Archive for September, 2009

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOZqRJzE8xg
Dusty sent me this video the other day and a quick image search yielded some pretty interesting stuff. It’s incredible to see the Sketchpad system in action; remember it’s 1963 and this is basically Illustrator or AutoCAD 0.01a. Here’s the video description:

“Alan Kay presenting Ivan Sutherland’s Sketchpad, one of most influential programs in the history of graphical user interfaces.”

I love when the narrator says that light pens have since been discovered to be terrible input devices, leaving your hand numb. The funny thing is that the first mouse was invented the same year that Sutherland developed the Sketchpad system. It’s crazy that our primary input device is still the mouse, that’s almost a 50 year run. In computer time that’s just too long and I want my Minority Report screen asap. Although I often wonder if a big touch screen would really be that great. The fact that Microsoft seems to be the front runner in the field (multi-touch) doesn’t bode well for it either.

Video Link

The backing rhythms remind me of listening to early Kompakt out of a hand radio while being completely occupied with blowing a 100 dandelion tails out a car window with the members of the Cocteau Twins. After hearing this album by A Sunny Day in Glasgow I might have to say they maybe the torchbearers of softy dream pop in 2009 and I have no problems with that. After hearing a few songs I was thinking this could be what Stereolab would sound like if it was reborn and cared for by Slowdive and a giant gentle shoegaze educated moth that flew the band members around and cultured them with magical sound like Falcor from Neverending Story? Could I name drop anymore band names in this post? no one will ever know unless a band member from A Sunny Day in Glasgow approves this post.

Please note: that the photo of the Dandelion Tails is by John Corney, perfect name for the perfect picture.

A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Passionate Introverts

A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Starting At A Disadvantage

A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Canalfish

A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Shy

A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Close Chorus

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq0fi_tZSSc
Our Danish friends Joaquim Marquès Nielsen and Anders Baden Nielsen have put together a very thorough and insightful process piece on the creation of the poster for the movie “Connected”. You can check it all out at Joaquim’s blog.

I need to credit Scott for finding Neon Indian, I almost wrote it off because the name but one quick listen and I was hooked. The synths have this nice in and out sound and his singing stays in the perfect range, overall just a catchy experimental pop song, I hope to hear more from him.

I remember that Shades Of Jae was my first taste of actually obsessively seeking out a record, a friend of mine had doubles but didn’t want to part with either. The song is such a tease, it feels like its going to start up like 10 times but just goes back into the groove that doesn’t have a kick which really separates the house lovers and the fakers on a dance floor.

Disco tracks on Kompakt in the early 2000s? yes and it was a go to record if you had to DJ to a stiff crowd. If I didn’t have Muria by Metro Area or 2 after 909 some nights would get really long, these 2 always loosened everyone up with that huge swaying synth and warmed up Kraftwerk like sounding machines calculating.

One of the first songs I ever heard by The Field was A Paw In My Face and its still one of the best. Held together by a looping stutter of a Lionel Richie song and some octave changes I never know when you would turn it off because i’m such a fan of repetition, i’m going on 3 times in a row and I still want more.

Just saw some retweets of this Flying Lotus video i’ve never seen for Infinitum, enjoy.

Neon Indian – 6669

Moodymann – Shades of Jae

Justus Köhncke – 2 after 909

The Field – A Paw In My Face

[audio:paw.mp3]

The New York Times’ T Magazine often comissions artists to create their own version of the iconic T that is the magazine’s logo. There’s a great collection of the work over at the T Magazine blog featuring some of the standouts. Interesting to see so many fresh takes on the same theme, they should make a coffee table book out of these if they haven’t already. My personal favorite is that first ceramic one; the negative space is so perfect. Unfortunately, whoever did the type layout decided that neon green in the title would somehow work with the vibe. Clearly it didn’t.

Link

I found a number of cool sites as I explored the Cargo network this last weekend. One such site was the portfolio of Chad Hagen. I love how each of his projects unfolds as a series; within every section there are a number of interesting images tied together by similar visual stylings. I enjoyed clicking through the slideshows and determining my favorites of each, some of which are above.

His beautifully designed illustrations look like they could be out of an instruction manual for some amazing (albeit nonexistent) product or device. As his title “Nonsense Infographics” indicates, there is actually no “information” being conveyed per se — but when the graphics look this good, I don’t really care.

I heard Washed Out on the Gorilla vs Bear blog awhile back and have been hunting down tracks ever since. He has the same draw that Panda Bear, Lone, and Bullion had to my ear when I first hear them. I think this song is soo good and different that it might be a new way to figure out if I can be friends with a person solely based on just playing them this song and their reaction, I kid I kid i’d never set up that kind of system to find new friends, who does such a thing.

Lusine and Cassette’s Wont Listen’s remix of Christine both came out today, i’ve been waiting for this Lusine song to come out so I could share it with you all. Cirrus builds like a growing smokey fire, very thick and quickly spreads out over the spectrum of sound while Cool Your Shoes reminds of alumni Ghostly electronic indie rockers Midwest Product with its fast pace synths and movie soundtrack breakdowns.

Michna and I have been djing weekly at Brooklyn Bowl in New York which is a beautiful venue, most of the music I play is stuff that is popular in the mainstream world but once in a while Michna or I get to throw in something we really love, last week I heard Michna play this Hot Chip remix of Gorillaz which sounded soo good on their system, the song picks up nicely and switches thru all different kinds of genres.

Washed Out – Feel It All Around

Lusine – Cirrus

Christine – Cool Your Shoes (Cassettes Won’t Listen Remix)

Gorillaz – Kids With Guns (Hot Chip Remix)