Monday, May 19, 2008

Big Art Group

© Katya Valentini


Caden Manson/Big Art Group is a New-York company of performers created in 1999. They use the media language and mix their performances to create new culturally transgressive pieces. Since its beginning, the band has been touring in the US and internationally, they produced 5 main plays among which are "Real Time Film" with "Shelf Life", "Flicker" and "House of No More".


As far as I am concerned, I ran into a performance of "Cinema Fury: The Imitation" by chance during the EXIT08 festival at the Créteil Art Center in April 2008. I had never witnessed anything like that. An incredible mix of musical, theatrical and video performances. A hardly intelligible storylilne on 4 screens facing each others, dismanteled and almost osbcene bodies (swollen lips, dangling tongues, outrageous dubbing), the use of sadistic carnival-inspired props (wigs, liquids), 2 dancers on crack in dresses that could have be stolen from Cher, a platinum-blonde singer in black lace whose body was 95 per covered in tatoos, a guitar player who wouldn't leave his Manson Halloween costume... In a nutshell: a true UFO hovering on Créteil for an hour of visual and sonic delirium perfectly masterized with inventive, sensitive, crazy and subversive artists. Leading them, Justin Bond, the extraordinarily facinating androgyne actor from the duet Kiki & Herb, also seen in Shortbus. We're torn between the crafty universe of Michel Gondry and the gorey burlesque art of Paul McCarthy... When the underground New York scence settles in France!



Big Art Group's MySpace: click here
Website: click here
Justin Bond's MySpace: click here

Nordic Pop!!

Perez Hilton is not only an expert in trash tabloid news, he's also a talent discovere! I totally agree with his latest infatuation: the Swedish singer Lykke Li (here is her single). She was noticed last year with the excellent "Little Bit". This time, she's back with an album everyone talks about.

Lykke Li - "I'm Good, I'm Gone"



Her website: click here
Her MySpace: click here


Annie, is back with a very anticipated album. "Anniemals", her debut album in 2004 was very promising (extracts down here) and heralded a cool pop career. Already nicknamed the Scandinavian Kylie, Annie can pull different tricks, she mixes, a cd's even already been released!


Annie - "Chewing Gum"



Annie - "Heartbeat"



Her MySpace : click here
Her website (work in progress) : click here