Archive for January, 2013

This album doesn’t need much explanation, it easily rivals the beloved Tame Impala but with a slower more colorful flavor.

The Holydrug Couple have done a lot of growing since their first release with Sacred Bones Records in 2011. The “couple,” consisting of Ives Sepúlveda and Manuel Parra recorded Noctuary in Santiago, Chile. They put together a home studio and recorded the entire album themselves, from start to finish. Feeling that no one else had been able to capture their sound, Ives decided to take a risk and produce and engineer the album on his own. After four months of obsessively working and barely leaving the house, Ives emerged with a final product of which the band is truly proud. All of this hard work has manifested in a more elaborated, astral sounding album than its predecessor, Awe. While Awe and their Ancient Land EP had a bluesier, woodsy sound, Noctuary plays out like a slow motion 60’s beach party dream that you never want to wake from.

This is not your typical motorik beat kraut album; rather it sounds more like a breezy take on Love or Beau Brummels. The way that songs like “Willoweed” and “Paisley” flow seamlessly into one another, it is easy to see how listeners will become entranced by this new, dream-like world that The Holydrug Couple have created. These two stand-out tracks, as well as “Follow Your Way” really exemplify the growth of this band and signify the new direction they’re headed in.

The Holydrug Couple

Buy the LP

Mike Norris aka Fort Romeau has a way with dubbing out house to give it elegance and emotion while still keeping true to the dancefloor, here’s the first single off the upcoming EP on his new home Spectral Sound.

Haunting and soo damn skilled, here’s a taste of the new Collin Stetson LP coming out, it will feature Bon Iver somewhere on the LP which will hopefully escalate this mans career even higher.

Soren Lokke Juul of Indians has been the only output from the folk world besides Benoit Pioulard to really catch my ear to seek out an artists album, here’s a glimpse of the live show which now is also on my list of must see shows of 2013.

Jens-Uwe Beyer contribution to the most respected ambient compilation out there is a masterpiece in my mind, its moving without relying on building with colorful accents.

Awhile back we featured a Tumblr called Geometry Daily by German designer Tilman, which has since then become quite popular among many of us that enjoy minimal-geometric designs. So popular in fact, that Tilman says he has been receiving quite a few requests for the use of his designs:

In the last months many people asked if they could use some of the Geometry Daily graphics. As a logo, a cover for their music release, desktop background, even as a tattoo. In fact so many that it became a pain to send it all out manually. And I love to get my graphics out and let them be used!

To cope with the overwhelming response and demand, he has decided to make available for purchase, download and non-commercial use (although you can pay more to use a design commercially) of his Geometry Daily source files, which will be released in monthly installments and set at €69 euro or roughly $100 US dollars.

You get the complete data of all the Geometry Daily posts of a certain month. For each graphic this is:

– A higher resolution JPG (1770 x 1770 px)
– The fully layered Photoshop file (.PSD, same resolution)
– The clean vectors in an Illustrator file (.AI)

To purchase, visit HERE.

This iconic Bubble series was created by fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky for the Harper’s Bazaar 1963 Spring Collection.

Haunted by a particular image from Hieronymous Bosch’s ‘The Garden of Delights,’ Sokolsky experienced a re-occurring dream in which he saw himself floating inside a bubble across exotic landscapes. Inspired, he quickly used the idea for the series. The Bubble was crafted to emulate a Faberge Egg, for which Sokolsky had great admiration for its design and workmanship.

Complicated and unrealistic at first, he was able to realize his dream. Sokolsky commented:

“With the awareness that I was prone to live in my own head much of the time, and inclined to severe self-criticism, I began to have doubts whether I could create images on film that reflected the images in my mind’s eye.”

The Bubble was produced in ten days of Plexiglass and aircraft aluminum for the hinged rings. After a successful test run, Sokolsky was off to Paris to shoot the Spring Collections for Harper’s Bazaar. The challenge was to position a telescopic crane at each location from which the Bubble would be suspended. Using his favorite model at the time, Simone d’Aillencourt, she would get into the Bubble that was suspended a few feet off the ground, (hinged at the top like a Faberge Egg) so that it could easily swing open for entry. After being locked in safely and able to breathe due to the space between the hemispheres; the Bubble was raised into the final position. Sokolsky describes one particular event:

“There were times when this choreographed dance turned into a Laurel and Hardy comedy. The morning we shot on the Seine, the Bubble was lowered overzealously into the water, flooding it up to Simone’s ankles, and in turn ruining an important pair of designer shoes.”

Turning out to be an amazing adventure for him, Sokolsky was praised and congratulated for his unconventional yet triumphant work. He had ignited the world of fashion photography with his innovative style.

View full Flickr set

This UK trio has had me close to my speaker, their album has just made my week. The album is officially out February 5th on Warp Record. Expect confident experimental vocals and attractive atmosphere as a base for every song.

Head over to NPR for the stream.

TRACKLIST
1. Light Body Clock Starter
2. Timeaway
3. Armonica
4. –
5. A Day’s Pay For A Day’s Work
6. Young Heart’s
7. Amplified Ease
8. You Don’t Need A Weatherman
9. Bed Music – North View
10. Hold Me Down

Here’s another destructive photographic technique that’ll give you super shallow focus, lovely bokeh and light leaks – take your lens off and shoot while holding it to the camera body.

Commonly referred to as freelensing, it’s essentially a poorman’s tilt-shift, letting you manually adjust the angle of the focal plane by tilting the lens slightly in every direction. It’s also a great way to get dirt and dust on your sensor, so please try this at your own risk. For the unwilling / faint of heart, the safer alternative is to pick up a trusty Lensbaby.

Photos via Flickr.

Its been 3 years since Bonobo released his Black Sands album and we haven’t heard much until now, the new album The North Borders will be available on April 2 via Ninja Tune and you can preorder it here.

Here is the lead single called Cirrus which is an instant hit to me and kept true to the sound that his fans love.

The news gets even better, Bonobo has also announced a large North American tour with an eastern run with Shigeto. If you haven’t seen Zach drum then take a few minutes and watch this video because Bonobo made the right choice taking Shigeto and for those of you who get tickets for the dates below, you’ll see why.

Bonobo Tour Dates.

*4/10 Washington DC – Black Cat w/ SHIGETO
*4/11 Philadelphia, PA- Theatre of Living Arts w/ SHIGETO
*4/12 New York, NY – Webster Hall w/ SHIGETO
*4/13 Boston, MA – Paradise w/ SHIGETO
*4/14 Burlington, VT – Higher Ground w/ SHIGETO
*4/16 Montreal, QC – Telus Theatre w/ SHIGETO
*4/17 Ottawa, ON – Babylon w/ SHIGETO
*4/18 Toronto, ON, Danforth Music Hall w/ SHIGETO
*4/19 Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom w/ SHIGETO
*4/20 Chicago, IL – House of Blues w/ SHIGETO
*4/21 Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre w/ SHIGETO
*4/24 Lawrence, KS – The Granada Theatre w/ SHIGETO
4/25 Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre
4/26 Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
4/27 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
4/30 Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
5/1 Seattle, WA – Showbox at Market
5/2 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
5/3 San Francisco, CA – Warfield
5/4 Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda
5/6 Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up
5/9 Austin, TX – Emo’s
5/10 Dallas, TX – House of Blues
5/11 New Orleans, LA – Tipitinas

* w/ Shigeto

Shigeto Tour Dates.

^ click to see larger version

If you’re a Dieter Rams fan and happen to have €350,000 that you are itching to spend, then look no further than here.

Because six SK4’s (and 994 other Braun items) are better than one.

BP

TK

Machinedrum

Dauwd is back with an EP out early April, dubbed out and easily one of my favorite sounds to start off the year, sample the rest of the EP here.

Its coming up to 8 years since I was lucky enough to release Benoit’s first EP Enge on Moodgadget, now he’s the labels alumni and a seasoned veteran of lo-fi, he has a great ear for detail, its like holding a finished piece of whittled wood when you hear his music.

Sun Ra receives the rework treatment from Machinedrum, taking it to outer space and back fusing funk and jungle, I could hear this working on Sesame Street in the early 80s.

I don’t usually post songs I don’t like but this new one from The Knife really bummed me out. Anyone agree?

Between 1909 and 1915, Russian photographer/chemist Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii traveled across his homeland, using the relatively new technology of color photography to document what he saw. Outfitting a private train car with his own dark room equipment, Prokudin-Gorskii captured landscapes, buildings, and people in a series of breathtaking images. Given the rarity of vibrant color photography from this era, Prokudin-Gorskii’s work is all the more striking: Without sepia tones’ time-distancing effects, the characters in these images feel right there, full of stories of a bygone era and a diverse, colorful culture on the brink of revolution.

Posted by: Todd Goldstein // Twitter: @armsongs