I’m always a sucker for letterpress. You could almost use any design and I’ll love it if it’s on the right paper and embossed like this. Perky Bros., aka Jefferson Perky, is producing some beautiful work out of his studio in Nashville, TN. You can check out the rest of his portfolio here.

I forgot when I heard this, but this girl with a letterpress was explaining how in the old days it was actually frowned upon to de-boss the paper. The more skilled the letterpress operator, the lighter the impression the type would make when it printed to the paper. She went on to explain how in recent times artists have begun to purposefully de-boss the paper when printing as an effect. It’s always interesting to see how people take equipment that’s been painstakingly designed to produce a certain effect and turn it on it’s head to do something new and creative. It sort of reminds me of a lot of recording techniques where you’re taking something designed to produce the most pristine possible sound and abusing the process to create effects and distortions.

Via Graphic ExchanGE

The holidays are upon us and we’re having a sale at The ISO50 Shop to celebrate. All items (excluding giclees & music) are now 15% off the regular price. Get in while it lasts →

Discount is applied at checkout, you won’t see it until you view your cart or checkout.

The very first post I ever did on the ISO50 blog was of The Mercury Program, just one of those bands that I feel like I can play for anyone and they’ll fall in love with at least one song. I admire that this record stayed on pace with their previous albums, you know lush key work and light on the feet yet a wave of feel good energy popping up now and again, a perfect record to listen to for a Monday morning.

The Mercury Program: If you’re out there contact me[jakub *t iso50 d*t com] I want you to do a Tycho cover for his LP or if you want to play in Brooklyn, NY.

The Mercury Program – Arrived/Departed – BUY

The Mercury Program – Stand & Sing – BUY

The Mercury Program – Fluorescent Laces – BUY

NOTCOT is having an ISO50 giveaway including a couple Studio Giclee Prints, the new Syv shirt, and the Tycho Coastal Brake 12″. I also wrote a short piece on how we print the posters here at the studio and posted up some pictures of the process.

→ Read on and enter to win here. Good luck!

I’ll be playing a show in Portland, OR next Friday (Dec. 4, 2009) at The Crown Room. I’ll be playing some new music and visuals on the new system I used in Toronto last week. Fellow San Franciscan Welder (aka Eskmo) will be playing as well so it should be an interesting night. Hope to see you out, all the info is here.

On a technical note, I switched from a Native Instruments Audio Kontrol1 interface to my MOTU 828MKII for live work and it’s made a huge difference. The NI box had all sorts of latency and drop-out issues, which can obviously be a nightmare in a live setting. I had tracked down most of the bugs and things were running relatively smoothly, but the specter of a crash looming over you during the whole set can put a damper on things. The MOTU is so smooth I’ve stopped even considering the possibility that something could go wrong and it’s cleared things up so I can concentrate on the set. Unfortunately it’s a beast made for a 19″ rack. It just fits in my flight case though so it’s ok for now, just a bit wasteful on the weight side. I’m going to get a MOTU Ultralight MK3 which is basically the same thing but, at less than half the size, it’s a more practical form factor for live applications. Luckily I had the 828MK2 laying around because I switched it out of studio duty for an RME Fireface800 a while back. I had meant to sell it but I’m glad I gave this setup a shot first.

Friday, December 4, 2009 – Portland, OR

TYCHO Live A/V Set (Ghostly International SF)
WELDER (Ancestor Media, Surefire SF)
Dj Devon (Abstract Earth PDX)
Coyote Beat (Feat. PlumbLyne & Ana G PDX)

The Crown Room
205 NW 4th Ave
9pm 10$

Event Info

Probably one of the most educational mixes i’ve ever heard, this really lays out what has happened in Hip Hop in the last 10 years, call it Glitch Hop, Dubstep, Downbeat, Bass Music but its all just different forms of Hip Hop.

“2tall, Clockwork and Kper are very proud to let you know that our new mix, A Boom Bap Continuum, is now live. We’ve worked very hard on this for most of the year and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we did putting it together.

The mix features over 200 tracks by more than 50 producers all mixed, edited and mashed up in 80 minutes. The intention is simple: we wanted to highlight the lineage of hip-hop production and beat making from the turn of the millennium to the present day, and perhaps shed some light on the fairly quiet revolution that has been taking place under the surface of mainstream media in recent years.”

Download, artwork and text all available on the website

TRACKLIST HIGHLIGHTS – full tracklist here

2001
Prefuse 73 – Nuno into
Dabrye – So Scientific

2002
Boards of Canada – Sixtyniner into
P.U.T.S – Acid Raindrops (prod. Thes One)

2004
Telefon Tel Aviv – I Lied into
Loefah – Horror Show

2005
The Bug – Fire (Version) into
Boom Bip – The Move

2006
Dj Krush – Kemuri (Untouchable Mix) into
Clark – Herr Barr

2007
Waajeed – Tron into
Flyamsam – Green Tea Power

2008
Rustie – Zig Zag into
Flying Lotus – Auntie’s Lock/Infinitum (Quarta 330 remix)

2009
Paul White – Synth March into
Machinedrum ft. ie.merg – 911

2tall, Kper and Clockwork – A Boom Bap Continuum

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzEzuS8i2i4
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFUxC2yMpyg
Happy T-Day.

Animal Collective has done it again, listening to the previews I wasn’t too excited but the EP as a whole all the way thru is a treasure. Bleed is a heavy echoed out call and response song that simply makes you feel like your with the band in a bat cave with a cello. HIGHLY RECOMMEND hanging out in this bat cave with headphones on.

I found Apse accidently looking for some new post rock but instead of grabbing up the rock tracks I directly went for this looped tribal psychedelia for its build, i’d hope if there was ever such a day that Animal Collective and Sigur Ros did an instrumental album it would sound like this for 80 mins.

I don’t know what to say about this Piano Magic song besides that if it came out in the early 90’s it would of been huge, such good song writing and the guitar parts are written soo well, gawwww! this song deserves an award, damn this state of music! this band needs to be doing really well.

Arms is ex-Harlem Shakes guitarist and wonderful writer, a definite must have for Broken Social Scene, Mobius Band, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah plus someone else that’s on the tip of my tongue that I might blurt out in the comment section. Todd’s singing style with the guitars in this song could please any rock crowd with its hints of big classic rock and new indie rock perks. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

ENJOY YOUR THANKSGIVING.

Animal Collective – Bleed

Apse – Tropica

Piano Magic – The Faint Horizon

Arms – Whirring

There are a some new shirts up at the ISO50 Shop and I thought I’d announce them here before they go out in the newsletter next week. First is “Syv”, which is printed on the new American Apparel Tri-Blend “Coffee”, which is sort of a dusty version of the normal heather grey tri-blend with a slight coffee tint. When I first saw samples of these I was immediately hooked. The color and feel are exactly what I have been wanting for a while now and they compliment the design I had in mind well.

Next is the new Vuela colorway, black on black. I have been using American Apparel black shirts for a while now and while they have their own thing going on, I wanted to be able to work with a shirt that felt a little more vintage. I found a company called Alternative Apparel (no points for originality on the name…) who offer some pretty interesting colors. I like how their swatches aren’t truly red, or blue, they’re sort of a distressed version with a little color shift. For the Vuela shirt I went with their “Earth Coal” color, it feels sort of like a vintage concert tee, nice and soft with a slim cut. Definitely of the most comfortable tees I own.

All designs are available in men’s and women’s sizes. Quantities are limited so if you’re trying to get in on these before the holidays, now would be the time.

→ Check them out at The ISO50 Shop

With more and more of the 1980’s PBS/older cartoon watching generation maturing and fine tuning their craft as musicians the more i’m excited about where hip hop is going. I’m sure if we asked a ton of these guys like Paul White, Bullion, Lone, Prefuse 73, Powell etc what they grew up on it would probably be a heavy dose Disney, Looney Tunes, and Hanna Barbara. I hear a great LP in Sounds From The Skylight, one that shows a crate digging addict, an open playful mind, and someone that truly cares and believes in taking this sound further and having fun doing it.

DOWNLOAD THE LP HERE FOR FREE

Paul White – Highlife

Paul White – Trying To Tell You

Paul White – Dream State (Dam Tales)