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The album you’ll need this winter

Posted by Jakub

Image by Irving Penn

Image by Irving Penn



The beauty the colder season brings always never fails to floor me. My 2 favorite artists to listen to during the winter come to together and bring ISO50 an exclusive single Baryon.

There was chaos and violence, a collision of dark matter and heat.
In the maelstrom, a legacy was created and a new moon born.
She left something here forever.
But amongst infinite black depths,
Theia rages on.

Markus Guentner’s new album, Theia, arrives early November on double transparent vinyl housed in a matt-laminated gatefold sleeve.

SUPPORT VINYL SOON!

Whitestone: A Interactive Music Platform

Posted by Jon M

I was first introduced to Whitestone via my involvement with Italian electronic musician and producer Indian Wells’ sophomore release, Pause, for whom I did the album art for. Whitestone had contacted his label, Bad Panda Records, expressing interest about collaborating in creating an “interactive experience” for the release as part of a new platform they were developing. Naturally, as a designer (and musician myself) I was intrigued, specially after watching the video above, so I asked Roey Tsemah, founder and creative director of Whitestone, if I could pick his brain for a bit:

ISO50: What is Whitestone exactly, and who is behind it?

Roey: Good question, Whitestone is a platform for interactive music. It is a place for artists and fans who want more than just pressing play.
I am a musician, and as most musicians I’m also one of those die-hard music fans who still buy vinyl. About 4 years ago I set myself a goal to take album artwork to the next level, help artists make use of the browser as means of expression and create music for the internet.

I’m always comparing it to MTV. MTV created a place for artists to release music for TV and by doing that they inspired a different kind of creation. Conceptual artists like Peter Gabriel used the medium creatively and made history with videoclips like Sledge Hammer. We would like to do the same with interactive music.

At the moment we are a team of 4 people and we want to keep the platform independent so artists like us can gain the most off of it. We are raising funds on Kickstarter to help us build the platform and community. We hope that artists and fans who read this will help us bring Whitestone to life.

When MTV actually played music videos

Roey Tsemah’s Sketchbook

ISO50: What inspired you start a platform like this?

Roey: Artists like Bjork, Radiohead and Arcade Fire, who have made interactive apps and videos before. I just want to see more artists make stuff like this. Also, I think interactive experiences are a great way to add value to music online. Fans want to support artists but at the moment the only reward artists give them are MP3 downloads… Personally I don’t have anything to do with MP3s, they just take up space on my drive. I think there are better ways to reward supporting fans.

ISO50: How will people collect this new form of “interactive album art”?

Roey: Members accounts (both fans and artists) are built out of two main components – The Timeline and the Library. The Timeline (pictured above) is similar to other social networks, while the Library (pictured below) works similarly to Pinterest. Both fans and artist can add albums, mixtape, interactive experiences etc to their library, regardless of where they are online. Other fans can then follow them based on their curation. The whole idea is inspired by the way we used to discover music before streaming – we used to check our friends music collections, go through their CDs, bootlegs and mixtapes – our music collection says a lot about us and I believe it’s the best way to discover music.

Whitestone doesn’t distinct artists from fans in that sense, all artists I know are first of all music fans. At the moment there is no place we can explore, for instance, The Gaslamp Killer’s music collection, imagine how cool that would be…

Music fans (me included) spend hours, days and nights learning everything about albums we love, many of us contribute our knowledge on music forums and Facebook groups. Whitestone has a ranking system to reward such fans, encouraging them to participate and share their knowledge. The higher fans are ranked among the community they become influential and the platform rewards them with badges and coins to buy content on the platform. Also,they get the attention of their favourite artists who can then reward them with merch, gig tickets etc.

ISO50: What artists, both musicians and visual, would you like to see adopt your platform?

Roey: The general rule is everyone who gets inspired by the medium, the internet, the screen, code and data. Artists who see the possibilities in creative code, generative art etc. I love what Random Studio are doing and also Resn. They create rad interactive experiences. Musicians like Flying Lotus of course, Cold Cut and any Ninja Tune artists. Warp also, but that’s just because I’m into this kind of music at the moment. I also think it may benefit many ambient and minimal techno artists like Claudio PRC, for example

ISO50: So you’re a designer as well, what would you say is your favorite album cover and why?

Roey: Ow… there are so many… I love Ghostpoet’s Some Say I So I Say Light, the new FKA Twigs and Currents by Tame Impala (which I think would make for a sick interactive experience). Everything Bjork makes. Same with Radiohead (I love the process they go through with their longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood) Flying Lotus, Moderat, there are many, many more. I guess I can’t really name a favorite because I love different kinds of stuff. I think what attracts me most is the process and how the result reflects on the music.

Tame Impala –  Currents

Tame Impala – Currents (Design by Robert Beatty)

ISO50: Where do you see Whitestone in the future?

Roey: Basically I want Whitestone to be a hub for true music fans and artists online. A place where they can connect and support each other. A place not owned by a huge corporation but a small independent group of artists. I truly believe that together we can pull this off, I hope the readers will join us and help make it happen. We made a special website to honor all our backers, it’s an interactive credits page where every backer becomes part of a “Stone” -The bigger the stone is, the stronger we become as a community, the closer we get to our goal.

If you wish to support Whitestone, visit their Kickstarter campaign and pledge to get one of these amazing art/research books designed by Roey himself, among other rewards:

Follow Whitestone On –
Twitter
Facebook

1991 edit

Posted by Jakub

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My passion for discovering music bounces around from genre to genre, for the last few years I keep coming back to THIS sound. I understand the repetition and substance might be lacking for some but when I listen to music this song is pretty much the exact thing I want to hear, its soo rare to find that feeling being fulfilled.

Tycho Burning Man Sunrise Set 2015

Posted by Scott

Tycho-Elsewhere-2015

Elsewhere – Tycho sunrise dj set from the Dusty Rhino at Burning Man on Thursday, September 3rd, 2015.

Don’t really know how to express my gratitude for the experience with everyone out there this year, it was so perfectly beautiful. Thanks to everyone who made it possible. See you next time!

Special Thanks to: David and The Space Between camp, Dane and the Dusty Rhino crew, Christopher Willits, Kirk & Karey, Nitemoves (Rory O’Connor), Heathered Pearls (Jakub Alexander), Rob Garza, Kiyoka, Katie, Seth, Tobias, and the whole Disco Space Shuttle crew.

RIP Mike Reigle and Jon Horvath

Track Listing:

Brothomstates – Mdrmx
Photek – T’Raenon
Casino Versus Japan – It’s Very Sunny
Dominik Eulberg – Datenübertragungsküsschen ( Sistema Remix)
Dauwd – Kolido
Cubenx – First Wave Front
Jon Hopkins – Open Eye Signal
Daniel Bortz – Tomorrow We Start a New Life Again
Few Nolder – Clouds (Boso Reversion)
Daniel Avery – Knowing We’ll Be Here
Daniel Bortz – Monkey Biznizz
Downtown Party Network – What You Need
John Tejada – Orbiter (Simian Mobile Disco Mix Version 2)
Dauwd – And
Jamie XX – Gosh
Aphex Twin – Avril 14th
Boards of Canada – ROYGBIV

<<<< SUNRISE >>>>

Bibio – Lover’s Carvings (Bruno Be & Eddie M Remix)
Roosevelt – Sea (Dub)
Downtown Party Network – No Drama Afterhours
Telephones – Blaff
Tame Impala – The Moment
Tycho – Awalk

GIVEAWAY: Warby Parker X Ghostly Glasses

Posted by Jakub

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We’re excited to be able to giveaway 1 pair of these Warby Parker X Ghostly International sunglasses to the ISO50 readers. All you need to do is list off an album from 2015 that has soundtracked your summer in the comment section below. We’ll pick a winner next Wednesday. Enjoy your weekend!

Ghostly’s latest collaboration with Warby Parker features the beautifully minimal Henning frames. The desire with Henning was to showcase quality, character and resilience without being distracting. Crafted from premium matte acetate, and Japanese titanium the Henning boasts a one-of-a-kind cutout-keyhole bridge and wraparound temples. Each purchase comes with a lens cloth designed by Matthew Shlian, and a Warby Parker carrying case.

Lenses:

– Made from polycarbonate, the most impact-resistant material on the market
Offer 100% UV protection
– Anti-scratch coating and anti-reflective coating included
Frames:

– Made from cellulose acetate cut from a single sheet to maintain colorparity
Temple arms made of lightweight ion-plated titanium
– Akulon-coated screws for durability

Warby.Parker.3_1024x1024

For those of you that are on Spotify there’s a lovely 25 song playlist featuring everyone from J Dilla to The Sea And Cake to Lone, head over here to check it out.

Upcoming 1080p releases

Posted by Jakub

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The refreshing efforts on putting out new styles of music has to be born somewhere and 1080p seems to be the front runners when it comes to revival of new age and IDM music. The above collection of demos really shows that off, really been enjoying the CFCF album too if you haven’t had a chance to hear it.

All new 1080p tracks—demos and rough cuts and direct takes from upcoming cassettes and 12″s.

Tracklist
Earth Boys – Spring Fling
Image Man – Esle1on
Trust Image – Sun
Co La – Suffering (Tuesday)
Dialect – Chewing Springs
I Am Just A Pupil – Apothecary
Talk Story – Water Baby
??? – River Drum
Sasha, Jan + Rezzie – Wild Heart
Kirk The Flirt & Peter Pressure – Never Ever Give Up
Project Pablo – Lalime (OG Mix)
Loophead – Aesthia
Khotin – Human Voice
??? – Clouds of David
Journeymann Trax – Inside
Mall Grab – Drive
Max McFerren – Hard To Say
??? – Bounce With
??? – ???
Trust Image – Rory’s Dream
Beta Librae – Wavy
Via App – Set You