NYLON - November 2007 - (Page 108)

EDI T ED BY KAT E WI L L I AMS BOOKMARK: DEAD CHILDREN PLAYING There are the bands whose members are content to slap a glossy picture of themselves on their album cover and call it a day, and then there are those who believe the artwork for their record should be as carefully crafted and lovingly executed as the music itself. Random Spirit Lover Radiohead has always fallen (Jagjaguwar) into the latter category, thanks in Somehow, between recording great part to lead singer Thom a new Wolf Parade album and juggling his duties as a member Yorke. Yorke, who in the art world prefers to be referred to of Frog Eyes and Swan Lake by his alter ego, Dr. Tchock, has (which also features Dan Bejar collaborated with artist Stanley of the New Pornographers and Donwood to create some of Destroyer), Spencer Krug has tapped into his seemingly Radiohead’s most memorable endless wealth of both brilliance album covers––from 2001’s and spare time to record Sunset Amnesiac, for which Donwood Rubdown’s Random Spirit Lover, won a Grammy for Best one of the most daring and Packaging to the colorful, remarkable albums of 2007. stacked typography of 2003’s Alongside Jordan Robson Cramer, Hail to the Thief. Now the Michael Doerksen, and ex-Pony pair have teamed up for Dead Up member Camilla Wynne Ingr, Children Playing (Verso), a Krug replicates the dramatic captivating collection of artwork bravado and intensity of his and commentary. The book’s work with Wolf Parade in music art might look, at ﬁrst glance, that is also completely different like the type of stuff a junior from his other projects. Krug high teacher would report to the maintains his signature warble principal as “troubling.” But as and penchant for catchy those of us for whom school is a melodies, but throws pop very distant memory know—the sensibilities out the window in kids with the “troubling” art often favor of denser and sometimes grow up and do great things. FV almost frenetic arrangements. Each song sounds drastically removed from the next, but the album plays through without seeming disjointed. As with any other Krug project, Random Spirit Lover is not an album that you’ll immediately fall in love with. But by the third listen, any Wolf Parade enthusiast or forward-thinking music fan will have made room in their heart, and on their iPod, for it. JOSH SMITH SPACE INVADER: NEXTSPACE GALLERY Sick of packing up a year’s worth of work and lugging it around to galleries and potential buyers, artist Stephen Walker (who happens also to be NYLON ’s photo director) had an aha! moment and created nextspacegallery.com, a 3-D, an online virtual art gallery. “The idea is really that people who can’t get to, don’t want to, or don’t have time to go to a gallery can all use it as a tool for quickly visualizing artwork in a realistic space,” Walker says. A painter who also studied 3-D SUNSET RUBDOWN imaging while in art school, Walker has indeed created a space—complete with virtual track-lighting—that is surprisingly realistic, sans, of course, the annoying crowds. “Artists who show work here are amazed at the way it looks with the daylight and white walls,” he says. To date, the gallery, which has been ‘open’ only slightly more than a year, has exhibited work by Andrew Baron, Dionisio Cortes, Suzanne Kammin and Leticia Ortega, among others. “I’m not opposed to having a tradional nextspacegallery some day,” Walker muses. “It would be kind of cool to see it come about in reverse ” TINA RIOPEL For more information, see nextspacegallery.com. SCOUT NIBLETT This Fool Can Die Now (Too Pure) When British-born singer-songwriter Scout Niblett takes the stage, her perfected antagonizing wail is divisive enough that, upon ﬁrst listen, you will absolutely love it, or completely hate it. On her fourth album, This Fool Can Die Now, Niblett has tempered her signature shriek just a bit, and is at her best when paired with Will Oldham, who pitches in on four charmingly rustic duets. This Fool veers from those songs—such as “Do You Want to Be Buried With My People,” where the hymn-like melodies are straight out Southern Gothic—to the bare-bones experimentation of “Moon Lake,” with Niblett’s pitch-imperfect vocals soaring above a lone drumbeat. And on the rare occasions when her voice suddenly cracks into melody, it’s so out of line with the rest of her wild delivery that it seems almost unnaturally caged in. It’s when this happens that you realize that for Niblett, sounding “right” is actually sounding all wrong. LINDSAY MILLER http://nextspacegallery.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of NYLON - November 2007

Contents Editor's Letter Par Avion Behind the Scenes Contributors Stars and Stripes Forever Mass Appeal: Los Angeles Mass Appeal: Austin Mass Appeal: New York Mass Appeal: Sneakers Haute Stuff Private Icon: Slums of Beverly Hills Cult Of: Ralph Lauren Blue Label Memory Lane Nesting: Top of the Block Factory Girl: Road Rules Fashion Road Trip Fashion News Mania: The Price is Right Canned Heat Counter Culture: Universal Picture Private Icon: Jane Fonda Beauty News The Future is Now Smoke And Mirrors King of the Jet Set Rock America Country Death Songs A Fond Farewell Personal Investment Stranger Than Fiction Film Strips Culture Club En Route: The Grapes of our Content Miller's Crossing I'm Too Sexy The Perks of Being a Wallflower Tourist Attraction Star Maps: Fair Isle Shopping List Bag Check: Roam If You Want To

NYLON - November 2007

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