A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
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