Rarely does a new musical artist grab me by the heart and stop me in my tracks. Stockholm’s young and gorgeous Lykke Li wins the prize– I’m floored. Talented, humble, delicate, and even dare I say visionary. Her music is eerie, warming, and thought provoking– and so incredibly mature for such a young person. Be sure to listen to Window Blues, and Little Bit– two of my favorites. Her new album Youth Novels isn’t available online in the Americas yet but you can grab it, shipped to your mailbox here.

You can however nab the Little Bit EP on iTunes pictured, or enjoy several other tracks on her full-of-content Myspace page for free. Looks like she’s on tour through England, western Europe and all over Scandinavia over the next few months. I’ll be making one of her shows and will probably be patiently waiting outside on one knee to propose. I love you Lykke Li.

Royal Remarkable (aka Joshua Gajownik) and Monsieur T are at it again. The graphic designer is having another go at teaming up with the Portland-based streetwear label, providing those in search of sweet tees with yet another option for showing off their arms, while keeping their torsos covered. The Still Digging Mint shirt features a cross-section of five different distinct patterns set on a minty fresh hued combed cotton shirt. We pity the fool who doesn’t get his hands on one of these.

The combination of glitter, resin and Japanese pop iconography are the three characteristics that put Japanese artist Atsuo in his own realm. There isn’t a whole lot of info on the guy, and even the Sao Paulo gallery that supports him, Choque Cultural, admits they don’t know much about the elusive artist. But it’s clear Atsuo doesn’t work in a vacuum, because his work refers to the world around him. It received a lot of play in a recent group show at the street art venue, an exhibit that showcases Japanese pop art renditions from native artists. Whether or not you can find him, at the very least Atsuo seems to be destined for transatlantic greatness.

Justin Gignac and his girlfriend Christine are going to Las Vegas. While they’re there they’d like to gamble, hit up an all you can eat buffet for two, and even see some showgirls. Why should you care? Because you’re going to pay for them. While catering for other people’s vacation whims probably wasn’t on your list of things to do this year, the clever pair behind Wants for Sale are out to prove you can always get what you want. Don’t worry there’s something in it for you: matching Sin City-themed paintings depicting typical Vegas activities. So ante up! Maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll bring you back a souvenir. Or a showgirl.

So this morning I woke up in a James Bond kind of mood. Maybe it was the fact I fell asleep reading about how Amy Winehouse and her bouffant were too cracked out to record the theme song for the new Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. Maybe it was all of the gin martinis I had been drinking. I wasn’t looking, but somehow I found you — Penguin UK’s re-release of Ian Fleming’s classics. This time they’re done up in shimmering nude ’60s pinup fashion, with titles like “Dr. No” and “Goldfinger” scrawled down Technicolor female backsides. Need a soundtrack to view these? Radiohead … if you’d please.

What do you normally do when you go on vacation? Pay too much for dinner? Get lost? Argue with your significant other? Sure, but mostly you take lots of pictures. The jetsetters over at WALK photographic travel guides recognize that a photo is worth at least several hundred words, which is why you won’t find stars, ratings, tips, or endless flowery prose dedicated to the sights and sounds of a city. Instead, you get a great representation of what it’s like to — well — walk around. Their first book on Berlin is out now, with upcoming destinations like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Chicago, Copenhagen, Florence, London, New York, Paris, Rome, and San Francisco coming up. If you happen to live around Denver, check out the release party at Enso Gallery.

There’s a certain ennui that sets in right after college graduation. It’s the first time that you’re free from an academic life you’ve been enduring since you were five, but it’s also the first time that you really have to figure out what the hell you’re doing. Harvard film student Kate T. Williamson returned from a year abroad in Japan (where she wrote her previous book, A Year in Japan) to live with her parents in Pennsylvania. Her new illustrated book, At a Crossroads: Between a Rock and My Parents’ Place (Princeton Architectural Press), out today, captures the humor of her stopover in American suburbia. It’s kind of like Dan Clowes graphic novel, Ghost World…but for the quarterlife set. Follow Williamson as she navigates the uncharted waters of Hall & Oats concerts and minor league baseball games, all the while trying to solve the problem of her next step.

Growing up, I had plenty of sneaker brands to choose from, instead of being limited to the three of four major players available recently. Thankfully, people are beginning to see the introduction of smaller niche brands such as Visvim and Creative Recreation. Admittedly, I’m glad to see so many brands of yesteryear stay buried, but a recent announcement caught my interest.

Tomorrow, May 1st, is the relaunch of British Knights (or BK as we like to call them). This is not the first time a brand has resurfaced. In 2005, Pro-Ked teamed up with Damon Dash to reissue favorites. There was some fanfare involved but since I never owned a pair, I didn’t pay much attention to it. This time, my interest is piqued and I am looking forward to seeing how their first pair, the “Purple Wizard Moccasin” designed by Gio Chiappetta, will be received. The hi-top shoe features a dark purple colorway with an obligatory velcro strap on the top. In addition, you can buy the first four 1989 Bk styles. The shoes will be available at on the BK site and select retailers nationwide.

Several months ago, we about lost our crap when we heard that Beautiful Losers – the museum exhibit-turned-most brilliant coffee table book ever bound by mechanical means – would soon be joined by another extension of arty rectitude. Beautiful Losers, the documentary, would relate to the book and exhibit by way of subject matter, but would differ from the previous installments through one defining characteristic: The punk, skate, hip hop and graffiti subcultures it traced would take the literal form of the men and women that led the movement.

Now, over six months after we started getting excited about it (and several years after the film's creators starting working on it), Beautiful Losers, the doc, has arrived. Thanks to the hard work, creativity, passion, and rule breaking of the same group of individuals who drove this creative crusade, the film was enthusiastically debuted and received and at this year's SXSW.

This August, Beautiful Losers will open in theatres nationwide. We feel strongly that our readers should go see it – because we're of the opinion that this movement is more significant than most other things the past thirty years have given us – but since we know you're a rebellious bunch, we brought in someone else to spread the word. Readers, meet Aaron Rose; artist, writer, curator, co-editor of ANP Magazine, owner of Alleged Gallery, and the man driving the Beautiful Losers trilogy.

Joshspear.com: Can you walk us through the history of Beautiful Losers, from the exhibit up until now?

Aaron Rose: It started as an exhibition that opened at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati in 2003. The book (catalog) was released as the same time as the first exhibition. Since then, the exhibition has traveled throughout the US and is currently touring Europe. It will open in Madrid this fall. READ MORE…

I went to visit my best friend last night. She still lives in the apartment we lived in together for eighteen months, and despite the fact that it’s a lot cleaner now than it was when I was there — three girls in 700 square feet is plain frightening, if a little sorority-esque — her kitchen is out of commission due to an overzealous exterminator. Ironically, when I got home, a book that the guys from Method wrote, Squeaky Green: The Method Guide to Detoxing Your Home was waiting for me on the kitchen table, in all its green, non-toxic glory. In parts it seems a little advert-y, but all in all it’s packed to the spine with great tips on how you can keep your life clean without using brutal chemicals that are a hazard to not only yourself, but your pets and the environment. Good one, guys.

LA-based artist Jorge Pardo turns us on mostly because his design looks delicious. Sure it has a fresh breath of a minimalist modern aesthetic that evokes a…blah, blah, blah. But honestly, his pendant lamp fixtures kind of look like marzipan. You can catch a glimpse of all his work in his first monograph, coming out on Phaidon imprint. Or, you can see Pardo’s work, such as Pier, (built for the 1997 Skulpture Projekte in Munster, Germany) and Mountain Bar (designed in 2003 for L.A.’s Chinatown). We’d mostly like to see his stuff hanging above our kitchen table.

From Urban Outfitters, the nice folks who gave you Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters, comes a new concept in home and garden. Terrain is setting out to be your younger, fresher cousin to the staid blandness of a Lowe’s or Home Depot gardening center. Their first location, at the 11-acre Styer Nursery in Concordville, PA (it’s right outside of Philly) looks like it carries an assortment of well-edited potted shrubbery (yes, the kind that you’d give to your aunt, or a knight who says ‘Ni’) and gardening supplies that don’t make you want to put your head in a wood chipper. And, like the companies other retail outlets, if you wait a little less than a year, we’re sure one will spring up in your neighborhood.

Our DJ skills are far from scratchtastic, but that doesn’t really matter to UNIQLO. In an inspired marketing move, they’ve created the UT Loop, a site where you can create your own dub loop by manipulating some models / actors / concert promoters wearing UNIQLO gear and making random noises. After you lay down your perfect, Timbaland-approved track, you can get other site visitors to judge your sample. Don’t be surprised if this ends up on a Jamster commercial.

If you’ve ever had entire sink full of dishes, you know what a bother it is to maneuver your faucet around so that you have a suitable amount of space to apply hot soapy water. The horizontal nature of most faucets movement doesn’t allow for much latitude in terms of cleaning up. Thankfully, the folks at Kohler, one of the global leaders in kitchen and bath design and technology, have made fitting your dishes under the faucet a problem of the past. Their latest faucet design, the Kohler Karbon Kitchen faucet, was inspired by the design of both lighting and construction equipment possessing articulating joints and combines ‘functionality and performance of a pull down faucet, while also allowing the user to position and leave the sprayhead right where it’s needed,’ making all of your time spent applying elbow grease to your fine china a heck of a lot easier. While this particular faucet seems extremely practical, it’s also pretty easy on the eyes. It’s a truly unique piece of design work — and that works as well as it looks.

Neighborbee Blog. It kind of has the ring of a suburban chain restaurant, but instead of crappy food, this community blog serves up scoops on going out, eating in, and drinking a lot in, and around, downtown Manhattan. They’ve got a sizable crew of experienced bloggers (alums from Gawker, VH1…Whatevs.net) working on giving their fellow city dwellers some good advice, with the ultimate goal of creating an, ahem, hive of social activities. They’re really better at the bee puns than we are, so they’re well worth an RSS subscription if you’re looking to bulk up your reader with some useful information.