Ok so it’s another jumbo out-pouring, half inspired by the dense December/January I had, half ‘grateful repenting’ after my neglected website got HACKED! Soooooo gross lol. But we’re back, take a deep breath, cos Lawd knows I’ve taken a few of those since I last quasi-mused.

After Melbourne I went straight to Europe for a ridiculously good festive season in Dublin with family, such a cool city. Above are some wise words that my local friend Oscar Wilde said which I basically read as ‘if you roll deep you’ll get trolled deep’. I was quite inspired. Here we are together chilling in the park.

I also have the privilige to be friends with an amazing group of Portuguese artists, A.M.O.R, Markur aka Photonz and Shcuro – who I got to catch up with in the beautifully golden-lit Lisbon City!

In my brief stay there I survived a hilarious, spontaneous 14 hour mixtape studio marathon! Drawn together by our mutual obsession for The Neptunes (and li’l frenchies) behold and click to download our latest mixtape! It’s awesome.

I rounded off my Europe Express with a surreal stint in far-too-sexy France! Chilled with my cousin in Oyannax, a tiny French city in between Italy and Switzerland. Then he took me to St Claude which, get this, is the official home of the PIPE and the CUT DIAMOND! Garish stoners need to get grateful to this fly little region. Proof it rulz?Here’s the city centre, try packing that at a barbecue G.

Following this tripette I went to St Erme, a little place outside of Paris where I did a micro art-residency in an ex-convent/chapel for a few days. Blew my miiiiind. I was greeted by two pet peacocks and two of the lovely artists who helped me choose a gigantic room in a gigantic wing… actually sometimes pictures speak louder then words. This is where I lived Da Vinci Loca and literally large:

The PAF residency was a great place for a creative regroup and also check out other peoples buzzes from all over Europe. A project I loved getting swept up in was what I can only roughly describe as a melodic primal scream choir. Midnight concerts were taking place at PAF and broadcast on the local radio station and I was a part of it for 3 nights. Harmonic frequency feeding off others, it really shook up my chakras, cleared my mind and got my vocal vibes on some emotional shit I swear. Great food, sweet people – check out PAF radio site when you get the chance.

The trip had it’s wacky moments too, complete with Irish pick-pockets, getting my Paris train within 8 seconds of the door slamming, Subeena cooking me a stop-over dinner in London, and yes…getting stranded in Thailand for 3 days but, one love lol. When you also get upgraded to first class for the first time in your life and somehow drink Pepsi in the cockpit with the pilots then you know life is a comedy of contrasts.

Coming home was obviously a few days of bone-rattling sleep psychosis but then back into it! This week I went to Fresh Gallery Otara to see the launch of this amazing new and close-to-my-heart magazine, SOUTH. Mean art, photography, essays with a non-snob twist and it’s FREE if you can find it. Plus I’ve got a cheeky interview with Parris Goebel from the infamous and international dance-crew ReQuest in there.

Also this January the comic-strip ‘Hook Ups’ that I write went to the next level B! Going beyond the 2D world, Kowhai and Monty released a fictional single, had a post-modern interview and even made the cover of Volume Magazine!

Hej Ganias was responsible for this illustrative gem and now we get onto our next illustrator Mitch Marks this week, my renaissance sister in arms who also runs comic/record store Wooly Bully in Melbourne. This year we have a stack of drawing talent all having a go interpreting these misfit siblings, so I’m def excited to see how that goes.

Ok, on the music front – I’m moving to Wellington soon for my academic interlude soon but not before….
A TURBO BADD ENERGY NATIONWIDE TOUR! Oh yeah! Haha.

From Ak to Dunedin – check out our page for dates. Need convincing?

Thank director Jason Lei Howden for this one, Jason also did Third Eye, basically he is AWESOME. We are in the final phases of release prep and Underwater Pyramids is gonna drop on Flying Nun this year. I’m so excited, it’s been such a cool project to see take shape. Sincere statement not hype-building I swear lol.

If you’re an ‘Architecture’ fan you’ll be pleased to know I am also back in the lab starting the slow-burn but initial rumbles of my LP with it’s producer Tim ‘Jizmatron’ Checkley!…. no clues yet, but I think there will be an apocalypse this 2012 whether the world ends or not! (Ok ok, I admit I WAS hype-building that time).

Also Permanent Vacation have just put out the Parallel Dance Ensemble remixes!

You can buy both the O.G and the remixes together here
Features:
A1 Shopping Cart (Spectacle’s Spectacular Remix)
A2 Occupied (Maxmillion Dunbar Remix)
B1 Occupied (Salax Peep Show Remix)
B2 Shopping Cart (Maxxi Soundsystem Remix)

Art-wise, just put out this superfun collab with one of my fav creative partners/photgraphers, Milana Radojcic. This shoot was also co-styled by Natalie Ella Henderson who is a deadly make-up artist I met last year. Milana’s vision was obviously a Queen of Cards shout-out while also gently handling the battle I have with my unofficially schizophrenic fractals haha. Both these ladies are sick talented and we had a camp night channeling everything from regal aunties of mine to Disney villians! Click to see more:

Ok think that’s it, obviously there is lots to do and see and make this year am I right… it’s the year of the dragon B! Vibe for 2012 so far: loving the work, loving my life and loving all the crazy humans I somehow get to jam into it – see youz in a bit
xx

ALOHA!
Been ages. Updates!
I am in Melbourne staying with some homies and basically eating like its my job. The night I arrived it was the eclipse and a Mars retrograde was lifted so I managed to eat, dance and DJ for over 9 hours of spontaneous raging. Fresh from the train station I went with my besty, the cerebrally wild as hell Crystal Diamond to this, which was unspeakably bomb in a park stacked with cute Columbians and Vietnamese coffee.

Hopefully tomorrow I can go see my friend Mitch and her new record, comic and coffee shop Wolly Bully while I’m in town. This week I am leaving for Dublin to spend Xmas with my big sis – yssss. Goin to take a tripette or two all around, including heading to Lisbon to rap/rest with the Portuguese girls from badass duo AMOR.

I’m happy to be having such a cool breather because to be real with youz I been grinding and getting ground down these last few months. It’s been busy and lots of music has been happening. Hoah! Something I realised I hadn’t written about was Badd Energy!

Badd Energy is me and my superawesome buddies Samuel, Trixie and Jerry. Despite our name this project has bought so many good punk vibes into my life and our upcoming record is gonna be out on Flying Nun in Feb 2012, I can’t believe it. We’ve played heeeeeaps this spring and I’m really proud of us. Here’s a pic my fav NZ photographer Milana Radojcic took of us. We usually look more irie than hypnotic.

The comic strip Hook Ups I do for Volume Magazine has been illustrated by Hegel Ganias for the last month who has been killing it! Soon you’ll be able to hear the imaginary duo in an interview and sample some of their music but like the 8 Ball says, better not tell you now.

Which leads me to some turbo news: I got accepted into a Masters writing programme at Victoria University for next year. I’ll be studying at The Institute of Modern Letters which between you and me is a nerdy dream come true and something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I’m so excited. Here is the view from the writers workroom. (Yes, this pretty pic is the extent of my academic preparation and yes my brain is probably gonna get a hiding I know)

Being in Wellington means I can be closer to my Masterton soul brothers Riki and Paul who are the genius duo behind a label project called RUBBISH DAY. Check their shit out, it could save your steez’s life. This jacket already has a fan in the Suicidal Tendencies/Flying Lotus comrade Thundercat, for obvious reasons.

On the whanau front this is my younger sister Kyla who gave an amazing Pecha Kucha talk at (my favorite gallery of all time) Fresh Gallery Otara at the South Auckland Arts Festival, speaking about her work as an educator! Such an inspiration.

Pecha Kucha Night Auckland #28 // Kyla Hansell from PKN_Auckland on Vimeo.

What else….if you didn’t get Pacific Rims, I have my first solo project in four years lined up for 2012. It’s all over my pages but this is the video for ‘Architecture’ directed by Liam Bachler which gives you an idea of the super-intense directions me and producer Tim ‘Jizmatron’ Checkley might be headed in (but who knows, we don’t lol). This track and vid are obviously pretty new to me…. British accents and lean models might give that away lol. It’s been an outavit thing to be a part of, major kudos to the team.

Ok guys thats us.
I came back from Korea exactly a year today and this is just SOME of the cool stuff and music that went down lol. Shout out to my friend Kelly for hooking me up with cheap flights this summer and being awesome! Hi to my Balmoral fam including the staff at Barilla Dumplings, Lisa for being an amazing creative and hui tag-teamer this year and my manager Carthew for all his mind-blowing hard work.

I’m talking like this cos Xmas thus my inevitable flake-out is approaching and 2011 is looking like it’ll go down as one of the cool ones. I’ll leave you with my FAV JAM right now – one love.

Thanks to Serentonin for the pix, we all had a blast at the Southside Social hosted by Fresh Gallery, Otara last night. Deadly people and as it turns out, deadly keg beers!

Obsessed with Dr Manhattan’s monologues on Mars right now, especially from the epic animated comic; this was my fav part. Major plot twist ahead so don’t watch it as your introduction to Watchmen, you’d be majorly ripping yourself off B.

Ok look, I’ve always been Garfield 4 life but the 1989 collection ‘Garfield Fantasies’ recently rocketed its way to in my Top 10 animated movies of all-time (along with ‘Tales from Earthsea’ but that’s a WHOLE other conversation). Why? Uh cos Lou Rawls does the soundtrack. Cos the gags are basically Cat Your Enthusiasm. Cos the G moves from genuine film noir thriller as Sam Spayed, to reliving 9 tripped out lives. He recounts his sluggish time as a Pharaoh to outer-space cyborg.
★★★★★

His obvious abundance aside, it is the outfit that I love!