Clint Groom from AE featured in Nylon Guys

Clint Groom, Senior Director of men's woven and denim, is featured in the September 2011 issue of Nylon Guys. In the interview, Clint defines AE's denim for men this fall as "cool" and "masculine," emphasizing darker washes and more lightweight fabrics. Clint goes on to discuss how AE uses techniques like sand-washing, grinding, tacking, and binding to give our jeans the party ready look. To read the full interview, head to your nearest newsstand or bookstore and look for Nylon Guys with Paul Rudd on the cover.

Video Wednesday: Toro Y Moi

For Toro Y Moi's Chaz Bundick, 2011 has seen the release of his acclaimed sophomore album, Underneath the Pine, remix work for Tyler, the Creator, and Cut Copy, a split 7" with Cloud Nothings, and a steady stream of international tour dates which continues this Fall with another full run of North American tour dates, most of which will feature the excellent Unknown Mortal Orchestra as openers.

The "How I Know" video, directed by Jordan Kim is the third official video from Underneath The Pine, following "Still Sound" and "New Beat" and features two crafty female ghosts who get creative in helping three newfound male intruders into their home cross over to the other side.

Check it out here:



Tour Dates:

08/12 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands
08/13 Irvine, CA - Pacific Festival OC
08/27 Brooklyn, NY - Commodore Barry Park / Afropunk Fest
09/04 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot
09/09 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club #
09/10 Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Fest / Lincoln Theatre
09/11 Washington, DC - Black Cat #
09/12 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #
09/14 New York, NY - Webster Hall #
09/16 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club #
09/17 Montreal, PQ - Le National #
09/18 Toronto, ONT - Opera House #
09/19 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre #
09/20 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop #
09/22 Champain, IL - Pygmalion Music Festival #
09/23 Cincinnati, OH - Midpoint Music Festival #
09/25 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock #
09/29 Vancouver, BC - Venue
09/30 Portland, OR - Branx
10/03 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theater #
10/06 El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace #
10/07 Dallas, TX - Club Dada #
10/08 Austin, TX - Mohawk #
10/09 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's #
10/10 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks #
10/11 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder #
10/13 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree #
10/14 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade #
10/28 Asheville, NC - Moog Fest

# = w/ Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Interview with Ann Shoket, Editor-in-Chief, Seventeen

Seventeen magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Ann Shoket, will be doing a book signing in our Times Square store on Tuesday, August 9th from 12:30pm-2:30pm. Ann's book, Seventeen Ultimate Guide to Style: How to Find YourPerfect Look, offers style advice from every girl’s favorite magazine. The book features contributions from editors, Hollywood stylists, celebrity fashion icons, and real-world girls. The book is indispensable for young fashionistas everywhere, and if you're in New York City, you can get it signed! You’ll also get the opportunity to meet special guest Ashley Benson, star of Pretty Little Liars and Seventeen’s September cover star. Get the book; get some hot fashion tips from Seventeen editors, and have a great time! To kick off the event, we asked Ann some of our burning questions.

AE: If you weren’t an editor, what would job would you be doing?
I love magazines and the media business so much that if I couldn’t be an editor (my DREAM JOB!) I’d be a reporter about the media business. I actually started my career as a business reporter—I love having permission to ask nosy questions! There are such fascinating people in our industry and there’s always something new happening in our world—that’s what turns me on! I love smart, engaged, forward-thinking, curious people!

AE: We’ve seen you a lot on America’s Next Top Model. What has been your favorite experience on the show?
The people who work on Top Model are so much fun! Nigel Barker jokes around between takes on the judging panel; Miss Jay is full of amazing stories; Jay Manuel is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met; and Tyra is a powerhouse (and one of the few other women I’ve met who is taller than me!)

AE: How would you describe your personal style?
Classic with an edge. Personally I don’t do girly or boho. I love clean silhouettes little (something body-con doesn’t hurt!). And I’ve never met anything studded that I didn’t immediately fall in love with!

AE: Who has been the greatest inspiration in your life?
There are so many women who have inspired me. I try to borrow the best habits and follow the best advice of all the amazing women I’ve met. My mom taught me how to listen to my own intuition; My first boss showed me how to command respect; Another mentor taught me about the importance of being nice (even in a cutthroat business); And the readers of Seventeen have shown me that being honest and authentic is so much better than being “fake fabulous” (my biggest pet peeve in the world!)

AE: What advice do you have for young girls trying to find their own style?
You have to try EVERYTHING to know what works for your body, for your vibe. I had an 80s New Wave moment (in the 80s!), then a preppy collar-popped experiment, there was grunge, and every once in a while I’d slip into a skinny mini and sky high heels! I loved every single one of those looks! And it all helped me figure out what worked, and what didn’t.

AE: What is your favorite Fall 2011 trend?
I love the cozy Adirondack look! Layers of flannel, plaid, denim, shearling and tons of knit with rugged boots—so fun and so cuddly!

AE: How did you work your way to your position at Seventeen?
After my first job as a business reporter, I started writing about big issues for teens at a teen news magazine called, React. I had no idea how much I would love writing for and about teenagers! To me being a teen is such an amazing time: Anything is possible in your life! The world is yours! And everything is FUN!

After a few years, I got a tip that Hearst was launching a new teen magazine—and I joined the launch team of CosmoGIRL! In the 8 years I was there, I had the chance to dive into everything from Health to Fashion to Guys to the confidence-building stories (my faves!).

But being at Seventeen has been the most amazing experience! I get to work with the smartest people in the business, we are tackling important issues, and our work is crazy-delicious-insane FUN!

AE: Tell us! What is the secret to battling writer’s block?
I can be a terrible procrastinator (don’t tell anyone at Seventeen—they seem to think I’m good at hitting deadlines!) But at some point you just have to put your butt in the chair and write something. It doesn’t have to be great, but just typing gets your brain going and after a few drafts your thoughts get clearer and your writing gets stronger. I try to imagine that I’m writing to my best friend. If I write something fancy or formal that I wouldn’t actually say to her, then it doesn’t get printed!

AE: What is the most rewarding part of your career?
Letters from our readers saying that a story we printed had an impact on their life. That’s the whole reason I get up in the morning—to make girls lives as awesome as they can be!

Remember, if you're in the New York City area, RSVP to Ann's book signing on August 9th at 12:30pm in our Times Square store.

Fruit Bats “Tripper” Out Today

With the 2001 release of the Fruit Bats’ debut album, Echolocation, Eric D. Johnson embarked on a career in music that has, to date, included ten years with the Fruit Bats, sideman duties for bands including Califone, Vetiver and The Shins, and more recently, soundtrack work for films like Ceremony and the soon-to-be-released Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother.

Tripper, the new and fifth Fruit Bats full-length, was recorded at WACS Studio in Los Angeles with Thom Monahan, best known as producer for the last four Vetiver albums, Devendra Banhart’s Cripple Crow, and the Pernice Brothers. For the first week of recording, Johnson brought in a full band—Sam Wagster, Ron Lewis and Graeme Gibson—to capture some of the live excitement of the previous Fruit Bats album, 2009’s The Ruminant Band. However, having recently worked alone on soundtracks for an extended period, Johnson knew that he wanted Tripper to be more of a solitary pursuit than his previous album. For the remaining four weeks, he worked with Monahan to deepen and refine the sound. Though, perhaps the most radical thing about the album is not its haunting production, but the way it allows narratives to shape its songs. His own process shifted slightly to focus more on story-based songs, and following his collaborations with film-makers, he began experimenting with more abstract, less folk-based sounds. The resulting album, a bittersweet meditation on hitting the road, leaving the familiar behind and reinventing yourself, is a reinvention itself.


Listen to "Tangie and Ray" HERE: http://assets3.subpop.com/assets/audio/9788.mp3
 
Vetiver and the Fruit Bats Totally on Tour Together
Sep 6 First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
Sep 7 The Mill, Iowa City, IA
Sep 8 Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
Sep 9 Southgate House, Newport, KY
Sep 10 Mr. Smalls Theater, Pittsburg, PA
Sep 11 Tiger Mountain & Truck Festival, Big Indian, NY
Sep 12 Middle East, Cambridge, MA
Sep 13 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
Sep 14 First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA
Sep 15 Black Cat, Washington DC
Sep 17 Motorco, Durham, NC
Sep 19 Off Broadway, St. Louis, MO
Sep 20 Jackpot, Lawrence, KS
Sep 22 Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO
Sep 24 Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT

MP3 Monday: Gardens & Villa

If you haven’t heard Gardens & Villa before, then we highly suggest checking out our featured mp3 download of the week. We predict big things for this band.

Gardens & Villa is the project of five college friends from Santa Barbara, formed following the collapse of a noisier post-punk band and a hitch-hiking journey up the west coast. Members Chris Lynch, Adam Rasmussen, Levi Hayden, Shane McKillop began playing in earnest as Gardens & Villa in 2008. The name is pulled from the location of their house on Villa Street, and the property's lovely garden to which they tend. The music they make is very much connected to coastal city they call home -- the bike rides, dance parties, a scene free of judgment. The band refers to this Santa Barbara feeling as "coco vibes." For two weeks in the summer of 2010, the band camped behind visionary and now-labelmate Richard Swift's Oregon studio. No shower, no kitchen, but all the magic you could ask for. After taking a band oath to always play all parts live -- a la Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense -- the band added member Dusty Ineman to supremely execute the live incarnation of the band.

Download “Star Fire Power” HERE.

07/29/11 Philadelphia, PA - Voyeur Nightclub w/ Craft Spells, Jamie xx, DOM
07/30/11 New York, NY - The Mercury Lounge w/ Craft Spells, Selebrities
07/31/11 Allston, MA - Great Scott w/ Craft Spells, The Dirty Dishes
08/01/11 Montreal, QC - Casa del Popolo w/ Craft Spells
08/02/11 Toronto, ON - The Drake Hotel
08/03/11 Pontiac, MI - Vernors Room at the Crofoot
08/04/11 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop w/ Dom and Qur'an Qur'an
08/05/11 St. Louis, MO - The Gramaphone
08/06/11 Kansas City, KS - Kansas Speedway
08/08/11 Wichita, KS - Rock Island Live w/ Too Femme
08/09/11 Fort Worth, TX - Lola's Saloon Sixth
08/10/11 Austin, TX - The Mohawk: Indoors
08/12/11 Phoenix, AZ - The Sail Inn w/ Dry River Yacht Club, Adam Arcuragi & the Lupine Chorale Society, The Whisper Lights
08/30/11 Costa Mesa, CA - MESA
09/18/11 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive w/ Youth Lagoon
09/20/11 Ames, IA - The Maintenance Shop w/ Youth Lagoon
09/22/11 Urbana, IL - Pygmalion Festival
09/27/11 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade: Purgatory Stage w/ Youth Lagoon
09/28/11 Charlotte, NC - Snug Harbor w/ Youth Lagoon
10/05/11 Grantham, PA - An Evening with Messiah College: Larsen Student Union
10/06/11 Grand Rapids, MI - Calvin College: Ladies Literary Club w/ Youth Lagoon
10/07/11 Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle w/ Youth Lagoon
10/08/11 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry w/ Youth Lagoon
10/11/11 Seattle, WA - The Sunset
10/12/11 Portland, OR - Holocene
10/14/11 Los Angeles, CA - The Satellite

College Pick of the Week: Delorean

We have an awesome selection for you today from KSUB Radio at Seattle University who helped us program the music you hear in stores. Check out “Stay Close” from Delorean; it’s the ultimate summer jam and the video makes us dream of crashing waves and suntans.