Ben Pobjoy, the Tourist’s Publisher comments on his 2011 essentials, “In 2011, I couldn’t live without the new music of Danny Brown, Iceage, King Krule, Drake, SBTRKT, Willis Earl Beal, Trash Talk, the first Weeknd mixtape and Jamie xx’s Gil Scott-Heron remixes. However, when hitting the punching bag Converge’s Axe to Fall remains my essential album to listen to when boxing. This segues nicely into my fave boxing matches of the year which were Kirkland vs. Angulo (fight of the year / forever inspired by Ann Wolfe), Khan vs. Peterson (for the underdog upset) and Mayweather vs. Ortiz (for sheer insanity). Sorry, but I have to namedrop boxing because it was something I always looked forward to watching after long days in the office / long work weeks. While still on the boxing tip, it was an absolute privilege/ professional highlight of the year to produce the music video for Jamie xx & Gil Scott-Heron’s I’ll Take Care of U which was directed by the Tourist’s Jamie-James Medina and AG Rojas. Late nights in the Bronx eating Justine’s, late nights in Montreal shutting down Nora Gray and late nights in Austin at SXSW were all essential for blowing off steam. This year I really drew a lot of pride and inspiration from the new wave of young kids that exemplify the DIY ethos like T. Reilly Hodgson and Dimitri Karakostas (who run Blood of the Young and segued into apparel and other lifestyle items this year), Michael Krebs and Hanna Pribitzer (who run Revolog and make 35mm film) and Matt Martin (who founded the Photocopy Club and is furthering the photocopied aesthetic as high art). Art-wise, Doug Brown, Niall McClelland and Jesse Harris ‘hands-down’ produced my favorite work of the year that ran the gamut from the graphic to the complex to the irreverent. Gear-wise, Brixton hats, Carhartt vests and Nike Air Max 87s continue to be essentials that I can’t live without. Being gifted a medium format camera by Jamie-James was not only a highlight of the year but turned into something I couldn’t live without as I couldn’t put it down. Launching a new portfolio website and launching War of Spoils was also a blast. However, working on the Tourist, writing all the posts for the Tourist Tumblr blog each day, going through follower work each Thursday for our Friday Tumblr Tourism posts and conversing with many of you was more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. So, above all else, many thanks to everyone who supported the Tourist- I couldn’t have lived without you this year!
:)
