Beautiful Beast from Sidra Bell Dance New York

One of the most innovative and progressive contemporary choreographers in New York, Sidra Bell, presents Beautiful Beast. the other face. This full length piece of perfectly crafted and executed dance explores the various aspects of beauty both extravagant and violent.  This fantastical work takes viewers through a dreamscape of personas that are simultaneously glamorous, destroyed, endangered, grotesque, and heroic. The landscape is both a house of mirrors and a house of horrors.  The work magnifies overblown, distorted caricatures of the self that obscure and conceal the truth in ones own reflection.

AVANT Magazine has been granted the opportunity to collaborate with the highly sought-after choreographer in the development of costuming and we guarantee that both the movement and the styling cannot be missed. While in the audience, it is impossible to not completely enveloped in the new world created by Sidra Bell and her extremely talented dancers. It’s mysteriously beautiful, hauntingly ethereal, and absolutely delicious.

Tickets for Beautiful Beast are on sale now.

For more information on the company, previous works, and how to support , please visit Sidra Bell Dance New York

Photography: Katherine Mills Rymer

Spring Essentials

PHOTOGRAPHER: Sébastien Pons
MAKE UP: Kavita Kaul  www.kavitakaul.com using MAC Cosmetics
HAIR: Ernesto Montenovo

MODELS:
Billie @ Premier
James Cooper @ Premier
Danielle @ D1
Chantel @ Storm

dull flame – James Meade

Photography / Direction / Film Editing – James Meade  jmeade.com

Cinematography – Saloman Anaya

Additional FX – Donavon Brutus

Styling – Wade Blackmon  wadeblackmon.com

Make up – Sarah Hutney

Hair – Crews   crewshair360.com

Model – Amine Elghouyel

Credits

Look 1

Shirt by Lina Osterman
Pants by Odyn Vovk
Boots & Gloves by Dior Homme
Hat & Collar at Patricia Field

Look 2

Trench by Rochambeau
Belt by Wade Blackmon
Pants by Odyn Vovk
Mask by Alexander Mcqueen
Gloves at Patricia Field

Look 3

Mask by Wade Blackmon
Jewelry by Ann Demeulemeester
Shorts by Rick Owens
Gloves & Kimono Stylist’s own

look 4

Cape by Wade Blackmon
Pants by Rick Owens
Gloves by Dariya Repina
Belt at Patrcia Field

look 5

Shirt Rochambeau
Pants Damir Doma
Shoes Model’s own

look 6

Shirt Rochambeau
Pants & Scarf by Damir Doma

look 7

Sweater by Lina Osterman
Jumpsuit & Socks Stylist’s own

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Electrical Umbilical Cord

I am committed to capturing those artists who embody raw art and Electrical Umbilical Cord is a Brooklyn band that cannot be left unheard.

As unconventional as the genre (described as Alternative Electronic industrial Darkness) and band name may sound, when band mates Wesley Thatcher (vocals) and Corey Crawford explained their reasoning behind both, the titles breathe innovation.

“We like the acronym E.U.C. and feel like it has a solid flow yet stays somewhat elusive … the idea is that we become connected to our music through our electronic instruments and in a sense it becomes our musical lifeline. It’s somewhat long and the word ‘umbilical’ can sound awkward but we like the fact that the name at length usually retains a response from people whether negative or positive… It seems to provoke curiosity or remembrance.

AVANT: Why did you move to NY?

E.U.C.: We both grew up in California and felt like we needed a new inspiration and felt the urge to inhabit a city. We also wanted to get somewhere that was closer to Europe so we could tour there as well as the states.

AVANT: What are your musical influences?

E.U.C.: Einsturzende Neubauten, (early) Cure, Death in June, Swans, The Wake, The Chameleons.

AVANT: How did you guys get together?

E.U.C.: We have been friends since elementary school. We started jamming in punk bands in jr high then experimenting with instrumental electronic music in high school and eventually developed E.U.C. when we were both finishing college.

AVANT: Explain the genre industrial darkness.

E.U.C.: We get flustered with the whole genre thing because it’s hard to describe what we are creating as just electronic music. People immediately have their own response or affiliation with a particular genre and we wanted to describe ourselves the way the music makes us feel instead of an organizational easy-to-digest genre.

AVANT: When was your first show?

E.U.C.: We played our first full show on our friends driveway in Santa Barbara. We had a makeshift pvc backdrop that ended up collapsing behind us. It was loud and raw with sound cutting in and out but our debaucherous friends made it fun none the less.

AVANT: What are the roles within E.U.C.?

Corey: The majority of the music is made and created between both of us. We both will develop songs on our own and share them with each other to add or write lyrics to. From there the song starts to take shape with lyrics sung by Wesley and sound design, synth layout and recording done by me.

AVANT: What does music do for you mentally?

E.U.C.: Heightens emotional outlets. stimulates surrealism in daily monotony. rejuvinates and brings closest feeling of nirvana.

AVANT: What music did you grow up listening to?

E.U.C.: Our parents infiltrated our ears with a lot of Neil Young, Jimmy Hendrix , The Doors and Roy Orbison. Our older brothers introduced us to bands like The Cure, The Cramps, The Birthday Party, Depeche Mode, Minor Threat etc… we both grew up listening to a lot of San Diego bands like Three Mile Pilot, Boilermaker and Drive Like Jehu.

AVANT: It is understood that people are too cool to dance today. Do you dance?

E.U.C.: We definitely like to dance when the music is good or the mood is right. Some people may seem too cool to dance or like to judge but when inhibitions are eliminated you can feel good shaking your ligaments and getting obtuse on the dance floor and you know you are having way more fun than the people watching. I (Wesley) think it just becomes muddied by pretentiousness or insecurities. We do a DJ set every third Friday of the month called “No Soul Dance Party” at K&M bar in Brooklyn and we have been getting a good crowd of people that come to dance and let loose.

AVANT: What are your favorite bands to dance to?

E.U.C.: Old ministry “With Sympathy” album.

AVANT: If you could be reincarnated, what would you be?

Wesley: A pteradactyle. i think it would be awesome to be the first flying reptile, a cold blooded creature soaring and hunting from the sky. Sounds fun.

Corey: I would totally be some sort of a cephalopod, probably a giant squid. Their ability to elude and change forms is quite impressive.

AVANT: Cereal or pancake breakfast?

E.U.C.: Pancakes or french toast but we are both pretty keen on breakfast burritos.

AVANT: Favorite late night dessert?

E.U.C.: Ben & Jerrys, or Ralphs famous milk ices in Brooklyn.

AVANT: Do you have any upcoming shows?

E.U.C.: Anyone can check our myspace for show updates none currently planned. Looking for European booker for spring 2010.

myspace.com/electricumbilicalcord

Their newest single, Heater can be heard during their practice session at Honeyland Studios in Brooklyn, NY.

-synmia nichols

Radioactive Flesh

We sat down with Bartholomew Dougherty, New York City style icon, DJ, and designer on the rise to chat about his new label Radioactive Flesh, a collection of fresh and robustly androgynous pieces, all of which are one of a kind. He also shares his secrets about astronomy and moving to Paris.

AVANT: A Google search of ‘radioactive flesh’ pulls up dark imagery of the last days, vintage studded jackets, lies, deceit, ‘hardcore’, and finally, a scientific article by Time Magazine reporting on the discovery of radioactivity in flesh through a microscope. Besides inspiring the name of your label, how has science inspired your sense of fashion?

BD: Well, according to some scientists, the human body has an energy field that projects from it 60 feet in every direction. Not to mention, the laws of physics as we know them right now are being shattered by certain groups within the scientific community. People are approaching fields of hyper-dimensional physics as though its not science fiction. It’s been said that the predominant laws governing Tibet are those of magic, both black and white, and I think this applies to most of the Eastern world, where there’s no clear delineation between science and science fiction. This has all sort of inspired my work.

AVANT: How did you come up with the name of your label?

BD: It comes from Luis Buñuel’s short, Simon of the Desert, the story of an ascetic that lives in the desert, praying ceaselessly as a devotee of the lord. He lives at the top of a crude wooden structure, where he’s sent food and drink, however, he hallucinates from time to time. Often visions of the devil come to him in the form of a beautiful women, tempting him out of the garden, so to speak. Some time passes and an airplane cuts across the sky above the people of the desert, an alien object amidst the ancient land. Automatically the scenery shifts to that of a 1960s discotheque, where Simon and the devil sit at a banquette enjoying a drink, the revellers dancing around them convulsively, as though in pain. Simon turns to the devil and asks what they call this dance. She responds, “it is called Radioactive Flesh. It is the final dance.”

AVANT: What initially turned your thoughts to clothing?

BD: I really love clothes, I always knew that I could create something beautiful.

AVANT: When did you start creating beautiful things?

BD: When I was a boy, I just made myself bleached jeans and jackets and studded jackets, and everything that you see in SoHo on the street right now. I wore those to high school or punk rock shows in Boston and New York City. It just so happens that what I made as a boy is not only acceptable within the setting of the modern metropolis, but a bit desirable within certain sets.

AVANT: Would you say you were ahead of the times?

BD: Sure, yeah, absolutely.

AVANT: Word on the street is you spend some nights on the roof of your apartment in Chinatown looking through a telescope. Are you stargazing or are you searching for something?

BD: There is something out there, but generally I look at the moon or see if there are any planets that are visible using the telescope. I saw this planet a couple of weeks ago that I thought was Venus. We used a friend’s iPhone– it has this application on it–you point it at the sky and it tells you what you are looking at. It was Altaire– the name of the star. Through the telescope, it was so bright it looked like the sun, like a tiny, white sun.

AVANT: What is this is application?

BD: It’s called Starmap and it costs $12, well worth the investment.

AVANT: You are bidding farewell to the Chinatown apartment and taking off to Paris this week. What inspired the move?

BD: Recent legislation has that been put into place concerning the swine flu pandemic that isn’t really a pandemic and isn’t really killing any of the population. The fact that CBS and Fox have both announced that the most massive vaccination in human history is going to take place this month doesn’t really bode too well for me or the rest of the populace that need not be inoculated, as no one is sick. Not to mention, I’ve felt like I’ve belonged in Paris for a while, but I just never made it there. I figure this is as good a time as any, and I’m terrified of martial law.

AVANT: Do you plan on reintroducing Parisians to Italo Disco?

BD: Under the pseudonym of DJ Popular, I plan on reintroducing the whole of Europe to Italo Disco and the majesty of soul.

AVANT: You say, “the last days call for leather.” What do you think is unique about our generation?

BD: I think we’re living in the darkest part of the darkest period of any earth cycle. We’re at the end of this 13,000 year cycle, what the Hindus refer to as the Kali Yuga, the age of hypocrisy and discontent. If you look around, things just really need to become less immoral and less corrupt, and we have to start being kinder to one another. We can’t continue giving Nobel Peace Prizes to warmongers like Barack Obama. I believe the science that we are approaching and the way people are going to be looking at things in the next couple of years, even, is going to be drastically different from the way we do right now. It’s like we’re at the precipice of something, the likes of which nobody could have any idea. The house of cards has just got to topple first, which will undoubtedly be quite a mess.

AVANT: So, you’ll be in Paris through all of this?

TT: I have no idea. I’d like to go to Egypt.

Radioactive Flesh can be found in Seven New York, and very soon at Collette in Paris. His one of a kind pieces can also be bought online radioactiveflesh.us.

El Perro Del Mar

Here we listen to the single dulcet voice of Swedish band El Perro Del
Mar, Sarah Assbring, who sheds for AVANT some light on the shaping of
her latest album.

AVANT: A proclaimed pop album of dark love songs with a title like
“Love Is Not Pop”  is a nicely wrapped paradox. How do paradoxes play
throughout the album?

SA: It sure is. In the way that the songs are saying ‘I love you– I’m leaving.’

AVANT: You credit some of the depth and darkness of the songs to bad
experiences you had in New York. Can you describe those experiences?

SA: Last summer I kind of fled off to New York to try and sort some difficult personal things out. I did that because I love being in New York, and I thought it would be a good idea, but once there I realized I was really trying to escape myself, which of course wasn’t possible. That time in New York was probably one of the darkest times in my life ever. Some good things came out of it though– I bought a beautiful Stratocaster and I fell in love with Lou Reed’s lyrics. And so I guess the mental process of the album got started there.

AVANT: Then you fled to Paris?

SA: No, there’s a big difference there – I didn’t flee to Paris. I went there with a very clear mind and ambition. I stayed in this art
center where I had the possibility to write and record whenever I wanted and I spent perhaps one of the absolute best times of my life
there. When I look at it in retrospect, I think that time changed me in major ways–I think I blossomed there.

AVANT: Do you think the album would be as effective had you not had such polar experiences?

SA: No, definitely not.

AVANT: And how do you feel about New York now?

SA: I love New York. I’m looking forward to going back there in October to spend some time before my tour starts. It’ll be good to
walk those streets again which a year ago seemed so dark and to see them with clearer, brighter eyes.

AVANT: You will be performing in New York with a headlining show at Joe’s Pub November 9 and opening for Peter Bjorn & John at Terminal 5 November 10. What is on the agenda for your visit?

SA: Precisely that. And simply walking around a lot– I love fall and fall in New York in particular. Spending time with friends and eating well. It’s easy to eat well and nice in New York. I’ll try and have as many long breakfasts at Gitane’s as I possibly can.

AVANT: Do you have a favorite place in the city?

SA: A sweet spot in Central Park, a good book, and a coffee is hard to beat. Especially on a crisp but sunny fall day.

AVANT: How did you get involved with PB&J? Did you meet in Sweden?

SA: Our roads have crossed in different ways throughout the years I guess, and now came the opportunity to join them on tour, which I simply couldn’t turn down.

AVANT: You do a cover of Lou Reed’s “Heavenly Arms” on the new album. When did you first hear the song, and what prompted you to cover it?

SA: I actually read the lyrics to it before hearing the song. This was during my dark New York time…and it just stood out as so painfully beautiful to me. I remember reading it and wondering what it sounded like…thinking ‘this must be the most beautiful song ever’…which it isn’t really…though it is very good. I wanted to make it the way I heard it in my head when I read it.

AVANT: What is the first thing you plan to do when the tour is over?

SA: I’m staying in Los Angeles for some time to write and hang out. I also hope I’m finally going to be able to make that trip to Georgia
O’Keeffe’s place in New Mexico. ”Love Is Not Pop” will hit American shelves October 20.

Seven New York

We are but a vessel for their creations

The number seven is regarded as a sacred, perfect, or complete number in science, religion, biology, mythology, numerology, and now fashion. Descending a set of stairs off Mercer St. in New York, one enters Seven, a boutique which comes close to (if not achieves) retail perfection.

The boutique promotes all things we consider perfect at AVANT: uniqueness, innovation, and personal expression. With equally strong mens and womens collections, the unassuming store, with a lovely staff of self-proclaimed fashion victims, offers an amazing array of brilliant designers, including Bernhard Willhelm, Raf Simons, Hood by Air, Moon Spoon Saloon, Preen, Gareth Pugh, House of Holland, and Skyward, just to name a few.

Cofounder Joseph Quartana graciously gave AVANT a peek into the retail perfection of Seven.

AVANT: We personally think Seven is one of the best stores in New York. How have you gotten to the level of carrying such great and unique pieces?

Joseph Quartana: That’s very kind of you to say. Well, in the beginning, I chock it up to youthful naiveté. I started Seven when I was 23. Not having any retail or fashion background whatsoever, I had no predefined notions of what style ‘should’ have been, and simply an ambition to group the most cutting-edge designers I could get my hands on into one coherent space. Since then it’s just been about soaking up as much as possible around the world and from fashion magazines I
respect, talking to lots of stylists, my key clients, editors, fellow buyers I admire, and learning from mistakes.

AVANT: How do you select not only the labels but the specific pieces?

JQ: I’m always watching what’s going on out there, so I begin to watch designers who catch my attention. Once they reach a certain level of maturity, buzz, and production capabilities, I’ll swoop in and take a chance on them. The criteria is mainly that the designer owns their own aesthetic, the whole collection has to be strong (not just a few pieces) and cohesive, the line needs to evolve from season to season and not revolve, and the quality and prices have to make sense. From there I select pieces that my gut tells me are good displaying ideas that I haven’t seen or that I think are right and fresh for the next season, and finally I edit that group down whilst still maintaining the designers’ original vision with the selection.

AVANT: Many designers you feature are quite unknown in mainstream culture. Where do you find the designers?

JQ: Predominantly London, Paris, Antwerp/Brussels, Tokyo, Seoul, Melbourne, Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Stockholm but I’m not averse to fishing in other cities. And I’ll usually have read about them somewhere first.

AVANT: And when you find a label you like, what relationship do you have with the actual designers?

JQ: I try to have a personal relationship with all my designers, not only because I am myself a fan and I truly admire them, their creative processes, and their final results, but also because we do a lot of special events for them, and knowing them and how they think is important in fine tuning the right event. We’ve done events for everyone from Raf Simons, Bernhard Willhelm, Jeremy Scott, to Pleasure Principle, Henrik Vibskov, and many more. We recently organized an event for the women’s shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood who has just been on fire lately, and in the Spring a tee brand from London called Passarella Death Squad.

AVANT: Any items exclusive to Seven?

JQ: Within our buy for any given designer we have items that can only be bought here, as a lot of the other boutiques around the world are too afraid to try them out.

AVANT: What image does Seven project and how is that image maintained?

JQ: We try to project an image of our boutique as a machine designed to inform our client and sell cutting edge apparel. My business partner Steve and I don’t try to cram our faces into the spotlight; we prefer the designer’s collections speak for themselves as after all we are but a vessel for their creations. *

Seven New York
110 Mercer St.
New York, NY
10012

www.sevennewyork.com

-bradley smith

Letter From the Editor

I came to a startling conclusion months ago; in life, you are either working for your own passion or the passion of someone else. How often we sacrifice our own passions just to survive! That is a most dissatisfying feeling and I decided at that point to change. This is the embodiment of my passion, my heart. To create an environment where experimental, original, innovative artists of all forms have a platform to display their work is my dream; and it is that dream on which I now focus. While many “fashionistas” have been caught up in the blinding name-game, we search for individuals who celebrate fashion and art for its creative merit. The support I have received is encouraging and shows me that there are still people who believe a revolution, a renaissance can occur.

-bradley smith

The Shaky Hands

From the verdant and carefree state of professional nonchalance comes The Shaky Hands. With moody guitars and folksy vocals, they keep it steady as they release their newest album with an interpretational message, Let it Die.

The Shaky Hands

(click photo at left)

Their music paints a picture. I see breezy motorcycle rides through the country. I see a bonfire on the rocky Oregon coast. I see a departure from my Manhattan high-rise. And that’s why I love The Shaky Hands. Full of musical cheer but with a hidden sadness that carries through the lyrics, unadulterated and pure. Nicholas Delffs’s unique vocals carry the same casual disposition of the state from which he hails.  With Mayhaw Hoons on bass, Jeff Lehman on guitar, and Jake Morris on drums, this musical conglomeration began embarking on the creation of their third album.

Searching for musical purity and inspiration, Nicholas took off to India. He sang in the temples and wrote lyrics for the new album, which the band had already started writing, but took the longest break he’d ever taken from playing in a band.

“I feel like my trip to India had a profound effect on the album,” Delffs explains. “Because I wasn’t playing music with anybody and I was having this break, I ended up thinking about it a lot, on the verge of obsessing over things. A lot of the planning and lyrics were done out there, finishing some of the songs. I was really inspired by Indian music and I feel like it changed me, but I wasn’t inspired to make it. It almost inspired me to make straight forward rock for some reason.”

Following his eastern adventure, he jetted back home and was launched back into the rock scene immediately, played South by Southwest and toured back up to Portland. While on the road, the band continued developing their album and hit the studios upon their return.

The finished album, Let It Die, is a collection of eleven organic, impassioned rock songs that are happily unpolished and grounded. This disc is split into Side A and Side B to compliment the varying styles the songs on the record embrace, with Side A collecting more raucous, upbeat track and Side B offering hushed, mellower numbers. The standout, for Delffs, is the compelling “Allison and the Ancient Eyes,” a song he feels embodies both sides and their corresponding feelings.

Released last month, Let It Die is the musical product of a band on top of their game.

-bradley smith

International Cinema

Cannibals, retarded hitmen, and French Mafioso! This is a foray into the pitch-black humor of French cinema.

Je ne sais pas pourquoi. It may have been the croissant I had for breakfast, or my longing for the balmy breeze of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, but my mind was in France.  And there it remained as I wrote about some of my favorite foreign films, all of which are French.

Any post-apocalyptical film which involves suicide attempts, cannibalism, and an underground society AND makes you laugh just might be French. Delicatessen is a deliciously dark comedy which, despite its description, is thankfully quite void of gore and focuses on the lives of each character dealing with their economic sufferings, and their…resourceful methods of feeding themselves.  Beautifully shot, zany, and fully amusing, Delicatessen is a truly original gem of French cinema.

And on from cannibalism to kidnapping!

Les Triplettes de Belleville is an animated masterpiece.  While racing in the Tour de France, the main character, Champion, is kidnapped and forced to be part of the French mafia’s gambling scheme.  His grandmother and trusty dog set out on a rescue mission. Upon arrival to the bustling city of Belleville, complete with extremely rotund creatures (Americans?), they meet up with the delightfully daft Belleville triplets and take on the French mafia. This film’s brilliance lies in the animation and the fact that there is no spoken dialogue. The animation is exaggerated and strange and creates a surreal wonderland. The characters’ expression, sounds, and movements tell the story and you are effortlessly brought into a unique world of jazz music, frog explosions, and an intense reconnaissance mission.

The director and creator of the quixotic revenge comedy Louise-Michel tells this story with the darkest of humor. At its 2009 premier at the Sundance Film Festival, I again, was laughing hysterically as a pair of mentally challenged misfits set out on an assassination mission. They drink lighter fluid to sustain a buzz, trap animals for food, and set out to become heroic hitmen.  As described in the Sundance Film synopsis, “They may set out for revenge against capitalism, but their real oppressor is nature itself, which has cruelly twisted them.” Politically incorrect, cynical, and fantastically innovative, Louise-Michel may not be a movie for the masses, but that’s what makes it amazing.

Bon appétit!

-bradley smith