I know I know i’m on a Swedish post rock / dream pop kick recently thanks to 800Beloved and some recent suggestions from the very informative ISO50 blog commenting community. The Mary Onettes recently released their Islands LP, below our a few of my favorite tracks by them, a really odd creepy Swedish video and some US dates. Also, if anyone at Labrador or from The Mary Onettes reads this then you should consider 800Beloved as an opening act for your NY or OH shows, just sayin’ since they let me know about you.
US TOUR DATES – The Mary Onettes
Apr 19 Marathon Bar Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Apr 20 DC 9 Washington, Washington DC
Apr 21 Mercury Lounge New York, New York
Apr 22 Great Scott Boston, Massachusetts
Apr 23 Summit Columbus, Ohio
Apr 24 Schubas Chicago, Illinois
Apr 25 Sunset Tavern Seattle, Washington
Apr 26 Holocene Portland, Oregon
Apr 27 Rickshaw San Francisco, California
Apr 28 Soda Bar San Diego, California
Apr 29 Viper Room Los Angeles, California
A few killer works by Justin Allen LaFontaine. I had the Up North one on my blog a while back, but forgot how cool it was until today when I was perusing the electronic basement as it were. I wonder where that photo was taken.. Would love to see some recent work by Justin!
Post punk/dream pop darlings 800Beloved have just released their first single/4 track EP from their upcoming album Everything Purple which includes a shorter/popper album’s single. This upbeat track oozes dancing and falling in love at the same time, I love it so much I asked the band if I could give it away for FREE and they said yes so download it here for FREE.
If you don’t follow indie labels like I do then just understand that if your LP comes out on Domino or French Kiss then your golden, press will pick you up and you’ll definitely get a proper chance to be loved since their A+R know what their doing. Recent signings Local Natives are catchy and talented, I like how the drums are mixed, they seem to sound a bit more upfront which works really well for this track.
I found Sambassadeur a few weeks ago only after searching for some post rock Swedish bands that aren’t just The Mary Onettes and The Radio Dept. They have a Cranberries/The Sundays feel, this was the only track I picked up but after a few listens I definitely want more.
I have been really hooked to listening to music behind every commercial on TV during the Olympics and this Xx usage was one of the best i’ve heard to date, such a perfect match with AT&T I think it was.
Matthew Lyons is an incredible illustrator. Just about every blog in existence has written a piece about him recently — and it’s no surprise — his work is absolutely stunning. As I mentioned in my post, the combination of his vast imagination and impeccable eye for color and composition begets some really exciting work.
I asked Matthew if he would prepare a short process description about one of his recent works. What follows is Matthew’s description of how he created the piece you see above, The Snide of a Scoundrel Man. Take it away Matthew!
One more nice thing about living in Brooklyn is that good indie bands put up posters EVERYWHERE and once an album cover grabs your attention 6 or 7 times then its time to give it a chance and i’m glad I did here. This White Hinterland song reminds me of that great High Places record from about a year ago but a bit more on a organic and soft tip, definitely a nice listen, now to give the rest of the album a listen and go to see the show.
One blog I like to check out once in a while is Surfing On Steam, usually I can grab a single or two from there constantly because there’s plenty of good music on Scott’s radar. Last night I grabbed this Mathemagic single that was on the Toro Y Moi/Small Black tip, just trying to keep the Dreambeat alive, kicking, and visible.
I can never have enough Apparat, once I get a dose I end up also going thru about an hour of Telefon Tel Aviv as well which is always a nice passionate music listening session.
Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car by U2 is a big influence on me, I remember having the cassette of Zooropa and riding my bike around with my headphones on being completely blown away by the sounds of the drums and reverse guitar effects.
I remember when Broken Social Scene came thru Detroit for the first time, I helped run their merch booth for them before they even got big[yeah yeah yeah music nerd phrase right there], I was geeked to do it, Kevin Drew even bought me a Heineken and I kept the bottle until someone told me that was taken it too far haha [there you all go, my most pathetic fan boy moment].
BSS is probably the only band I could watch live for more than 2.5 hours (yes even Radiohead, I could probably not handle Yorke for that long, it would ruin it for me), so i’m happy to hear their back on tour (below are the tour dates) and a new album is suppose to drop May 4th. Here is a link to the FREE single called World Sick. Enjoy!
Broken Social Scene tour:
03-14 Elkton, FL – Harvest of Hope
03-18 Austin, TX – Stubb’s BBQ
03-19 Austin, TX – The Parish
05-01 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
05-03 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre
05-07 New York, NY – Webster Hall
05-13 London, England – Brixton Academy
05-14 Minehead, England – All Tomorrow’s Parties
05-17 London, England – Heaven
05-18 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg
05-19 Cologne, Germany – Burgerhaus Stollwerck
05-21 Paris, France – La Maroquinerie
05-23 Linz, Austria – LinzFest
05-24 Berlin, Germany – Kesselhaus
05-27 Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Festival
05-29 George, WA – Sasquatch
06-19 Toronto, Ontario – Toronto Island
I was really excited to see this ad campaign by Panamericana School of Art and Design, to me it shows how much further you should push yourself be it making music, design, video, etc. I remember early in school you’d usually take the first idea you had that the teacher ok’d and ran with it but the older and older I become the more I steer away from even my first 10 ideas I come up with on a project, I know then that it might form into something a bit more unique.
The third season of Layer Tennis starts today! I must say, today’s lineup is one of the best I’ve seen; this promises to be an exciting match for sure. Khoi Vinh, Design Director of The New York Times, will play against Nicholas Felton, designer, blogger and creator of the Feltron Annual Reports. Coincidentally, both competitors were part of the Creative Block post…hopefully they each will take their own advice and create something awesome.
It all starts today at 2pm (Chicago time). Tune in here.
I usually try not to lump together similar genres of music together in one post because that usually singles certain listeners out which I don’t want to do but on the other hand I dislike posting low level style music among uptempo songs because listeners might not spend the extra time to search for the detail or take in the soft yet intricate sounds that are being offered. I do my best to find the least moody and harsh sounding ones in hopes of finding new fans to the low level genre. Here are a few recent favorites, note the Andrew Thomas on isn’t out yet , its from his upcoming LP on Kompakt, a super beautiful listen all the way thru.
I’ve just finished packing for tomorrow’s trip to Amsterdam where I’ll be speaking at FITC (sorry, the event has sold out). I’ll be talking about my background and theory along with some in depth process stuff, should be fun. I am not sure if they’re taping, I’ll check when I get there.
I’ll be bringing along my D80 and trying to get some good shots during my week there. I was going through some photos from last year’s trip and it really inspired me to get back into photography. I’ve been super busy with music and design lately so the only work the D80 has been doing lately is product photography stuff so it will be nice to give it a workout in such a beautiful place. Seeing those old pictures also reminded me that I need to get them up; I stopped posting halfway through an around the world trip I took a couple years back and there’s a lot of shots left to process and post (like the wing over Stockholm above).
I’ve never really posted on fine art before, but these are works by Ed Rucha are my absolute favorites. I’ve seen one of these in person before but I have no memory of where I was. I am pretty sure the NYC MOMA has Ship Talk. I do remember that when I saw it, I froze for about five minutes in front of it; incapable of moving or verbally expressing why I was frozen. All I could think about was how much I needed to own it so I could stare at it all the time. I imagined fantastical scenarios where I would make a lot of money and purchase it instantly. I have never felt that way about any other work of art. It was simultaneously a great feeling (to have found something I loved so much) and a horrible one (for reasons I still don’t understand). Pictured above:
Like the Richard Misrach pictures I posted on a while back, I hesitated posting these in a 450 pixel wide scenario. You really need to see these in person to get the full effect. If I can remember where they are I’ll include it here. (And if anyone knows where these can be found, let us know in the comments.)
I found The Morning Benders by sifting thru Pitchfork.tv’s video series where he got local musicians and friends to perform his song Excuses, it came out great and it really had a memorable feel to it.
One band I want to see live this year is Yeasayer, it shouldn’t be hard since we both live in Brooklyn. If their shows are anything like their video for Ambling Alp then even Daft Punk might have a contender for best band characters.
Lindstrom moves closer and closer to what Moroder did in his career by setting aside the 15+ minute songs and starts working with a vocalist, Lovesick is definitely a good pop direction for the synth genius.
I felt like the blog needed some upbeat funk and soul, so here’s some Donald Byrd, this 8 minute jam makes you do one of those “yeah I know the lyrics now!” half way thru the song and you just end up lip syncing the song all wrong but you really don’t care.
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04/26/10 - 
