Pirate Parfum # 2 – Rain Pool
This sharp, modern-classic will overwhelm you with the powerful essence of storm-drain. “Rain Pool” opens with gravelly-ditch, crecendos with hints of puddle and leaves you with the astonishing final notes of motor oil and antifreeze. This is the second in what will inevitably be a long series of resplendently wrong Pirate Perfume boxes. If you … Read more
End of my Tine
Here is a new (super pompous) album review and probably my last review (bout de pomposity) for some time as I shift focus to less frivolous, trifling matters this year. You can find it on Soundproof Magazine. The last time I ever went to the Silent Barn in Queens (ahem Chad Kawasaki!) I saw Castanets. … Read more
Pirate Parfum # 1 – Hug Me
A scent for the modern, forward female who knows what she wants and how to demand it. “HUG ME” for Lady boasts a sweet opening of confectioner’s sugar and singed electrical wiring with a velvety dry-down of sweaty polyester. This is the first in what will inevitably be a long series of resplendently wrong Pirate … Read more
NOISE : BIDOUN
This’ll be old news to some of you but… The New Bidoun is out and-all-prettied up by Babak Radboy! Expect the usual suspects inside including Tiffany Malakooti, Gary Dauphin, Lucy Raven, Alexander Provan, Michael Vazquez, Negar Azimi, Hassan Khan, Fatima al-Qadiri and Me. Step and fetch-it kids! PS all these croony, kissy faces remind me … Read more
Pank Islam Pank Islam Islam Punk Islam
So as many of you are aware, The Taqwacores premiers at Sundance this week. There’s alot of scream and shout over it, alot of hiss and boo over the book, alot of haters putting ‘so-called’ in front of the words ‘Muslim’ and ‘Punk’. If there’s one thing that soul-melting Islam and face-smashing Punk have absolutely … Read more
The Curious Case of Palm Tree Island
Palm Tree Island Then. Palm Tree Island Now. Feeling whistful about Kidhood memories on Doha’s PTI after coming across the top circa 1997 photo. Whatever happened there I’m sorry it meant shaving all those trees down.
Postcards from Tatooine
Late last year Dubai gallery The Empty Quarter (Orientalists everywhere! “Huzzah!”) staged a pair of gimmicky solo-exhibitions hovercrafting around my favorite subject: yes, the SFKhaleej. The perfectly punchlined “Dubai, Transmutations” was composed of the work of Martin Becka, a French photographer who used an 1857 style view box camera to capture contemporary Dubai. He xeroed … Read more
