Woah, woah, woah, stop the presses... Am I the only person willing to call utter and absolute bullshit on Nike Blue Ribbon? What the hell is this shit? The White Label stuff has never been mind bending, but the idea is simple enough; classic apparel. What's the idea with this line? Insta-Kanye? The items are almost verbatim translations of outfits Kanye was wearing in Complex. Two years ago. And Kanye's not even wearing that shit anymore; he's wearing Bape and Vuitton and would probably call his mom crying if he found himself in a pair of $110 jeans. Generally, I don't get into criticizing a brand; if it's not for me it's for somebody else (usually dorks). However, in this case I am undeniably Nike's target demo (young male with disposable income who buys Nikes) yet the line has zero appeal to me. The pricing would indicate "moderately sophisticated consumer" but the actual items are fully generic... button down shirts? They've been the radiating chest pain of urban lines for about a year now... Faggy denim for straight guys? Well, let's just say it's been done. Sweaters? yeah dude, sweaters, great...

Basically, what's going on is that Nike has created an aspirational brand for the "urban" market and Niketalk types. Blue Label is a brand that's utterly conservative and at the same time more expensive, while having just enough cues in pricing and design to signify up-marketness from brands like LRG & Rocawear. Kind of sounds like a good idea right? Established loyalty, capitalization on the popularity of the Air Force One, and best of all the urban market is where it's at, right? Yes, maybe, and not at all respectively. The urban market is not hot these days, despite how many ads you seen in XXL; sales have leveled off, and brands are going to start folding fast and soon. So now is the time that Nike moves? Slow to market my brothers.

So is Nike going to lose money? No way, but these clothes fucking suck. Am I going to stop buying Nikes? No way, but these clothes really really fucking suck. Overall though, I think the main issue is that with all the totally free blog and message board coverage Nike is getting these days, not many people have pointed out how mind blowingly contrived and beyond weak this collection is. I mean this is the company who has worked with fashion contemporaries like Union, Supreme, Mita, Foot Patrol et al. And now this? What's next, Nike Christmas ornaments at Clientele?

• Ever go to a show, and once you get there look around and say "God. Everyone at this show is a dork." Those of us more attuned to deductive reasoning naturally second thought with "Oh wait, I'm at this show, therefore I'm a dork." You go get a scotch and Coke, look around for any hot chicks, and get over it; but it's always in the back of your mind, humping your cerebral cortex whilst smoking a joint. Needless to say, having spent the last two nights being entertained by nerd royalty, Kid 606 and Patton Oswalt, I've had the opportunity to consider dork self-realization. I gotta give Kid 606 proper respect though, he really brought 'em out; geeks that is. All 13 guys at the show were obviously staunch celibates. No lie, as soon as we rolled up we saw this dude walk in sporting a Nintendo Power Glove. Can't front on that. Oh wait, you totally can front on that.
  
  
  

Refinery29 drop a little science on the current NYC retail landscape, giving the details on a focused group of boutiques; Famous Friends, Opening Ceremony and DQM, among others. The site's choices and coverage skew more towards the high end/high minded/high price point side of things- you're more likely to see words like "cashmere" and "beautifully tailored" than "word, son" or "sweatshirt"; these boutiques are for professionals, not professional pot heads (well, except for maybe DQM). The featured shops are largely under the radar of most non-NYC folks, so it's a very dope thing for the shopkeepers seeing as how Soho can sometimes be like a mall meets a maze, especially if you're looking for something a bit less overt. A nice bit of strategy from the small boutiques, too.

• Dipsetmixtapes is reloaded, now with Cam'ron velvet black light poster. When I think black light poster, I usually think, like, a skull with a pot plant growing out from inside it, or maybe a wizard on the top of a dragon smoking a joint while they fly over a mountain, but not necessarily Killa Cam in full purple haze glory... still, pretty trippy. Dip Set is also sporting the Sirius logo on their site, look for the Byrd Gang on Dip Set radio. So that's three home runs by Sirius in the A Silent Flute realm; Howard Stern, Radio 1, and now Dip Set. Jesus, it's like they are inside my mind.

• Check out The Situationist, a gradually updated style snap shot compilation. Seems like these types of sites and galleries are picking up steam lately, and I am no doubt looking forward to more of 'em from more countries with more international tail.

• Ewww- I went on Niketalk. They had some of those blank shoe templates that are always fun to play with so it wasn't a total waste of time. I also got to find out what a 14 year old from Queens thinks about the Diamond SB, but I wasn't as excited about that.

• Japanese brand Sandanista did a little shoe collabo with Tas; pics at the Sandanista site under what else but "limited edition" in the 2005 summer section. (Catch Doobs)

• McGinley did Waters for Butt Magazine.

• What's wrong with the Google Images search results for The Lox? 2nd row, far right. Yo, what the fuck, yo.
  

Over on the main page I have a new interview; this time I talked with Steve K, owner/operator/drinker on the job-er of e-retail boutique Krudmart. Check it out if you've ever wondered what goes into the back end of your online purchases (no homo). Steve was pretty candid about his experiences with the shop, advertising, and competition, plus he didn't lie and say he was a coke head, which is cool. Also, Juelz Santana came up multiple times in the conversation, and although that's not really uncommon for myself, I can't speak for Steve.

• FluxBlog has silly over-produced remix MP3s from Avenue D and Fanny Pack, two electro-stupid rap groups I enjoy, but not when it sounds like "cheeky" Pete Tong UK house, as is the case with the two tracks provided.

• Anyone else notice how necessity seems to have invented a whole style/layout of t shirt graphic, wherein the bottom front hem acts as the bottom border of the image? I can think of about four or five designers that have used the technique to compensate for cropped source material; the latest to use the style being Staple, with their denominational presidents t shirt series. Seems like maybe the layout has gone from a functional thing to a design choice, as the style becomes more and more common. I can't really say I'm a fan of the layout though, it makes the t shirt more of a canvas and less of an item; a bit too overt for me.
  

• Kristen Forbes knows the orgasm ledge and does us guys a favor by giving the girls some pointers on how to fuck without falling. Cool with me.

• Are you serious with these Jordan flavored Shox NZs?

• Coming off last month's Femeninity in Modern Japanese Society artists series, Agnes B is supporting intense conceptualist Matthew Barney at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. The two are also producing some sort of t shirt which should be available worldwide in the coming months. Drawing Restraint 1-8 are showing at the 21st, along with the new Drawing Restraint 9, which features Bjork and Will Oldham. Oh yeah, and there's a 60% off sale going on at Agnes B; so if you don't know exactly what I'm talking about you can go there and buy a cute top.
  
  

(image via Spark Net)

The NY Times schools your parentals on "what up, what up" with all that t shirt noise. Luckily the spot wasn't blown too too hard; they covered mostly what you would call "cute" brands, but the photo accompanying the article features Star Electric (who I mentioned a while back) and Future Relic. The article also mentions the new school flower power of Mana Mizukuchi, which will be available at Zakka soon enough. If you can't log in to NYT, click for the story at AZ central.

• Peep game on a couple designs from the not to be slept on House 33's collabo with United Arrows. I can't put my finger on it, but who is the 50s/60s artists who did this detailed gross out style from the Daddy Roth/Juxtapoz/MAD Magazine school of illustration? Drawing such an incredible blank right now. 1, 2, 3, 4. A departure from United Arrows typical material?

• Yo- not only am I from Baltimore, but I also love Larry David remixes, so this is just perfect.

• And not only does Baltimore not suck, it especially doesn't suck when Spankrock and Kudu come to The Ottobar.

• Vintage Kicks has a gang of new samples to check out... sup with deez?
  
  

The Cropped Heads has little to do with any of your typical streetwear/sportswear brands, which is refreshing. More and more, having the usual suspects of streetwear flown in your face gets a little old; I'd much prefer to have a look at something new and different every once in a while, plus it's inevitable that new brands are going to overtake the current faves. Is Cropped Heads that brand? Probably not; what they're doing has been done, I wouldn't say to death, but It's a fairly established style. Is every piece by Cropped Heads a winner? No,you're likely to find a number of items that are not up your alley. Some shirts skim the top of the corny pool, coming dangerously close to Canal Street aloha shirts. To put it in perspective though, this is closer to, if not, the real deal. Are sycophantic doo doo heads likely to say "yo, son, dey is ripping of Evisu, yo"? Yep. Something tells me though that Evisu didn't invent cherry blossoms, fire works, dragons, fish, or skulls either; so you can chill with that train of thought. The Cropped Heads does Japanese tinted American standards, a trend which could never be labeled as emerging; nonetheless they cook up a broad range of gear to choose from, some hit, some miss.

• Kurdmart, whoops, Krudmart has the latest hits from Might Healthy.

• A round of applause for The Stencil's Caps and Jones for hitting the pages of Spin with their Moving In Stereo Mix.

• Patton Oswalt took a trip to the Louvre and met Dio. Funny guy, plus Dio, ahh, Dio... I used to love Dio so much in high school...
  

Got' damn. To get dressed all the way up, but still feel the need to have your shirt buttoned up only to your third rib so you can show some titty, is that something they teach at Parsons? Cuz I will start my own grant program to send every woman in the world there for a degree.

So obvs, I am super skeptical about new entries into the streetwear/sportswear market. However, new schooler Ark has managed to catch my eye on a few occasions. While it's probably too soon to come out labeling Ark as Bape-ish (the label is only in it's first season) the two brands, among others, do share a similar variations on a theme method, and favor the straightforward icon approach to graphics. Seems to me like the variety of colorways for the chunky sasquatch logo tee are sure to have the matchy matchy sneaker freak types doo doo-ing. Check out shots of the line courtesy of the LMAC Daddies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

And finally, if you like to read what I have to say, check out A Silent Flute's Drooghi interview. I got to talk about the blog, some streetwear and such, how much I like Daddy Yankee, and of course cock sauce. Eww, Nat that's gross.

• Yeah, I mean I guess the war in Iraq is pretty bad. We've all seen the tapes, photos, and death count- but there is a new war looming large in the east. A war which will change the political landscape for years to come, and potentially incur even higher casualty numbers than Operation Desert Doo Doo and Operation Dust In the Wind combined; I'm speaking of the horrors of the developing SNAP WARS- VOTE THE SNAP KING. The horror, the horror.

• Artoo , I went to Kansas City. Who wins? I did however teach my two year old cousin how to say, well, yell "Booger Sugar," which everyone loved, especially his parents. Eventually it progressed to "Woo Woo, Booger Sugar!" which I've found my self yelling a number of times.

• Die Gestalten Verlag is behind now downtown staple WK interact's newest work, Exterior Interior Act 2, a hardcover book that should drop domestically in a month or so . (Via Shift, yo)

• Woah, woah, hold on- what up with these Native American flavored Vans Sk8-Hi lux, comeplete with skeletal Indian chieftains on the tongue? Fire water, duh.
  

• IF from PSFK- one of the more relevant marketing pages I've come across in a long time. (Via The KDU)

• An esoteric style book for the outfit hounds.

Capturing the manic ADD fueled frame of mind that it takes to You Send It, Hollertron, Fire Fox and iTune all at the same time is a difficult thing to do, especially if you're not trying to. No way was Ivan Smagghe thinking about a thousand dorks staring at screens when he recorded his mix for Fabric23; Smagghe has played at some of the most nuts out clubs in all of Europe- and not just Fabric, but Bugged Out and Rex Club as well. I can only assume he was thinking more about the techno dancefloor and how awesome Fabric's soundsystem is, and less about me click-click-tapping while chugging slim-fasts for dinner. Paranoid acid squelching and militant tanzmusik for the club and the desk; perfection. Smagghe's is a name that has been floating around for a while now, so it's good to finally have something digital for posterity.

• Has anyone else checked out Whoo Kid's Hell Up In Hollywood? The last ten tracks are Tracy Morgan riffing on mad topics, laying down some Michael McDonald "I Keep Forgetting". Which Doobie do you be? Not to mention Kelly Osborne is on tape beefing with Paris Hilton on this one, and Pam is on there for oral support... Mixtapes is weird these days, eh?
  

• Came Crashing's bloody Mickey shirt.

• Mishka steps their pub game up with a surprise garment appearance on the new issue of Time Out New York.

• What's the messageboard nickname of these dunks going to be? Soul Asylums?

• Cop your Benny Barb at Evolve 214. The dudes also have a "killer" Slayer style Analog shirt.

• Muther (Gold and Fidling).
  

TC "Hold It Down"
TC feat. Hannah Collins "New Year"
Roni Size feat. Victor Duplaix "Pull Up"

We here in the states are fairly jaded about our pop RnB and clubby hip hop. It's like an all day, every day thing... 50 Cent, Beyonce, 24 sevs on the radio, yo. We also could give two shits about music being made anywhere else in the world. I mean, when was the last time something British was Top 40 in the states? "Sussudio", right? To Brits however, American RnB makes the revolutionary war, like, not such a big deal, maybe even worth it. You know why? Their RnB sucks. Dick. No seriously, ask Trevor Nelson. All American artists. However, the distinctly British genre of DnB is mixing in bits of american pop RnB and club ready hip hop for some more than worthy dancefloor killers. So far in 2005, Victor Duplaix did his best 50 Cent on the hook impression on "Pull Up", while TC cooked up a couple vocal numbers (male and female) released on Dillinja's Valve Records. Too bad DnB gives America a headache.

"What up, son" to all folks who came over from The Hundreds, thanks to Bobby for hooking it up like that. Quite a nice fellow, isn't he? For new readers, take it from the top at asilentflute.com for features & interviews, check them out when you get a minute.

By the way, I was going to mention this anyway, so it isn't total ass kissing, but how hard did The Huns take it to the next plateau with their Being Hunted Photo Shoot? Pretty hard. Definitely adds some depth and character to their line, which they may have been lacking, mostly due to the no bullshit/WYSIWYG nature of their graphics and the fact that they're one of these new school internet present brands. Excellent maneuver, get that brand equity, son.

Saskrotch has been on iPod blast for about 4 months now. Why? Because he took every great Nintendo song and did jungle remixes of them, doye. Download his album Nintendo Breakz Vol 1, and check out my interview with the 'Krotch.

• Drooghi and Mighty Healthy have collaborated on a t shirt, coming with some of that ol' British shit that's so so slept on. New York is great and all as far a rich history, and no dis to The Might Ones, but when it comes to back story, the UK has New York beat by a long shot, I don't care how many dead rappers you have.

• Oh yeah, here's that article on anal bleaching you were looking for. What? Oh yeah, no problem, you're welcome.

• A new Crack Messenger Service shirt. When are we going to get this stuff? It's awesome. No, not the shirts, a crack messenger service. Such a dope idea. I mean I always want crack, but never want to leave my apartment, you know? It sucks.

• If you're ever feeling shopy in Berlin, point your compass towards Quartier 206. Just don't touch nothing, or spill shit on the carpet.

• The Stencil provides a good overview of Scott McClellan's eating it in a press conference. Watch the whole thing here, or at least listen to it; McClellan isn't much for looks, but he is full of crap and the press corp makes him eat a turd taco. God, this is sooo awesome.
  

• Ali G is up to something in Brooklyn.

• Chop'N Roll has some of those Futura Nosferatu figures.

Arto Mwambe "Pink People"
Dusty dirty techno from Arto Mwambe. One of the better tracks in this italio-arpeggio fad that's been rolling around dance music for a year or two now. When it comes to this stuff it's really strictly details, and girl, you know Arto's got 'em; retarded guitar shredding, vocoder mumblings, a few stutter step drum rolls and washes of static all pitch in to take "Pink People" into "woah dude" territory.

HoneyBee82

Whenever I'm in Manhattan I like to hit up Around The World on Bryant Park in midtown for Japanese magazines. Last time I picked up the latest issues of Smart and Men's Non-No, men's style & fashion magazines you're probably familiar with if you have the attention span for this type of stuff. Men's Non-No was apparently on assignment in the states this time around, which was interesting; I wasn't aware that bummy looking white dudes were worth printing, but it seems so. It would be interesting to see what the copy says about these guys and their outfits, because I would really like a justification for their inclusion. For real, there are, like, 5 pages of guys who look really really homeless, and not in a cool or "rad" way. It gets worse when they get to the L.A. section, where every dude has on a scarf and bellbottoms with that terribly whack angular Bright Eyes hair cut. Yikes. Anyway, it's awesome how one man's "do" is another man's "don't". Of course, the other awesome part being that if these weren't pics of pedestrian white guys, I probably wouldn't have batted an eye, and that I am a white dude criticizing other white dudes basically for being white. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, A-Ron The Downtown Don is in Men's doing a Monday through Sunday outfit guide; probably the only time you will see the dude in a shirt and tie and/or pink slip ons.

Other highlights include:

- Ronald Reagan Socks
- 4 Pages devoted to Adolph Hitler, sandwiched between new sandals and hair care products- how appropriate
- Bruce Willis for Subaru
- The newest Nike Considered model, which is actually pretty rad
- Possibly crucial Batman Sneakers
- Bounty Hunter 2005 collection, which I didn't really dig, except one, which I thought was kind of appropriate
- Nigo with Omarion and Beyonce, rocking that retarded Sponge Bob medallion
- One Drop's "Welcome to Jamrock" t shirt
- Tons of other cool shit that I'm going to be posting for about the next month or so. Just kidding... No I'm not...



Levi's JP and Atmos have put their heads together for a run of collabo denim, with what I would call mixed results. Some, well, most of the treatments seem a bit over the top; really excessive lap distressing and somewhat contrived thigh to knee fading. Howevs, attention to detail in the form of green and purple stitching in the back pockets, some good wear and tear, and a number of models to choose from might make up for some of the, in my opinion, questionable choices. Also, Atmos isn't necessarily a hard core denim consumer type shop, so the designs might be perfect for the market, who knows.

• For some old school Levis, check out these Billboard images.

• To celebrate it's latest book 20 Years of Style, Paper Mag commissioned one off book jackets by various artists and companies. Contributors include flat top king Espo, cashmere pot head Lucien Pellat-Finet, dork Marc Ecko, and wierdos As Four, amongst others.

• Bond (whoops I almost wrote Bong) International has a hyper grip of what I believe to be current Alife jammies, none of which I am too too familiar with, so I don't know, check them out. I know they had a party with *Surface and Kangol a couple months back, but I hadn't seen the hats yet. As a headwear type dude, I say word to 'em. Maybe Federline Yo would be interested. Sorry, that link is quite stupid, but it's funny. Yo.

• Oneonenine is on the scene, strictly for design nerds. Run by a couple cats from Brooklyn who've done design work for Complex, Es, Zoo York and those types of brands, Oneonenine is filled with mad designs by Adobe hardcorists like The Sexerz, Grotesk etc. Once you start checking out the artists involved you'll probably have already seen about a million of their things and not even known it. You didn't even know how cool you are, what up with that, dork?

• I know I'm not the only person extremely chuffed to find out that the Air Force III is being re-released. And in a psuedo escape pack? It's better than my new favorite stripper, Lil' Baby, who I met down at the block this weekend. What up girl, get that money. Wait, I doubt she reads blogs much. Hip hop hooray for IIIs.

• Xavier Delcour's Fall '05 collection has a smattering of sportswear type items mixed in with mostly straight up menswear. Translation: a couple nice jackets, hoodies and things with zippers.

• Styles is showing two splattered pairs of Adidas as Real Mad Hectic collabos. I learned my lesson about making any assumption on characters I can't read- so caveat emptor, and all that jazz. Cop the low here. I'm pretty sure they're Real Mad Hectic collabos though...

• What's up with people reading A Silent Flute? It appears that Peter Stolz from Levi's likes to read The Flute. Weird. Who else reads me, Spice 1? Check out his interview with my coolies The Brilliance if you want to see what an insider type dude's take on denim is, and whether the man likes pizza or shrimp. I have some Levi's stuff for tomorrow, so check me out.

Baron "Operation Pipe Dream"
Brilliant new track from the best thing to happen to drum and bass since camouflage, Baron. Young Beezey carries the jungle torch of weed reference in song title, but without any reggae men on the track. Operation Pipe Dream, initiated by the always awesome Ashcroft, is an ongoing program to crack down on sellers of paraphernalia, including Tommy Chong. That's like, postmodern, innit? Rowdy time.

yet another mucho macho show coming to the Orchard Street Gallery at the end of next month. you should write it in your planner, totally/immediately, since MCA does those gnarly lil' (yeah, lil') dudes and Magmo gets his doodle on, no doubt.
Magmo.
MCA.

TOFER.

• DC City Paper weighs in on the Nike vs Dischord rift. The Q And Not U one is pretty funny...

JK5


Surface 2 Air


Cyril Mazard

Drum & Bass has pretty much ignored any semblance of fashionability or style, well, pretty much forever. There are some pretty classic press shots out there- lots of hair gel, bad sunglasses, Sergio... oh yeah and my favorite, Adam F in Tommy Hill rocking corn rows... holding a trumpet. Dude didn't even play the trumpet. But that was 1994, so let's just let it slide. Since then Diesel happened, producers started making bigger bucks, and the dudes are looking a bit more sharp.

So now that the days of "Junglist Movement" t shirts are over, the smarty art dudes over at Breakbeat Science have hooked up with some slick acts like Surface 2 Air, JK5, Kenzo Minami and others for their BBS and Forces of Nature lines. Word on the street is custom cut, enzyme washed, with a slim cutta cut. Is this the next Goldie rocking DC kicks? We shall see. Last time I went down to my d&b local, I was still scoping mad muddy UFOs and visors. Maybe Forces of Nature isn't for everyone.

• So, you may have heard, Pig Magazine is going to be broadcasting this weekend from Bread and Butter Barcelona, the European fashion trade show. In English, hopefully. Just kidding, guys! Seems like the broadcasts should be on point, since Pig generally picks the proper poop, and the list of exhibitors at BBB is Long Dong Silver Long (even Ellesse is going to be there), plus the BBB folks are on some Euro domination shit, which is awesome.

• Online radio seems to be the slick new marketing trick for cool mags, check out how Vice and Sony have teamed up for Vice Magazine Radio. Oh, you don't use Internet Explorer? Well then you can go right here. Aren't Vice readers supposed to be "trendsetters"? Three dots in a triangle, wouldn't the majority use Firefox? I mean shit guys, what the fuck is going on. Not like I actually wanted to listen to more Bloc Party though, so what the fuck ev...

• Ever seen the video for Kraftwerk "The Robot"? No? You should really check it out...

Comme Des Garcon


Junya Watanabe

Writing about fashion usually falls somewhere between inconsequential and straight up vapid... These guys could just write "yo, check it out" and it would be just as, if not more, effective. I mean, it's The Stones logo, we get it. Anyway. Y0, check it out.

• Can everyone just pump the brakes a bit on the Wu/Ghostface lyric shirts? Unless you can come correct with a "Scooby Snack Jurassic Plastic Ass Boobie Trap" shirt, hang it up, you know?

• Party pics from Independance Day. I was actually there this time- fun stuff. Yo, what was in the goodie bags, anyway? The party had, like, a million sponsors and one toilet for all of them to pee pee in.

• Nookie mix is up at DOA for the junglist massive, or whatever MC GQ would call you guys.

• Word 'em up to this Jamie Lidell stuff @ Collective.

• Common-Hamburg has a fairly thorough links page, myself included.