music

Following up on a story from late last week, apparently it wasn’t just bloggers and news outlets who found that the latest music video by singer Rihanna was remarkably similar to the work of photographer David LaChapelle. The famous shooter has now filed suit against the singer, her record labels, Island Def Jam and UMG Recordings, and the video’s director, Melina Matsoukas, claiming that his work was copied without his permission. Radar, who was the first to discuss the story with LaChapelle’s representatives, has received a copy of the lawsuit (pdf), which is particularly damning. Among other items, it’s surprising to read that “Prior to the hiring of Matsoukas, another well-known director was asked to create a LaChapelle-inspired music video for Rihanna and that director rejected the offer.” Our years of Law & Order watching makes us believe that it doesn’t get much more “willful intent” than that. Here’s an overview of the case from the NY Times:

The suit, which asks for at least $1 million in damages, argues that the video is “directly derived from and substantially similar to” photographs he has created and published that show, among other things, a dominatrix walking a chained man on a leash, a woman in latex headgear and another woman (Lady Gaga, to be precise) wearing only screaming headlines. In all, the suit claims, eight of Mr. LaChapelle’s images were used to create scenes in the video, which the suit calls a “willful, wanton and deliberate” infringement of his copyright protections.

Now that all the Justin Bieber outcry and Arcade Fire surprise talk has quieted down after Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, attention must be paid to things much more important, namely packaging design. In case you missed it, because the award hand off wasn’t televised and it didn’t arrive in an egg carried by a group of dancers, Brooklyn-based designer Michael Carney took home the Grammy win for best packaging for The Black Keys‘ album Brothers. Outside of the very dry and very funny case, which simply lays it all out by saying, “This is an album by The Black Keys. The name of this album is Brothers,” the thrill of the packaging came from the inside, featuring a disc printed with heat-sensitive ink that would change colors (like a Hypercolor shirt, if you were born before 1990). The LA Times has a short post-win interview with Carney, but for the real deal, we recommend reading Wes Flexner‘s great, lengthy interview with him for all the details. Here’s a bit about how the printing came to be:

I told one of the people at [the band's label] Nonesuch that I heard about color changing ink and I wanted to find out if we could source it and if we could do some test runs to find out how it works. She found a company that made it and I sent the art to a factory for mock ups. We got it back, thought it was insane so we used it. The funny thing is I didn’t really tell any one other than [band members] Pat and Dan that I used it, so when the final cds came back I got this crazy voice mail from the Black Keys management saying, “The cds are misprinted. What are we gonna do…?” He was freaked out and I called him and I was like take the cd, and hold it up to your forehead for a minute then look at it. He did it and then lost his mind when he saw the heat sensitive ink.

A big week for plagiarism allegations, apparently. First, there was our report on The Art Guys saying director Morgan Spurlock had stolen several of their ideas from a project they’d put together in the late 90s. Now the shift is a brewing controversy between a music video and a famous photographer. Found by way of ArtInfo (who were very kind to talk about our Art Guys/Spurlock story), the internet is still awash in talk that the music video for singer Rihanna, directed by Melina Matsoukas, has blatantly copied several of David LaChapelle‘s photos. Radar was one of the first to report the story, putting frames from the video next to scans of the photographer’s images for side-by-side comparisons of the sections allegedly borrowed. They also spoke to sources employed by LaChappelle who say they immediately began receiving questions about the production, despite being unaware of its existence until that point. Furthermore, though these are still anonymous sources at work, it was learned that the video’s director “had photographs from past Italian Vogue shoots by LaChapelle, ranging from 1995-2002 laying around the set of the music video shoot.” Some of the images do seem similar, though perhaps not nearly to the point of looking like outright copies. But who knows? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a music video director has gotten in trouble for lifting concepts from other sources.

Recession? What recession? Despite having some stumbles along the way last year, from being denied the option to build their own food kiosk to having their finances pried into by the newspaper, things are apparently going pretty well for the Guggenheim Foundation. Yesterday in Helsinki, the city’s mayor announced that they would be working with the Guggenheim in the hopes of installing a new Foundation museum (pdf). The commissioned study will reportedly take most of 2011 to complete, looking into “topics including the possible mission and structure of an innovative, multidisciplinary art museum in Finland” and “the form that its exhibition and education programs might take,” as well as other factors (including, of course, what sort of “economic impact” it will have for the Guggenheim). This new development, coming on the heels of the Foundation’s on-going construction in Abu Dhabi of another new museum (though that also hit a recent hurdle with the sudden departure of former director Thomas Krens), certainly makes it appear that the organization has weathered this economic storm of the last few years fairly well. Here’s a statement about the Helsinki proposition from the Guggenheim’s director, Richard Armstrong:

“Finnish people are reluctant to boast. So let me be the one to say that Finland is unquestionably poised for a greater role within the world’s cultural scene. Finland’s identity has always been defined to a remarkable degree by education, architecture and design, and its vigorous, sophisticated culture has made a mark internationally. But civic leaders, cultural observers and artists in Finland believe much more has become possible — and we wholeheartedly agree. For the Guggenheim, this study with Finland is a very compelling opportunity to continue our investigations into the possibilities of global interchange, to offer the expertise our network has acquired and to work with respected fellow museum professionals such as Helsinki’s representative to the initiative, Janne Gallen-Kallela-Siren.”

Certainly not a bad thing to have going on in advance of 2012, when Helsinki steps in and gets some more artist press when it serves as the World Design Capital for the year.

Art and design lover Kanye West, who when last we checked was “feeling fly like a G6,” recently offered his approximately 1.5 million Twitter followers a sneak preview (at right) of the proposed cover of his new album, for which he wrapped production on Sunday. Slated for release by Def Jam on November 22, West’s fifth studio album in six years is entitled My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and he called in a master of dark twisted fantasies—artist George Condo—to help with the album art. Alas, censors didn’t approve of Condo’s covorting beasties. “Yoooo they banned my album cover!!!!!” tweeted West, before posting a photo. “Banned in the USA!!! They don’t want me chilling on the couch with my phoenix!” A more demure Condo work appears on Def Jam’s site alongside the video trailer for West’s new single, “Runaway.” The frustrated artist proceeded to offer some historical perspective on album cover design (“In the 70s album covers had actual nudity… It’s so funny that people forget that… Everything has been so commercialized now”) and censorship (“In all honesty … I really don’t be thinking about Wal-Mart when I make my music or album covers #Kanyeshrug!”). He left his followers with an intriguing precedent to ponder: “So Nirvana can have a naked human being on they cover but I can’t have a PAINTING of a monster with no arms and a polka dot tail and wings.” Kanyeshrug, indeed.

Regular readers of UnBeige know that we can’t get enough of the cultural force that is David Byrne, whether he’s boosting biking, deepening the world’s understanding of Imelda Marcos to a disco beat, or transforming buildings into musical instruments. In the past month alone, he’s spent some quality time in Iceland, sued Florida governor Charlie Crist for illegal use of the Talking Heads tune “Road to Nowhere” in campaign ads, and mused on New Urbanism in Atlanta. We suggest you spend the next 16 minutes viewing Byrne’s newly posted TED talk (below) on the role of architecture in musical innovation.

Tune into NBC tonight to catch Devo, they of the pioneering New Wave sound and energy domed ziggurat hats, play a concert at the Olympic victory ceremony in Whistler, British Columbia. Yes, they’ll likely open with “Whip It,” but the Mark Mothersbaugh-fronted band will also debut new songs and a fresh look. Meanwhile, Devo realizes that the surest path to de-evolution is crowdsourcing, so they (with the help of Warner Brothers and ad agency Mother LA) are undertaking “a series of studies to help the band determine every decision it makes regarding its body covering, its brand color, its graphic icons, and even its choice of vocal style and instrumentation on any given song.” They’re determined to focus-group their way to the first new Devo album in 20 years. Click here to embark upon Devo’s Color Study in which you’re asked to weigh in on illustrated questions such as “What color is this neglected stepchild’s hair?” and “Which of these two men guards a horrible secret?” You’ll be rewarded with the knowledge of your Devo color.

(Photo: UnBeige)

Still looking for holiday gifts that the design-minded won’t jettison to the “To eBay” pile? We suggest stocking up on copies of the last Nabokov first edition, The Original of Laura (Knopf)—designed inside and out by Chip Kidd—and tucking inside each one some sort of voucher (be creative!) for the soon-to-be released debut album from Artbreak, Kidd’s New Wave-flavored whoopie pie of a band. For those proximal to New York (or up for a worthwhile road trip), we strongly suggest procuring tickets for Artbreak’s December 29 show at Dixon Place in Manhattan. In addition to a full set by Artbreak, the evening will include a visual presentation by guest cartoonists Dash Shaw, David Heatley, and Josh Neufeld. What, you’ve never been to a concert with guest cartoonists? All the more reason to buy tickets now. We’ve posted the video of Artbreak’s deliciously addictive “Asymmetrical Girl” below, as if you needed further enticement.

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The shape-shifting David Byrne is a man of many talents, from music and art (we recommend tracking down a copy of his 1999 tome Your Action World, which happens to have been designed by Stefan Sagmeister) to transforming buildings into giant instruments and boosting bicycling. One of the few performers who has drawn sell-out crowds at CBGB and Carnegie Hall, Byrne announced today the imminent CD release of Here Lies Love, his disco musical project involving both Fatboy Slim (Byrne’s partner on the project) and Imelda Marcos (the subject of the 22 songs sung by the likes of Byrne, Santigold, Nellie McKay, and Sharon Jones). The album drops on February 23 from Nonesuch, and in the meantime, Byrne is focusing his considerable energies on an even more personal project. “I have decided to rebrand myself, inspired by Philip Morris changing their name to Altria, Blackwater to Xe, and the train I’m riding on right now that calls itself Acela—none of which mean anything, but they are cleverly evocative,” he wrote in an e-mail sent this morning to friends and fans. “When I decide on the magic word, you’ll be the first to know.”

Previously on UnBeige: