Abuzeedo has posted a collection of “15+ Amazingly Clever Logos” taken from Michael Evamy’s book, “Logo”. Some pretty cool stuff in there but mostly it’s just nice to see them in quality printed form. Many of these — such as the USA network logo — I tend to take for granted. But when I see them printed so nicely in black and white on the page I gain a whole new appreciation for them. Still nowhere near this though.

2 lovely groups by the names of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and 800beloved came out this month that got me back to digging thru older songs from a few more older well known groups that most of us already know. It’s nice to hear new groups taking hints of older material that is really specific sounding that inspired them and pushing it thru 2009 that is full of awful pop, weakened indie rock, and stagnant dance music. I truly feel like both these groups need to be heard since I would love to be dancing to music like this with a bunch of friends over most of what is out there not because its soo much better but it would be a perfect change of pace.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Young Adult Friction

800beloved – Galaxies

My Bloody Valentine – (When You Wake) You’re Still In a Dream

The Smiths – Shoplifters Of The World Unite

Section 25 – Inspiration

Holland Festival ’69 poster by Dick Elfers

Via Alki1

Andrew Holder

Takashi Kuwahara

Raymond Biesinger

Satoshi Hashimoto

Satoshi Hashimoto

Adrian Johnson

Monocle Magazine has an impressive roster of illustrators. Featured above is work by: Andrew Holder, Takashi Kuwahara, Raymond Biesinger, Satoshi Hashimoto, and Adrian Johnson. Each of them contributes to the magazine periodically.

Outside of the Monocle world, I am most familiar with Adrian Johnson. (Check out the Grain Edit interview). For whatever reason I come across his illustrations all the time. However, of the four listed above, Biesinger’s work resonates the most with me. I love his simple graphic approach and limited color palette. You can browse his work, Monocle and otherwise, on his website.

One of my favorite simple album covers has to be this cover for Cashier Escape Route above because of the subjects involved and that bold light blue with a tiny bit of red always worked. This Phonem track is pretty laid back and brings me back to the earlier days of IDM and how it always helped me on the imaginative end of thinking of new designs.

There are a ton of feel good tracks out there and Blackalicious might have one that hits the Top 50 of all time.

Most of you might already know but Grizzly Bear has a new album coming in in May, this is just one track from it that was taken from their performance on David Letterman.

Here’s a pretty simple edit done by Michael Mayer, sadly I don’t know the original track but I can’t wait to DJ again and play this for a couple minutes.

Phonem – Blue Skies Over Leuna (Wish I Was Somewhere Else)

Blackalicious – Make You Feel That Way

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

Machael Mayer – Amanda

As you may already know, this Friday and Sunday Ghostly International will be celebrating their 10 year anniversary and have a select few artists (Tycho among them) playing in San Francisco and Los Angeles live. We’re giving away a set of two tickets for both shows which will include two t-shirts each (see above) for the winners. The first two people to correctly answer this question win:

Which Ghostly International catalog numbers are currently missing between their first release and their latest release? (Note: Catalog numbers are the numbers that are put on each release to show what number release this album is.)

Please email the answer to: jakub [at] iso50 [dot] com (please specify which show you will be going to). The winners must be able to go to the Los Angeles or San Francisco shows, sorry to the friends that just want the shirts, we will run a few more giveaways soon to make up for it.

More info on the shows is here and advanced tickets can be purchased here (SF) and here (LA).

I had seen Cristina Couceiro’s work here and there before but this most recent series really blew me away. What classic style; I really like how she employs found imagery without crossing that fine line into kitsch that so many others seem to stumble over. The typography is spot on as well. You can see more of her design and photography here.

I don’t post many really upbeat poppy songs on here but its Friday and Phoenix have a new LP coming out and i’m super geeked to find out if its going to be great. It’s been almost 9 years since they released United which I first heard in the Ghostly International office as a intern and fell in love. I feel this track 1901 is going to be played really loud at every bar by June as a LAST CALL song which is good and also really really bad at the same time.

Mux Mool has a new EP coming out in March and has leaked a new song (that will stay unreleased) with the info on the “Just Saying Is All EP”. Nausican has this morning strut feel to it, you know that feeling when your having a good morning and saying hi to all the neighbors kind of like that Blackalicious track Make You Feel That Way.

Alright i’m not sold on this new Royksopp, its not what I like about the earlier material and it’s way too poppy for my taste. What do you guys think?

Phoenix – 1901

Phoenix – Too Young

Mux Mool – Nausican

Royksopp – Happy Up Here

Royksopp – Happy Up Here Video

I’ve always been a huge fan of books on modernism, but unless you’re Dave from Grain Edit, it’s pretty hard to get your hands on the good stuff. And so it was with great pleasure that I stumbled onto Modernism 101 booksellers. the site, featuring a vast collection of rare and out of print books on modern design and architecture, serves up cover images and very detailed information on a wide array of classic design texts. Many of the books featured are have sold, but they archive the pages so it’s a great resource for images and information on many books that you’ll probably not find elsewhere. I’ll be running a (hopefully) weekly feature aptly titled “Modernism 101” highlighting the best examples from their collection.

Today’s selection is a collection of Dutch printmaker H.N. Werkman’s work edited by Fridolin Müller. Enjoy!


H. N. WERKMAN
Fridolin Müller

out of stock

Via Modernism 101

Just got turned onto Dutch studio Almost Modern this morning. I’m definitely a fan of their poster work; there are some misses here and there, but most of it is simple, minimal, and very effective design.

via AisleOne