Mixing dense feedback and ghostly noises with jangly hooks and three-part harmonies, this quartet reveals the more joyous sides of shoegazing and psychedelia. A cycle of circusy synths whirl throughout the opening track, “Good Feelings”, for an effect that recalls Philip Glass by way of Animal Collective. Meanwhile, “Drunk Kids” and “All Night Outside” combine the drone of Deerhunter with the layered pop of the Beach Boys. Such influences notwithstanding, perhaps, a better way to consider Light Pollution is by looking at the name of the band itself. Aside from its most immediate connotations, the conjunction of “light” and “pollution” and, for that matter, the title of the record, Apparitions, point to the proliferation of something scary, deadening, and dark — all of which has been paradoxically paired with the image of a bright, white, warm glow. The publicity notes accompanying the album report that it was produced “over the course of a long, stoned, agoraphobic winter spent isolated in a heatless warehouse west of Chicago”, which indubitably sounds bleak. Listening to the finished product, however, we can plainly see that “Good Feelings” have prevailed — the dreary and upsetting turn dreamy and uplifting on this debut.

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After the jump, check out the video for “Drunk Kids”. Buy this at Other Music or iTunes.

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Watching the oil spill unfold in the Gulf has been devastating to witness.  And “devastating” is even an understatement — from the ubiquitous photographs of oiled pelicans to the recent news that the amount of oil flooding the gulf is actually far more than we were told, meaning that the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez disaster has been spewing into the ocean every 4 to 6 days — there are simply no words capable of expressing the dismay and anger that we all feel as witnesses to this horrific level of environmental destruction. Bill McKibben, who we interviewed recently about his new book, has eloquently written about the wider ramifications we’ve missed in our coverage of the spill. We urge you to take a look.
While many of us live far from the coasts of Louisiana and Florida, where the oil is literally lapping at the shores, we can each offer what we are able in the form of monetary donations. For those readers in the area, or with access to it, there are also many organizations looking for volunteers. For all of us who feel the urge to do something — anything — to help, what follows is a list of non-profit organizations that we recommend donating to, or volunteering for:
     The National Wildlife Federation is accepting donations to help them save the more than 400 species of animals threatened by the spill, as well as looking for volunteers to observe the coast for signs of oil and injured wildlife. The Audobon Nature Institute is accepting donations to fund their triage units which treat marine animals such as otters and sea turtles. The Mobile Baykeeper is an Alabama-based organization currently devoting their efforts to the gravely threatened coast.
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Almost overnight, Alejandro Zambra has established himself as one of the leading emerging voices of Latin American fiction. His first novel, Bonsai (2006, published in English by Melville House), was acknowledged as a unique and resonant piece, a peak in the diverse and chaotic panorama of contemporary fiction written in Spanish. Zambra’s sparse, quiet, almost austere novella, in which not much seemed to happen by means of plot or action, set a distinctive tone. Ian McEwan once described himself as the kind of novelist who could never fully master the art of the novel. One can never become an expert in writing novels, he said, you only resolve the enigma of narrative fiction one novel at a time. There is another kind of writer (e.g. Haruki Murakami) who does not set out to write novels in the sense described by McEwen: writers who build their books within a larger literary project. Murakami does not sit down to write novels: he sits down to write Murakami novels. Alejandro Zambra belongs in this second category. He has found a personal, idiosyncratic take on fiction, confirmed by his second novella The Private Life of Trees (2007, Melville House).
     Alejandro Zambra was an acclaimed poet before making the leap into fiction. This accounts for his uncanny ability for condensation, his radical minimalism, the restraint alluded to in the title of Bonsai. In the mid 1930’s, Borges devised the trick of summarizing non-existent works.
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Unconventional is a term that pops up a lot whenever Steve Lazarides is mentioned. Rather than limit himself, or the artists he represents, as strictly street, urban, or graffiti, he’s adopted the word “outsider”: an overarching term that encompasses a myriad of implications and techniques. Over the past four years, the forward-thinking gallerist has not only lived up to this term but done so with outstanding success — three thriving galleries, a slew of sold-out shows, and a growing roster of innovative artists that are literally becoming household names as I write.
Following the indelible roar generated by Banksy’s Barely Legal show in 2006 and the Outsiders show in 2008, it would have been easy to assume that everything Lazarides produced from then on would follow the same winning formula. Yet he has continued to push boundaries, take risks, unearth wickedly good talent, and make outsider art media savvy, all while snubbing art-world standards.
     The mogul’s latest endeavor is a four-month stint in an 8,000-square-foot venue in the consumer-driven heart of Beverly Hills. Opening with the gigantically talented David Choe in April, followed by Eurotrash on June 9, the plan is to unveil a new, unique exhibit each month.
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Sophistication and sustainability are not words commonly associated with disposable dishware. But the Japan-based company Wasara has developed a product that takes the mind far away from the uninspired aesthetics of family barbecues and children’s birthday parties — not to mention, the nagging guilt over environmental waste — conjured up by your everyday paper plate.
     Wasara’s collection achieves the critical goals of modern design with a product that offers style, function, and sustainability. The sleek, all-white pieces transform into veritable works of art when stacked on top of each other. The collection includes a variety of plates, bowls, cups, and mugs. The multiple forms accentuate each individual food item, emphasizing the significance of each part of a meal. The unusual curvature and soft, natural texture allow for the plates to rest comfortably in one’s hand, bringing an ease to socializing while enjoying a meal.
     The collection’s noteworthiness, however, does not solely stem from its outward appearance. The dishware is made from reed pulp, bamboo, and bagasse — a byproduct of the sugarcane industry. Reed and bamboo are both quickly-regenerating natural resources; the manufacture of Wasara tableware thus avoids the ecological impact of traditional, wood-based paper manufacturing. Bagasse, which often is discarded, is recycled. The resulting tableware is completely biodegradeable. Once discarded, Wasara simply returns to nature.
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Think of everything you know about global warming. Think, especially, of the sense you might have that there are twenty, thirty, fifty years left before the Earth’s levels of climate change become truly catastrophic. Now, think again. We’re already there, says Bill McKibben in Eaarth (Times Books, $24.00), an eloquent and passionate call to action. In fact, says McKibben, we’ve changed our planet so much that we can no longer think of it as Earth: now it’s Eaarth, a place of melting ice caps, expanding tropics, and increasingly dramatic “weather events”. And we have to learn to live there.
     McKibben should know what he’s talking about. A leading journalist and environmental activist, he’s been writing on this subject for more than twenty years. In 1989, his The End of Nature was the first book on global warming for a general audience. In the past two years, his nonprofit 350.org has mobilized millions of people across the world to combat climate change.
     In Eaarth, he makes no bones about how serious the situation has become. We’ve already raised the temperature of the planet by one degree Celcius, he writes; as a result, the Arctic ice cap is 1.1 million square miles smaller, and (since warmer air holds more water vapor) global rainfall is increasing by 1.5 percent a decade. But this isn’t just a book full of dry statistics. McKibben is expert at explaining, lucidly and frankly, just what the numbers mean, and what we can do about them. “Forget the grandkids,” he writes. “It turns out this was a problem for our parents.”
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Despite its perennial reign at the pinnacle of French fashion, the storied house of Chanel has never shied away from venturing beyond its Gallic boundaries for inspiration. During Coco Chanel’s lifetime, her growing wealth and social status allowed her to flit around the globe, immersing herself in myriad aspects of foreign culture later to be distilled in future collections. Mademoiselle’s affinity for the Ballets Russe and the opulence of Byzantine jewelry resulted in a Russian influence that emerged in her designs. The historical link between Chanel and Russia provided the catalyst for Paris-Moscou, the house’s 2008 Métiers d’Arts collection which lies at the center of Karl Lagerfeld: Chanel’s Russian Connection, a book that was released last year by Steidl.
Conceived as a way to celebrate the specialized work of Chanel’s satellite ateliers, Métiers d’Arts collections are notably rich in detail. For Paris-Moscou, however, powerhouse head designer Karl Lagerfeld exceeded expectations, featuring a steady stream of Russian models, military-inspired menswear, glittering matryoshka doll appliqués, and towering jeweled headdresses.
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For the Hammer Project’s current exhibition, German-born artist Friedrich Kunath has created a realm of comi-tragedies based around middle-aged men struggling to reconcile their imagined lives and unmet desires with the sharp reality of a mediocre existence. Employing as many mediums as he could (drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, even a neon sign reading “I am Goodbye”) Kunath chose to let his ideas spread out. Both walls of the lobby stairwell at LA’s Hammer Museum are filled with a hodge-podge of work in assorted sizes. The installation peaks with a series of soft, colorful washes overlaid with thin line drawings and silhouettes of nondescript men climbing staircases into eternity, slumped anxiously over an office desk, or popping stunned out of a jack-in-the-box, briefcase in hand. Each solitary male character appears slightly dazed or lost, caught midway between the world’s external confusion and the banality of everyday routine. Like a Saul Bellow character desperately proselytizing the meaning of life to an empty apartment, Kunath’s men are in the process of a tumultuous transition.
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Playing a bizarre mish-mash of ’70s-era soft rock and Syd Barrett-inflected psychedelia, this British band was co-founded by Blaine Harrison and his guitarist/father Henry. The elder Harrison encouraged his son, at the age of twelve, to form a band as an activity to partly deal with his confinement to crutches due to spina bifida. Following 21 from 2008, Serotonin is still quite informed by a love of 10cc and ELO, but the new tracks shift away from the sometimes exuberantly chaotic sound of their first albums for a more ’80s-inspired set of carefree pop songs. “Dreaming Of Another World” and the title track feature bouncy hooks driven by glam-rock guitars and New Wave synths reminiscent of Pulp (likely influenced by producer Chris Thomas, the man behind Different Class and Roxy Music’s modern classics). Meanwhile, jubilant whistles and kazoos somehow work well amid the odd romanticism of “Flash a Hungry Smile”, as Blaine sings about “birds and bees” and STDs. After three albums of scattered availability stateside, this five-piece from Eel Pie Island (a whimsically sounding place that complements the whimsical sound) are releasing what promises to be their inevitable breakout.

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Watch the video for “Dreaming Of Another World” after the jump. Serotonin hits stores on July 13. Buy this at Other Music or iTunes.
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