If you’re into creepy characters and a very simple concept, then you’re going to love this video. I think this is becoming some kind of a trend, more and more I see bands release videos which are extremely simple in concept and are mostly in slow motion. It’s different, not as unique anymore but still fairly potent. The video is by a band called Dancing Pigeons, if you haven’t heard of these guys, there is a good reason for it – they do not have any albums ( yet ).  Originating from France, Dancing Pigeons have aquired their fame with a handful of bedroom-recorded electro pop songs in spring of 2008. Within only a few months they were opening up for acts such as Ladytron. Besides highly acclaimed late-night party and club appearances from Berlin to Paris, the band debuted last years festival season with huge success and is now in the progress of recording their first studio record.

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When I saw this video still from Euphorie, an audio visual show performed in Paris by François Wunschel and Fernando Favier, I sort of expected two Jedi performers battling it out to music.  Actually, it’s much cooler than that.

According to their website, 1024 Architecture (one of the show’s producers) “focuses on the interaction between body, space, sound, visual, low-tech and hi-tech, art and architecture.”  Small white lights, which move like schools of glowing fish in a black sea, move at the command of the artists’ wands.  The shards of light swirl, twist, explode, shimmy, and hop around the stage in a transfixing performance.

I have no idea how they pull this off, and like any good magician, they don’t reveal any secrets–at least not in any language I can read.  See for yourself, they put on quite a show.  And please, if you can figure out their tricks, let me know.

The video offers a wink at art history as band members playfully reconstruct famous paintings in an off the wall lyrical interpretation all their own. If you actually like the music ( I’m not crazy about it ) you can purchase their first EP in iTunes. Enjoy.

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There are a few things to say about being human that really can’t be denied.

And Olivier Roller is trying to express exactly what those things are. A combination of collections from powerful French Dignitaries to haunting bare shoulders to disturbingly bizarre high fashion — not knowing who they are simply means that they could be anyone.

Aging. The wrinkles, the sagging and graying — only exemplified by Roller’s camera. Giving silver streaks a little more dignity while being extremely honest about life and it’s unavoidable phases. Models set as mannequins. Women, bare and exposed… These portraits scream for you to watch… stare… see even more… and in the end, just know that we are all the same.

It’s clear Findus has a different idea of grandmothers and french fries. I mean, look at all the bling that granny’s got. A pinky ring? How fly is that.  Maybe she has some kind of Jennifer Lopez past we don’t even know about.

And since when did grandma make french fries? Apple pie, meatloaf, boiled ham–these seem much more granny’s style.

And the kids are all cute and squishy-faced. How could you resist squeezing them cheeks? Not those cheeks–strictly good-touch here, no bad-touching allowed. But what’s going on with their eyes? Is it merely disdain for such gran-maternal affection, or is it those long hairs growing out of that unfortunately placed mole on granny’s face? The one you can’t help but oscelate between staring at and turning away in disgust?

Oh, and the french fries. I’m sure they’re tasty.

via Fubiz

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Yuksek was born in 1977 and spent his adolescence practising piano several hours a day at music school before realising that “the only job I could get was as a music teacher.” He was convinced that there had to be some other path to take. A fan of pop music, raised on The Beatles and Gainsbourg, amazed by the early West Coast rap of NWA and De La Soul and – above all – stunned in his early secondary school years by Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (the beginning of a chain of events that would eventually lead him to Lou Reed’s “Transformer”, what he calls “the unequalled summit of modern music”), he grew up to be an intrepid lad who decided, age 17, to stop the studying and start the adventure. Seems like he has gone a long way up. He even collaborated with a new upcoming artist Amanda Blank. You can also pick up his album “Away From The Sea” in stores, he got some cool tracks on there… peep it!

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Manel may not be an age defying pop singer or Vietnam war vet on the loose but what gives this French artist entry into that exclusive club is his artwork. His illustrations embody a very distinct flair. They seem effortless, even a tad careless but simultaneously very precise. His style seems to carry the slightest bit of  nostalgia for graphics and illustrations from the late 70s and early 80s.

Not to mention his subjects albeit though not all mono-monikered, reflect the embodiment of cool.  (I truly fell in love when I saw his rendition of David Bowie’s infamous mugshot.) His portrait series features a slew of influential artists, actors, writers and directors. His range of work is also expansive. He’s made music videos and designed album covers for musicians. He has two exhibitions under his belt and occasionally does illustrations for fashion magazines. He’s even designed flyers, logos for a label and had his illustrations featured on Evian water bottles.

Oh and if you’re not convinced he’s deserving of the one name privilege, might I add that he also seems to have a wicked sense of humour. Manel did a t shirt series for Kulte and Colette. Using the trademark of one of his main clients (musician Sebastien Tellier) Paul McCartney, Dennis Wilson and Mick Jagger were all given some truly splendid Unibomber-approved beards.

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The metaphorical tale starts as an innocent and joyful ride. The ‘Round’ in the ‘Merry’ turns out to be an entire lifetime beginning at infancy and carelessness, through adolesence and love, to old age and loneliness, and back. Although in the end the merry-go-round has only travelled a short distance, it manages to dock at some of the major cornerstone emotions of most human lives in a seamless transition of colors which build intensity better than any dialogue could. The pang of sudden loss is felt as the little girl realizes she cannot run back to her mother. As she grows older, we are vivdly reminded of carnival  that life can be. We see her get lost in a beautiful dance of love and then crash into a dark  loneliness. Right at the darkest darkness, the merry-go-round is whisked off into the sky and we find ourselves at the last stop, the joy of being reunited, and it feeling soooo goood.

Who knew that such a simple little wash of colors in motion could hide such profound and well constructed metaphors?

check out the Making of Video below:

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From French automaker Renault comes the Ondelios, an efficient and high-end crossover.  Renault’s site says very little on what the Ondelios offers or when it hits the market, so for now I’ll just let these images do the talking (“Please keep your voice down.”)

via Loudreams.

Amazing work by photographer Valerie Morignat, infact she is not just a photographer, she is also a film director. Born in New Caledonia in 1974 and graduated from the Sorbonne University, Paris, with a Ph.D in Fine Arts and Art Sciences. She has lived in New York City and now shares her time between France, where she is an artist and an associate professor of Futurology and Semiotics, and the South Pacific, where she develops artistic projects. I was always fascinated with underwater photography, simply because it take so much more effort to catch that great shot since there are so many elements you need to deal with as a photographer.

via Fubiz