Archive for January, 2010

I only post one image by itself when I think it’s worth it. This one, advertising the Hvass&Hannibal show at the Kemistry Gallery, is such an image. I like the layout, sure, but the main reason I found this so captivating is the color combinations. Each little circle has a different (and often bizarre but terrific) color combination. Each could easily jump off this poster and onto whatever project you happen to be working on (assuming the word “fun” might describe your client…) Pink and green? Why not. Lime and red? Let’s do this. My favorite is 6th row down, 4th across. Reminds me of a Deth P Sun type palette.

Now I’m inclined to think that H&H had everything to do with the design of this poster, but I cannot find the credit information anywhere. It looks like something they would drum up, but if not, let me know and I’ll be sure to link out. If you’re in London, be sure to check out the exhibit! Here is the invitation.

With a copy of Adobe CS4 Design Premium on the line the stakes are high for second prize in the Holiday Giveaway. The lucky winner takes home one copy of Adobe CS4 Design Premium Mac (US$1,799 Value), one ISO50 shirt of choice, the Tycho Coastal Brake 12″, and a Tycho MP3 Collection.

So without further ado, drumroll please… The second prize winner for the 2009 Holiday Giveaway is Jared Pendergraft. Congratulations Jared, we’ve emailed you at the address you provided. If you do not receive an email in the next couple days please contact us with an alternate email address.

We still have another copy of Adobe CS4 Design Premium and ISO50 prints and shirts to giveaway so be sure to enter now before the final winner is picked. Just make any purchase at the ISO50 Shop to be automatically entered to win, or you may enter at the Holiday Giveaway Page.

Good luck!

I’m very excited to announce that Pop Ambient 2010 is out on January 18th, 2010 on Kompakt which will mark the 10th release in my favorite compilation series of all time. Here is one song from each year, I hope it relaxes you and you end up finding a few new favorite ambient songs.

Yes! League! When I look over my ffffound over the last few weeks, there has been one dominant style I’ve been gravitating towards for its beauty and sophistication. This work by League sums it up perfectly. It’s often imageless, utilizes type in some unusual way, is bold and graphic, and has some crazy asymmetrical balance at work that makes me want to practice graphic design forever and quit it immediately…simultaneously.

I love layouts with many scattered elements, all necessary and unable to be removed, but you’re not sure exactly why. For example, those tiny thick black lines on the CFP AA poster above — wee bits like this are amazing to me.

And by the way their home page might be my favorite single page on the web right now.

via Dirty Mouse

Mux Mool just dropped his new single this week called Lady Linda which features 2 tracks from his upcoming LP Skulltaste on Ghostly International coming to us in March 2010. If you like what he did for Adult Swim or his Drum EP then this track has a mixture of that with hints of fantasy video game music specifically Zelda for the Nintendo 64 with a hip hop wobble.

With Lusine’s recent remix of Tycho’s Coastal Brake becoming played so often here at home I decided I needed to up my back catalog of some of his older releases. I have so many favorite tracks of his but I felt Risa was a nice replacement for a 5 hour energy drink on this hectic Monday.

…okay get ready, this might be the rowdiest track i’ve ever posted on ISO50 but its soo soo good, it puts Diplo and MIA deeper in the old news section of Spin and Billboard. Sleigh Bells will take over Brooklyn any second now, I can already feel the rumbling.

Matias Aguayo had a great 2009, his label Cómeme is one of the more forward thinking labels that are taking chances out there. I looked at his style and I always think of Weekend At Bernie’s clothing and that color palette from the VHS cover art meets maybe what Ibiza was in the early 90’s maybe thats because the intro to this song reminds me of Pump Up The Jam by Technotronic.

Recently I’ve been obsessing over an often overlooked part of web design: the login form. There are few sites that have aggregated examples of login forms for perusal; this one by Design Reviver is pretty good. I’d prefer the list to be more like 500 examples, but it’s easy to go in search of other cool login form designs. The ones above are fun, but I’ve yet to find one that really knocks my socks off. Anyone know of some really superb login forms?

One of my favorite trends is the use of oversized text in the forms. Tumblr was one of the first places I saw it. Scott and I discussed it a long time ago in reference to the Nike login form, pictured above. Still not sure what it is about the giant text field that feels so right — maybe it just seems to reinforce what you’re writing. Like “Yes this IS my email address. BAM.”

In keeping with my recent car kick I thought I’d post these vintage BMW ads. The first one — created as part of BMW’s affiliation with the 1972 Munich Olympics — is vaguely reminiscent of Otl Aicher’s posters. I’m assuming this was no accident. It’s also a big enough file that you could probably get a pretty good print out of it off a nice inkjet (click image to view full size). I really wish more vintage posters like this were available in higher resolutions. With most of this advertising stuff, the owners of the copyrights have no intention of ever printing them again, it’s a shame they can’t be reproduced and enjoyed by more people.

Via CarType

I know starting out the year with a non music post from my end isn’t what I should be doing in my mind but its Sunday and before we get back into our consistent groove I wanted to share some prank calls from the very unique Longmont Potion Castle. His subtlety and choice of words some of the time really make these worth listening to over and over. He has this lazy and broad reply attitude that keeps people on the phone which I really admire and I think thats what made me want to share these with you all. If you like any of these there up on iTunes.

**Note some of this is NSFW

Ghostly’s 110 is a rundown of our favorite albums of the decade. In making the list, we wanted to share the albums we’ve loved over the last 10 years, so fans can compare notes and perhaps make a few new discoveries in the process. The impetus for this list was our belief that a record label is more than just a music distributor–it’s a perspective all its own.  

To start, we asked the Ghostly staff for their top 100 albums (no EPs, reissues, or various-artist compilations) from the decade.  While there was a stunning consistency within the top 20, there were hundreds of releases that had only one vote.  From there, we had to make some tough decisions. Tears were shed and punches thrown, but we ended up with a document that wears the Ghostly seal of approval with pride.

We also wanted to keep our list pure and nepotism-free, so we left off all Ghostly/Spectral albums, as well as any artist who has over a few songs on the label. Of course, this meant we couldn’t include eternal classics like Solvent’s Solvent City, Rafael Anton Irissarir’s Daydreaming, and of course, Tycho’s Past Is Prologue.

In short, it’s been a wild decade. We’ve all seen and experienced so much, and while no one knows what the future holds, we do know that good music will always keep coming.  Ghostly’s 110 is also a tribute to the labels and record stores that have inspired us, and the ones that we’ve lost in the last decade.

There are more than a few albums that could have easily made the list, and I wanted to recognize them below.

The Sea and Cake’s Oui (Thrill Jockey, 2000) was an easy contender for top albums of the decade that just didn’t get the votes, perhaps overlooked because of the bands consistent understated awesomeness. A mesmerizing album of subtle grace.

Dungen was a band that seemed to come out of nowhere with Ta Det Lungt (Kemado, 2005), capturing a piece of the global mindshare with this album of puzzlingly perfect rock.

I know E. Lipp is a fixture at ISO50, but Tacoma Mockingbird (Hefty, 2006) is the record that put him on the map. Beautifully conceived synth lines atop classic breaks.

Like a bolt from the (aqueous) blue, Portishead returned with Third (Island, 2008) having lost no steam and having found their new voice–while retaining the haunted, dusty majesty of their early work.