…well sorta, but not really. It seems that Phoenix has a bit of a sense of humor as they load up a background of the Eiffel Tower in Paris from, what I’m guessing, is a Mac and perform their single “1901″ acoustically. Their album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is available in stores now, and I have to say is one of my favorite albums released so far this year.

Doucin Pierre aka Soemone hollered at us yesterday, albeit in French (I was able to loosely translate), to let us know that he’s updated his 2009 portfolio. Dunno who this cat is? He’s a Parisian freelance graphic designer with a long history of graffiti as his background. You may not 100% recognize his name, you will recognize some of his artwork, in particular the Kanye West piece that he worked on. Check out a portion of his portfolio below and then head on over to his site www.soemone.com.

French electro group Make The Girl Dance has just released their video for their first single “Baby, Baby, Baby”. Think Matt & Kim, nudity in the streets, instead replace New York City as the back drop with Paris. Watching peoples reactions to the three girls swapping out is pretty funny.

www.myspace.com/makethegirldance

As you’ve all heard by now, Amy Winehouse is officially out for Coachella, no big deal honestly in my opinion. But who has been added is even more amazing, Etienne de Crecy. You may find yourself asking, who?, not to fret, there are a lot of people who aren’t aware of Etienne de Crecy, but their music is amazing, but what’s even MORE amazing is their live shows. They. Are. Fucking. Bananas. Treat yourself to the visual delight below. This video was taken at a concert they did in Paris at the La Défense, Espace Grande Arche, which is a pretty cool area in itself.

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The Kimono got a facelift at the Paris Women’s Ready-to-Wear Fall 2009.  Hiroko Koshino’s attraction to traditional Japanese culture can readily be seen in the designs of her Fall 2009 line. She nips, tucks, crops, and completely modernizes the kimono for everyday use when it has typically been considered formal wear for ceremonial occasions.  Houndstooth Kimono? Amazing. A Kimono inspired jacket and skirt combo with fitted, above the knee, hooker-inspired boots? Hot. I think it would have been hotter if Koshino cropped the skirt by 3 inches. More leg to balance the bulky sleeves. Hot. But she’s the designer, not me, so what would I know.

Koshino also has various pieces that aren’t kimono-like, but borrow kimono elements like the big belts, the volume, and as seen below, a soft Kimono fabric turned into an empire cut cocktail dress. Contrasting the soft, feminine lines of one dress, is the bright colours and curvaceous modern cut of another dress.

Given the pretty exquisite pieces above, I’m not sure what to think of the following dress. Symmetrically intriguing yes, but it looks like she used her bedspread to make this dress.

Here’s a new up and comer and to be quite frank I’m not sure why I even listened to Alexandra Hopes songs, but I did and I’m glad I did. Her style is defined as “alternative, rock, minimalist gothic folk”, but all I know is her voice is wonderfully beautiful. I had a chance to preview her whole album and think its great, something I could definitely sit down and get into.

So who is Alexandra Hope? She was born in Minnesota, spent some time in Paris and now from what I can tell resides in New York. Her debut album, Invisible Sunday, contains 9 tracks and was recorded in just 3 days! Who I would compare her to? I’d have to say Liz Phair and PJ Harvey, both of whom I loved back in the day. Available for download and listening is her first single “Whatever You Want” and “Invisible Sunday”.

To download right-click and save as. For Mac users hit “Control+click”.

Alexandra Hope “Whatever You Want”

Alexandra Hope “Invisible Sunday”

For more info visit her MySpace page at www.myspace.com/alexandrahopemusic.

Thanks to the internets, I discovered Friendly Fires through an Aeroplane remix of “Paris”.  Being lazy or selfish or both, I opted out of sharing the boys of Friendly Fires covering Lykke Li’s “I’m Good, I’m Gone on Killahbeez.  But this video directed by Clemens Habicht is shear genius!  The visuals are amazing for only using an infinite number of bean bag balls, double side tape and a fan.  Have a look.

Source: Vimeo

Here’s a dope 2009 calendar that was shot by Terry Richardson for Vogue Paris. The style of the photos are definitely a bit different then what fans of Richardson, myself included, are use to, but none the less this calendar still looks hot. This calendar will officially be available via the December / January issue of Vogue Paris, so be sure to pick this up from your specialty magazine / book store. Click on the images below to see a larger version. Shout out to my boy Calvin out in Hong Kong for making me take notice of these.

Images: Vogue Paris

I was initially introduced to Surface to Air via a friend in Montreal that brought me down to Reborn some time ago. Since then I’ve made a point to stop at Odin when I make it out to NYC, IE here in Vancouver and Nomad in Toronto to get my fix in terms of gear. (Note: you can now also find it in select Barney’s stores if boutique-type stores are not carrying it in your neck of the woods).

Many of you may already be very familiar with Surface to Air’s garments and accessories – which in my personal opinion, rival and perhaps even blatantly surpass the large majority of more recognized designers in originality and execution. However, their creativity spans far beyond fashion and reaches into several other aspects of design including but not exclusive to: graphic design, art direction, video direction, interior design – and the list keeps going.

Working with everyone from Coca-Cola to Chromeo, I thought it might be a good idea to throw up this video that Adidas put together when Surface to Air designed a high top sneaker during the Adicolor campaign back in 2006. The video is well directed and gives you glimpse into a few of the creative minds behind brand.

I highly recommend spending a few minutes exploring the Surface to Air NYC website for a few more surprise collaborations you may not have known about. As well, hitting the Paris website is worth it just to see photos of the Paris store…amazing – Links Below

Surface to Air NYC

Surface to Air Paris