I Am Actually Good - Christine & The Queens Bring French Pop to You

One of the best French things to take from my trip, I actually picked up in a fab flat in Chelsea. Ever on the pulse of things, Hugh & Fred hooked me up with this little gem burning up the French art landscape.  Christine and The Queens are giving us infectious French pop with a little early-stage Michael Jackson style in a mix of performance, art videos, drawings and photography. The video for Christine or Tilted, the English version, is one of the coolest videos I've seen in ages. 

Oh! Would that I could pull of Christine's (real name Héloïse) tomboy look! Good god, I love a loafer! Perhaps I should dig mine out of whatever abyss they've made their way to. Or, perhaps instead, I shall just practice her dance moves and jam out in my new prius with a seven year old. It's kid-approved!

More from my trip that isn't music soon. I promise.  

In the meantime, check out more of Christine & The Queens here. 

Frank

Every now and again, something is so weird and delightful, I feel like it was put on Earth just especially for us to know we are loved and everything's going to be ok. Even if, like the new movie, Frank, it features probably the best working actor today, Michael Fassbender, and I'm not married to him. 

Even though I'm not married to Fassy, Frank is still a sign of hope. And we can all bask in his perfection, even minus that big blush-worthy grin, and with the addition of a huge papier-mache/fiberglass head. I've never really noticed what a physical actor he is before. Or how goofy. Even in interviews. But he is. The head changes the focus. 

The head's not the only bonus though. We also get the man who could soothe the world with his reassuring gaze, Domhnall Gleeson, and the always awesome Maggie Gyllenhaal (I'm watching her in The Honourable Woman right now as well!) Even bigger bonus: movie's about a band. 

I don't want to make this all about actors, though. At the end of the day, Frank is the kind of tone piece that rarely comes around. One I look forward to always. Cult-y within an inch of its life, but its very niche-ness justifies its existence. 

I'm not normally excited about films. But this one gives me a little hope that there's still a reason to keep making them and not just switch over completely to television.

Frank, inspired by musician Chris Sievey, and directed by Lenny Abrahamson, opens in select markets Aug 16th and nationwide Aug 29th.

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Raeburn's Skating Minister

Today is brought to you by classic Scottish painting, The Skating Minister, by Sir Henry Raeburn. I just bought an oil on canvas replica for my room. It's always been one of my favorites and I've been coveting an affordable, high quality replica for some time now. 

I love the mix of the dreary and bright, buttoned up and playful. It's a pretty good example of the great Scottish paradox and why I love that place so much. 

It was actually quite obscure until 1949, and since then it's become an icon of Scottish art for absolutely good reason. There's even a book written about the painting. 

Henry Raeburn is one of Scotland's most beloved painters. In person, at the National Gallery in Edinburgh, it is so rich and texturous. It's full title is The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch. Walker was a minister in the Church of Scotland who lived during the height of Scotland's enlightenment period-- one of the most influential periods of human history. (In case you don't want to take my word for it, I highly recommend this book.) If I could have lived in any other era, I think it would be Scotland during the enlightenment. Oh, the ideas!

In Cold Blood - Be My Friend, Morgan Kibby

Morgan Kibby makes me want to dye my hair dark and stop wearing a bra. Let my curves out or down, whichever way they want to go. Be freckled. Be soft. Be diaphanous. Keep my sailor's tongue. Live Morgan Kibby (or White Sea, as the show is actually billed) was one of the most genuinely surprising, thrilling evenings of music a jaded artist (or anyone else for that matter) could have. 

She was the anchor in an evening I call the best accidental free concert ever.  

You see, the lovely Miss Vinessa Shaw and I are big fans of Moses Sumney (more on that later). He was having a month-long residency of free concerts and Vinny and I had been trying to organize a time to go. Then, after 24 hours of driving down the coast of California with the mega-duo of Brian Kearney and Gretchen Schrafft (more on Big Sur and an Irishman's first dip in the Pacific soon) I felt like 1. I need to MOVE-- sway in a room with strangers and have nothing to do with my clutch or my car-- even with wide open spaces, with the idea of the Ocean. (Whoops! White Sea!) and 2. I'd love something free to do with my fellow poor-artist friends.

Thus, we all ended up at the "Moses Sumney Concert," where White Sea was his guest. And it was the best concert I've ever been to. 

I'm not really sure I've ever seen a more exhilarating live performer than Morgan Kibby. It has all the drama and height of a Florence + The Machine Show, but with way more prowess, vocal precision and scale emanating from a much smaller operation. 

But then, this isn't Morgan Kibby's first rodeo. She formerly front LA Band, The Romanovs (good name, ya'll!) IMO is the element that makes M83 the shit. She fucking wrote Midnight City. If I wrote that song, I'd retire. 

But nope! That's not really an option for Morgan because of that set of pipes. You guys, in the room, that night, we all just looked at each other in awe. I am open to the awe of amazing singers. I am so often so humbled by the voices I get to hear and write for in my line of work. But I am spoiled by those voices and thus rarely floored by someone's ability. 

I've been waiting for White Sea's first full album, In Cold Blood since that night. I wish I could tell you it lives up to the live concert, but it doesn't and in fact, it can't. That's not even the point. But it is wonderful, it is lyrically bold, it is my jam, and you should get it.

In closing, Morgan Kibby, be my friend. If you get a call from Kade's cell phone, it's just me and I've stolen his phone so I can talk to you. Don't freak out. 

White Sea
In Cold Blood
New album out now via Crush Music/SONGS on iTunes for $7.99 or 
listen to it on Spotify

Not my favorite song on the album, but the video is gorge.

#spark #muse #etc

Yesterday, I was moonlighting as a music video art director for uber-pal, Haviland on her upcoming single "Muse." In case you missed it, she released a fierce/catchy/inspired dance album called Spark a lil bit ago. I'm a privileged bitch, so it's been on my ipod for about a year now (at least pieces of it) but now it's available on itunes and whatnot. 

For the video, she wanted to keep it simple and easy to do. Just the idea of a modern muse. We used water (because we had it) and lights and Hav's natural je ne sais quoi. 

Haviland had been raving about the photographer who did her most recent set of headshots, Elliot London, and I was excited a finally got to meet him on this shoot. I quickly learned he's just my kind of creative dude: casual, innovative, and creative as hell. Just jimmy-rig it until it works. That's my motto. And the stuff he got was SO beautiful! Doesn't Hav look so preeeeety? I can't wait to see how it turns out!!

I can't really tell you how proud I am of her for this album and all the work she put into it. She's a mover!

Get Muse on her album here!

Bonus Vid! 

**Disclaimer: Boss the Chihuahua isn't actually in the video. His fee was too high. So he just supervised.