A future classic in my mind, this mix by Tensnake for Resident Advisor keeps a pace that feels right for any occasion. If you haven’t followed the highly informative and giving RA site then I suggest you should, decent reviewers but more importantly a great site for these mixes. That Floating Points track still gets me, damn, so good.
01 – Groove Armada – Dan-Solo (Album Edit)
02 – Lindstrom & Christabelle – Lovesick
03 – 6th Borough Project – McLovin
04 – Tiger & Woods – Gin Nation [Editainment – Tain 2]
05 – Kim – Give Me The Dance
06 – Floating Points – Vacuum Boogie
07 – Ike – Diskadenz
08 – Bass Hitt – The Beat That Makes You Move
09 – Blunted Dummies – House For All
10 – The Royal We – Party Guilt (Dinky’s Arp-A-Pella)
11 – Sound Stream – Soul Train
12 – Rockers Revenge – Dubbing On Sunshine
13 – Rick Wilhite – Drum Patterns & Memories (Rick’s Morning Service Mix)
14 – Liberty City – If You Really Love Someone + Andre Hayden Project – Tribal Life
15 – Tony Lionni – Found A Place
16 – Blake Baxter – Our Luv
17 – Raz – Amour Puerto Riqueno
18 – Tensnake – Coma Cat
19 – Tensnake – Somethin About You
20 – Sterling Void – It’s Alright
21 – (NYE noise)
22 – Saint Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Vintage Technology has an enormous array of 1970’s era calculators on display. I’m into it because I love numbers, but if you want to know how many diodes and capacitors there were in a Caltronic 812, you are in luck. Each comes with a photo and an extraordinarily detailed reference page. There are 128 identified brands, and 583 calculators in total!
As an aside, I used to love calculators with an on/off button. I hated the kind that would turn off in a minute or two when unused. I mean I get it, but I like the power of having an on/off.
You may recognize the Omron from an earlier post. I’m sad Braun wasn’t represented on this page too…
This song will get its own playlist today. Tom Croose this morning shared this little number with me from a 7 inch, its a mash up by Violens of Slowdive’sSouvlaki Space Station and Washed Out’sFeel It All Around. I can’t really give you an opinion on it because i’m such a Souvlaki Space Station fan that I automatically loved it from the start. Please support and pick this up on vinyl.
You may find this entirely crazy but growing up I was only graced with the opportunity to play an Atari once. Even though I wasn’t born in the 70s and barely born in the 80s, the Atari console seemed really cool but I still never owned one. I hope I’m not the only one out there that wasn’t able to log hours on an Atari as a kid. Looking back at them now, I would have bought the 2600 in a heart beat for the sake of the small yet stylish wooden veneer accent.
These drawings were really making leaps and bounds between concepts. In some of the drawings parts were nixed and replaced with other ideas. The cooling fans for example get moved back and forth as the concept progresses. Seeing stuff like this is very inspiring; it gives me a target to aim at for progressing my own sketches for future projects.
I think Onra and Dam Funk have a little brother and his name is Oriol. I really love this feel, the cover actually says it all. Planet-Mu has really stepped up their signing artist game, congrats guys, I hope to hear more.
We all could fall in love with Baths, he seems like someone that would be nice to you every time you met him but thats not why I share his music, I share it because I listen to it over and over like this new song Nordic Laurel.
Teen Daze killed this Japandroids cover, i’m into the mashing of a roaring lead synth over a slow flat beat, its like if Washed Out collabed on a song with Women.
In my new, and sure to be infrequent column, I’m discussing brands of note, some old, others new, and those long gone. As someone interested in the development of brands, these posts are less about business, and instead about where art and industry marry in historic form.
An unexpected brand making well-deserved headlines is J. Crew. Yes, that one. I had the same reaction when a few of my trusted friends made me aware of the brand and it’s current status. My memories of the brand were from the mid-90’s, of $98 Rollneck sweaters and greater misdeeds. Now I count myself amongst the fans for this most seemingly common of brands.
In it’s current moment, J. Crew has become less of a product line and more of a sensibility. The best example of J. Crew as a ‘perspective’ is their ‘In Good Company’ collection, which combines the 2000’s obsession with brand collaboration and good old fashioned curation, pairing the company up with well-worn heritage brands like Sebago and England’s 86 year-old outerwear brand, Belstaff. This is what is affectionately call an “ethos grab” or the adoption of the traits from greater brands via their inclusion in your own.
Riding on a wave of preppy fascination ushered in by a few East Coast indie bands, men’s clothing saw a sea change in recent years towards a more subtle look, taking over for a trend of logos and bright colors. J. Crew also wisely eschewed an overt prep direction, Instead opting for classic American and work-inspired clothing.
Like any brand resurgence (Apple, being one), it starts at the top and it infects the whole company. Mickey Drexler is the patriarch of this evolution, and his attitudes towards hiring and culture have informed the brand’s ascendency since he joined in 2003. Creative director Jenna Lyons has become a celebrity in her own right.
The inclusion of Andy Spade, co-founder (with his wife) of Kate Spade and his own confusingly named Jack Spade brand, was another brilliant hire, whose sly blend of Midwestern charm and a hint of old school smarm (David Spade is his brother) created the best asset perhaps of J. Crew-dom, the Liquor Store shop in Tribeca. A barely refurbished bar as men’s shop, and a signless work of retail genius.
“It’s odd that people think they have to brand everything with their own name to be successful. Certain companies are experts at certain things. I love brands that show humility and don’t try to be all things to all people. How many brands that got bigger got better?”
J. Crew
Founded: 1983
Golden Age: 2008- ?
Typeface: Goudy Old Style
In case you missed the latest newsletter (sign up here), there are two new prints available at the shop. First is the Dusty Brown poster featuring artwork from their This City is Killing Me EP. It’s a limited edition giclee available in four formats. More info / purchase here.
There’s also a very limited run of prints from the Ghostly 10 year show at Seattle Decibel Fest. This edition is limited to 200 pieces, 11×17″, $15. More info / purchase here.