Happy New Years ISO50 readers! for most of us its back to the grind but I won’t talk about that instead I was thinking about hitting the ground running with a DFA Records playlist of some of my old favorites! I joined a gym yesterday, anyone else doing that? i’m not chubby but I do want to be healthier and since I don’t play hockey anymore this gym idea sounded good. I hope you like the pace of this playlist and maybe you can use it for other things other than working out, here’s to passing out the first day.

I went to see Tron Legacy in 3D twice over holiday break and i’ve had 2 songs from the movie lodged in my head. End of Line which is just pure sleek synth danger that you’d listen to while yooooooooou droooove a motorcycle at night…. wait that works out perfect. As for The Game Has Changed, now that intro synth line just floors me, I remember when it started and I got goosebumps right away, nice job on that one Daft Punk, you did it. To fill out the playlist I added this super rowdy David Carretta track that I’ve loved for the longest time, I couldn’t rip my vinyl so I had to jack a mixed version from iTunes. Also, another slow electro classic in my mind is Miss Kittin & The Hacker’s Stock Exchange, such a cold attitude, I love it.

This is the second synthesizer app I’ve come across this week that has a really solid interface. This app was created by KORG. Although I believe the design is strong, I am unsure of how finicky the controls would be on such a small device. I’d be curious to know if anyone used this app or ones alike it before?

There is another app floating around right now called Synthesizer 76 that is equally impressive. However I’m not sure if its available via the iTunes store yet.

I just arrived in Honduras for the week. The big plan was to bring the Nikon D80 and hopefully get some good shots. But of course, I left the battery sitting on the charger so now I’m left with the iPhone 4 (which took the above shot) and a little canon SD870 IS. I’m going to take it as a challenge and try to coax the best shots I can from the little guys.

The internet is super spotty out here so not sure I’ll be doing any more uploads during the trip. But with a little luck I’ll have some interesting stuff to share when I return.

Happy New Year to everyone!

I’m getting sick of my iTunes album covers screensaver, thinking about purchasing this Dropclock.

“DROPCLOCK is an aesthetically intriguing motion clock screensaver. Every minute of real time is numerically expressed with heavy Helvetica dropping into water in super slow-motion.”

I wasn’t able to stop at 50 songs for 2010, these were definitely worth mentioning and all sat in the Top 50 list during the shuffling, not only are all of them great musicians but these as a playlist felt great to share.

60. Spirituals – Manzanita
59. Laurel Halo – Embassy
58. Viernes – Entire Empire
57. Nacho Lovers – Deeper (CFCF Remix)
56. Winter Hinterland – No Logic
55. John Roberts – Navy Blue
54. Seams – Hung Market
53. Best Coast – Boyfriend
52. Nice Nice – A Way We Glow
51. The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

After years of digging around for interesting posters it’s easy to foolishly assume I’ve seen everything good there is to see. Then I come across work like that of Italian designer Mimmo Castellano and am once again reminded that you’ve never really seen it all. The images are from this GrainEdit post where, unfortunately, they do not mention the source. I would love to find which book they got these scans from, or better yet, where I can get my hands on some full size prints. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

via GrainEdit

Hope everyone’s holiday season is good, all the best to you and yours. Thanks for all your support this year, we appreciate everyone who visits and makes this site what it is.

Bonus mode achieved if you know what that log thing up there is (before you click the link below. And if you live in BCN it doesn’t count!).

Image by Jaime Vincente

I hope everyone is having a relaxing time as this year wraps up, here it is the last 25 to pair up with yesterdays post, what a great year for new sounds and musicians experimenting. I will have a honorable mentions list for tomorrow, let know your thoughts.

25. Minks – Ophelia
24. Flying Lotus – Recoiled
23. Games – Everything Is Working
22. Bvdub – No More Reasons Not To Fall
21. Salem – Trapdoor
20. Holy Other – Yr Love
19. Telefon Tel Aviv – Lengthening Shadows
18. Active Child – I’m In Your Church At Night
17. Emeralds – Shade
16. Portishead – Chase The Tear
15. Small Black – Pleasant Experience
14. Deerhunter – Helicopter
13. Loscil – Lake Orchard
12. Mark McGuire – Brain Storm (for Erin)
11. Caribou – Hannibal
10. Four Tet – Angel Echoes
09. Tame Impala – Alter Ego
08. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round And Round
07. Benoit Pioulard – Tack & Tower
06. Oneohtrix Point Never – Where Does Time Go
05. The Soft Moon – Parallels
04. Com Truise – Slow Peels
03. Ducktails – Mirrorimage
02. Kisses – People Can Do The Most Amazing Things
01. Toro Y Moi – Low Shoulder

Purchase this music at any of these fine retailers:
iTunes / eMusic / Insound / Boomkat UK / Other Music

I was discussing icon design the other day with a friend and Susan Kare’s name came up. She is the brilliant designer behind these classic Mac icons as well as many other high profile user interface projects. We were specifically talking about Facebook’s icons (which I happen to love), and while I’m not sure if she created the original interface icons for the site, I know she was brought on in 2007 to handle the gifts project. Update: Aaron Sittig created many of the most well known 16 x 16px icons that you see throughout Facebook.

Shown above are some of her limited edition prints. Guaranteed to induce nostalgia in just about anyone that was present in the early 90’s (Mac OS 7.5.3 was the best!). If you’ve got any computer type folks left on your shopping lists, THIS is the gift for them.

Also, an interesting read over on Mashable, an interview with Susan Kare:

“It was a challenge to come up with a symbol for the command key. The word is a bit forbidding, as are many types of images that instantly come to mind, such as a police hat or badge. I leafed through a book of symbols, and came across a similar cloverleaf, which was identified as an image used on signs in Swedish campgrounds to mean ‘interesting feature’…Later I learned it is meant to be a castle, seen from above”.