I ♥ LA - 55 free MP3Z
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before we get into this any further, let me explain... with the clouds & the rain finally gracing our city of angels, i'm taken back to my Belgian homeland with long wintery days of grey skies & rains. so i started this one out with some rather mellow & melancholic tunes... and then everything changed on sunday night when i swung by a party at the chateau's bar marmont (invite here posted). i'm so grateful to be in LA missing Belgium rather than the other way around. LA rules!
i'm not a paparazzo. i don't take photos of celebrities. there were a few at the party. this is Hollywood after all. besides, what's a celebrity anyway? it's all relative... with an old skewl blackberry in tow, i snapped a few photos of those who had something refreshing & sweet to say. now, whatever i'm told is none of your business. you just had to be there... however, what these angels look like is fair game. here we go...
our hostess Rashida in Petro Zillia:
Emma et moi:
more angels:
Dana et moi:
hair styling on the side bar patio:
as fun as it was, i snuck out at 12:30am with a smile on my face. it's a common belief that arriving late is still fashionable. sure it can be, for some... i might be "growing" cuz i'm so not digging the trends anymore. look around Silverlake & Echo Park & you're guaranteed a trend indigestion! style is so much harder to come by, and i fortunately got a nice dose of it on sunday. god bless! and so, in the name of style,
i left fashionably early! c'est la vie...
to best describe the vibe of the night, check out THIS VIDEO
of Duck Soup's "aNYway" (it's track #23 on today's playlist).
this 2nd video for the same song is hysterical:
for style & substance, look no further than Sirens & Sailors in Echo Park. Jennifer Phillips who opened her store in 2000 has impeccable taste & supports the best local designers, jewelers, artists: Grey Ant, Brian Lichtenberg, Petro Zillia, Smoke & Mirrors, Alex & Chloe, Han Cholo, etc... oh, and the backroom vintage stuff is $ick & cla$$ic!
1104 Mohawk Street, LA 90026
ok, back to the music!
here are the downloadable zip files:
I ♥ LA - L
I ♥ LA - O
I ♥ LA - V
I ♥ LA - E
as i mentioned earlier, i start off with mellower tunes & this playlist doesn't pick up the pace for a while... i'm a Serge Gainsbourg purist, but i love the cover of "Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais" i.e. i came by to tell you i'm leaving (you) by Belgian synth pop queen Jo Lemaire (track #2). this version rocked my world before i even was a teenager in the early 80s. just lay down on the floor with your headphones on really loud & stare at the ceiling; you might feel like you're floating on water.
i indulged in some more France Gall... one a dramatic
80s pop ballade; the other one is a catchy 60s hit:
#16 is a cute early 80s song about clothes by Belgian pop star Lio. speaking of clothes, how about the Viktor & Rolf show last week?!!! i just saw it on youtube, with a very pregnant Róisín Murphy performing 2 of her new songs to be released later this year. her attire conceals her big baby bump, which i'd say is a classy thing to do! it's rather classic in a world where every woman now flaunts her pregnancy... so today's playlist opens with a poor recording of the show. still, it gives you a good idea of how good her new album is going to be...
it's so good to see designers maintain a sense of humour instead of conforming to the rather boring restraint justified by the current recession...
i couldn't do a mix about loving LA without some Tupac!!! "Dear Mama" is my favourite Tupac song... i also threw in a few other classics from MJ, Janet, Lionel, Angie, Barbara Lynn, Pink Floyd, Françoise Hardy & oh yeah... Prince:
the mix gets banging with new dancefloor anthems & remixes... Ali Love to La Roux, Burns to Chromeo, Clock Opera to Cut Copy, Datarock to Digital Leather, Erick Hassle to Handsom Furs, Little Boots to Luke Top, Metronomy to Moodyman, Monarchy to Nosaj Thing, RJD2 to Röyksopp, Siopsis to Nancy Elizabeth, Private to Penguin Prison, a Daft Punk sample from the Tron Legacy soundtrack to Animalistics for the closing track "Los Angeles" & more...
enjoy & share the wealth!
fun stuff is everywhere i look these days!
at the top of my list is every single second of
every single minute i get to spend with Chicho:
btw, these bad ass Status Shades by Grey Ant
are selling fast at Sirens & Sailors:
they'll set you back $250 but that's a bargain,
if you consider how much more the Lanvin ones are:
don't get me wrong, i love Lanvin. the swarovsky crystals covered temples is just a little too bling for me... the Grey Ant ones also come in red, smoke & translucent with mirrored glass... look, the sun always shines in LA, you gotta have some nice shades... i know i know, if that's not a rationalization/justification then what is?! but i even wear mine in the rain! shit, i'm so hooked! besides, i'd rather sport something made in LA.
on another musical note, check out this really cool experiment based on the belief that the easiest way to change people's behaviour for the better is to make it fun to do.
it's called the fun theory:
to wind down, one of the coolest musical acts ever The Knife posted a trailer for their Charles Darwin Opera now playing:
when Andreas Nilsson curated their show at the El Rey in 2007, i was blown away! if i had a disposable income i'd be on a plane to Denmark or Germany or wherever this is playing... click here for more info.
LET LOVE RULE!
