If you saw Tycho on tour last time in the US you saw our ambient R&B support Jacob & Tom of Beacon, I asked them to put together today’s playlist, would love some feedback, their No Body EP is out, they DJ tomorrow with Yeasayers at Cameo Gallery
Keyboard Kid – $$$$$$
Producers without their counterparts have been dominating my speaker time lately. $$$$$$ off Keyboard Kids 2011 Video Games and Blunts mixtape is a stellar track full of his signature futuristic synths and dirt filled percussion. The chopped and pitched repetitive hook always seems to swell around in my head long after it finishes.
Filterwolf – Nocturne (Bodycode aka Portable remix)
I’ve been listening to so much Alan Abrahams AKA Portable AKA Bodycode lately. I love the way his baritone vocal harmonies in this remix become the warmest incantations, summoning love from some wandering spirit.
Ayatoholla – NAG Champa
This throwback keeps making it into my steady rotation. NAG Champa , the opening track off of Ayatoholla’s 2006 Now Playing, drops all the right sounds in all the right places. Its one of those loops I want to listen to for hours. With a perfect blend of soulful vocal samples, smooth drum work and swells of melodic strings its an example of a producer who gives only what is needed.
Blood Orange – Champagne Coast
The really special thing about this Blood Orange song is the way the slow funk groove in the beginning eventually opens into very triumphant love song of Koto patterns, warm synths and Devonte’s insistent vocal finish.
Alan Sailer creates beautiful imagery using high speed photography techniques he developed. While we’ve all seen high speed stuff like this before but I for one have never seen it treated in such an artistic way. It’s amazing how he captures just the right moment in these (the pony head about to burst is impossibly well timed). The color composition is spot on too.
alemor73 – Alejandro might be known more for this architecture snapshots but I go back for his color schemes and attention to geometric details.
r3mus – What I like about his photos is that he doesn’t life in a fancy natural environment but he always gets great nature shots. Also, I never get sick of these kind of shots especially when they’re done right.
saraswebb – Sara does great with a fantasy world, its never too Lisa Frank-ish or too trendy, rides this thin line that just always keeps you interested and coming back to her feed.
In sports car racing, there is a wonderful thing called ‘homologation’. Manufacturers hate it, car collectors love it. It means that in order to enter a car in sanctioned sports car races, it has to be based on a production model. Without going into a lengthy explanation, just appreciate the fact that it has brought the world some of it’s most prized street-legal race cars. The 300SL is undeniably one of the most iconic. In 1952, Mercedes Benz was feeling ambitious and decided they wanted to win alot of races. So they built an incredibly streamlined, lightweight, and reliable race car using some of the most exotic materials at the time – the homologated street version that was sold to the public a complete afterthought. It was then entered it into many of the most prestigious, and difficult, endurance races of the day. They succeeded, taking 1-2 victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Carrera Panamericana to name a few. Above are a few photos of the 300SL in action at the aforementioned races (the 2nd of which is the variant used in the trans-mexican rally, where the windshield had to be reinforced with wrought iron bars due to ‘buzzard collisions’). The second group of photos are of the oldest 300SL in existence, serial number zwei. It never saw any racing, rather it was used as a training car for the very capable Hermann Lang & Fritz Reiss (along with the rest of the Silver Arrows) who went on to take many checkered flags. Dragged out of the broom closet by Mercedes, it underwent an extensive 9 month restoration for it’s 60th birthday, and in celebration of the new SLS AMG. What a timeless example of German design – both in form & function.
Several other Tycho live dates have just been announced (see below or check the Tycho tour page), really excited to be making it out to some new cities this time around. See you this summer!
I’m at Percussion Lab right now, they stream a radio station ( tune in now ) out of Brooklyn, NY every Monday night run by Praveen( Sepalcure, Braille, Praveen & Benoit ) who is no stranger to the blog since we started. This weekend they will be putting on a show for Unsound Festival which is featuring 2562, Sepalcure, Throwing Snow, and many more, here’s more info on the event if you’re interested it’s called Bass Mutations. This track by Throwing Snow is one of the only ones I could find that I loved that I heard Praveen play on the show, hopefully he’ll have some of this unreleased stuff out soon.
Last night I had a going away party because i’m moving across the country to the Bay Area, We had Praveen play a live Braille set, Sarah from Phantogram debuted her first DJ set, Beacon threw down their best DJ set i’ve ever heard and Sam Valenti IV and his lady Moderna closed out the night, Shaun White was even there, really funny guy, well anyway they threw down this huge slow jam from Mark E, its the Space Dub version, absolutely murdered my face off on the dance floor.
Kyson is a new signing on Moodgadget, one thing I love about him is that he does just a bunch of bootleg remixes on his spare time, my favorite has to be his Washed Out one, it just kind of flutters in this one area and dissolves nicely. His EP Patience is out on May 1st, definitely worth a listen.
The owners of one of my favorite labels of all time are back at it in the studio under the name Mohn. The delicate builds these two have made over the years are mind boggling, if you want more pick up their Burger/Ink material.
Eurobus is a series of photographs featuring European tour bus designs by Taylor Holland, which was shot Spring of 2011, while on various bicycle commutes around Paris, France. The series was published by Matmos Press, an independent publisher based in Montreal (QC).
This book is dedicated to the anonymous designers of European tour bus graphics, who have embraced an underappreciated art space and made it their own.
Swedish software firm Propellerhead (the makers of Reason) put together not only a simple eye appealing music making app but one that has controls that will have you making music in just a few minutes.
The great part about this music app is the sounds aren’t wacky, thin or robotic, if you’re a Reason user like myself since v2.0 then this will make you smile from ear to ear especially at the $.99 price tag.
They have a thorough overview on their site and the solid video above for new fans. Definitely haven’t been this happy about a music app since Animoog.
“I think we as an industry haven’t been that great about inviting people in who don’t have deep dreams about becoming big stars or understanding everything about music production, it’s time for that: I think everyone should be invited to be part of this. Figure is a small step towards that.” – says chief executive Ernst Nathorst Böös.
