Excuse this dark tone period i’ve been highly enjoying, it definitely has something to do with the winter and also wanting to listening to more than just drone, diggin deep for colorful and moody material. One of the less ambient pieces on this new A Setting Sun EP is this remix by Dial81, if you like it download it for free.

I fully support anything by Rafael Anton Irisarri but this one is an absolute gem, he needs to be scoring film on the highest level, he can grab sounds and articulate an emotion so well.

I don’t usually stream music like Swans on ISO50 but I can’t hold back on this one, too much passion behind their own sound, I can only share and sit back and be blown away.

The Soft Moon video for “Circles” premiered today, check it out:

This is the David Ericsson designed VOID V02 watch. I’ve seen a lot of watches in this retro/modern vein (most notably by Diesel and Nixon) but I’ve never really seen anyone nail it to the point where I think I’d actually wear the thing. It’s usually just a sort of passing fascination with the object, I don’t see it as something I would want on me. But I’m pretty sure I would rock this one until the band fell off (still nursing a decade old Diesel — from when they hadn’t yet plunged into the abyss of Fossil-like robotechery (btw, Fossil makes Diesel watches) — probably time for an upgrade). This thing is clean all around and while the gold is a bit much for me, the color combo is really nice to look at. At £125 it won’t completely annihilate your bank account, like say, this.

Void Watches via Dezeen

Man, we haven’t had a good 70’s interior architecture photo in a while, had to let this one fly. Any info on the place or chair?

I was actually saving this song by Rainer Trueby as a secret weapon for a mix but it just needs to be out there, pure heat, one of the best deep house tracks I know about.

White Sea is the girl from M83, great producer that Benjamin Curtis turned me onto. I love the epic release of the backing vox(the ho’s and hums) they go off like bells.

One of the best video game commercial licensings of a song has to be this UNKLE usage for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, i’m not really into the song a ton but in the tv commercial its used almost as good as the Gears of War 2 usage of Devotchka. I know not a usual pick.

Some J Dilla for you.

This limited edition tee shirt features artwork from the Tycho Coastal Brake release. More pics and info over here.

I can’t find the right words for this stunning song by Kangding Ray, I haven’t been this excited about a singers voice in a song since I heard The Rip by Portishead. She comes in perfectly after 2/3rd’s of the song is done and she does minimal amounts but its an awesome marriage when it comes together, so subtle and you get off easy with only a slim 4 minutes.

This is one of the many reasons why Mark McGuire was on my Top 10 albums of 2010 twice.

Madlib drops off a remix for one of the best producers to live: J Dilla

David Lynch talking to The Guardian UK about his debut music release.

Polaroid hinted at a potential rebirth for instant photography today with this teaser sent to Engadget. Looks intriguing; the slot at the front is just enough to get me lusting after this. Will be really interesting to see if they can recapture some of their former glory with a new instant camera. But in this day and age of 8MP camera phones I wonder if the thrill of the instant physical copy might be lost on most. How ever would you Facebook it!!?

I’m personally hoping for some nice balance of tempered throw-back aesthetics with a healthy dose of new features. From the vague image they’ve provided, it’s looking pretty clean. But knowing how they roll now, I’d be surprised if they really pull it off.

Of course, you can always just use Impossible Project film with your SX-70…

Via Engadget

I’m a big fan of Alan Braxe when he does something right, he took this Pacifc! remix and set the pace perfectly in an epic way.

An OLD Kruder & Dorfmeister edit of Depeche Mode, classic downtempo.

Found this compilation that Mokira was on, I think the whole idea behind it was songs sampling birds, super lush and gentle, I recommend the track by Tape too.

If you work in music then should always peek in and see what Rastor Noton is doing right, they have been classy since the beginning, makes you feel like you running everything in your life like a lemonade stand, check out this sleek piece by Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Australian artist Ashley Wood does some incredible work. He blends traditional painting technique with digital imagery to create some truly imaginative scenes. His world may be dark and ominous, but for some reason I want to find myself inside. I want to fight alongside the World War Robot. I want to trudge through the snow with a giant metallic companion. I’m sure my sentiment is just the result of seeing such unbelievably creative work.

Be sure to check out Tom Muller’s excellent book design for Wood’s Popbot. Dedicating the rest of my night to tracking down an actual copy. (Muller also designed Wood’s website.)

I found this series by Rob from The Queen City Studio pretty impressive, its an ode to his hometown of Buffalo, NY, I think a project like this is perfect for a graphic designer that needs a subject to show off his ideas and skills.

Architectural photographer (sounds like a pretty good gig right?) Benny Chan’s Traffic! series depicts aerial views of rush hour traffic around Los Angeles, a place that’s no stranger to the phenomenon. Beautifully shot, I’d love to have one of these huge on a wall somewhere to remind me of how we — sort of — have it better here in SF. Click the images for (very) large versions.

More shots over at GOOD