Launching Issue Zero.
With Gucci and ‘Notes From The Underground’
For Issue Zero, we have collaborated with Gucci to produce Notes from the Underground, inviting musical artists from the independent, experimental and avant pop fringes to perform exclusively for Perfect˙ across a variety of media.
While much of the world was in lockdown, causing live music venues and studios to remain closed indefinitely and new releases and tours to be postponed or cancelled, Gucci’s musical director Steve Mackey resolved to turn the spotlight on notable musicians unable to record or perform who have nevertheless continued to create at home. Working with Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, he drafted a shortlist of talents from across continents and genres, all connected by the fact they work at the more experimental edge of their field, and invited them to create a film of themselves performing live. They were given complete artistic freedom to document their performance in any way they wished, along with access to Gucci’s collection for spring/summer 2021. The only instruction was that their presentation should have ‘a nocturnal edge’, Mackey explains, because that is when music is at its most powerful, and where musicians often feel most comfortable performing.
The result is Notes from the Underground, a 360-degree immersive experience that spans visual, sonic, digital and physical media technologies produced with the new creative agency Perfect˙. Videos of the performances will be available to watch on Perfect˙’s YouTube channel. Where the pandemic restrictions allowed, Mackey photographed the artists, and when he could not, they photographed themselves. These images are infused with an after-dark atmosphere of a gig in some intimate underground venue, and feature in the debut issue of Perfect, the agency’s new print magazine, alongside interviews with the artists. Accompanying each issue is a flexi disc, one of a series of 11 featuring a recording of each performance that can be played on a turntable like vinyl, with artwork designed by Alessandro Michele.
The artists taking part in Notes from the Underground are: Angèle David-Guillou, Doon Kanda, Douglas Dare, the Ebinum Brothers, Equiknoxx, Hatis Noit, Hsien Ching, Jockstrap, Kate NV, Lotic, Lol K, Minsky Rock and Oliver Coates.
The debut issue of Perfect˙ magazine launches on 1 April 2021 and can be pre-ordered now. It will be available from Dover Street Market stores worldwide, selected Gucci stores and specialist bookshops. Notes from the Underground videos can be viewed on Perfect˙’s YouTube channel
