Sidian, Ersatz & Vanes (Designers)
(1) How do you find the music you listen to? Usually we just share recommendations between each other, otherwise we rather enjoy going to concerts, and of course the internet has opened up endless listening possibilities, but actually too much choice isn’t always a good thing. (2) What is your favorite way to enjoy music (live, alone, in the car, bath, work, etc.)? Music is very dependent on context, so we wouldn’t necessarily say that there was a favourite way of ours to enjoy music. In some cases enjoyment isn’t always the desired effect either! Any particular moment of life probably has some sort of music that suits the situation. (3) What do you find exciting about the new music you listen to? We’re just excited to hear new new music at all. I don’t think it’s getting easier to create new sounding music, so whenever you do hear something original it can seem like quite an achievement. (4) What is it about the songs you’ve been listening to for years that resonates with you? The songs/tracks that have stayed with us over the years are those that have strong simple central ideas. However, sometimes it’s not so easy to say why exactly a piece of music will resonate with you. Music, however conceptual it’s origin, is often judged on it the visceral connection and feelings you have for it, and ultimately that’s why it is so important to us.
1. Steve Reich // Music for 18 Musicians
2. Kraftwerk // Trans Europe Express
3. Manuel Göttsching // E2-E4
4. Schoenberg // Piano Music
5. Replica // Oneohtrix Point Never
6. John Fahey // Summertime
7. Rhys Chatham // Guitar Trio
8. Can // Vitamin C
9. Talking Heads// Born Under Punches
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SEE THE COLLECTION: SIDIAN, ERSATZ & VANES
Redia Soltis (Founder/Editor-in-Chief) Zero1 Magazine
(1) How do you find the music you listen to? I have some great friends that are really into music and like to share. (2) What is your favorite way to enjoy music (live, alone, in the car, bath, work, etc.)? Alone. Loud. In bed. usually at night in the dark. (3) What do you find exciting about the new music you listen to? To be honest I am really into stoner rock so the new music that I find is usually an old song that I haven’t heard before. When I stumble upon music that is new like Howlin Rain and Black Mountain which is influenced by the 60’s/70’s I get very excited and I listen to it over and over again. (4) What is it about the songs you’ve been listening to for years that resonates with you? Nostalgia. Music resonate usually with me due to connecting with lyrics in a song from my personal experiences. I think a good song is one that evokes emotion whether it’s dark or brings you joy.
1. Black Mountain // Heart of Snow
2. Howlin’ Rain // Calling Lightning with a Scythe
3. Patsy Klein // Walking After Midnight
4. Grinderman // Electric Alice
5. Lumerians // Orgon Grinder
6. The Cramps // Let’s Get Fucked Up
7. Guns N’ Roses // Sweet Child O’ Mine
8. Jimi Hendrix // The Wind Cries Mary
9. Carpenters // Superstar (Sonic Youth cover)
10. Endless Boogie // Bad River
11. Nightmare // Annihilation
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Raquel Allegra (Designer)
(1) How do you find the music you listen to?My friends and I share music constantly. I have them to thank for Peter Murphy and Gene Clark. They have me to thank for The Beatles and PJ Harvey.
(2) What is your favorite way to enjoy music (live, alone, in the car, bath, work, etc.)? MUSIC: brought me to LA in the first place… it inspires every new collection I design - in my studio, loud… Sunday mornings with coffee…spontaneous dance parties with my girlfriends…I LIVE for live shows and have seen most of my favorite bands and artists live…
(3) What is it about the songs you’ve been listening to for years that resonates with you? Discovering new music is like having a new lover… it consumes me… I’ll play my favorite new songs over and over until I’ve gotten my fix…
As much as I love new music, there is a very special and permanent place in my deepest heart, in my CELLS for the soundtracks of my favorite childhood movies. You know that time when you are just falling in love for the first time and finding yourself, learning how to French kiss… these songs and ‘their’ movies hold such a place for me…
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1. Thompson Twins // 16 Candles // If You Were Here
2. Peter Gabriel // Say Thing // In Your Eyes
3. Beethoven // Immortal Beloved // Symphony No. 7
4. Devotchka // Little Miss Sunshine // How It Ends
5. Debussy // Frankie and Johnny // Clair de Lune
6. Nick Drake // The Royal Tenenbaums // Fly
7. Pink Floyd // The Wall // Comfortably Numb
8. John Lennon // Imagine // Imagine
9. Simple Minds // The Breakfast Club // Don’t Forget About Me
10. The Psychedelic Furs // Pretty In Pink // Pretty in Pink
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SEE THE COLLECTION: RAQUEL ALLEGRA
Arielle de Pinto (Designer)
(1) How do you find the music you listen to? Recommendations, being in the right place at the right time…I used to find music by downloading a bunch. When Napster was alive I was in high school and I was grounded all the time. It was such freedom; it completely opened my world and I was totally hungry for it.
(2) What is your favorite way to enjoy music (live, alone, in the car, bath, work, etc.)? There are a ton of musicians I wouldn’t care about if I hadn’t seen them live or heard their music in a club. Gaga, for example, I’m really not into, but I saw her play unplugged once and I got it, but still wasn’t into it but then heard it in some gay club and it made sense. But then I can really get into something just by shitty mp3s that I downloaded 3 months ago. It’s headspace. Being in fresh environments helps, too.
(3) What is it about the songs you’ve been listening to for years that resonates with you? It’s just an energy. I come from a pretty unconvential means of experiencing music I think. My mom would get into a song a listen to it on repeat throughout the whole house for weeks. No exaggeration, there was no escape. I got exposed to lots, good and bad, from adult contemporary-esque rock from Canadian radio to old reggae and even really contemporary mom and dad kind of reggae, the beginnings of “world” music and just anything, there was little cohesion. Keeps me open, I hope.
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1. Hype Williams // Silkhhh
2. Sess 4-5 // Safe Forever (9th Ward Street Remix)
3. 5th Ward Weebie and Miss Tee // Lovin’ You
4. Keri Hilson // Beautiful Mistake (B. Ford Bounce Remix)
5. Sissy Nobby // Staring At These Walls
6. 504 Boyz // I Can Tell You Wanna Fuck
7. Sade // Turn My Back On You
8. Pastor Troy // Pop That Pussy
9. Gang Gang Dance // Vacuum
10. Main Attraktionz // Swaggin Hard
11. Chalie Boy // Deja Blue
12. Ballgreezy // Shone
13. Turk // I Luv U 4 Dat
SEE THE COLLECTION: ARIELLE DE PINTO
Marianne Vitale, Artist. Vitale works in sculpture, drawing, film, and performance. Her 9-minute video “Patron” appeared in the 2010 Whitney Biennial. She lives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and works in Long Island City.
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(1) How do you find the music you listen to? I lift it from other sources - friends, radio programs, films, and now I’m finally learning how to use itunes. The idea of “if you like this, we recommend you try this…”… clever invention.
(2) What is your favorite way to enjoy music (live, alone, in the car, bath, work, etc.)? I turn to music when I’m stuck, mentally. I can’t really work along to music, or have my own ideas along with music. I listen when I need a surge of invigoration. Good musicians, singers give so much. It’s intimate, it’s everything, probably the highest form of human expression.
(3) What do you find exciting about the new music you listen to? This list doesn’t include too much “new” music. New? I like Ratatat, but I only know the music because they are good friends, otherwise I wouldn’t know it, not from my cave. Their sound I can work along with at high volume. Their energy is steep, stimulating, no lyrics. Makes me head swim freely.
(4) What is it about the songs you’ve been listening to for years that resonates with you? Music heals. It’s therapy.
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1. Harry Nilsson // One
2. Mahalia Jackson // In the Upper Room
3. Frank Zappa // Sofa No. 2
4. Canned Heat // Going Up the Country
5. Sparks // I Married Myself
6. Skip Spence (Oar) // If I’m Good
7. The Roches // The Train
8. Freakwater // My Old Drunk Friend
9. The Edwin Hawkins Singers // Oh Happy Day
10. Ratatat // Loud Pipes
Haidee Findlay-Levin, Stylist. Born in South Africa, Haidee Findlay-Levin studied film in London before moving to New York. Her extensive study of costume design helped her make the transition from the dramatic arts into the fashion world. She is currently the creative director of the labels Tom Scott and A Detacher in New York, Jasmin Shokrian in Los Angeles and RAOUL in Singapore. Additionally, she contributes both as an editor and a journalist to magazines such as Fantastic Man, The Gentle Woman, ACNE Paper, and V. Her passion for eyewear has led her to develop a sunglass line as well as a book about the history of eyewear, both of which she is currently at work.
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(1) How do you find the music you listen to? Mostly through research and friends. I have to put together several playlists each season for one of my clients; for their showroom in NY and Paris, for their men’s and women’s shows and for the videos that run on their website throughout the year. There is always a very specific inspiration that ties in with the collection; one season was rare 70’s disco, another was 60’s and 70’s road music with a bit of a North African flavor and so on. Sometimes its just a spirit, not an era, so its more Indie with newer bands that are really evocative and, of course, great to walk to. I work with a music advisor for all this; usually my friend Dave ( he has his own label -Barge Records), who has very eclectic and great taste in music.
(2) What is your favorite way to enjoy music (live, alone, in the car, bath, work, etc.)? I enjoy going to live gigs but it tends to be more sporadic than I would like. I prefer smaller gigs to music festivals. I am often traveling, so music is very important to me while I am flying, but it really makes me hyper-emotional. I need music when I am working from home, or on the computer. It makes the work more tolerable. On shoots it’s harder to control, as there are a lot of people with a variety of tastes, not always compatible with my own. I always associate certain songs or bands with a particular show I am preparing; inevitably we’re so busy that we tend to hear the same few things over and over again, particularly the proposed soundtrack.
(3) What do you find exciting about the new music you listen to? I get really excited to hear some amazing new voice or some rare underground band. Personally, I can’t sing a single note, so a beautiful voice seems like such a rare and special gift. And if a good voice is combined with really good lyrics…I’m excited. That’s not to say I wont get excited about some new kind of noise, it can be instrumental and not vocal…it just can’t be techno or too electronic, that really drives me crazy. (4) What is it about the songs you’ve been listening to for years that resonates with you? I think they really evoke a specific time and place and for the most part they are pretty melancholic.Whether it’s Nico and the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, New Order, Morrissey and The Smiths, Malcolm McLaren or Sonic Youth…its all pretty emotional and melancholic. It’s not all doom and gloom though…..I do like a happy playlist; to dance to.
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1. David Axelrod // Holy Thursday
2. Dag for Dag // I Am The Assassin
3. We All Together // It’s A Sin To Go Away
4. Mark Wirtz // Satan Took A Tram Ride
5. Minnie Riperton // Les Fleurs
6. Pendulum// Broadcast
7. Stone // L’Antiquitie
8. Anna Calvi // Blackout
9. David Axelrod // The Fly
10. Porcelain Raft // Found A Way
Robert Geller, Designer. Robert Geller is a German-born American fashion designer. He graduated with a degree in fashion design at RISD in 2001 and moved to New York to join Marc Jacobs shortly after. There he met Alexandre Plokhov, a patternmaker, and partnered up with Alexandre to launch menswear brand Cloak. Cloak went on to win the Ecco Domani award in 2003 and the Vogue/CFDA Grant in 2004. Robert left Cloak after the Fall 2004 collection. Cloak finally closed down in Spring 2007. In 2006, Robert launched a women’s line called Harald. Initially meant to only be knitwear, the line exploded into a full fledge collection, helping launch Robert back into the fashion spotlight. The attention allowed him to secure financial backing for a menswear label under his own name. In Fall 2007 Robert Geller menswear debuted at New York Fashion Week. Robert received the GQ/CFDA Best New Menswear Designer Award in February, 2009. Geller has collaborated with Assembly New York before to launch a pop-up shop of his spring 2010 collection in a former key shop on the Lower East Side.
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(1) How do you find the music you listen to? Surfing the net or friends suggestions.
(2) What is your favorite way to enjoy music (live, alone, in the car, bath, work, etc.)? In the car, super loud.
(3) What do you find exciting about the new music you listen to? Getting to the point where you can sing along to your favorite parts.
(4) What is it about the songs you’ve been listening to for years that resonates with you? The mood. If I listen to a song that I was in love with years ago, it completely brings back the mood of the time.
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1. The Kills // The Last Goodbye
2. The XX // Heart Skipped A Beat
3. Jose Gonzalez // Heartbeats
4. The Cure // Lovesong
5. The Gossip // Heavy Cross
6. David Bowie // This Is Not America
7. Natalie Merchant // King of May
8. Elton John // Tiny Dancer
9. Sade // Smooth Operator
10. Natalie Merchant // Space Oddity
11. Die Toten Hosen // Alles aus Liebe
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