SRK and Laurence King feature - Published in Serie B Magazine, 2008

A word of intro if you will. This feature appears in the November/December 2008 edition of Serie B magazine in the ‘visual arts’ section of the magazine, a first for me. The reason behind it was simple. I’ve known the two guys behind SRK for a few years now, and I’ve followed their work and growth as a ’studio’ both as a fan and friend I guess you could say. In 2007 they moved into book publishing, having primarily focused on video media before. That move was interesting to me for a variety of reasons, including their choice of subjects and their attempts at blending the book format/media with others. Thing is it wasn’t actually until I wrote this article, which looks at their publishing work and their publisher, Laurence King Publishing, that I came to think of what they were doing in a slightly different way. I won’t give anything away though, just read the article and hope you enjoy. For more on SRK, peep the excellent site, and look out for their dubstep documentary, Bassweight, coming soon. For LKP, check their site. The SRK books, Rack Gaki and Stickerbomb are both out now, available from LKP and most decent bookstores, and I can’t recommend them enough.

——————————————————————

A different kind of ‘studio’

I first met Ryo and Suridh, the two creative individuals behind Studio Rarekwai (SRK), nearly 4 years ago in London as I was doing research on Japanese turntablists. Both they and their early work, a documentary on hip hop culture in Japan called ‘Scratching the Surface: Japan,’ were instrumental in helping me understand more about hip hop in Japan and meet artists and labels that have led to a series of features (published in Serie B back in 06), podcasts and other works. SRK is an independent studio focused on promoting international music and culture through various media. Recently, they have moved into publishing, releasing a series of books with publishers Laurence King (LK) that show a real understanding of the versatility and depth that the medium allows and a talent for thinking out of the box.

Continue reading »

Popularity: 1%

written by Laurent \\ tags: art, books, graffiti, Japan, media, Online Portfolio, portfolio, printing, Serie B Magazine, SRK; Laurence King Publishing, stickers, writing

Good things come to those who wait (I think I might have said that before…) and so now that life has somehow quietened down a bit I’m catching up on all the writing I wanted to do but never quite got round to. One of those was to finish up writing about the culinary happenings on my recent world trip and also to round it all up. First up is a look at the culinary highlights of the north American leg of my trip. And then I’ll be rounding everything off battle style in the next post. Let me recommend you don’t read this if you’re feeling hungry.

Continue reading »

Popularity: 1%

written by Laurent \\ tags: America, burger, burrito, Canada, cheesecake, cuisine, food, Mexican food, Montreal, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, soul food, Travels, Vancouver, Vietnamese food

I knew I’d forgot something in my last post. Though technically not as such considering these are two things I haven’t enjoyed yet. Anyways.

First up is the Dublab Proton Projection Drive. The L.A station is trying to raise the majority of the money it needs to keep running for another year over the coming week. Much like other non profit stations, like London’s Resonance FM with whom I’ve worked/been affiliated with for a few years, Dublab is asking the listeners to donate as little or as much as they want to keep the station going. Head over to the Proton Projection Drive page and see what the deal is but depending on what you are able to donate, the Dublab crew is laying on an impressive assortment of freebies for you from exclusive downloads to some downright insane packs of art, music and video. Even if it’s just a few bucks, get over there and give what you can, it’ll come back at you. Also check the listings for the week as there are some very nice line ups in the days to come with many of the station’s regulars and extended family putting in shows.

The other news, and this is pretty big too, is the release (finally!) of DJ Dusk’s Root Down Soundclash DVD. I’ve been waiting for this since first seeing the trailer over a year ago on youtube. This is another excellent Mochilla documentary/DVD which is basically live recordings on two cameras of the 3 beat battles that took place in L.A in the early 00s under the hosting of DJ Dusk, who sadly passed away a couple of years ago. I’d heard of these battles before, and just seeing the trailer is enough to make you realise that this was some very special shit with the likes of Madlib vs Cut Chemist, Will.I.Am vs Thes One and Oh No vs Exile all battling each other in the spirit of the Jamaican sound system clashes, and this is all before most of them blew up to various degrees. As I said the whole thing was filmed by the Mochilla crew on two cameras, and has been put on DVD with no edit, no bullshit, just the footage from the night as if you were there and a chance to see what are undoubtedly some of the most iconic moments of the L.A beat scene in the early 00s. Peep the trailer below and buy it here. Mine’s in the post, don’t sleep.

Popularity: 1%

written by Laurent \\ tags: DJ Dusk, donation, Dublab, Mochilla, Soundclash

I may be lacking a ‘home’ as such (crashing your mom’s living room ftw?) and have spent the majority of the year literally in transit, but that never quite stopped me from geekin’ out. And while the geekin’ took a back seat to travelling during my little ‘world trip’ this summer, it’s back in full swing now since being back in Europe and having an internet connection as well as a job that involves being in front of a computer all day. So in no specific order, here’s a rundown of some choice things you should definitely be checking out for across the spectrum… kind of like a short run up to an end of year list (it’s getting to that time pretty soon).

Continue reading »

Popularity: 1%

written by Laurent \\ tags: anime, DS, movies, Music, PSP, Random, TV, video games

Here’s about 200 or so photos to go with the recent writings about New York City. It’s by far the most photos I took in the entire trip, and while I’m not quite sure why it’s actually not that surprising considering everything NYC has to offer. From stickers to skyscrapers, soul food to bike trails, subway windows to skylines, enjoy. Next up words and photos about being back in Europe and my current, though temporary residency in Italy. Oh and more on food and biking around the world too.

New York Flickr set

Popularity: 2%

written by Laurent \\ tags: America, Brooklyn, buildings, Manhattan, New York, people, photos, pictures, stickers, streets, summer, travelling