Archive for October, 2008

Tonight is Halloween and I tried my best to put together a Halloween post but it was almost impossible without doing something too generic so at the bottom there’s something special for the holiday, probably not the best to play at work. To be honest I only watched it with the sound off and skimmed thru it since it’s probably the scariest video ever. As for the music the Isolee, Paape and LCD Soundsystem tracks are a few favorites of mine to DJ when its a diverse crowd, so if you’re DJing tonight or tomorrow(Scott!) here are some crowd pleasers.

Isolee – Enrico

Juergen Paape – Mit Dir

Jimpster – State of Mind

LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends

Suspiria – Happy Halloween – NSFW

I’m flying out to Florida this afternoon to play the Connext show on Saturday. I’ve never been down there before so I’m pretty excited; unfortunately I’ll only be in town for the weekend. When I think of Florida I think of Crocket, Tubbs, and the Epcot Center. Although I won’t be going to Orlando on this trip, I thought now would be as good a time as any to post some shots from the original Epcot Pre-Opening Guide. I’m loving the logo, and bonus points if you can name the typeface they’re using.

Scans Via Jeff B

Hatchback and Sorcerer have done it again by teaming up as Windsurf for an LP, another full collection of tracks in 2008 that we can sit down and listen to all the way thru. The release is available only in Europe right now but soon to be here in the States but if you live in California you can catch them today at the Apple Store, San Francisco October 30, 7:00 p.m.

Windsurf – Light As Daylight

M83 – Couleurs (Jori Hulkkonnen Remix)

Crystal Stilts – Crystal Stilts

Mason Proper – Safe For The Time Being

I’ll be playing a live Tycho set and doing ISO50 visuals this Saturday (Nov.1) in Clearwater, FL for The Connext Project show in Coachman Park. There will also be an ISO50 booth with posters, shirts, CDs, etc. The show starts at 5PM and from what I’ve heard I go on around 9PM. Sorry for the late notice on this, but hopefully you can recover from your Halloween hangover and make it out for the show. See you all out there…

Tycho / ISO50 LIVE @ Connext Project 2008
When: Saturday, November 1st, 2008 @ 5PM
Where: Coachman Park – 301 Drew St. Clearwater, FL 33756 Directions
Admission: ALL AGES – $5 – Buy Tickets

This event is rain or shine.
No food or drink except sealed bottles of water.
Children 5 and under are free.

And here’s the TV spot for the show:

It’s Wednesday and all I want to do is enjoy some slower old favorites even though that Atlas Sound release i don’t think is even a year old yet. Does anyone remember Electric Birds? I’m pretty sure he’s a professional skateboarder if i’m not mistaken.

Manual – Azure Vista

Atlas Sound – Recent Bedroom

Tarwater – Seven Ways To Fake A Perfect Skin

Electric Birds – Nightriders

The latest limited edition “Artist’s For Obama” poster is by none other than Lance Wyman. Wyman, as you may recall, is the branding genius behind the 1968 Mexico Olympic logo as well as countless other brilliant marks. It’s really great to see someone still practicing successful design after all these years and obviously having fun doing it. I always wonder if design is one of the few art forms in which one can remain relevant throughout most of their lifetime; it seems that many other artistic pursuits (music, painting, etc.) are typically characterized by brief periods of genius followed by a sharp decline in output whereas the measured application of a practical, systematic approach to design can be extended into the decades. Maybe it’s that we tend to stick to coffee as opposed to heroin.

And please, save the politicking for some other blog’s comments. I am simply pointing out the fact that Lance Wyman has created new work, no one’s trying to start a huge discussion about who’s voting for whom. If, on the other hand, anyone has anything to say about the effectiveness of the design in question, please don’t hesitate to speak up.

André Obin is similar to what I heard coming out of the UK in the late 90’s like the usual names that might make you a little less interested like Sasha or Underworld but he puts a refreshing twist to it that might be more stiff and cuts out the cheese and dishes out the vocals and synths more upfront.

Royksopp’s Night Out keeps up a great pace and offers such great dynamics, its such a crowd pleaser with elements of DJ Shadow and The Avalanches but dips into really nice psychedelic parts and the breakdown towards the end which reminds me of Pink Floyd and it fits right in without any interruption.

Now we get to probably the catchiest song of them all of 2008, Empire Of The Sun, I must have listen to this song 20 times already today. I didn’t know what to think of it first time(kind of like an episode of Tim and Eric on Adult Swim) around but now I catch myself trying to stop singing it so just be warned before you listen. The video looked like so much fun to make, looks like they had a nice size budget and plenty of freedom.

DFA has a newer signing Runaway who DJ quite often in Manhattan, a lot of distant disco guitar noodling and keeping it simple and dark, a nice way for a DJ to keep a late crowd from leaving.

André Obin – Cinnamon

Royksopp – Royksopp’s Night Out

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream

Runaway – Red Hot

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream – Video

Empire of the Sun, “Walking On A Dream” from Benjamin Technology on Vimeo.

Everyone knows what the Risky Business Soundtrack cover looks like so I figured I’d use this chance to post one of my top 10 favorite album covers: the Tangerine Dream Poland cover (above). Love On A Real Train is just so grabbing and epic, for me its really one of those songs that I wish I would of made. This Peter Broderick track made me realize that i’m a sucker for repetitive finger picking. I heard about Peter Broderick thru a Norwegian guest that i had staying over that performed under the name The Library Tapes, I’m glad I finally looked into his Home LP. I was really just expecting this Paul Kalkbrenner track to be another techno track but its not at all, its this dubby shuffle simple track that is being used for this movie soundtrack called “Berlin Calling“, i’d file it under “If Radiohead made simple dubby techno and didn’t use Greenwood to help”. This Clap Your Hands Say Yeah song in my mind couldn’t be better, I could put it on my headphones and block out anything I don’t want to think about and just become instantly happy, everyone needs one of these “In Case Of An Emergency, Break Glass and Listen” tracks in their lives.

Tangerine Dream – Love On A Real Train

Peter Broderick – Below It

Paul Kalkbrenner – Aaron

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – In This Home On Ice

Tonight I happened upon Network Osaka’s Flickr page via an unrelated search and was pleasantly surprised by a very nice collection of posters. The examples he’s posted range from classic modernism to more contemporary styles; all are well executed. Have a look at Network Osaka’s sites for more:

Network Osaka on Flickr
NetworkOsaka.com