Sunset Analog Tee

Currently their bestseller, inspired by album art of the 60′s to the 80′s, and designed by Freddy Allen Anzures – an Art Director, Designer for Wax Poetics and Apple and a DJ. Only small sizes left but plenty more in S-XL in white. From the new Spring Collection.

Music On The Mind Tee

A nice ‘n’ jazzy little number from the Spring Collection, this one’s available in white and navy in sizes S-XL. Designed by Christopher David Ryan.

Radio Citizen Tee

Inspired by German Jazz/Soul combo Radio Citizen‘s new LP. $24.99 in White and Kelly Green sizes S-XXL.

Boombox Tee

Part of the classic collection, and my fave, still. Available in white but personally I think it looks far better in black (although only S-M sizes left) at $22.99 each.

The prices don’t include tax but I guess that’s local taxes.  I’d think about hiving off the apparel side in the future and get a domain name like ‘ubiquitees”. Even a subdomain could help exposure for their tees but I s’pose it’s all about the music ;)

More?

Circus Tee

I’d really like to see MA branch out more in this direction, there’s obviously someone on the team with a real knack for the abstract. The Circus Tee is available in black for guys and girls in sizes S-XXL for $24.95 each.

The other tees lean more towards traditional illustration, photo montage and typography, though less successfully in my humble opinion.

Abstract music tees are a rarity fir me. most seem to be pretty literal even nowadays except for a few labels such as 101Apparel (who happen to be one of my all-time fave t-shirt brands as it goes). These days you can see the trend has slowly permeated the music merchandise scene, when I was a teen almost all music tees featured some idiot in a band sticking their tongue out and sticking it to the man) except for D.S.O.T.M by Floyd of course.

Nowadays the music biz is getting wise “to the street” and is gradually grasping the concept that loudly marketing your favourite band isn’t far off the tactics of loudly branded corporations like Nike The fact is that companies, bands, and just about anyone with a website gets enough marketing these days without slamming it in your face at the local mosh pit.

Abstract. Abstract. Abstract. Until that day dawns see the rest of Musical Apparel’s collection at www.MusicalApparel.com.

If you don’t know The Prodigy then you’re probably a classical music buff, lost in the wilds of some far and distant country, mad, or hard of hearing, if you do you’ll know exactly what to expect from Disturbia’s latest release of three phenomenal t-shirts that are so in-keeping with the band’s ethos, it hurts. I am an original raver, as in I was converted to dance music in the very late Eighties, I actually remember the day a friend at college dragged me out of yet another goth/grunge hell hole of a club and led me over the road, popped a smiley pill in my hand and pointed to a man apparently playing records with a degree of skill. I had no idea what was going on but for almost a decade I never looked back.

Things have changed now, I’m getting on, really, and I can’t be doing with full-on drug-crazed blowouts and dancing in my own pool of sweat till dawn. However I will always have fond memories of the M25 circuit, the squat raves of S.E London and the free parties around Brighton and Bristol. One band guaranteed to take me way back are The Prodigy, they’re still going strong to this day, although personally I will always prefer their earlier stuff i.e: “Charly“, “Out of Space“, “No Good (Start the Dance)“, “Voodoo People“, “Firestarter“, “Breathe“, “Smack My Bitch Up“. I loved the commotion that Smack My Bitch Up caused at the time (the protagonist in the video was a woman by the way) – controversy will always follow this band like a hungry dog so expect to see them riding the underground scene for many years to come.

Down to business – Disturbia have released (via Prodigy’s web store Recordstore.co.uk) three limited edition Prodigy designs named Zombie, Flag and Crest – there are only 100 shirts of each available so if you’re after one I’d hurry! Each tee is individually embroidered with the Prodigy Ant logo, and the edition monogram., silk-screen printed with black and fluro inks printed on 100% cotton destroyed men’s tees (the collar, sleeves and hem are grinded for their trademark worn and deconstructed look, and are super soft. I’ve included some detailed pics so you can see just how cool these tees really are!

Zombie Tee

I’ve included an ‘Ant Tag’ so you can see the proof, as mentioned there are just 100 each of these tees available and I am sure they’ll all be snapped up by die hard Prodigy fans, so don’t complain if you leave it a few days and then miss out. Anyway loving this shirt, a nice shot from the original Night Of The Living Dead (1968) which sparked off a whole series of zombie movies for George A. Romero who I am sure will one day be given the respect he deserves. Before this guy came along the nearest you got to a zombie horror were a bunch of badly made and rather racist voodoo flicks about cannibals with bones through their noses rising from their graves on command. The zombie genre provides a modern day parable, Romero’s greatest movie being Dawn of the Dead (1978), which for me explicitly reveals in a fictional form the parallels between the loss of identity and individuality and mass-marketed consumer culture. Still, if you’re going to sink on the ship of fools this would be as appropriate attire as anything I could suggest – bar a crash helmet to protect your brainnnnsss… Get the Prodigy Zombie Tee for £35 in sizes S to XL.

Flag Tee

Very very cool. Irreverent, bold, eye-catching as ****, Flag doesn’t just cross the boundaries of good taste, it takes a dump on both sides. Hiroshima? Nagasaki? Whichever, the background for this t-shirt is something I’d never imagined seeing in fashion, but there it is, mass destruction, death and suffering providing the context for another momentous prodigy tee. The play upon the Stars and Stripes format reinforces the message, there’s only one country in the world who deliberately and successfully dropped the A-bomb (not to be confused with the F-bomb) and we all know which one. The fact is the Cold War never ended, they’ve just changed or rather upgraded the weapons. Harry Patch, until recently the last remaining British WW1 veteran and the oldest man in the world had this to say in an interview ‚ÄúThey never learn,‚Äù he whispered. ‚ÄúThe Third World War will be chemical. I don’t want to see it.‚Äù The world is too small for weapons that can destroy it 1000s of times over. Still, you can show your cynicism with this tee for £35 in sizes S to XL.

Crest Tee

The Crest t-shirt really puts the title of Prodigy’s latest album “Invaders Must Die” into context. The royal crest used in this design reminds me of a recent discussion I heard on Radio 4 (yes I am their only listener most likely) about the government’s plans to bring in more tests and oaths and god knows what to make sure we limit immigration in this country. Living in Britain is rather unnerving right now, and I’m a native, essentially the British National Party (formerly National Front – a Far Right Extremist Fascist Political Movement) are gathering more and more votes. I read a recent survey about the Brits, most of us, if we had enough money, I mean winning the lottery scale of wealth, we’d leave and move somewhere hot. I’m sure the majority mean Spain and Australia, but in essence we would be invading other countries and cultures. It’s probably not the place to discuss this, but let’s just say every time I see that crest it riles me. We built an empire based on war, theft and slavery. Then we lost it. The monarchy, the government, even the damn BBC are fleecing the country, and we pick on a few migrant workers, many on less than minimum wage. Get Crest for £35 in sizes S to XL.

Great label, great designs, great band. What more can I say?

The future isn’t going to be neat and tidy, we won’t be wearing grey jumpsuits and living under a false sun in a giant glass dome, we won’t be flying through space at warp speed fighting aliens with a barrage of laser cannons – we will be here, under the thumb of our self-appointed lords and masters of the politically and culturally imposed nanny state that is the 21st Century. This is not the time for hesitancy and deliberation, take cover or stand and fight, your senses are about to be assaulted by some of the most fiery and politically charged t-shirts this side of the oncoming social, ecological and cultural Armageddon… get ready to rumble!

One Year As A Lion T-Shirt

A quote from Jimmy Paige, legendary guitarist of the ultimate stadium rockers Led Zepelin – ‚ÄúI’d rather live one year as a lion, than a thousand as a sheep‚Äù. A design collaboration between artists and illustrators John Staniforth and Tim Toomey, this t-shirt stands proudly in the jungle of alternative and rock streetwear, proclaiming its right to lead the pack out of the dull and homogenised conformity of the “mainstream” and into the battle for the hearts and minds of an angry and dispossessed generation. This is by my reckoning as close as we’re ever going to get to a Grand Master in t-shirt design, it’s damn well near enough a painting, I’ve featured three images just so you can see exactly how amazingly detailed and well drawn this design is, I mean, come on, it’s a killer, a beast amongst the prey, it’s Assault’s One Year As A Lion tee and it rocks. I’m bowled over by the intricate textures, the colours are extremely moody, the composition intense and the message almost overpowering. Guaranteed to stop squares in the street, available for men, now at the reduced price of $22.99 in sizes Small to XXXL in black.

Assault Shirts do much more than design and create awesome tees, they’ve recently ventured into designer guitar picks, they’re Myspace, Flickr and Twitter fanatics, they run their own rocking blog, a very cool design company and best of all they even sponsor rock bands who are in tune with their counter-culture credo. Two bands they already support are Seven Day Sonnet and Dear Enemy, if you think your band has the right credentials, contact Assault and let them know why you rock!

John Staniforth, a fabulous illustrator and designer is the latest member of the Assault team and has been responsible for some of their most radical t-shirt designs thus far, check out this beauty:-

1984 T-Shirt

The 1984 T-Shirt design took its inspiration from George Orwell‘s novel of a nightmarish totalitarian society 1984. He wrote this tome of things to come way back in 1948 and it’s still as relevant today as it ever was. In the UK we have more CCTV cameras per person than any other country in the world, democracy throughout all nations is being gnawed away by government and corporate control, obsessed with using technology and the dissolution of human rights legislations to “control the masses”. If religion is the opium of the masses, then the law is the whip. For many people who’d rather not think about the degradation of our freedom in the modern world, take a moment to think, how did Hitler manage to rise to power in WW2 Germany, or Stalin in Russia? What was the general consensus of America’s white population when Martin Luther King Jr. began to make history in the African American American civil rights movement? The straight facts are these:- if the government think they can get away with it, if they can oppress different sections of society and no one even raises an eyebrow, somehow, some way, they will eventually turn their attention to you. What if prohibition was re-introduced? What if the legal system in the Western democracy took a turn for the worse and began to model itself on Guantanamo Bay? What if “in the name of the protection of freedom” you found your future mapped out by a system of genetic, cultural, or regional diktat? If you wake up one day with a bar code on your forehead, wearing a paper suit, and living in a sound-proofed cubicle with a bathroom cabinet full of state approved “mood enhancers”, then you know it’s too late. Fight the fight, do it with style, assault the senses of the plutocracy, and make a stand with this incredible 1984 T-Shirt. Pre-order (release date 23rd May) for $22.99 – in sizes Small to XXXL.

Proposition Of Hate Section 8 T-Shirt

Proposition of Hate deals with one subject head on, inequity and inequality, it’s another case of whatever the government can get away with now they will do again and again to greater and greater swathes of society. Until recent history democratically elected governments simply resisted change, they would wait term after term in the face of increasing opposition before their hands were proverbially tied and they would finally relent and “award” human rights to sectors of society. However nowadays you can’t even rely on the law to protect the people, if the government change their mind, if an ultra-conservative slice of the population, with the money and power in their hands don’t like it, then the government now make a habit of revoking their own laws. One example of this is Proposition 8 – a California ballot proposition passed in the 2004 general election, changing the state’s constitution in order to revoke the rights of homosexual couples. No matter what your sexual or political orientation this is simply a matter of human rights, you can’t grant rights in order to simply remove them when you’ve changed your mind. Government is more like a monarchy these days, each member living in luxury and splendour with an unlimited supply of expense accounts and notions of self-aggrandisement. Laws are there for a reason, if you change one because you don’t like it, why make it in the first place? Imagine if the USA revoked the rights of African Americans, or the UK removed the right to vote amongst women? Yet again, a time will come where every individual (as opposed to those of the plutocracy and autocracy) will find themselves in a similar position, just don’t expect the masses to rise up and fight for your rights when it does, because they, for the main part, would rather ignore the problem, bury their heads and turn back to the past. This incredibly evocative designed t-shirt is available as a pre-order for the 23rd of May at $22.99 in sizes Small to XXXL.

Fatal Justice Tee

Extending upon the theme of the decimation of our human rights, Fatal Justice deals implicity with the breakdown of the legal system in the Western Democracy. George Bush went on record on numerous occassions imploring the world’s leaders in joining his cause to bring democratic rights to The Middle East and Afghanistan amongst other wartorn regions of the world. Unfortunately he couldn’t lead by example, most governments will talk of democracy when it suits them and sweep it under the carpet when it doesn’t. The caps on Legal Aid in the UK mean that human rights have become something to barter on the open market, essentially the rich, or in other words corporations and even the government themselves can literally get away with murder, the rest of us must take our chances, perhaps that’s why so much of the public is now so obedient, so reverent towards the powers that be – they cannot afford to do otherwise. If the government wants to take your land it can, if it wants to deny you compensation it can, if it wants to protect itself or any of it’s global conglomerate allies it will, and if there’s even a hint of protest they will claim it’s in the interest of the country, national security, the economy or anything else they can muster up at a late night dinner in an expensive restaurant. Fatal Justice is an exceptionally designed print, the detailing is beautiful, the message dark and sombre. Created by former Ecko illustration wizard Fernando Rodriguez, who currently runs his own design agency in Puerto Rico, expect the best of the best when it comes to this high quality iconic tee. Available at the reduced price of $22.99-$25.99 and free shipping in the USA in sizes Small to XXXL.

Make sure to make a note of their discount code in our discount coupon section on the homepage of Buy-Tees.net and keep an eye out for Assault Shirt’s amazing offer – they are offering up to 40% off on their entire inventory (plus FREE shipping) from this Thursday, May 14, through Saturday,
May 16!

Be prepared for the shape of things to come, take a look at the rest of Assault Shirts collection here.

101 Apparel have just released a new set of music-related tees for Summer 09 and yes as usual they rock, erm, they jazz, they RnB, they soul, you get the idea, if you love music you’ll love this lot!

As usual expect fine designs, interesting concepts, great background stories and high quality tees you can wear just about anywhere and still get a knowing nod from a savvy muso or two. Some are old favourites in new colours others are brand new designs to get your toes tapping.

Check them out now – we have some great 101 Apparel product images to wet your whistle…

Disco Edits Tee

East Of The River Nile

Music Is The Message

Dirty Drums

Keep On Diggin

High Life Kelly

Broken Vinyl

Free Jazz

Jazz Dance

Space Is The Place

My old pal, well an online friend, perhaps he’s my invisible friend, anyway, Ian Cretney of Invisible Friend has just released his latest collection of revamped and highly original new tees at his fresh and snazzily redesigned site at www.invisible-friend.co.uk. This is probably a collection you won’t be familiar with, and it always surprises me that I.F haven’t had far more exposure than they do, the truth is that it just takes time for the public to catch on to new ideas and new ways of thinking.

To be frank, one of my all-time favourite t-shirts is by this guy, it’s called Dead Rock Stars, he sent me a freebie when I first reviewed the site, totally out of the blue, as you know I don’t ask for freebies to review t-shirts, I do it for the lurve as they say. Anyway, I love that t-shirt to death, which is rather apt, and looking down I’ve just noticed I’m wearing it again! Ian is what I’d call a true craftsman in the field of t-shirt design and production, he’s a dedicated soul who spent the first few years hand screen printing every single shirt, as the business has grown he’s branched out and took on a little help to keep up with demand, (in fact he’s promised to guide me through the art of screen printing so I can start producing my own graffiti posters), but rest assured, the ethos and philosophy of Invisible Friend is still as strong and true as ever.

Trying to pin down exactly what that might be is a tricky thing though, I suppose you could say it lies somewhere in an artistic mind’s interpretation of urban myth, social revolution and music folklore peppered with a healthy dose of cynical humour and a rather laid-back attitude to mortality. Each t-shirt is almost a work of modern art in itself, the iconography lies halfway between graffiti and Post-Modern illustration, the attitude, quirky, irreverent, and with an undercurrent of ever-so-slightly solemnity, which for me is an extremely refreshing change from the usual run-of-the-mill funny one-liners tees you’ll usually come across on the Net.

Anyway let’s take a look at what Ian’s been up to, I’m sure you’ll fall in love or at least heavily in like with one of the following:

SexDrugsRockAndRoll T-Shirt

Now as you may or may not know, I’m not one for typographic tees, as the saying goes, picture, blah, 1000 words, blah… or words to that effect, the truth is a lot of people seem to enjoy my rants, but imagery, iconography is my first love. However, and here’s the big “if”, I studied conceptual art at the height of typographic art, image and text was all the rage, if you didn’t slap a few words over a photograph it wasn’t worth taking, but nowadays it’s all calmed down more, and even I, yes even I can see the beauty of typography, but only and the occasions are rare when this doesn’t apply, only when there’s a solid reason for spelling out your message. This is one time when typography, text, the written word kicks back with the force of a pair of hind legs of an angry mule. It’s not often a list can deliver so many powerful cultural references, idioms and ideographies at once, but SexDrugsRockAndRoll delivers 100%.

Here are just a few of the names that stand out for me… Marvin Gaye, The Stones, Velvet Underground (sex and death personified), Joy Division (the perfect downer), David Bowie (A former god of weirdness), Jimi Hendrix (God of The Guitar), The Doors (It was Jim’s finger on stage), Pink Floyd (Visit The Moon), The Stooges, The Strokes, hey there’s Jesus and The Mary Chain (I thought I was the only one who like them ;). I’ve left out around another fifty I love or this review will never finish! Hmm, I haven’t heard of the band Invisible Friend Clothing featured at the end of the list and where’s Nirvana??? Oh well arguments will ensue I am sure – perhaps this tee needs a dedicated forum for the next redesign lol.

Apart from the nice addition of a cypher in the form of the t-shirt’s title, there’s a whole heap of some of the coolest singers and bands to hit rock and roll history since cavemen first beat their clubs on the ground. Sure we can argue what’s been left out, or what shouldn’t be included, but in essence Ian has achieved the near impossible here, I can see two great uses for this tee.

1) Guarantee to start a long and most likely highly inebriated conversation at a party as you drink your mates’ dregs and smoke the last o their stash.
2) A perfect t-shirt to wear to the grave. If consciousness does exist beyond the mortal coil, I know I’d like to be able to remember a lot of these bands for posterity!

I have another idea for my Invisible Friend, how about giving artists the same treatment? I’d want to see Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, M.C Escher, and Hieronymus Bosch in there for starters. Perhaps authors? for a start let’s have William S. Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Luke Rhinehart (but only for The Diceman), and J.D. Sallinger somewhere on that list. Oh well enough of my twisted visions for the future of I.F, back to the present! Phew.

Dead Rock Stars T-Shirt

Like I said, I have the original, but here’s one of two revamped versions, better than ever! Pretty self-explanatory really, a roll call for gloriously over-the-top death by intoxification, over-indulgence, and general rock and roll exuberance. Available in Plum, Olive and original Navy.

Revolution T-Shirt

It’s not as jolly as the old Beatles song makes out, but it’s true, it’s truer than true. This one’s guaranteed to get you banned from most international airports and governmental buildings in the paranoid West, it’s not an incitement to riot, it’s art, but self-censorship is advised (cover up) whenever encountering the fascist overlord authorities of the new plutocracy. The Revolution Tee comes with a set of handy instructions should you ever find yourself in the midst of a violent revolution (aren’t they always? a wise man once told me to evolve, not revolve, it’s far less painful). Molotov Cocktails – not my favourite aperatif although I do love the simplicity of this design, bold and unabashed message. Violence is so ordinary and mundane when seen close-up, it’s a fact of life that the people will never be happy and every leader has an ego the size of a planet.

Destroy What You Love

I usually love the simplicity of Ian’s designs, however I’m having a little trouble with Destroy What You Love, conceptually a master stroke, but the results leave me wanting. Why? Perhaps it’s the colour, although the close up of the t-shirt is a more bloody red, I’d have rather seen this in the old black and blue combo, or perhaps a shade more purple. I get it, I understand the motive for red, it’s blood, it’s violence, it’s love, but does it work? I’d have detailed the figure more, give them a flowing mane of dreads, or long greasy hair flying in the wind, something to show more movement. Perhaps some kind of representation of the damage done would help. How about a scattering of broken pieces of guitar on the ground rising up to hit the guy back in the face? Right now I can see a hunchback, or rather others will. I can see why, a jacket or shirt is rising up over the character’s head, but without more illustration it’s hard for most to tell that. At first glance, from a distance, I thought the guy was holding a baseball bat, I imagined all sorts of things, but it wasn’t rock and roll. It was a very nasty street brawl outside a Mets game. Rock is dark and dirty, it isn’t bright and clean, this should be far darker, or trippy, take your pick. Still, from past experience I’ve found that what I don’t like is usually very close to what I love, it’s the frustration of being so close to perfection and then not quite making the grade. Yes, love has left me too clean, bright red and frustrated lol.

Forbidden Fruit

Oh temptation, you damnable temptress, you foul beauty of the mire, can I get a quickie before the Lord on high banishes us to the hell of humanity? Sorry, poetry of all things, that’s not what you want in a t-shirt reviews blog. Okay, I love this one, I have a feeling it’s been swiped from a page of a Medieval bible, but I don’t care, it rocks. This is what Invisible Friend Clothing is all about for me, sex, death, and a moment of indecision that seems to last forever. It’s a philosophical quagmire, a cultural and sexual malaise, a constant temptation of fate, and the inevitable fear of mortality.

I love the tag line “One of your five a day” – this is a new direction for I.F as far as I’m concerned, I’d like to see more like this, plagiarising the past with a healthy dose of disrespect and indifference to major religious beliefs and history in general. Religion has caused a lot of problems in this world, especially war amongst a whole lot more. I saw a documentary once about somewhere in the Middle East (that’s where all this bible stuff seems to be) which showed the remains of a once impossibly fertile enclosure hidden off in a desert, don’t ask me where. The fact is there was a drought, sure that one apple might have helped the compost bin, but as most ancient South American cultures discovered, if you chop down the trees and the water runs out, it’s the end of the world as we know it. By the way the original Hebrew version of Adam and Eve was mistranslated (a lot of the bible was), it’s not a snake it’s a guy from the Brotherhood of Serpents, don’t ask, I have no idea. Anyway, rest easy, if this is hell it’s all our own fault :p

Check out www.invisible-friend.co.uk, they have a community, they’ve got a sale on too here, and a groovy competition (if you like Franz Ferdinand).