My official “summer jams” record is finally available and it couldn’t come at a better time, Com Truise’s Galactic Melt is mind tingling, full of future fuzz, and glows like melting hot glass. This album is like watching a volcano, not the eruption but more of the thick bright magma slowly oozing out unstoppable beauty. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Some great shots from inside the home of industrial design icon Dieter Rams. It’s nice to know that those museum shots of Braun products I always see are actually in use somewhere. There’s also this house full of Rams-designed Vistsoe shelving.

The Telegraph via Wanken

This is the second in a new series of interviews where one artist interviews another, five questions each. Lately i’ve been hearing daily interviews and I’ve noticed too many similar questions keep coming up again and again. I’m hoping that the artist/artist format can give readers a better idea of what’s on the artist’s minds. I’ve also asked each artist to pick two songs which they’ve been listening to, all of which are posted above.

LOSCIL INTERVIEWING LUSINE

LOSCIL: If the world lost electricity tomorrow, would you continue to make music and how?

LUSINE: I would for sure. I used to plink around on the piano quite a lot. But, I’m not great at trying to come up with musical concepts before I mess with samples first, so it would be a challenge to write. And I think it would force me to collaborate a lot more, something I’m not always great at.

LOSCIL: Being a resident of the Republic of Cascadia, how (if at all) has this place influenced your music?

LUSINE: I love it up here. I think it’s nice to write music when it’s rainy outside, and it’s also a great place to escape the studio and go on a quick hike. As much as I love the big city, being in Seattle gives you a nice balance between the urban and natural settings.

LOSCIL: I’ve not heard any of your soundtrack work but I would really love to know more about this as I’m a big fan of soundtracks in general. How does your approach to music change when you work on soundtracks?

LUSINE: It changes in the sense that I’m not really making the music for myself. It’s nice to take direction and have a clear focus on what sound the director wants. And it forces me outside of my own set style limitations. It’s a good way to learn how to write different music and use instrumentation I normally wouldn’t use. But, I like to be able to balance that with the total freedom of making my own music, so I can take what I learned and apply it to my own music.

LOSCIL: Assuming music is your first love, what form of art is second closest to your heart either as a maker or appreciator?

LUSINE: Film. I am a slight bit of a nerd when it comes to movies, and maybe a bit too critical (or so my friends seem to think). But, it’s definitely my first outlet when I am wanting to think critically about an artform that I’m not completely invested in (although that has been changing over the years).

LOSCIL: What is your favourite sound and why?

LUSINE: My favorite sound?? When all is said and done, it’s probably the sound of laughter.

LUSINE INTERVIEWING LOSCIL

LUSINE: I think that maybe I hear a lot of ebow in your later releases. Regardless, it inspired me to get an ebow myself.Do you write any of your music on the guitar first, before layering it with electronic sounds?

LOSCIL: I didn’t play the ebow parts on Plume, they were played by my best friend Steve Wood and my lovely lady Krista Marshall. Despite being a guitarist, I seldom use the guitar in the creation of loscil music. Motoc is an exception. The main chord progression on that was created on the guitar and the pads are formed out of samples from those chords recorded on a classical guitar.

LUSINE: I still kind of have gearlust, despite that fact that a lot of the things I’m interested in probably won’t change my music all that much. Do you still have instruments or equipment that you would like to add to your studio?

LOSCIL: It’s funny because although I too love gear, I’ve always been a bit of an economist (read cheapskate) in this department. For years as a drummer, I didn’t own my own drums. But every now and then I certainly succumb to the desire to own some special piece of gear. The Monome is up there on my list.

LUSINE: Does making sounds for video games give you any ideas that you can use in your solo work?

LOSCIL: Sometimes. The fortunate thing about my day job is I’m always practicing and honing my sound design and composition skills. It is a real joy to spend most of my days thinking about sound. On the other hand, I tend to do a lot of the same things at work. It is a job after all. Spending long hours during the day in front of the computer does not bode well for doing the same with my evenings and weekends so it can be a struggle at times to sit down to work on loscil after working on game audio 40+ hours a week.

LUSINE: How long have you lived in Vancouver? What’s your favorite aspect of that city?

LOSCIL: I’ve been here for a little over 20 years now which is hard to believe. Vancouver’s physical beauty is pretty hard to escape. We are surrounded by mountains, forests and oceans and they are all accessible. The population is growing but it is still reasonable. The coffee and beer are good.

LUSINE: Is there any sort of emotional subtext, or something that inspires you to write such hypnotic and fluid music (possibly other artists/artforms past/present?

LOSCIL: If there’s a subtext, it is pretty subconscious. I’m ultimately inspired and motivated by feeling itself. I enjoy the moment I can create a chord progression or a particular texture that speaks to me and feels expressive of something I cannot otherwise express… it’s not something that I can put into words or draw on paper or realize in any other fashion – it is just that gut feeling of something having meaning beyond myself. Ultimately, I’m inspired by many musicians of all sorts but I think it’s that core act of searching for expression that inspires me to continue to make music.

Photographer Charlie Crane took a trip to North Korea and captured these striking photographs:

This series is taken from a larger body of work in Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea.

Although not commonly thought of as a holiday destination all these photographs have been taken at tourist sites throughout the city.

It took over a year to get permission to go in with my camera and nothing quite prepares you for what awaits. I was not allowed to take my mobile phone past customs and was met by two guides who were to accompany me at all times throughout my trip.

It’s a fascinating glimpse into a place unknown to much of the world, and the series makes for an interesting counterpart to the previous post on North Korean propaganda posters.

via Fubiz

I’ve always wanted a proper Kate Bush playlist for the ISO50 readers but i’ve never been able to completely take in the whole catalog, so I asked my girlfriend since she’s a true lover of Kate and her music, so please thank her for this gorgeous playlist.

-JA

I grew up listening to Kate Bush; but I did not understand fully her grace and power until I saw her eyes blink in the video for army dreamers. Above is a playlist of some of my favorite songs.

-Amber Schaefer

Achingly nostalgic photos by Danny Lyon from summer 1974 in Brooklyn.

Business Insider(??) via Kottke

I’m giving a talk this Saturday at the WMC Fest in Cleveland, Ohio. The Weapons of Mass Creation Festival is a 2 day event packed with design talks, concerts and all sorts of other creativity-related goodness. It’s now in its 2nd year and is put on by local agency Go Media. A whole host of exciting people are speaking, check the lineup here.

My talk is Saturday evening at 5:30PM EST. I’ll be talking about all sorts of things — mainly some strange and wonderful lessons I’ve learned along the way from trying to become a famous musican to eventually dropping out of graduate school to terrify my parents and live a life of crime. Or something like that. Anyway if Cleveland is nearby for you I hope to see you there! Definitely find me and say hello. Maybe we can even talk about design (or anything else random of our choosing at that moment).

You can buy tickets here and watch live.

As more and more musicians touch on the dark end of electronic you find yourself weeding out the fakers and honing in on the honest ones that you can tell were born to make it. With Ellie Herring I have a feeling she has a love for haunting side of music, no matter what is popular now she would have made Touch Point without any trends influencing her and that makes me want to keep my ears open for her in the future.

Crystal Stilts have a recognizable sound and i’m not going to say it because I don’t want to ruin the pleasure i’m getting from listening to this track right now.

Legendary and just a big influence to some of my favorite musicians Sun Ra has to pop in soo often on the daily posts, expect a Sun Ra playlist soon on the blog from someone I find very talented.

I love some Active Child in my life and I love How To Dress Well but I can’t handle this auto tuned intro BUT BUT BUT once its over this song shapes into a sound that Patrick was made to make so it has my full support.

For of those you who follow Mux Mool know this EP has been coming, Mux shared the EP at a low quality for free awhile back but now its back from the mastering studio and include a new cut which is my favorite called Flying Dreams.

We get a taste of some more of that Memory Tapes record that is coming out on Carpark with this new video that premiered today, see below.

Anyone else found the last Balam Acab EP addicting? I play it all the time, its a great go to if nothing sounds good in your music collection.

One of the first Broker / Dealer tracks ever just got re-issued on Kompakt last month, super deep cut and very hypnotic, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Photo by: Nico Krijno

Great photography by Hasisi Park. I can’t put my finger on it, but something about the images makes me feel like I’m looking at a painting.

Peanut Soup Deluxe via Design You Trust