Having lived in a town that has one of America’s highest band-per-capita populations, I am no stranger to the aspiring musician friend or colleague. While garages serve as excellent rehearsal space and Apple’s home software can sometimes produce quality-sounding albums, a real band needs a real recording studio. Founded in 2001 by then nineteen-year-old Thomas Troelsen, DeltaLab Studios is a designer recording studio located in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark. Recently renovated and housing both vintage analog and state-of-the-art modern recording and mastering equipment along with floating instruments, DeltaLab has hosted some of Europe and America’s finest bands. Both the Red and White rooms are available with a daily rate and both include an engineer (but unfortunately not their website’s flying reindeer) to assist you in sounding your best.

Sometimes even the silliest ideas turn out to be brilliant in execution. Take Hair Portraits, for example. For starters, while the term clearly conveys its subject matter, you’re undoubtedly wondering exactly what would a portrait of someone’s hair look like. Are we talking portraits of hairstyles that have been painted or photographed, or are they composed, somehow, out of actual hair? Well, thankfully, it’s the former. Some enterprising British artist has created a four piece series of silkscreen prints, each depicting a group of famous ‘dos. The prints run from the immediately recognizable (a foursome from a certain movie trilogy) to the fantastically obscure. The series may make more sense when grouped together as some, such as the heavily permed locks of Guns ‘n Roses, bear more resemblance to potted plants… at least until you figure out the famous domes they belong to.

I apologize for introducing our readers to yet another networking site, but VIRB, a newer and far more aesthetically pleasing social community, is seducing me straight out of the creatined arms of Myspace. Much like the other sites of its genre, VIRB allows users to create profiles, share content, listen to music, and watch videos. However, VIRB boasts a long list of added features (like Flickr integration and widescreen video) that make for an alluring alternative to the networking sites we’ve grown accustomed to. Being a design junkie, the biggest perk that VIRB offers me is its beautifully simplistic design– there’s absolutely no clutter on the site, not even users’ profiles (thanks to a sweet option that allows you to turn off customizations). That said, it’s also super easy to make a profile that people wont want to “turn off” with VIRB’s awesome customization options; this picture is a snapshot of a featured profile (uhh, hope that’s cool with you, I Heart Birdie) and, well, WOW. I’m sold.

If you’re looking for another chance to get slushy with video game nostalgia, check out Console Portraits, Wired’s new pictorial history of gaming. Spanning from forty years ago, when Ralph Baer built and played the “Brown Box” through to the Wii we love today, Console Portraits visually depicts the people, events and titles that have guided the progression of video gaming. Each of the 47 pictures are accompanied by a few sentences that explain the subject’s significance, so by the end of the show you’ll be stuffed to the brim with a whole week’s worth of fantastic conversation starters (or at least enough to last you through Friday happy hour.) Knowledge is power, people– get ‘r done.

Last March, we told you about the Border Film Project, which distributed some 400+ disposable cameras to undocumented migrants and the border minutemen attempting to end their passage from Mexico into America. The cameras have now been collected, the photographs processed and published in a book of the same title, offering an insightful and very human view into the two sides of this politically- and emotionally-charged issue. Designed by the talented folks at karlssonwilker inc and pricing out at $22.95, the book is available at Amazon, major bookstores and American Apparel stores nationwide. The Border Film Project’s website also got a long-awaited update, and now features even more of the hauntingly beautiful photographs collected over the duration of the project.

If you love music magazines as much as I do, you already know how to appreciate a good rock photographer: it’s the one who can get into places other than the back stage or trailer to show the adoring public how their idols really are when they’re not performing and in their natural (or not-so-natural) habitats. Legendary New York music photographer Bob Gruen has been one of the most important photographers in pop culture to date, and Rockers is a 40-year retrospective of his work, beginning today at Sao Paulo’s FAAP University Museum. Gruen is best known for his documentation of the ’70s punk era, and while his photo of Sid Vicious snarling with a piece of a hot dog in his mouth may be the crowning image of the show, he doesn’t leave an inch of iconography uncovered; images of Tina Turner, Led Zeppelin, the Clash, John Lennon, Devo, the New York Dolls and the Rolling Stones are all on display. The exhibit which runs till July 1 is massive, with 270 photos displayed in nine separate areas that run the gamut from a “boulevard” of photos, a mock teenage bedroom with posters and magazine covers displaying Gruen’s work to a video gallery. Personally, I’m still drooling over the 16-foot-tall photos of Iggy Pop clutching Debbie Harry. It’s not to be missed, for both photography aficionados and audiophiles alike.

Although it’s not as secret anymore, the awesome appointment-only boutique in Downtown Los Angeles aptly named Secret Service is one of those not-to-be-missed men’s shopping experiences. Catering even to guys who claim to despise shopping, SS goes beyond merch and purch to offer a more personalized and social experience complete with ambience, cocktails and privacy. Located in a loft space converted from a former air raid shelter, they carry some great exclusive brands like Nice Collective, Obedient Sons, Surface to Air, B Son, The Cast, Esquivel Shoes and Crate Denim. If you want to see what this place is all about, call for an appointment. They don’t even have a real website, so you’re just going to have to trust me on this one. If they ask how you heard about them, just quietly say “shhhhhh, don’t worry. It’s our little secret.”

Designed in 1959 by the legendary Enzo Mari for Danese Milano, the Calendario Biliancia (Perpetual Calendar) is truly, no pun intended– timeless design. The calendar uses three different strips of fine wood (walnut, beech, maple) for an old-school-style slide/ruler like calendar. Enzo Mari is now actually teaching at Isia in Florence and at the European Design Institute in Milan– what a professor he must be. You can pop by Nova 68 to purchase ($120) or see more detailed photos.

Via Product Dose