It took them long enough (snirk snirk chuckle chuckle), but our buddies at Trovata just dropped their new website. As usual, you won’t find an online catalog, or even a recital of locations of where you can buy their clothes, but what you will find is pretty damn hot. This season they have ’seasoned up’ their website with a graphic novella that will explain to you all the story behind their Fall 06 theme ‘A Mountain Spelled M-U-R-D-E-R.’ As we’ve explained before, the guys at Trovata set each season’s line to a story, complete with fictional characters and — as is the case this season — murder mystery set in the Alps. Read through the thing for a taste of John, Jeff, Sam, and Josiah’s collective imagination — witty quips and sarcasm included. I also want to give props to Danny Newman over at Impulse Digital for doing a great job on the site construction. Best Trovata site yet.

We’ve always been a big fan of Naoto Fukazawa’s minimalist design, and his brand, in collaboration with Japanese toy maker Takara, Plusminuszero is one of our favorites. It’s now in its third (gorgeous) collection– but good luck finding these in the US. This time they’ve got a calculator, an air purifier, a series of clock radios and a 3rd revision of a previously released humidifier– which looks a lot more like a sculpture than health-electronics. Just beautiful! More information at MoCo Loco and more pictures after the jump.
READ MORE…

Until We Felt Red is the third and latest album from Kaki King, the pretty-faced, guitar demigod-ess we’ve come to know and love. Her last records, Legs To Make Us Longer and Everybody Loves You were both extraordinary acoustic records– fusing strums, taps, finger-picking madness and the occasional slap on the body of the guitar itself. This new record was produced by John McEntire (The Sea and Cake, Tortoise), and is nothing like what has come before for her. It’s deep, ethereal, loud, experimental, and downright good. She’s as good as finger picking as she is playing hard rock progressions. Kaki swaps her acoustic guitar for an electric, lap steel, and something rarely heard before: her voice. We caught up with Kaki after an amazing show last week– interview coming soon. In the mean time, grab this record, it’s great!

I have been wearing Patagonia gear for the past 25 years (it has been known to show up in my baby pictures). Growing up in a sub-zero alpine climate, I don’t think I really had a choice. You just wore what was warm. Patagonia has not traditionally been a go-to brand for the fashion-concsious because, traditionally, their designs sacrificed style for performance and environment-friendly production possibilities. But this has changed in the past few years. Although the folks at Patagonia will always err on the side of ‘function’ when it’s a close call (and I respect that), they have begun to realize that they don’t have to entirely sacrifice fashion for function. Case in point: the new Quilt Again Jacket ($120)–it’s naturally weather resistant because it is made of chlorine-free wool and fleece from scraps saved from the cutting-room floor. As with all Patagonia garments, it wicks moisture away from your body to mitigate that freezing sweat effect; its full zipper will help you ventilate as well. Patagonia garments are expensive, yes, but with their serious lifetime warranty, all it takes is one buy–long-term value is what we’re talking about here. I am seeing that their new designs pass fashion muster but are also classic enough to withstand fashion trend fluctuations (like a 3-button suit, if you will). The Quilt Again Jacket is a perfect example. Patagonia has always been (and will continue to be) my favorite ‘warm clothes’ brand, but I feel like I can now rock it on the street as well as on the slopes.

DigitalLife is coming up this week, October 12th-15th at the Javits Center in NYC. I’ve never been, but they claim it’s ‘the ultimate consumer technology, gaming and entertainment event of the year.’ In the past, tickets have been $15, but this year they’re offering free tickets if you redeem the source code “INSIDER” on the ticket page (where you can also print your own tickets). We’ll have a few NYC based contributors covering the event, so don’t worry if you can’t make it– we’ll bring you the best of the DigitalLife right here.