Tuesday, 31 January 2012

DIVA www.divamag.co.uk

Swan Lake . Park Scene Part 1






Swan Lake . Park Scene Part 1

Matthew Bourne

http://youtu.be/1QxgNNJZXkE

Kill The Lights 2 RQB

RoyalQueerBallet
Artist Britney Spears
http://youtu.be/gzxhYci74YI

Queer 2011

A performance of Erling Wold's Opera Queer at Fort Mason, San Francisco in 2011.
http://youtu.be/TknpvrrxI6Y

In October 2011, as part of my birthday celebration, I watched the film: 'Black Swan' http://youtu.be/D4PQGw2WszM at the Ritzy Cinema.


VIDEO: KOOL THING

Find out why kool thing's new video is shaking up the lesbian world

Jane Czyzselska

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:08:41 GMT | Updated today

We came across this understated little lez gem and wanted to know more. So we chatted to the kool thing's video director Claire Kurylowski who got us up to speed with the Berlin-based hipsters.

The last year has seen the band traveling across Europe playing in London, Paris, Copenhagen, Dublin, Vienna, Prague and all over Germany with renowned artists such as MEN, Light Asylum, Aerea Negrot, Maria Minerva and LCMDF.

After initial online buzz and word of mouth about their seductive live performance, Austra handpicked kool thing as support act for both their European tours in 2011 and have invited them back to tour Australia in 2012.

Constantly evolving, Julie (featured in DIVA, a while back..) and Jon most recently recruited a drummer to broaden the dynamic of their live shows. Aside from performing on stage, they DJ regularly in clubs, establishing new fans no matter what the context.

When not on the road, kool thing's efforts have been focused mainly on the studio. Their first official release was a remix of Austra's single "Beat and the Pulse", released on 12" by Domino Records in August 2011 (http://www.dominorecordco.com/austrasparkle). Stream here http://soundcloud.com/kool-thing/austra-beat-and-the-pulse-kool. They are currently putting final touches on a full-length album with Berlin-based production team Kaiku (Handsome Furs, K-X-P) with an intended release for 2012.

kool thing (yep, all lower case) is the duo of Julie Chance and Jon Dark, originally from Dublin and Sydney, respectively, who met in Paris in 2010 at some side-street dive bar where Chance was DJing. The girls quickly noticed their overlap in musical sensibilities, swapped records, exchanged ideas and booked flights to Berlin, where they got straight to work bringing their new project to life.

kool thing's nocturnal sound weaves together textured washes of guitar, shadowy synthesizers and driving beats with layered vocals that deliver a strong visual narrative. The combination of Jon's classical musical training and Julie's artistic vision balances high production values with a tangible handmade quality, like a junkyard jamboree with Teutonic precision. The duo reconciles disparate influences like grunge and wave, prog and pop - yet without any blatant retro fetishism, gazing not down at their shoes but stridently ahead into an ominous future. We think they're awesome, but what do YOU think? See video clip below.

Recommended if you like: mood rings, lunar eclipses, ghost stories, cave paintings, good music.

Oh and here's some info about the uber kool director: www.clairekurylowski.co.uk
Originally hailing from the UK Claire is a Berlin based filmmaker directing music videos, fashion films and commercials. Previously she has been in the official selection at the London Short Film Festival and won the Daily Motion Prize at A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival (ASVOFF) and also bagged a Kodak Award for a commercial she directed whilst still at film school.

More images

Video


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