Check out a time-lapse video of the Tim Biskup-designed Ocean mural located at 616 N. La Brea in Los Angeles. It’ll be changing over the next few weeks, be sure to check back and see how things progress…

More about Tim and the soundtrack after the jump…

Tim Biskup is a Southern California fine artist whose work has been shown worldwide, including galleries and museums in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Kyoto, Barcelona, Berlin and Melbourne. He’s collaborated with artists and designers around the globe and organized art auctions and exhibitions.

Think Downtown L.A. Now think way, way Downtown L.A. and you have the setting of Project Runway winner Jeffrey Sebelia’s post-reality TV debut of the latest collection from his Cosa Nostra line, sponsored in part by Helio. Located at the brand new, not yet inhabited 2121 Lofts, which are nestled between the Los Angeles River and the Seventh Street Bridge, the space was transformed into a party rivaling some of Hollywood’s hottest night spots. This modern, industrial setting was a perfect chance for Sebelia to show off his L.A.-inspired threads.

Helio’s Michelle Lanz gets the scoop, after the jump…

The history of Mexican psych is one that has been overlooked in the recent psych revival frenzy. The rock scenes of Japan, Germany & Turkey have received quite a bit of press and seen a lot of the key records reissued but the Mexican equivalent has gotten fairly short shrift. This is due, in part, to the difficulty in tracking down the music and piecing the scene together. Most bands only got to release a single or two, or, if they were really lucky, maybe one album. But, man, are there some gems.

Rock on after the jump…

More after the jump…

“Los Angeles has long been associated with glamour, glitz, image and unreality. It has always been undeniably glossy and shallow. Reality, of course, remains easily accessible. The Buff Monster hails from the inhospitable streets of Los Angeles. Small and elusive, it thrives in a city with a historic graffiti problem. The Monster manifest itself in different forms, each working towards the same goal of graffiti eradication. Buff Monster has evolved from using flattened spray cans nailed to telephone poles, to primarily using big gray boxes situated throughout the city. On rare occasions you might also find the monster standing even taller than you do. And sometimes the Monster gets invited in from the streets. Galleries provide good temporary homes for the monster. The monster takes old rusty metal and splatters it with layers of fluorescent and metallic paint. From the candy- coated surfaces, oozing landscapes emerge. Pink is power in the land of the Buff Monster.”
Check out interviews at Archinect and FMCS.
Don’t miss Happy Squirter opening at the Corey Helford Gallery on June 1st from 8-11PM:

Dan Kennedy is the author of the stupendous 2004 memoir, Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation. He is currently at work on his next book and continuing his tenure in the upper echelon of contributors to McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

Helio examines a writer who, with a few deft strokes of the keyboard, has an uncanny ability to dissect a passing glance into an angst-ridden kaleidoscope of unaffected humor.

Read more after the jump…