So to all you flannel wearing creative kids, go on and have a jive.

Now for the Word Play

A-Z, what you associate with each alphabet with a brand is almost like a personality test! a for apple or abercrombie? See how many can you recognize below! Jason Dean has done a beautiful job in pulling all the great brands of the world into his poster! A graphic design hero.

GREYSCALE X WHITESPACE

Greyscale is design wares for the spectrum of daily living. It aims to bring charm and style into people’s living and working environments through accessible and contemporary design products that are visually engaging as well as practical, decorative and fun. Through a range of products from note cards to journals and eventually developing into home wares, these products are to be enjoyed by both adults and children. Greyscale is also committed to using sustainable materials and the best practices for the environment making it recyclable and safe.

Kapok is the first shop to carry their line of notecards, and they will be further extending their distribution in Hong Kong and abroad this year. If you haven’t been to Arnault’s shop, stop by and visit as it’s full of great products such as Moleskin, Common Projects, Seventy Eight Percent, Happy Socks, VOID and many more interesting brands.

I’m going along to the launch for sure. Danielle is a good friend and her WhiteSpace studio is right above us in Sheung Wan. She is responsible for giving Cipher that visual edge.

Visual Art

I have been moved by this particular image which popped up on my screen earlier today, and the abstract visual graphics which have made moves in a more neurotic direction. Just peep this Nethereverlands designer. . . . Go on take a really good look

Ashkan Honarvar is the name, or the face.

Gil Scott-Heron is one of the most influential and important singer/songwriters to have come out of America in the second half of the last century. Much can be said about why this Gil’s lyrics are so original and powerful but ,it is important not to overlook his utterly singular voice which is so distinctive and rough and tender. It is a voice of experience.A new record from Gil Scott-Heron, forty years after his first solo album, is a cause for major celebration and something that the world needs now more than ever.

The Moon Goons are a cloaked duo of party rockers that have crashed landed and made a home in Minneapolis Minnesota. Opening for artists like Justice, Moby, LA RIOTS, MIA, Blaqstarr, The Cool Kids, VHS or Beta and other international touring groups. The Moon Goons have proved they have the power to move a dance floor. With a unique DJ set up, The Moon Goons play a variety of music from electro to disco, bmore to hip hop, indie rock remixes and of course the wonderful sounds of the 80’s and 90’s. They are also know to play their own tracks and remixes. Unlike most DJs The Moon Goons use a turntable set up along with a computer controller so they have the ability to sample the vinyl on the turntables and remix it live. This guarantees for a unique set each time The Moon Goons perform, no matter where you see them!

Y’all Know Who – It’s the Mutha F**king Roots Crew !!!

Apparently they have now reached a milestone by writing 1,000 of these songs, all within the past 9 months.  Its crazy to think that they can write these jams in no time and makes you really anticipate what they are saving for their upcoming release, How I Got Over, which is slated to be released in February.  Here’s 22 sandwiches, straight from the afro himself, which I compiled into a nice little EP. How appropriate, the first track inspired by David Byrne and the Talking Heads (my two favourite bands) !

1. Once In A Lifetime
2. Sizuuuuuuuurpin
3. Head Slicer
4. Spain (ft. Chick Corea)
5. The Juice of Chicago
6. Baatin
7. Woman
8. Choir Fire
9. Teen Town
10. Cant Keep Headphones on Head
11. Red Toe Nail Bashing
12. Blinded By The Light (No Douche Here)
13. Caveman for Dennis Quaid
14. Wan Cook Soup
15. Someone Is Late To Dentist Appointment
16. I Get Lifted
17. Werewolf Barmitzvah
18. Like This Anna Torv
19. Breezin (ft. George Benson)
20. EvenzarahlikesTHISone
21. The Suits
22. Usher In That Choir

Good to hear that Fat Freddy’s Drop (Local New Zealand Band) have tuned in the rest of the World, doing sold out concerts from LA, Frisco area, Paris to London. These guys absolutely deserve all the respect and energy they have been getting from their unique sound. The cool calm collective music which plays a key role in any Kiwis Summer road trip….I’m on my way home to be part of something which i have missed for so so long ! If you haven’t heard of them before than don’t feel alarmed but do check them out on youtube or the next time they roll through your town. Good music for Good People.

Produced by Madlib.  Guest appearances include Talib Kweli, Guilty Simpson, Little Brother’s Phonte, Planet Asia, Fashawn and a host of underground Los Angeles’s emerging rap talent.  Madlib is with out any doubt the hottest producer out there right now. He will be flipping beats faster than you can can flip pancakes. Seriously, the raw musician who can chop the whole renaissance era onto one track. True genius at work.

The Xx are four 20-year-olds from South London who make predominantly slow, furtive pop music, mostly about sex. Cool album, and cool song which kind of portrays a gorgeous psycho-geographical love song. Definitely a London song, when wandering aimlessly around the wet streets.

I shouldn’t need to say anything.

Cipher Launch date 07.12.09, so we got sneakers or stiched up and ready to ship out this week. Check the website www.cipherism.com or follow our fan page on facebook.

Its a good time for us to be making and promoting our brand. We have people writing on their blogs, distributors in Europe coming down town Sheung Wan (Hong Kong) to check out our office and ofcourse Kenshin in New York trying to push kilos. Kenshin, being Collin Thompson’s (founder of C I P H E R) good friend keeps us posted with his news and the more important things – All that MATTERS (ROCKSMITH)

RockSmith has obviously had a busy year, creating mad crazy videos for the festive season and filming young pioneers on the streets of NYC. Big ups for the video, love the track and the theme !

But This is the album on my wish list this year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BLAKROC

has been hyped up for a while now but it’s dropped and i have seen bits and parts of the trailer and I’m saving up my pennies this week ! This is the uncut master piece which puts authentic Hip Hop artists with The Black Keys, who produce the vicious Blues Rock sound. A truly unique collaboration which has made this passion project a sure shot for success.

Creative Inspiration: Surface To Air has either conceived or been a part of some of the most creative projects you’ve no doubt come across in the past few years. In the late 90’s Surface To Air consisted of a group of friends in Paris who wanted to work on projects they liked and since then, the team has grown into a multidisciplinary company spanning across creative domains such as fashion, graphics, photography, design, music, and films. They are part creative agency, part clothing label and part studio. Past projects have included but are not limited to music videos for Justice and Chromeo, art directing the Blason shoot for Pharrell’s line of jewelery for Louis Vuitton, commercials for Diesel, Sony and Louis Vuitton and more recently, launching UNIQLO in France and a capsule collection with Kings of Leon. And we’re just getting to the clothing side of things.

That is moving a little aside of what should be said, because by looking past those borders or ‘walls’ which make Paris what it is, there are some incredibly talented individuals who share another creative direction, unheard of outside France. They are really quite prolix when it comes to print real life on a film, add rythm and top it with super super fantasy. Breaking away from the Tour Eiffel and Nouvelle Vague is fresh, rad as hell, yes monsieur. Remember the name, Kourtrajmé : it is the French slang for short-movie, court métrage (mé-trage = trage-mé). Everything originates from freewheelin experiences in the sunny ghettos of the dimly lit city, with dreams, cigarettes and madness in the pockets of the windbreaker. Sketch accent, funny focus.

Now playing the game as a real production company, Romain Garvas and Kim Chapiron started up in 1994. Today they do everything from documentaries to advertising. Success come from much so much aquaintance with viral communication, tremendous buzz-orchestrating skills and glorious originalty-mastering. Oh yeah and famous actors like Vincent Cassel (Ocean12, Matrix, La Heine…) collaborate extensively with them from the beggining. It adds fromage in the épinards.

Movies genuinely represents youth French concerns, loves and society myths. They gush out from this concept of street-fantasy : happy concrete-oriented life, arab jokes uttered by gorillas, Romanian pizza delivery guys and on and on and on and on. Controversy is also part of the recipe, check out the video Stress (Justice, same kind of folks). And observed from the top of my building, what is really dope with Kourtrajmé is that they show the real France and its diverse ethnic groups and sub-cultures. They are like the new Edith Piaf, speaking the criminal slang with no filter, no posh poses and no coffee table. Real life, Burberry scarfs and couscous fragances I said.”

To justify my point-whether you may or may not know-Hip Hop in France exists as the second biggest market in the World. Marseille (which has produced the best rappers to date), has always been considered different than the other cities in France. Whether it be their laid back Mediterranean style, their strong accent or their unique slang, they manage to stand apart from the rest. The home of numerous french artists, Marseille will forever be the rival of Paris. In terms of culture, music and lifestyle, I’m on the Marseille side of things, especially when i compare my people and common interest. There you will find the grime ridden streets filled with piss and glee, where people respect each other and support their ‘cite’, so that they can live in peace, love and happiness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sbxOlk-Z1E

-Pierre ze Puzzle.

That was just a touch of what really happened but check our fan page out on face book and follow the movement – www.cipherism.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CIPHER/201918415341

http://www.facebook.com/djmissyellow?ref=share&v=photos

If you have payed your dues-and your on the Tibetans side of things-then Mantra will take care of your worries and purify your thoughts. The term Mantra is used in Buddhism and is derived by two particular roots; to think; and the enlightened mind. It allows you to deepen your thoughts or imagination with positive and true ideas so that only positive vibrations will follow you in your course. 

It is thought that all the teachings of the Buddha are contained in this one prayer, and that the recitation of the mantra helps achieve perfection in the six practices from generosity to wisdom. Speaking the prayer aloud, writing it, or viewing the written form are all said to benefit ones karma, by invoking the peaceful & benevolent blessings of Chenrezig,the embodiment of compassion.

So now that you are blessed with that random post, there is hope.

Everybody Someday

A cool gallery shot by ITO

(http://www.projectartschool.com/everybodysomeday/)

I’m sitting on the couch with this pack of zig zags in my hand. Everyday I’m getting more amped up about Summer, being reunited with the boyz, catching some festivals, chasing the sun with a cold beer in hand. It will be good to kick back with no stress, free from all the grips of reality. 

Now, I speak from here, the same place, but somewhere else.

Sun Ra !!!!! the poet, the philosopher, the jazz composer, the synthesize player, the voice and the mystery. You are in my thoughts this week, while your musics bangs in my ear drums. Your visions are real, and your music echoes in this foreign land.

While DJ Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip was supposed to cause the most hype, I believe he was over-shadowed by a particular group of performers who put the groove back into Chinese disco Rock.

BEWARE ! THIS IS NOT A JAPANESE BAND. This was the headline for the “Pet Conspiracy” who were my favourite performance by a long shot. The Chinese + Electronica band created from a laboratory in Beijing blew my head off with their theatrical style of electro Rock, while mixing and mashing the likes of 80’s Chinese Disco, 30’s German Cabaret, and 21st Century Electro. The lead, was an intoxicating flamboyant Chinese girl oozing with style and phiness. She took control of the stage from beginning to end, leaving a very satisfied Hong Kong crowd. Be sure to check out these guys on their European tour in 2010.

-or BEWARE.

Thank God it’s Friday:

Long queues, sad faces, drunk teenagers, battered couples, and a casual chinese girl passed out on the curb. I made a pass this year as I was busy up to my neck all week with real life obligations (yeh right), but from an ‘outsiders’ perspective I thought that there was an amazing amount of time and effort put into this years costumes or “outfits”-Good 4U.

…So another year of horror has passed, and I find myself looking back to those golden days of what halloween meant for me as a kid…

(For the most part-Eating Candy & Blood Sucking Vampire flicks)

Below: The Makura-gaeshi (”pillow-mover”) is a soul-stealing prankster known for moving pillows around while people sleep. The creature is invisible to adults and can only be seen by children. Anatomical features include an organ for storing souls stolen from children, another for converting the souls to energy and supplying it to the rest of the body, and a pouch containing magical sand that puts people to sleep when it gets in the eyes. In addition, the monster has two brains — one for devising pranks, and one for creating rainbow-colored light that it emits through its eyes.

The Fukuro-sage — a type of tanuki (raccoon dog) found in Nagano prefecture and Shikoku — has the ability to shapeshift into a sake bottle, which is typically seen rolling down sloping streets. The bottle may pose a danger to people who try to follow it downhill, as it may lead them off a cliff or into a ditch. The Fukuro-sage usually wears a large potato leaf or fern leaf on its head and carries a bag made from human skin. The bag contains a bottle of poison sake. Anatomical features include a stomach that turns food into sake, a sac for storing poison that it mixes into drinks, and a pouch that holds sake lees. The Fukuro-sage’s urine has a powerful smell that can disorient humans and render insects and small animals unconscious.

There is a funk load of imagination gone into this creative book, with a description under each mythical monster. I love the fact that each monster has a story for their nasty and ridiculous behaviour. This guys obviously lives in a dream World filled with far too much katsu and udon ! Anyway none-the-less a bit of fun, which makes me kind of hungry.

- monster brains.

- For more information on Captured visit www.capturedmovie.com 

If your into Clayton Patterson, than your okay with me ! He’s got a book too, which is off the table, if you know what I mean:

It’s the most expressive medium in human history and provides undemanding employment for many thousands. Rock music is all around us. British Sea Power are a four-man indie rock band from Brighton, England who have rocked the stage on a global scale. They all have two legs, and two arms which makes them look like almost any other famous rock group, but these guys add something special. They have a nostalgic demeanor about  their style, which transports you back in time when music was refreshing and real. These guys seem like your regular “Bills & Bobs”, who know how to play good music, but enjoy life for what it’s worth. The band consists of four guys dressed in knitted wool and one subtle beauty on the violin. I was right next to their manager (who may have had a black eye at the time), and he was very understanding considering the rowdy bunch of laricans i was standing next to. None the less, an excellent night for Rock & Roll ! The Yours (a local group) was the opening act, who did a bloody good job to get things heated up for the main act, and my hat goes off to their attitude and costumes !

(This is “The Yours”, HK band) followed by britishseapower.

-Photography by Henri le payole.

Hi Tops + Bow Tie = Int. Steeze

 Flud putting the ‘F’ back in Funk !

CANAL + this week…always one to come up with witty filmography

SUPPLY X DEMAND (Please follow)

“Happiness isn’t always the best way to be happy”-Andre.

Off the Beaten Track

Kenshin (RockSmith) has been in the CIPHER office these past two weeks, and he just sent me through the new Raekwon ablum which i have been pumping all afternoon. Kenshin being a New York born, street fashion hustler, is passing through China to whip the factory workers into shape and generally help us out with some up & coming projects. We were just smoking a cigarette in the hall way, and there’s no doubt in my mind he’s got something up his sleeve (or in his drawers haha)….So keep up with Rocksmith if you know what’s good for you and listen to Raekwon’s finest.

That’s all.

Raekwon – Still maintaining!

In October 2009 Spike Jonze’s feature film rendition of Maurice Sendak’s classic story Where The Wild Things Are will hit movie theaters worldwide. The film represents years of work from hundreds of different artists, writers, photographers, musicians, actors, and creators of all degrees.

Carol- Hey King! What’s your first order of business?

Max- “Let the Wild Rumpus start”

I’ve been waiting all year for these wild things to come to life, and Jonze has finally come through and put my childhood dreams to rest.

His imagination has been running more than wild these past 5 years, so watch out for all the hidden subliminal messages through the dark trees and open forests, where he will manipulate your childhood memories and revoke those dark tails which haunted you when you were young…..

Its going to be a mutha f*cking ruckus yo…