Tokyo Goes for Star Architects

07TOKYO4-master675It’s no secret that high-end fashion labels like Prada and Cartier have achieved a sort of mythical status in Tokyo. But here is something you may not know: Visiting their boutiques brings with it an extraordinary reward even if you cannot afford the dizzying prices of the merchandise. They provide, free of charge, a chance to experience some of the most spectacular buildings in the world.

07TOKYO6-blog427In the last few years, many of architecture’s stars, including Renzo Piano, Rem Koolhaas, Toyo Ito and Tadao Ando, have been hired to design shops for luxury brands and have turned the city into a battleground for a rare, and spectacular, game of architectural one–upmanship. They have followed one award winner with another, one splashy statement with a splashier one. While Japanese architecture is known for its cool minimalism, these architects have thrown that out the window, creating sculptural symbols that are difficult to forget.
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A few blocks down the street are two more eye-catching stores. Jun Mitsui’s tower for the jewelry company De Beers has a gray steel facade that warps in and out in broad curves. It’s as if you are looking at a modern office building while very drunk. The interior is like any other store from the chain, but it’s still fun to look at diamonds worth over $100,000 now and then.

Fews – Swedish Rock with a Retro Vibe

ae0588da-fc2e-4522-a87e-8c90903e7d14-bestSizeAvailableFews are a Swedish/American four-piece whose debut single was an eight-minute blur of motorik boogie, like something out of early-70s Detroit via early-70s Düsseldorf. It was produced by Dan Carey, who has worked with Toy, Warpaint and Bat For Lashes, and was released on Speedy Wunderground. Now signed to Play it Again Sam, and their latest single is a more concise example of what can be achieved with a linear groove and a sense of mantric repetition. It goes on for three and a half minutes but you could imagine enjoying 33 minutes of it, such is the hypnotic effect of the propulsive drums and two-note guitar pattern.

Uniforms for the Dedicated – Beautifully Swedish

2T6A1645_1024x1024Uniforms for the Dedicated is a bit like Vetements but founded a bit earlier. Born in 2007 in Stockholm as a collective of creatives, resulting in a playground of talent that provides the influence and inspiration Uniforms for the Dedicated rugged yet relaxed clothing collections. Musician José González models Uniforms for the Dedicated’s Fall/Winter assortment, largely made of recycled premium Italian recycled cashmere and wool. The collection features comfortable yet impeccably tailored jackets, trousers, coats and parkas, in beautiful colorways like blue-gray and basil green.

Modomoto Fitting Room – Our New Favorite Store

Modomoto-Fitting-RoomTrendEngel doesn’t really like the concept of a personal shopper- However Modomoto Fitting Room in Berlin Mitte has changed the perception of the concept. This for sure is our new favorite shop. Modomoto is specialized in finding every gentleman the perfect outfit – and they deliver every time. If you don’t have the time to go to Berlin – Modomoto has a great website. Shop til you drop.Modomoto22

Love – Judd Apatow Creates Wonderful Series For Netflix

la-la-et-st-love-2-jpg-20160218Love is a broad, generic title for a television show. But it’s also an intriguing one, implying a vastness, an encompassing look at the human experience—or at least one huge, joyful, torturous, consuming part of the human experience. On first glance, Netflix’s new series, from husband-and-wife co-creators Paul Rust and Lesley Arfin, and Arfin’s former Girls boss, Judd Apatow, doesn’t quite live up to the expansiveness of its title. It initially appears to be yet another show about young(-ish) straight white folks flirting and dating, another look at millennial(-ish) Los Angeles (Echo Park to be exact), another gently chiding, aspirational satire of show business. In that way, Love bears some obvious similarities to Netflix’s other comedy series about romance and showbiz and city living, Master of None.

But as Love gradually chips away at that familiar paint, it uncovers some of the anguish and darkness conjured up, in darts and flashes, by that big, insisting title. Where Aziz Ansari, in Master of None, tends toward social satire and inquest, Arfin, Rust, and Apatow bore deeper into the psyche. Oddly but engagingly paced, Love, over the course of its 10-episode first season (which Netflix graciously made available in full for critics), becomes something surprising, a bleary and affecting study of a woman trying to come to terms with addiction, all the everyday pain and itch and restless jumble of it. By the end of the first season, Love has begun to reveal the series it maybe always should have been: hurting and truthful, about something far more complex and granular than simply “will they/won’t they.” Binge watching guaranteed also thanks to Gillian Jacobs (yes, the cool girl from Community).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym3LoSj9Xj8

The Weird Wonderful World of MOSSY – Electric Chair

mossy-compressedThe label I OH YOU has some pretty exciting talent on its ever expanding roster, but none might be more interesting and diverse than newcomer MOSSY. Since signing with the label, the Sydney solo act has announced the release date of his forthcoming self-titled debut EP (May 13th), and shared its lead single “Electric Chair” along with a visual accompaniment. “Electric Chair” is a bodacious entrance into the music world, full of swirling, static-lined synths and purposeful percussive movements lead by MOSSY’s equally pulsating, dynamic and unique vocals. TrendEngel can’t wait to see MOSSY in Brighton at the Great Escape in Mid May. MOSSY – we salute you.

Laurent Moreau And His Gift To Mankind

result-1A quick leaf through any one of Laurent Moreau’s many filled sketchbooks and you’ll see that he finds inspiration in nature. Laurent enjoys more down-to-earth pleasures, gardening, sitting in fields, and it shows in his work. His images are full of decorative plants and animals drawn by someone who clearly has a passion for them. It is something he says emanates from his youth growing up in the French countryside.

Capture d’écran 2015-04-29 à 10.47.02There’s obviously nothing wrong with an artist working digitally, but it’s interesting to see someone who works almost exclusively in traditional materials and still creates something fresh and modern. Laurent prefers to work by hand, whether painting or printing. The experience of working in these materials is important to him, the smells of the ink, the tactility of the paper. It’s an intuitive way of working that really pulls out some beautiful results.

Capture d’écran 2015-04-29 à 10.47.33Dans la foret des masques is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. Not just for kids but for everyone who is still left with some imagination. A book that can make you happy – very happy. Available in all languages – the German version has just been published.

Bring Me The Horizon – NME Innovation Award

Bring_Me_The_Horizon_August_2015_Notorious for smashing Coldplay’s table at the NME Awards, Bring Me The Horizon have more to offer. The band won the NME Innovation award 2016 This is what NME had to say about it: “Their live shows are absolutely mind-blowing and as a band, they have an incredible amount of creative energy. This sees them innovate time and time again, crossing over from the metal world into the mainstream whilst retaining what made them great in the first place.”
TrEndengel is not quiet sure what to make of all the fuzz and buzz – but be your own judge. Tis is for sure a great song:

12 in 12 – Wo sich wie lebt