In a whirlwind of talent and pure luck, musician Daniel Ingala and his new band Plushgun, have been riding the wave of success since posting the single “Just Impolite” on MySpace. A few hundred thousand plays later, Ingala posted the song on Ourstage.com, a venue for fans to discover new music. It quickly hit the #1 spot on the Alternative Rock channel in January 2008. A strangely funny and sometimes awkward video has since been produced, featuring Rainn Wilson (The Office) and director Tyler Shields wrestling. Plushgun’s music is full of synths with a middle to high BPM’s; very danceable and easy to dive into. It requires little ramp up and is super casual if you are looking for just something to listen to while getting ready to go out. If you are looking for a tool to help you reflect, Plushgun’s music can help with that too, providing (surprisingly) deep lyrics and themes. Look for the album to drop January 2009. In the meantime, you can get a taste for their music via the 4 song EP, released a few weeks ago.

L.A.-based artist and interactive art director Yoffy has previously astonished us with his refreshingly clean and colorful pop art images. His paintings of cultural icons such as the Olsen Twins and vibrant nature-ish sculptures have a stylishly sleek neatness to them that add an air of sophistication to any surrounding. Yoffy brings that same sense of suaveness to his brand new site, providing an immaculate interface to navigate through the wonder of his creations and even access his blog or take a gander at his giant tape ball. It’s a beautiful site, and well worth the visit.

Aardman Animations‘ Wallace and Gromit have been recruited as spokesmodels for a series of advertisements for luxury lifestyle store Harvey Nichols. Some of the designer clothes featured in the posters and magazine ads include an Alexander McQueen suit, a Dolce & Gabbana shirt, a Giorgio Armani tie, a Paul Smith scarf and Ray-Ban wayfarers. Nick Park, the Oscar-winning duo’s creator, quipped that “Wallace isn’t exactly known for his street-wise fashion sense; he usually shops at Tank-Top Man.” Harvey Nichols chose the pair as the faces of a new store they are opening in Bristol, where Wallace and Gromit were created.

This, of course, isn’t the first time that cartoon characters and toys have decked out in fashion store finery. Back in 2005, Kidrobot produced a set of Huck Gee’s Skullhead figures exclusively for Barneys. The 12-inch designer toys were outfitted in a collection of threads by Marc Jacobs, Jil Sander, Dries Van Noten, Rick Owens Lab and Duckie Brown. Someone send a memo to Tyra Banks for a new reality show starring toys…

Perhaps we owe it to the age of connectivity or a new generation that are working hard to get the world to notice, but we are starting to hear about obscure fashion and design brands from China. Companies like Warrior have enjoyed years of success in China with relatively no exposure outside of the country. A brand revival project titled Project Re:born is hoping to change all that. The current focus of the project is an old brand called Huili, and the limited edition collection includes a pair of kicks sporting a Chinese colorway, a toy figurine, coffee-table book and a retro blue tracksuit. All the pieces look great and capitalize on the current hot trends. We’re excited to see what else they have in store!

I love helicopters. The smooth ride, incredible view from the windows, the chopping of air sound. Lifting off into thin air, effortlessly. And I can’t wait to try this $29 Black Stealth 3-Channel R/C Helicopter someone in the office just ordered. The 3 channel remote gives you control of up, down, right, left, forward and backward– more than enough flexibility to do office fly-overs and torment the interns.

Via Zoomdoggle

Bounty Hunter is one of the original brands credited with kicking off the designer toy movement back in 1996; although originally used as promotions for their streetwear fashions, the toys became an overnight success causing crowds to gather for blocks outside the Tokyo-based boutique on release days. After the figures sold out, they could be found for several times the purchase price on the aftermarket, setting the model for designer toys to come. While Bounty Hunter has continued to collaborate with such artists as KAWS and James Jarvis, it’s been some time since they released an original BxH figure. On September 6th, Bounty Hunter drops the eagerly anticipated Kumaru-Kun. It will be available at BxH dealers for what is likely to be a very brief moment.

Graphic Design is most often used in support of relaying the importance of or attracting people to take notice on a particular subject, but there certain instances when design stands alone, free to be just what it is. Art. The Complément d’objet indirect exhibition presented by Designed in Brussels and featuring the works of six recent graphic designer graduates of Belgium’s Echole De Recherche Graphique, trumpets those rare instances where the graphic object’s relation to it’s surroundings is brought to the forefront instead of focusing on a purposeful functionality. If you find yourself in Brussels on September 13th, we recommend swinging by the opening of this fascinating display.