Rubin Recommends

Jaimie Warren is one of those artists whose style feels so familiar because their aesthetic has basically become part of the  dominant Youth Culture marketing strategy. She has a style that is uniquely her own, but still resonates with the larger culture. Her work has appeared in Nylon, The Fader, Vanity Fair, XLR8R, Vice and a whole host of other publications here and abroad. You can check out here entirely impressive portfolio and resume at dontyoufeelbetter.com.

She also created and runs Whoop Dee Doo, which is easily the craziest live entertainment/kids weirdo show available on public access television. Truly insane things happen on Whoop Dee Doo. Quite naturally, she lives and works in Kansas City.

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Warren: Well, hmmmm, I am in a radical new Rizzoli publication called SHOOT: Photography of the Moment that released recently at the New Museum in New York and has an accompanying exhibition that is traveling to PARCO Factory in Tokyo, Galeria Yautepec in Mexico City, Colette in Paris and the Ullens Center in Beijing, which is rad! There are 26 photographers including Juergen Teller, Wolfgang Tillmans and Nan Goldin and I’m in there too!! OMG! Also, I have a new interview in Nylon Mag coming out in April. I recently closed my first solo museum exhibition at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and I’m doing lots of video and performance work. My DJ troupe “Booby Trap” is busy taking the country by storm, and I am really focusing on studying Roseanne Barr in my spare time. I am also desperately trying to figure out how to make it financially feasible for me to be in Brazil for a few months this time next year.

Lane: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Warren: I just got back from India!! I got a grant to go there for a month, and I was working on a new series of my weirdo self-portraits, as well as a Bollywood edition of “Whoop Dee Doo”, which is a faux public access television show based in Kansas City lead by me and my good buddy Matt Roche (The Werewolf Host). We travel it all over to places like New York, Chicago, even Sweden!! It’s sort of like a totally crazy kids show for adults, where you’ll see professional drill teams, opera singers, break-dancers, Celtic bagpipers, Christian mimes, Civil War re-enactors, drag queens, punk bands, science teachers, tap dancers, R&B singers and dog trainers all in one room together dancing to the Notorious B.I.G. or something like that. It’s super weird and FUN! And we do kids programming for underserved youth, and we are currently on the hunt for a permanent space so that we can do shows on a regular basis.

Here is a cool show we just did – make sure to check out the end, where there is an amazing death metal head-bang-off between a 12 year old girl and a 43 year old man. Oh yeah! And Whoop Dee Doo will be in a new book project and exhibition through Deitch Projects called WILD FILE that will debut in NYC this summer.

Lane: What’s your favorite music right now?

Warren: Eek! I have absolutely no cool factor with music. You’ll find me only listening to Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and the Annie soundtrack. Ooopsies….

Lane: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Warren: My favorites are Succotash (I work there!!), Genghis Khan Mongolian Barbeque, T-Rex in Legends mall and Vietnam Café. But most often I’ll be having a Lean Cuisine meal and a giant Diet Dr. Pepper. Gross, I know.

Lane: Anything else you want to mention?

Warren: Sure! We just did a little mini-video with Peaches you should check out really quick and, I want to say that you need to check out Peggy Noland’s radial clothes!! And Ari Fish’s radical clothes!! And I want to say I LOVE KANSAS CITY!!

Hidden is the new album from These New Puritans. It is intensely dark. Not depressing, just militantly, unapologetically dark. It is awesome. A crazed combination of intricate woodwind arrangements, massive Japanese drums, British dread and dubstep-inspired beats come together in a way that actually makes sense. With songs called ‘We Want War’ and ‘Attack Music’ you really can’t go wrong.

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MP3 >> These New Puritans – Orion

The record officially comes out on March 2nd in the US, but a full-album stream is available now.

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

I met Nick Helderman my first week in New York when he was in town shooting Dutch bands during CMJ in 2008. Since then I’ve had the good fortune of visiting him in Amsterdam and seeing his joint exhibition with Shawn Brackbill as part of Le Guess Who? in Utrecht. The Handsome Dutchman (as he’s known by his American friends) is in high demand these days for his music and documentary photography. You can check out his work at www.nickhelderman.com.

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Helderman: In 2008 I photographed Ethiopian saxophone player Getatchew Mekuria and Dutch improv/punk band The Ex on a tour through Washington DC, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and New York, and I recently showed these photos in Utrecht and Groningen (The Netherlands). Both were amazing exhibits. The one in Groningen is part the Popview 2010 exhibit and will move to London and probably Berlin later this year.

Right now I’m working on a plan to actually travel to Ethiopia and meet up with all these great musicians for a photo project. This has been getting me pretty excited lately.

Lane: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Helderman: I recently went to New York for CMJ and got to stay at a friend’s place for a couple of days, which gave me the time to do stuff such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and walking on the Brooklyn Bridge (haha). Next month I’m going to Stockholm in Sweden for a week or so to stay with friends, and hopefully SXSW in Austin. Really looking forward to that.

Lane: What’s your favorite music right now?

Helderman: That question instantly makes me black out, same thing as walking into a record store. But right now I think that would be Dungen, Sleepy Sun (their new album is going to be amazing), Patrick Watson, Kurt Vile, Mahmoud Ahmed, Animal Collective, Megafaun and Tune Yards.

Lane: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Helderman: Last weekend I went to Café Bern in Amsterdam and they had a delicious cheese fondue. It just added another dimension of quality to the whole cheese fondue concept. I don’t remember eating anything in New York that wasn’t good, but the cheese fondue just beats it.

Lane: Anything else you want to mention?

Helderman: Yes! You should listen to this new song that The Ex just released on 7 inch. First release with Arnold de Boer on guitar/vocals after G.W. Sok left in 2008. It’s such an amazing song.

My Year of Mixtapes is Chicago-based DJ/producer Chrissy Murderbot’s heroic attempt to do one mixtape a week for a year. So far, so good.

His knowledge of obscure genres, their history and the connections between seemingly disparate artists is truly impressive. Who else is doing killer mixes of Kraftwerk, UK Rave from 1991 AND Bobby Orlando? Probably no one. Personally favorites of mine are Week 26: Classic Ragga Jungle and Week 36: Italo-Disco. And Week 32: Weed Songs is well-suited for those special times.

Chrissy’s own work as a DJ and producer can be found at murderbot.com. He also runs Sleazetone records – purveyors of highly sleazy tunes.

Here at Rubin Recommends we’re launching a new mixtape feature called “Have You Heard?”. The idea is to have friends and compatriots curate mixes of tunes that might otherwise have gone unnoticed (or are just generally KILLER). Themes will be obvious or obscure, songs will be loud or soft, downloads will be fast or slow.

To start things off we have a mix called “Music That Happens After Something Happens“. It will greatly aid you in partying forever. It’s about, well, music that happens after something happens.

Gang Gang Dance ‘House Jam’
The Yummy Fur ‘Policeman‘
Micachu ‘Golden Phone’
The Bug ‘Poison Dart’
The Knife ‘Pass This On’
Patrick Cleandenim ‘Stage Fright‘
Hercules and Love Affair ‘Hercules Theme’
The Phenomenal Handclap Band ‘15 to 20′
Cold Cave ‘Life Magazine’
Fever Ray ‘Triangle Walks’
Giorgio Moroder ‘Underdog‘
Red Dragon Band ‘Let Me Be Your Radio’
The xx ‘Crystalised’
Telepathe ‘So Fine’
Blond Redhead ‘Elephant Woman’

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Download the mix.

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Kevin Morby is a guitar/bass playing extraordinaire from Kansas City who now shreds locally in Brooklyn. In addition, he’s pretty much universally recognized as the “Nicest Person Alive”. He’s full-time bassman with Woods (Family Creeps) (obvious patriarchs of the Woodist family empire) and co-singer/guitar in The Babies. Both bands are great and definitely worth your undivided attention. Did I mention that Kevin is the Nicest Person Alive?

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Morby: The Babies are recording next week, Woods (Family Creeps) is teaming up with our buddy Pete Noland from Magik Markers for a two hour set at Monkey Town on January 19th (two days before the venue closes down forever) and I just played some percussion on the new Vivian Girls record. I was in Spain last month and it’s inspired my new kick/twenty-ten resolution of learning some Spanish. Slowly but surely, I’ve got a few phrases up the sleeve at this point.

The Babies just played a FaderBowl Party with Real Estate at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg. It was the most fun I have had in a long time.

Lane: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Morby: As far as this month goes, only from mom and dad’s in KC to here in Brooklyn – and thank god.

The last 6 months of ‘09 I did a life time’s worth of traveling, mainly on tour with Woods. We did 6 weeks in America, 3 weeks in England, Scotland, and Ireland, a week in Spain and even played a show in Moscow. Now I’m back in NY ’til March when we tour down to Austin, so the only traveling I plan on doing is from my bed to the corner store, heh.

Lane: What’s your favorite music right now?

Morby: The Mantles from San Francisco have a new record out on Siltbreeze and that’s gotta be my favorite jam right now.

Also been rockin’ Sonny and the Sunsets (thanks Kelly, thanks Mike), Lee Hazlewood Cowboy in Sweden, Animal Collective Fall Be Kind, Kurt Vile Childish Prodigy and Ducktails Backyard.

On our last tour I got really into Golden Dawn Power Plant and The Witch Lazy Bones. Find and download those! They are such gems!

Lane: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Morby: I love this question! I recently had the best Pho ever at this new Vietnamese restaurant on Bedford and North 9th in Williamsburg. I am so bad, and don’t remember what the spot was called but it was so good! I had some outstanding mashed potatoes at Diner in Williamsburg, I eat a Chipotle Chicken Torta from Jesse’s Cafe (Bushwick and Montrose) close to 4 times a week, and the Fish Tacos from the Endless Summer truck on Bedford are a pretty safe bet. I also highly recommend the Caracas Arepas Bar.

When I was in Spain I ate the most romantic and exotic food of my short 21 years. I had octopus, fried baby squid, razor clams, mussels, anchovies, whole fish, red pepper stuffed with tuna, chorizo, sausage lentil soup, so many good cheeses, and torrone.

Lane: Anything else you want to mention?

Morby: Absolutely. There is 60-something-year-old woman who lives below me named Evette. She is a grandmother and a cancer survivor, and lives with her husband and grandson. She never minds when Woods plays music or whenever we have parties/BBQs in the yard during the summer. In fact, whenever we throw big parties she comes out and smokes cigarettes and introduces herself to our friends and tells us stories of when she was our age and living in Puerto Rico, going to the beach with some sort of pink alcohol in plastic cups and telling everyone that it was only milkshakes.

Once, sometime ago, on a chilly October night I was sitting in our courtyard eating oatmeal for dinner when she came out, saw what I was eating, waved her finger in my face, said “uh-uh!” and disappeared back into her house with my oatmeal. Moments later she came back out with my bowl overflowing with chicken and rice.

A few weeks after that, when it had gotten real cold, Woods was playing music and being loud way after dark, which we always get nervous about because in a perfect world we would want to respect our neighbors as much as possible, but sometimes once we get rolling we just can’t seem to stop. Anyway, as we were playing there was a small knock at the door and we all knew who it was: Evette. We had finally done it. We had finally broke her and she was coming to yell at us and tell us to cut it out. But of course, when we opened the door, she stood on the other side, holding Tupperware full of that night’s leftovers, probably scared to death that all we could afford was oatmeal.

Every time I return home from tour and run into her in the yard she is standing up, leaning against a wall smoking her Newports, and when she sees me her eyes light up and she says: “I been asking everyone, where’s my guys?!”

God bless you Evette!

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

(photo by Mark Forester)

I first found out about Cody when I picked up his zine “Young, Angry and Rich” off the ground of the Recycled Sounds parking lot in Kansas City. That was ten years ago and a lot has changed about how his art and music are delivered and presented. What his ridiculously impressive biography doesn’t illustrate though is the extent to which Cody and a whole crew of dedicated Kansas City kids have created their own world of near-constant, well, creation.

In addition to touring and recording with Ssion, Cody’s long-running band (full disclosure: I play drums in Ssion), he’s also premiering his first movie, BOY, this year in the U.S. and Europe. It opens in LA at Peres Projects on January 16th. Matt and I will both be headed down to check it out.

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Critcheloe: I’m getting ready to premiere my movie, BOY, at Peres Projects in LA on January 16th. I’ll also be showing some drawings and creating an installation for the movie to be shown in. i just finished shooting a video for Peaches and it should be completed sometime this month. It’s wizard of oz themed and it’s basically a parody of being “styled.” Think lady gaga if she was on crack and had a $10 budget.

Lane: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Critcheloe: I went to europe with my band, Ssion. we were opening for the Gossip. It was the easiest tour I’ve ever been on… getting stoned, goofing around, playing a show and then getting stoned again and eating a shit ton of food… I didn’t really meet anyone or go anywhere, but I didn’t care cuz I was leaving the dream, man!

Lane: What’s your favorite music right now?

Critcheloe:
Wet Look “Wou Wont Die”
Little Richard!!!!!!!!!!
Wham “Freedom”
Marc Almond and Clint Ruin covering Soft Cell’s “Ghost Rider”
Azari and III
Calvin Harris “Flashback”
Akon
Roisin Murphy “Momma’s Place”
Jason Derulo “Whatcha Say”

Lane: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Critcheloe: My roommate brought home Dominos Pizza last night and it was sooo good! Especially smothered in garlic butter! I’m a freak for sauce!

Lane: Anything else you want to mention?

Critcheloe: Lately i’ve been worried that I’m becoming a woman (mostly mentally and somewhat physically!) Also, people need to see this: Lydia Lunch Interviews on Videowave.

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Heather and I grew up in the same suburb of Kansas City, but didn’t really become friends until we both moved to Lawrence. Since then we’ve gone to Las Vegas and Barcelona together and now live around the corner from each other in Brooklyn. She’s got great taste in pretty much everything and is basically a very classy lady. If you’re going to go on vacation I definitely recommend inviting Heather. She now works as studio director at Acne in New York.

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Neuburger: I just started my own blog, brownpapercake , it’s totally random shit that I am inspired by, but it’s main focus is my musings about fashion. Gosh, I am turning into such a geek.

Lane: Where have you traveled so far this month?

More…

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

The first Weekly Check In by Kurt Lane.

I met Sharan while in high school and we’ve kept in touch over the years. I called her up when I moved to New York last fall and she immediately gave me a job at a record store that was about to go out of business. It pays (in cash and just above minimum wage) to know people! In addition to her awesomely elaborate listening habits she’s a drummer and composer of note. She also knows more about delicious beers than I could ever hope to. Basically, the perfect person to hang out with.

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Singh: I’m presently working for Waxpoetics on an archiving project of the label Fania (and its subsidiary labels) down in Miami, Florida. It’s been a fascinating excavation of the true gems of Latin music, mostly from the ’60s and ’70s. Uncovering relics like master tapes, test pressings, photos, film, and press kits from musicians I have long admired has been an unbelievable experience.

Lane: Where have you traveled so far this month?

More…

Andreas Gursky has a new book of photography out called “80-08″. I got a chance to see a copy the other night (thanks Heather!) and it’s impressive.

Basically a comprehensive look at his work and evolution to large-scale photos of office buildings, international commerce, motorsports and, ya know, individual anonymity in the global economy.

You can buy the book here.