Kinfolk lounge.

I'm off to Japan in seven days. Super keen to check out the Kinfolk Lounge in Tokyo.

Charge Scissor // Skewer.

This is Charge's new freestyle oriented frameset, the Scissor. Made with Tange prestige and available at a low, low price, I'm quite tempted.

Also impressive is Charge's growing range of road bikes, including the Juicer and Skewer. The latter looks hot as a complete with leather tape and saddle and SRAM Red:

Impulse buy of the day.

I'm a sucker for a sale.

Cryptonites October Mix.

It's been a long, long time since I've seen a Cryptonites (myspace) mix floating around. In that time, my tastes have changes markedly, and I no longer hanker for the synth-laden, sample-heavy sounds of Ed Banger and Boys Noize which these two spin together so nicely.

F*ck that.

This mix is gold. And I still can't get enough of every two songs these guys put together.

Download it.

Track: Cryptonites - October Mix (listen).

Moon.

Moon (imdb) has a lot to live up to. Based on the promo shots alone.

Sometimes.

Miami Horror's (myspace) latest solo-produced effort, 'Sometimes', is the most masterfully executed piece of bloghouse I've heard in sometime. Miami Horror plus Bag Raiders/Cut Copy style vocals equals Australian indie-electro gold. Great kickstart to my October playlist.

Spotted.

In some random pawn shop on Little Lonsdale. Have to go back and buy
one of these.

Visitor - Los Feeling (Rough Mix).

Displaying my shameless taste in pseudo-pop '80s-inspired dance music, here's the clip for Visitor's 'Los Feeling'. Pulled this off Discodust a few days back (post Aleks returning to the internets), and haven't been able to stop listening to it.

Obviously, it's a rough mix, and could benefit from a fiercer kick (in my opinion). But it has all the hallmarks of something I could dig for a long time. August playlist is already looking pretty nice...

If you watch one thing...

... it should be this killer clip.

Royksopp - Girl and the Robot.

The Girl And The Robot from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

A standout track from an amazing album. I always love it when a band decides not to go all experimental and the clip actually resembles what the song is about, or sounds like it is about.

Cinelli collabs.

Cinelli is all over the tight collabs these days. I know this is old news, but I spotted their Cinelli X RVCA bike in a shop on Flinders Lane the other day (of course) and it looked amazing.

They also did a collab with Mash. The result was a very tight, sloping top-tube, aluminium frameset.

The RVCA product is my personal fave -- not just because I love steel. RVCA actually make some really nice stuff.

Anyway, back to Ableton. Finally got it working again, so I'm smashing out some news mixes. So much fun.

Sferro.

Stumbled upon this remix of Awkoker 89's 'Your Face of Light' by a dude called Sferro (myspace), and was instantly hooked. I'm not sure whether it's the entrancing, late '90s Gatecrasher-esque vocoder sampling, or the way he uses blaring synth melodies layered one upon the other to such devastating effect. Very Futurecop!, in a good way.

Some of his other stuff is also on YouTube, check it out, I was digging the vintage, almost New Order, feel of it all. A welcome change from the chopped up and heavy beats I've been listening to lately.

Crazy contraption.

I'm a fan of freshly ground, home-made coffee. I enjoy a plunger or two on the weekend.

Yes, it's Melbourne, so I'm addicted to espresso coffee. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the subtlety and flavour of the odd French press.

I've tried other coffee making devices in my time -- perculators, both stove top and stand alone. But none compare to the likes of this.

It's a Bacchi Caprioca. Read a review of one over on Coffee Supreme. Looks the goods, but now to taste the results.

Pity, they're all sold out.

Quite ingenious, really.

In Australia, the 10% GST applies to female personal hygienic products. This, of course, is quite controversial, especially where the GST doesn't apply to other things you might find in the personal hygiene aisle, like condoms.

So while I was at the checkout today I noticed this ad on the monitor.

I'm not an advertising or brand expert, and I'm certainly not a woman, but I think it's ingenious marketing and about time. In fact, you don't have to be a woman to be impressed by its logic, and thereby convinced to shop at Coles.

Of course, it's no substitute for the recognition that female personal hygienic products should simply not be taxed.

Lomography.

[credit]

I got my brother a Diana F+ for his birthday the other week.

He's into 35mm photography and everything plastic and toylike, so I knew he'd like it.

Have to say though, it's a pretty cool camera. Puts any digital camera to shame in the fun stakes. There's something strangely enticing about not knowing how a photo will turn out -- not knowing what bizarre effects or dream-like haze might appear on a shot by virtue of the camera.

There's also the vain hope one might be able to master and control the camera's eccentricities and reproduce them on demand.

So I have to get one now as well. Clearly.

First chance.

My music taste is informed by two pretty distinct genres which I was exposed to from early on.

Going back to the start, I've always loved cheesy, commercial house music. That's probably why I find myself secretly enjoying Sneaky Sound System, Booty Luv, Thin White Duke et al these days. Guilty pleasures they may be -- I can't get enough of them.

This Roger Sanchez tune brings back memories. Not just of getting up early on a Saturday to watch Rage on ABC, but also of old Ministry Of Sound compilation CDs which I incessantly collected. The sound might be a little dated, but I'm pleasantly surprised by how the influence of tracks like this can still be found in the work of more recent house virtuosos like Fred Falke, Lifelike and others.

Worst news ever.

Melbourne record institution Hear Now is closing.

Looks familiar.

I swear this design has been ripped off a million times.

I wonder who was first?

Still, they look nice, and I'd love to support trackosaurus rex. But they don't ship to Australia!

Rain.

Forecast isn't looking too good this week. Time to invest in a set of these.

But will they get here in time? Not likely.

Still, any excuse to blog a shot of Rain.

Kitsune Maison 7.

I really love the direction Kitsune are taking their Maison series in these days. Still a must have collection of the latest gems of indie and electro, the sound seems to be getting more and more melodic and chilled.

I also love the promo video for Maison 7, which doubles as a promo for Kitsune's summer '09 collection entitled 'The Graduate'. The video, which has hints of the opening credits of Wes Anderson's Rushmore in it, highlights the overlap between music, fashion and culture which the Kitsune brand cultivates so well. As long as they keep putting out compilations like Maison 7, I can't see anyone else matching this level of effortless cool.