Root Down
Posted by Scott
Get well soon MCA. Also, Paul’s Boutique / Check Your Head / Ill Communication: maybe the best 3 album run of any band ever?
ISO50
RSSArchive for July, 2009
Jesu+His Name Is Alive+Aguayo+Rebolledo
Posted by Jakub
Experimental rocker Jesu remixes School of Seven Bells, the remix is very similar to something that maybe Apparat or The Reflecting Skin would of done I think which includes heavy dry kicks and swells, definitely one of my favorite remixes in 2009.
Recently listened to a mix by Philip Sherburne and it started off with this His Name Is Alive track which I thought was a group that has some ok records but this instrumental should be followed up by a whole series of songs like this, i’m sure i’d not be the only one buying that record up.
More electronic music producers need to be making music videos that they’ve done if they have some decent taste like this Rebolledo one that just features Matias Aguayo walking around on the beach eating ice cream and singing the song. The drummer is the the best part, I have no idea what he’s playing with but he’s looking great doing it hah. I hope to see younger musicians like Seth Troxler take on a project like this because he’s almost at this level and has the imagination for it. The video is also refreshing for Techno/House and it also made me revisit Matias Aguayo’s first record “Are You Really Lost” which blew me away again. On a side note: That Theremin sound will kinda get to you, might actually turn you away but I guess its more about the bassline at times for me and vox.
[audio:jesu.mp3] [audio:starings.mp3] [audio:soinlove.mp3] [audio:pitaya.mp3]
Lost In Time
Posted by Sam
In response to Jakub’s post on 1970’s shopping malls, I’ve long wished I could travel back in time and visit some of these spots, again or for the first time. Vacated malls and abandoned theme parks sit lodged in the subconscious as Ithaca-like pleasuredomes. The idea of all-inclusive commerce appealed to/terrified great men like J.G. Ballard and George A. Romero (who set his gorefest Dawn Of The Dead uncoincidentally in a vacated mall) and continue to haunt the collective imagination.
One example of a great lost park is Atlanta’s The World Of Sid and Marty Krofft which opened in 1976 and featured attractions based on the characters of their popular shows and rides like the Pinball one seen in the included pics. The place seems unbelievably spooky and surreal and it’s lack of document only increases it’s eeriness. WSMK might was dubbed the first indoor theme park, which was based inside the Omni International Center (now CNN’s news headquarters) and featured the world’s largest freestanding escalator. Surprising little can be found online but this article sheds some light on the idea for the park. WSMK cost $14 milllon to build (Over $50 million in 2009 money) and closed within six months.
Somebody Is There
Posted by Alex
Somebody is there is a cool Flickr set by Yosigo. As the title so aptly puts it, each photo in the set has a picture of someone “there”, usually depicted from afar. The one on the end is from the related Nobody is there, where as you can see, no one is there. I enjoy photography based on simple concepts like this, especially when it involves the beach. Some of the photos are a little too post produced for me (heavy vignetting etc), but there are a number of pretty cool shots in both sets.
ThomYorke+JonsiAlex+Bulgari+MazzyStar
Posted by Jakub
Stereogum premiered info on the 21 artists compilation: Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy to help the former Miracle Legion front man continue making music while he raises his three-year old twin daughters. These kind of projects I love to see always and its nice to see someone like Thom Yorke down for the cause.
Sigur Rós frontman Jón (Jónsi) Þór Birgisson and partner Alex Somers, from Reykjavík band Parachutes collaborate on a LP which features this song Boy 1904, this might be the gentlest song ever posted on the blog which includes a boys choir i’m guessing and some beautiful drone. The art above isn’t the actual cover, I think its the photo that the cover was made from.
Tom Croose and Slow Hands turned me onto this Al Usher track, they literally did flips in the air while talking about it. I think it came out this week on INTERNASJONAL which is Prins Thomas’ label out of Norway. I think I hear harps, slow disco / balaeric being pushed to its edges when it comes to mellow cuts, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Remember Mazzy Star? well sometimes when I hear this song I wonder how it would be to be a musician that writes lyrics because I personally hardly listen to anything but instrumentals but if I wrote down “…fade into you, I think its strange you never knew…” i’d give myself goosebumps.
[audio:allfor.mp3] [audio:1904.mp3] [audio:lullaby.mp3] [audio:fadeinto.mp3]VW 23 Window Bus
Posted by Scott
I saw this on This Isn’t Happiness today and it reminded me of my friend’s brother who used to be way into restoring VWs. He was always talking about “23 Window” buses like they were the holy grail of VW collecting (well, that and a split window Bug). I’ve seen one of these on the street in my lifetime — here in San Francisco — and one restored and sitting in a garage back home in Sacramento. I always wanted one, but at this point I think I’d settle for a new school one with the pop-top and sink and all that.
On another note: I love VW’s old adverts; they were always simple and to the point. They are all over my old Newsweeks from the 60’s, I’ll have to post some up soon.
EMRG+N+SEE 2009
Posted by Scott
I’m flying into Portland tomorrow for the Emrg+N+See Festival in Macleay, OR (outside of Salem). The event goes from Friday-Sunday and I’ll be playing a Tycho/ISO50 set with visuals Sunday night. From the looks of the lineup it’s going to be a great show (see below). The full schedule with set times can be found here.
Performances by:
# Flying Lotus
# Daedelus
# Plastician
# Blockhead
# Sean Hayes
# Gift of Gab (of Blackalicious)
# Lazer Sword
# Random Rab
# Tycho
# Sub Swara
# Mochipet
+ More
See you out there…
Plant a Tree in Bibio’s Forest
Posted by Jakub
Warp and Bibio made a pretty interesting flash interactive site for the new Bibio album which allows you to listen to songs while creating a tree in Bibio’s digital forest, I made one really quick for ISO50, definitely nice promo and worth checking out. Bibio’s Forest