I just got back from Portland tonight, I had a great time up there, thanks to everyone who made it out Friday for the show. I’ve always been impressed by Portland’s overall design sensibility, they have that very distinct kind of industrial aesthetic that is the hallmark of the Pacific Northwest. Portland based Parliament Design’s studio embodies that ethic to a tee. The reclaimed warehouse space has been meticulously crafted into a living, breathing workspace that oozes creativity. The really striking part is that most of the space was purpose-built for the studio from reclaimed materials and design relics. More pictures here.
I’ve never taken the aesthetics of my workspace very seriously, but seeing this makes me want to reconsider. I do envy pure design studios like this, it seems much easier to make a space look clean and minimal with just computers and graphic design tools. Trying to house my music and design studio in the same space has always posed a challenge, I end up feeling crowded by all the equipment and it’s hard to create a layout that’s both accessible and clean. Hopefully someday I can split them up, but until then I will have to look at pictures like these and be jealous.
How about you? How important do you feel the look and layout of your workspace is to your overall creativity and productivity? Sound off in the comments »
I’ll be joining Casino Versus Japan, A Sunny Day In Glasgow, and Shigeto in New York December 13th for the Wordless Series at Le Poisson Rouge. This will be mine and CVJ’s NYC debuts and I’m really looking forward to it. You can score tickets here and check out all the details on the Facebook event page. Hope to see you out there.
On a side note, I just arrived in Portland for the show at The Crown Room tomorrow night. This and the NYC show (along with an Amsterdam date in February — details on that coming shortly) will be my last musical performances before I lock myself in the studio to complete the next full length Tycho album — which is due at the end of March, to be released later in 2010. I’ll be touring more often after the release so I’ll be trying to hit all the cities I’ve missed over the past couple years.
A Ghostly International / Moodgadget Holiday Concert
Presented by Wordless Music
Sunday December 13, 2009
Live Performances by: Tycho
Casino Versus Japan
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
Shigeto
@Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker Street New York, NY Map
10pm
Insect54 has some great shots of Schweizer Grafiker / Graphistes Suisses, a B&W masterpiece of 1960’s Swiss design.
“Designed by Siegfried Odermatt this book features a spread on every member of the VSG (association of Swiss graphic artists). It features many of the great names in Swiss modernist design: Müller-Broockmann, Fridolin Müller, Nelly Rudin, Max Schmid, Siegfried Odermatt, Hans Neuburg, Richard Paul Lohse. It even lists their addresses.”
Pitchfork posted the new Tycho single today. As far as I know this is the first time the full length track has been available anywhere. You can have a listen here.
If you’re anywhere near Sacramento right now, cancel any plans you might have. The final Club Pow is going down at The Press club. Club Pow is a Sacramento music scene institution, they’ve been cranking out amazing shows night after night for years now. I’ll be making the drive out from San Fran, so all of you in Roseville, Folsom, Elk Grove, and Woodland have no excuses! See you there.
I’m always a sucker for letterpress. You could almost use any design and I’ll love it if it’s on the right paper and embossed like this. Perky Bros., aka Jefferson Perky, is producing some beautiful work out of his studio in Nashville, TN. You can check out the rest of his portfolio here.
I forgot when I heard this, but this girl with a letterpress was explaining how in the old days it was actually frowned upon to de-boss the paper. The more skilled the letterpress operator, the lighter the impression the type would make when it printed to the paper. She went on to explain how in recent times artists have begun to purposefully de-boss the paper when printing as an effect. It’s always interesting to see how people take equipment that’s been painstakingly designed to produce a certain effect and turn it on it’s head to do something new and creative. It sort of reminds me of a lot of recording techniques where you’re taking something designed to produce the most pristine possible sound and abusing the process to create effects and distortions.
NOTCOT is having an ISO50 giveaway including a couple Studio Giclee Prints, the new Syv shirt, and the Tycho Coastal Brake 12″. I also wrote a short piece on how we print the posters here at the studio and posted up some pictures of the process.
I’ll be playing a show in Portland, OR next Friday (Dec. 4, 2009) at The Crown Room. I’ll be playing some new music and visuals on the new system I used in Toronto last week. Fellow San Franciscan Welder (aka Eskmo) will be playing as well so it should be an interesting night. Hope to see you out, all the info is here.
On a technical note, I switched from a Native Instruments Audio Kontrol1 interface to my MOTU 828MKII for live work and it’s made a huge difference. The NI box had all sorts of latency and drop-out issues, which can obviously be a nightmare in a live setting. I had tracked down most of the bugs and things were running relatively smoothly, but the specter of a crash looming over you during the whole set can put a damper on things. The MOTU is so smooth I’ve stopped even considering the possibility that something could go wrong and it’s cleared things up so I can concentrate on the set. Unfortunately it’s a beast made for a 19″ rack. It just fits in my flight case though so it’s ok for now, just a bit wasteful on the weight side. I’m going to get a MOTU Ultralight MK3 which is basically the same thing but, at less than half the size, it’s a more practical form factor for live applications. Luckily I had the 828MK2 laying around because I switched it out of studio duty for an RME Fireface800 a while back. I had meant to sell it but I’m glad I gave this setup a shot first.
Friday, December 4, 2009 – Portland, OR
TYCHO Live A/V Set (Ghostly International SF)
WELDER (Ancestor Media, Surefire SF)
Dj Devon (Abstract Earth PDX)
Coyote Beat (Feat. PlumbLyne & Ana G PDX)
