I know little about Djedjotronic as I have only recently taken notice after hearing his Major Lazer remix. A quick search in my music library reveals original tracks I have previously passed by, notably ‘Gum Attack’. Everything I have heard so far has excited my ears with the following recent remixes being the pick of the crop. One to keep eyes and ears on.

This remix successfully uses the original dancehall drums + vocals and introduces some new wondrous funk + gritty melody. In doing so a highly accessible song has been created. I could happily dance to these sounds all night.
Major Lazer – Hold The Line (Djedjotronic Remix)

I’ve had this for some time now but originally missed it due to being released along side a Tensnake remix. After the delight from the above I checked this out and was equally pleased. Heavier twisty electronic sounds in this one. POW!
The Faint – Machine in the Ghost (Djedjotronic Remix) [BUY]

Gemma Shiel is the creator, designer and owner of the Lazy Oaf; one of East London’s most beloved fashion labels, famous for its use of bright colours, cute characters and distinct style. Gemma has been producing her quirky designed clothes for years now, starting out in 2001 with a market stall in east London, today the Oaf is an internationally recognised brand with products selling in Japan, Italy and Paris as well as the UK.

With the Tate weekend over, a new collection ready for launch and an Oaf publication on the way the last few months have been pretty hectic for Gemma and the team. I recently caught up with the London fashion queen to find out about the new mag, her inspriration and how it all started.

Tell us about your background, how did the Lazy Oaf start?
Lazy Oaf has been going for as long as I’ve been illustrating so about 8 years now. I first became interested in illustration while studying textile design at Nottingham Trent University, which i absolutely hated. After finishing i moved to London and started selling my own hand screen printed t-shirts on a market stall, it all grew from there really.

What is Lazy Oaf at Loud Tate?
Well this is the first one i have been involved in and the reception so far has been fantastic. We sold out of tickets to the t-shirt workshop in the first 20 minutes. We’ve had such a wide variety of people come down today, men and women aged from 12 to 35.

On Thursday your launching the Lazy Oaf zine, how did the idea of a magazine start?
I’ve always wanted to produce a zine so i could do more illustration work and get away from the t-shirt design thing for a bit. The Oaf zine we’re producing will be out twice a year and each one will have a different theme. We’re getting guest illustrations to contribute in each one as well.

Like who?
Well i can’t really say everyone just yet, but we have been working with John Slade and Jemma Coral. The Zine gives us the opportunity to get the illustration side of the Oaf out there.

Who have been your biggest influences?
Haha, don’t tell him i said this but Ian Stevenson, he’s a friend of mine but i love his work. I also really like Mike Perry and Lesly Hall, shes amazing.

What music has been keeping you going recently?
We’re always listing to BBC Radio 6 in the office. As for bands at the moment I’m loving The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band and Young Fathers.

Whats your favorite animal?
I love Dogs, in particular French Bulldogs, oh and Chimps!

Whats next for the Lazy Oaf?
We’re having a launch party for our new zine on Thursday the 1st of October at the Old Shoreditch Station on Kings Land Road. They’ll be drinks, music, products from our new collection and more importantly we’ll have our first ever solo exhibition. It all kicks off at 7pm so be sure to get their early.

To find out more about the Lazy Oaf you can vist their website at www.lazyoaf.com

“7 Styles” is the first exhibition brought to you by the Archipelago Works, a newly opened gallery space in Sheffield part owned by the city’s  resident art terrorist Kid Acne.

As you may have guessed the show features brand new works from 7 of the most colourful and graphic street artists working today including Kid Acne, Sweet Toof, Cept, Dscreet, Pinky, Infinite Livez and Russell Maurice.

The gallery space at Archipelago Works is relatively modest, having only two small rooms to display the work of 7 loud artists the exhibition could have been a total disaster, luckily the organisers have been very cautious as to the lay-out of the show; carefully selecting prints and originals that worked well together. Never did the show feel cluttered or like to much information was thrown at you at any one time.

Each piece had adequate room to breath on the wall, with limited edition prints displayed in the first room and original pieces in their second including some adventurous wood carvings from Kid Acne. The simplicity of the latter suggests that these were prototypes of Acne’s for a medium which he may explore in the future rather than gallery standard pieces.

The quality of work at “7 styles” was, for the most part, well rounded. No contributor stood out in a particularly dominating way; every artist brought something to the table, maintaining a consistent level of quality throughout. However I was expecting a little more from Pinky. Having the opportunity to display work alongside well known talent you would have thought he’d pull out something special, unfortunately he didn’t deliver.

With that said there were some really strong pieces on display, in particular I was thoroughly impressed with Russell Maurice whose prints and paintings on display had a very similar style to that of Mudwig Dan.  At this show the artist had placed little sculptures and trinkets over the fireplace in both rooms engaging the viewer and inviting them to move in for a closer look.

The show also introduced me to the work of Dscreet, an artist who presents his work in an old skool style using chunky characters in a bold and colourful manner. In particular his piece “subway art” left a positive impression and I’ll certainly be keeping a look out for any of his work in the future.

Just like “Ways Of  Seeing” this show would have definitely benefited from some sort of collaboration piece from the artists involved. I also thought that the building lacked atmosphere, you would have found it hard to view the exhibition for more than an hour. It wouldn’t have killed them to put a couple of speakers in each room and played some light music on a low volume if only to make the building seem less cold and deserted. But with that said the setting seemed to work for this show, the pieces on display were great for the most part and as a first show “7 Styles” has set a very high bar for the Archipelago Works gallery and we look forward to their next show on Halloween.

Exhibition Rating: 7 out of 10

BMBP by Ella Cutter

It has been a while since i have posted any of my new finds or interests on here, but at last the time has come once again. I’ve recently been struggling to clamber out of the hole of electronic sounds i have fallen into in the search, once again, of the light of music performed live on instruments. This has been hard due to the excess of beautiful bleeps and bloops that have been blessing my ears, however i do have something to share.

Refuge has been found in the crispy wave of Black Manila Beach Parade’s fresh and freaky horror surf sound. BMBP are a three piece band from south london, formed by a trio of talented souls with differing musical roots, but who have found solace in their collaborative sound and mutual passion.

Conrad Armstrong’s lyrics paint dark washes of colour over urban images, equally able to conjure feelings of despair and decadence as hope and revolution. Much like in Armstrong’s previous project Stazi Static the songs are often built around a bass line core, that drives the song forward whilst twisting, stammering and folding through the walls of noise created by guitarist Gareth Hoskins.

The guitar licks and loops are what really give this band a special edge. Like how Burial or Synkro in the dubstep world use vocals that reference old UK garage and R&B songs and flavours, in Black Manila Beach Parade the guitar mimics the sounds of classic surf licks and broken americana. These audio ghosts echo through the tunes with an energy eager to burst out in a fresh sound both reminiscent of times past and relevant to the needs of todays new ears.

All of this is backed up by the adventurous but steady drums of Liam Ramsden and the unique presence these three performers have when gracing a stage.

As a special treat the band have been kind enough to provide us with demos of two of their recent tunes.

The first is “Brixton Hill”, which after a suitably nautical accordion intro skit, lures us into a misleading introduction, suggesting another predictable London indie band song, before surprising us with a guitar lick which pierces through the sound and reshapes the song completely.
Black Manila Beach Parade – Brixton Hill

Next is “Jean le Loup”. Starting with a rallying and rolling drum beat, this song demonstrates a beautiful balance, finding an area between beauty and calm and chaos and excitement whilst continuously driving forwards.
Black Manila Beach Parade – Jean LeLoup

The following link is to an interview that vocalist Conrad did with supersuper.tv which gives more of an insight into the bands own thoughts about their sound and their desired direction: www.supersuper.tv/index.php/articles/horror_surf_anyone/

More songs and tour dates are to be found on their myspace page: www.myspace.com/blackmanilabeachparade

Here’s the official music video for Thom Yorke’s forthcoming single “The Hollow Earth” featuring the work of Mum and Dad’s favorite street artist Mr Banksy.

I’m an absolutely huge Radiohead fan and i love street art, but I’m not sure about this one. This could have been a great opportunity to make something artistically brilliant from two of the worlds greatest artists in there own fields respectively, but unfortunately the video disappoints. This is mainly because there are only a few Banksy images in the video that just cycle over and over again in flashes on the screen. It’s kind of embarrassing to think that this is the best they could come up with.

Still, good tune though.

A quick post to share something good that just landed in my inbox. A beautiful bouncy remix of Eliza Doolittle’s Money Box by Jamie xx (aka Jamie from The xx). The lyrics are quite apt as my housemates just went out to eat but I stayed home. Bobbing!

Eliza Doolittle – Money Box (Jamie xx Remix)

A brilliant new feature has recently been put up on the Pure Evil website allowing you to take a virtual “tour” of the artists latest exhibition at his gallery in Shoreditch. Although not everything from the exhibition has been shown (Due to the artist continually creating and displaying new pieces), the feature does give you an amazing 360 degree trip around the pure evil gallery when the exhibition when it first opened.

If you check the link bellow you’ll see just how fantastic this Exhibition is; i loved how the artist had work hidden in every corner of his beautiful gallery (which is very reminiscent of the old Lazarides space on Greek Street),  inviting his guests to explore the building.

If this looks like a show that interests you then go check it out right away as it will be finishing shortly, if you can’t make it then be sure to check out “Gallery 5″ on his site as this takes you into a music studio where you can re-listen to all the music from the exhibition (which is now available to download on i-tunes).

Take the tour here: www.pureevilclothing.com

Hope you have as much fun playing around with the feature as i did.

I’ve been organising my music collection this week and reminiscing over music from years gone by. In doing so I relived some of the original excitement experienced from tracks that became lost in the mass of continual new releases. It got me thinking about the future of sound; what’s coming, who’s coming? It’s rather exciting that with ever advancing technology and more people getting involved new pleasurable sounds are always around the corner.

Jamie Paterson and Danny Ashenden deliver the latest batch of aural delights for our ears. The London based duo formed The C90s over a mutual appreciation of all things disco. Influenced by this and gin & tonic they are producing remixes, original tracks and playing party sounds to numerous dance floors. They have been kind enough to treat us with two of their recent remixes.

#1 is a brand new remix fresh from the mastering studio, and is not due to be released for a couple of months. Slip away into the depths of this wonderful sound space.
[Dream|Funk|Bongos|Handclaps|Pitch-bends]
The Devil Made Me Do It – Part 1 (The C90s Remix)

#2 is a remix of Dirt by Headman. The shortened edit has been around for some time but this is the full length version. The original is good but this remix takes it up a notch.
[Cosmic|Piano|Party|Hi-hats|Melodic-bass]
Headman – Dirt (The C90s Remix)

Sundays should be spent looking at  lovely things and listening to aural treats,  but preferably from a comfy seat with slippers and tea. So here is a few yum things for you to digest along with your roast…

These vids are by a chap called James Copeman, who at current hasn’t done masses of music videos, but he is slowly doing his rounds amongst the folk scene.

These music videos from Mystery Jets and Laura Marling are by no means new, but they still rather enjoyable. There’s some good l0-fi paper animation, which is always a winner with me, I adore being able to see the workings, i.e the post holding up the sun in ‘Ghosts’. Its the same with the Mystery Jets video, witnessing the ‘men in white suits’ doing the background work. mmm, yes thanks.

I think a collaborative project with this guy and Metronomy would be super! For more nice videos from James visit Love and Hate.

Finally, i’ll leave you with one more piece of splendor. I can’t mention Metronomy and not put a cheeky video from them. I love this video because it combines my two favorite things, colour (and lots of it!!) and cardboard props.

Have a lovely sunday!

Ben O’Brien (AKA Ben The Illustrator) is a UK based illustrator, designer, animator and music video director. Working along side his wife Fi, the pair are currently running their brand “Wish you were here” from Ben’s website: http://www.bentheillustrator.com

Ben’s stunning use of bold colour and clean graphic style makes him one of the most in demand artists working today. His uniqe style has been seen across the globe having worked for major companies including Honda, Sony, Domino Records, Smart cars and Vice Magazine.

Ben recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk to Pejhy about music, otters, and babies. Read on>

What was your first paid illustration job and how did you get it?

I was already working in animation, and I’d done quite a few ‘free’ illustration jobs, just odd bits for indie magazines and flyers for bands and DJs, but then the animation studio I was working at signed with an agent, they were an illustration agency but had started to represent animators and animation studios too.  Anyway, I managed toshow them some illustration work and I got lucky when they decided to represent me for illustration work too, I was really winging it back then, so little experience, so little idea.  My first paid job was illustrating a corporate brochure for the BBC and the digital radio industry (this was the early days of digital radio in a way).  It wasn’t the coolest job ever, it was very corporate, very restricted and all very organised, and it really dropped me in at the deep end as far as illustrating for clients, but I learnt a lot, in the long run it was good to start off with such a refined brief working to super tight schedules with very formal clients.  I’m now represented by a much more enjoyable agency, and I feel blessed to have them bringing in the commissioned paid work, generally with much more creative clients and exciting projects.

Do you listen to music when you work? If so what’s been keeping you going recently?

All the time, I struggle to work well in silence!  We only just recently started using Spotify in our studio (I work with my wife, Fi, luckily we totally share music taste!).  Our current favourites are Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Speech DeBelle, Pegz, Liam Finn and a whole lot of old hiphop, as always.

How long has it taken you to develop your style to where it is today and what has inspired it?

I’ve always liked playing with bold colours and taking real things, nature, cities etc, and quirking them up a bit, but I’ve only really concentrated on seriously developing my work over the last 8 years or so.  I left college in ‘99 graduating from an animation degree, then I worked in animation for a few years, but it was always the pure drawn work that I liked (and I was a really second-rate animator!) so when I started getting a few illustration jobs I felt the need to move away from animation and focus on my illustration work and define my style. I’ve taken my inspiration mostly from being out and about, crazy creative cities like Tokyo, NYC and Melbourne where you can just see colour used in such cool ways, art, architecture, music, clothing and also the more natural world, mountains, forests, fields, beaches, anywhere that makes you feel good.  That’s the key, I’m trying to take the feeling that I get from being in a good place, and put it into a picture, share it with people.

How does commissioned work differ from private work? How is the work process different?

Freedom.  Private work, whether it’s a doodle for the heck of it, or a design for an art print, I have creative freedom.  Fi and I plan some things with our prints, so I might have to use a certain colour palette or create a certain mood, depending on what’s going to sell well and be enjoyed by the public (Fi manages our homewares brand ‘Wish You Were Here’, selling art prints and home design products)  So essentially I have full creative freedom on that, I can just muck about a bit, doodle, sit and draw things in my own time, then when I’ve got the image right on paper and in my head I can take it into Illustrator and artwork it, it’s pure enjoyment.  Client work can sometimes be a completely different thing, you’re focused by their brief and the media it’s for, sometimes we have to approach it with much more of a ‘design business’ head on.  Occasionally I can just illustrate a cool picture and that’s enough, but if it’s for advertising especially, you’re part of a bigger team, along with their art directors, copywriters, all sorts of people, and you can be restricted by the client’s branding, their company ethos etc etc.  But I love both, they’re both good processes.  The personal work helps me to develop my style, to try anything I want, for mine and Fi’s enjoyment, the commissioned work gives us a chance to be a part of the design industry, illustrating work which serves a purpose, part of a larger team.

What’s the story behind your character “Speakerdog”?

He started purely as a doodle, I’d been doing a lot of character-based commercial work in a certain style, and I’d started to tire a little of it (this was around 6 years ago, when I was still finding my way), then I just doodled a couple of characters in a completely different style, one of them was Speakerdog.  I started playing with him, painting on canvasses and developing him as a character with a purpose and a personality. In time people started picking up on him and I started using him as a way into different projects, exhibitions, products like tees and posters.  I’d always illustrated him in dreamily perfect landscapes, so he appeared to me to be a bit of a mascot for good environmentalism and good times.  A few years ago I was getting into paper toys, mostly Shin Tanaka’s work, and I thought I’d try my hand at it too, so I developed a Speakerdog paper toy, since then it’s all rolled on pretty smoothly!  Fi now manages the Speakerdog Paper Toys, we’ve got hundreds of custom designs by hundreds of artists, it’s a blast, we do it all for free so people just download the paper toy templates and break out the glue stick, plus we’ve got his own shop for posters and custom hand-drawn paper toys and all sorts of good stuff. I totally recommend focusing on personal projects like that; it can open so many doors in the professional world.

Check it all out on: www.speakerdog.com.

Speakerdog certainly seems to enjoy travelling, if you could go anywhere in the world right now where would it be?

Paris.  It’s not quite a far off land or anything, but it’s such a neat city, we love it, plus I think there’s a Takeshi Murakami exhibition on right now!  If I could, I’d grab our little dog, Doze, get Fi in the car and head straight to Paris for some good food, some design shopping, check out some new graf and hit that Takeshi Murakami show!

Animals and nature are both reoccurring themes in your work, if you could have any pet, no matter how impractical, what would it be?

Haha, pygmy goats and loads of them, they’re so neat with their cool climbing skills.  Actually, more impractical but just as cool… sea otters.

Who are your favourite artists or illustrators working today?

Oh heck, so many!  S.Britt is ace (http://www.sbritt.com), really inspiring and Toru Fukuda (http://torufukuda.jp), always makes me smile, that’s probably my top two, but then there’s Simon Wild (great colours http://www.simonwild.com), C86/Matt Lyon (nice and fresh http://www.c8six.com), Stephen Chan (really sticks to his guns with a strong personal style http://www.stephen-chan.co.uk), Chris Malbon (part of McFaul design studio but does amazing stuff like this too www.sosaturdays.co.uk), anything bold, super fresh and popping with strong colours.

Do you have any exhibitions planned in the near future?

No solo exhibitions, we’ve got a baby due in January so we’ve had to cut back on a lot of plans!  We’re doing a group show in London in December, can’t announce details yet but we know it’s going to be ace!

To see view more of Ben’s work or to check up on that secret exhibition check out his sites:  http://www.speakerdog.com and  http://www.wywh.co.uk