We’re happy to present LESTAT, the new music project from our cohort, Ted Ullrich, who you may recognize as EC Design Co.’s head of product development & web development. Ted (keyboard) has teamed up with Sean Pheanis (vocals, beats) to create what they call “cyberpunk dance music”. They spent the majority of last weekend filming a music video next door to a Terry Richardson photoshoot, and we’ll be sure to have the finished edit for you as soon as it’s available. Find LESTAT in Williamsburg, where you’ll most likely be performing at your best friend from art school’s neighbor’s house parties all summer long.

Download: LESTAT - Scary Nights

The swiftly rising Manhattan group Cults entered the music scene in 2010, when they posted a three song EP online so their friends could hear the music they were making. But within a few weeks, the songs recorded just for friends had gathered the blogs attention, and even earned them a “Best New Music” title from Pitchfork Media. Now Cults, consisting of the couple/music duo Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion, have arrived with their first, full-length record, Cults. The duo achieves a unique, nostalgic sound, echoing pop songs from decades past. And the couple’s tinny, distant voices match the tone perfectly. The album, Abducted, releasing on June 7th, contains the song that got them recognized, Go Outside, and lovers of the first three tracks released will not be disappointed; the lo-fi, headbobbing tunes continue for the duration of the record. Enjoy Bad Things from the new record while you wait.

Download: Cults - Bad Things

Nike Sportswear x Steven Alan Air Zoom Toki

I’m loving the most recent collaboration between Nike Sportswear and New York-based designer Steven Alan. You can dress these sneakers up or wear them in casual situations without thinking twice. Alan’s signature “classic with a twist” aesthetic is applied to 4 classic silhouettes from the Nike archives; the Air Zoom Toki, Air Max Talache Low AC, Air Zoom Lava Dome, and Air Zoom Magma AC.

Alan’s process involved stripping each style down to its basic form, adding premium materials such as suede and canvas, and implementing functional details such as the Dynamic Fit ankle insert found on the Air Zoom Toki model. He finished the collection off by adding urban tones ranging from grey, black and white to caramel, dark cinder, and obsidian.

The Nike Sportswear x Steven Alan collection will be available at Steven Alan locations nationwide and at StevenAlan.com starting January 20, 2011.

I applaud Nike’s openness to allowing designers to redefine classic models in their own aesthetic. Maybe one day they’ll open the vault up to yours truly!

Check out the rest of the Nike Sportswear x Steven Alan collection after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

video by Joe Martinez

This video recently surfaced from my trip to NY last summer to cover World Basketball Festival. We were on a bus plowing through the streets of NY when we approached a block with 2 UPS trucks parked on both sides of the street. This didn’t daunt our bus driver as he fit through the available space. Inches, people! Inches…

Wine Shack is an upstart wine store located in Huntington, New York. EC took on this project a few month’s back as Ted Ullrich, our lead in NY, brought me on to work on the identity for this brand. Ted worked on an interactive wine-pairing system for the store itself along with other digital elements. Here’s a first look at the logo and business card. There are a lot of brand touchpoints to see and we’ll update as soon as we have more photo-documentation of the work.

photos by Joe Martinez

On day 2 of the World Basketball Festival events at Rucker Park, Kobe Bryant came out to teach during a Chainlink Fundamentals practice. Chainlink Fundamentals seeks to provide top-notch coaching to any and every kid that comes to their program. And most importantly, free of charge in comparison to other skill camps or clinics that may cost hundreds of dollars that inner-city families just don’t have. Students stopped in their tracks as Kobe made a guest appearance that they were not expecting. Kobe stuck around for the rest of the training session to provide instruction and encouragement to the kids.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Apollo Theater in Harlem was the venue of choice for the World Premiere of the AF1 documentary. Lot’s of industry names were in the building: Bobbito Garcia, DJ Clark Kent, and Datwon Thomas just to name a few. Read the rest of this entry »

photos by Joe Martinez

The Jordan Breakfast Club event kicked off 2 days of non-stop basketball events at NY’s most famous outdoor basketball court, Rucker Park. The guests of honor were Jordan Brand representatives Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and Carmelo Anthony, who were on hand to meet and greet the children from local communities. The children were given a chance to shoot hoops with them as well. It’s to be noted that the usual blacktop at Rucker Park was transformed into a hardwood basketball-ready court for World Basketball Festival. To the surprise of many, Michael Jordan made an appearance.
Read the rest of this entry »

After the USA Basketball scrimmage, attendees of the World Basketball Festival Kickoff event at Radio City Music Hall were treated to a surprise musical performance from one of NY’s most notable performers, Jay-Z. I delighted to see that he brought his full band with him. Despite only playing for 25 minutes, the performance was well executed and well rehearsed. Read the rest of this entry »

As part of this summer’s inaugural World Basketball Festival in NYC, Jay-Z has teamed up with Nike to design 5 pairs of “All Black Everything” Air Force 1’s to represent each of the 5 countries participating in the event - USA, China, France, Brazil, & Puerto Rico. Nike has donated the custom pairs for auction to benefit the Shawn Carter Scholarshop Foundation. Jay-Z owns a pair of each design, but now you can bid to be the only other person in the world to have these super limited Air Force 1’s. Bid Here!

Read the rest of this entry »