Archive for November, 2009

This is pretty rewarding 19 minute piece by Piano Magic if you have the time to slow down and enjoy the ocean wave sounds and a bell, I promise its well worth it especially right around the 7 minute mark and on.

I don’t listen to Cat Power, just never felt like she was worth looking into since I felt like the whole indie world had it covered but my best friend The Tower Of Light definitely proved me wrong by playing me this gorgeous and passion filled track that she did with Dirty Three.

Ex Boards of Canada member Christ is always releasing it feels like, this seems like a pretty raw LP, not as dreamy but heavy on highs in the Mono/Poly(?) and 90’s style breaks, I like how that he is holding down this sound and doesn’t evolve into what’s popular just for the sake of doing it.

Everyone has been leaking this new Four Tet song everywhere in the blog world, let me know if you like it, it has really grown on me, but i’m still not into the vocal samples though.

Piano Magic – Halloween Boat

[audio:magicboat.mp3]

Dirty Three – Great Waves (feat. Cat Power)

[audio:catwaves.mp3]

Christ – Dymaxian Oceanic World

[audio:christdow.mp3]

Four Tet – Love Cry

[audio:lovecry.mp3]

Insect54 has a great Flickr set of 70’s and 80’s Modern Publicity issues. Still waiting to find a stack of something like this in an old closet or at a garage sale, not holding my breath. Where do you find stuff like this anyways? I suppose at this point it’s down to going to shows and swap meets, I doubt there are many gems like this just floating around anymore.

Published Annually by Studio VIsta. Showcasing the best work submitted by designers from around the world.

Shown here are:
Number 40 –– 1970/71
Number 42 –– 1972/73
Number 50 –– 1981

Link

In 2003 I remember hearing this mix by Tobias Thomas and it being the first mix to really catch the beauty in melody in house/techno while venturing off into indie electronic, it was super inspiring and probably shaped me and my taste in music from there on. It has this gradual gentle ramp up into the dance music like a friendly tap on the shoulder, such a welcoming collection of tracks too, if you lend this CD to someone that didn’t like house music but liked Erlend Oye then I think you’d have that person asking for more. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED mix to own.

Kaito / Erlend Oye – Release Your Body/Ghost Train (Accapella)

[audio:sv_eo.mp3]

Sami Koivikko – Grunis

[audio:sv_sk.mp3]

Le Dust Sucker – Mandate My Ass

[audio:sv_lds.mp3]

Tonetraeger – Welcome Back Kotter (Thomas/Mayer Mix)

[audio:sv_tm.mp3]

Happy 11/11! For us in The States it’s Veterans Day (Armistice Day for much of Europe), I’m not sure if anyone besides students and librarians get the day off, but it’s a good opportunity to reflect on the state of affairs in our world and to show our appreciation (regardless of political stance) for the men and women who walk the line for us every day of the year. Although not all that related, Smashing Magazine’s piece on aerial photography seemed like a fitting post. Seeing shots like this always seems to give some perspective on things.

Aerial photography has always fascinated me, unfortunately it’s prohibitively expensive. You pretty much have to be a pro to even get near these sorts of photo ops. I always have my D80 close at hand when I fly just in case something presents itself, but it seems like polarization or a random overhead light always ruins the moment. I think this is the closest I ever got to anything halfway decent.

Anybody here have any experience with aerial stuff? I’ve heard they rent ultralights out in Davis, CA. Seems like it would be worth it just to go up with a decent camera.

More photos and all credits for above images can be found here

Since the success of the first two exclusive FREE EP’s ( 1st & 2nd ) that we did on ISO50 blog I asked for some musicians for more tracks of covers and edits.

Our very own Tom Croose who has helped with Playlist #4 made a dreamy edit of Beirut’s Venice track, i’ve posted this song before but I never felt like it received the proper love.

I’m sure many have covered Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love but 800beloved’s cover comes to us as one of the more unique and stylized one’s that i’d actually listen to. There is a bit of a 50’s slow swing plus some goth that meets post rock, so if you have your finger on the indie pulse I can only explain it to you this way: it’s like if The xx and the Editors covered Can’t Help Falling In Love, yeah something like that.

One guy to watch in 2010 is Shigeto, he can do what that Los Angeles Flying Lotus crew does but he actually plays the drums live at all of his shows and comes from the same town as Dabrye and Samiyam. His edit of Ravi Shankar is a better representation of his rhythms in his original work, you definitely should check those out if you like fatty synths and dub style kicks.

If you downloaded the last FREE EP here you might of heard the M83 You Appearing edit which might be a favorite of mine still. Well Ryan Cavanagh who is half of producing duo Worst Friends, DJ’s as Slowhands, and produces as Addled comes back with an edit of an IDM classic by Aphex Twin. It has the right amount of the original and hints at taking it to soft Tech House land but is definitely more dreamy than dancey.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE EP HERE

Beirut – Venice (Tom Croose’s City of Water edit)

[audio:be_tc.mp3]

Elvis Presley – Can’t Help Falling In Love (800beloved cover)

[audio:ep_800.mp3]

Ravi Shankar – The Sound of India ( Shigeto’s Sun and Hash edit)

[audio:rs_sh.mp3]

Aphex Twin – Rhubarb (Addled’s edit)

[audio:at_ad.mp3]

The work of Tom Balchin stopped me in my Google Reader tracks this evening. His Pax Europa project was my initial favorite, for the bold simplicity and terrific layouts, but there is a ton of terrific work in his portfolio. I came across the phrase “talent turbine” in the NYT Magazine the other day and have been itching for an opportunity to use it, so here goes; Tom Balchin is a talent turbine.

via Changethethought

Our very own Alex Cornell created a wallpaper for the Kitsune Noir Desktop Wallpaper Project. Loving this one, they need to start printing these as posters! More info and downloads here »

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjecYugTbIQ
Grizzly Bear’s last album, Veckatimest, has been on constant rotation over here for a while now but I had somehow missed this Patrick Daughters directed video for “Two Weeks”. It’s been haunting me ever since, I can’t stop watching it. At first it’s seems a little strange, but it’s just so beautifully shot and somehow very fitting for the vibe of this song. I love effects like these (the big eyes, etc) where you can’t really tell what’s going on for a while, it’s so clean and subtle. Warp has a full HD version posted up on Youtube here that really highlights the attention to detail. I love seeing such simple compositions that are so moving. This is all essentially one shot and it’s got me glued to the screen. The rest of Daughters’ videography reads like a who’s who of indie music, with work for bands like The Shins, Feist, Snow Patrol, and Interpol among many others.

Link

The new Tycho Coastal Brake 12″ single is now available for pre-order at the shop. This 180 gram vinyl pressing is limited to 1000 copies, the first 50 of which are signed and numbered. Each order includes the MP3/WAV version which will be immediately downloadable on the release date, December 8th, 2009. Here are some audio sample clips:

Coastal Brake [Original] – Buy

[audio:https://blog.iso50.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Tycho-Coastal_Brake-CLIP.mp3]

Coastal Brake [Manual Remix] – Buy

[audio:https://blog.iso50.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Tycho-Coastal_Brake-Manual_Mix-CLIP.mp3]

Costal Brake [Hatchback Remix] – Buy

[audio:https://blog.iso50.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Tycho-Coastal_Brake-Hatchback_Mix-CLIP.mp3]

Coastal Brake [Lusine Remix] – Buy

[audio:https://blog.iso50.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Tycho-Coastal_Brake-Lusine-Remix-CLIP.mp3]

A limited edition lithograph featuring the alternate artwork is folded into each sleeve. Printed on 100# Superfine Eggshell Text, White paper.

You’ll find more pictures and info over at the shop.

Windsurf – Weird Energy Video

Highlights:
– 1:38 Caped shirtless dude grabs floating guitar
– 3:33 Guy with Uzi doing frisbee tricks
– 4:42 Cymbal crash synced with car explosion
– Every Jeep and helicopter chase scene

Whoever compiled this deserves a medal made of platinum and diamonds, enjoy your weekend.

P.S. There’s also this via pZimmer.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOBbmdJTLdE