Aicher Rumba!

Today's title is either my best pun or my worst depending on your love of the pun...
Either way, this is one of the less iconic (I feel we can use that term here) pieces of graphic design that Otl Aicher came up with, but I love the paleness of the green and the simplicity with which he blocks out the text.


Whereas, this one is a bit of razzle dazzle.
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L'Enfer-No

In 1964, Henri-Georges Clouzot tried to make a film called L'enfer, which would have been a radical departure from his previous films (including The Wages Of Fear). For various reasons, such as going a bit barmy and having a heart attack, he was forced to pull out of the production, which was running seriously over-budget, partly due to the spectacular dream-like sequences that depicted the diminishing mental state of the lead character. In these sequences, the actress Romy Schneider was glazed with various artificial substances and shot under coloured light, in order to represent the way in which she was seen by her jealous husband. There's an excellent documentary about it, and the obsession that gripped Clouzot, but I've just posted one little picture showing Schneider in blue lipstick.
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Happy Talk

Too beautiful for words...

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Cover Me

Found, found found.
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Love Me Fender

I can't even swim, but this is the way that I feel...
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Horsing Around

Today, I watched Andrei Rublev, the Tarkovsky film about a 13th Century Russian icon painter's life (and so much more besides).
It was striking and simple in its execution, though, as with all of his output, the complex philosophical questions rumble on long after the end. One scene showed a horse writhing about, managing to breakdance its way through 360 degrees. It somehow combined grace and turmoil in a single moment.
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Women Of The World Take Over

I met Women at a show in Italy and they were kind enough to say they liked my band.
I understand that this sentence can be read in a couple of different ways...
I'm excited about their new album, which will come out in August. It has a pretty sleeve, like the last one.
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Raincoats Weather

I'm in love with this song today. It feels like a woozy magic spell.
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Belgian Kerfuffle

I've just completed a short story by the Chilean writer Roberto Bolano, called Vagabond in France And Belgium. In the story, the central character discovers a Belgian literary magazine called Luna Park in a Parisian second-hand bookstore. I decided to search for it and it turns out that it has a beautiful cover, as you can see.
I was unsure whether it was a real publication or not, even though that's irrelevant. However, had I not bothered to follow it up, I would never have found this little picture.
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Wild Colour Combination

I went to the sea today and bought this pair of shoes to go with my turn-ups. Very bohemian.
When you purchase a pair, the company that makes them (TOMS) give a pair of shoes to kids in countries such as Argentina, where shoes aren't as plentiful. One for One, they say. Good company, I say.
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The Pun Starts Here

So, Roy Orbison (AKA The Big O) is already a legend. Then you have some danceable music that is truly uplifting and joyful. Thus, Joy Orbison makes complete sense. This track is 'rushing'. All the hipsters already know this tune and I mentioned it last year in some interviews, but I just heard it and it blows me away.
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Going Solo

Alone, in the spotlight, gently strumming a quiet, clean electric guitar, Laetitia from Stereolab cuts an exposed figure. Her songs are lilting and go through subtle changes rather than demanding attention, but she seems comfortable, even as a ripple of chatter goes on as she makes an introduction. I hope I can be this confident. In some ways, it's much easier to get in people's faces.
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Death of The Bourgeois

The sculptor Louise Bourgeois has died. Here's a tourist photo I took in Brazil of one of her monumental spiders.
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Noodle Rock

This is my absolute favourite sound right now. Real Estate and Alex Bleeker & The Freaks are tapping into my very marrow and unearthing guitar sounds that almost make me sound like a hippy. Check out this loose groove and allow the guitar-playing to unravel. These axes make me salivate! Oops... that was too far.
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Alex Bleeker & The Freaks - Summer > Epilogue from Chocolate Bobka on Vimeo.

Stills From Moving Images

Paul Sharits, T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G, (1968)

Sharits was a member of the Fluxus movement. I prefer this still to the actual film, which is also good, but doesn't survive well in its YouTube incarnation, hence its absence. It appears ancient and mystical, like a cave-painting, where limbs become elongated and coloured in bizarre, necessitated approximations.

Whereas, I know nothing of the film from which this next still is taken, I just thought my friend Susie might like it, since it contains a 70s leotard and an overall video-matic grain that appeals to nostalgic VHS-lovers.


Nam June Paik, Global Groove (1973)

Men Possessed

What a mesmeriser! A performance that incorporates Bela Lugosi, Orson Welles and a loony guy you might see down the local supermarket; only fitting, considering the power of the electronic, snake-charming sound that hums behind the shrieks.

Which reminds me... this looks fun (if less confrontational than Alan Vega)...



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The Last Time I Saw Richard

Untitled; circa 1950

The title of this post comes from one of my favourite Joni Mitchell songs. I was prompted to use it by this painting from another artist that helped define California in my mind, Richard Diebenkorn.
I love the looseness of this splodgy gouache sketch.
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Mamma, you been on my mind

Sink, 2008

Mamma Anderson's paintings remind me of Peter Doig and Luc Tuymans in the way they heighten a sense of reality into an uncanny state. The colours are plain but startling, and this splodgy picture of a kitchen reminds me of my Nana.


Here's a version of the song that inspired this post's title, by the way...

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The names Bonding. Male Bonding.

Sometimes, what I need in the morning is a short blast of guitar/noise/pop. Not every morning, I grant you, but today Male Bonding provided the spark. Good look, too. Reminds me of my days off.

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The Liver Is The Cock's Comb

When I was at university I read a fair bit about Arshile Gorky and it seems he was as much a shape-shifter in his life as he was in his biomorphic art. No-one really knows when he was born and his personal life was mired in tragedy until his early death. I've never obsessed over Gorky like I have with other artists, but I definitely find his imagery alluring and therein lies his appeal to me, rather than personal facts.

The title of this painting is amazing - a real breath of fresh air compared to the blankness of 'Untitled' (which has its own merits in allowing an artwork to speak for itself). It's a vivid title, just like the painting, which creates a world for you to explore and mull over.

I really relish the task of naming songs or albums, as it happens (my friends and I have spent hours laughing at fictional band names, but actual band names are a pain in the bum...).

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