Sneakers have been an obsession for many since sportswear started becoming everyday-wear in the ’70s, and moreso as they became emblems of singular style when hip-hop took over in the ’90s. As with any fashion phenomenon embraced, if not started, by youth culture, creative expression and individualized takes were bound to become big factors as the trend grew. The new book Art & Sole (out now), written and designed by Intercity, shows off the myriad forms in which global-brand fashion merges with the artistic sensibilities of designers both underground and mass-market. Nike, New Balance, Adidas, Vans, Puma and more get made over in limited-edition collaborations that collectors the world over covet (we especially love the creations from British shop Crooked Tongues). After perusing the book, get busy on ebay…there are a lot of awesome sneakers to be had.

Launched in 2008 in Cincinnati, indie-rock band Walk The Moon is starting to gain national attention with the release of the “Anna Sun EP” last week. Check out the colorful cover art and the video for “Anna Sun” below. The band is now recording their new album, the first for major label release. 

Video after jump.

Aggressively blunt, succinct and very funny Tumblr Fuck Your Noguchi Coffee Table takes the piss out of some of today’s overused design trends. A few examples after jump, as well as “Fuck your Eames coat rack” above.

Fuck your ornamental vintage typewriter.

Fuck your frame cluster.

Fuck your “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster.

For those romantics in love with Paris and New York, Vahram Muratyan‘s blog Paris Versus New York has been a treasure trove of valentine’s to both cities in the form of drawings comparing and contrasting the similarities of each. A collection of these charming images are compiled in a new hardcover of the same name (out this week), and are even more appealing in this format. Quasimodo vs. King Kong, Depardieu vs. DeNiro, Pompidou vs. Guggenheim, baguette vs. bagel, the Pyramide de Louvre vs. Apple’s Fifth Avenue cube, and even pigeons vs. rats, all make for a loving look at two iconic cities.

More illustrations after jump.

The Belgian-born, Australia-based multi-instrumentalist Gotye (“ga-te-yay”) has been releasing music under the radar since his 2003 debut Boardface. Yet with the viral sensation of his video for “Somebody That I Used to Know” (46 million views and counting, plus 30 million views -in two weeks!- for Walk off the Earth’s cover; both videos below) – and the U.S. release of third album Making Mirrors (out digitally now, on CD January 31)– anonymity is a thing of the past. That song, a duet with up-and-coming Aussie songbird Kimbra, is the apotheosis of Gotye’s striking sound: playful electronics, memorable choruses, and the hungering vocals of a young, heartbroken Sting. And what exquisite heartbreak there is! From the jumpy New Wave of “Easy Way Out” to the ghostly loss of ambient closer “Brontë,” Gotye (born Wouter De Backer) reflects his pain and our own back to us. And, my oh my, do we love what we see.

Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius, follows up his fantastic 2010 debut album on February 21 with the release of Put Your Back N 2 It, a collection of haunting, brief gay-centric songs. The first single off the album (see cover after jump, plus free mp3), “Hood,” has a video featuring porn star Arpad Miklos. It’s a quirky mix of tough and tender…and did its job in getting us worked up for the album.

all waters // perfume genius by sexmusic

In assembling “Smash,” NBC’s ”‘Glee’ for grown-ups” Broadway musical meta-drama (premieres February 6; download premiere episode for free now at iTunes), the network has taken no chances, peopling its “Marilyn: The Musical” making-of tale with Oscar darlings (Anjelica Huston), beloved Emmy winners (Debra Messing) and genuine movie stars (Uma Thurman comes aboard later this season). Add in executive producer Steven Effing Speilberg, and the pedigree alone should make this a slam dunk. But as the fictitious musical’s director (Jack Davenport, who will inspire hate-sex fantasies for weeks) astutely points out, “Without a Marilyn, you’ve got nothing.” Luckily, “Smash” has two: Ivy (mega-talented Broadway vet Megan Hilty), a long-suffering chorus girl on the verge of a breakthrough; and Karen (Katharine McPhee), a stunning nobody with a gorgeous voice. McPhee’s audition scenes – a formal song at a callback and an informal one at the director’s apartment – are worth the price of admission on their own, providing “star-is-born” moments for the character and the actress, who shakes off a six-year “American Idol” hangover and shames everyone (you know who you are) who ever voted for Taylor Hicks.

Is Brooklyn the center of the world? Manhattan-ites may beg to differ, but there’s been no healthier musical epicenter these last five years than the kids across the Williamsburg Bridge. The National, The Drums, Grizzly Bear, Sufjan Stevens and many more alt stars call Brooklyn their home, as do the four members of pop-punk upstarts Black Taxi. With their second album We Don’t Know Any Better (available tomorrow) Ezra Huleatt (vocals/keys/trumpet), Bill Mayo (guitar/vocals/triangle), Krisanan Soponpong (bass), and Jason Holmes (drums/vocals) out-stroke The Strokes on opener “Tightrope,” bring Men at Work to electro on current single “Hand,” and channel ’90s alt-vets Cake on the kicky title track. There are a lot of influences – and a lot of borrowed parts – that keep this Black Taxi, and you, moving.

It’s no secret that we are die-hard Alfred Hitchcock fans (see here, here and here), but we’ve got a great reason for bringing him up again. Three of his early Hollywood-era thrillers are making their Blu-ray debuts on January 24: Rebecca (1940; Oscar-winner for Best Picture; Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson), Spellbound (1945; Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck) Notorious (1946; with Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Claude Rains). All three black-and-white films remain classics (of their genre, of Hitchcock, and of Hollywood). They’ll make perfect viewing for a gloomy winter weekend afternoon; we are envious of those of you who will experience these films, for the first time, in their full high-def glory.

Chuck Holmes, the San Francisco-based entrepreneur who created gay porn mecca Falcon Studios, not only changed our lives by bringing porn home (he was among the first to put his films on videocassette — remember those!?), but by directing the fortune he made towards HIV/AIDS outreach as well as various other philanthropic causes; Falcon’s films became the gift that kept on giving. Michael Stabile, the filmmaker who created the docu Smut Capital of America, about San Francisco’s role in the sexual revolution, is raising funds for a new docu about Holmes, brilliantly titled Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story. Stabile has a Kickstarter page to raise funds to finish the film, and has until Monday to get to $25,000 or everything pledged so far is lost. Toss some cash his way let’s ensure that Holmes, who passed away in 2000 from AIDS-related causes, is remembered for what his porn empire allowed him to give back to the gay community.