Self-Titled Mag Gives the Pen Back to the Artist

It's been several years since 'Devil In the Woods' printed its last issue, but the online offspring, 'Self-Titled,' has been thriving wonderfully in the developing Digital Age. The former always teetered along the line between "'zine" and "magazine" because its size was comparable to larger, more lucrative pubs but its style and content were much more authentic and varied in personality like that of the late '90s DIY culture.



Self-Titled publishes its issues online, but also includes a heaping assortment of interesting angles on new (and old/loved) music that is worth keeping up with on a daily basis. One of my favorites is its 2009 In Review feature, which has members of other projects discuss their favorite records. I was pleased to see Ben Frost as a discussion topic because 'By The Throat' is such an odd, odd, odd but intriguing album. It reminds me of Satanstornade. 'Throat' made its way on to Resident Advisor's top albums for 2009 as well.

Also, on a complete side-note, that DJ Sprinkles record, which is up at #1 on that same RA list, is fucking brilliant! Do yourself a favor and get a hold of it immediately. Especially if you are not familiar with house music and watch MTV's Jersey Shore...

Extra Love For the Ranking System

For no particular reason, despite having a hearty mix of RSS subscriptions, I realize I've fallen out of touch with a lot of music. This is why I just came off of a 48-hour Kraftwerk kick. And, of course, hanging out with Russ of soldoutmusic certainly reminded me of all of the music I should have heard. And it's also trying to get my freelancing outlets back in order. Regardless of the circumstances, I've been on top of my Pitchfork, Stereogum and Flavorwire/pill feeds as of late, and I can say there have been some incredibl pieces going up...what, with the year and the decade coming to a close.

Left and right, every blog and online magazine is publishing lists of top ten, fifty or one hundred albums, tracks or artists of the last decade, century or eternity. It's overwhelming and exciting, and out of many of the selections, I have to say that Flavorwire's recent rankings for The 50 Essential Women-In-Music Albums is superb. They've gone on to expand and offer more words on each record, but the entire list places Joni Mitchell at the top and The Gossip at, for lack of a better word, the bottom.

I'm just thrilled that my favorite album of all time made it to #31. I can live with that.

Art Basel Miami: Pharell Williams + Kirk Jon

Each December, Miami hosts Art Basel as a sister event to the original convention held in Basel, Switzerland. Artists from around the world and various points on the creative timeline are celebrated with their classic or modern works. And, of course there are always crazy-ass parties.

There are so many things that could be said about the event, but since I've never been I won't pretend to have an all-encompassing understanding of its greatness. There are, however, two things that came from it that are exceptionally intriguing.



For one, Pharrell Williams was recently featured in the New York Times' Magazine blog regarding his furniture pieces (and his adorable socks), which premiered this December. "Inspired by military tanks, Williams created an impressive collection of chairs for Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, which invited the 35-year-old polyhyphenate to bring his ideas to life."

Also, on the audible side, Kirk Jon contributed the latest podcast for Miami Dance Party, which features his live set from Fusion: Art Basel Edition. Including a few surprises (freestyle classics, anyone?), this live mix has a party vibe that could only exist in a place where winter never exists.