“The way I work and try to use different styles and mediums is based on a solid restlessness,” says Michael Thorsby, best known as graphic-design force PMKFA, from his parents’ house in the deep forests of Småland, Sweden. And considering that the country has just been blanketed by a snowstorm, the air there is nearing single-digit temperatures, and Thorsby has spent the day waiting on platforms for severely delayed trains, that restlessness is palpable.

Thorsby has lived in Tokyo for the past five years, a time he has used to “gradually break down the set of logics I believe we all are born and bred with.” This tension between his own foundation, and efforts to resolve it through another cultural lens, he believes, has resulted in some of his most interesting pieces. “It’s natural. If I can use parts of my skills that can be found in schooling in Europe and combine it with a mindset from a place 9000 kilometers away, something unexpected might—or most definitely—will appear,” he explains. “This fusion usually surfaces when I’m slightly under-stimulated… at least, that’s when things tend to get very psychedelic.”

Said under-stimulation recently yielded PMKFA (Sixpack France; 25 €), his new book that features pieces ranging from abstract landscape photography to visual homages to his own musical passions, such as “screw, dancehall, and everything involving deep, synthetic bass.” The book includes distorted, hallucinatory character illustrations, shots of his pattern-based garments, and fully three-dimensional art installations—all of which, despite their material diversity, manage to feel like part of a coherent and consistent body of work. Cartoony gradient bombs on two feet stand next to hotdog counterparts, geometric light shows fill closed frames, and bizarre men on horseback are juxtaposed with old-timey jukeboxes. The designs are broken up by conversations between Thorsby and several of his friends and fellow artists, which provide elegant insight into the mind behind the designs. Oh, and purple seems to be the predominant color at work here, if you’re keeping score.

Clearly Thorsby isn’t short on creativity, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not constantly seeking ways to push himself. “When I compile my work, whether it be for books or websites, it’s always too see what I haven’t done—to extract what I did right but find out what I’m bad at, fill in those gaps, and work to feel more complete as a creator.”
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PMKFA and an assortment of PMKFA-designed shirts are available here

In this round of Inbox, XLR8R is straight chillin’ with legendary Oakland hip-hop foursome Souls of Mischief. Members A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai take turns charming us with their choice of potty reads and a behind-the-scenes look at tour hijinks and international groupie love. The groups’s long-awaited fifth full-length album, Montezuma’s Revenge, is out now on Hieroglyphics Imperium.

XLR8R: What was the last song you had stuck in your head?
Tajai: “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” by Shady Nate.

What’s the weirdest story you have ever heard about yourself?
Tajai: That I jumped fully clothed into a hotel fountain. It’s true—I had just forgotten about it.

If you lost a bet and were consequently required to tattoo a line from any of your lyrics on your arm, which would you choose?
Tajai: “Pay Due!”

What has been your craziest fan moment so far?
A-Plus: My craziest fan moment probably [happened] when I was abroad. There was this girl following me around. One time, when I went back to my hotel, she was sitting in front with the same clothes she had on the night before. I started talking to her, but there was a language barrier. [As] we were talking I noticed she had some shit on her shirt, and I was like, “Oh shit, what’s that?” She said sorry and left. Later, I [asked] my people about what happened, and Domino, he was like, “Oh yeah, she was in my hotel last night.” She had cum on her chest!

Any especially juicy tour stories?
A-Plus: I have a few. The Cali Comm tour with The Pharcyde, Planet Asia, Rasco, KutMasta Kurt, and a few other people (including Souls Of Mischief): That was the craziest tour I’ve ever been on in my whole life. I remember one of those guys had a trash bag full of prophylactics. By the end of the tour, the whole bag was empty. We had our Raiders colors on and the buses were crazy. The Souls bus was the calm bus.

What is your most unusual studio toy?
A-Plus: Marijuana would have to be it. Certainly nothing technical [that is] weird. Everything that’s technical that I use is pretty standard. I don’t have any sort of secret set-up in the studio.

What is one thing you couldn’t live without (excluding the obvious essential, i.e. air, water, etc.)?
A-Plus: Music.

If you could describe your music using any nonsensical adjective (i.e. serifractory, jolinuous, freg), what would it be?
Opio: Non-McDonaldized.

What was the last piece of good advice you received?
Opio: “It takes courage to be in love.”

What kind of mischief got you into trouble when you were little?
Opio: Calling 976-SEXX with my homies on a three-way call. We kept hanging up in the middle, laughing, and calling back to listen longer. Mom flipped out when she saw the phone bill.

Which other artist would you most like to work with next?
Opio: Black Milk, Pete Rock, DJ Quik, Busta Rhymes, Kurupt, the list goes on and on…

What book are you reading right now?
Tajai: The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracián—only on the toilet though.

Complete this sentence: Happiness is…
Phesto: Happiness is creating, learning, and practicing.

Describe your current surroundings in three sentences or less.
Phesto: In my bedroom. Laptop, keyboard, digital recorder, headphones. Making some music and watching Con Air.

What’s happening from ’10 ’til infinity?
Phesto: More of the same: studying music, putting out records. Fine-tuning. Pushing the boundaries in hip-hop and music in general. Life!