You don’t know what Disco Lento Deloroso is? Don’t worry, most people don’t. And you don’t know the band Hurts? That’s a shame and here’s your chance to know better. Have a look at wikipedia, this will explain everything you need to know about Disco Lento. Trying to find out more about Hurts is a bit more complicated.

You can find them on myspace, but apart from the video for Blood, Tears & Gold, you’ll find scarcely anything. And if you go to the band website, the name – informationhurts.com – says it all. It’s just a link back to nothing. So you look on youtube and find the video for Wonderful Life. Alright, two good looking guys (Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson) in decent suits, who look and sound like a mixture of The Human League, Spandau Ballet and Zoot Woman.

This old fashioned synth pop transports you directly to the mid/late 80ies and after listening to Hurts, you’ll feel the deep need to de-dust your Ultravox and Talk Talk vinyls. It’s absolutely nothing new, but it’s beautiful.

One thing is for sure: they won’t remain a secret. They’re playing a little tour, so see them live on February 24th @Wiltons Music Hall in London, on the 26th @Lido in Berlin or on the 27th @Gebaeude 9 in Cologne. The single Wonderful Life (Arthur Baker Remix) will be released on January 18th and definitely worth buying it!

Emily Bosence studied at the Chelsea College of Art and Design focused on recycled textiles.
Before she started her own label oops!, she worked for Red Mutha. oops! fashion recently celebrated its first birthday.

Your style reminds of the late 80ies Hip Hop fashion. I remember for instance, Salt n Pepa used to wear those hats with African prints on it. So, where does your inspiration come from?

oops fashion: A mixture of things, mainly vintage streetwear. Old hiphop videos, rave footage, video games, stupid 80s films with futuristic street punks and gangs, comic books… anything and everything!

You are using vintage fabrics for your capes and they are designed to be multifunctional.
So your clothing is both ecological and efficient. Coincidence or philosophy?

oops fashion: I specialised in recycled textiles and eco fashion so it’s really important to me to recycle as much as possible and to create high quality garments that people will not get bored of.
However, the design is most important and I do not use the fact that I recycle as a selling point as I also use a lot of new fabrics and 99% of people will always buy clothes purely based on what they look like.

Let’s look ahead. What are your plans for the future? What is your dream for oops! fashion?

oops fashion: At the moment I do everything myself including all of the production which can be really hard but I’m nearly at the stage where I can employ people to manufacture my designs which is going to be great as I can spend more time designing which is what I love. In 5 years time I expect to be working on a very different level, I feel like I have achieved a lot since I set up in November and intend to continue to do so!

A few words about your collaboration with Gaggle. How did it happen?

oops fashion: Deborah Coughlin who started up Gaggle saw my clothes on myspace and emailed me about her idea for Gaggle at the start of the year. I went and met her at her pub and I loved Deborah’s Gaggle plans and after plenty of banter and booze on several occasions we agreed on a design. The Gaggle gown is based on my reversible capes, the basic shape is very similar but they are dresses and the hoods are a lot larger. I LOVE seeing them live - 20 women singing, shouting and screeching, allwearing possibly the biggest, larey-est pieces I’ve ever made – it’s quite a sight!!

I guess it’s pretty exciting to see people wearing your designs. Can you remember the first time you saw someone on the street, wearing something you’ve made? How did it feel?

oops fashion: Great! I’m quite an excitable person and always pounce on people that I see wearing my stuff. I remember a few years back being at a festival, and a girl walked past wearing a cap I’d made and I kept shouting at her ‘I MADE YOUR HAT’ She didn’t believe me and clearly thought I was mental and walked off quickly…. She probably never wore it again !! Yeah I’m not very good at being cool.

Final question: What is your advise for a young designer who wants to set up a fashion label?

oops fashion: Umm, I think fresh ideas and good quality fabrics and manufacturing are of most importance, then it just boils down to working really hard, having confidence and grabbing every opportunity you can.

Gaggle on myspace

It’s an impulsive sound, although there are no real instruments. Apart from drums and bass they create their music by stomping, clapping, chanting and of course, singing. They pulpify your brain with this ritual sound and flavour it with lyrics like “I like cigarettes, I like guitars” or “How can I tell, if my man’s a liar”. And when you’re cooked, they maybe eat you alive.

Gaggle definitely gives an example that there are no rules and that there is always space for something new, even for a 22 piece girls choir. And if I would think of them, making a collaboration with Micachu & The Shapes or Shitdisco, I’ll end up in the lunatic asylum.

Take a short break, because now we’re talking about the look and that won’t be easier to digest.

The extraordinary capes are made by Emily Bosence on her fashion label oops! in Brighton. She combines traditional tweed and jersey with African prints and vintage fabrics. Every piece is multifunctional and adjustable in length. Wear it as a dress, a cape or like a hoodie, whatever you can imagine! You can buy them in the Laden Showroom in Shoreditch, along with clothing and accessories from other talented and independent designers. Take a look at the oops! website to see where else you can buy her stuff.

Alright, I know you’ve had quite enough of all these 80s wannbe bands. But this is something different. This is unbelievable. And I think I’ll move to Denmark. Maybe this was kind of a marketing strategy “hey, we’re called private, let’s keep it that way.”

They released their debut album in 2007 and wow! Two years later they’re No.1 one the UK Music Week Club charts.

But as we all know, haste makes waste. And they are definitely the opposite.

PRIVATE – “We Got Some Breaking Up To Do” from PRIVATE on Vimeo.

When Prince listened to the song “Let’s make love (underneath the apple tree)” he thought of giving himself a new pseudonym, something like TAFKABCOWSS (the artist formerly known as being capable of writing such songs). Just a guess.

This is sophisticated, luxurious pop on it’s climax. And I mean it in an absolute carnal sense.

You wanna scream “take me” when the beat hits your body or at least groan a little bit… You’re exhausted and breathless when it’s over, but pretty sure you wanna do it again. And again.

PRIVATE – “My Secret Lover” from PRIVATE on Vimeo.

So, if you’re ears are ready to get laid again, have a look at their evil twin brother: private party on myspace.com.

And as we all sometimes just need something to snuggle against, I’m happy to announce that Thomas Troelsen aka “head of Private” is planning a classical album. After writing a classical piece for the 2008′s fashion show of Danish fashion brand “Noir“, looks like he tasted blood.

Website: www.noir-illuminati2.com

At last one tip: have a look at their blog, good selected recommendations for fashion, art, architecture and much more stuff.