Pitchfork   The Dissolve   Festivals: Chicago | Paris

The latest issue of Huck Magazine has the NoMa-approved title, "The Cat Power Issue" and what's more it is guest edited by Chan Marshall herself. Marshall and the Huck editors feature stories on Tame Impala, No Age, and U-God, as well as a new piece from music critic extraordinaire Greil Marcus on "the sweet spot where Cat Power and Bob Dylan connect." The issue concludes with a section of work curated by Marshall, with contributions from William T. Vollmann and Bob Dylan.

Back in June we wrote about Curious Iconic Craft, a book project from the people behind Huck Magazine exploring the history of magazine design. 

The Cat Power Issue is for sale from the Huck Shop.

About two years ago Geoff Manaugh, the editor of BLDGBLOG and the impressive Venue project, curated an exhibit called Landscape Futures: Instruments, Devices and Architectural Inventions at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. 

The exhibit collected projects from architects and designers whose work in one way or another affected the way we perceive landscapes, ranging from studies about the atmospheric preservation of artifacts in NYC museums, to more aggressive topics like climate manipulation as a form of weather warfare.

The exhibit has long since closed but this month Manaugh released a new book of work (borrowing the exhibit's original title) that continues to examine the perception of landscapes, with a new collection of essays on the subject, and supplementary material like a walking tour of dams and debris basins in Los Angeles. 

Landscape Futures is available now from Amazon.






Perhaps you don't often find time over the weekend to check out the latest papers on general relativity quantum cosmology or high energy theory. The PaperScape infographic is still worth a visit. The visualization tracks the connections between 869,759 published scientific papers in the arXiv database, with larger circles in the graphic representing documents most often cited. Zoom in on the map to see titles for the larger circles, automatically pulled from the most used words in each document. [via Information Aesthetics]

PaperScape is the project of high energy physics researcher Damien George. Read his explanation of the project on his blog.





Ace Hotel and Ace Atelier have already shaken up the boutique hotel biz in the States with a quirky, vintage-inspired aesthetic that favors local flavor and unique character over the facade of luxury or predictable uniformity. This month, Ace Hotel London Shoreditch opens. Ace's first venture outside the U.S. will establish the name in a prime hub of creative London—and likely, we're guessing, be a stepping stone to a wider presence in Europe. But the Ace won't be a case of porting Portland to the East End. Rather, the Ace Hotel Shoreditch will be built on collabs with London locals. Here's what we know thus far.

• Local florist Hattie Fox will open a flower shop at the hotel.

tokyobike will produce a small fleet of bikes for guests to use in exploring the neighborhood.

• David Waddington and Pablo Flack of Bistrotheque will collab on the restaurant, restaurant bar and Lovage juice bar.

• Square Mile Coffee Roasters will open a lobby cafe and supply the coffee beans.

• Ace Hotel says the design for the exterior and interior will involve "local makers using traditional UK craftsmanship in a contemporary expression." Design firms Universal Design Studio, Crittall, Winchmore, Benchmark, Brockway, and Max Lamb, amongst others will create for the Shoreditch space.

• Room products will include Farmers' for Ace Hotel bath products, Rega turntables, custom Revo radios in all rooms, and a custom change tray by Ally Capellino.

• Designers John Smedley, Hancock, Assembil, Mr. Start and Gloverall designed the staff uniforms, but we've yet to see them ourselves.

Ace Hotel Shoreditch soft opens September 9 and accepts reservations for that date and beyond.

 

Lisa Gunning directed this short film for "Annabel," a track from Goldfrapp's forthcoming Tales of Us album. Sonically, it finds the duo delving deeper into a folk sound with continental influences. Visually, it sees Gunning (known for her editing work, she's also dating Alison Goldfrapp) using a silvery black and white at first and a simple, magical storyline beautifully told—a boy discovering his feminine side in a treasure trove of objects—to connect.

See Gunning's reel at Whitehouse Post.

Read a Q&A with Goldfrapp at the Nowness.

Goldfrapp: Annabel on Nowness.com

Motorcycles are back in a big way. That's certainly the impression one gets in the cities across the world where unique motorbikes of character and vintage origins are beginning to replace giant plush hogs or sleek, hi-tech futurebikes as the two-wheelers of choice on the street. 

This aesthetic rebirth, an international phenomenon, has roots and parallels in the custom motorcycle scene of '60s Britain where factory bikes were frowned upon by hardcore scenesters. Today, the motorcycle is a new site for creativity where young and old folks are snapping up vintage and past-their-prime bikes on eBay and reviving or rebuilding them as unique looking pieces, some respectful of bike-building tradition and others subverting classic modes.

A new 320-page survey of the custom motorcycle scene from Gestalten covers the new bike-building scene as an aesthetic craft movement. Guest editor and adman-turned-motorcycle blogger Chris Hunter of Bike EXIF features extensive profiles of pioneers including Shinya Kimura, Walt Siegl, Wrenchmonkees, DP Customs, Cole Foster, Deus Ex Machina, El Solitario MC, Cafe Racer, Dreams, Rough Crafts, Southsiders, Roland Sands, and Ian Barry and a stunning variety of signature aesthetics.

The Ride: New Custom Motorcycles and Their Builders is available now in Europe for €49.90.

Happy Labor Day. Hopefully, you’re enjoying some much deserved R&R and not slaving away during the last big celebration of summer. At the very least, you’re likely catching up on television or getting drunk in backyards today.

Now we know the luxe sweat category is something of a contentious issue—they’re one of those items that leave us wondering, Are they dreadfully atrocious? Are they cozy genius? Or are they just plain slovenly? But what better day to find out than Labor Day. Whether you’re wearing them in or out, check out these sweatpants and spend your days off in true lazy comfort.

Uniqlo Sweatpants, $30 


Champion x UO Mock Twist Sweatpant, $49


Reigning Champ Sweat Pant, $100


Muttonhead Baseball Pant, $132

Baldwin Cotton Cashmere Sweatpant, $250

If you had any doubt about the dramatic potential of Three's Company, Catherine Ross' "Thrilling (2006)" loop project will convince you otherwise. Using footage from the television sitcom, Ross compiled and edited an endless scroll of the most emotive gestures, also creating a short loop of each gesture, forming an entirely new narrative. An improvised and particularly panicked trumpet soundtrack from Taylor Haskins adds even more tension to the the scroll of twitches and shaking hands. [via Dangerous Minds]

"Destitute Time"

The last we heard from the Barcelona filmmaking collective CANADA, it was helping Phoenix navigate through a treacherous sound stage. The group's new clip for Delorean, another Barcelona institution, opts for the equally treacherous story of a couple whose relationship involves shooting arrows through human hearts, and some symbolic literature choices. The band makes an appearence performing on an illuminated element of its album art, a double cross design from the Basque artist Jorge Oteiza.

Check out "Destitute Time" below, directed by Roger Guàrdia.



We're a long way from the colorblind, just society MLK envisioned in his "I Have a Dream" speech. This new, extremely accurate map of race in America created by Dustin Cable at the University of Virginia shows us just how divided—but also in many cases just how blended—Americans are by race. Cable uses millions of primary colored dots to represent individual whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians based on data from the 2010 Census. City maps vary in terms of how diverse and blended they are—some feature bands of color radiating out from downtowns. 

Read more at Wired and see the full, interactive map online.