Time to take a slightly folksy turn for today’s music picks.  I cannot deny that I’ve had this strange sort of aesthetic brewing in my head, inspired visually by things like Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park and the World’s Fairs of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  Or things like these 18th-century peep show box images I found on Fed by Birds, a wonderful if not tragically underposted folk art blog.  Sounds like this have helped give a little more shape to these hazy abstractions I am trying to grasp–to be able to translate this inspiration into my design would be a great accomplishment.  Anyway, hope you find some inspiration in these rustic indie tunes.

Clogs – Tides Of Washington Bridge

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Clogs are a mostly instrumental project led by Bryce Dessner and Australia’s Padma Newsome, Mount Kimbie had posted a link to this sweeping arrangement on his facebook page, and I remember having this playing in the background and forgetting it once it finally loaded (slow internet).  Later, I was wondering what is this beautiful music playing in the background.  Definitely music for being serious and introspective to, it plays like snow delicately melting off your windowsill.

RF and Lili De La Mora – Eleven Continents

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RF and Lili De La Mora popped up on my iTunes shuffle last week, and I had no clue where I got this track from.  Either way, I have been trying to distill a folksy indie playlist out of my library of almost 8000 tracks (which by the way if you have suggestions, other than obvious Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes and Iron and Wine, please comment and share!), and this soothing track went perfectly.  Lili’s voice reminds me of Múm a little, and the picked strings make me think of Led Zeppelin a little, whom I haven’t thought much about in a while.  Then I remembered, I found this track on Aurgasm, people who really have their ears out in the musical wind.

Bibio – Woodington

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Well, in earlier posts, I’ve claimed to be a bigger fan of Bibio’s newer material, but I can’t help loving a few of his older lo-fi gems, including this one that may have slipped under a few radars, off his 2006 release, Hand Cranked.  The release is aptly titled, as much of the music has that fantastic feel of nostalgia and the sort of folksy wisps from childhood reading like Lord of the Rings, or Bridge to Terabithia, or ones I don’t even remember.  By the end, this track glows and glitters like knick-nacks unearthed in a time capsule.

Benoît Pioulard – Maginot

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I can’t really do an indie folk post without mentioning Benoît Pioulard, his music was the start point into my foray into this sound.  When I first heard his music in 2006, I hadn’t heard anything quite like it.  Nowadays, I think more people have caught the wave, some have given it their own fresh spin, others have gone stale quickly.  Benoît remains radiant and inviting.  The sheer honesty of these songs is staggering, and that’s without even considering his live performance, or the wonderful artwork like shown above.  Can’t wait for this guy’s next release.

Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Mar 10 2010

Tags: Benoît Pioulard, Bibio, Clogs, Folk, Indie, Lili De La Mora, Lo-fi, RF, Rock

For part 2 of my indie dream pop bender, I discovered a very cool French netlabel called Beko DSL (digital single label), which boasts a free new single w/ b-side(s) every Monday.  Today, I will post a few tracks off Beko’s exciting and eclectic catalogue, I highly recommend you hop on over to their site and start clicking if you are feeling any of these tunes!

Hessien – To the Finland Station – Beko 33

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To start things off, the newest release is more ambient acoustic than shoegaze or typical dream pop, but you’ll see it fits nicely into the collage.  It’s by Hessien, a trans-global collaboration between Charles Sage (Australia) and Tim Diagram of Maps and Diagrams (UK).  Sort of a nice, dreamy opener, I have a playlist together of serene music like this that I fall asleep to, so it certainly puts the dream in dream pop.

Memoryhouse – To the Lighthouse – Beko 13

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Memoryhouse might find themselves having a slight bit of trouble finding recognition in lieu of other popular groups with either “memory” or “house” in their names.  Regardless, this wonderful tune should at least put them in the mix, the vocals are really nice, sort of floating listlessly on top of cloud-like keys in the background.  This track appears as their main single in a few releases, definitely a worthwhile listen.

The Bilinda Butchers – This Love is Fucking Right! (the POBPAH cover) – Beko 14

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Next up, an airy acoustic love song from French duo, The Bilinda Butchers.  For those of you who know a thing or two about shoegaze, you might be wondering why that name sounds familiar– she played guitar and did vocals for My Bloody Valentine.  Paying such clear homage to MBV seems to be getting a bit commonplace, not to say they don’t totally deserve it.  At any rate, it’s a cover of a track called This Love Is Fucking Right, originally by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

Moscow Olympics – To Keep the Avenues Open – Beko 12

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Finally, I save my fave for last: it’s by Manila-based Moscow Olympics.  It’s really cool to see a Filipino group in the mix, like I said yesterday, this scene must be the most internationally-friendly and culturally-independent.  The subtle touch of 80’s pop in these tunes gives it an irresistable, melancholy, yet romantic feel.  The blankets and folds of keys and guitars blend wonderfully, creating this hazy sort of feeling, while the hushed, almost mumbled vocals give the track a Fleeting Joys-esque sense of humility.

Also, here’s a fan video created by Brazilian designer and videographer Eduardo Omine.  I love the slight surf-rock touch this song has at points, it will definitely be on my surf pop playlist, mixed up with the tunes I think will be super hot once we all thaw out from this brutal winter season.

Moscow Olympics: Second Trace from eduardo omine on Vimeo.

Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Mar 04 2010

Tags: Beko, Dream pop, Memoryhouse, Moscow Olympics, Shoegaze, The Bilinda Butchers

Time for some dream pop, the kind of hazy, frenetic shoegaze that plays like orange-pink clouds reflecting off the mirror in your room back in the late 80’s or mid 90’s.  The light refracts and illuminates your collection of casio and swatch wristwatches to be worn on both hands, the jewel on your treasure troll’s belly, the stack of cassette tapes you onto which you recorded your favorite songs off the radio.

The Radio Dept. – Closing Scene – Freddie and the Trojan Horse

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The Radio Dept. is this wild ensemble from Lund, Sweden, which has apparently been together since 1995, but much of their material available now came out in the last few years.  You gotta love the ringpop-sweet kitsch of this tune, the same sort of appeal found in m83 and Phoenix can be found here, I love the unique lo-fi feel of this song, the swells and swoons of the synths.

The Radio Dept. – David (The Rice Twins Remix) – David EP

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Fellow Swedes, The Rice Twins, took on this sick remix of The Radio Dept. on their July 2009 release, David EP.  I love the main stab that resonates, it radiates deep blues, vibrant greens, and cloudy whites, it sounds like some sort of grandiose kite or hot air balloon festival in a wide-open field.  The subtle toms in the background give the song’s slightly syncopated rhythm a little structure to go on, controlling the tune just enough without tying down the windy free-flying flutter of the vocals.

Asobi Seksu – Transparence – Hush

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How about a classic tune from Asobi Seksu?  The lead singer, Yuki Chikudate, has a hopelessly hip soothing quality, that timeless sort of tone in her voice.  It makes many of Asobi Seksu’s songs so much more realiable and appealing, even after a considerable change in the instrumental side of the band’s music between their 2006 release Citrus, and 2009’s Hush.  The result is a smooth transition between two different, yet equally stylish approaches to shoegaze and dream pop.

Pia Fraus – Mute the Birds – After Summer

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I started digging deeper into Asobi Seksu’s similar artists on Last.fm and came across this awesome tune from Pia Fraus, get this– Estonian shoegaze.  Shoegaze has to be one of the most internationally-friendly scenes ever, as you’ll surely see if you take a deeper…gaze…into the genre.  The harmony of male and female vocals in this track is what has me, there are so many subtle layers that you can just barely tell apart.

Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Mar 03 2010

Tags: Asobi Seksu, Dream pop, Indie, Pia Fraus, Shoegaze, The Radio Dept., The Rice Twins

Got a bunch of deep, dubby, tech joints for you today, I have been busier than ever recently, between freelance and contract work, applications to school, New York, and Moodgadget, but I simply haven’t been posting because the little new music I’ve been listening to is largely unreleased, and therefore, unbloggable.  However, I did take the time to grab these off Beatport and iTunes, trying to stay on top of finding new tracks that blow my mind, hopefully there’s something in here for you too.

M. Rahn – Stryx 02 – Stryx Sessions EP

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Gonna start things off with a slightly older, under-the-radar dub from 2007, it’s by M. Rahn and it’s everything I like about dub techno.  It came out on a Michigan-based label called 6one6, and it took me a while to nail down this release on iTunes.  Definitely a worthwhile track, I originally heard it on Maurizio Miceli’s Deepindub Beach House 2009 podcast (great listen!), which my friend Alex of Pulled Pork New York turned me onto.

And.Id – She Was There – Back To Back Volume 4 – Compiled & Recomposed by And.Id

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And.Id is a Greek deep music phenom, who compiled Back to Back Volume 4, a collection of tech house and the like that just came out recently.  I am going to have to admit though, damn Beatport 2-minute samples deceive me, I can’t stand that one loud vocal that just repeats in the beginning, skip to 1:45 or so to get to the meat n’ potatoes, the beat from this point on is spot-on, I love the slow meander of the kicks, and the other vocal that sounds like “what’s that,” or “what’s happenin’” is awesome.  If this track went without that one part, it’d be on repeat at all times, but even still, it’s pretty nice.

Pirupa, Pigi – Sweet Devil – Sweet Devil (Single)

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Speaking of deceiving samples, I could do without the extended bridge in this track, but there is definitely a reason this one has been dominating the charts on Beatport, in a solid and commanding #1 overall spot for a while.  After seeing it up there for so long, I figured it’s gotta be work buying.  It’s from Danish imprint Noir Music, whose track Sax on Wax is already shaping up to be one of my main special moves for DJ sets this year.  The two main crescendos and drops in this track are super intense, making it perfect for the high-energy phase of the night.

Hermanez – Soms – Necotine (Single)

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Finally, a track that I almost didn’t buy, but am incredibly happy I did buy now, because not only is it hot the entire way through, but the minimal melodies give it a universal blood donor-like usefulness, allowing it to mixed with lots of sounds.  Hermanez seems to know whats up when it comes to his kick drums recently, recognizing that subs need to be dominated nowadays, and this track really keeps it going.  At the end of the day, when you think about it, remember that most tracks are $0.99 cents or $1.49, the price of a bag of chips, not even the price of a beer.  Do your liver or your abs a favor every once in a while and buy some music!

Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Mar 02 2010

Tags: And.Id, Deep House, Dub, Hermanez, M. Rahn, Noir Music, Pigi, Pirupa, Techno

Got a bit of free french/disco house for you from my friend Ben, who records as CHARLIE! out of Brooklyn.  The two of us go way back since the days of summer camp, and I think we both got into dance/house music at around the same time, during a summer trip around Europe.  Well, fast forward nearly a decade, and the two of us are both still acting on our inspiration and interest in music.  I put together this album cover in exchange for a crash pad last weekend, for a double-single (does that even make sense?) called the Groove, which he produced, often under my constant pestering to hear the track after he played it for me last fall.  Love the energy level and of course, the groove.  Download both tracks here.  Hope you enjoy!

CHARLIE! – The Groove Pt. I

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CHARLIE! – The Groove Pt. II

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Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Mar 01 2010

Tags: CHARLIE!, Disco House, French House, The Groove

Tonight I will be in NYC for this month’s CA$$ETTE party, an ongoing night of beats, dranks, and just turning loose dancing.  Travis (Machinedrum & one-half of Sepalcure) approached me to bring some flavor into the flyers, with only a few requirements regarding the brand.  I found myself intrigued by the new world of possibilities that could be pulled off within this very different style than I normally bring into a project…lots of black and black-lighted purple, hints of neon and pure white light, with thinly veiled sensuous overtones, and delusions of luxurious grandeur.  And when is the last time you’ve seen an animated flyer?

The CA$$ETTE lineup has seen the likes of, “Daedelus, Egg Foo Young, Eliot Lipp, FaltyDL, Jimmy Edgar, Ninjasonik, The Cool Kids, Yo Majesty, and countless others,” not to mention longtime hosts and headliners, Praveen, Lando Kal (one-half of Lazer Sword), Greggor and more.  If you’re in the area, you should definitely come out!

Posted in Design and Music Posted by Alex on Feb 20 2010

Tags: CA$$ETTE, Cassette, Eliot Lipp, Lando Kal, Machinedrum, Mux Mool, NYC, Praveen

For those of us living on the mid-Atlantic coast in America, it’s been a cold and snowy winter so far, dumping far more powder on us already than the past three years combined.  Some…okay, most people complain about the nightmare the roads become, or the lack of plowed roadways, or shoveling their buried cars, or even simply that there is snow on the ground.  While even I myself am not immune to bellyaching about it occasionally, I firmly prefer a white winter than a liquid one, believing that if it’s this cold, it might as well snow.  And with snow, especially blizzard snow, there follows a world of great photo opportunities.  Some of us are probably sick of looking at the snow, but then again, you don’t see too many photos of a Philadelphian winter wonderland that look like these.  They were taken using my Holga 120 CFN on 35mm film, the winds and snowfall were in full effect, as captured in these images, I needed to employ a balaclava and goggles to negotiate and photograph the terrain.

I think some of the angles and framing methods, done both through the viewfinder and in post-processing, are inspired by those winter shots I posted about last year, from Vladimir Livkovic, along with trying harder to apply what I’ve learned about the philosophy of the image, and general design sensibilities.  I originally intended to shoot these in Black & White film, but decided instead to keep it with color and convert to B&W in post, so I shot with this in mind, knowing that color isn’t really needed in such ubiquitous white and grey.  Finally, when working with the curves and levels while post-processing in Ps, I tried to focus on bringing out the contrast between the snow and what it was covering, and the sky or horizon, diluted to the point of blotching out the sunlight.  The resulting images communicate the snowfall clearly, the forceful movement or tranquil stagnance, in some cases both, of this beautiful phenomenon of nature all too often taken for granted by us grumbling commuters with too much to do to stop and admire the view.  Always remember to take a moment to admire the view.

Posted in Photography Posted by Alex on Feb 18 2010

Tags: 35mm, Blizzard, Holga, Philadelphia, Photos, Snow, Snowpocalypse

While browsing through one of my many folders of favorite design images, collected mostly from image bookmarking sites like FFFFOUND!, Wikipedia, Flickr, etc., I came back across this incredible brand work for Geneva-based Taxi-Phone.  It was created by League, an independent design shop based in Geneva, founded by a group of Swiss design school pals, dedicated to exploring “contemporariness,” and designing to capture the here and now of our time.

The one thing I find most exciting about branding is the underlying necessity for any brand, logo, or trademark to be applicable to a wide range of mediums–digital, print, wearable, and beyond.  It becomes that much more rewarding when you create a logo, and then guidelines, and then you apply them to each individual project.  The best brands are the ones that can be found everywhere, without making the viewer feel like the brand is being forced into their face everywhere they go.  That is, brands that fit their medium naturally, and to a much higher extent than so many others, Taxi-Phone’s brand fits the medium.

A closer look at the logo and logotype shows surprisingly well-placed lettering, with angles that flow naturally together, tying lettering and logo together using Gestalt-esque sensibility.  The final result, when applied to Taxi-Phone’s various business mediums, appears to be your classic Swiss aesthetic, with the sort of European industrial/commercial hybrid feel that makes bold yet re-assuring statements about the company it represents.  And this was applied to each medium with an equal measure of both technical/detail-oriented and holistic/natural.

Of course, this project is not immune to criticism, but I’d imagine most of it would be way too subjective (eg. personal opinions on the ubiquity of Helvetica/Akzidenz Grotesque) to be valid.  In today’s business world, which is over-saturated by gimmicky in-your-face branding, designers are often stuck between a rock, a hard place, and client-imposed constraints.  League had constraints to deal with on this project, yet they adhered to what they were taught, and never compromised their own aesthetic interests.  The result is one that both parties should be proud of, and more importantly, one that proves that a happy medium can be found when it comes to these two sides of the branding coin.

Posted in Branding & Packaging and Design Posted by Alex on Feb 12 2010

REEEEEEE-MIIIIIIIXXXXXXX!!!  …Nowadays, the remix is becoming just as prevalent, if not more so, than the original mix.  The definition of remix and its distinction from the cover, or the edit, is pretty loose, but it should be well-known that there are still 10 times as many crappy remixes as there are good ones.  Here are a few good ones.

Body Language – At a Glance (Toro Y Moi Remix)

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Who could have missed Toro Y Moi’s meteoric rise last sping/summer to the forefront of indie pop as part of the dreamwave of glo-fi that washed over listeners?  This year, many artists who found their way to the top from straight out of their bedroom are being challenged to keep up the good work.  Chaz Bundick has answered this challenge so far with hot flames like this remix of Body Language (listen to the original mix here), and we’re all hanging on his every note.

New Models – Surrender (Beta Project Remix)

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My man Evan from Race Car Productions sent his newest offering along to me yesterday, a surprisingly catchy synth pop LP from New Models.  This remix from Beta Project was a standout, but most of the tracks are great.  For fans of the above-linked Body Language, New Villager, The Radio Dept., etc.  I say it was suprising to here this coming from RCP simply because they had been focusing on dark detroit-style techno, but it’s nice to see them diversifying.

Joy Orbison – BRKLYN CLLN (Michna Remix)

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I’ve been posting about Joy Orbison a lot recently, but this remix by the above-pictured Michna goes someplace different entirely.  It has this tribal, dancehall sort of pace, completely fresh and unexpected, even from Michna’s typical sound.  He sort of gives voice to the call of Brooklyn in the song’s ambiguous title BRKLYN CLLN, with the ever-recognizable and always loved, “GO BROOKLYN!” sample.  You can grab this one for free from Michna’s Soundcloud.

Larry Tee – Let’s Make Nasty feat. Roxy Cottontail (Afrojack Remix)

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Here’s a remix from Afrojack I almost don’t know how I came across, much less what convinced me to buy it…there’s something undeniably fun and catchy, on some subliminal level here, I’m hypnotized by the mind bogglingly pointless lyrics, and their ultra-cute mode of delivery amidst the percolating bass drums.  Then there are those two incredibly sick breaksy drops, Afrojack, Larry Tee, and Roxy Cottontail clearly must know how to rock a party…I’d be really curious to see this scene in action.

Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Feb 11 2010

Tags: Afrojack, Beta Project, Body Language, Joy Orbison, Larry Tee, Michna, New Models, Remix, Roxy Cottontail, Toro Y Moi

I know have been incredibly neglectful of the design side of Blog.H34, and so from here on out, I will make more of an effort at sharing the design-related content that has been influencing me…it goes without saying that I don’t operate in a vacuum, I derive inspiration from all over the place, trying to find it in almost anything I lay eyes or ears upon.  One of the absolute biggest influences, and a design subject I’ve been relentlessly pursuing more knowledge in, is the golden ratio (also referred to as the golden mean).  A friend and colleague at the agency I’ve been contracting at sent me this excellent article from Smashing Magazine about using the golden ratio in web design, which I felt is worth sharing here.  A slight warning, this article is comprehensive, but geared a little to people who are either familiar with web design, or who have a natural interest in math.  Also, the awesome design for today’s post comes from Michael Paukner, it’s one of the images that really got me interested in all this a few months ago.

This magical irrational number, which is equal to approximately 1.618, is a ratio or proportion where for instance, if you have two numbers, and the ratio of the sum of both the numbers and the larger number, is equal to that of the larger number and the smaller number.  If this already sounds too complicated to picture, you can see it everywhere around you.  The golden ratio is found throughout nature, in everything from the spiral of sea shells to the distance and angle at which branches extend from a tree.  It can be found in famous artwork and music, in architecture, it’s referred to as “sacred geometry,” and it was even recently confirmed in quantum physics– the very nature of electrons and their orbit around the atomic nucleus corresponds with the golden ratio.  ISO50 Blog ran a post focusing on this recent development, and got an interesting conversation started (see the comments).  It goes without saying that many designers, or even just observers, find themselves naturally attracted to the application of the golden ratio, versus compositions that do not apply it.

I personally believe that the golden ratio holds secrets about the nature of the universe–we may well have centuries yet before they are discovered, but I believe it will either come into play, or be observed when the time comes that we all drive flying cars and can travel outside the solar system.  But without going on too much of a rant, I have been trying to gain a true understanding, and a working knowledge in applying the golden ratio, working with fibonacci numbers (which adhere to the golden ratio), and other mathematical/naturally occuring techniques to my work.  It will take practice and more reading and pondering, but if you happen to have come across any good articles, or if you have an opinion, please feel free to comment and share!

Posted in Design Posted by Alex on Feb 10 2010

Tags: Fibonacci Numbers, Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, Mathematics, Web design