Archive for June, 2012

Fantastic work by Italian photographer and artist Andrea Galvani. Talk about manipulating perception and reality.

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I’ve been an ISO50 reader for a long time—long before Jakub and I put on Ghostly International Roller Hockey Team jerseys and took to a rink in rural New Jersey to embarrass the label—and so when Jakub invited me to take a whack at a guest post, I naturally jumped at the chance. (Meanwhile, does anyone want my (priceless) jersey?)

I’ve since moved to California, where I work out of the Los Angeles “Vitsoe apartment,” which is both the home I share with my wife, and a unique space where we show Dieter Rams’ 606 Universal Shelving system deployed in all ways. From straightforward bookshelves, to workstations, to room dividers, kitchen shelving, and closets, it’s pretty much all represented here (we specifically chose an apartment without any built-in storage).. As a former dj and avid collector of music, my favorite use of the system is for media storage. After all these years of collecting vinyl, I’m finally able to put it all on shelves that will not bow under the weight. Vinyl collectors: contact me, it’s more affordable than you’d think!

I thought it might make sense to do a first post about some of the songs that have been keeping me going while working out of the apartment—and since it’s a Vitsoe apartment, share some images of the shelving put to use for various media, plus the beautiful Dieter Rams equipment we listen to it all on.

Lorn – Weigh Me Down (Illum Sphere Remix).
Unbelievably beautiful reworking of one of my favorite tracks on Lorn’s new album “Ask the Dust.” I’m huge fan of his heavy hitting beats, but this is a nice change of pace, skillfully re-tooled by Illum Sphere. For a taste of Lorn’s own softer side, check out ‘Pause’ from his ‘Self Confidence Vol.2’ unfinished / unreleased / demo tracks over at the Brainfeeder site. A strange anomaly in a very dark oeuvre.

Yppah – Blue Schwinn.
I’m a huge fan of Joe Corrales’ work as Yppah, it’s sort of a shoegazy version of Bonobo, a combo that is pure win in my book. This track is from his third and most recent release on Ninja Tune, “Eighty One.” Anomie Belle’s vocals are a great addition in an instrumental sense, I love how she’s just swirling around in the background and I’m unable to make out the words.

Lost Twin – Soothing Words.
There’s no shortage of great producers in Brighton these days. I can’t remember exactly how, but I found him via Bandcamp, and to my pleasant surprise, he’s offering the whole ‘Birds’ album for free. I would have no problem paying full price (and then some) for his work. Although obviously entirely different in tone, there’s something a little Burialesque about the auto-tuned quick vocal snippets.

Dextro – Ring Cycle.
I’m not sure exactly why Dextro has stayed off most people’s radars for so long: He deserves far more exposure in my opinion. His first release was on Border Community, then the subsequent releases were through his own imprint, 16K Records. Maybe that’s why. I don’t know. What I do know is that his sound manages to successfully bring together elements of Ulrich Schnauss, Slowdive, and dare I say it, BOC. His last album, Winded, from 2009, is a real gem. I’m hoping he follows it up soon, it’s been too long.

A Sol Mechanic – [Almst(Touching)].
I’ll never tire of a good “Everything in Its Right Place” sample. In his own words “it’s less of a remix and more of a branch off. N E Ways.” That’s a good way of describing it, because after that amazing initial drop, the sample gets filtered into the background and the minimal stutter beat takes over.

Geskia! – Melamine.
Geskia’s sound is unabashedly Scoott Herren influenced, and most of his work occupies a space dead center between Prefuse and the long gone DeLarosa & Asora projects. This is a compliment, as he pulls off what so many other fail to do successfully.

Jai Paul – BTSTU.
There’s been a lot of buzz about this kid from London, and deservedly so. I saw a tweet from Four Tet that said simply: “that Jai Paul track,” which of course sent me into a Google frenzy. What I discovered is that there are literally only two tracks under his belt to date. It sounds like he’s in good hands over at XL, in a recent NPR spot I heard them describe how they are giving him loads of space and time to do what he needs to do, because that’s just how he rolls. He really has a grasp on the “Less, but better” approach.

Autechre – See On See (Pixelord Remix).
The thing I like about this unofficial Pixelord remix of ‘See on See’ from 2010’s Oversteps is that it brings me back to the Tri-Repetae days, when the tracks were grounded in dark emotion, and they would hit you in the gut with crisp, hard beats. They lost me long ago, but it’s nice to be brought back if even for a few minutes.

Rob Fissmer

Originally an Italian coach builder and manufacturer, Gruppo Bertone ultimately became renowned for their progressive automotive design. Starting with the legendary Lamborghini Miura in the late 1960’s, Bertone’s designers were commissioned by many Italian carmakers of the day for both concept and production based cars. The late 70’s and early 80’s brought critical success and some of what I feel were their best designs, known for their distinct wedge profile and futuristic accents. Pictured above are some examples of work they did for Lancia, Fiat, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Volvo, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and BMW.

-Rory

I don’t care much for vacations. I find them dull, boring and usually unfulfilling. I’ll vacation when I’m dead. I much prefer adventures. Jordan Manley makes me incredibly jealous and inspired all at once with this adventure. The story telling. The visuals. The hardships endured to create something beautiful are bound together perfectly. Every shot is breath taking. It makes me want to pack up my bags today and head north.

It’s videos like these that keep my spirits alive. They keep my dreams burning. What Jordan Manley has done here with a talented group of athletes is unlike anything that I’ve seen or felt from a sports video. It’s not the standard issue helicopter pan shots of Valdez or Chamonix. This is hours upon hours of hiking in extreme conditions. Putting their lives at risk to create a beautiful story in a place most of us have never heard of. Talk about passion.

Hopefully this video will inspire a few of you to take an adventure somewhere crazy this summer.

Continuing with album design theme, here is a great set of Bulgarian Socialist era album cover designs, curated by SOCMUS.

SOCMUS is a virtual museum that presents different sections of the Bulgarian graphic design from the socialist era, 1944-1989, and is curated by photographer Nikola Mihov, and the architects Martin Angelov and Valeri Gyurov.

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Soft Metals we’re a underrated gift last year with their label Captured Tracks producing soo many good releases in the past year. I had to share this for 2 reasons and you’re going to love the 2nd one probably more: 1st. the synth choices 2nd: it’s a free download here.

Cascine seems to always find bands that sound like they make all their music in a ray from a sun burst in the clouds of Scandinavia. The vox echo in the intro ends up sounding soo good once you get into the thick of the track especially with the strings and synth piano part that comes in at 2:01.

Dntel did it, he made one of the most honest sounding tracks i’ve heard in a number of years, nothing tied to this that sounds like it was forced or rethought because others will hear it, the soundtrack to claymation from a 70s PBS cartoon, soo happy its as look as it is.

I overlooked posting this gem from Burial, everyone’s probably heard it blah blah blah but its worth the post. He probably doesn’t even look at his facebook or read what people write about him, atleast I like to think that he’s this pure yet distant soul.

Nice little side note, we made it to over 30 minutes today on 4 songs, pretty nice I have to say so myself.

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If you’re a Com Truise fan or a lover of synth music on vinyl then you’ll be happy to hear Seth Haley has 3 releases coming to vinyl this summer, his debut EP Cyanide Sisters, Galactic Melt Redux and a collection of B Sides called In Decay.

Under artists it says “Mungolian Jetset presents Jaga Jazzist vs. Knights Of Jumungus” i’ve only heard of Jaga Jazzist and that being said this is probably my favorite Jaga Jazzist song i’ve ever heard especially at 1:50 and on. So now i’m guessing its time to start digging up more about these other 2 groups for more loveliness.

Every John Maus song that leaks will be posted on this blog, its my goal, here’s a new one from 2007 on the upcoming B side release. If you get a chance order the limited run of pink vinyl and support this man genius.

Waiting for this new Marius Våreid track to drop, its a must own for what I love to hear on a dancefloor, that perfect marriage or drive and build at a pace that makes me just smirk with happiness.

To realise the seamless 360° shots TMS developed and conceived their own unique camera system which enables to produce with a resolution of 17,720 x 1080 pixels. 7 projectors with 13.056 x 1080 pixels resolution.

The world that video projection has opened up, in terms of experiencing an environment, is truly incredible. Projects like this amaze and confuse me. On the technical end, there are so many puzzle pieces that have to fit just right, but then on implementation it’s simple and beautiful. We’re getting closer to full immersion of environments, whatever they may be, the future of this type of work is going to be incredible. I’d really love to experience something like this.

David Elgena created this beautiful Braun/Dieter Rams inspired weather iphone app called Wthr. The app is very nicely done and I’d say it’s definitely worth downloading from the App Store.

Via Wanken

After a short break I’m on the road again, this time we’re out for a 4 week run through the US and Canada – see all dates here. The new visuals are coming along nicely and a lot of it will be included in the upcoming shows.

Been a while since I posted here I know, been slammed with work lately. Just finished up a couple remixes (details TBA) and my first outside design gig in years (album cover / poster art). All that stuff and some more will start to see the light of day later this year I’d imagine. Planning on finishing up the next couple tours then heading back to the studio to get the next Tycho release started.

Hope to see you out there!

Tycho Summer Tour 2012

JUN 25 Reno, NV
JUN 27 Salt Lake City, UT
JUN 28 Fort Collins, CO
JUN 29 Denver, CO
JUN 30 Colorado Springs, CO
JUL 02 Lawrence, KS
JUL 03 St Louis, MO
JUL 05 Minneapolis, MN
JUL 06 Chicago, IL
JUL 07 Pontiac, MI
JUL 08 Cleveland, OH
JUL 10 Toronto, Canada
JUL 11 Montreal, Canada
JUL 12 Portland, ME
JUL 13 Pattersonville, NY
JUL 14 New York, NY
JUL 16 Pittsburgh, PA
JUL 17 Columbus, OH
JUL 18 Milwaukee, WI

(probably adding a few more dates at the end, stay tuned)

View all dates