Certain people find it totally appalling that I would still drink tea out of Daniel Ash's cup, but whatever. I would also like to draw attention to the fact that the festival's PR people brazenly referred to L&R as 'shoegaze' in the blurb that runs next to this picture. I think this particular shot speaks more their well developed taste for absurdism than any maudlin tendancies or any affliation to that 'g word'. Those of us with a long memory will recall Ash's rather catty remarks on the dreaded label, which earned him a rebuke from Marc Almond.
Ian Sullivan Cant makes good zines. I have one next to me, Bela Lugosi Is Speaking, that is easily one of the more interesting zines I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. He also creates zines in Morse code. Quite frankly, I think that's brilliant. It's conceptual without being specious or pretencious; it's experiemental yet anchored by legitimate talent. Cant is a top-notch artist, as the examples on The Unkindess of Ravens blog demonstrate. Several of his pieces remind me strongly of Aubrey Beardsley, in particular the images posted on the 6th, 16th and 19th of May: the handling of the lines, the breathtaking sense of dynamic balance and the use of large areas of solid white or black. I think it's quite lovely and very fresh, not at all derivative. If I was in the mood I'd scan a few illustrations from Brian Reade's Aubrey Beardsley, but quite honestly I'm not in the mood. You'll just have to trust me.
-N. Votta
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