Don’t get into enough private functions to make your friends jealous?  Well, here’s a limited time offer from URB and our partners at The Flavor Group.  

Uniqlo is hosting a celebratory launch event for their Designers Invitation Project collboration with Michael Bastian, SUNO NY, Leur Logette, Plumpynuts and Double Standard Clothing.  Hosted by The Bold Italic, Annabel Ly (Blushing Ambition), Jennie Lodge (Going West), and Alex Chrisman (Chrisman Hoffman) this is an event any self-descerning fashionista or style fan should not miss.  If you need extra incentive, the folks behind Motown On Mondays will be providing their aural support.

The event is going to be held at the SF UNIQLO location located on 111 Powell Street, Thursday May 23, 2013, 8:00PM – 9:30PM.

For more information and to RSVP follow this link: UNIQLO DIP Celebration!

Extra Special Shout Out to Marky aka @livinproof for the hook up!

This evening’s edition of Friday Fresh comes to us out of a dope collaboration between Paisley Sockwear and Def Sound, providing us with a double dose of fresh — Music & Style.

The Los Angeles based sockwear brand tapped ‘poet, songwriter, Brownswood Bubbler, designer, and world travelled DJ,’ Def Sound to curate a Soundbook for the Spring/Summer Soundbook.  Pun intended, this brand/DJ collaboration fits like a good pair of socks.  Def Sound’s eclectic artistic style and cross-genre production skills are the perfect match for Paisley Sockwear’s mission statement — ‘that you do not have to sacrifice individuality to be practical.’

Since we are primarily a music publication, we’ll start Friday Fresh with the music portion of this feature.  

A few of the style kids in the office had been sitting on this mix since it’s release a few weeks ago, as they didn’t want everyone ‘playing it out,’ but alas, something this solid needs to get out there.  It’s obvious not just from Def Sound’s body of work and ear for musical creation, that this was not a ‘throw-away’ mixtape that you’d expect from the glut of mixtapes that litter our ear-waves.  There is a sublime, subtle throughline during the upbuild of this mix that draws you in and keeps you transfixed to the sound as they slowly wash over you — and after it washes over you, he flips the script and hits you with some solid.  It’s a very deliberate pattern, as you’ll come to see that portions of the mix are like turning the page in an actual look book.  Each page takes you through a different sound set, and is done in such a way that by the time you’re finished, you’ve gone through a pretty eclectic selection of artists and genres.  There was a unanimous agreement that it serve as our drive time/break time music in between interviews, planning meetings, and various shoots and events because it was so balanced and stood in contrast to the craziness surrounding our work week.  It’s a solid, forward-thinking mix that we hope you can get behind as well.  

Now, on to the style portion.  It’s a well known fact that our URB staffers are some of the most visible folks out in the field.  As such, our pride extends past our desire to be true to our musical roots to our desire to look good doing it.  You may think that socks are such a small portion of your wardrobe, but take it from any one of the style kids that we are affiliated with — your socks can tell a lot about you and can elevate your outfit past being basic.

In the recent past, we’ve seen an influx of different accessory and sock brands.  Paisley Sockwear happens to be one of those standout brands that we’ve come across.  Having been gifted a few pairs by a stylist friend a while back, the brand has been on both our feet and in our field of vision as a brand to big up.  

The line is just as balanced as the soundbook that they curated.  Not limiting itself to just conservative colorways, the design team behind Paisley offers a lot for those trying to be more expressive and show a little more color and boldness in their wardrobe.  What helps to elevate the brands worth, however, is the fact that despite their style-way, the socks are comfortable AND limited.  Take our advice and stroll over to peep the limited color-ways available for this season by clicking this link.

Download Link: Courtesy of Paisley Sockwear and DefSound (Thanks for actually tracking the mix out!)

Track List

1. RC – Paisley Intro 
2. Miguel -Sure Thing Brook D’Leaumix
3. Thundercat – DMT flyGoonmix
4. Tuko feat. Danni Rouge
5. Robin Hannibal x Co Co – Løb Stop Stå 
6. Captain Murphy – Children of the Atom 
7. Belvi – Dreamcather 
8. Versis – Barista 
9. Rob Roy – Axela 
10. CoolRoy – Nine
11. Amber Ojeda – My Hearts A Whore
12. blu feat. jimetta rose- burgundy whip 
13. Overdoz – Dear God 
14. Tiron & Ayomari – Bernie Mac 
15. Def Sound x Nikko – Birds i view 
16. Pac Div – Debo
17. A.Chal – touch my like I’m famous 
18. Rafael Casal – Workit out
19. Dame 55 – Rain Dance 
20. Z & She x Sango- Beautiful
21. Zack Sekoff – Off Them Thangs 
22. Vince Staples x Jay Curry – Miami Vice 
23. Mike Nova – @pe $h!t 
24. Richard Wright – Main Objective 
25. Thurz – Acura Legend 
26. Speak! – Hilfiger
27. J*Davey – Duh Duh Duh 
28. Maceo – Chaos
29. Sonnymoon – Wild Rompus 
30. Hanine – Just Like

Def Sound | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Soundcloud | Bandcamp

Paisley Sockwear | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr

On Saturday, January 5, 2013 Good Looks New York toasts the New Year with their second DJ Showcase, taking place at the National Underground in New York City’s Lower East Side. The GLNY roster of artists will represent, performing on the venue’s room filling Turbosound system. GLNY will also be showcasing exclusive and limited edition Good Looks apparel.

The All Star GLNY DJ Lineup:

MITIS: www.facebook.com/Mitismusic
www.soundcloud.com/mitis 

HORIZON WIRELESS: www.facebook.com/HorizonWirelessMusic
www.soundcloud.com/horizonwireless

BASS CONTROL: www.facebook.com/djbasscontrol
www.djbasscontrol.com

CHAISLEY LUSSIER: www.facebook.com/ChaisleyLussierMusic
www.soundcloud.com/chaisley-lussier

NARKATTA: www.facebook.com/djnarkatta
www.soundcloud.com/narkatta 

B2B With

WALLNUTTZ: www.facebook.com/wallnuttz
www.soundcloud.com/wallnuttz

w/ support From MAHI: www.facebook.com/TheMaHiOfficial
www.soundcloud.com/themahiofficial

Good Looks New York DJ Showcase

at the National Underground, 159 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10003

$5 Ticket Link: http://goodlooksshowcase.eventbrite.com/

If you went anywhere near a rave in the ’90s, you likely did it garbed in a new Freshjive t-shirt and 42-inch Kikwear pants. Now after a decade of ball-squashing skinny jeans worn by rock & roll hipsters, it’s time for baggy to return along with all other things EDM. So no wonder Kikwear is relaunching the brand with a series of events featuring old-schoolers like Dieselboy, DJ Hixxy and Frankie Bones, and this promotional video showing a new generation raving out between giant stone/metal boulders by artist Jim Hodges in Minneapolis.

One warning. The music, “Shine for You,” by Flawless feat. Zoe VanWest resides on the far end of fast-tempo trance pop cheese.

Our resident workaholic, @phil_enn has been quiet as of late because of some movie projects he’s been on, but he hasn’t forgotten about his home at URB.  He linked with those awesome kids at CCS and his favorite partner in crime at Pitchblend to bring to you one of our favorite holiday promos…

Black Friday has come and gone.  Cyber Monday is about to closeout.  Let the folks at URB, CCS, and Pitchblend reward your due diligence for (hopefully) buying presents for your next of kin, but giving you a chance to win a chance to win your CCS wishlist (for $200)!

It’s super easy to win.  

Like CCS Skate on Facebook, Like URB Magazine on Facebook, and Like Pitchblend.  Then share this post on your timeline.  

For our twitter followers, post the following:

@CCS_Skate, @URBMag’s @Phil_enn, and @Pitchblend, hook me up with my wish list!

Easy peasy.  Let us reward your holiday efforts with $200 to spend on yourself, courtesy of Phil and his crazy band of misfits….

Featuring in the main room:

[MitiS] - https://www.facebook.com/Mitismusic
www.soundcloud.com/mitis

[Bass Control] - http://www.djbasscontrol.com/

{Narkatta} - www.facebook.com/djnarkatta
www.soundcloud.com/narkatta

[Wallnuttz] - https://www.facebook.com/wallnuttz

[DJ Roo] - http://soundcloud.com/djroo-2/beautiful-filth

2nd Room:

{Bizzar} - http://soundcloud.com/bizzarusa

{Blackout Jack}

{Richie B} http://soundcloud.com/deejay-dirtyd

GOOD LOOKS NEW YORK PRESENTS

A Hurricane Sandy Relief & Recovery Fundraiser Party

Wednesday, November 21st 2012, 10:00 PM – 4:00 AM

Session 73
1359 1st Ave 
New York, New York 10021
(73rd and 1st ave)

Admission:
$5 minimum / $10-15 suggested
21+ with valid ID, No outside beverages

50/50 Raffle 
Bar Percent Donation:
A percent of the overall bar sales from the evening will also be donated!

All profits will be split between

{Young Families of Island Park Hurricane Relief} –  http://www.iprelief.org/
and
{City of Long Beach Relief} - http://www.longbeachny.org/

A big thanks to the event sponsors for helping out:

Pure Productions: www.facebook.com/PuREphilly
Hocus Focus: www.hocusfocusshot.com
Freaks of Nature: www.facebook.com/FreaksOfNatureEnt
Kodiak Collective: http://www.kodiakcollective.com/
Corporate Swag: https://twitter.com/_CorporateSwag
Dragons Pride Pitbulls: http://dragonspridepitbulls.com/

As we’ve been mentioning over the past couple of weeks French multi-hyphenate brand Kitsuné has been traversing the country in support of its second “Club Night Tour” this year, this one entitled, “Autumn in America“. What we’ve not mentioned much of is the fact that 2012 also marks the tenth anniversary of the music-cum-fashion label’s existence and that to celebrate this milestone Kitsuné has put out a fourteenth edition of its celebrated compilation series, this one entitled Kitsuné Maison: The 10th Anniversary Edition or “The Pernod Absinthe Edition“. Why “The Pernod Absinthe Edition” you might ask, well, because the artwork design for this release is just another extension of the visual scheme Kitsuné adopted in order to produce a collaboration between themselves and the two-hundred year old liquor manufacturer. If you’re not immediately grabbed by the front cover of this compilation, then you might also want to check out some of the interesting patterns the Kitsuné team put together to launch limited edition Pernod bottles and a men’s and women’s set of pants, shirts, hats, and shoes. All of these items are currently available through Parisian retail darlings Colette.

Meanwhile, the Pernod, Kitsuné, autumnal party train continues to roll through North America when it stops at Los Angeles’ Lure Night Club tomorrow evening to present DJ sets by Brazilian wunderkinds The Twelves and New York funkster Penguin Prison. Tickets for the event can be found here and all of the details for the tour are still at its official Facebook page.

It’s no surprise that the office here at URB are fans of Apliiq’s unique brand of deadstock customizable gear, and we were pleasantly surprised when the head honchos over there sent over a glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes.  Taking it a step further from folks like NikeID and like minded contemporary mainstream customizers, Apliiq delves in all types of apparel from hats, shirts, hoodies, and now denim jackets.

Peep the break for a look at the custom and creation process: 

From Aplliq and our friends at Pitchblend:

(Los Angeles) – With the launch of its innovative customizable denim jacket line,  Apliiq.com takes shoppers behind-the-scenes into the apliiq workshop to showcase its made-to-order customization process from start to finish. Through this fresh, fast paced video, Apliiq.com provides a step-by-step overview on how your denim jacket is personalized: from its fun and easy customization dashboard to an inside look of its shop where select fabric is lovingly applied to your jacket, then packaged in a re-useable fabric bag and finally delivered to your mailbox.

Apliiq.com offers over five hundred textiles and patterns making for endless possibilities to personalize your new denim jacket or other apparel creations. Customizable denim jackets are unisex and come in dark indigo and a lighterstonewash.  Jackets start at 79.00 dollars and each Apliiq patch runs between 5-10 dollars.

To customize your own denim jacket visit

http://www.apliiq.com/Shop/All/Jackets/16/1

About Apliiq

Founded in 2008, Apliiq is a new media fashion company that collects rare, deadstock and recognizable textiles and applies them to everyday garments.  Apliiq.com celebrates the experience of fabric expression by offering limited edition and custom appliqué products in which visitors can choose the fabric, placement and garment color to make their own unique composition of color and texture. Apliiq.com  launched its updated customization platform in 2010 offering users endless ways to customize their own apparel online, each product is made to order in less than a week in downtown Los Angeles.

For More Information on Apliiq

www.apliiq.com

www.facebook.com/theapliiqpage

www.twitter.com/apliiq

www.apliiq.tumblr.com

www.pinterest.com/apliiq

instagram @apliiq

One of our favorite fashion brands/services to launch in the recent past, Apliiq, is adding the option for their customers to design custom denim jackets for the current Fall 2012 Season.  For those not familiar with Apliiq, the brand has brought the NikeID-esque ability to customize everything from T-Shirts, Hoodies, Snapbacks, and now Denim Jackets with limited, rare, and dead-stock textiles to create a uniquely personable line of garments based on the exact tastes of their customers.

From The Press Release:

(Los Angeles) - Apliiq.com launches its brand new customizable denim jacket collection for Fall 2012. The denim jacket is a popular wardrobe piece, ideal for the changing seasons. Apliiq.com makes it possible to create one-of-a-kind modifications to separate your jacket from the rest.

Spruce up a classic denim jacket with one of more than five hundred rare, deadstock, and recognizable textiles onApliiq.com. Customize your jacket with your choice of fabric patches online and Apliiq will sew your creation and ship it within a week.  

Base jackets are unisex and available in two washes, a dark ‘indigo’ and a lighter ‘stonewash’. Each jacket is made to order in downtown Los Angeles and comes packaged in a reusable fabric bag.  A customizable jacket starts at $79.00 and each Apliiq patch is between $5-$10.

To customize your own denim jacket visit

http://shop.apliiq.com/customizer?id=23422

Apliiq.com offers customers a unique interactive experience of modifying various apparel for men, women, children and dogs. Visitors can also shop for limited-edition and pre-designed pieces that are specially created by Aplliq.comdesigners. Personalizing your clothing specific to your taste is fun and rewarding. Customizable jackets are thoughtful and unique gifts for this coming holiday.

About Apliiq

Founded in 2008, Apliiq is a new media fashion company that collects rare, deadstock and recognizable textiles and applies them to everyday garments.  Apliiq.com celebrates the experience of fabric expression by offering limited edition and custom appliqué products in which visitors can choose the fabric, placement and garment color to make their own unique composition of color and texture.  Apliiq.comlaunched its updated customization platform in 2010 offering users endless ways to customize their own apparel online, each product is made to order in downtown Los Angeles.

For More Information

www.apliiq.com

www.facebook.com/theapliiqpage

www.twitter.com/apliiq

www.apliiq.tumblr.com

www.pinterest.com/apliiq

instagram @apliiq

You know those friends who are ALWAYS trying to turn you on to someone new? Who absolutely adore EVERY note they hear? Well, I’m not that person. Don’t get me wrong. I love and appreciate music, but I’m discriminating. It’s an important characteristic to own when wading through the abyss, sifting through tunes, plucking beauty from obscurity, careful not to drown in what Moby affectionately calls “the grey goo.”

So when I came across Brooklyn duo Infernal Devices and fell head over melodic hooks for the retro-future sound emanating from their Phenomatron, I simply needed to know more. Their music is sexy with a sense of longing and imagination, a nice departure from much of what’s happening on the electronic circuit today, and combines influences ranging from New Wave and Synthpop to French House and Disco.

Right now, Mark and Andy are sequestered in the studio at Converse Rubber Tracks in Williamsburg, laying down vocals and putting the finishing touches on their upcoming EP Life in Stereo, out on SpinSpinNYC this Autumn which will feature remixes by coveted Brooklyn dreampop duo Savoir Adore and dj/producer Nutritious featuring house music legend Chuck Love.

Meanwhile, I’m sitting pretty in the colorful and comfy lobby, sipping on a Stumptown Cold Brew, clicking away on my laptop, conjuring up questions to ask as musicians hustle past and errant quarter notes bounce by. While we wait for them to break, click HERE and play with this crafty Interactive Web Toy version of The Phenomatron, they created, while you listen to the single off their forthcoming EP, also called Life in Stereo.

CONTEST: To help bring you Life in Stereo we’re giving away a pair of SOL Republic Tracks Headphones and an advance copy of the EP. Tell us what you think of the song- all Soundcloud comments will automatically be entered to win. Winners will be announced on September 24, 2012!

Now, let’s get down to business.

URB: Time Machine, bright lights, copper pipes, glowing wires – The Phenomatron. Do tell.

ANDY: It’s our companion on stage that make all the lights and sounds happen. When we first started working on things, we wanted to figure out a way to play shows and not just be a guy on a microphone and a guy on a laptop. The idea of playing with a drummer came up…We kept coming back to the idea of having another member on stage with us that was doing other things, like lighting…someone or thing that looks like a crazy robot making sound for us which eventually evolved into The Phenomatron. I think what we have now is the 3rd version and I’m really happy with the way we have it now, but of course we’re continuing to work on it. We continue to have ideas…

MARK: Always bigger and better.

URB: Tell us little bit about the inspiration for your new EP, Life in Stereo. Where does your sound come from?

ANDY: The intersection of music that makes us want to dance and music that we want to sing along to. Most of the songs are inspired by travel, all about journeys and experiencing life in stereo, if you will, but to it’s fullest and taking the good and the bad together. That’s the one thread that binds all of the songs together.

URB: Who are some of your influences?

ANDY: Daft Punk is a big influence, a lot of the French house. Mark is really influenced by some of the 80s music like Depeche Mode, Siouxsie, David Bowie.

MARK: Yeah, big Bowie and Siouxsie fan. I feel like for the kind of music we’re making now…we listen to Chromeo, Hot Chip, Grum. A lot of interesting things are coming out of the UK, like Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, some of the kind of weirder darker stuff like New Look, The xx…

URB: Who’s your listener? How does that fit into your process?

MARK: I try not to spend too much time thinking about the listener because I think…

ANDY: …you can get too wrapped up in it

MARK: I think it’s better just to make music that you love and that you feel good about. That will make people happy. Obviously, our music is very groove based, dance based stuff so it’s clearly to make people move, especially on the live spectrum. On the record, a lot of the sounds are interesting. There are some great textures there, some great bass lines. There’s a lot for people to listen to and hold on to. It’s not just your latest pop track on the radio. There’s a little more to it and we hope people will respond to that.

URB: Mark, you started playing guitar and bass at an early age, played in punk, hardcore, and indie bands, worked in fashion, performed theme songs for various TV shows. Andy, you’ve taken piano lessons, studied jazz performance and music theory, played bass and sometimes synth in bands – anything from free jazz to rock to Arabic music to improvised electronic to hiphop to French synthpop….Then you met in 2009. You’ve both had an interesting journey. How has your sound evolved since you first started collaborating together?

ANDY: Our production skills have gotten better. We focus in on sounds we like a lot and have discarded some of the sounds we don’t like. I think it’s definitely been a growing process. We’re moving towards more of what we want, what we we’re aiming to do initially…we’re accomplishing that now. It’s a much easier thing to do now that we’ve gotten to know each other better. The writing process is much quicker than it used to be.

 URB: What gets you in the creative mood?

ANDY: Just looking at design and art helps because I look at a cool painting and it makes me wonder what kind of music would go with it.  Also, I listen to other people’s music and say, “Oh I really like that bassline. I want to write something like that…or I like the sound of that drum.”

MARK: Music, fashion, art, all of it…architecture, the city. Living in NY, there’s so much stimuli coming at you. There’s a ton of stuff to take from. Being in a creative mood…traveling, for me, is a big one. If i’m traveling a lot I feel much more creative because I’m seeing different things than just my surroundings, the four walls of my apartment.

URB: How does New York City influence you? Your sound?

MARK: I feel that just being close to our friends…the restaurants are great here, the food is great, the bands. You go to people’s shows and you can see a great band almost any night of the week. That’s definitely gonna have an impact on what you know is possible. When people are not from New York, they have one band come to town. They’ll maybe see one or two shows a year. We’re seeing shows every week that we dig, seeing experimental things happen in the kind of music we’re making, and seeing what’s possible so it’s cool to have that kind of access. I think access is a big thing. Inspirationally, I feel like just the movement of the city definitely has an impact on the pace of our music and the progression of it — how far we’ve come since the beginning.

URB: Share 5 things about NYC that inspire you.

ANDY & MARK:  1. Walking around the city late at night 2. Going to loft parties where people are dancing and friendly and having a good time 3. Seeing a building from 1880, next to a building from 1980, next to a construction site 4. The New York pace of life. Never stop, always keep going 5. Egg creams.

URB: Here’s your opportunity to address whatever you want to put out into the world. On your mark, get set…

MARK: We had a good time today at Rubber Tracks. This was a good opportunity to get in a high-quality studio situation again. A lot of our time has been spent in our own Brooklyn studio. We call it “The Lab”…It’s nice, but it’s just us two…sitting in a room…which is kind of what we did today, but in a nicer place with more people. I think it’s cool to have an opportunity to mix it up and be in a different environment.

ANDY: Taking us out of our element…

MARK: This is definitely a good experience…just sitting in a new room could potentially open up a lot of doors, creatively, so I think more of this would be great.

ANDY: It’s nice being somewhere different and having other people help us out because a lot of what we do, we do ourselves. We do all the artwork and all the production ourselves, all the mixing. We built our own Phenomatron. So being able to work with other people is nice. That’s one of the things I like about remixing…having some kind of outside influence, getting outside of our bubble and having other people remix us…having some other people sharing in the experience.

MARK: And building the team as we go along… We have been the team, me and Andy so we wanna expand.

URB: Last Question…Dream collaboration?

ANDY: I’ve been reading about Daft Punk working with Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder on their new album, and working with that group would be a fantasy come to life. Some others would be Phillipe Zdar or Damon Albarn.

MARK: And who wouldn’t want to do a track with David Bowie?

Link up with Infernal Devices on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, and Youtube and keep an eye out for their six track EP, Life in Stereo, available worldwide on SpinSpinNYC September 25, 2012.