The Staple - Glass Candy

Disco 2009

Last Thursday was a gig I'd been looking forward to for ages; the label Italians Do It Better taking over Koko, with Lindstrom, Glass Candy and Desire. It's a label I've been listening to pretty much constantly for the last few months, and one of those songs that I DJd back in the Club Rees days which was almost always followed up with an enquiry from a curious punter. The genre Italodisco has its roots in the clubs of late 1970s and 1980s southern Europe; as its name suggests, it incorporates some of the disco motifs of synthesisers, but mixes them into a spacey, trippy and altogether more chilled-out mood. That's not to say it's not without some absolutely corking tunes however. It emerged as music entirely made electronically was in its infancy; and the clubbing scene as we know know was it just taking off. Its recent revival hasn't involved much of a change of sound, but since the interest in electro has risen through the indie scene, a similar indie mindset of ephemeral and unusual approaches has been sought. Mike Simonetti's record label Italians Do It Better has been one of the spearheads of this movement. Along with established Swedish DJ and Producer Lindstrom, his bands have brought this sounds back. Seeing them in the theatrical environment of Koko, whose sparse but bass-heavy sound system finally sounded it it element was an absolute dream. I'd been on the verge of ordering a massive package of CDs from his Viva Italians store, and had even arranged for a US address for them to be sent to thus avoiding $40 of international shipping, but once I realised he'd be playing here, I put that on hold and decided to hit the merch stand here. Luckily, the lovely Megan Louise from Desire was on the stand, and even signed my CD. I also picked up this tshirt. In all my years of festivals and gigs, I'd never yet felt compelled to buy a band tshirt, so for me this was a real exception. And the music of Desire, Glass Candy and Lindstrom was so on the button, that I stayed far too late on a school night, and didn't even mind Koko's extortionate beer prices as much as I would normally have. It was an unmissable Staple, and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of the same. Other Staples this week:
A night of gorgeous Italodisco at Koko
Monochrome Gingham
Lunching by the river
'The Way We Wore: A Life in Threads' by Robert Elms
Desire's album, II
The Jerusalem Tavern in Farringdon
Bourbon biscuits

J9

Thanks for all the lovely comments & tweets about the new-look Staple; it's all down to my fantastic friend Janine Stromberg. As well as being a rather talented graphic designer and style Goddess in her own right, Janine's encyclopaedic knowledge of music continues to throws up little drops of aural delight. Anyway, he regularly updated tumblr, Lil' Bumps is a constant source of wonderment...Kudos and 3 cheers for Janine!

The Staple - Fred Perry Harrington

Confessions of a Sale Addict

Hi, I'm Seb and I'm addicted to Sales. There's something very satisfying about getting clothes on sale; perhaps I'm just tight, but the days of paying full-price for pretty much anything seem to be a long time ago (unless it was a tenner in the first place). I particularly love the sales at Liberty and they way they're introduced with thick mailed-out invites and a preview for cardholders as well as a further £5 voucher. As ever, I swished straight down to the hallowed Tudor emporium and hit the menswear floor to see what could be had. I'd been looking idly at this Raf simons for Fred Perry jacket on oki-ni and it's one of those things that you know will go with 95% of your day-to-day wardrobe. I wear a lot of blue, and I think this shade (some call it Celia Blue; some call it International Klein Blue) is particularly flattering to my skin. It shows off my cycling-induced tan, and is just the right side of electric to be wearable at work. I'd got so far as to say this is pretty much my perfect jacket; so much so that when I got it home and couldn;t take it off, my flatmate didn;t even know if was new as it looked like it was already mine! Sale-wise, it was 50% off, and with a £5 voucher brought it to just over £100. A lot for a cotton jacket, but when it's this good, then I'd rather not buy anything else this month! Other Staples this week:
Raf Simons x Fred Perry blue harrington jacket
Writing for the Fashionisto
Raiding Bloomberg's free food canteen
Sailing past traffic on my bike during the tube strike (even fun in the rain)
The Southwark Tavern's pub quiz
Cadbury's Freddo bars
The Glass Candy gig tonight at Koko

The Staple - New CDs

Music To My Ears

A wander around the shops last week didn't yield anything exciting clothing finds, so I absentmindedly wandered into HMV. It's been awhile since I bought some CDs; I've been downloading stuff and borrowed discs recently; but it reminded me of the importance of 'concrete' music purchases. While a CD might not take on the patina of age like a vinyl record, it's still a physical product with inlay notes, artwork and an actual disc. Now that we've all digitised our music collections, it's easy to forget humble compact disc. And while iPods are undoubtedly easier and more convenient than CDs when you're on the move, some of my most treasured possessions are records and CDs from my Dad. I am very passionate about my music; regular readers will know about my summers of many festivals, but I've also been lucky enough to attend loads of gigs, DJ regularly and invest serious time and money into music and a brilliant stereo. I also think it's pretty important to pay for your music; if you don't pay for it, it's not going to be there - artists need money to survive; you wouldn't steal a shirt from your favourite boutique (though you might borrow a shirt from a mate from time to time), so why should this be different with music? Plus, if you apply fashion's 'cost per wear' analysis to a CD, then they're bloody brilliant value for money too! Anyway, whoever's doing the buying for HMV's dance section is doing a fantastic job; the selection there is better than some indie stores, and pleasingly without the aching-trendiness of certain shops as well. Any of these albums would be a brilliant addition to any musical collection (especially the Blondie remixes disc from 1995 which I picked up in a junk shop for £2!); download if you must, but make the point of going to a record store at some point this week and having a browse; it's well worth the time! Other Staples this week:
A big pile of new CDs
Selfridges Pantone 109C mugs
Growing a beard (to hide the stitches)
Writing for Brandish
Old Jamaica Fiery Ginger Beer
A nautical bandanna around the neck
Voting

The Staple - Colette

(Translation:
- I adore Colette
- The writer or the boutique?)

L'écrivain ou la boutique? Les Deux!

So I took a photo of this tshirt last week; originally as it's one of my favourites and is a pretty good summing up of my feelings for Colette (the author and the shop). But the thing gained a rather more significance as it ended the day covered with blood from me managing to whack a hole in my chin and get 4 stitches. I'm not going to go into details (they're on twitter if you're really THAT interested in my stupidity), but this tshirt - now freshly-laundered and haemoglobin-free - has become even more of a Staple. I bought it in Liberty a good while ago, and it's a Special Edition from 2K by Gingham for Colette's 10th birthday. It's one of my favourite stores in Paris, always with fresh ideas and unusual collaborations; it was the first place I ever found a copy of Fantastic Man, and where one of the lovely (and gorgeous) sales assistants put me on to the genius of Italodisco. Shop aside, Colette is also one of my favourite authors, and as we slide into summer afternoons of reading in the park/on the beach, I urge you to go to your nearest charity shop (or indie bookstore) and find a copy of any of her work. She wrote sexy, beautiful prose about the French urban bourgeouisie dealing with crises only the bourgeouis would encounter. It's so sharply-observed that it's still massively funny today (and relevant; it's oddly surprising how much the East London trendscene resembles Parision salons at the turn of the century) and Colette's obsession with fashion is something any reader of fashion blogs would appreciate. Such was her prominence in French society, she was given a state funeral when she died in 1954. There's so much to go at and it's such fun to read that her writing's guaranteed to keep you amused all Summer. An absolute Staple. Other Staples this week:
Colette (in all forms)
Spending the weekend in Regent's Park - Siam & Ellie are picnic essentials
Plain white oversized tshirts
Blagging your way into a house party
Opening Ceremony IKBlue Shoes
BBQ'd fresh prawns and halloumi
The nobel Mr Ben Mortimer for his Friday night assistance

The Staple - ATP