Paved with Gold - ISYS and NTS at Tate Tanks

Earlier this evening ISYS and NTS got their London thing on at the Tate's new Tanks space. There were five films screened and soundtracked live, and some poetry from host James Massiah.  The videos were really lovely, with an impeccable ISYS eye for London's beauty and style. Footage of crowds, the city streets, people and fashion were edited and soundtracked so well it made me kind of see the city again and this time catch the aliveness and the energy...



The music was varied and pretty great too - My Panda Shall Fly did an improvised sitar, electronics and vocals set and Dark Sky played a kind-of-heavy but still poignant dubstepish-bass-ish track complete with London sound recordings. Okay, so that didn't make it sound all that great but actually, it really was.

Revealing the soul and beauty in the everyday life of city without getting sentimental is a lot easier said than done, but the films and music tonight pulled it off perfectly. It was like being shown the city afresh, and it was really touching.

If you haven't already, check out ISYS and NTS, two banging websites. 

We Can Elude Control @ Bold Tendencies 6

Saturday night was the second of Paul Purgas' 'We Can Elude Control' sound-art night at Peckham's Bold Tendencies. Despite the sweltering heat the lower level of the car park was packed with the art-school kids, extreme-beard hipsters, black-garmed NHS Specs intellectual types and sandal-and-sock wearing Gruniad readers who make up the core South London art crowd.

I arrived in time to hear the end of Bill Kouligas (the man behind Berlin's PAN Records). The bass and power of the sound were making the concrete throb, which was both cool and kind of worrying. Inside the thunderous wall of noise sharp sounds played off each other, matching power and knife-edge precision. 

After a cooling breather on the roof, it was back into the carpark for Roly Porter, who played an improvised experimental electronics set with Cynthia Miller (they're keeping it in the family apparently, as she's his Aunt). Their heavy set was nicely primal, with unsettling rumblings and deep dark undercurrents. 

Out one side of the crowded dark carpark you could see the lights of the London skyline and overground trains which perfectly complemented the tough electronics noisily rumbled past on the other. Roly Porter and Cynthia Miller seriously cranked it up in the final minutes for an especially brutal onslaught, then that was it - time to bolt upstairs for fresh air and Camparis. 

Yohji @ the V&A

Photography wasn't allowed in the main exhibition but the Yohji Yamamoto satellite pieces scattered through the museum were fine to photo. I thought the main room was fantastic, although crowded with visitors and Yohji threads. The satellite garms were more interesting, and certainly more beautifully arranged. The three coats in a mysterious stand-off in the tapestry room was particularly good.

One of the most gorgeous of the YY designs from the main exhibition was the pleated skirt and royal blue shirt all in one, below. The strong uniform aesthetic with its functional, clean beauty is so appealing. The shirt looks like French mechanic's jackets, and there was a beautiful blue jumpsuit more than a little bit like workman's overalls. The signature playful touches were there though - the jumpsuit's neckline was elegantly low and it was styled with a small blue hat and veil, an unexpected finishing touch to an outfit which embodied both directional fashion and functionalism. Both the jumpsuit and the shirt/skirt all in one stood out even among the room of stunning designs. The exhibition is on till the 10th of July at the Victoria and Albert.