Thomas Scholes is a digital artist out of Seattle who uses Photoshop to create painterly landscapes sort of in the vein of Roger Dean and more recently, Dan McPharlin. I love his color use and the texture; it’s really incredible that this is all being done within software.
Thomas also does a lot of process videos showing how he works with various imagery and textures to get these effects. I particularly enjoyed this one which shows him modeling a landscape from a photo of a woman (see video below). I love the idea of incorporating unrelated imagery into a composition as texture or distressing — or, in this case, as a framework.
You can check out more of Thomas’ work and videos at his blog
Edit: Cover image replaced due to “appropriation issues” (see comments for info)
I found Datahowler when his album cover above caught my eye, pretty and simple and not too emotional, just the way I like my vocals. Download his 2 song EP here for FREE.
Orchid Tapes is run by the musician Foxes In Fiction, he shares a ton of free EPs by friends and musicians alike and also keeps the cassette community having something to listen to by doing limited runs of albums on cassettes. The most recent release is by 16 year old Trans-Bedroom Sound which includes some real nice airy tones and a perfect soundtrack for an afternoon nap. Pick up the FREE EP here.
Half of Sweden’s slow disco duo Studio comes to us as D. Lissvik is back with a serious world music guitar solo that’s supported by some dark hypnotic sounds, a nice lengthy piece, pretty interested in hearing the rest of this LP.
Disco done unlike anything else these days brought to you by The Swiss.
Well this wasn’t a hard decision: Undercover is officially my favorite clothing store in Tokyo. The SS/10 collection is based on the work of Dieter Rams, using the motto “Less but Better” to guide the design. Need I say more? I walked in and saw rows of Vitsoe shelving and was sold immediately. Then I saw Snow White’s coffin, an old Braun catalog, and basically every object Dieter Rams had ever designed. Eventually I realized there were also clothes for sale and I had to take a seat to collect myself. Of course I found myself sitting on the 620 Chair.
We make noise, not clothes. – Jun Takahashi and Undercover.
So obviously I’m a fan of the overall aesthetic and ethos of the store. My one complaint was, as much as I loved the clothes (and I did), absolutely nothing fit me. Of course I became frustratingly used to this in Tokyo. Would have loved to pick something up; though I did search long and far to find their 2010 lookbook as a consolation prize. They had a display copy in-store, which I pleaded for in broken Japanese, but they wouldn’t part with it. Every book store in Tokyo was the same — it wasn’t until the last place I tried where the guy told me I could just grab one on Amazon.jp. This is true, but you need to create a new account and shipping ends up costing about double the book itself. I have one on the way and will let you know if it’s worth it. From what I remember, it is.
Cheers to the sales guys there for letting me take so many pictures. Pretty tough thing to do in Tokyo; most places will freak out and lock you down if you pull out a camera. Not sure why, free publicity as far as I’m concerned. Anyway these guys were really nice and made a special “exception” for me — I think because they felt bad that literally the entire line didn’t fit me.
Yours Truly is a sort of video collective out of San Francisco who’s mission statement is to “discover and document” the bands and artists that inspire them (link to their full mission statement). They essentially craft short films about interesting bands; some are in-studio alternate takes of songs, others are live footage interspersed with interviews. All are thoroughly engrossing a must watch for fans of any of the bands they cover or anyone wanting to discover new music.
My favorite short of theirs has to be the Toro Y Moi in-studio of him recreating an instrumental version of You Hid from his last full length (see video below). Hearing the song in this new way was really something to behold; I have to say I’m partial to this version now. Another highlight is a session they taped of The Morning Benders. They filled up a studio with a bunch of local musicians and recorded a version of Excuses; the result is incredible and once again rivals the album version. Check both videos out below and check out a ton more at Yourstru.ly (do URLs get better than that?).
The Drums official LP dropped this week, i’ve been waiting for this for almost year I think. I had them down as writing my favorite song of 2009, definitely a perfect album to listen to while having fun with friends.
Washed Out is back and collaborates with Chairlift’ Caroline Polachek, a somber tempo and shows us that he’s on a great path of being able to make this sound something more than just a trendy genre, I hope to hear more.
Solvent’s new video debuted on Self-Titled’s site today and I had to share it with you, try not to fall in love with the characters that are playing the synths. I included the Vector Lovers remix below which is solid.
Shlohmo announced his upcoming EP called Camping which features a really nasty Shigeto remix, the EP also includes a remix by Baths and a few new cuts by the young talent.
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across these beautiful pieces by Cristiana Couceiro. I was immediately engaged by the simple, collage-like style and muted mid-century colors. There is also something about the use of monochrome mountain imagery and type that really catches my eye.
Yes, both of those passports are mine. The first thing that was said to me upon my arrival in Narita was “Do you know Interpol?” I answered yes and was lead into an interrogation room where I sat for about 45 minutes. Periodically someone would come explain that my passport was stolen. I would explain back to them that it couldn’t be, as it was right there in front of us. In the end I was told to go to the American Embassy and get a new one (hence the two above). So now I have two passports and a unique knowledge of the underworld at Narita Airport. That was at the beginning, much has happened since then.
Since my last update I have been out mining for cool things. No more tourist attractions (besides the Ramen Museum in Yokohama. My Mom already made fun of me for visiting a noodle museum, so don’t start). I am happy to say that I have been successful in my searchings for all things weird and wonderful. Most of my time has been spent in Aoyama, Harajuku and Naka Meguro (with some Daikanyama too). It’s been hard to decide what to focus on; clothes, housewares, interiors, music, games, food…I could easily spend all of each day bouncing between all the different shops in those areas. One place I literally had to leave because I was afraid I might buy too many things (Sempre). I also found a hair salon that was having a yard sale. Their three items for sale were a replica M16, faded porn, and a Twitter sign. Awesome.
I found more CFCF remixes to share with you guys, a real proper remix that shows off the same talents he displays time after time, this track reminds me of a housey earlier Royksopp without the vox.
When I first heard Popnoname on Kompakt he was doing mostly singles for the Pop Ambient compilations, really nice smooth digital stuff but I never checked him out beyond that. This is more on a pop tip, vox with a rolling synth melody, simple and easy to swallow.
I wouldn’t miss putting up a new Toro Y Moi even if you told me we all already heard it before, loving this one he did for The Longcuts, its back to what I love most about his production.
I can’t figure it out but I think Duliatten Disco Dancer is the very talent re-edit disco master Todd Terje but don’t quote me on that, loving this worldly psych disco cut even if the guitar gets alil out of hand at the end.
