Matthias Düwel: Psychocandy

I love this guy's stuff- so much motion and colour. Random colour world, how can that be a bad thing? How, I ask you?

Matthias Düwel was born in Germany but currently resides in Arizona. Check out more of his stuff here.

Anders Oinonen's fingers do the talking

I knew I was onto something back in kindergarten- I should have stuck with my original idea, to become a famous finger painter. Anders Oinonen is a Toronto-based artist whose mysterious faces evoke dreamlike memories and associations.

meanders.ca

Wire

Wire were definitely one of the most interesting British bands to emerge from the late 70's punk/post-punk era. While they had much of the energy and anger of punk, their songs were also often very cerebral and abstract, with structures leaning in the direction of prog or art rock without the pretension. The songs were short and sharp and had very interesting architecture.



Unfortunately, and this is only my personal opinion, the only Wire albums worth owning are their first three: , Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154. After that some of the original members left the group and the subsequent music was quite different in many ways. However, those first 3 records are highly recommended and have definitely had a huge influence on many other musicians over the years.

Alex Lukas: Underwater Moonlight

These screen printed and painted images of cities under water are definitely creepy. But beautiful as well. Alex Lukas is a Philadelphia based artist.

alexlukas.com

Stereolab!

Definitely one of the more unique groups to emerge from the 1990's, London's Stereolab were made up of members from both England and France, and these cultural origins informed the music in a major way. Beautiful harmonies, often sung in French, cascade over swirling keyboards, guitars and horns, creating a timeless feeling of safety, fun and joy. It's a dreamy, luxurious world of art school drop outs and girls wearing sunglasses inside dimly lit bars, having fascinating conversations over strong dark coffee and cigarettes. A place I would like to visit.

Stereolab have put out a ton of records over the years, many of which I have not heard, but I would recommend any of their 1990's albums as a good place to start: Mars Audiac Quintet, Emporer Tomato Ketchup or Peng! are all great (they are also known for incredibly silly and surreal sounding album titles).

Renata Raksha

Renata is an LA based fashion photographer.

More at renataraksha.com.
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Jen Stark: Raving Mad

Jen Stark creates intricate whirlwinds of colourful fantasies by cutting and manipulating coloured paper. She is based in Miami Florida.

jenstark.com

Give it to the Soft Boys!

Robyn Hitchcock's original band, The Soft Boys were definitely in a class of their own in the late seventies/early eighties. Highly reminiscent of  Syd Barrett's absurd psychedelic style  infused with punk's new energy, their sound was nonetheless very distinctive and instantly likeable.

The Soft Boys released a pile of singles and 2 full LPs during this time period: A Can of Bees, which still had that raw punk edge, and the classic Underwater Moonlight, which really saw the band stretch into a formidable psychedelic pop outfit with a sound all of their own. Much of Robyn Hitchcock's solo material is also very good, but I have not heard the Soft Boys reunion album from 2002, Nextdoorland.

Monsieur Qui

Monsieur Qui is a prolific French street artist whose work is known well to those who walk the streets of Paris.

cargocollective.com/monsieurqui