Filed under: Music
Best albums
AIR – Le Voyage Dans La Lune
Beach House – Bloom
Radial Sequence – Golden Era EP
Jack White – Blunderbuss
Human Don’t Be Angry - Human Don’t Be Angry
Hong Kong Dong – Sweet Sensations
The Hickey Underworld - I’m Under The House I’m Dying
The Unwinding Hours – Afterlives
The XX – Coexist
Ultrasound – Play For Today
Best songs
Blur – Under The Westway
CHVRCHES – Lies
Crystal Castles – Plague
Intergalactic Lovers – No regrets (live)
Light Asylum – Skull Fuct
Major Lazer – Get Free
Radial Sequence – Goldilocks (demo)
The Afghan Whigs – See And Don’t See
The Hickey Underworld – Cold Embrace (live version)
Ultrasound – Sovereign
Best gigs
Shellac @ Primavera Sound, Barcelona
The Afghan Whigs @ Koninklijk Circus, Brussels
Sophia @ Zuidpool Café, Lommel
The Hickey Underworld @ Zero Hour, Trix, Antwerp
Radial Sequence @ Trix, Antwerp
Light Asylum @ Charlatan, Ghent
The XX @ Lotto Arena , Antwerp
Morrissey @ Les Ardentes, Liège
Human Don’t Be Angry @ Botanique, Brussels
Hong Kong Dong @ DOK, Ghent
Radiohead @ Sportpaleis, Antwerp
Best guitar solo
Geoffrey Burton of Hong Kong Dong in ‘Romance’ (live version!)
Best dog in a video
Major Lazer – Original Don
(bloody hell, give that poor dog a sandwich, ok?!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKKdJoXF7PI
Best artwork
Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral
Beach House – Bloom
Last weekend Hong Kong Dong celebrated the release of their debut album with an excellent gig at the DOK arena in Ghent.
Their eclectic indie pop thrives the most in a live setting and most songs get a more rock oriented layer. The guitar injections of Geoffrey Burton give the songs a nice edge and his guitar solo in ‘Romance’ makes me which I could go and see them play on a daily basis. The band played a large selections of songs from the album but also threw in some golden oldies like ‘Lesbians Are A Boys Best Friends’ and ‘On a Sunny Day’. They finished the set with a steaming rendition of ZZ Top’s ’Give me al your Loving’ that left the crowd ecstatic.
Go see them when you have the chance. They’re one of the most entertaining live bands I’ve seen in quite a while.
Video and photos right about here:
Photos by Dominique Dierick
Filed under: Art | Tags: Barry McGee, Bénédicte Henderick, Benjamin Verdonck, Christine König Galerie, Folkert de Jong, Ivan Argote, Juliette Jongma, Kati Heck, Michiel Ceulers, Tim van Laere Gallery, Triangle Blue gallery
As usual Art Brussels was a visual overdose, but there’s always a few works that keep lingering in your mind. Natural selection, I suppose.
Here’s a few likes: (click for larger images)
Michiels Ceulers ‘Sexuelle Selektion und elterliche Fürsorge’ (2009) at Juliette Jongma, Amsterdam
Ceulers seems to be doing really well. He’s now represented by galleries in Antwerp, Amsterdam, London, Zurich, New York and Los Angeles.
Benjamin Verdonck with a solo show at Galerie Folrent Tosin (Berlin)
…and also a similar Verdonck totem at Tim van Laere Gallery (Antwerp)
Kati Heck at Tim van Laere gallery
Bénédicte Henderick at Triangle Blue gallery (Stavelot) (the booth also had some nice Mil Ceulemans work)
a bit of fun by Micha Payer + Martin Gabriel at Christine König Galerie (Vienna)
Really liked Ivan Argote’s ’All My Girlfriends’ (2007-2009) which shows him taking phonecam shots with random billboard girls as his girlfriend.
Folkert de Jong with his take on Mondriaan’s ‘Boogie Woogie’
I have a soft spot for Barry McGee.
Trend: a bunch of London galleries with very similar Damien Hirst produce. Which was very ‘yawn’. So NO pictures. You know them, you’ve seen them, you’ve said ‘Meh’.
Best songs:
dEUS – Twice
Drums Are For Parades – One (Bochez Deadstep RMX)
Eefje De Visser – Afdwaalt
Girls – Vomit
Jack White – Love Is Blindness (U2 cover)
Jannes Addiction – Irresistible Force
Lana Del Rey – Blue Jeans
Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers
Mogwai – San Pedro
School Is Cool – Warpaint
SX – Black Video
The Vaccines – Post Break-Up Sex
Those Dancing Days – Reaching Forward (live)
U2 – Love Is Blindness (Kindergarten version)
Best albums:
dEUS – Keep You Close
Expats – Cover sessions
Ladytron – Gravity The Seducer
My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Nicole Atkins – Mondo Amore
School Is Cool – Entropology
The Vaccines – What did u expect from The Vaccines?
U2 – Achtung Baby (Kindergarten version)
Most annoying album:
Radiohead – King Of Limbs
Most silly new-age album that for some strange reason will end up in all the end of year lists
Balam Acab – Wander / Wonder
Best gigs:
Mauro & The Grooms @ Kreun, Kortrijk 28/01/2011
Paramount Styles @ Botanique, Brussels 6/04/2011
Ash @ Mezz, Breda 12/06/2011
Morrissey @ Lokerse Feesten 4/08/2011
Sebadoh @ Effenaar, Eindhoven 19/08/2011
The Hickey Underworld @ Play festival, Hasselt 1/10/2011
Broken Glass Heroes @ Arenberg, Antwerp 13/10/2011
My Morning Jacket @ Trix, Antwerp 10/11/2011
Girls @ Trix, Antwerp 15/11/2011
dEUS @ Lotto Arena, Antwerp 16/12/2011
Best cover art:
Gold Panda – Companion
Broken Bells – Meyrin Fields
At the moment the term Tea Party brings out all sorts of bad vibes.
But this is the sort of tea party that I do like.
How cool is this tattoo!? (click to enlarge)
(design by Julia Pott)
Filed under: Music | Tags: I'm under the house I'm dying, new album, second album, The Hickey Underworld
It’s no secret that here at Weapon of Beauty HQ we’re big fans of noise rockers The Hickey Underworld.
So the announcement of their second full album is a perfectly valid reason to come out of our hibernation. In true Hickey style the album is mysteriously titled “I’m under the house, I’m dying” and will be released in the Benelux and France in February 2012. Production was once again done by the boys from Das Pop and none other than Dave Sardy (ex-Barkmarket and now producer to the stars) did the mix.
For the past half year the Hickeys have done a series of small club gigs, road testing the new material. Having attended 5 of them the outlines of the new material became quite clear: there are no outlines. The tracks vary from heavy stomping old-school THU, via surprisingly poppy tracks to a 10 minute psychedelic behemoth. This last one is already a live favourite and reminds us of that other 10-minute live favourite and show closer ‘VRMNSMR’. They’re equally compelling and both are some of the most exciting stuff to have been released in the past decade. Yes, it’s thàt good.
The gig at Hasselt’s PLAY festival in October proved that the band are now ready to take it to the next step. The gig was an exciting and intricate mix of new and old material and ranked up there with the best THU gigs I’ve seen (30 and counting).
Want a chance to see for yourself? Check the tour dates below:
| 10/Feb | Trix | Antwerpen (BE) |
| 11/Feb | Rotown | Rotterdam (NL) |
| 12/Feb | Paradiso | Amsterdam (NL) |
| 17/Feb | Nouveau Casino | Paris (FR) |
| 18/Feb | De Kreun | Kortrijk (BE) |
| 19/Feb | Cactus | Brugge (BE) |
| 22/Feb | AB Club | Brussel (BE) |
| 23/Feb | Het Depot | Leuven (BE) |
| 25/Feb | De Casino | Sint-Niklaas (BE) |
| 26/Feb | Vooruit | Gent (BE) |
Filed under: Art, Film | Tags: Basquait, Jean-Michel Basquiat The Radiant Child, Lizzie Himmel, Warhol
After watching the great ’Jean-Michel Basquiat The Radiant Child‘ documentary, I stumbled upon 3 absolutely great photos of Basquiat, which I wanted to share. All photos turned out to be the work of the same photographer, Lizzie Himmel.
The first time she photographed him was with Andy Warhol (pictured below).
The second time he was alone in his Lafayette Street studio. This particular shoot was for the cover of the New York Times Magazine. The year was 1985 and he was at the height of his career and unfortunately the height of his drug use.
There’s a very particular reason why he’s not wearing any shoes. When Himmel arrived at his studio he was asleep in bed with his girlfriend. Having to also photograph Keith Haring that same day she had no time to waste. With the help of Basquiat’s assistant they got him up, but he was too stoned to function. He kept nodding off so they had no choice, but to dress him. After getting the suit on, Lizzie decided that she had enough of dressing him so she left the shoes off. Three years later he would be dead from a heroin overdose at the age of 27. (story via brooklynmast.com)
And another great studio shot:
