Japanese singer and rapper Daoko began her career at the age of fifteen by uploading her own music clips to the video platform Nico Nico Douga. She started writing and recording songs with her family's shared iMac in the living room, using the computer's GarageBand software and built-in microphone to record her voice. Daoko selected various free tracks, such as Vocaloid songs, from the Internet and tried to reshape them in her own style by following the melody and ly…

It's not really surprising that I have absolutely no idea what it's like to be a teenage girl. First, you have blood leaking from places that were obviously not made for it. Then suddenly your breasts grows cancerous, for years, at different rates. If that isn't some kind of pure nightmare I really don't know what is. And then you also sprout hair. On your legs, under your armpits, in your underpants. It's absolutely everywhere. Okay, boys have that problem too, but…

Today we are all fat and lazy and wrinkled, but back then... Oh, guys, I'll be happy to tell you. Back then we were all so full of energy, we were young, adventurous, outside all the time. At least when there was nothing on TV, the Super Nintendo didn't work or some girl decided to take a look at our so-called DVD collection. We jumped with our astral bodies into the lake, swung from one village party to the next, made out with each other in the cornfield in the moon…

I know absolutely nothing about Taiwan. Of its history, of its hardships, of its hopes. Some 25 million people live on the island in East Asia, whose republic was proclaimed on January 1, 1912, after the Xinhai Revolution on the Chinese mainland. Chih Hsien Chen is one of these roughly 25 million people. And I want to know more about him and his people. The artist studied at Tainan University of Technology, also known as Tainan Tech, in the south of the country. He h…

After I came across the magnificent photographs of Chih Hsien Chen from Taiwan some time ago, I now became aware of Bravo Ko, who not only lives in the same country and in the same city, but also acts in the same circle of friends. How great that is, such creative friends who do not presume anything on their skills, but simply immortalize their generation with powerful images. Whenever I publish such photo series on my blog, and this has been going on for years, then…

Of course, I can't always have what I want. That would be far too easy. My own happiness sometimes collides with the dreams and wishes of others. And it's not my place to harm them just because I have the questionable opinion that I absolutely have to be the main character in every single story that's told. Every once in a while, I have to admit to myself that I'm only a supporting character in a play and that the spotlight is on someone else. No matter how difficult…

When he was younger, artist Ben Evans, who goes by Ben is Right on the Internet, spent a lot of time in the smoked-up rooms of his stoner buddies and girlfriends. So it's no wonder that all this weed glorification made quite an impression on him, and he made weed the main component of his illustrations. Ben immortalizes in colorful pictures how the people around him smoke themselves to death, throw themselves on cornflakes, burgers, and coke after a skillful smoking…

The Second World War deprived many families of their livelihood. Among them were the grandparents of photographer Andrew Miksys, who fled Lithuania for the USA. Andrew didn't have much to do with his European roots, but that was about to change when he was given a box of old negatives from that lost time by his grandpa. Andrew flew to Lithuania, his homeland he had never known. He ended up at a small disco in an even smaller village. „It's weird showing up alon…

In the most unexpected situations, I meet people whose sheer existence fascinates me so much that I can hardly comprehend it. It's not like I'm overwhelmed with love, hate, or pity because the tentative affection I feel for the person on the other side doesn't fit into the emotional templates into which I've almost instinctively squeezed all previous encounters. It's not love because I'm not consumed by jealousy, desire, or grief. It's not hate because I finally feel…

Japanese music label Wack, part of J-pop giant Avex, is known for its quirky bands like BiSH, EMPiRE and Gang Parade. Founded by Junnosuke Watanabe in 2014, the company's mission is to give a platform to somewhat more experimental artists, but one that is trimmed for success despite their otherness. ASP is one of the newer bandwagons at Wack, which has had to reorient itself after the breakup of the exceptional formation BiSH and is now opening up to even more altern..