nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
Nooka is an official sponsor of The Juan Maclean US Tour happening now!
Friday, May 29, 2009
juan mclean on tour
some pics from the boston and atlanta gigs of the juan mclean last week. more info on the link at the bottom of this entry to find out when the band and the robot nookanooka will be in your town!
nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
Nooka is an official sponsor of The Juan Maclean US Tour happening now!
nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
Nooka is an official sponsor of The Juan Maclean US Tour happening now!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
nooka creative x-change: nid and sancy
i recently got to catch up with one of my favorite european electro outfits, nid and sancy. it was over 2 years ago when i stumbled upon a cd of their music on the desk of someone in my tokyo office and have been eagerly awaiting new music from them since! their new album yeah yeah yes is available on itunes now.
bio: HI. We are Nid And Sancy.We come from Ghent, Belgium, Europe. Our music is mostly electronic but we also use live instruments to create a tension and inject some sweat, rawness and life into our music.We have always been fond of strange sounds. We like energetic performances. We like punk in its truest DIY form. So far we recorded 3 albums ( plus one unofficial one) under this name and played countless shows throughout Europe, Asia and the USA.
Q1 i find that most creatives confuse "motivation" and "inspiration", and certainly there are times when they are the same. do you as artists see them one and the same or as different drivers for your creative process? No ,they are different to us. motivation encompasses a bigger thing in our view. Motivation is the bookshelf. Inspiration are the books. Its the drive that makes us do what we do without having to think about it.. We have worked together closely for years and we have never questioned why are musicians. Its a natural given. Like breathing. Inspiration is a different thing. its how you perceive the outside world into your work and alter it to your own perfection.
Q2 nid and sancy is obviously a play on "sid and nancy", the tragic couple of the sex pistols. can you tell me a bit about how you came about the name? The name came about because of 2 coincidental occurrences that had nothing to do with eachother.
In 2000 we had a project called "Galacticamendum" and we were invited to play our first two shows ever in a small electronica tent at a big and famous festival over here. At that time most of the other acts were noodlin on their laptops live and their live shows looked more like they were checking email then anything else. We didnt even have a laptop. Just some old boxes and vintage gear. We were much like a punk band, only with old electronic instruments. Afterwords the journalists described us as the Sid And Nancy of electronic music.
A bit later a theatre company invited us to NY to record sounds of the city and turn them into a soundtrack for their theatre play. Unknowigly, they had booked us in the Chelsea hotel , where Sid vicious reportedly murdered his girlfriend. Soon after we came back we started doing some bootleg mash ups and needed a different name then the unpronounceable "Galacticamendum"...and thats how we got to Nid And Sancy.
Q3 i know that visual presentation and design is very important to you. how to you feel now that itunes is the main market for your music as a design issue? Thats probably the biggest downside of itunes. The artwork doesnt come off the way it should. But we already felt that way with cd. So we're definately loosing ground here. We've also come to notice that kids dont seem to be hung up on artwork as before. They're happy just downloading a file. At the moment we are thinking how to incorporate our artwork in other ways into our work. As all the parameters are changing, we have to. The good thing is with new parameters, new opportunities arise. We are looking into an iphone app now and we will find ways of incorporating our artwork in there. Cds are almost gone...there are a lot of people playing music on their iphones. Even ipods will be a thing of the past sooner then we think. So its a situation that changes fast and will keep on changing fast.
Q4 what's next for you guys? coming to the states? Yeah. We are planning to come to the states. We just returned from playing Steve Aokis club in Los Angeles and the SXSW festival in Texas. We already played NY as well and are planning a few new dates. We have a small but dedicated following in the US that seems to keep growing and we love coming there. So we will definately put more energy towards it. Our sales have grown the most in the US over the last 2 years. We feel people are very perceptive to what we do and that has given us a very good vibe to work more on that "market".
Q5 what does nooka mean to you? Well.We never been big fans of watches but when we saw the Nookas on the website...Some models immediately appealed to us because they simply put the idea of a watch in a new perspective.
I am wearing the ZON right now and its just a pleasure to wear and look at. Also the idea of reading the time from the blocks. Its a fresh take on how you look at time by just displaying it in a different way.
Nookas are what we call classic futurism. They present something in a new way. When you come in contact with the nookas, all other watches look a bit bland and boring. And they are not gadget-like in any kind of way giving you all these whistles and bells you dont need. In that respect they are classic where they need to be and futuristic where they need to be. Great pieces!
nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
Nooka is an official sponsor of The Juan Maclean US Tour happening now!
bio: HI. We are Nid And Sancy.We come from Ghent, Belgium, Europe. Our music is mostly electronic but we also use live instruments to create a tension and inject some sweat, rawness and life into our music.We have always been fond of strange sounds. We like energetic performances. We like punk in its truest DIY form. So far we recorded 3 albums ( plus one unofficial one) under this name and played countless shows throughout Europe, Asia and the USA.
Q1 i find that most creatives confuse "motivation" and "inspiration", and certainly there are times when they are the same. do you as artists see them one and the same or as different drivers for your creative process? No ,they are different to us. motivation encompasses a bigger thing in our view. Motivation is the bookshelf. Inspiration are the books. Its the drive that makes us do what we do without having to think about it.. We have worked together closely for years and we have never questioned why are musicians. Its a natural given. Like breathing. Inspiration is a different thing. its how you perceive the outside world into your work and alter it to your own perfection.
Q2 nid and sancy is obviously a play on "sid and nancy", the tragic couple of the sex pistols. can you tell me a bit about how you came about the name? The name came about because of 2 coincidental occurrences that had nothing to do with eachother.
In 2000 we had a project called "Galacticamendum" and we were invited to play our first two shows ever in a small electronica tent at a big and famous festival over here. At that time most of the other acts were noodlin on their laptops live and their live shows looked more like they were checking email then anything else. We didnt even have a laptop. Just some old boxes and vintage gear. We were much like a punk band, only with old electronic instruments. Afterwords the journalists described us as the Sid And Nancy of electronic music.
A bit later a theatre company invited us to NY to record sounds of the city and turn them into a soundtrack for their theatre play. Unknowigly, they had booked us in the Chelsea hotel , where Sid vicious reportedly murdered his girlfriend. Soon after we came back we started doing some bootleg mash ups and needed a different name then the unpronounceable "Galacticamendum"...and thats how we got to Nid And Sancy.
Q3 i know that visual presentation and design is very important to you. how to you feel now that itunes is the main market for your music as a design issue? Thats probably the biggest downside of itunes. The artwork doesnt come off the way it should. But we already felt that way with cd. So we're definately loosing ground here. We've also come to notice that kids dont seem to be hung up on artwork as before. They're happy just downloading a file. At the moment we are thinking how to incorporate our artwork in other ways into our work. As all the parameters are changing, we have to. The good thing is with new parameters, new opportunities arise. We are looking into an iphone app now and we will find ways of incorporating our artwork in there. Cds are almost gone...there are a lot of people playing music on their iphones. Even ipods will be a thing of the past sooner then we think. So its a situation that changes fast and will keep on changing fast.
Q4 what's next for you guys? coming to the states? Yeah. We are planning to come to the states. We just returned from playing Steve Aokis club in Los Angeles and the SXSW festival in Texas. We already played NY as well and are planning a few new dates. We have a small but dedicated following in the US that seems to keep growing and we love coming there. So we will definately put more energy towards it. Our sales have grown the most in the US over the last 2 years. We feel people are very perceptive to what we do and that has given us a very good vibe to work more on that "market".
Q5 what does nooka mean to you? Well.We never been big fans of watches but when we saw the Nookas on the website...Some models immediately appealed to us because they simply put the idea of a watch in a new perspective.
I am wearing the ZON right now and its just a pleasure to wear and look at. Also the idea of reading the time from the blocks. Its a fresh take on how you look at time by just displaying it in a different way.
Nookas are what we call classic futurism. They present something in a new way. When you come in contact with the nookas, all other watches look a bit bland and boring. And they are not gadget-like in any kind of way giving you all these whistles and bells you dont need. In that respect they are classic where they need to be and futuristic where they need to be. Great pieces!
nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
Nooka is an official sponsor of The Juan Maclean US Tour happening now!
Friday, May 22, 2009
nooka in china and hong kong
china and hong kong are known to be difficult regions for smaller brands – and establishing a brand takes more time. simply put [and of course i am over generalizing], the chinese consumer will not buy an item at full price unless it is a well-established major fashion brand. so though we have had consistent great press in hong kong [thank you allan!], we had some difficulty creating the same retail experiences we enjoy in tokyo and new york [for example].
well, this is now going to change as i am super excited to announce our exclusive retail partner for hong kong: LANE CRAWFORD! i love their stores – where else can you sit down and have an espresso brought to you while your goods are being wrapped? they are experts at retail experience and a perfect enthusiastic partner for not just hong kong, but shanghai and beijing as well!
so look for nooka in the watch departments of lane crawford in hong kong, shanghai and beijing. you can also find nooka at glossy shanghai and the mori art center.
lane crawford website is here.
not in hong kong, shanghai or beijing? nooka is available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
Nooka is an official sponsor of The Juan Maclean US Tour happening now!
nooka on style.com
Thursday, May 21, 2009
nooka press: vice
latest 2 months in vice magazine! kinda hard to tell, but trust me, they are nookas on the naked ladies.
don't forget about the vice/DF/nooka sponsored juan mclean tour, tonight in BOSTON. info here.
nooka available at fine stores and here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
nooka lab: semi precious weapons
first, a huge shout-out to todd owyoung, the handsome and multi-talented designer/photographer/blogger/networker based in st. louis! he is always hooking nooka up with cool new music acts just by wearing his nooka watch all the time. check out his web site here.
thanks to todd's intro, i got to hang out a bit with the sexy justin tranter of the NYC based glam-rock band, semi-precious weapons and his friend jimmy knehans, über handsome model/actor. justin is someone to watch, upcoming reality show, his own line of jewelry at barneys, and album produced by tony visconti!!! TONY VISCONTI yo! to quote one of his songs, [justin] has been magnetic since he was a baby. learn more about justin and all of his projects here. and here is a direct link to buy the album on itunes. really energized my day so i wanted to share.
the zircs shown in these fotos are available here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
subcarism tokyo at stitch daikanyama
last month i posted some process photos for a piece i did for a group show in tokyo that opens at stitch in daikanyama on the 29th of this month [may].the show is titled SUBCARISM TOKYO and runs through june 14th. the opening i on the 29th from 6-9pm. subcarism = subculture (サブカルチャーsabucaruchah in japanese) + -ism
the goal of the show is to show the global influence of japanese subculture as seen through the international expressions of the urban vinyl scene and features an impressive line-up of talent. i am truly flattered to be included in such a line-up! the show will feature customized versions of each artist/company's signature vinyl and mine will of course be the nookanooka! the foto here is the 3 pieces i customized for the exhibition.
more info on the show here but it is in japanese only.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
ART DENKA http://www.artdenka.com
BEN MORI http://www.benmori.com
BLObPUS http://www.blobpus.jp
Brian Flynn http://super7store.com
Buff Monster http://www.buffmonster.com
Bwana Spoons http://grasshutcorp.com/blog
CHINO http://www.bus-works.com
David Horvath http://www.uglydolls.com
DEVILROBOTS http://www.dvrb.jp/w/
gargamel http://www.gargamel.jp
HARIKEN http://hariken.net
Itokin Park http://www.itokin-park.com
Joe Ledbetter http://www.joeledbetter.com
JUN WATANABE http://www.junwatanabe.jp/
KAIJIN http://www.kaijin-toy.jp
Katope
Koji Harmon www.cometdebris.com
Le Merde http://www.lemerde.com
MAD BARBARIANS
Martin Ontiveros http://www.martinhead.com
Matthew Waldman http://www.nooka.com
MOGraphixx http://www.mographixx.com
sunguts http://www.sunguts.com
T9G http://www.muse-um.com
Takeshi Togo/hgs http://www.thiyea.com
The Wonderful! design works http://w-d-w.com
Tiger Jet Michiko http://blog.livedoor.jp/vinyl_junkies/
Tim Biskup http://www.timbiskup.com
UNIVERSAL POOYAN http://www.universalpooyan.jp
Yukinori Dehara http://www.dehara.com
nooka is available in many shops in japan including stitch in daikanyama as well as here. join nooka and love nooka on facebook and nookaNOW on twitter.
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