In an attempt to capture the energy of the “seven young lions roaring out their brands’ presence,” January’s Vogue has model Sasha Pivovarova wearing some of this spring’s finest ready-to-wear from emerging designers; as props, they’ve chosen eight musical acts to play back up. Amongst them? Vampire Weekend, Beirut’s Zach Conden, MGMT, The Horrors, Adam Green, Chester French, The Golden Silvers, and Mika.
The relationship between music and fashion is a long one, and one that Vogue seems entirely uninterested in displaying here. Whereas someone like Patti Smith sent waves through both worlds with her punk poetics, these guys aren’t making any bold statements. Thanks to Grace Coddington and photographer Steven Meisel, they’re just looking pretty.
File this one under things you never knew you needed: fashion highlights from every single Roseanne episode. We had never pinned the Conners as fashion revolutionaries, but Third and Delaware has us feeling amiss for ever thinking Dan was anything less than “the best men’s style archetype for years to come.” Seriously. As ’90s working class fashion swings back into vogue, suddenly raiding the closets of Aunt Jackie or Darlene doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. Even Rosie has a few pieces we wouldn’t mind borrowing.
That’s right. Hip-hop’s presence on the internet is a strong one, and one Lil Wayne has battled in the past. When a number of singles intended for The Carter III hit the net early, he crossed them off the track list, threw them onto The Leak mix tape, and began anew. But this? Even if the mailman is a top-tier Weezy fan, it just seems different.
R.Kelly never really struck us as one to hold back. With 10 studio albums (most recently last week’s warmly received Untitled), a 22 chapter hip-hopera, and more sexcapades than we care to count, he’s taken us from the bedroom to the courtroom, from the basketball court to the barber shop, and from depths of the jungles to the far reaches of outer space. It’s hard to imagine that he has left much territory uncovered, and with his patented style of real talk, no less.
Guys! He did it! Michael Bay’s new Victoria Secret commercial aired last week during the fashion show, and it’s the most explosive 90 seconds of television in recent memory — a sure win in the director’s war against all things subtle. This isn’t Bay’s first commercial (you can thank him for those Got Milk ads, for one), nor is it his first go around with Vicky’s. It is, however, probably the most concise take on his inner thoughts we have seen yet.
To celebrate its UK launch, MySpace Music has been busy putting together a series of celebrity playlists. R&B boys Pretty Ricky’s list suggests an unsurprising taste in bedroom music, while fans can imagine what Beyonce might be playing for her hubby Jay-Z. Inexplicably, amongst these celebrity lists is one put together by the Vatican.
The holy city state explains that their playlist is: “A perfect mix of classical, world and contemporary music. The genres are very different form each other, but all these artists share the aim to reach the heart of good minded people.” Sounds nice, but this can’t really be what’s playing in the Popemobile.
Summit Entertainment might want to consider re-cutting this one. For two thirds of the audience, Robert Pattinson is enough of a draw for a movie. For the rest of us, hearing him quote Ghandi in the first 10 seconds of the trailer is enough to never speak of Remember Me again. In fairness, this seems like Pattinson’s attempt to step away from the tween-heartthrob corner and lay the ground for a post-Twilight career. While it looks like an entirely pleasant romance, and he has ditched that pale glimmer, this movie doesn’t seem like that big step he needed to leave his “human mumble” status behind.
After a highly-lauded foray into documentary, Werner Herzog returns to drama this weekend with Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, a remake of Abel Ferrara’s recent movie of the same name. The infamous wild card recently sat down with our friends at Vulture to discuss one of the film’s more Herzogian scenes, leaving us assured that his charming German accent will ring through once more, even without any cameos.
Best of the Year lists aren’t just about closure. After all, these lists make for a great way to catch up everything you missed while you were spinning that new Phoenix album endlessly. Making this time of discovery easier yet, InSound has rounded up their 50 most downloaded albums of 2009, and is offering everyone 10 free MP3s for download.
Looking at their list, we’ve eliminated albums that weren’t from 2009, and skipped over the obvious choices — the Grizzly Bears, the Phoenixes, and the Passion Pits. Those are for everyone else’s lists.
The football season might have just started, but whispers of halftime performers are already beginning. Sports Illustrated reports that this year The Who will take the stage. This makes sense: while the early part of the decade brought lot’s of Mickey Mouse Club alumni (Justin, Britney, Christina, more Justin), more recent years have favored the classics, with Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty and most recently Bruce Springsteen rounding out the last few years.
Football fans have an entire season to celebrate sportsmanship and toughness and whatever else they like. That leaves Superbowl Sunday as a day for the rest of us: you know, for the confetti salesmen, the talking animals, and the firework fanatics. You’ll have to wait for February for the Who’s first performance in North America since 2008; in the meantime we’ve rounded up and ranked each performance of the last decade.
