Archive for March, 2010

Recently i’ve been finding a good amount of musicians having tour only releases which is great I think, this recently Washed Out one is full of great material, I hope it becomes a trend so musicians can recoup on the ongoing album download frenzy.

The new Ben Stiller movie Greenberg features a good portion of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy doing the soundtrack, these tracks like Sleepy Baby always are the best, still hunting down one from the ending of the movie KIDS which I loved but never found out what it was.

Nite Jewel remixing the new Caribou single, a must hear.

A wonderful piece from Brooklyn’s Kyle Bobby Dunn, the drone expert has done it again with the perfect soundtrack for an afternoon nap.

The Milk desk by Holmris Hansen (the guy laying on it I presume) makes the Novanta workstation I posted last week look downright homely. They call it “the Lamborghini of desks” but I think “the Mac of desks” would be more apt. At any rate the thing is beautiful and seemingly functional with various gadgetry, compartmentry, and height adjustability (I know 2/3 of those aren’t even words). I would definitely be very happy with this as my primary desk. You can find more info and a lot of high res pics of the Milk at the product site: http://milk.dk. Also, it’s probably like $15,000. The designer’s other work at Soren Rose Studio is worth a browse as well; some very cool pictures of their space.

I recently built a new desk (sneak preview here via a terrible iPhone shot) so I had been researching for a while trying to scrounge around for materials and hardware. I ended up sourcing most of it from Ikea and cannibalized an old board room table someone gave me. I’ll post more on that once I get some proper pictures.

Via Jason in the comments of the Novanta post

Kompakt’s Thomas Fehlmann has a new LP coming out on March 29th called Gute Luft, Fehlmann has kept himself busy in recent years doing more melodic ambient work with delightful soft kicks which makes him a pretty diverse creative since doing The Orb and his Dub material on Lowflow which I loved.

Here it is if you haven’t heard it: Flying Lotus with Thom Yorke, I think it gets better with every listen!

Another album that’s still kind of far away is Paul White & The Purple Brain which is slated for June, it is Paul White’s second album that sounds like it will touch on some 60’s psychedelic rock with some beats keeping it Paul White style.

I’m not sure if this song is off the tour only 7 inch from The Xx merch booth but its one of my favorite guitar parts by them.

If you can look past the periodic in-your-face product endorsements (I know you can!), these videos are actually very cool. I am a big fan of Danny Clinch, Wolfmother, Jay Z, (and John Mayer), so what’s not to love here. Makes me want to to quit everything and travel around the world with a band. That or quit everything and start a band and hire a photographer.

The Jay Z collaboration just came out a few days ago, while the Wolfmother one has been out for a while now. With both of these, they are obviously promos for Absolut, but they’re mainly just well-shot rock&roll mini documentaries. The class I’m in now is basically an advertising class and I have really come to appreciate it when a company put something like this together — especially compared to most of the nonsense you see out there. Just about all of the Absolut ads are very well done, most are up here. And if you haven’t seen the Spike Jonz “I’m Here” trailer you must watch it immediately.

I know many of you will relate with me here on that you’ve been waiting for this Bonobo album, All In Forms has been on repeat since i’ve bought it, anyone have a favorite other than that? i’m more into the instrumental tracks.

Half of Broker/Dealer is back keeping the torch burning under the name The Beat Broker on the “California Soul” Sentrall label, file this under Gorgeous Pace Disco.

Trüby Trio’s Christian Prommer covers Detroit legend Carl Craig in a very light and unique
way, I definitely hear elements of Tangerine Dream and the some of the guitar loops in the middle really makes this one an enjoyable cover.

If you need more Mux Mool like ma then a heavy dose of Deceptikon will do, Mux turned me onto Mythology Of The Metropolis which is the new LP from Deceptikon, what a great month in music? an LP from Daedelus, Deceptikon, Mux Mool and Bonobo, this might break a headnodders neck.

Chris Borchert is a lucky guy. According to the Exif on these files he shoots a Canon 5D and he was at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I’m assuming the camera is an MK1 version based on the Exif and this shot (he also has great taste in clothing) but I’m Nikon so I can’t be sure. Perhaps Chris can fill in the blanks (I found his work through a comment he made on this blog so I’m guessing he might read this). These shots really have a beautiful tone to them and that second ski jumper is just begging to be a poster. So yeah, I’m definitely falling for Canon; especially after Alex’s recent acquisition.

I’ve pretty much made up my mind that — barring any major developments on the Nikon side (which I suppose are relatively likely) — my next camera will be a 5D MK2/3. But I’ve put photography aside for a while to focus on some other things so this is a ways off. It’s nice to see stuff like this in the meantime to tide me over.

Check out his site for more photos

P.S. I’m curious, how many of you have taken the plunge with the 5D MKII? I feel like I’ve been seeing them a lot lately which is pretty interesting considering the price. I guess it’s a testament to the quality of the camera; people feel it’s worth it.

Great new series of posters by the Heads of State. I love the colors! (Vaguely reminiscent of the 826LA Time Travel series, with less type or floating people…) I wish travel agencies packed their walls with anything nearly this cool looking. I might actually decide to go somewhere based on the poster — as opposed to questioning my travel plans as I stare at a 1980’s US Air sponsored photograph of “Miami”.

Don’t forget their Legal Weed packaging too. Hilarious stuff. The Travel series is available for purchase here.

Welcome to ISO50 Playlist #8. Enjoy.

If you like what you hear be sure to let us know in the comments.

ISO50 Playlist 8 – Compiled By Tycho

Track Listing

The Radio Dept. – Domestic Scene
King Of Woolworths – Nuada
Deerhunter – Little Kids
Headphones – Gas And Matches
Caribou – Odessa
Mux Mool – 11 Lady Linda
Siriusmo – Nights Off
Kavinsky – Pacific Coast Highway (Jackson Remix)
Toro Y Moi – Low Shoulder
Deru – Hello
Jon Hopkins – Light Through The Veins
Toro Y Moi – 109
The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s On Fire
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Come Saturday
Paul Michel – Lonely Dirges
Alcian Blue – You Just Disappear
Trans Am – Music For Dogs
Little Dragon – A New
The XX – Islands
Stars – This Charming Man
Yo La Tengo – Little Eyes
Midlake – Rulers, Ruling All Things
Chris and Thomas – Broken Chair
The Advisory Circle – Sundial
Casino Versus Japan – Hello You
Stars – Set Yourself On Fire (End Times Edit)

You can always listen to previous Playlists in The Playlist Archive

Came across this workstation concept over at Unplggd. The Novanta was designed by Luke Riggall and features — among many other things — Speakers, a USB and Audio Hub, Monitor Stand, and iPod Dock. It’s definitely eye catching and a logical extension of your Mac setup, but it seems a little bulky to be practical. The apparent lack of adjustability would be a big problem for me too. But the cable management system looks very useful and the whole thing has a very utilitarian vibe that I’m liking. I don’t think this could be my main work desk but it would make a great secondary for the print room or a smaller office space.

On that note I’ve been really geeking out on desks lately. My last desk was a little too wide for my needs and the surface was pretty thick. It was getting in the way of my outboard rack and I figured something a bit more svelte would open up the space a little. I’ll try to post some pics next week.

I’ve seen these posters floating around the internet for a while. I searched long and far to try and find anything at all about them, always to no avail. It was tough when all I had was the letters NR and my feeble attempts to describe their excellence to Google. Recently I saw them again on Shelby White’s blog and was very excited to at least have a small lead as to their origin.

Turns out they were designed by Wolfgang Weingart for Kunstgewerbeschule Basle in 1974. These, and a number of other Swiss poster designs, are at The Swiss Poster Collection at Carnegie Melon University. I would love to see one in person; I’m very curious how large they are. I like to imagine them as these massive wall sized super posters, best viewed at a distance. Ready to intimidate any graphic designers that unwittingly wander underneath.

*Favorite is definitely NR1