A Journey Back To Innocence

"The goal for Black Scale is to evoke emotions and to create topics of discussion through our designs and to encourage the consumer to leave no stone unturned when searching for one’s own truth. " I recently read the statement " The key to happiness and success in life: don't read the comments section " This is particularly good advice since we've crashed head on into the era of Post Truth and Fake News. One of the most undesirable comments sections, outside of the likes of Twitter and Facebook, has to be on Hypebeast. Unfortunately in a moment of weakness I caved to the pressure after reading about Black Scale's latest collection and ended up feeling compelled to write this post. I think my first exposure to Black Scale was through an early collaboration with the Soul Assassins. The dark imagery, west coast origins and affiliations resonated with me. They've been on my peripheral ever since. With relatively little noise the brand are celebrati

"Selector is a Los Angeles-based brand, launched in 2006. The goal is to make good products with nice references to Jamaican music." Like most people I live my life by some choice rules such as " Treat others as you'd want to be treated ", or the less Biblical version " Don't be an ass-hole ". Another is I don't listen to Reggae music in the winter. When it's dark, cold and miserable you'd think Reggae would be the perfect antidote and yet it just doesn't feel right to me. Not in London anyway. Well it's actually been unseasonably mild temperature wise and after seeing a pic on Instagram leading me to Selector! and subsequently their Soundcloud page I broke the Reggae rule. As a man of a certain age, I'm partial to a bit of Champion apparel be it the reverse weave good shit from Japan or the standard fleece gym version from the USA. M ost street-wear brands are not only collaborating with but also using Champion hoodi

"A star-less spangled banner adorned with simply ‘Post Truth Era’, reflecting today’s deceptive and divisive political landscape." I had never heard of British designer  Matthew Miller  before this week. Having spent some time on his website there are styles I find really interesting, particularly the Rogue pieces, and I will keep him on my radar for the future.  The scarf and print that he used to represent his AW17 collection entitled Post Truth Era  reminds me of the cover art for  Stankonia  by Outkast, and the  All Is Well  print by Black Lodges. He's offering the free print for download to re-distribute, use in protest or hang on your wall. Miller's basis for the design is certainly thought provoking and relevant, however it's too deliberately partisan and dare I say pandering for my taste. I'd like to have seen reference made to previous administrations and even the state of the UK government in his Social Youth art for it to really spea

"PLEASURES is based on my past life experiences. Our graphic concepts represent specific time periods in our lives—tangible feelings and expression real people can relate to." - Alex James In my personal quest seeking out all things thought provoking and exceptional, and without the aid of any marketing or PR mailers, there are occasions that I come across something I class as atypical amongst the sea of  con-generic trends . Only the rarest of these leave me as smitten as I am now, and these are the stories I wish to share with you. Whilst I am guilty of believing we've overshot the best music and subculture of any generation by some twenty-odd years even I can get tired of seeing the same shit over and over. Even more so when it's done systematically and with no personality or soul. Thankfully there are exceptions and better yet they are atainable.  Following the unexpected and frankly quite astonishing Elvis capsule, and more recently their collab

Just a couple things I've caught online or where ever that sparked my interest and maybe yours too, each and every Wednesday. I started what was a brilliant idea of " Whatchu talkin' 'bout Wednesdays " back in 2011 and somehow only managed the single post. Really disappointing if I'm honest. I will endeavour to have something to post on Wednesdays no matter how trivial or throwaway. I think going forward it will encompass some of a " What really grinds my gears " format also. Let's see how it goes. Today's topic is the FX drama series TABOO. This could easily have passed under my radar but there was just enough noise to get me interested and now I'm fully immersed and up to date. I like the majority of characters and though the story is taking some time to unfold there is plenty of action and suspense as they set things up. This isn't a review of the series it's more a contemplation. On the one hand the show is a remind