Month: April 2008

Pitchfork.tv

Posted on by mygoodgomez

I have a love/hate relationship with Pitchfork. Their features and interviews are the best of any indie music blog, or maybe of any music blog in general, but their album reviews can be so off topic and elitist that I’ve stopped reading them. That’s all fine, whether or not I read their album reviews isn’t a big deal, what bothers me is the influence that one writer can have over the future of a potentially talented band. Leaving their album reviewing out of the picture and turning to their latest venture: Pitchfork.tv, I’m thoroughly impressed. The site features many different high-quality videos about music and the artists that make it, here are the sections it’s broken down into:

Featured

The featured section serves as the most-recent/best-of content gathered from all the other sections. It it basically a collection of the week’s (or maybe more, it’s only been live for two weeks) videos. Because it’s pretty basic, the featured section should be used as the first place you go to see new content (and it’s the first place the website takes you to).

Shows

These “shows” are what make Pitchfork.tv resemble a TV station rather than just a hodge-podge collection of music videos. Right now, the shows include Interview, Don’t Look Down, Juan’s Basement, Daytripping, and Special Presentation. Interview is self-explanatory; they interview an artist. For Don’t Look Down, an artist simply plays a few of their songs on top of a building roof. Juan’s Basement is both very similar and completely opposite to Don’t Look Down because here the artists are playing in… yes, Juan’s Basement. Daytripping is my favorite so far, it’s where a Pitchfork camera crew follow a band around for a day and engage in all the crazy things that go on. Special Presentation is just a section for Pitchfork to throw all their random features; there isn’t much organization here.

Pitchfork Live

For Pitchfork Live, you get to watch a concert at your desk. If you’ve ever bought a live DVD of your favorite band playing at some fancy (or grimy) venue and sat for an hour basking in the glory while wishing you were there, Pitchfork Live is the same thing.

One Week Only

While the other sections are cool, it’s the One Week Only section that really makes Pitchfork.tv worth-while. Here you can watch a video that is SO special Pitchfork can only show it for one week. Thus far, the videos have been documentaries (one about the Pixies and the other about AIR), and both were amazing. I’m not sure if these videos are rare, but I am sure that these will all be high-quality videos worth your 30-60 minutes.

Music Video

You really don’t need an explanation for this section. It’s full of music videos.

In review, I love Pitchfork.tv. I’ve always loved watching interviews and other shows about artists (XLR8R TV anyone?), and this is just feeding my obsession. Even if you’ve never heard of the bands featured on the site, go check them out; you’ll probably begin to expand your musical horizons, which is always good.

55 DSL Spring/Summer ’08

Posted on by mygoodgomez

You might be wondering what a post on clothes and fashion is doing here (seeing as this is the first). I won’t pretend that I’m some sort of fashion expert, but I do think that I have an OK eye for picking out what looks good and what’s crap. A couple weeks ago, a person working closely with the launch of  55 DSL’s new Spring/Summer ’08 collection contacted me and asked if I’d take a look at it, so here goes.

COMPANY

55 DSL is a subsidiary company of Diesel, and it has focused its market to young adults who are closely tied to what’s new in pop culture (ie. me). 55 DSL has been around since 1994 and identifies itself as an “experimental spin-off” from Diesel that “both complements and defies its parent.” Taking one look at 55 DSL’s website is a good way of quicly getting aquainted with the attitude that the company exudes.

Bright colors and flashing images pop out at you just as the clothes do. Pushing their college-esque risque appeal is an ad for 55 DSL’s summer internship program called Junior Lucky Bastard. The image is simply a naked guy who looks to be in his late-30’s standing over a 20-something naked girl both smiling. Further down the page is a banner for 55 DSL’s t-shirt celebrating the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders. It’s obvious that the company knows who it’s targeting, and they don’t pretend to be anything other than a place for hipster culture & clothes.

SPRING/SUMMER ’08 COLLECTION

Getting back to the clothes, 55 DSL’s Spring/Summer ’08 collection takes fairly conventional pieces and put a bit of a flare onto them. On the guy’s side (the side that I paid the most attention to), you have your typical subdued shorts, pants, and shirts that aren’t too unique but would look good on anyone. Apart from these normal pieces, there’s some stuff thrown in that doesn’t really fit with the rest, but I find to be the most interesting. These pieces are what make the collection stick out, and in my opinion, fit best with the 55 DSL attitude.

On the girls side, I found the collection to be more forward-looking, but not to the point of being runway clothes (you know that stuff that comes down and looks like a costume). These pieces are much more identifiable at 55 DSL than the majority of the male collection.

In addition to the male/female collections, the Spring/Summer lineup also includes a good number of “eyewear” and “props” (sunglasses/hats/backpacks/belts).

In summary, the Spring/Summer ’08 collection from 55 DSL has its strong points, but I feel that the company’s image lacks a cohesiveness with its clothes. Maybe it was the informal (bordering immature) tone of the website or the scattered thoughts of the guy’s collection, it just didn’t all come together for me.