This week was all about Broken Bells. Granted, I think I will forever be interested in anything Dangermouse, or in this case, Brian Burton, is a part of, but this is really one of the best yet. He’s paired up with James Mercer of The Shins. I’d have to say this is one of the better new things I’ve heard recently, and the artwork for the album is very awesome.
Grateful Dead was my second most listened to artist this week, something I’d never expected to happen. I could never get into them, and found them very corny, but Ian told me that’s because I never listened to Workingman’s Dead. So once I did, I moved on to Live/Dead, and then just this past week American Beauty. I’m far from a dead head, but I’m not at all opposed to getting down to them.
For a while I only had M.Ward’s Post War on my computer, which is by the way is very good, but I downloaded Transfiguration Of Vincent, which I hadn’t listened to since 2005, and I was enjoying that. He’s got such a distinct voice.
The Strange Boys are a band I caught wind of on Jeff’s blog. They are sloppy and fun and sound like a couple of guys who you’d like to see play in a crowded house show. Actually, I’d like to see that happen in a big way.
Dirty Projectors I’m sure you all know and love. I can almost always turn to them when I’m unsure of what I should be listening to. Make it a priority to see this band live.
Squeeze falls in next. Almost everyone loves them because almost everyone loves Tempted but I was determined to know more about them that. So I got Singles 45’s And Under because that’s what my Uncle Tim had when I was younger, and that was what I first knew about Squeeze. Some of their music still holds up, and some of it…well, you know.
I seem to always underestimate Why? Which is a shame to end all shames. But man, Alopecia is one of the best albums, like ever. It has so much to offer. Yoni has got so many great ways of arranging his words, and the way he half speaks his lyrics yet still the melodies are prominent, and good. If you walk away with this with one album, Alopecia should probably be it.
And finally I rounded it off with Tame Impala, a few dudes from Australia. Certainly psychedelic, they sound like the 60’s came to visit and dropped them off as a gift. I can’t help but hear the yelps of John Lennon popping through the vocals. Listen for a wild time.
As always, if your feeling like a bad boy, add me on last.fm
I don’t dislike football, but I never seem to be able to commit to watching a season. Even the playoffs don’t do much for me in the way the NBA or MLB ones do. However, I always take interest in the Super Bowl. I don’t really know why, but every year I feel like I should be having a Super Bowl party. If nothing else, it’s an excuse to spend time with your friends.I wanted to make something for it, and I liked the visual idea of actual saints and colts. Hope you have a great time watching, and hopefully the team your rooting for wins. I’m going Saints!
I got to take some promos for We Were Once Children this weekend. I had a few ideas, and was glad that I got to hash them out. I got to use some of the stuff I’ve been messing around with, as well as try some new stuff out. The panoramic picture gave some pretty trippy results, deformity being one of them. We actually have a few more ideas that we’d like to tackle when we have some more time. Give these guys a listen, and if you have the opportunity, try to catch one of their shows.
The idea for this just came to me one day. I don’t know where or why, but the way it looks now just entered my head, and I finally made it. I like when that happens. Mike and I saw the movie Art & Copy a few months ago and one part that I really just loved was when they talked about how creative people don’t know where their ideas come from, they just arrive. It’s really a blessing.
I know it’s impossible to tell, but the photo is the sunset at Lake Champlain in January of 2009. I took it while crossing the lake from Vermont to New York on a ferry with Ian, Jeff, and John.
Vetiver rightfully took my number one space this week as they have been doing recently. I wasn’t always as into them as I am now, and I don’t even have a good reason to back that up. Ian told me “Tight Knit” would have been on his top albums of 2009 list had he made one, and so I checked it out and it put me into a Vetiver whirlwind hearing them like I never have before.
Speaking of Ian, European Swans, his musical moniker, comes in at number two due to the leaked version of “Demon Line Up” I received. So good! I’ve been waiting for it for a long time, and it’s just truly sweet. The album cover is also amazing, and I’ll try to get it on here soon.
I revisited Four Tet, which I hadn’t since 4 years ago. His new album is in the style of Tycho, with a bit more dance in it, so if you’re into getting stuff done, listening to this would be a good idea.
Surfer Blood is some new jams I’ve been feeling. I heard Bryce from Chalk Talk recommend this to Biff, and I swooped in and listened for myself. They are fun beachy music similar to The Drums.
River City Extension. Man so good. I know I talk about them all the time, but I finally got a hold of the final final final tracks for The Unmistakable Man, and it’s just some of the best stuff ever. I got to design their whole album which I am soooo pumped to have my name attached to this album. I’ll show that work soon.
Yeasayer’s new album Odd Blood is awesome. I liked All Hour Cymbals but it had some filler…this is all good. And Ambling Alps is such a good song, and the video is amazing. Please go watch it.
Princeton is very fun, and I’ve been jamming to Cocoon all this week.
And finally Holiday Shores makes it back again. Really good stuff from them. Plus I don’t know if I said this last time or not, but the cover is pretty awesome. Which makes any album that much more listenable.
Again, feel free (to feel free) and add me on last.fm.
I made this for a show I did last year of all portraits. This was pre-Nom Now days, so in the spaces where I could have repped that, I gave it to BCDQ and Sons Of Longley. That ain’t bad though!
In some odd turn of events, this never made it onto the internet until now, so I wanted to show it to whoever is looking.
Anyway, Native Americans are so cool, and I want to do more stuff involving them.
I promised more roads, and so here is another. Somerdale is the road I take to work everyday. There’s plenty of red lights, and a lot to look at. It’s a long and windy road, and the sun seems to always be setting or rising while I’m on it.
The next is a picture I took when I was leaving work on Thursday. As much as I love being at work, there’s nothing better then going home after a long day, and this scene was doing me right.
Today Mike and I went into the city to meet our friend Leighton for lunch. This guy has the funniest most unbelievable stories I’ve ever heard. After that we put up a few Fresh stickers and went to IKEA, this picture was taken on the way there.
I took the first photo on my way home from work on monday because I noticed those huge mounds of dirt for the first time. It’s weird how you pass something everyday and sometimes just never realize it’s there. I also just found a house with a mote in front of it. I need to get a photo of it. But anyway, after adjusting it on the computer, it made me want to take photos of other roads I travel on a daily basis in hopes to see them differently as well.
The next photo is again messing with panoramic shots which I’ve been into lately.
And lastly is another picture from when the power went out at Star. This was on my out, and I just loved the way the structures were making silhouettes.
Yesterday was a wild downpour. It got so heavy that the power flickered off and on at work. A few hours later it was getting worse and the power just wound up shutting off all together.The first set of pictures is Mike Smith hard at work, and the text is a bit of advice you can give to someone to do a job you yourself don’t wish to.
The panoramic photo was taken during the power outage. It was weird to see a place that is always so bright and lively in pretty much the exact opposite state. The rain on the roof of the building sounds like someone pushing the loudest cart of rattling tins down the longest hall.
Again, these are all larger then how they appear, so click to enjoy in full size.
#musicmonday has been dominating twitter since way before I was a part of it. And even since then I’ve been reluctant to get into it, because I didn’t really understand it. But lately I’ve been on the ISO50 blog, and the Kitsune Noir blog, and both have been paying (almost) equal attention to music as they are design, and how they interact. I’ve since discovered new music through those, and thought it would be cool to hopefully pass some along to other people myself.
It’s been a Smiths week for sure. I had a resurgence of interest after not listening for years, and it feels good to be back. Morissey is a strange one indeed, but he’s giving out some lyrics that are too good to pass up.
Tom Waits was confusing to me for a long time, but I had a moment of awakening and ever since then I have times where that’s the only thing I want to listen to. This time was certainly in part of my finishing The Wire, and becoming obsessed with “Way Down In The Hole.”
Holiday Shores was a band I was turned onto from some blog, which I am regrettably forgetting, but it’s smooth and groovy.
Tycho is the musical works of Scott Hansen, proving that he’s good at everything. This is awesome music to work to, I did all of yesterday’s work with Tycho going, and I’ll continue to do that for some time.
Townes Van Zandt is so underrated and under appreciated. I really don’t know what else to say about him besides those two things.
Beach House is ethereal and floaty and every once and a while, it’s exactly what I need to hear. Like Tycho, good to work to.
Bowerbirds and Frightened Rabbit round out the list. Bowerbirds Upper Air is actually really good and “Northern Lights” is untouchable.
Frightened Rabbit was a suggestion of River City Extension’s Joe Michelini. They were close to being just another band that I couldn’t spend the time to listen to to find out if I actually liked them, and I’m glad I was turned around before I never gave them a chance. He’s Scottish, and that’s awesome.
Recently I’ve been wanting to create boundaries for my work. It’s sometimes fun to go nilly willy and try things that you’ve never done before, but I’d also like to get to a place where people can recognize that something is mine just because of the way it looks. So I’ve been following particular steps in how I take my photos, and what I do with them after wards, in hopes to create a uniformity within them.
I also read an article on the ISO50 blog talking about how he uses so few typefaces. This is also something I’m interested in doing. We all have our favorite go to fonts, and I am going to play on that.
So anyway, today was a lazy day around the apartment, and I wanted to capture some of that. Anyone who’s been to Park Crest or in particular Kirby and Amy’s apartment knows what it’s like, and I hope this reflects it. Also, I always find it interesting to see the space that people do there work in. So I included a “work space” photo so you can see where my stuff usually goes down. Like I said, that kind of stuff is always intriguing so if you feel so inclined, I’d like to see where you do your best…and worst.
By the way all of these photos are large. So just click on them to see them full size.
Here’s some footage from The Consecos set at Jeff Goldblum fest last weekend. In further news regarding the con men, we’ve been added to the roster of Philly’s February favorite, “Two Piece Fest!” Feels great man.
I continue to be inspired by the Nom Now movement, and I hope that many of you are as well. This is a wallpaper for anyone who’s interested, just click the photo and it will give you the big boy size.
Continue making the world!
It’s been a long while, and I want to show some stuff that I did over the past few weeks, that slipped through the cracks and never got put up anywhere.
I made this poster for my friend Amy Fread for her birthday.
My friends from Black Churches asked me to help them out with a design for their new EP cover. I was happy to do so. The album was actually released today. Don’t be a dope, just listen to them.
This is for Mike. Sitting through an aesthetics class full of music majors and listening to them try to relate readings that are talking about visual art to music, is something that makes you want to assault everyone in the classroom. God knows I’ve been there before.
