In the last two weeks, I’ve been fortunate to have so much viewership over the Are You Happy? design I created in collaboration with David Meiklejohn of Budget Fabulous Films . Thousands have seen the design, liked and reblogged it, I’ve seen it posted to FFFFOUND! and Dropular , and a bunch of other great websites and blogs. And many have expressed interest in …
Yesterday on Typcut, I posted up my second design. This time a collaboration with David Meiklejohn of Budget Fabulous Films, whom I met while in Ann Arbor for Forth From Its Hinges. I originally came across a diagram David created using what looked like Microsoft Office 97, which asked the question above and illustrated a simple process for evaluating what may be the most important question one could ever want to answer. I instantly saw the potential for my design style to make this concept pop, I wanted to give it identity and form, a playful context that also attracts the eye.
I originally envisioned the diagram in two styles– one a cartoony, animated 1950′s feel, like something out of Ren & Stimpy, the other a more serious, scientific, almost lab poster-esque aesthetic. I ended up going with the latter when I concluded that there is really enough going on with the diagram that I don’t need to add happy and sad cartoon characters, serving only to compete with the more important message. When I sent it to him for approval, David observantly pointed out the lack of arrows returning viewers back to the original question after going through the design’s “information flow.” I kept the arrow(s) out of the design for two reasons– aside from the obvious visual reasons that an arrow back up the center of “step 1″ would sort of throw things off, I liked the idea that the diagram does not go in circles but rather provides an input/output sort of visual interaction. This would look great printed in your home office or workplace, repeated exposure to the image not only reinforces the message, but it also negates the necessity for the returning arrows. Without delving unnecessarily deeper, I will leave it at the fact that the final form of this design is not important so much as the basic concept of always being empowered with one’s work– if you aren’t happy, you always, no matter what, have the power to change something.
Design and Typography Alex on Sep 01 2009
Well everyone, it’s Valentine’s Day. A day to express your love to another, primarily by purchasing them things, but also sometimes by means of sexual activity. Unfortunately, I do not have a valentine this year, but I refuse to be a hater. At any rate, I’ve selected a few tracks I think are good love songs…
…or songs of love lost if you consider this first one. Iron & Wine’s older material, namely The Creek Drank The Cradle and Our Endless Days Are Numbered, is breathtaking. Often, it’s no more than Sam Beam and his guitar, but the songs are filled with such brilliance that I found his later release, which featured a full band, to be less appealing. What I find most striking is Beam’s lyrics, which are intensely poetic and rife with imagery. His debut album, The Creek Drank The Cradle has been compared to everyone from Simon & Garfunkle and Elliot Smith, I can see why. Birds Stealing Bread is at its core, a sad song when you listen to the lyrics, but his vocal and melodic harmonies act to warm the heart, which is why on two separate occasions, I’ve played this song for girls who commented on how happy they thought the song sounds having never heard it before. Whatever the case, this is a good one for waking up in the arms of a loved one, and even better for when that love is lost.
This next track will lift your spirits, especially on this Valentine’s Day if you just met someone and you think you’re falling for them. It’s an oldie that I originally came across on my favorite blog back in October, I had just met a girl that I really liked (too much, as it would turn out). Admittedly, I had never given Joni Mitchell a chance, which was a mistake, especially when I heard this song. It’s got this great guitar riff and flute complimenting her vocals, sounding like falling flower petals or reflections of the sun on a lake. And her vocals are giddy and infauated, alternating between her feelings of excitement and nervousness over both her and her lover’s past escapades. Lots emotion in this track. **Unfortunately, once again I’m dealing with a cut-off mp3 (damn you iTunes and your .m4p files that dont work anywhere else!)
I have always thought this next track was a romantic one, call me crazy. The title can be misleading, Fuck This…I’m Leaving is from American Analogue Set’s landmark 2005 release Set Free on Arts & Crafts (the label for indie rock). I think this song sounds like a first kiss, or doing something so ridiculously romantic that it’s lke something out of a movie…something in the pouring rain. While it is still February and most of us on the northern hemisphere have snow instead of rain right now, you can recreate the scene in the shower together or something. The lyrics beckon girls to “do what good girls don’t do good / do what your Dad don’t say you should” so girls, take this as your cue to really make your Valentine feel special…you know what I’m talkin about.
Here’s a pick from a release I was involved with– I did the album artwork. The entire album is incredible to say the least, I love concept albums that have a legitimate concept. I encourage you to pick up this unique release, it’s a collaboration between two of Moodgadget’s best ambient/idm artists, Shigeto and A Setting Sun. Anyone who has been following A Setting Sun has picked up on consistent themes of love, the natural urge of procreation, and of course, setting suns. I found it interesting to hear how Shigeto (aka Frank Omura) incorporated this into his music, the two worked collaboratively on it, passing it back and forth until it was finished. The album art I did uses a few photos I took when MGT was on tour in October, with easy, sunny colors and a classic, jazz record-influenced type layout (the title made me think of this). Moodgadget co-founder Jakub Alexander later sent out an email noting how inadvertently similar the color scheme was to the previously blogged compilation Expanse At Low Levels.
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Also, since it’s Valentine’s Day and I know you guys want more, check out the following:
A Setting Sun released part 2 of his 4-installment ambient mix “Men And Women” series. This one is called Men And Women Have Love To Give, and there’s a full explanation of the title here at Jay’s blog. I also did the album art for these mixes, each with a different color to match his varying themes, which explore his signature motifs of love and the emotional dynamics between girls and guys.
Download: Men And Women Have Love To Give
Album Art: Full Size
Also, for those of you who still find 90′s house to be appealing (guilty as charged), Ghostly’s Mike Servito is on the 1′s & 2′s for their 19th Podcast. I don’t care about any connotations associated with Chrystal Waters or Robin S when I hear what Servito did to these tunes. They still sound fresh to me, even since I was 10 years old living in Roxborough and dancing around to it on Q-102…for some reason I keep thinking of watching Fox Kids on Saturday morning when I hear this stuff. At any rate, it’s a driving 4-on-the-floor romp for over an hour, bringing back some of your favorite tunes from that classic, super-cheesy bygone era where house sort of completed its transition to the massive umbrella of subgenres we hear today.
Podcast link (iTunes): Here
On Ghostly International (scroll down, it’s on the left): Here
Album Artwork and Moodgadget and Music Alex on Feb 14 2009
While it seems like 2010 got off to a slow musical start, the torrent of summer releases is literally turning the tide with exciting material. Today, we’ll take another look (a double take, in some cases) at what’s hot, what’s heating up, and in the process save you some time sifting through the crap.
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Few 2010 releases have had me as excited as Sepalcure‘s debut Love Pressure EP. If you haven’t yet heard what Mary Anne Hobbs of BBC’s Radio 1 called, “one of the finest releases I’ve heard in a thousand years,” now is your chance– it’s out today, courtesy of UK-based Hotflush. I remember the first time I heard this track, it had me begging for a replay the entire rest of the weekend. It’s appealing, as with most forms of this new lovestep groove, for it’s emphasis on balance– sure there’s plenty of sub in there to be enjoyed, but there is a melodic aspect on top, and a further layer of percussive savagery on top of that. It’s almost as simple as it is complex, as appropriate for the dance floor as it is for the bedroom, and certainly as worthy of your listening consideration as any other release you’ll come across in the dubstep section this year.
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Young James Blake is on fire, making enough consistent noise to stay on everyone’s speakers and in conversations since his debut, he’s made quick, almost systematic work, of converting listeners of every sub-genre of two step, not to mention plenty of those on the periphery, to appreciate his categorization-eluding style, which is almost subtle and overt at the same time, blending ephemeral R&B samples (can you hear Aaliyah in there? *swoon*) with basslines and beats that defy Garage and even IDM without going off the deep, glitchy edge. His newest EP, CMYK, came out last month on R&S Recordings.
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One label I really don’t know enough about, despite housing some of my other favorite dubstep artists like Starkey and FaltyDL, is Planet Mu. Well it just so happens that Planet Mu just released an excellent full-length from Ital Tek, another musician who has found themselves happy at home with a strong, reputable label for a few years now. Midnight Colour, Ital Tek’s newest outing shows restraint without muzzling the pure heat being channeled into the track. This samurai-esque sense of restraint is more apparent than before, the darkness is certainly still abundant, but colorful melodic strands shimmer like LCD lights (note, not neon lights), brighter than ever, giving this a bit more heart and soul. Definitely moving in the right directions.
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JDSY‘s newest full-length, and third Moodgadget release was released today– Blue Newspaper. Despite having an album cover that seems to have foretold the BP Gulf Spill disaster, play a track or two and things quickly become real clear: this is future music you’re listening to. Blue Newspaper is wildly eclectic, but a bit more positive this time around, without abandoning the darker aspects of avant pop abound in the record. Of this standout track, Lighter, Joey explains, “the song came about from me trading samples with Jay Bodley (A Setting Sun, Guardian), and the majority of the sounds are from his song, remixed into lighter, totally different direction but his influence is there as far as crisp hip hop sounds there are in there.” You can stream the entire album here.
I found a bunch of really hot bassy tunes for this scorcher of a day, it’s supposed to be over 90º out today…it’s April for cryin out loud! I am so happy to be past winter and entering the warmer months of this year, the thaw (and sizzle) can be both relaxing and adventurous, here are some tunes to stew over your summer plans to. The pictures are small images of full-size wallpapers available for download as part of Kitsune Noir‘s Desktop Wallpaper Project, derived from album art for Ghostly International and Spectral Sound by the prolific creative Michael Cina.
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Just about anything Floating Points has put out gets my interest, the sounds he combines are unlike any other. This track was originally a white label tune on Eglo, it’s got a very interesting build, impatient listeners might consider skipping into the meat and potatoes of the track. You are rewarded, however, when you pick up on all the subtle additions as the song slowly but steadily cruises to its peaks.
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Another artist who always makes my ears turn up when I see a track of theirs is Osborne. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much new material out from him since his self-titled romp that topped my list from 2008. There are, however, a bunch of solid remixes that have sprung forth, so many in fact that Ghostly decided to package up some of the best ones. This one by Lukid completely dominates your system’s subs, and for DJ’s, it can be sped up considerably and likely mixed or mashed up with a good range of tunes.
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Hotflush Recordings has me completely enamored at the moment, with the lovestep-leaning side of most of their newly released material. We have label boss Paul Rose to thank for that, and we have his production side, Scuba, to thank for this track. It’s off his new full-length Triangulation, I haven’t heard such a complete and expansive dubstep release this good since DFRNT’s Metafiction, or Kryptic Minds’ One of Us.
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LV & Untold got together and put together a track called Beacon that just came out, along with this hot ass remix courtesy of Mount Kimbie. The quirkiness is outdone only by the catchiness, I absolutely love the vocal chop that kicks in at around 2:44, subtly announcing the identity of the remixer at the helm. I’m loving some of these less sub-heavy dub tracks, which places more emphasis on balance between the hi’s and lo’s without dominating one or the other. This resulting balance is both refreshing and familiar at the same time.
A couple weeks back, I received some prints courtesy of Nick Athanasopoulos, a prominent event organizer and promoter from Chicago, from the June 17th Deastro concert with guests Mux Mool and 800beloved. It’s almost a year after the fact, but I actually have a decent number of prints here, so if anyone is interested in one, leave a comment and we’ll talk! They’re 12″x18″ and as you can see, the print quality and color are ace, in fact these pictures look a little desaturated in lieu of the real print is deep teal blue. Love the sharp details of this one. First come, first served, I’ll also be including a couple of these in the Are You Happy? print giveaway coming up!
Going to jump around through a few different sounds today, but one thing they all have in common: they’re a bunch of upbeat tunes to help you shake off the snow and get into the swing of spring. Things are already shaping up to be an excellent rest of the year around Blog.H34, including the future of the Are You Happy? prints and more, the details of which will come as they take form so stay tuned!
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MeLo-X is what the BBC’s 1Xtra show calls a triple-threat musician, he raps, he DJs, and he produces, and I got to see him lay it down at February’s Cassette party at Public Assembly Loft. While there, he mixed in this ultra hot remix he did for Body Language, and the entire place was going nuts singing along, myself included. There is something so classic and simple going on, that combines incredibly well with Body Language’s natural pop sensibilities, making it a standout remix. He released it for free on his Audio Foreplay mixtape, which will serve as a prelude to his full-length, Sonic Intercourse. I’d definitely be keeping my eyes and ears peeled because when this guy makes his move, it’s going to be a hot one.
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While looking for news from Justin Faust, a German disco house producer that had me doing backflips over his debut EP last year, I found this remix he did of Missy Elliott. This guy clearly has one thing in mind with these tunes: fun. That seems to mesh well with Missy Elliott, breathing new life into this classic from 2003. Missy is one mainstream artist I’ve actually really enjoyed since I first saw her on MTV when it didn’t suck back in 1995. It comes with a video remix to accompany the track, so it’s posted down below if you want to revisit a really goofy but entertaining music video.
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A friend at work turned me onto this band, The Ruby Suns, fronted by New Zealand native, Ryan McPhun. How can you not expect fun from an album when it was made by a guy with the very word in his last name?!?! I love the mix of sounds, it’s all very dreamy, a bit psychedelic even, but steeped in pop. I guess it could be considered dreamwave, which almost seems implied, according to music watchers like Pitchfork, to be a thing of last summer. I see surf rock and dreamwave or chillwave or whatever you want to call it, coming together quite nicely this spring and summer.
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If Toro Y Moi has anything to say about it, it will be a great summer of psychedelic indie pop…balmy, hazy nights narrated by tunes like the previous and this one, off Chaz’s winter-released offering, Causers of This. In many circles, this guy has been getting a lot of speaker time, impressing some with his stylistic range, others by the depth into he style he brings forth on these tracks, and others still by how catchy it all remains. I’ve been posting tunes from this cat for the past few months marveling about how “sticky” each one remains on my speakers and headphones, what do you all think? What will be this year’s warm seasons’ soundtrack?
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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.
Branding & Packaging and Design Alex on Feb 12 2010
Shop.H34 is not necessarily closed, but the limited run of Are You Happy? posters originally available here has been largely sold, so there is nothing in stock. I do currently have plans of doing a second run of posters for the design, you can feel free to comment here, and you will be updated by email if and when a new run will take place. For more information, you can refer to the following posts:
Original Post (Sept. 1, 2009)
Are You Happy? Print Update (Sept. 16, 2009)
Alex on Jan 22 2010
