Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe

When Santigold (previously Santogold) released her first album Santogold there was no question she was as cool as they come - she was daring, and different and bold. That was four years ago. It seems, like everything in our ultra connected world, music and tastes are changing faster than ever. In those four years came people like Lady Gaga, and even Grimes who have pushed things further, only to leave Santigold to produce a second edgy album, Master of My Make-Believe that is no longer considered as such. Having said that, it’s still terrifically fun to listen to, but she may want to look at The Weeknd’s release schedule.

Loads of guests in production and vocals including Diplo and M.I.A. make this album a good time. People will complain that she has lost that edge, but people will always complain. She’s content with it, and was trusted before - if you watch interviews with White, you can see that she’s still grounded and has fun with it. At Coachella this year, our correspondent reported a highlight when Santigold yelled out to the polo grounds… “Y’all ain’t here to party… y’all are here to take pictures!”

Day Maker iPhone Alarm

If you’re one of the many people who have thought about, or actually tried to combine two of the greatest loves of your life, your iPhone and your toaster, we’ve got a delicious new alarm clock for you. The Day Maker alarm clock by Habitco has replaced the negativity of your standard alarm clock, and associated your wake up with something you love to your core… the toaster. Instead of being yelled at by an alarm clock while in your most fragile state, why not be greeted by a delicate pop and whatever music you choose? Not ready yet? Push it back down for a mini snooze.

The Daymaker has some delightful features beyond looking like a sexy version of your favourite appliance. When your iPhone or iPod Touch pushes into the charging slot, the clock on the double slice is self setting, the music comes from your iTunes in stereo, and it has its own app that presents you with your most important customized information upon wake up.

The designers at Habitco have been very clear though, while they won’t comment on the capabilities of the next version of Day Maker, the current version is crap at toasting bread.

Beach House ‘Bloom’ Review

Six years ago we wrote a review of Beach House’s debut album for a major publication, while sitting on a rented bed in an apartment in the West Village of New York (although true, this is regurgitated as a thinly veiled attempt to add cool-credibility). We liked them then, and we still like them now. Bloom is the fourth album by Baltimore’s Beach House, and it could almost be the second half of Teen Dream. You would be forgiven for believing that they were recorded it at the same time. While most bands explore styles from album to album, Beach House has a winning, day dreamy formula that has worked for them, and they have continued it into Bloom.

They have never tried to see what it would be like without the airy synths, or Alex Scally’s familiar slide guitar. They are consistent in tone, and the only changes over the years have come in the shape of cleaner production - necessary, given one good-looking reviewer of their debut, suggested “… moments of this hazy/lazy production sound like a lo-fi, lo-budget basement job, created through the night by a 3rd year English Major.” Fans of the band will enjoy new recognizable tracks and Bloom is sure to wash up some new space dreamers.

Feel free to make up your own mind about Beach House’s Bloom while it streams for free at NPR. Bloom will be released on May 15th.

Ace Hotel / Wings + Horns Robe

If you’ve previously described yourself as a sensitive, new age, featherweight, pacifist boxer, you probably already own the delightful Ace Hotel Robe by Wings + Horns. For the rest of us, it’s certainly a robe worth considering. Made in Canada by Wings + Horns (who also make our favourite Khakis), these robes are the perfect compliment to your Ace Hotel stay, and therefore your mornings and evenings spent in your own home, living your life that is trying to exude elements of… your Ace Hotel stay.

The robes are made of French terrycloth (for English press 1), come in any colour as long as it’s Boulder Grey, and are a cross between a classic boxer’s robe (in honour of the hotel’s NYC building’s boxing history) and a comfy hooded sweatshirt. Wear your robe, hood up or down, when waving to passing Portland Streetcars from a balcony, or sipping warm pretentious beverages in the morning while texting in front of an open, unread New York Times, or attending pool parties you were only half invited to. This is a robe you will have no shame in, so wear it with pride and enjoy your unassuming popularity.

Alabama Shakes: “Boys & Girls”

These guys are the real deal must get uttered at every record label headquarters by a staff member, every single day. As generic as that statement is, Alabama Shakes really is the real deal (that’s probably only uttered every other day at said labels). This hard-working, no nonsense band formed because they liked making music and they didn’t wait for anyone to give them permission to do so. Their sound is raw and fresh, and in the few places where the dirtiness doesn’t add to a track, the listener at least gets the reassurance that it’s truly authentic.

When we first heard the title track, we couldn’t get the image of their neighbors to the North in the form of Kings of Leon, out of our heads - in some ways their sound is very similar. And we would be wrong not to mention Al Green when talking about Alabama Shakes as there is clearly some positive influence there. The similarities you’ll hear are varied and that’s partly because the heart on her sleeve Brittany Howard has one of those amazingly raw voices that can make her gender unplaceable. Case and point, she seems utterly delightful in interviews, but somehow you know you wouldn’t want to get on her bad side (Alabama Shakes may even be a wrestling move).

Bike Storage, Stands & Hangers

Gone are the days when you rode your bike to your buddy’s and dropped it on the ground while you were still getting off. Bikes certainly get a whole lot more respect these days right up to how they’re stored. ClankWorks, out of Pittsburgh, makes green, natural wood products for stylish home or office bike storage. While Delta has come up with an awesomely simple, fast and affordable two bike storage solution (assuming you don’t live in a tent).

The Delta Michelangelo 2 Bike Gravity Storage Rack takes longer to say than to set up. It comes with four easily adjustable arms to store 2 bikes off the floor, has gravity firmly on its side and costs less than a new bike room, or a grumpy roommate. It’s as simple as it is amazing, although it’s perhaps a bit of a stretch to reference Michelangelo (unless they’re talking about a different Michelangelo).

ClankWorks offers a bike stand called the Pinch that uses the weight of your bike to firmly lock the rear wheel in place. When the bike is lifted, the aluminum-secured, bamboo Pinch releases the wheel but continues looking handsome on the floor.

ClankWorks also offers an improved take on the wall hook bike mount with their Perch. Formed from four separate layers into a single piece of laminated plywood, The Perch installs easily, accommodates a range of bike types and has a shelf and two hooks for your gear or for drying your delicates. The great thing about these bike storage solutions is they make you look cooler whether you’re the type of person who actually rides your bike or not.

The Grey Dog NYC

The Grey Dog is loyal, there when you need it, and consistent in things that should be considered simple. There’s very good coffee and a selection of very good beers - in fact, when you walk in it’s hard to decide whether it’s coffee time or beer o’clock. When lunching in their recently unveiled, highly anticipated Mulberry, Soho location (their third in New York City) we found the sandwiches to be simply delicious without a shred of disappointment. 

The only complaint we had with the food was that there was too much choice (yet no Grey Dog options). Thankfully, the line was teeming with cool people, giving us time to peruse all the options. The staff were delightfully welcoming, the patrons seemed like a good mixture of regulars and walk ins, and the environment encouraged you to relax, stretch out, and maybe even share your feelings with a nearby stranger. And for all you waiting line, operations students, they’ve got excellent table management!

Jack White: Blunderbuss Review

Jack White goes back to doing what he does best on his first official solo album Blunderbuss. Since the White Stripes we’ve certainly been fans of his other projects including The Raconteurs, Dead Weather, and things like Rome, but the truth is, they all seem too busy now, when you get back to Jack White as Jack White. Stripes fans will instantly appreciate hearing Jack’s vocals on every track while they’ll have to accept that his Rhodes electric piano makes more appearances than his trademark power axe. Blunderbuss is not anything you’ve heard from White before, yet it sounds comfortably familiar and has so much depth that it only gives more the more you listen to it.

White recently divorced his Mrs after six years and you won’t miss the multiple references throughout the album to strange, evil women and the physical pain they inflict on male characters including nose bleeds, burst lips, missing limbs and pummeled digits. So prevalent is this theme (especially on Side A) that nearly every review has claimed this could be Jack White’s version of Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks. (In fact, White once claimed “I have three fathers: my biological dad, God and Bob Dylan.”)

Regardless, this does seem like White’s most autobiographical album to date - truth is we can only guess, as he hasn’t told us either way (we talk about other stuff when we hang out). That might make the album more personal to the listener, but either way the music and arranging make this an instant classic, and a very welcome addition to anyone’s Jack White collection.

Blunderbuss will be released on April 24th, but you can listen to the whole thing for free on iTunes for a limited time.

Amplifiear for iPad

Nonlinear Studios had finally had enough of cupping their hand around the iPad’s poorly placed (according to the Common Hearing & Physics Association) speaker to get the appropriate volume, and decided to do something about it. The Amplifiear is another one of those perfectly simple designs that get things right and just works. There are no batteries, wires, bluetooth or similar - it simply redirects the ample sound that is currently projecting at your annoyed friend who is trying to read and can’t see what you’re watching. Another benefit of simple design is that it can be affordable - until May 12th, $20 to this Kickstarter project will get you an Amplifiear (made in USA) in your choice of colour.

It clips onto the corner of the iPad2 or 3 with ease, and is made of ABS plastic meaning you can throw it in your bag or out the window and it still fits like new - it also means it’s recyclable (for when we simply get speakers implanted directly into our brains).

As important as the sound is, The Amplifiear also looks the part. Its clean lines and simple geometry really does add a little personality to the iPad - as is the case with most successful apple specific accessories. (Nonlinear makes no mention of alternate uses but presumably, in a pinch, one could use the Amplifiear as a coaster, sugar scoop, or to cup a variety of other things.)

If you’ve ever tried to watch anything on your iPad without headphones you know how good a deal this is. And good news for BlackBerry fans… rumor has it Nonlinear are working on a Playbook Amplifiear that’s a little bulkier, comes in a dark grey and has an external keyboard and volume knob.

Michael Lewis: Boomerang

Michael Lewis’ Boomerang is a Financial Disasters Travel Guide - perhaps a genre in and of itself. We tried for weeks to get him on the phone to conduct what was sure to be the Best Michael Lewis interview to date. Although we missed our window, the irony was not lost on us that he may have had an equally difficult time, albeit for different reasons, tracking down interviews with some of the people responsible for the largest financial collapses around the world. Lewis makes five stops to examine the five biggest meltdowns in recent history - researching the causes, players, public, stereotypes, opinions and controversies at each economy along the way.

Michael Lewis is such an excellent narrator, especially when it comes to complex subject matters. In The Big Short Lewis explained the inner details of how the subprime collapse started, by following a number of real life insiders - the book was an educational, real life novel. Boomerang is different - all the accounts in the five areas he travels to are with stakeholders after the events took place - so essentially everyone interviewed is now the wiser, very guarded, and on the good side of clean up (the others would have wisely refused interviews or done them anonymously).

Lewis starts in Iceland where he discovers a tiny population of humans - half of whom decided to become bankers all at once in 2004. History is rich with stories of follow the leader, and Iceland’s woes were not that different. Fudge the numbers a little, instill boat loads of confidence, and silence the naysayers and you too can become the darling of global finance… for a few years.

Unless you’ve been sleeping on the other side of the free world, you’re well aware of the problems in Greece. Lewis has some interesting journeys and interviews around the country to find the catalyst, and the culture that led to such a disaster. All of the accounts are fascinating and very telling but essentially what he concludes is that the tsunami of cheap credit was too tempting for the Greek’s gaping moral deficiencies to resist.

Then off to Ireland, Lewis discovered that while Iceland was trying to buy the world with heaps of borrowed money, the Irish were using foreign money to buy Ireland… from themselves. To the point that the Irish couldn’t afford anything in Ireland, and they now had an unpayable debt. Put it this way… in 12 years the average price for a home in Dublin had risen more than 500%. But the most intriguing thing about the Irish situation was that when it was all said and done, the public generally took responsibility for the issue they were in. There was no finger pointing at anyone outside of Ireland.

In Germany Lewis begins by obsessing about how obsessed the Germans seem to be with shit.

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