5QUESTIONS: TALLULAH RENDALL

Tallulah Rendall is our biggest music crush right now. On her second album, Alive, she collaborates with a different creative on every track, allowing them to interpret her music in any way they see fit. From sculptors, to dancers, writers and painters, their work is assembled into an art book to be released in May (we'll remind you when it comes out). This week, she answers our 5Questions, but first, here she is performing & chatting to The Station Sessions.

1. Who do you admire most in music right now and/or would most like to collaborate with?

Collaboration-wise, I would love to work with Trent Reznor, Josh Homme, Jack White or PJ Harvey; these are also some of the people I most admire in music right now. All of them have released incredible albums and continue to evolve musically. I have enormous respect for musicians who put all that they have in their music, and who don't limit themselves.

2. What's the last film you saw + give 3 words to describe it.

Inception - brilliant mind fuck

3. Best advice you've ever been given.

Keep writing, keep listening to records, believe in yourself. At the time it was a lifeline - written down it looks a bit cheesy, but it worked!

4. What are you doing this weekend?

Dancing, sleeping, rolling in the grass, writing and organising our tour in Germany.

5. Recommend your favourite bar in London.

At the moment, the only time I would be in a bar is if there was a gig on, or a DJ playing great rock & roll. I love The Drop in Stoke Newington; it has all of the above and I love playing there, the audiences are great.

Thanks, Tallulah!

Website: www.tallulahrendall.com

Buy Alive on iTunes here.

LITTLE SCRAPS OF PAPER: DAVID WILSON

We told you about Little Scraps of Paper a while ago; Tomas Leach & co's mini films that peer into the makings of a creative mind at work. Check out their latest short about director and visual artist David Wilson below.

YOHJI

Enigmatic & internationally renowned Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto is having a busy year. His mainline label, launched in 1977, continues to challenge notions of proportion, androgyny and asymmetry every season. Earlier this month, The V&A launched a major retrospective of all things Yohji, which will be on show until 10 July (definitely one not to miss).

And now the 68 year-old designer's incredibly successful collaboration with Adidas, Y-3, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. To commemorate the event, director Theo Stanley was invited to shadow Yamamoto for several months, as he prepared for Y-3's performance-based Spring/Summer 2010 show. Click here to see the trailer for the resulting documentary, Yohji Yamamoto: This Is My Dream. 

And just because we don't like to do things by halves, make sure you also see Y-3's brand new fashion film for Spring/Summer 2011, inspired by Yamamoto's love for rock & roll, and the striking, dark energy it often conveys.

ARTS FUNDING CUTS

Hundreds of British arts organisations have had their public funding slashed (or eliminated) today, as a result of our government's spending cuts aimed at tackling the country's deficit. Arts Council England (ACE) basically have to cut 15 % from the amount they usually give out to art, music, theatre, dance & literature groups by 2015. The Guardian are live-blogging updates of who's getting what (and who's getting nowt) - head here for specifics. Sad times.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Here's the just unleashed trailer for Woody Allen's new film Midnight in Paris. Owen Wilson & Rachel McAdams lead a stellar cast, which includes Marion Cottilard, Adrien Brody, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates, and perhaps more surprisingly, France's First Lady, Carla Sarkozy (nee Bruni). Check it out below.

SONS OF RICO

The music video crushes keep on comin' this week. Check out this stop-motion awesomeness below courtesy of Sons of Rico's Miss Adventure. The band hail from Perth, Australia, and their debut album Reactions was funded by a $10,000 Contemporary Music Grant from the Western Australian State Government. Go Australia!

TODAY'S MUSIC VIDEO CRUSHES

First one courtesy of band-member Albert Hammond Jr. for The Strokes' Call Me Back.

And second one for current fave new band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart for their new single Heart In Your Heartbreak. Look em up & check em out asap.

WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE

Explore the dark side of art at the Alison Jacques Gallery, with their new exhibition by Matthew Weir. The challenging (& sometimes brutal) works on display present a modern look into the history of art's interpretation of death, violence and constraint. Matthew Weir: The Fractured Word is on until 7 May 2011.

ANIMALS ON THE UNDERGROUND

Where you see a bunch of coloured lines taking you from A to B, Brit artist Paul Middlewick sees a forrest of animals. Check out some of his awesome interpretations of the London tube map below, which he sells on his Animals on the underground website.

CAN'T BUY ME LOVE

Bad times at BlueBeat.com. The US-based Spotify/iTunes hybrid, which allows users to listen, buy & share music online, has just been fined $1m for the unauthorised selling of Beatles tracks. EMI took legal action as soon as their biggest band's back catalogue was made available on BlueBeat, back in October 2009, but it is reported the site had already sold over 67,000 Beatles tracks. On top of the hefty fine, BlueBeat must also desist from selling, distributing, publicly performing or linking to any works controlled by EMI. Moral of the story: don't mess with The Beatles.

ART + TSHIRTS = WIN

Online retailer ASOS keeps on innovatin, and we keep on buyin. Their latest project is a line of limited edition t-shirts curated by the clever people at website/magazine It's Nice That, who have selected 10 up-and-coming illustrators & designers to produce the collection. 


This is the the extra smart bit: with every single order of the T-shirts (all £25), the buyer also gets the corresponding design as a limited edition print! Our favourites are Jean Jullien's gun toting creation (above), and Sophie Kern's patchwork bear (below). Get shopping. 

KATE MOSS FOR LONGCHAMP

Kate Moss's relationship with Longchamp both as a designer & model thrives on, this time in the shape of Faraway, a late-60s inspired fashion film. Check out a couple of trailers below, and head to their official website for the full version.

HOLY MOLY!

Former Big Brother producer Endemol has bought a 50% stake in acidic celeb gossip website Holy Moly! The site started 9 years ago and competed with the likes of Popbitch with its own brand of irreverent content. 

The deal sees the secret identity of Holy Moly!'s founder formally unveiled for the first time, one Jamie East, former lead singer of The Beekeepers and son of former Sky Sports executive Trevor East. Expect the site to expand into TV, music, fashion & film after this significant investment by Endemol. Here they are fannying around with Alan Sugar.

GIZMO'S BAROMETER

Hi, I'm Gizmo. I'm the Home Corp pup. 

I like to play and bark at people who come into the office. 

Here's my first weekly barometer!

(click the items' titles for web-links)

WOOF!

Sunshine in LDN

Spring has sprung. Good times.

Birdy

14 year-old schoolgirl from Lymington 

covers Bon Iver's Skinny Love 

to haunting perfection.

Georgia Jagger in the new Hudson campaign

Woof!!

GRRR!

Cravendale's New Ad
Cats! With Thumbs! Jog on, Kitty.

Royal Wedding

Yawn. Thanks for the day off, though.

Rebecca Black's Friday

Well catchy. Well annoying.

ONE TO WATCH: OLENA SLYESARENKO

23 year old Olena Slyesarenko was born in Ukraine, studied photography at the Glasgow School of Art and now lives in London. Her latest project, Small Economies, captures the change in economic climate in her hometown of Azov Sea, a small coastal area in Ukraine. Check out a small selection of shots below & head to her website for more.

NO MORE CDs

Mercury Music Group - home to such acts as The Killers, Arcade Fire, Razorlight and U2 - have announced today that are set to cease the production of physical singles, relying instead on digital downloads alone. In 2010, it was reported that Mercury actually lost money on the production of single CDs, due to rising costs & falling sales. We've all known it's been heading this way for years, but this does mark a considerable step towards 'physical' music just being used as a collector's item. 

HOME-GROWN: KIM JACOBS'S NEW AD FOR VISA

Our very own Kim Jacobs takes us on a road trip in this beautiful new ad for Visa. Congrats!!

MYSTERIOUS BLACK CUBE IN PARIS

Check out this fantastic viral/ad from SNCF (a French travel agents) in which a mysterious black cube bearing a red button appears in Paris..

LYNCH DURAN DITTO & KELIS

Duran Duran played a live stream gig last night & they got none other than David Lynch to direct it. The event is part of American Express's Unstaged concert series, and featured guest appearances from Beth Ditto on Notorious, and Kelis on The Man Who Stole a Leopard. Checkemoutbelow. 

DAME VIV DOES GOOD

This ought to warm your cockles a bit. Philanthropist Dame Vivien Duffield has given a total of £8.2 millions to 11 British galleries, museums & theatres to create learning areas for children and young adults. Given the current financial cuts our government is making in the arts, this generous donation is immeasurably valuable. Click here for a full list of recipients (below article).

HOME-GROWN: TOMAS LEACH'S FILMS FOR MAROON 5

Congratulations to Maroon 5 for completing their 24 Hour Session with Coca-Cola! And big congrats to Tomas Leach for creating 24 short films documenting the event, following the band through the writing and recording process, as well as the odd spot of yoga & ping pong. Check out a selection of these films below, or head to Coke's official YouTube page where you can view them all.

RIP LIZ TAYLOR

Hollywood screen legend Elizabeth Taylor sadly passed away today at Cedars-Sinai in LA at the age of 79. Let's remember her with some of her most iconic scenes, in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Cleopatra.

GOOGLE GOES GAGA

Google held an exclusive interview with Gaga yesterday, check it out below. It's over an hour long (Zzzzz) but brings up some interesting facts + stats about the role Google has played in bringing the world's most downloaded artist in history to every home in the land whether they like it or not.

24 HOUR SESSION WITH MAROON 5

We told you about Maroon 5's 24 Hour Session with Coca-Cola a couple of weeks ago. The band is spending 24 hours in a studio to compose a new track, and the live feed kicked off at 5pm today. Click here to check it out & participate.

Also have a look below at a quick in-studio demo of the awesome interactive 3D wall, through which viewers can share thoughts, ideas & feedback on the band's progress.

Our very own Tomas Leach is on board with the project, making 24 films documenting the event; one released every hour. We'll check back with the band tomorrow, and bring you a selection of Tom's best films covering the event. Get more info here, and here.

KK 4 CHANEL: FULL FILM

As promised last week, here is the brand new Coco Mademoiselle film in full, starring Keira Knightley, who frankly plays a bit of a terrible tease.. Check it out below.

TSUNAMI BENEFIT GIG

The O2 Academy Brixton in London will host a special Japanese tsunami benefit gig on April 3, with acts such as Beady Eye, Primal Scream, Paul Weller & Richard Ashcroft taking the stage to raise money for disaster relief in Japan. 

All the proceeds from the concert will go to the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. So far the Red Cross has mobilised 85 teams with 700 doctors, nurses & support staff, providing first aid and healthcare, who need all the help they can get. Get your tickets this Friday at 9am from here.

5QUESTIONS: JEM GOULDING

Last week we told you about poet & film maker Jem Goulding's new film, The Bone Echo. The London-based visual artist now answers this week's 5Questions.

1. Who would be your dream subject to shoot?

Kurt Cobain... man, the soul in those eyes.

2. What's the last film you saw + 3 words to describe it.

Buitiful by the earth-shattering Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. I sat and sobbed in the cinema when the credits rolled, I couldn't move. True beauty, with quiet power. In 3 words, I'd say devastating, disarming and disembodied. 

3. Best advice you've ever been given?

"Expectations set you up for a fall". It has helped me immensely so far... and when I forget this advise, I always fuck something up.

4. What are you doing this weekend?

I'm in Ibiza, directing a music video on 8mm film for a band called Sulk, who you'll be hearing more about very soon. They've got swagger and I've got a waterproof Super 8 camera, and a whole lot of ocean to play with.

5. What is your favourite poem?

My favourite poetry book is Burning in Water, Drowning in Flames by Charles Bukowski, and my favourite of his poems is The Man with the Beautiful Eyes. I also love Cloths of Heaven by William B Yeats, and another favourite poet is my friend Dallas Clayton.

Thanks, Jem!

WEBSITE: www.jemgoulding.com

SOLITUDE IS BLISS

Mark Ronson, Miike Snow's Andrew Wyatt and The Pipettes' Rose Elinor Dougall drop by Triple J's Like A Version for a little rendition of Tame Impala's Solitude is Bliss. Check it out below. And the original below below.

A LIFE IN PICTURES

Anthony Browne, together with his son Joe, will be talking about their excellent memoir Playing the Shape Game, as well as his career as one of the UK's most renowned & beloved illustrators, tonight at 7pm at The Old Cinema, University of Westminster. More info here.

HOME CORP HEARTS AP

We <3 <3 <3 sassy Brit lingerie brand Agent Provocateur. Check out some of our favourite AP films below... they're a bit naughty, so you might have to sign in to YouTube to prove you're over 18 (very much worth the effort).

THE HOBBIT IS ALL GO

After months of delays (financial difficulties at MGM + original director Guillermo del Toro leaving the project + actor's union strike), shooting has finally started on The Hobbit in New Zealand. The 3D prequel to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy will be split into two films to be released in 2012 & 2013, and stars Martin Freeman in the title character, as well as Cate Blanchett & Elijah Wood. Director Peter Jackson is said to be raring to go.

LOLOTRON

No comment necessary.

NO MORE FAITH

After 15 years of releasing the same track over & over making music together, Faithless have called it quits.  The British electro trio will go their separate ways once they've wrapped up their current tour. Official statement from the band below.

"After 15 years and six albums I think we’ve probably made our collective point by now and that it’s time to close the book and return to the library. We’ve had, with you (fans), the most unbelievable, epic and moving experience, stretching over years and tens of thousands of miles. Joyful, exhilarating and empowering, we never for a moment thought an affair could last this long."

PRETTY COLOURS

Brooklyn art-rockers Crystal Stilts bring you varying shades of pretty colours via their video for new single Through The Floor. Sometimes to simplest ideas are the best ones. Sometimes the simplest ideas are dull. Make up your own mind below.

IGGY + DEBBIE

Let's all stare at this picture for a bit.

It was taken in Toronto in 1977 by Bob Gruen, back when Blondie were opening for Iggy Pop on their first major national tour. Gruen tells The Guardian, "I saw them talking, so asked if I could get a picture. We stepped into a bathroom, and instead of just standing there, he put his arm round her, feeling her up; she started licking his chest. A great music picture is all about attitude. They just look cool." Yes they do.

Check out Rock 'n' Roll Exposed, a 4-part documentary series devoted to Bob Gruen's life & work, Monday at 11pm on Sky Arts 1 HD. 

BJORK, DAMON ALBARN & SNOOP DOGG IN MANCHESTER

The line-up for this year's Manchester International Festival is looking good. Bjork will do 6 shows at Campfield Market Hall, playing songs from her upcoming Biophalia album (which was partly composed on an iPad fyi). 

Damon Albarn will premiere his new opera, Doctor Dee, inspired by the life of 16th century scientist John Dee, at the Manchester Palace Theatre.

And finally Snoop Dogg will play a one-off show at the O2 Apollo, where he'll perform his seminal 1993 album Doggystyle in full. Click here for dates & further info.

KK 4 CHANEL

Check out Keira Knightley pouting her little socks off in this teaser for Chanel's new Coco Mademoiselle film, entitled Gabrielle. The full version will debut on 21 March on the Chanel website (& on here about 10mins later).

HOME-GROWN: TOMAS LEACH & CHEVROLET

Congratulations to our very own Tomas Leach on his excellent new ad for Chevrolet. The spot features American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car driver Jimmie Johnson (above, with Tomas), who recounts some of his most memorable moments behind the wheel of a Chevy. Below is the 50-second, director's cut version of the ad. Enjoy!

ADIDAS + JUSTICE

The new adidas ad features a 2-minute preview of French dance duo Justice's comeback single Civilization. The spot features celebs-a-plenty including Katy Perry, David Beckham, Snoop Dogg, B.O.B + many, many more. Good stuff.

ANGRY BOYS

Chris Lilley (he of Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes fame) is back with a new 12-part mockumentary entitled Angry Boys. The Sydney Morning Herald has an exclusive preview trailer, which you can view HERE. The series was filmed in Australia, the US and Japan during the course of 2010, and is a co-production between Aussie network ABC & US cable channel HBO, with pre-sale to the BBC in the UK. Cannae wait.