For the Love of France
With France’s surprise entry into the World Cup final, SOAP decided to honor the the often misunderstood capital of the stronghold of “Old Europe” with a list of feats- music, art, and otherwise- that have commanded our attention of late.
Paris Paris/Black Block/André
Always sporting Risky Business-era Tom Cruise Ray-Ban’s, André represents a new era of urban entrepreneur in the holy triad of art, music, and fashion, successfully dipping his hand into the worlds of graffiti, retail shopping, gallery curating, and nightclubbing.
Andre helped redefine modern graffiti , giving a romantic, pop-art touch to the paint that adorns city walls. His iconic couple, Mr and Mrs. “A”, can be seen prancing across the walls and streets of Paris. Even more touching, his site Love Graffiti displays dozens of walls of lovers’ names affectionately tagged in bright colors, for which Andre actually received city permission.
Then it was off to help make a lasting consumer experience for the state-funded contemporary art and design ‘museum’, Palais de Tokyo. His store, BlackBlock , has remained a central attraction since its creation. Dude even teamed up with DC Shoes and magazine/social hub Akitip to do a live painting installation for a limited edition series of sneakers and fanny packs (!) in his name. Sweeeeeet.
Last, Andre started Paris Paris a nightclub in Paris that features regular appearances from Ed Banger and Institubes rosters, as well as a smattering of other soon-to-be not-obscure European dance music labels. Even cooler, if something cooler than residencies of the Ed Banger/Institubes crews can actually exist, are the monthly dance-class parties that super-store Colette throws there. Watch the video here.
Thoroughly soiled Paris and half of the world’s metropolises, Space Invader has built fame through his tile recreations of classic 8-bit aliens from the 80’s video game classic, Space Invaders.
Ed Bangers
Ed Banger Records is riding their “of the moment”-ness to dizzying heights, their roster including Vicarious Bliss, Zongamin, SebastiAn, Uffie & Feadz, DJ Mehdi, Mr. Flash, and of course, Justice. SOAP had the opportunity to kick it with this fab duo in Miami earlier this year, as evident here…
and here (slightly gayer).
This encounter was approximately 12-15 hours before they destroyed the Pawn Shop at Revolver and became the biggest thing in the universe. So uber-hot, Ed Bangers do not even need a website, they can just ride the great word-of-mouth hype train onto the glory of Vice Magazine and, eventually, US Weekly.
Smaller, weirder label brother to Ed Bangers, artists such as Surkin, Para One, Tacteel, and Cuizinier, as we have previoiusly elaborated, all lend a hand in creating this distorted, robot electro sound that has become the new French House.
Tiger Sushi boasts a roster of artists like Panico, Sir Alice, and Poni Hoax as well as sub-labels like Kill The DJ and Optimo’s O.S.C.A.R.R., and have put out releases like Metro Area, and Mu. Of course, the label did have that falling out with Mu that she detailed on Out of Breach’s ‘Tigerbastard’, but given Mu’s genius fits of rage she pours into her music, she doesn’t come off as particularly sane or manageable. Moving on…
Best lesbian bar slash androgynous hotbed for music and style EVER. For several years, Pulp has maintained a delicate balance of enough sleaze to keep the drink prices from being exorbanent, low cover fees, incredible international local and talent, and the hottest mix of people around. At least, that was Pulp circa 2003. Although, with the success of Kill the DJ nights, and artists like Ivan Smagghe and Chloe holding down residencies, the club is still one of the leading purveyours of cutting edge music. And lesbians.
An international design collaborative, S2A operate a small boutique off Rue de Rivoli that serves as their European headquarters for their bizarre art projects, clothing lines, and other design-related endeavors. When S2A was asked to do something ‘special’ to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Hello Kitty, they responded by making a giant HK crop circle in a field in Southern England, visible from planes landing at Heathrow.
Johnny Depp
He lives in France. Do you live in France?
Oh, and some guys dressed like robots
Daft Punk - The Prime Time Of Your Life || EMI
Beat that Italy.
