Archive for June, 2010

It’s certainly safe to say that a large number of people (myself included) have been plagued with an acute case of the “wants” when it comes to iPhone 4. Some of the new features are just downright awesome—Facetime, multitasking, HD video, 5 megapixel camera and the list goes on. We’re seeing all these cool new features, but at what cost do they get included?

During Apple’s keynote, some of the new technology was explained, one of which was the new antenna. The new iPhone chassis was designed not only to provide a more rigid body for the thin, refined design, but also to function as the antenna. As Steve Jobs mentioned during the keynote, the antenna is a metal band wrapping the phone and is comprised of two parts. One part for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS; the other for UMTS and GSM.

After reading this article, I began to question whether or not this new antenna was really executed that well. A prime example is shown in these videos: iPhone 4 losing reception when placing your hand over the antenna band. Have I seen this happen in person with iPhone 4? The answer is yes. It’s like magic; something that only Harry Potter should be able to do.

Just to clarify I’m not talking smack against Apple here, I’m just questioning how such a huge oversight like this could occur here. Some folks are suggesting that the phones tested were using the suggested* rubber case (which solves the problem), but I can’t seem to grasp the idea that, in all the testing that was done, no one seemed to notice this reception issue? Perhaps it was noted, but at that point did the rubber case become the solution to the problem? With past iPhones I’ve experienced drop calls which also makes me wonder if this whole time its been the actual design of the iPhone that has inhibited the reception and not AT&T (hard to believe).

On that note while I have your attention, I thought I’d ask for your thoughts.

Would you still buy iPhone 4 even though they are experiencing this issue?

Do you think Apple knew about the reception issue of iPhone 4?

I’ve been in love with the label Service lately, they have a strong catalog and specific sound that usually catches my ears even if I go back to the early releases. Their latest release is Ikons who’s self titled LP has playing on repeat since last week. The sound is dreamy and druggy with sweet underlying texture that flows in and out of the vocal style, should be a great release.

New Blonde Redhead, you should just check it out and give it your attention.

The first time I heard Actress I was with Scott, I think I freaked him out because I probably sounded obsessed over a sound that might of sounded raw and unfinished but it hit on this sound that touched on Detroit roots that probably wouldn’t appeal to many others, this LP Splazsh is so damn good.

Some people will maybe call it Witch House or something like Horror Beat but without putting into a new sub genre this stuff by Salem is pretty thought thru, i’m really impressed on how fresh, dark and big it is and how no one has done this.

If the word ‘melancholy’ does not appear in this post, I am not doing my job. Sure the photographs of Garmonique are a little on the gloomy side, but that doesn’t stop them from being absolutely gorgeous. The color and composition of each is tremendous. (Can color/composition be described as tremendous? Probably not, but these shots are great enough that I willing to bend any vocabulary rules you might subscribe to.) He captures a very specific mood. I feel lost and lonely — but in a good way. Mysterious, dark and yes, melancholic indeed. That one image of the ocean reminds me a lot of the Hiroshi Sugimoto shot used for U2’s last album cover.

A bunch more on his Behance.

Cover Art for The Bridal Shop - From Seas EP

I found The Bridal Shop by trying to find a Tough Alliance song that I wanted but no luck, I love when a good digital retailer sets up trails that makes you check out 10 or so new bands.

Ariel Pink steps it up like The Horrors did in this new driving direction, with huge praise from Pitchfork, this record will end up on a ton of Top Ten album lists. What I really like is the extras going on in the song, if it was straight forward I wouldn’t of shared this song with you, I would of just post some Joy Division.

More dreamy echoed out goodness, I just think this sound will be something i’ll always like, I guess I can blame growing up listening to a certain few spaced out tracks for that.

We’ve posted on him in the past, but I’ve seen Alex Varanese around a lot lately so I thought I’d put up some more of his work. He made a splash on Reddit yesterday, making it all the way to the front page (which, for the uninitiated, is sort of a big deal — at least among geeks and programmers) with his recent Alt/1977 series. This sort of overt retro-ism doesn’t always settle well with me (Yes, perhaps the pot calling out the kettle, but I’m a fan of restraint in these circumstances), but Alex executes so well you can’t help but take notice. His mastery of the orange spectrum is unquestioned and while there is a bit of borrowing from the James White bag of tricks — and with some of the type-centric work, maybe more overtly so, Alex Trochut — it is a very focused and impressive collection of work. I don’t think I’ve seen 3D meld so well with this sort of textured print aesthetic in a while and the noise he’s getting in those color fields is spot-on.

Check out more at Alex’s Behance and check out this process piece Alex did for Signalnoise.

One of the nicest vinyl i’ve ever held in my hand that I can remember was Vincent Gallo’s When, just a really proper piece that spewed out care. When it gets too hot this summer slow down and throw on this song, its pretty special and the heat and sound go hand in hand.

Stars are back and this track has a lot of life, it touches on some elements that people might like if your a M83 or Jonsi fan because of the anxiety it builds but releases gently.

One artist i’m looking forward to seeing live this summer is Active Child, he has a impressive voice with a unique delivery with lyrics. The electronics seem to be all over yet focused on melody and supporting his singing style.

I feel like there will be a good amount of music like The Late Virginia Summers in the future coming from 16-18 year olds, I hear a ton of good demos like this. That mixture of post rock and upfront electronics delivered in a somber way, I feel like this movement is something The Album Leaf created.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been going through the process of putting together a live band for the Tycho show coming up on July 9th here in San Francisco. Those of you who’ve been to my past shows will know that I usually play solo and the focus is on the visuals and some light synth work. But this recent break from playing live (been working on the new album) has given me a chance to re-evaluate what I want the performances to be about and it’s also afforded me some time to put into developing the whole thing a little more. The visuals will still be a central element of the show, but I also want to try and bring some of the instrumentation to the forefront as well.

This upcoming set at Mezzanine will be my first show back in a while — and one of only a few I’ll be playing this summer as I wrap up the album — so I wanted it to be something special. I’ve been working with some other musicians on the new material so it sort of made sense to try and incorporate them into the live stuff. I spent the past couple weeks deconstructing a lot of the songs and working them into live versions that sort of bridge the gap between electronic and traditional instrumentation and have been rehearsing with the band at Ira Skinner’s studio in Sacramento. Zac Brown (frequent collaborator and guitarist for Dusty Brown) will be handling bass duties while Matt McCord will be on drums. I’ll be on some guitars and synth and Dusty and Jessica Brown will be joining us for a couple songs as well. We’ve got a few more practices but things are sounding really good and I’m excited to bring it all to life on the 9th. Hope to see you there.

More info: Ghostly A/V Showcase – Facebook event page

“The birth of a new color exists”. Well I’m intrigued; I’ve always wanted to see a new color. This video gives you a little behind the scenes look at the Pantone color factory. Be prepared for a number of tasty shots of ink and paper. The video is “to celebrate the release of The Plus Series, the next generation of the classic Pantone Matching System” and was produced by Base.

What would be really cool is if a color was invented that actually *looked* new. Sure they have ‘invented’ lots of new colors, but to the average person, it’s all the same stuffs: green, blue, pink, etc. You show 99/100 people a new Pantone color and they will look puzzled if you tell them it didn’t exist before. What I want to see is a new color that literally doesn’t exist yet. The kind of thing that is so new your mind cannot even comprehend what it would look like because by definition it is impossible. Something outside the spectrum of visible light. Until then, I don’t want to hear about these “new” colors. A little trippy I know, but when the Pantone guy said they invented new colors I got excited.

via Quipsologies.

This is a 30 second preview of each song on the upcoming School Of Seven Bells album called Disconnect From Desire. The album will be available July 13th, i’ll be posting full songs on the blog whenever I get them. The graphic above is a collection of icons that are being used for the record, each song on the album has its own icon which is pretty nice especially if you buy their merch piece which include a deck of tarot cards with each icon is on a different card, sounds like a tasty deluxe edition.

ISO50: Your new album Maniac Meat has some balls to it, i’m definitely a fan. What made you go gradually harsher and expand your sound from previous albums and projects?
TOBACCO: That’s been in there for awhile, but i used to care about not freaking people out too badly. i think sometime last year while i was on tour with black moth, i realized i was tired of all the safe music i had written for that band, and how much fun i could be having just letting all the wild shit out instead of suppressing it.

ISO50: I remember when I heard your project Black Moth Super Rainbow for the first time at the Ghostly office years ago and “I Think It Is Beautiful That You Are 256 Colors Too” came on I knew I was going to enjoy the record, is this a sound that you’ve wanted to make since you were younger? any nostalgia tied to it? if so is there a story you can share?
TOBACCO: I feel now like all that old stuff was all i could do at the time. so i can’t say i was ever striving to make music like that, but more like that music was striving for something more. i made that song so long ago that the only real memory i have of it was it was my first or 2nd song completely made on a sampler. that was definitely a fun time.

ISO50: I always wanted to let you know that you have great track names (Sweatmother, Hairy Candy, New Juices From The Hot Tub Freaks, etc) compared to most musicians, anyone help you with those? how do they come about?
TOBACCO: Especially with this record, i came up with most of them while running to the songs at the gym or around my neighborhood. i’m usually just trying to describe the way they sound to me, rather than what they might be about – which is usually nothing too concrete to begin with.

ISO50: How did the Beck collab happen? since you went so big is there another artist you’d want to work with in the future?
TOBACCO: We asked and beck was awesome enough to say yes. it all just happened through email. you know it’s hard to say now because all 2 people on my list have been checked off, but i think at this point it would be awesome to start a band with someone like beck or aesop and really get in there and see what we could do. i’m remaking someone’s record this summer and that’ll end up being the biggest collaborative effort i’ve ever been involved with, so i’m pretty invested in that. it’s someone i never would have predicted working with, and that kind of stuff can be even crazier because it twists you in ways you weren’t expecting to go.

ISO50: For Maniac Meat, do you have a full band live? hows that setup? do you bring any synths with you?
TOBACCO: It’s always 2 of us, sometimes 3. it can be anything from a weird dj/vj show to a minimal band with a sequenced beat, depending on who’s there. on the september tour, we’re gonna try something new and have more people involved for a few songs. we do bring 1 synth around with us.

ISO50: Who does your album covers?
TOBACCO: I’ve done all the album covers. for me, that’s just as important as what’s inside.

ISO50: Something your fans might not know about you?
TOBACCO: I don’t like most of the music i get lumped in with. if you give me your cd and tell me it’s all vocoder and synths, i might not listen to it, but if you tell me you sound like Scott Weiland I might be down!

ISO50: Dream gig (location, mood, show opener or closer)?
TOBACCO: I dream of the day live shows become all digital like everything else, and we can stay at home, and just be projected like a hologram or something.

ISO50: Do you collect anything?
TOBACCO: Madballs. there are only like 12 of them, so if you space it out, it’s the most eco thing you can get into collecting.

ISO50: Favorite new band you’ve heard?
TOBACCO: He’s not a band, but Serengeti is the man

ISO50: If you weren’t working with music, where would you work?
TOBACCO: Any pizza shop

ISO50: Share a childhood memory that might relate to your music?
TOBACCO: Baby stinky was a gross baby puppet that this f*ckjob at the flea market was selling, and i wasn’t allowed to have it because it was too sick. for all these years, i put it up on a pedestal of being the ultimate taboo toy that i could never have because it was way too disturbing for my family back in 1992. i finally found an original one a few years back at a costume store and it was definitely gross, but more awesome-gross than disturbing-gross. and that’s because it was from that time. i think that kind of describes some of my musical ideas, or my album covers. yesterday’s sick shit that becomes today’s art. or something like art.