Bombay Monkey’s new album ‘130 Astronauts’ is the third in a “trilogy of four parts” following ‘Vanish’ (2005) and ‘Time Travellers’ (2006). Although ‘130 Astronauts’ is themed around space, the album title is actually derived from the number of space cadets that used to drop by at 130 St Johns Road in Tunbridge Wells, where Bombay Monkey first started making tracks together.

Bombay Monkey describe their sound as being “not unlike alchemy, constantly searching for the perfect balance of numbers – high magic through high maths -  mixing the past with the present and the organic with the chemical.”

 ‘130 Astronauts’ features Rosko John, Mr Thing, Red Eye, Sound Sanctuary and The Origamis and was recorded at their own studio located on a very old farm in The Ashdown Forest, although the initial Bombay Monkey sessions were a very different story. Andy explains:

“Guy shared the flat (the ground floor of an old Victorian semi) with two rappers, Natty and Dwella, and a skater/graffer Jay. I'd turn up with an MPC 2000, a zip drive, and a stack of vinyl while Guy had a mini disc recorder, another stack of vinyl and a stack of DVDs and videos. In the summer, we'd work in the garden - a reasonably over-grown space that was just about far enough away from the road that we could record. In the winter it wasn't quite as easy. The flat was in a pretty bad state of disrepair with holes in the floor, a broken front door, no light in the bathroom and no heating anywhere. Winter recording was never as comfortable. We'd work in Guy' room using an oil radiator for heat when we could afford it and as many tea lights as we could find when we couldn't.”

It was here that Bombay Monkey established their way of making music - avoid computers as much as possible, never use pre-sets, keep tracks short. Old vinyl and old television would prove to be their biggest source of inspiration. Strange coincidences kept the synapses firing, how a sample from a Spanish singer would mesh with Hawaiian guitar in exactly the right pitch and key as Rosco sang about leaving a broken down town.

Bombay Monkey shows utilise custom built visuals created from vintage film clips, fresh film clips and extremely fresh animations care of the exceptionally talented 'CPU'. So far this year, BM have supported Hexstatic at Cargo, appeared at Digital City and played various a/v club nights around London and the South East.

Live Dates:

Sat 19th July - Concrete, Hayward Gallery (Istanbul release party)

Sat 9th Aug - Moorfest, Leeds

Thurs 14th Aug - Big Chill House

Sat 30th Aug - Festinho, Suffolk

For more information go to myspace.com/bombaymonkey or lo-tek.co.uk

Bombay Monkey’s new album ‘130 Astronauts’ is the third in a “trilogy of four parts” following ‘Vanish’ (2005) and ‘Time Travellers’ (2006). Although ‘130 Astronauts’ is themed around space, the album title is actually derived from the number of space cadets that used to drop by at 130 St Johns Road in Tunbridge Wells, where Bombay Monkey first started making tracks together.

Bombay Monkey describe their sound as being “not unlike alchemy, constantly searching for the perfect balance of numbers – high magic through high maths -  mixing the past with the present and the organic with the chemical.”

 ‘130 Astronauts’ features Rosko John, Mr Thing, Red Eye, Sound Sanctuary and The Origamis and was recorded at their own studio located on a very old farm in The Ashdown Forest, although the initial Bombay Monkey sessions were a very different story. Andy explains:

“Guy shared the flat (the ground floor of an old Victorian semi) with two rappers, Natty and Dwella, and a skater/graffer Jay. I'd turn up with an MPC 2000, a zip drive, and a stack of vinyl while Guy had a mini disc recorder, another stack of vinyl and a stack of DVDs and videos. In the summer, we'd work in the garden - a reasonably over-grown space that was just about far enough away from the road that we could record. In the winter it wasn't quite as easy. The flat was in a pretty bad state of disrepair with holes in the floor, a broken front door, no light in the bathroom and no heating anywhere. Winter recording was never as comfortable. We'd work in Guy' room using an oil radiator for heat when we could afford it and as many tea lights as we could find when we couldn't.”

It was here that Bombay Monkey established their way of making music - avoid computers as much as possible, never use pre-sets, keep tracks short. Old vinyl and old television would prove to be their biggest source of inspiration. Strange coincidences kept the synapses firing, how a sample from a Spanish singer would mesh with Hawaiian guitar in exactly the right pitch and key as Rosco sang about leaving a broken down town.

Bombay Monkey shows utilise custom built visuals created from vintage film clips, fresh film clips and extremely fresh animations care of the exceptionally talented 'CPU'. So far this year, BM have supported Hexstatic at Cargo, appeared at Digital City and played various a/v club nights around London and the South East.

Live Dates:

Sat 19th July - Concrete, Hayward Gallery (Istanbul release party)

Sat 9th Aug - Moorfest, Leeds

Thurs 14th Aug - Big Chill House

Sat 30th Aug - Festinho, Suffolk

For more information go to myspace.com/bombaymonkey or lo-tek.co.uk

Do you have a world class Sleeveface picture?
Do you have a heartwarming story or testimonial about Sleeveface?
Has Sleeveface improved your relationships?
Are you Phil Collins?
If the answer is 'yes absolutely' you go to sleeveface.com

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day.

The film was shot in high-definition on location in the United States, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium. It is currently screening at film festivals and special events worldwide.

Interviewees in Helvetica include some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world, including Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, Lars Müller, and many more.

For more info please go to www.helveticafilm.com

This a nice and simple stencil demo using photoshop, I can't hear the soundtrack so I hope it's not to bad!

Art Battles is a live-art competition where artists create work side- by-side in front of a live audience. For six years Art Battles have been a platform for talented artists to showcase their skills in and around NYC in a most unique setting and under tremendous pressure to perform. There's no time to sleep on your ideas, no chance to mull the nuance of each brush stroke. No, with Art Battles, time is as much of the essence as is inspiration and talent.

In May 2007, MTV hosted Art Battles live on the picturesque MTV outdoor deck overlooking Times Square. That evening, 12 artists vied for a chance to have their art displayed in Times Square for public judging.

After almost two hours of paint-induced frenzy, eight finalists were chosen:

Concep, Nick Poe, Leif McIlwaine, Martina Kubinyi, Ben Angotti, Brian Ermanski, Kevin Ragnott and Megan Whitman.

Now, the artwork they created during that Art Battles session has been reproduced onto shades that hang in the MTV TRL studio windows high above Broadway, the most famous street in the world. These artists are veterans of the Art Battles that have been staged all over New York.

The only difference is that this time, the ultimate art jury is you.

Check out the eight finalists and see their work. And be sure to watch the video montage of the May 4 event to see what they did to get into the finals. Art Battles are as much about the finished pieces as they are about the personality and performance of the artist in the moment.

After you've gotten to know the artists and their work, cast a vote for your favorite and tune into TRL on June 11 when the ultimate winner is unveiled LIVE! The winner gets the coveted center shade in our studio windows and bragging rights.

You decide who has the illiest painting skills and whom deserves the title of the 1st MTV Art Battle.

HISTORY:
Created by Sean Bono, Art Battles began in 2001 on a small lot on 45 E. Houston Street in downtown New York City. Since then, there has been tremendous organic growth in the movement with artists battling independently all over the world. It is a means of breaking down the boundaries of elitism and making art more social and tangible to everyone.

At its most basic, Art Battles are a competition in which two or more artists compete against one another in front of a live audience. Painting or drawing on canvas, they strive to create their best piece of artwork in the moment. The artists are limited only by the amount of time each has to complete their painting.

The true essence of Art Battles is the unearthing of the struggle an artist experiences when confronted with an unfamiliar atmosphere and an audience. It is here that the balance of raw talent, creativity and ingenuity can trump an opponent. To the viewer, this is the beauty of watching an Art Battle unfold, often unpredictably.

The connection the viewer feels after being part of the creation process is what compels them to choose their favorite at the end of every competition, with the winners judged as much on the quality of their art piece as they are for their performance in the heat of battle and their personality.

For more information on Art Battles check out www.artbattles.com.

THE FOUNDER
Sean Bono moved to New York City in 2000 from neighboring New Jersey in pursuit of a future in art. He made his first big splash in the NYC art scene at 19 years old, as the creator of Art Battles, a live competitive art show he staged in a junkyard gallery/ performance space in downtown Manhattan. Sean's skills have since become polished, yet still maintains an explosive painting style. At 25 years old Bono is an artist with a very exciting career to come.

WillItBlend.com, the official home of the "Will It Blend?" video series.

According to Will It Blends Tom Dickson extreme blending depends on the capabilities of the machine being used. Tasks that may be extreme for some machines are, quite frankly, simple tasks for Blendtec blenders...

Tom is ready for a new iPod, so naturally his old one needs to be blended! Don't try this at home.

An American duo have managed to create comic capital out of the lighter side of Star Wars with their creation of Chad Vader, younger brother of Darth. Unlike his more successful elder brother, Chad is reduced to working in a supermarket, where he battles shoplifters with his light sabre and attempts to convert complainants to the Dark Side. The sketches, which have had 9.5 million people watch them on YouTube, have led to a major deal for their creators, Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan.

For more info go to their site at YouTube

Check out this really cool animation / stop motion video.

Ljudbilden & Piloten made this stopmotion video for minilogue in summer '06, this is the short version above.
All made on whiteboard so no undo/redo. The long version will be available on the DVD next year, released on crosstown rebels.

If you are after a bit of inspiration or simply want to gawp at some really nice abstract flash animation check out the Designgraphik website. www.designgraphik.com

All the featured artists on http://maarav.org.il/draftedart/ are Israeli citizens or individuals that live, work and create art in Israel but oppose the actions of the Israeli government and military. They feel it is important that this statement comes out of Israel and is created by Israelis, therefore they are not accepting art from fellow artists abroad. They would, however, welcome any future collaboration focused on joint struggle, especially with artist in our neighboring countries.

http://maarav.org.il/draftedart/ more pics on Flickr

From The Basement is a music series that features the most intimate live performances from the finest musicians on the planet.

From The Basement sets a new standard for music TV production. The show is beautifully filmed in high-definition at Maida Vale studios in London with the live sound by producer Nigel Godrich. From The Basement has no host and no studio audience, instead the artist and their performance take centre stage.

The first episode is very special. From The Basement launches with Thom Yorke on the piano exclusively performing songs from the new Radiohead album, alongside incredible performances from The White Stripes and an improvised collaboration between Four Tet's Kieran Hebden and genius drummer Steve Reid. The whole episode has been filmed by acclaimed director Sophie Muller.

Each episode's performances will be available via download only to allow repeated viewings. Downloads are available right here and from iTunes.

Down In The Basement looking up at the Stars

Star Wars turns 30 in 2007 and the anniversary year will begin on New Year's Day 2007 in Pasadena, California as Star Wars for the first time will be in the Tournament of Roses Parade, viewed by millions of people in person and around the world!

The parade will feature 200 costumed, marching 501st stormtroopers who are being flown in from more than 20 countries and all over North America for this once-in-a-lifetime gathering. Accompanying the costumed marchers would be the world-famous Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band from Louisiana, also in costume.

Stay tuned on starwars.com for behind-the-scenes features on the float designers, 501st members, the marching band, the float queens, Mikey the Ewok and more during the whole month of December leading up to the parade!

The three-day free show titled Barely Legal - and billed as a "vandalised warehouse extravaganza" - has an overall theme of global poverty and injustice. After much hype and secretive planning, the event opens to the public on Friday following an invitation-only, celebrity launch party. The organisers have said Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell and Orlando Bloom are all expected to attend. They will be treated to a familiar, but in some respects, head-scratching display of graffiti-inspired artwork.

The exhibition's centrepiece is a live elephant, painted to look like pink floral wallpaper - a reference, it is believed, to weighty problems such as poverty.

A 37-year old Indian elephant has been painted, from head to tail, in a floral pattern reminiscent of an old fashioned living room or a British pub. The animal is made to stand in a makeshift living room, complete with sofa, chandelier and decorated with wallpaper in the same pattern. Banksy, as ever, was not on hand to discuss his creation, but it is understood that the elephant, blending into the background, is meant to represent the big issues in life, such as poverty, that some people choose to ignore.

The exhibition also features film footage of Banksy's latest stunt, when he placed a life-size replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in a theme park ride at Disneyland. The operation was caught on camera, covertly, and has been edited into a short film.

As for more stunts in Los Angeles, during the exhibition weekend, Banksy's people are coy - "Keep your eyes peeled."

Angelina Jolie has forked out £200,000 for art by the "guerrilla" artist Banksy. The Tomb Raider actress, who attended the artist's exhibition in LA with Brad Pitt, spent £120,000 on a painting called Picnic, which shows a white family eating lunch beneath an umbrella while starving Africans look on. She also bought a white bust with a bleeding bullet hole in the forehead and a piece showing a man being hit by a custard pie, both for around £40,000.

Britain's famed guerrilla artist Banksy has launched a three-day exhibition in an industrial warehouse in Los Angeles, called Barely Legal.

Those attending the event were only given the address two hours beforehand, in true Banksy style.

Banksy uses the show to take a sideswipe at heiress Paris Hilton, who recently started a singing career. He has replaced hundreds of her UK CDs with doctored versions.

The exhibition also features footage of Banksy's most recent escapade - placing a life-size replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in a theme park ride at Disneyland. The 37-year-old Indian elephant has been made to stand in a makeshift living room, to blend in to its surroundings.

Check out www.banksy.co.uk for more Banksy mentalness

On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris.

No streets were closed, for Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit.

Read the full story here

The story continues... Some clever dick has combined the footage of the race around the streets of Paris with a live google map. When you hit play on the video a google map below traces the journey the mentalist ferrari driver has taken. Brilliant! 10 geek points.

Click here to see it http://bhendrix.com/wall/Gmaps_GVideo_Mashup_Rendezvous.html

YouTube, the popular online home video site, has an unexpected star -- a septuagenarian British widower -- whose soft-spoken, humble manner has won the hearts of users of the youth dominated Web site.

Peter posted his first video on YouTube about a week ago, under the user name geriatric1927 which refers to the year of his birth. He called it "first try."

In the clip, which starts with "geriatric gripes and grumbles" and some blues music, Peter tells how he became addicted to YouTube.

"It's a fascinating place to go to see all the wonderful videos that you young people have produced so I thought I would have a go at doing one myself," he says, sitting against a backdrop of floral wallpaper and family photographs.

"What I hope I will be able to do is to just to bitch and grumble about life in general from the perspective of an old person who has been there and done that and hopefully you will respond in some way by your comments."

Go see for yourself www.youtube.com/profile?user=geriatric1927

ARTVSTS was spawned by the core of passion for urban art. These urban art activists falls among illustrators and designers. We live by the liberal and free traffic where art exists and collides. Our passion depicts condusive expressions that coincide in the graphic fabric of our streets. We exists as one but practices the freedom of individualism as a medium to create windows of opportunities to quench our stand. We do not believe that art stretches only on canvas. We bring the gallery to the streets.

ARTVSTS are OneTwoDelta / LilPinkDevil / maes2ro / Orkibal / PhuEk! / The Killer Gerbil / Zero

Check this awesome video

The Killer Gerbil for Super Style Mix 2006 (RAZR inspired).

Found via www.urbanretrolifestyle.com For more information goto http://artvsts.blogspot.com

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see eve