M.I.A - MAYA Giveaway

/\/\ /\ Y /\ is the new album from M.I.A

M.I.A is back! After two hugely acclaimed albums (2005's 'Arular' and 2007's 'Kala') M.I.A has released new album ‘/\/\ /\ Y /\’, which sees her as incendiary & forward thinking as ever.

Recorded in Los Angeles, the album features production from Rusko, Diplo, Blaqstarr and Switch, a collaboration resulting in dubstep bass and grinding industrial noise being added to M.I.A’s unique armoury of sounds. ‘/\/\ /\ Y /\’, draws influence from our technologically changing world, now that our every thought and action is documented and posted for everyone to see.

Thanks to our friends at The Label & Rhythmethod, Little Black Crown will be giving away a copy of 

‘/\/\ /\ Y /\’ with every purchase over $100!

OR

you could pick up a copy at Rhythm, 299 Ponsonby Rd, Three Lamps, AK

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

Second film under our belt from the NZ film festival & what a superb one it was! Jean-Michel Basquiat - Radiant Child is an amazing documentary by Tamra Davis (director & friend of JMB), this film documents the meteoric rise & fall of the young street artist who became a phenomenon & millionaire in less than 2 years. He achieves critical & commercial success, though he is constantly confronted by racism from his peers. Absolutely loved this film......... AMAZING, AMAZING, AAAAAAMMMMMMAAAAAZZZZZIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!

CROWN RATING: 5/5 crowns

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Animated Trailer)

"exit through the gift shop" - banksy film

NZ Film Festival is on in Auckland at the moment and we have checked out our first film!

"Exit through the gift shop" a film by UK artist Banksy. This film is ultimately suppose to be about street art & Banksy (which it is) but a man who is heavily featured in this film is a crazy video recording obsessed little man by the name of Thierry Guetta who captures & documents street artists in action.

We got the impression that this film was another one of Banksy's outrageous art projects but it is disguised in a very clever way. Banksy is great at creating controversy which makes his work so recognizable & we love his work because it seems so reaction based.

It is truely incredible how Banksy has managed to keep his identity hidden for so long & he stays true to that by appearing all blacked out so that only a silhouette of himself is shown. This film is soooo inspiring on one of the highest levels, check it out if you get a chance!

CROWN RATING: 4/5 crowns

"it is a joyous addition to the potential catalogue raisonné of the artist who turned Warhol inside out by proving that anonymity is cooler and more difficult to sustain than fame.” — Amy Taubin, Film Comment

ash - "hi from LONDON!"

DAY TWO

Today we played the ultimate tourists. We woke up at 4:30am London time, some would putit down to jetlag others would say a little over eager perhaps? At 8 we headed off to catch "the big bus" tour bus, which lets you hop on and off at all the major attractions! This was awesome and we managed to fit in "Buckingham Palace", "Big Ben", "Westminster Abbey", "Houses of Parliament", a boat ride on the "Thames" and my personal favourite the TATE Modern Museum of Art!

Both Big Ben and the houses of parliament, which are a joint,  and Westminster abbey were mind-blowing! The details on the buildings of the houses of parliament are so intricate its incredible to think such an amazing place just sits in the middle of London, free on show for everyone to see. 

Westminster Abbey is beautiful! It houses most of the tombs of past kings and queens of England including Elizabeth the first, as well as the tomb of the Isaac Newton! The man who discovered gravity, what a guy! This took us a good hour an half, using a personal guided tour system which tells your where go and what your looking at through a contraption that looks like a phone and all you have to do is press a button - it was impressive. Following Westminster Abbey we headed to the TATE! We caught the bus over into the most central part of London - London city, and walked across this amazing bridge over to the TATE. We didnt have much time left and most definitely not enough to do it justice, but enough to see some of my favourite artists including the ones I have studied such as Picasso, Braque, Manet, Jackson Pollock, Rothko and Andy Warhol! This was such a cool feeling to be able to see the art I had studied in books and on the internet in real life!!

My favourites were most definitely Pollock, Rothko and Warhol! 



Plus I even arranged to introduce LBC to the greats and managed to get it right up on the walls in the same arena as THE ANDY WARHOL (picture included)


By this time we were ready to pack it in and hopped on the boat sailing up the Thames and heading back home which was lovely and a nice way to end the day. On the way home we walked through Hyde Park which was alive with energy and people flocking to listen outside the gates to Kings of Leon who are playing live in Hyde Park tonight! How great!! It was amazing, people picnicking on the grass outside the fortress - it was a sight to behold indeed!

window displays in London

Ash sent us some awesome images of window displays in London stores at the moment, we felt very inspired by these!

ash - "hi from LONDON!"

Our lovely Ash is in Europe at the moment (lucky thing!) & she has been nice enough to share some of the things she is enjoying on her travels............

We are a little behind in updating posts from her, but we'll bring you up to speed right quick!!

DAY ONE

We woke up bright and early on Tuesday and spent the whole day exploring the city including Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park which were all buzzing with energy due to all the tourists visiting for the summer and the general happy vibes for the warm weather! 

However, much to my dads dismay, we focused mostly on the shops =) 

We hit the big names Oxford and Regent Street, which were both amazing! There was a buzz in the air  and the streets were packed at 10:30 on a Tuesday, however they are the main shopping streets and lots of the stores are somewhat the same so I had dive a bit deeper to find the more interesting boutiques.

First of all we hit both Selfridges and Harrods, the two biggest department stores on the London strips. These stores are wonderful and completely extravagant in the best kind of way, hosting all the big guns such as Chanel, Chloe, Missoni, Dior, all of which were way out of my league in the money department but still nice to look at

All the stores are on sale at the moment which is exciting and we stumbled across Urban Outfitters which was probably the best (bar the department stores) along the two streets, stocking labels including Karen Walker and Peter Jensen from whom I found a cardigan which I am going back to get I've decided tomorrow! 

The top pickings thus far would have to be Carnaby Street! And the streets which stem around it. Its located just off Regent Street and is littered with tons of little boutiques and cute cafes! A place where a store like LBC would fit in quite perfectly. I also managed to get my hands on a nice magazine here which has some very educational information on Londons best stores, which im going to try check off my list before I leave, as well as re-visiting Carnaby Street and doing a little more research. Following our day of exploration we found a yummy greek resturant for dinner which we found out was a popular haunt of Mick Jagger, the Beatles and Dusty Springfield back in the day ;) too cool huh? 
we LOVE the finale pic Ash! xx

sale