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Butcher Billy’s Post-Punk Marvel Superheroes

Butcher Billy mixes his favourite pop & trash punk universes to create amazing mashups

Butcher Billy: ‘Superpowered Post-Punk’ is a new series of illustrations created by Butcher Billy, who continues to mix his two favourite universes to offer us beautiful mashups between the pop world of Marvel superheroes and the trash world of Punk and Rock. A creative director at a busy digital agency in Brazil by day, Butcher Billy was just a kid when he first realised with just a pack of crayons in his tiny hands – no walls were safe. It’s that sort of rule-breaking, devil may care, chaotic attitude that inspires Butcher Billy’s art. He takes what is considered pop culture from a variety of sources – music, comic books, movies, games, etcetera – and mashes them all together to come up with something that draws on nostalgia while, at the same time, provides the audience with a fresh take on a familiar scene. In this side of the world, making a pop culture reference can be tedious and common place. Everyone does it these days, but somehow only a few people, Butcher Billy in particular, get away with it. In Butcher’s case, it could be because of his use of dynamic colors: bright, bold, hard to miss or it could be because of his unique take on childhood favourites. Butcher Billy is a one-man assembly line when it comes to his pieces and can churn out new creations at a cracking pace, drawing stuff without sacrificing quality. It’s that passion for his craft that, like one of his superhero mashup creations, seems to make him virtually unstoppable. For a complete look at Butcher Billy’s entire portfolio of amazing work, we strongly urge you to visit his Behance site and if you are interested in purchasing any of his pieces, visit his website.

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The Wrecking Crew – Official Trailer

'The Wrecking Crew' tells of the unsung muso's behind many smash hits of the 1960’s

The Wrecking Crew: The Beach Boys, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Sonny & Cher, Nat King Cole and many, many more. Behind their success was a group of studio musicians called The Wrecking Crew. What the Funk Brothers did for Motown, The Wrecking Crew did, only bigger, for the West Coast Sound. Six years in a row in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Grammy for “Record of the Year” went to Wrecking Crew recordings. And now, ‘The Wrecking Crew’ tells the story in pictures and that oh, so glorious sound. ‘The Wrecking Crew’ is a documentary film produced and directed by Denny Tedesco, son of legendary late Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco, and tells the story of the unsung musicians that provided the backbeat, the bottom and the swinging melody that drove many of the number one hits of the 1960’s. The Wrecking Crew was a nickname coined by drummer Hal Blaine for the group of studio and session musicians that played anonymously on many of these recordings. The crew backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history. The Wrecking Crew’s members were musically versatile but typically had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music. The talents of this group of “first call” players were used on almost every style of recording including television theme songs, film scores, advertising jingles and almost every genre of American popular music, from The Monkees to Bing Crosby. Notable artists employing the Wrecking Crew’s talents included Nancy Sinatra, Bobby Vee, The Partridge Family, The Mamas & the Papas, The 5th Dimension, The Association, The Carpenters, Glen Campbell, Cher, John Denver, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, The Grass Roots and Nat King Cole. The record producers most often associated with the Wrecking Crew are Phil Spector, who used the Crew to create his trademark “Wall of Sound”; and Beach Boys member and songwriter Brian Wilson, who used the Crew’s talents on many of his mid-1960s productions including the songs “Good Vibrations” and “California Girls”. LOVE – Can’t wait to see this doco in full! Check out the trailer below:

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James Curran’s Cute Animated GIFs

James Curran's amazing work will blow your mind!

James Curran: We have become obsessed with these adorable and fun animated GIFs created by animator, Illustrator and designer James Curran, from Slim Jim Studios. James Curran is widely known as the man who created the amazing fan-made opening credits for TINTIN. Curran, a London-based designer and animator, created the TINTIN credits on a lark and somehow they found their way back to Steven Spielberg (the Director of TINTIN). Curran created the video in just about a month with music from the original TV series and as a huge fan of the series, he incorporated elements from all 24 books, even though they weren’t a big part of the movie. Steven Spielberg saw the opening credits on the web, loved them, contacted James Curran, invited him to the UK premiere and hired him to work on his next film. So it seems you just never know who’s going to see your work on the web. But Curran didn’t do the work to get noticed. He did it because he’s an artist and he loves TINTIN. So a lesson for us all is just do what you love and that passion will come through in your work. We have posted some of our favourite GIFs below but for a complete look at James Curran’s portfolio of work, we strongly encourage you to visit his website. Enjoy!

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Alex de Mora – ‘Leisurewear’

Alex de Mora imagines what our generation will look like when we are older

Alex de Mora: So you think that “old people” dress like old people? But have you ever thought about what our generation will look like when we get older? ‘Leisurewear’ is a series of fashion photographs created for Vice Magazine by photographer Alex de Mora, who likes to imagine the elderly of a not too distant future. Alex de Mora notes ‘I was inspired by the character I saw when taking personal photos of my Grandmother, and I thought why not transform this into an fashion editorial, so I pitched the idea to Vice Magazine. I had been wanting to shoot a “leisurewear” series for a while, and wanted to give a hip hop angle to the idea. I thought of Snoop Dogg going shopping in his velour tracksuit. The shoot itself took place in my studio in London and we decided to colour match the background, clothes and set for each shot, to give it a surreal, stylised tone. My amazing team of Kylie Griffiths (stylist), Penny Mills (set design), Sami Knight (hair) and Lydia Warhurst (make up) helped me to make this idea the reality.’ Alex de Mora is a highly regarded photographer based in London, UK who specialises in fashion, commercial and portrait photography. Over the years, De Mora has created some amazing images and his editorial clients have included VICE, i-D, Oyster, Dazed & Confused, and Crack while his commercial work has been for brands such as Nike, Red Bull, Atlantic Records, Liberty, ATP Records, Converse, and Johnnie Walker. This fantastic shoot took place in Alex de Mora’s London studio, and features streetwear icons ranging from Champion and adidas Originals to Le Coq Sportif and Moschino, all worn by old-aged pensioners. To see more of Alex de Mora’s amazing work, be sure to visit his website.

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Low Cut Connie’s ‘Shake It Little Tina’ – Video of the Day

Low Cut Connie's sound & Adams Carpenters' dance moves make this vid rock!

Low Cut Connie: Check out the crazy choreographies by Adams Carpenters, an Instagram dance sensation with over 52,000 followers, in a montage created for the music video Shake It Little Tina from American band, Low Cut Connie. Love it! Low Cut Connie is a rock and roll band established in Philadelphia in 2010. Its frontmen and founding members are Adam Weiner (piano), who is from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Dan Finnemore (drums and guitar), from Birmingham, England. The band has been recognised by various media in the US for their records and high-energy live show, of which the L.A. Weekly recently said “Their ferocious live show…is unmatched in all of rock right now.” In 2011, they released their debut album Get Out the Lotion, landing on NPR / Fresh Air’s ‘Top Ten Albums Of The Year’ and legendary critic Robert Christgau’s ‘Top Ten Songs Of The Year’ lists. Their 2nd album, Call Me Sylvia included the band’s biggest song to date, Boozophilia, named one of Rolling Stone’s ‘Top 50 songs of 2012’. The success of this record prompted an invitation by Jack White to play the grand reopening of his Third Man Records venue. Low Cut Connie played 100+ shows in 2013 and ended the year by recording their third album with renowned producer Thomas Brenneck (Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, Alabama Shakes). This soulful effort will be released Spring 2015. It features guest stars Merrill Garbus (Tune-Yards), Dean Ween, Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound), and members of the Dap Kings and The Budos Band. The band will tour the US, Canada, and Europe throughout 2015. You must watch this video – it’s fantastic and so much fun!

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‘Blade Runner’ – New Trailer for UK Re-Release

'Blade Runner', Ridley Scott’s trail-blazing sci-fi, is back on the big screen

Blade Runner: “This new trailer captures the essence of the film and I hope will inspire a new generation to see Blade Runner“. The brand new Blade Runner trailer gets the thumbs up from Ridley Scott. Blade Runner, Scott’s trail-blazing sci-fi, is back on the big screen in the UK from the 3rd April 2015 courtesy of the British Film Institute. Originally released in 1982 and adapted from Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Ridley Scott’s iconic dystopian classic is unquestionably one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made and this April, cinemagoers across the UK will have the chance to see it again, at its best on the big screen, when the BFI releases Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Harrison Ford is exemplary as the world-weary detective hunting down intelligent but murderous replicants in a neon-lit, rain-spattered future Los Angeles. Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah all give career-defining performances. Featuring an iconic Vangelis score, Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi opus is one of modern cinema’s most influential films. Blade Runner initially polarised critics: some were displeased with the pacing, while others enjoyed its thematic complexity. The film performed poorly in US theaters but has since become a cult film. It has been hailed for its production design, depicting a ‘retrofitted’ future, and remains a leading example of the neo-noir genre. It brought the work of Philip K. Dick to the attention of Hollywood and several later films were based on his work. Ridley Scott regards Blade Runner as probably his most complete and personal film. In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. Blade Runner is now regarded as one of the best science fiction films ever made. Given complete artistic freedom to make The Final Cut in 2007, the 25th anniversary of the film’s release, director Ridley Scott created this final, definitive version, fully restored from the original negative. A grand cinematic synthesis of sound, image and thought-provoking drama Blade Runner: The Final Cut is an unforgettable experience that demands to be seen on the big screen. We can only pray that it will be released somewhere in Australia very soon!

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‘Cosmopolitan’ Magazine Brings Sexy Back

Cosmopolitan recreates the covers of cheesy romance novels with real people

Cosmopolitan: Of course, everyone knows of the cheesy romance novel – the novelettish and sentimental literature made to tickle the senses, covers emblazoned with virile young men and young ladies in search of fierce love that are clearly marketed to woman with ‘healthy and active’ imaginations. Well, world renown and bestselling women’s magazine, Cosmopolitan, has recreated these covers using real, everyday people in an clever and amusing series that will definitely make you see their funny side. The ‘romance novel’ or ‘romantic novel’ is a literary genre. Novels of this type of genre fiction place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Some scholars see precursors to the romance novel in literary fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries, including Samuel Richardson’s sentimental novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) and the novels of Jane Austen. British company Mills and Boon began releasing escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. Their books were sold in North America by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, which began direct marketing to readers and allowing mass-market merchandisers to carry the books. In North America, romance novels are the most popular literary genre, comprising almost 55% of all paperback books sold in 2004. The genre is also popular in Europe and Australia, and romance novels appear in 90 languages. Most of the books, however, are written by authors from English-speaking countries, leading to what is deemed an Anglo-Saxon perspective in the fiction. Despite the popularity and widespread sales of romance novels, the genre has attracted significant derision, skepticism and criticism. Erotica is a term used to describe scenes in the novel that are risqué but not pornographic and ‘Romance erotica’ seems to be on the rise as more women explore this new sub-genre – You only have to look at the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey...enough said. Enjoy!

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Pop Chart Lab – The Vocations of Heroes & Villains

Pop Chart Lab imagines business cards of comic book superhero & villain alter egos

Pop Chart Lab: LOVE! This awesome print imagines the business cards of famed comic alter-egos, from Clark Kent to Tony Stark to ‘The Bruces’ both Banner and Wayne – as well as a slew of notable CEOs notably Green Arrow and Green Goblin, mallet-wielding psychiatrists like Harley Quinn, and patriotic military personnel including Captain America and War Machine. The credentials of over 30 secret identities are featured here – all beautifully designed and hand-illustrated – to form a brave, bold, and business-casual rolodex that makes for an uncanny addition to your wall. Each print is signed and numbered by the artists from a first printing of 500, and comes packaged in a Pop Chart Lab Test Tube. Finishing options include print with hanging rails, print mounted on a panel or simple framing available in white, black, oak or walnut. Also note that framed prints require an additional 3-4 business days of processing time from the date of order. Using 100 lb. archival stock certified by The Forest Stewardship Council, this fantastic poster is pressed on an offset lithographic press with vegetable-based inks in Long Island City, Queens. Not to mention for $29, its an absolute bargain! This is a ‘Want, Love, Need’ with some ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’ thrown in for good measure.

Natalie Shau – Lost in Wonderland

Natalie Shau's dark, strange and surreal world

Below are a selection of the latest creations by Natalie Shau, a photographer, artist and graphic designer who combines illustrations and photographs to lead us into a dark, strange and surreal world populated with beautiful creatures. Natalie Shau is a mixed media artist and photographer based in Vilnius, Lithuania who has an amazing talent in fashion and portrait photography as well as digital illustration and photo art. Coupled with her personal work, Natalie also creates artwork and photography for musicians, the theatre, fashion magazines, writers and advertisements. Her specialties include digital art, painting, CD artwork, photo manipulation, book covers, illustration, CD design, collage, digital painting, art direction, production design, advertising and fashion photography. Her digital masterpieces have graced the pages of French Vogue during a Lydia Courteille jewellery campaign and her extensive client list of music labels includes Island Def Jam, Sony Music Entertainment, Century Media, and Nuclear Blast. Gothic horror fiction, fairy tales and Russian classics (e.g. Dostoevsky and Gogol) are among the influences she lists for her surreal and strange creations. Natalie Shau uses a range of media, mixing photography, digital painting and 3D and the quality she seeks is “at once fragile and powerful”. “My works are digital mixed media. I mix photography, 3D elements, vector elements and digital drawing. I also enjoy creating surreal and fashion photography. My photography and digital works are often surreal portraits of women; however, I love portraying animals sometimes.” Natalie Shau regards her works as ‘pretty motionless and doll-like’, but they express the burden of waiting, and the inner conflict that boils within the characters. You can sense this in their expressions or in some contradictory elements or symbols hidden in the work. When questioned whether there is a reason that most of her illustrations and images are of women, Shau notes that she does not choose her characters, they choose her – she’s unable to explain how this happens. Her influences are many however Alexander McQueen, Eiko Ishioka, Trevor Brown are amongst them. Describing her creative process, Shau reveals “I have a flash of an idea or vision and, after exploring it in my mind, I try to sketch it and see if I can express it. I collect all the materials I need for that, take portraits, photograph elements, find any elements needed, and then I start working on a piece.” Take a look at Natalie Shau’s beautiful work below and be sure to visit her website:

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Milo Greene – The Most Epic Lies of all Time

Milo Greene's 'Lie to Me' Mash-up Vid is our Track of the Day

Milo Greene: Everyone loves a good lie – or rather, uncovering one. It’s newsworthy, it’s scandalous and it’s hard to look away. So it’s only fitting that, to visualise their song ‘Lie to Me’, indie-electro quartet Milo Greene created a mash-up of some of the most monumental lies and scandals throughout history, particularly in the pop culture realm. From Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Teresa and Joe Giudice’s assorted crimes to Bill Clinton’s infamous statement, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” this video, contains some particularly cringe-worthy material. If you haven’t heard of Milo Greene before, know that: A. It’s a not a singular person named Milo, it’s a band; and B. It isn’t your average band. Each member of the quartet — Graham Fink, Marlana Sheetz, Robbie Arnett and Andrew Heringer – is a distinct songwriter and vocal duties alternate. Accordingly, Milo Greene’s sound is as varied and ever-changing as their non-defined roles. “The sound has evolved, but this band is the four of us as writers and singers,” says Fink. “It’s very centered both on our vocal presences and our identities as writers. We come from different perspectives, so that cross-section is what makes us distinct from what we would be as individuals. It’s the sum-of-the-parts thing.” The band describe their sound by explaining, “Originally when we started this band we wanted to create music that we could potentially see being placed in movies and TV,” says singer/multi-instrumentalist Sheetz. “We really love scoring and that’s how we wanted the music to sound. Very cinematic – which is kind of why we like to call it cinematic-pop.” Milo Greene is the name of a fictitious booking agent, a persona created by the band to help them get gigs in the early days of playing shows. The band describes Milo’s identity: “He’s British. He wears a three-piece-suit. He wears a monocle. He’s albino. He has chops, sideburns. He’s confident, charming, well-read, well-spoken. He’s a gentleman, the kind of guy we all aspire to be.” The band decided to keep the name of their fictitious booking agent for the group. This completely collaborative and unconventionally structured band is making waves so check them out. Milo Greene’s new album Control was released in January 2015 and is available now.

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