A younger counterpart to the YBAs, M.I.A. is a medley of confidence, controversy and 21st century multi-media sensibilities, Ms Arulpragasam has always known how to get people talking – ‘Bad Girls’ isn’t any different.

Another collabo with director Romain Gavras, the video features middle eastern racing boys and girls performing car tricks and Hip-Hop dance routines in traditional dress. Visually stunning, from the tricks, styling and lighting to the dope x-ray style car.

Any artist that manages to get coverage from both The Wall Street Journal and Pitchfork on what they are about to do next is doing something right. M.I.A. understands the ‘what’s’ and ‘why’s’ of cultural relevance to markets, the media and the perception of being an innovative multi-media ‘artist’ and plays the right tune to get everyone moving. That’s not to say there isn’t artistry to what she does, but like Young British Artists before, M.I.A. is in the business of selling her vision.

Check out her label N.E.E.T (yep that’s right, the Not in Education Employment Training acronym) for epilepsy inducing graphics and a roster of artists including NY hipster-rockers Sleigh Bells.

Angelo Dundee – the legendary boxing trainer – died on February 1 aged 90. Even The Greatest need a great team in their corner. From the age of 18, Muhammad Ali had Dundee.

Dundee once reflect: “When you’re working with a fighter, you’re a surgeon, an engineer and a psychologist.” Dundee worked with 15 other world champions, which is an amazing statistic in itself. It certainly made for a lot ‘surgery’ and ‘engineering’.

Throughout years of political and social turmoil, Dundee fulfilled all these roles and more. His relationship with Ali never faltered, never wavered. “Through all those days of controversy, Angelo never got involved. He let me be exactly who I wanted to be and he was loyal. That is the reason I love Angelo.” More than even a man of great loyalty and dedication, Dundee was man of great character. Just some of the reasons why you should love him too.

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Pics via The Guardian

A book cover has to work that much harder than say, a CD cover for the obvious reason that sampling a book actually requires you to read it. In the case of the best work, a books narrative begins with the visual narrative of the front page.

The Book Archive not only gives kudos to book artwork that works harder than most, it acts as a pretty resource into the book designers, their use of fonts and the genres in which they specialize. The archive lets you view over 1350 covers for the ‘Purposes and Appreciation and Cateragization’, meaning in this case, you can judge a book by its cover.

Zebra Katz, from Brooklyn NYC, cleverly subverts the played out hyper masculine narrative to make a record about education.

Don’t think you can get a read on his character from this video alone, as Zebra also appears to be quite the Hipster.

You’ve 2 days to catch The Insomniax‘s debut on Earnest Endeavours as part of the Gilles Peterson show on Radio 1. Sure we’re chuffed at the airplay, but this only the very start of the journey. The track forms part of an upcoming promo release that’ll introduce the world to the EE roster; and what a fine little roster it is.

There’s a lot of exciting times ahead for us as we build The Insomniax brand. We plan on making daydreams a reality in 2012.

You can either lean back or take photographer Paul Octavious‘ advice and lean with it.

I’ve been known to do a little doddle on my shoes, even had the fabulous Brennan & Burch doodle on some old Adidas trainers for me. So when Bucketfeet caught my eye it nearly made me open up a new pack of felt tips.

Bucketfeet is a footwear company that collaborates with global artists to produce colourful graphics for basic pumps. The philosophy is that each pair of pumps are a blank canvas for a means of expression and an opportunity to contribute to the founders passions. Providing arts and sports programmes for poor children around the world, with 5% of their profits going to their charitable partners.

Love the concept. Love the product. However what I wasn’t so amoured with the ‘brand’. The fashion industry is a tough market and taste maker fashion is an even tougher gig, usually reliant on a bunch of trendies to take said style to heart and proliferate to the masses while they move on to the next thing.

For a style conscious brand with an actual conscious, it’s important to be able to compete on all levels as your competitors. That means paying attention to the total communications package. A slick website, beautiful photography and a brand proposition that screams ‘buy me’ are must haves. The good news is that this is something Bucketfeet can easily rectify in time, allowing them to access an even wider market and share more profits with their chosen causes.

Bored with your over sized headphones already? Looking for alternative amplification? Well Mr Simo have got you covered with their Boomcases.

Take a leather or wood vintage suitcase, add a couple of sub woofers, top with a few customised features and there you have it; your own super stylish sound system.

Definitely targeted at the discerning muso and those with an undying love of handmade craftsmanship. The Boomcases are a quirky example of an up-cycled product made for new technology. A perfect pairing me thinks.

Days gone by.

We’re dead proud of our former twenty%extra Art Director Samuel Craven, who’s gone on to pursue his dreams of being a music video director.

Sam’s latest work for Brownswood Records new artist, Gang Colours showcases his penchant for found Super 8 footage which he has used spliced with some original film to give a warm and familiar feeling.

The world’s economic paradigm is shifting quicker than Lewis Hamilton would in a Red Bull. Brazil has officially overtaken the UK to be the 6th largest economy and Africa is the new China.

The relatively recent growth of the African nations is based on rich commodity resources (but that’s nothing new), improved infrastructure and a generation of young folk wholly embracing technology.

However, the perception of change on the continent will be a tad slower. Decades of mediated images and reports of famine, war and dictators has left westerners with a single vision perspective.

Afrographique is a blog that consciously aims to change that through infographics based on economic and lifestyle data from the African continent. From countries broadband speeds, Co2 emissions to foreign investment in Africa. Created by Ivan Colic, an art director at Zoom Advertising Cape Town part of the Ogilvy and WPP group, is an interesting story in itself.

The repositioning of the African continent for the 21st century has only just begun. First step first though, and it’s an important one. Repeat after me; Africa is not a country.

Moonrise Kingdom looks set to deliver classic Wes Anderson. The hallmarks of Anderson’s work are as recognisable as they are hard to pin down. Few people celebrate the strange absurdities of human relationships like Wes, who looks to be in fine abstractive form. Keep your eyes peeled for a release date.

Signature portraits by our good friend Agenda Photography for the F.Y.I Project. Agenda is a big fan of bouncing natural light sources onto his subjects, while is use of artificial light sources create a studio-like feel in otherwise natural surroundings.

The F.YI. photography exhibition of young creatives shot, produced and promoted by over 30 young people in collaboration with creative professionals (like Agenda) and social enterprises. Nice pictures aside, keep a look out for this group of focused individuals achieve in the future, as their legacy will be the testimony to the project’s success.

Illustrator Matt Green turns his hand to 3-dimensional merchandise with Brenda; a laser engraved, hand finished bamboo iPhone case made by Grove that is arguably more impressive than the phone itself.

If you know anything about the living legend that is Lance Armstrong then you’ll know that he’s still alive because he is a legend, which is why the Live Strong adage makes sense. For those of you that need bringing up to speed, Armstrong is a record-holding seven-time winner of the Tour de France and cancer survivor.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation unites, inspires and empowers people affected by cancer and anyone with a pulse. When it comes to a story like Lance’s you don’t really need to sell it, you just need to tell it, courtesy of a minimalist booklet designed by Hort and co-signed by Nike.

Beautiful. Touching. Honest. A few words to describe the photographic journal Days With My Father by Philip Toledano, recorded during the last few years looking after his aging father, who suffered from short term memory, whilst also grieving from the recent passing of his late mother.

Old age is something we’ll all face if we are lucky. The journal highlights the fragility of age and the joy that can be derived from taking the time to listen and appreciate the company of elders.

We popped down to St. Pauls a few weeks back to finally see the Occupy London camp for our selves. Whilst talking to a young fella, we came across another occupant who happened to be giving his mum – who was apparently checking up on him on her way home from work – a tour of the site before she left. The story makes the last image in this series particularly poignant. The others speak for themselves.

Banksy pays real attention to the world around him, which is why unlike many artists – musical, visual or otherwise – his work will always be around us.

Fashion – some people love it while others hate it. Style on the other hand is something most people would like to think they possess. Unlike fashion, style is a personal thing, wrapped up in a sense of identity and culture. During a lifetime an individual’s personal style may go through many changes reflective of where they’re at, at the time.

Style Like U is a video blog that deconstructs the process of how we go about creating ‘style’. Interviewing a range of stylistic folk, they garner an individual take on stylistas dress sense as interviewees share stories on their influences; from music, social consciousness to the effects of bullying at school. Getting dressed in the morning can be anything from an opportunity for artistic expression to a more regimented utilitarian approach. One thing is for sure; it really is what you decide to make it.

Rollup. Rollup. 15 years after rudeboy culture in put down the style of the rollup jeans, ‘trend central’ picks it up and runs with it like it was born yesterday.

The circle of style, fashion – and history in general – plays itself out courtesy of Size? and their promotion of the Nike Pre Montreal Racer which are being released for the first time since 1973.

The unwanted Xmas jumper used to be the stuff of nightmares, but thanks to Shoreditch sheek, Andrew Salomone and his genius of a hacked knitting machine those worries are thing of the past. I want me that Bill Cosby number.

Merry Xmas LBB Crew!

A skeleton family, stripped of love and understanding for each other, coming together through a natural disaster to find the full embodiment of what family values really are.

A literal idea and description. Lateral execution and creativity. Remarkable work, all built, shot and edited by Craig Murray in 4 days in a very unremarkable room in Dalston, London.

As a record label with a vision, Stones Throw know that to thrive they need to go live. The modern artist need to be able to cut the mustard on stage. Much like the old skool artist in fact, but these things have a way of coming full circle.

Throughout the year, Stones Throw have been producing a series of live shows in a recording studio facility in east L.A. The shows are being recorded directly to vinyl with no computers, tape, or digital accessories used in the recording process.

To go Direct To Disk like this speaks volumes of the quality one is likely to expect when catching any of the Stones Throw roster live, which bodes well for artist and label alike.

Apparently the bearded man is nowt but a myth. I didn’t want to be the one to break it you, but if you’re gonna hear it, best to hear from LBB and illustrator Christina Guitian.

If you fancy spreading Xmas cheer to your loved ones, the card is available from Christina’s studion in Dalston, London. Just drop her a line. Ho Ho Ho…

William Eckersley captures a real sense of depth in what are very tricky, low and mixed light conditions. The compositions are meticulous. Maybe my glasses need cleaning but the light seems to flicker if we stare at them long enough; almost as if we were looking at film.

Make no mistake about it folks; images of this nature are very hard to capture. Eckersley has spent the past four years perfecting the art of bringing life to the stillness of the city. There’s something to admire in every landscape. You just have to have an eye for it.

Palm trees are the flavourGuitars, synths and sunshine. Calming blue sea and MJ in his prime. Lo-fi vid meets future hi-fi to create nearly 5 minutes of bliss from this Western Australia Dream Pop outfit.

As Europe battles with a harsh economic reality, it also struggles with the notion that the very future of the eurozone rests in the hands of a woman. Sometimes an image masquerading as commentary says more about the commentator – Steve Bell – and society at large than it does the commentated upon.

The semiotics of this image – run in The Guardian on Friday – features Angela Merkel in the role of dominatrix. For insecure men with cahoonas issues, such images are probably the only way of quantifying the German Chancellors influence in Europe without their already fragile sense of masculinity falling into ruins like the Greek economy.

I’d never hear of OriginalFake, but I had heard of Snoopy. I can’t actually buy a limited edition Snoopy because they’re sold out, but because of Original Fake’s strategic merchandise tie-in with Kaws, I’m now looking at ties on the OriginalFake website. Ok, there are no ties but there are some rather fresh sleeveless puffa’s.

Extending into new markets by dangling familiar carrots is part of the marketing game. And if you can’t crack a nut with a hammer, use a chisel; or in this case a cartoon legend, who through some subtle reworking has lost his eyes.

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via This Is Collate

Even tougher economic times lay ahead. This 2010 illustration proves again that through his message, Banksy always stays ahead of the curve.

Star Trek: Wagons in space. Fight Club: An office employee and a soap salesman build a global organization to help vent male aggression – The best moments in film stem from simple, compelling concepts.

The Broken Camera Club: 13 broken cameras and their downfall, illustrated by Nigel Peake. The cameras may have come to a sad end, but this booklet represents an idea worthy of a screenplay. Why? Because cameras by their vary usage are about stories. While the demise of these well illustrated beauties represent the end, an extension of the idea could take us back the beginning.

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Kodak Instatic 50 – Sept ’86 – Sand damage
Afga 150 Rapid – June ’94 – Water intrusion
Agfamatic 508a Sensor – April ’92 – Old age
Kodak Instatic 455x Jan ’07 – Rust
Agfa Isola Naz – Nov ’88 – Bad temper
Starlet Brownie – July ’97 – Out of zinc
Gevaphot – Feb ’02 – Ink covered lens
Olympus – June ’95 – Damaged from fall
Agfa Optima 1 – April ’05 – Smashed by a tiger bug
Gevaert – May ’91 – Outsprung spring
Gevabox MZ11-8 – Oct ’92 – Fright
Pallard box and Konishiroku – June ’84 – Spooling failure

Visual humour. A play on words. Very serious issues: The Economist‘s brand has tone of voice and visual identity on lock.

Dam-Funk and Outrun. 25 years apart yet born of the same time. This is no retro remake folks, as the video is original footage of the game.

The music captures the feel of my memories from playing Outrun in the arcades to tee, thus connecting 25 years of good times. Am I showing my age? Aaah, whateva…

Anyone with as little knowledge as Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain on, well anything, better have a good catch phrase to hand. His “We need a leader not a reader” response to the Libya gaff could wash if Cain weren’t vying for leadership of the world’s largest economy and armed forces. Cain though, doesn’t quite have that luxury.

In truth, we can all get caught short for an opinion, but when it does happen – and contrary to Cain’s advice – stop talking, start reading, before you even think about leading.

In the right hands typefaces can really come alive. This type experiment – courtesy of graphic designer, photographer and illustrator Paul Hollingworth –uses repetitive linear shapes to form letter forms.

Expect to see this one bouncing merrily down your stairs soon.

When our inalienable rights to protest are threatened by potential repercussions and the use of rubber bullets – as they were in the lead up to last weeks University fees protests – what better way to subvert that tension with some well crafted humour and essential commentary.

More to come on this soon…

I like the simplicity and quality of the work. I like the humour. I like the subtlety of the message. Say hello to Zach Terrell.

Galaxy Tunes speaks of the transformational quality of music (no matter the format). Space Melt is nice and abstract. Molar Bear is about Bears with very Molars. Duh.

A really nice minimalist player and visual mechanism by Build for ‘Close’ – an anonymous music collective – comes slightly undone by a webpage that annoyingly rescales the image and has no pause on the player. The beautifully shot images by Benjamin Grillon are in a very high resolution, so you can scale them until your hearts content. but it’s the ‘scaling down’ that is the issue.

Bit of a shame, as this promo site looks pretty damn sexy. The music’s not too shabby either (I’m particularly feeling Beam Me Up). It’s worth noting that the Build boys are some of our favourites in the design stakes. It’s just that a little bit of polish in the programming / coding department would have seen this project do more than come close, but hit the mark entirely.

Director, photographer and actor Aaron Ruell takes photographs like a man who directs film. He was responsible for the promotional photography and opening title sequences for the 2004 award winning cult movie Napoleon Dynamite, which he also starred in.

Ruell manages to capture a real sense of theatre and character; even within the confines of the seemingly bog standard portrait. Skill sets which are particularly handy if you’re an independent film maker trying to sell in your ideas to potential investors about films you might have in the pipeline.

Watching this film shot on the new iPhone 4 makes me wanna get an upgrade, now. The footage looks amazing with a lovely depth of field. I have a feeling that we’re going to see a lot of ‘iMovies’ coming our way soon.

David Icke talks a lot of sense. Despite that he’s known by many as just a conspiracy theorist. Why? Because he has had a tendency in the past to undermine his sound theories with talk of reptilian bloodlines ruling the world. Though if you’ve seen V,  the last point probably doesn’t seem like a massive leap of the imagination.

While I jest, there is a serious point to be made amid all of this. A consistent, coherent message is essential when trying to get a number of complex (or even simple) points across. This includes tone of voice. Tone of voice is something we at LBB refer to constantly, as it is the key differentiator between you having the ear of the people or them coming to premature conclusion that you’re a crackpot.

Which brings me back to David. Lend this video your ear. His tone of voice might er on the side of the eccentric – as do some of his points – but the message does provide some interesting food for thought.

Monday saw the release of B.Bravo‘s Kiss ‘n’ Tell EP on Earnest Endeavours. This is the first release on the Earnest Endeavours label and we’re a little bit excited by this for quite a few reasons;- 1) Because B.Bravo is dope and 2) Because…aah we’ll keep this as a surprise…

Reside in colder climates? Well in B. Bravo’s future funk world it’s strictly 82ºC California sunshine. Can you feel it.

Before texts, before email, there was pen and paper; two ancient mediums that were as precious as they were personal.

Annie Vought takes the precious to new levels with her work that includes the painstaking process of enlarging hand-written letters/doodles and cutting away the negative spaces with an X-ACTO knife.

If you’re folks used to pass letters in the playground when they were kids at school, show them this and watch their jaws drop.

6 days to go until Halloween. If you see a carved pumpkin fresher than these by Ray Villafane then I’ll actually eat a whole pumpkin. Raw.

Ray’s story is an interesting one: After much research, Ray’s first “practice” sculpture actually became his first professional sculpture. In 2004, Ray was sculpting a Logan version of the X-Men character, Wolverine.

He researched online sculpting forums for tips and posted his work-in-progress, requesting feedback from other sculptors. His piece caught the attention of popular sculpting icon Randy Bowen of Bowen Designs. Bowen contacted Ray and offered to produce the statue. Between 2004 and 2005, Ray went on to sculpt several statues for Bowen Designs, including such Marvel characters as Sabretooth, Magneto (the companion piece to his Logan) and The Punisher.

After undertaking a commissioned piece for the collectibles division of DC Comics, DC Direct, Ray was offered a two-year exclusive contract with DC in 2006. He renewed the contract in 2008 for another two years. Within a year of trying his hand at sculpting he had gained notable clients such as Warner Bros./DC Comics, Marvel, McFarlane Toys and Sideshow Collectibles.

From the President’s Quarters in the White House to Bermuda’s Sousa’s Gardens, Ray’s pumpkins have gathered a cult-like following, which now includes the LBB Crew.

“When you want to succeed as badly as you want to breathe; then you’ll be successful.”

Interesting video from Greyskale Multimedia featuring American footballer Giavanni Ruffin. I’d not heard of either Greyskale or Mr Ruffin but his story is a particularly interesting one.

Ruffin is a highly touted running back out of East Carolina University who went undrafted in this spring’s NFL draft. Rather than be discouraged when his name failed to show up on the NFL draft board, Ruffin has used the experience as added motivation in achieving his goal, with this video no doubt acting as a shop window to any perspective NFL teams.

Good sense makes sense, and this video is 5mins 50seconds of wisdom that permeates any field of interest because the message is simple: the secret to success is that there really is no secret.

Limited Edition Daft Punk Coca Cola bottles, complete with 925 sterling silver and 18k gold logo branding. Pop music well and truly goes ‘pop’.

When was the last time you heard a song from Daft Punk? I haven’t in ages, which only goes to re-inforce the point that when a brand transcends the product it’s originally known for then you’ve reached what I call a branding nirvana.

NTS: a new community radio station based in Dalston, launched in April this year. The community in this instance is the bubbling sub-culture of electronic music influenced by a staple of soul, funk and jazz amongst others.

Their recent short gives you a glimpse into the beginnings of the station, their developing culture and a five-a-side football team. Que Umbro’s involvement and the second reason for my musings.

Umbro having taken tips from Adidas and Puma, have been quietly repositioning the traditional football gear company as a lifestyle brand, producing content featuring musicians Chase & Status, Liam Gallagher and Murkage and other sports stars.

En route to embedding themselves in pop culture, the Umbro Industries campaign focuses on supporting fledgling creative entrepeneurs in Manchester with £10k bursaries.

The trend of courting creative communities looks like one that will last for a while for culture savvy brands, ensuring buy in from taste makers and all that goes with it. Thus giving creatives alternative forms of investment from financial to profile raising.

A retrospective twist on an old sci-fi favourite by Olly Moss, who has the uncanny ability knack of bringing a touch of ‘film noir’ to film classics ranging from Blues Brothers, Rocky and Robocop.

These posters have a real art house feel to them, which when considering the production process involved in making Star Wars in particular, is pretty apt. In the Return of the Jedi poster, I can almost smell the humid air of the Dagobah planet. I go too far? OK I’ll stop now.

When Friday Comes it should always sound like this. Another sneaky treat from the forthcoming Love She Wants EP by The Insomniax ft. Roses Gabor.

Terry Obiora captures a day of BMXing nostalgia in Milton Keynes. These days I’m scared by a pot hole in the road. These lot on the other hand aren’t scared by anything. Riders ready, pedals ready, GO!

The Insomniax will be hosting an After Carnival Party Special today at Life on Old Street, with DJ’s Rapzcallion (Blacktronica) and Dan Anderson (A2B Records), not to mention a live performance of material from The Insomniax’s forthcoming Love She Wants EP, and live radio broadcast on Nasty.fm from 12-2AM.

Don’t say we don’t spoil you, ’cause we do.