MUSIC: TRI ANGLE RECORDS (SUPERSUPER! VOL 1 #24)

With London/New York-based frontman Robin Carolan at the helm, 2010 saw emerging label Tri Angle Records rise from relative online obscurity to much-discussed prominence. Pioneering acts like oOoOO and Balam Acab, it’s clear that Tri Angle is much more than just a three-sided flash in the pan…

Mystery! Intrigue! A… Lindsay Lohan mixtape? It has to be the one and only Tri Angle Records, a label that has sparked as much interest for its secretive artists as it has critical acclaim for every record released to date.

CULTURE: NEW NEW YORK (SUPERSUPER! VOL 1 #23)

New York, New York. Whether or not we’ve actually set foot there, everybody has an archetypal image of ‘The Big Apple’ – be it a snow-shaker globe of towering skyscrapers and gridlocked yellow taxis, a blood-stained Patrick Bateman shopping in Bergdorf’s, or 40+ women sashaying down ‘sidewalks’ in haute couture. But New New York? What’s that?

‘New New York’ is SUPERSUPER!’s take on the collective spirit defining the most inspiring and creative innovative talent to have come out of the city over the last few years, leaving its star-spangled mark on every artistic field (from fashion to media to music). Names like stylist Jason Farrer, the TELFAR label, and newer entities like DIS magazine are part of an aesthetic community that is slowly but surely starting to grab the attention of the rest of the world, with their collective creative efforts distinguishing NYC’s first steps into the new cultural decade.

MUSIC: AYSHAY INTERVIEW (SUPERSUPER! VOL 2 #002)

NY-based singer/composer Fatima Al Qadiri is the talent behind Ayshay [meaning ‘whatever’ in Arabic], a project that reinterprets traditional Islamic chants to produce hypnotic sounds. Having just released her latest EP WARN-U, what’s next for the 2k11’s most intriguing experimental artist?

 

SS: Tell us about the inspiration behind your reinterpretations of Islam music culture. What is it about these kinds of sounds that appeals to you?

A: I had two deeply religious grandmothers, one Sunni and one Shi’ite, who both listened to their respective sectarian anthems. It’s very humbling music, as is the main goal of most religious music. But it also inspires fear – I was secretly terrified of those acapellas. The fear factor is what I channelled when I attempted to re-interpret the sound. It was a bad time in my life when I recorded those songs… thankfully, there was a happy ending.