The Yellow Album 4 the Editor's Letter
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Volume 04 — Issue 03 Neighbourhood Life + Global Style Neighbourhood Going bananas Life Cracking up Style Heaven on earth Music Golden boy Culture Is tropical + The Photography Special The yellow album 4 The editor's letter Publisher and editor-in-chief At the time of writing this, hype-heroes-of-the-moment Odd Future Nicholas Lewis (full name Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) had apparently just ripped Brussels apart, setting the city’s La Chocolaterie venue Editor (an offshoot of VK) alight with its rough, rugged and raw rap, more Randa Wazen inclined to make you head-bang than head-nod. Led by oddball-in- chief Tyler, The Creator, the collective of rappers, producers, visual Designers artists and skaters from Inglewood, Los Angeles, had slowly been facetofacedesign climbing the hype charts over the last few months in what now seems + pleaseletmedesign like an all too familiar path to indie supremacy: rave reviews on Pitchfork, the set everyone talks about at SXSW and an appearance on Writers Late Night with Jimmy Fallon racking up the YouTube hits. Rozan Jongstra Rose Kelleher Something about the pack of skaters’ phenomenal rise really irked Nicholas Lewis me though. It wasn’t their output and talent, as both those were Jack Moyersoen unquestionable (the gang’s average age is 19 and they already have Philippe Pourhashemi over 12 full length-LPs to their name, all available as free downloads Sam Steverlynck on oddfuture.com). Rather, it was the industry-created hype that Robbert van Jaarsveld grated. Everyone from Benz Gomori (Data Transmission) to Ross Randa Wazen Allen (The Meltdown) was heavy-rotating Tyler’s Yonkers. Magazine covers (NME) started appearing with his cheeky grin blown up across Photographers/Illustrators them. And blogs were abuzz, literally. I knew it was only a question Ulrike Biets of time before we received a press release describing the band as "the Tine Claerhout next big thing" (true to form, the VK’s press release arrived a day later. Pierre de Belgique The term it used was "sensation"). Hype. It’s become so staged, so Joke De Wilde calculated and so immediate. Sarah Eechaut Veerle Frissen And that’s exactly the kind of hype we tried to distance ourselves Merel ‘t Hart from for this yellow album. Hype is good. Hype is a necessary evil. Melika Ngombe Heck, hype sells. But hype also ends careers too soon (Die Antwoord, Murielle Scherre anyone?). We tend to go for talent that we know aren’t one-hit-wonders, Yassin Serghini artists we pretty much are sure we’ll hear more of in the future. Truth Virassamy is, we might even go for bands that disappear or self-implode before the release of their first album, but whose music we still very much feel Intern passionate about (Stavin’ Chains springs to mind here). Kathy Boros (communication) Joke De Wilde (photography) Some of these you’ll find in our recently expanded Style section (Heaven Tanudirejda), some appear in our Music briefing (Ping Pong For subscriptions (5 issues) Tactics and Jealov), some get a little shine in our Photography Special Transfer € 21 (Belgium), (Arnaud Uyttenhove and Laure Flammarion) whilst others turn the € 30 (Europe) or € 45 (World) temperature up a notch in our Culture pages (photographer Tine to account n° 363-0257432-34 Claerhout). We’re not saying they’re "the next big thing", or that they’re IBAN BE 68 3630 2574 3234 likely to become household names just yet. We’re just saying we love BIC BBRUBEBB stating your full what they do and they deserve a mention, a page, a feature. name, email and postal addresses in the communication box. Nicholas Lewis Visit us thewordmagazine.be Like us facebook.com/ TheWordMagazine Follow us @TheWordMgz Download us thewordmagazine.be/ipad The Word is published five times a year by JamPublishing, 107 Rue Général Henry Straat 1040 Brussels Belgium. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without prior permission is strictly prohibited. All information correct up to the time of going to press. The publish- What did you expect ? ers cannot be held liable for any changes in On this cover this respect after this date. © Joke De Wilde Yellow man U T CAD_02_0051_Insertion_The word_V2.indd 1 04/05/11 12:50 What did you expect ? U T CAD_02_0051_Insertion_The word_V2.indd 1 04/05/11 12:50 6 The contents Neighbourhood STyLe The PhoTograPhy SPeciaL 21 40 65 Sixty years old and still smiling Stairway to Heaven Into the wild 22 48 68 Shave your style. Open door policy Here comes the hotstepper Polaroid perfect pages Life MuSic cuLTure “Circle, Spiral, Line – Spin the world!” Ronnie Abaldonado, 27, B-Boy 32 56 82 The grandaddy of clubbing Found: Teenage riot Tropical waves 34 58 86 Teenage giggles It takes a lot of beans to make a Chilly My trophy weighs a ton 38 62 90 The house of yellow Adam Goldberg Goodmorning sunshine Watch exclusive video footage of Ronnie and fi nd out how to shave, style & trim your statement of style with cruZer on braun.com cruZer BR-2976-1101-cruZerFace-Ronnie_v2.indd 1 28.04.11 17:49 Shave your style. “Circle, Spiral, Line – Spin the world!” Ronnie Abaldonado, 27, B-Boy Watch exclusive video footage of Ronnie and fi nd out how to shave, style & trim your statement of style with cruZer on braun.com cruZer BR-2976-1101-cruZerFace-Ronnie_v2.indd 1 28.04.11 17:49 8 The contributors It’s a Word’s world Laurent Dombrowicz Pierre de Belgique Sam Steverlynck Kathy Boros stylist graphic designer writer communications intern COFFEE CAN BE FUN Pages Pages Pages 48 — 55 30 28, 65 About About About About Born in Belgium, Laurent spent Pierre Rousteau (aka Pierre de Brussels-based art critic Following communications and the earlier parts of his career Belgique) is a young graphic Sam Steverlynck is a writer PR studies at Brussels’ IHECS, as fashion director for Belgian designer who gets a kick out who contributes to various where she penned a year-end magazine Weekend L’Express, of researching mediums and publications such as <h>ART, thesis addressing the crisis going on to become a stylist and forms, his work combining a Agenda, Art Review, art press engulfing the country’s free alter- working as a consultant with flurry of hand-drawn typefaces and DAMn. native press, Kathy backpacked some of the most cutting-edge inspired by early 20th century through Australia before coming fashion houses. His talent lies in musical scores together with an Task back to intern at The Word. spotting talent, and his current eclectic brew of textures. Sam took a break from openings obsession is Indian wonderkid and dinner parties to dive Task Manish Arora. He also currently Task into the mysterious world of From brainstorms to deadline- is fashion director for French We initially had commissioned hermits, reviewing Somewhere pressured fact-checking, Kathy magazine SO CHIC and contrib- Pierre to do a graphic study on to Disappear, a documentary on has for the most part been uting editor for Vogue Korea. uppers (see it here thewordmagazine.be photographer Alec Soth. He also lending us a hand in that all- /office/thestudyonuppers), then we profiled Paul McCarthy on the eve important side readers don’t Task remembered how much blonde of the opening of his latest solo always see (research, production, Asked to style this edition’s jokes crack us up and asked him if show in Brussels. marketing), as well as organising fashion story, Laurent brought he’d mind having a go at illustrat- our Brussels and Ghent launch his customary striking visual ing a couple through his very Quote parties. narrative to our pages, construct- singular style. He kindly obliged, “The idea to drop everything ing a flowing and flawless palette revisiting one of our all time and live in the wild is sometimes Quote of shapes, silhouettes and styles. favourites. very tempting. On the other “The good weather came out hand, being stuck in a little shed right on time. I simply couldn’t Quote Quote in the desert with snakes and imagine working on a yellow “I've challenged the yellow “I like bananas and lemons, but I lizards as sole companions is album without sunshine!” factor with black skin. I avoided prefer French fries.” probably way more boring than pastel shades of yellow to have a it sounds.” stronger statement. Go for bright pierredebelgique.fr or get out of here." laurentdombrowicz.com COFFEE IS NOT WWW.DOLCE-GUSTO.BE JUST BLACK S33012055 Annonce Coffee Fun Dolce Gusto Mai.indd 1 6/05/11 16:57 COFFEE CAN BE FUN COFFEE IS NOT WWW.DOLCE-GUSTO.BE JUST BLACK S33012055 Annonce Coffee Fun Dolce Gusto Mai.indd 1 6/05/11 16:57 10 The yellow board Exhibitions Arts Music Shows Parties 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 01. With a tagline that reads “Intimately documenting music”, ‘SUP Magazine has pretty much become our favourite publication ever since it was first introduced to us by Emmanuel from fashion boutique Mapp two years back. / 02. The Velvet Underground & Nico LP, or how a simple banana became one of the most iconic album artworks ever. Having Andy Warhol as a manager probably helped. / 03. Make sure you memorise these as, seeing the way things are going, they might not be around for much longer. / 04. The split 7-inch released by Dutch garage band Believo! and current musical crush Ping Pong Tactics (read about them on page 66) / 05. The key to Word HQ. / 06. Picking Yellow Label Tea would have made more sense, although it really is Twinnings' blend which fuels our day.