ALISA NIZHNIY
ALISA NIZHNIY - WRITING FOR i-D, DAZED DIGITAL , HARVARD AND FLAUNT.COM
i-D
MUSIC: PERFUME
Perfume performed in New York City for the first time on Saturday with a sold-out show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The concert concluded their World Tour 3rd, following last month’s release of their album LEVEL3 (Bonus Edition) through the label Astralwerks.
For over a decade, the group has been working with choreographer Mikiko Mizuno, as well as prolific J-pop hit maker Yasutaka Nakata, who produces all their songs. Their digital sound is driven by a metronomic dance beat, intertwined with dense polyphonies of arpeggiators and layers of dynamic, stuttering vocoders. Perfume's corresponding visuals suggest a narrative of magic and transhumanism. The Spring of Life music video depicts the girls as cyborgs wearing translucent LED dresses, being programmed by machines to experience love. In Spending All My Time, they play prestidigitators, practicing their telepathic and telekinetic skills.
i-D sat down with Ayano "NOCCHi" Ōmoto, 26, Yuka "KASHIYUKA" Kashino and Ayaka "A-CHAN" Nishiwaki, both 25, before they took the stage. Despite their relentlessly bubbly demeanor, they maintain untouchable personas, as what's below the surface is artfully kept secret. We discussed spell-casting on stage, the reason behind their expressionless sound and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's stuffed animals.
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
HARVARD GRADUATE JOURNALISM PROGRAM
MUSIC AND CULTURE: WITCH HOUSE
The genre has developed into a distinctly Internet-based subculture that extended beyond music and symbols. "There isn't one sound of what it is," said Travis Egedy, who coined the term "witch house" in December 2009 in an article for Pitchfork Media. "It's a whole visual language that's Internet-based." He described a network of peers making and exchanging occult-influenced music, imagery and feedback over the Internet. Egedy said witch house became an online lifestyle.
It is possible to mistake witch house for a fashionable Internet identity that is based just around symbols, according to Egedy. "It's really easy to look witch house. You can put some upside-down crosses and triangles and anything else next to your name," said Egedy. "People just like to see the dark imagery. A lot of people don't get why they're attracted to these symbols at all."
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
HARVARD GRADUATE JOURNALISM PROGRAM
CULTURE AND POLITICS: PUSSY RIOT
One professor explained why he said he believes that performing in a church helped the women of Pussy Riot achieve their aims on an international level. Gordon Teskey, who teaches a course at Harvard called the Bible in the Humanities and the Arts, said that the insistence by the Russian Orthodox Church that Pussy Riot be punished reflects the classic balance of power presented by the Old Testament, where Pussy Riot is playing the ancient role of the prophet in society.
"It is the role of the prophet to protest, and to do so in or near the temple, the center of priestly authority, although at some risk, as the prophets from Jeremiah to Jesus found," said Teskey. "That is exactly what Pussy Riot did: prophesy at the center of religious authority."
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
HARVARD GRADUATE JOURNALISM PROGRAM
SCIENCE AND CULTURE: CHIMERAS
New technologies involving stem cells could be the narcotics and tattoo shops of the future. Stem cell technologies could provide opportunities for new existential experiences and even body modification: Your boyfriend or girlfriend calls you up and says, "Yo man, I am so high on cat brain cells right now, and I can't wait for the octopus serum to kick in." By the end of the week, you'll see your significant other, who will be like, "Check out my new whiskers and tentacles, baby."
Now, that would probably be cute and fun and kinky, but underground recreational use could propel the unintended integration of these new biological technologies into society. So even if their scientific use is strictly regulated, these new technologies have potential to be taken out of their intended context by eccentric "hackers," causing uncontrollable mutations that would be exponentially catastrophic. How many new diseases and unknown factors that lead to birth defects could these mutations breed into the obstacles of human medicine? Oh wait, weren't we breeding chimeras to cure diseases rather than to cause them?
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
DAZEDDIGITAL.COM
INTERVIEW WITH ATARI TEENAGE RIOT
"The techno-punk trio returns with a fierce album and views on creepy synths, the Thai Elephant Orchestra and sex in the internet age."
The recent resurrection of early nineties Berlin-based cult band Atari Teenage Riot casts frenetic techno-punk music upon a new generation. Their anarchist-libertarian attitude pervades: dissect everything, bypass limitations. Digital hardcore innovators Alec Empire, Nic Endo, and MC CX Kidtronik spoke to Dazed to share their fascinations and motivations...
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
DAZEDDIGITAL.COM
INTERVIEW WITH TRIPPPLE NIPPPLES
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
"Insane electro popstresses hailing from the fine land of Tokyo talk fake tits and their milky alcohol."
Trippple Nippples is two Japanese electro songstresses that transform lunatic delusions into performance art. This is notably done by pouring and throwing egg, glitter, feather bombs, mud, blood, rotting spaghetti dressed with liquid latex at each other, or by squirting milky alcohol showers, projected from prosthetic breasts. If these chicks haven't covered themselves in it, it probably doesn't exist. And the music is pretty good as well! Via Skype, Dazed spoke to Yuka Nippple, Qrea Nippple, and Joseph Lamont, the Australian mastermind behind Trippple Nippples' music production. We discussed their fashion tactics, their favourite Tokyo hotspots, and of course, the development of their highly idiosyncratic music affair...
FLAUNT.COM
FASHION: OBESITY & SPEED
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
"Goth and tribal-primitive styles are apparently still a major DO in the fashion kingdom."
When H.P. Lovecraft’s grimoire Necronomicon curiously remarks,
“That is not dead which can eternal lie. / And with strange aeons even death may die,”
Lovecraft refers to evil, which possesses the immutability to outlive death. This concept is also available for you to purchase and wear in the form of "Even Death Can Die." But perhaps you’re looking for a phrase that is slightly less… conclusive? Well, designers Obesity and Speed (indulge, my dears, and live very, very fast) offer others, including tees that read, “Stay Sick,” “Nothing Sacred,” “KiL,” and if you’re still set on it, “Choose Death.”
FLAUNT.COM
FASHION WEEK: BARBARA GONGINI
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
"Gongini’s Fall 2010 synthesizes unisex fashion to feel unrestrained, primal and unmistakably autonomous."
It just so happens that New York Fashion Week parallels Copenhagen Fashion Week, where Danish designer bARBARA Í gONGINI just debuted her Fall 2010 collection.
For next fall, Gongini replaces her articulate gaudiness with a more relaxed demeanor, varying the volume of fabrics and using an array of raw, flowing, distressed textures. This collection elegantly perpetuates the resurgent tone of modern primitivism that was set by Rick Owens and most recently made prominent by the Mulleavy sisters. Stylistically, Gongini's collection also resembles the structural inclinations of Gareth Pugh, Bernhard Willhelm, and Ann Demeulemeester...
FLAUNT.COM
ART: MASAKO ONODERA
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
Unlike the development of robotics, which has been generously explored in art, fashion and film, the biological revolution is a fresh concept worth fantasizing about. Japanese-born visual artist Masako Onodera acquaints us with the prospect of genetic design through an aesthetic of borderline-repulsive elegance.
Onodera, who specializes in jewelry and sculpture, primarily uses found objects, imitation pearls, wool, and balloons to create lifelike, seductive works...
FLAUNT.COM
MUSIC: TERRY POISON
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
After a CSS DJ set on one rainy Dim Mak Tuesday in October, Los Angeles tasted a futuristic hit of “American sleaze with European finesse.” Also known as “the Tarantino of Pop,” Tel Aviv’s electroclash-indie rockers Terry Poison were dressed in luxurious amounts of glittery, metallic spandex, animating Hollywood nightclub Cinespace’s main room.
Forming in 2004, sharing the stage with Björk and M.I.A. at the French festival Rock en Seine, and having become “the hottest name in Paris” (alongside Uffie and Yelle) by 2007, it is not surprising that our side of the world is just now catching on and proceeding to mindlessly throw around Lady Gaga references to describe Terry Poison. In terms of style, a sophisticated version of the Spice Girls would be more accurate...
FLAUNT.COM
MUSIC: HARD FESTIVAL
TEXT BY ALISA NIZHNIY
"This past weekend, the Nitrus folks proved that despite strict city codes and regulations, among other modern obstacles, the “let’s blow it out” attitude prevails, and they still throw a remarkable party."
This Halloween in L.A. had a lot of young electro fans hesitating, “Do I see Deadmau5 and Justice at HARD or Felix Da Housecat and Crystal Castles at Monster Massive?” No wonder kids were frantically trading tickets, as final set times were being distributed outside the neighboring venues on Saturday night. HARD Haunted Mansion 2009, the 2-day electronic music event presented by Destructo’s record label Nitrus, went all out, directly competing against well-established Los Angeles promoters Go Ventures of Monster Massive...