Docs Ireland 2021 starts this week with events all round the city. Included among the stellar line up of films is ‘EAST,’ a short directed by NIGHTSTAFF & produced by Timmy Stewart and Jordan McCuaig, ‘Roadrunner’ (the Anthony Bourdain documentary), ‘Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over,’ about the NYC No Wave icon and ‘Act of Union’ – a documentary film on the conflicting narratives of the Northern Ireland ‘troubles,’ consisting of newly filmed revelatory interviews, cut alongside archive footage.
SMYRL MIX
Friend and customer SMYRL runs the Belfast based CAST48 streaming platform which you can find here https://www.facebook.com/SMYRLBELFAST/
He steps up with an hour of peak-time dancefloor tastiness.
Tom Wood Men/Women
Irish-born Tom Wood photographed the people of his Liverpool neighbourhood for almost three decades up until the early 2000’s and Men/Women is a selection of his archives. He became so well known on the streets of Liverpool he was nicknamed the Photie Man.
Wood exhibited Men/Women at our Donegall Street neighbours, Belfast Exposed back in 2014. Whilst we missed his talk we caught the exhibition and were lucky enough to pick up one of the last signed copies of his book.
THE SALVAGES
We feel privileged to welcome The Salvages to Never Never. Founded by cultural entrepreneur and streetwear pioneer Earn Chen as a platform to sell his archival items from his extensive collection, it has since morphed into a brand of its’ own when partner and designer Nicolette Yip joined. You can really feel the authenticity with The Salvages, their reference points are executed perfectly – music and art from a lot of the same things that we are into too – the 3 tees that have just arrived, we have seen them all live in some form or another (if you count New Order for Joy Division – who we are too young to have seen). We were also big fans of Surrender (the store from afar and the label that he set up with James Lavelle of UNKLE and Mo Wax fame), one of our favourite tees from that era was the UNKLEFILM tee that they did (a LucasFilm rip with Futura artwork included). And if we go full circle, our store name even references an UNKLE album from that time.
The 3 tees that have just arrived utilise a reconstructed design and reference Radiohead/Talking Heads, Lou Reed/Ian Curtis, Televison/Joy Division and are made in Singapore using premium heavyweight cotton. One size fits most.
We have had bits and pieces from Vitsoe in our homes but Richie and I had always envisioned having 606 shelving in our store to utilise both serving customers and working from ourselves. If you look at Dieter Rams 10 principles of good design, I don’t think there is a product that he designed that encapsulates those principles better than his 606 shelving system. First introduced in 1960, its’ longevity, aesthetic appeal and modular style makes it perfect to use in any space. We can add when we need to (we already have!) and we can take it with us if we move (hopefully not!).
You only have to look as far as an iPhone to understand the influence of Dieter Rams and if you haven’t seen the documentary, you can watch the trailer below and buy/rent it on the usual places.
MARION HAWKES MIX
Ahead of the launch of @soundadvicebelfast in a few weeks, Marion steps up with a great selection for the next in our mix series. You can catch her tonight @ulstersportsclub for Pride ‘21 and @avafestival in September. Head over to NOW to listen. 🙏#marionhawkes #nevernevernow
NEVER NEVER | FRIEZE MIX 9 | JULY 2021
IS-NESS MUSIC – LOOKBOOK
Is-ness Music is a sub-label from Japanese brand Is-ness and they excellently execute the referencing of underground music culture on beautifully made oversize tees with great packaging.
Mid-weight cotton jersey, oversize crew neck tees, reverse seams on the sleeves and neck with prints on the chest.
Custom 12 inch record and mini cardboard ghettoblaster packaging.
THE VENDETTA SUITE – 80S B-SIDES & ODDBALLS VOL. III
Definitely one of our favourite releases of the past few years, the excellent ‘The Kempe Stone Portal’ by Irish artist The Vendetta Suite is out now and available on Italian imprint Hell Yeah Recordings and hasn’t been off our shop hifi. In the lead up to the release he recorded 3 volumes of his favourite 80s B-Sides & Oddball tracks, the first of which was put out by the good folk over at Plain Sailing (Belfast based & DJ’s party throwers). This is the third in the series (check our feed for Vol.II) and it’s the best of the very strong bunch in our opinion! Rarities from Sade, Prefab Sprout, Fun Boy Three/Bananarama, Thompson Twins and more… Thank you, Gary.
Antwan Horfee
Antwan Horfee is a Parisian artist whose artwork is featured on the superb Brain Dead SS21 Horfee Spiders Rayon Shirt.
His work is inspired with Avant-Garde movements and his love of underground comics and zines. Scroll through to check out his work from an exhibition in Paris last year.
