Polaroid Grey Label and Lady Gaga at CES

I wrote about Gaga's appointment as creative director back in May, and it looks like she lived up to her title, not just as a celebrity spokesperson, but as a legit part of the creative team. Gaga and Polaroid debuted 3 new products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this past week.

GL 20: Camera Sunglasses

Gaga got the idea for this initially on her Fame Ball tour, where she made glasses out of iPod screens for her set on stage. Now her idea has become functional. These glasses take photo and video, and it registers them into a USB that is the earpiece of the sunglasses. The earpiece (USB) comes out and can be connected to comp or you can use the bluetooth capability to connect it to your devices.

This is rather innovative in the way that it is bridging together fashion and technology. Gaga calls the product 'innovative and also cultural'. I guess we will have to wait and see if the glasses take on cultural iconography.

GL 10: Mobile Printer

When asked what the camera of the future was (presumably by her Polaroid creative consorts), Gaga held up her cell phone. I guess this ticked them off a bit seeing as how their brand is built on a camera which she is suggesting now be replaced by a phone no less. But she has a point. How many of us actually carry around digital cameras (even to special events)? Most of us rely heavily on our camera phones, which take pretty good photos these days as evidenced by the number of mobile uploads on facebook and the twitpic overflow.

So the idea is to integrate the cell phone camera into the polaroid family, and it seems they have found a way to do so. This could possess even more utility when you think about how many times we have actually printed our digital content. I'd venture to say, not often, because it's just too much of a hassle in most cases.

All you have to do is set up the bluetooth on your phone to connect to the printer. The printer produces 3 x 4 prints, and you have the option of the polaroid trade dress or full bleed.

Unfortunately, the printer is NOT compatible with the iPhone, but it does work with all phones with bluetooth capability.

GL 30: New Polaroid Camera

Last but definitely not least, they unvelied THE camera. Gaga described it as sexy, sleek, and hearty. It takes regular instant polaroids, and has a zink printer (zero ink) which is in the actual camera and the printer and makes this fantastically eco-friendly. Each cartridge holds 10 photos, and the photos register both digitally and as a regular polaroid. Pretty freaking awesome, and should be out by Christmas.

***In the future, they are working on a forward camera that is also digital and will link to all social media outlets, yikes.

Electro-______ music genres: The Hybrid of the hybrid

Electricity. A spark. A pulse. A presence that has been consistent in maintaining an identity in music for quite some time. Adding this pre-fix to genres of music i.e. (electro-pop, electro-rock) can almost be seen as an injustice... for Electro has all the capabilities of standing on its own. The hybridity between electro and other genres is essentially what induces an inflammatory reception in the senses. An electric-feel per say (to borrow from MGMT).

I started thinking of this post in terms of what first comes to mind when I think of electronic music. I first thought geographically, and mostly associated the genre with Europe. Then I started to think of the music I am listening to these days, and I realized most of the stuff I am really digging is one form of electro or another. Either electro pop, electro-synth-pop, electro indie-rock, etc etc etc….Even Wikipedia has a very extensive list of the different sub-genres which you can check out here:

So, in terms of a breakdown here are some interesting sub-genres that I think are worth looking at:

The resurgence of the DJ: (EURO style)

Tiesto

Armin Van Buren

David Guetta

Paul Van Dyk

Ferry Corsten

Electro-pop (UK style)

La Roux

is an English electropop duo band whose music is influenced by 1980s synthpop including Yazoo, Depeche Mode, The Human League, Heaven 17, and Blancmange. I got to see them live this summer in Los Angeles and they really had that element that literally put a jolt of electricity through the crowd. The playful melodies in songs such as "I'm Not Your Toy" and "Tigerlily" re-charged the initially dull audience into replicas of the energizer bunny.

Little Boots

is an English electropop musician who sings and plays the keyboard, piano, stylophone and a Japanese electronic instrument, called Tenori-on is definitely putting her stamp on the electro-pop movement. Check out her songs "Stuck on Repeat" and "New in Town"

and across the Pond...

In Lady GaGa’s new album The Fame Mons†er: a new, monstrous side of GaGa is shown. A side that can be attributed to the European Electro-Industrial vibe present in her songs such as "Dance in the Dark". This new eerie and metallic sound substantiates her equally eerie lyrics that allude to other highly respected artists such as Plath and Kubrick. The album’s high-voltage delivers and liberates the listener. An escape to a filthy over-sized 'warehouse' somewhere in Eastern Europe, echoing with the sharp current of electricity.

Down Under

Sneaky Sound System

are very well received in the dance scene, and some of their stuff has been remixed by Tiesto making for an interesting sound:

Cut Copy

is a synthpop band from Melbourne, Australia. Their sound, often labeled as electropop, draws considerable influence from 80s new wave, synth-pop and post-punk genres.

Ladyhawke

all of her music is very nostalgic of the 1980s, (her name is a riff on the movie of that decade), but her music featuring PNAU is especially noteworthy.

Rock fusion

MGMT

"We weren't trying to start a band," remarked Goldwasser. "We were just hanging out, showing each other music that we liked." They experimented with noise rock and electronica before settling on what David Marchese of Spin calls "their current brand of shape-shifting psychedelic pop."

Phoenix

An interesting thing about Phoenix (who I think are one of the best indie rock outfits on the scene today): In early 2009, it was announced that the band was returning with a new album titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which was released on May 25, 2009. The album was recorded in Paris by Cassius's Philippe Zdar who co-produced and mixed the album. Cassius is a French house music duo consisting of producers Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard, better known as Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass. You can definitely hear the house influence on Phoenix's new record (especially in Fences, Girlfriend, and Armistice) which I think makes for an amazing one, and the technique in the recording is phenomenal.

Experimental (goes Canadian)

Crystal Castles

is an experimental electronic music band from the province of Ontario consisting of producer Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass. Crystal Castles are known for their chaotic live shows and their low-fi melancholic home productions. To listen to Crystal Castles "is to be cast adrift in a vortex of deafening pain without a safety net. You get the feeling you could do anything in the world, but that that "anything" would ultimately mean nothing. Crystal Castles marks a nuanced emotional territory that dance music never covered before." (BBC).

MSTRKRFT

is an electronic music group from Toronto. MSTRKRFT (pronounced Master Kraft) have been commissioned to remix songs by such artists as Justice, Bloc Party, Metric, Wolfmother, and Annie and The Kills...and you have probably heard Heartbreaker featuring John Legend, one of their singles:

These are just some of my favorites, and hopefully are illustrative of how influential electronic music is across the board...perhaps it is THE postmodern musical genre of our time, and can be counted on for constantly mixing and remixing (quite literally) the music scene for our enjoyment and paving the way for more groundbreaking sounds to come...

PS... I also love this Felix Da Housecat Remix of the Nina Simone song "Sinnerman" which is now being featured in the new HTC mobile phone commercial you have probably seen on TV in the past couple of weeks...

Photographical Context: Staged vs. Organic?

Cartier-Bresson’s ideas on photography are fascinating, and I found them very helpful in considering the work of some of the most notable contemporary photographers on the scene today (which depending on the context can be staged or not).

“Manufactured’ or staged photography does not concern me. And if I make a judgment, it can only be on a psychological or sociological level. There are those who take photographs arranged beforehand and those who go out to discover the image and seize it. For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which—in visual terms—questions and decides simultaneously. In order to ‘give a meaning’ to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what he frames through the viewfinder….It is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”

Would he consider Marla Rutherford’s work staged?

Q: How do you decide on an idea or setting for the portrait?

A: It depends what kind of subject matter I am photographing. Usually I chose the location first, then wrap the whole concept around it. With my latex and fetish work and my fine art work, generally I go for a desert kind of Blue Velvet David Lynch atmosphere—very surreal. The type of light that I use is already pretty strange, so I look for a location that fits that type of lighting, like bizarre rooms or a more Planet of the Apes type location where it's minimalist and looks like a desert or another planet.

or someone like... David LaChapelle

Initially distinguished by his campy fixation with white-trash culture, LaChapelle is also known for his groundbreaking use of computer manipulation and futuristic fashion shoots and for placing hollywood celebrities. His signature photography has become synonymous with wildly beautiful colorful sets, unexpected positioning of models and celebrities, all shot with subtle or overt humor. More than static portraits, his photos often appear as a still from a motion picture, with layers of plots ready to play out before our eyes.

In connecting LaChapelle to the hybrid nature of contemporary art, he is one photographer who has segued into other areas, starting with directing music videos, and onto films.

What about artists like Richard Prince, who make paintings to look like photographs?

I guess my point is that in today's world, it's all about context. Artists are aware of this as they are creating and disseminating images to the public, whether that is intended for the fine art world or for the masses.

Ubiquity of Manga

I sometimes feel I lack the right reference points to really understand the worlds of manga and anime and would not have considered myself to really subscribe to these categories. The more I read, the more I realized (especially in my younger years) how much of it I did consume, although off hand I didn't feel as though I did. Here are a few examples, mostly recollections from my youth, but I'll start with a more recent example:

The 'Ghost in the Shell' franchise follows a fictional counter-terrorist organization, set in a sort of cyberpunk world. The idea of cyberpunk itself is an interesting look at hybridity as it combines the high tech world of cybernetics and information technology and 'low life' especially in regards to 'punk' as those looking towards a change in social order. The setting as I am imagining it immediately reminded me of the film PUSH that came out in 2009. Although it is an American movie, it is set in Hong Kong (which of course is not Japan, but I feel that Hong Kong as a city has borrowed from manga, anime and elements of Japanese culture). The film, in my opinion, had a very hybrid-anime type feel, in terms of the way it was shot and the way in which it showcased the city as another character in the story.

On the topic of hybridity, I think that manga culture lends itself very well to the idea: Manga-->anime series--> films--> novels--> video games. This is a great segue to discuss Manga and Anime as a business. Clearly, over the years it has become a viable part of the world market, being that it is a billion dollar industry, extending its influence not only over Asia but to the West and beyond.

As a tween, I remember absolutely loving Sailor Moon (in fact, and I probably shouldn't be sharing this, but I still know the theme song). It definitely had that element of cute that Japanese pop culture is known for that I think is very appealing and easily marketed to the pre-teen age group anywhere, which is why it was so successful in the U.S.

I also remember spending my summers in Libya as a child and young teenager, and I remember my cousins all being obsessed with Captain Majid, which was clearly a Japanese import. In this globalized society, it is clear that Japanese pop culture has an element that makes it successful around the world, not just in Asia and youth culture in the states. Although soccer is a major staple in Arab pop and youth culture, the way it was done originally was as a video game [Captain Tsubasa (Famicon)] and then adapted into a television show. Its popularity was so immense in the Middle East that it was bootlegged and dubbed in Arabic.

This brings me to post-pop in the US and artists like Jeff Koons, and recording artists like Gwen Stefani who are clearly influenced by Japanese pop culture in their own work. We are consuming it at times without direct realization (although this is not the case with Stefani), it's become the dominant post pop art of our time...

Postmodernism in the MusicScene

I thought of a few examples in music that I thought I'd share. Some of these may be way off, but then again, as Jameson points out, 'the concept of modernism is not widely accepted or even understood today'. The first example I thought of was the Clash, who Jameson mentions, but I remembered a story I read some time ago that brought in Bhabha's more globalized vision of the postmodern. There is an Algerian rock artist by the name of Rachid Taha, who tells a story of how he went to see the Clash at the Mogador in Paris as a teenager and handed them his demo. Before the gig at the Mogador, Rachid met the band, spoke to them for a few minutes and handed over a tape of Carte de Séjour songs. “I felt that they were interested,” remembers Rachid, “but when they didn’t get in touch afterwards I just thought that’s life.” “Having said that, when I heard ‘Rock the Casbah’ later that year, I thought that maybe something really had happened after all,” he adds with a wry mischievous smile." I thought this was an interesting take on how influence can be carried out in reverse, especially across borders (and only increasingly such with the advent of globalization).

Also, many of you may have seen the VMAs this weeekend, and I thought Lady Gaga's performance could be considered in the realm of the postmodern. There were definitely nostalgic elements in her performance with allusions to John Lennon, Princess Diana, and was very theatrical, reminiscient of 40s murder mystery and horror movies. As an artist, she very much blends high and low culture, as she performs pop music but infuses what she considers fine art. I would say she employs pastiche as opposed to parody, as the motive is not to mock but rather draws on a nostalgia for a different time.