After being “almost done” for the last couple weeks (months?), the newly redesigned Dropular has been released into the wild. Dropular, like FFFFOUND and vi.sualize.us, is a social bookmarking site for images. I used it a fair amount when it first came out; I liked how clean and streamlined the design was. It was also very easy to tell how images got to the front and what the “top” image criteria was (unlike FFFFOUND, which is a complete mystery to me). You could organize the content by “most dropped” of all time, the month, etc. You could also roll over images to see quickly how many people had added it to their collection. And if I remember correctly, there was an infinite scroll, which increased the likelihood that you would spend an inordinate amount of time browsing the backlog.
I haven’t really had a chance to play around with the new site too much yet, but it’s here and ready for testing. Everything looks OK to me thus far — it’s definitely still under development, so it’s kind of hard to judge whether or not things have improved. At the moment, most of the features I loved and mentioned above appear to be gone. Hopefully they are still to come (they have stated numerous times that features will continue to be rolled out as the release progresses).
It looks like registration will soon be open for new users, so keep an eye out if you didn’t have a chance to get an account last year.
Image via Olly M (was the first thing I Dropped when I signed up last year. Perhaps an apt motto for the Dropular development team…)
Sometimes its a challenge to post 4 songs you absolutely like every day, like today all I wanted to do was post this amazing Ducktails track which you can preorder the 7″ here. The track just seemed enough, its perfect for a Monday morning headphone getaway.
I also wanted to share this Delorean’s track which is what I put on when I want to pretend the new MGMT record is good because these guys did a better record that will probably hit the same crowd hopefully plus Delorean has a great House music meets tropical thing going.
I have to also include the highly leaked Crystal Castles LP single that is pretty much on every blog, I love the single Doe Deer but its abit rowdy for a Monday morning so this track will be a good preview I guess, its a bit pop for my taste though, like some kind of Little Boots throw away track.
I want to end this on a high note which is this Laid Back track, if you’re a wedding DJ and feel soulless then drop this.
The new Caribou LP Swim drops Tuesday 4.20.10, if you haven’t preordered it I highly suggest it, if not pick it up at his merch booth, I hope he has another tour CD to give out this time around. The record has been on repeat and one song that stands out for me over the singles that are leaking is this Hannibal track, the melody is addicting and the horns in the breakdown are spot on.
Matthew Dear has been on a roll, just finished remixing The xx now onto Charlotte Gainsbourg, I keep looping the first 15 seconds over and over.
Poor Beach Fossils I feel like i’ve posted all their songs that I can get my hands onto ISO50. With bands like Beach Fossils, Real Estate and ARMS we will have a nice soundtrack to sunny summer evenings.
I saw our resident DJ Slow Hands play the other night for the 99% design conference here in New York, he dropped this remix of Phoenix that made me end up looking over his shoulder every 5 minutes.
This is absolutely everywhere on the internet right now because it is absolutely awesome. The Nike Music Shoe video features Tokyo DJ duo Hifana playing different Nike shoes via bends, bounces, and slams. Easily one of the most creative branding videos I’ve seen in a long while. The last time I got this excited over a soft sell video like this was probably Only the Brave. Talk about inspiring too. After watching Music Shoe I want to run, paint, jam, fly and do just about everything creative I can possibly do.
For those who missed the early posts on DNTEL and CARIBOU, i’m just trying to collect my thoughts on why I listen to this music and not other music that’s out there. There’s definitely a sound for the ISO50 blog and posts like this hopefully just show the origin or what planted the seed. Below is a link to Guillermo Scott Herren’s FREE Tour CD from 2003 called Sleeping On Saturday And Sunday Afternoon, its full of instrumental micro electronic indie rock and experimental sounds that really paved the way for some guitarists to leave rock and get more into electronic home studio recording.
I love bikes. I almost love how a beautiful bicycle looks more than riding one, but not quite. In San Francisco we have a pretty solid bike culture so you get to see some nice ones around the city now and then. But of course it’s nothing compared to Amsterdam where bikes run the city and they know how to build them right. Sure, there are a ton of junkers but the overall style and pragmatic design of most is something I really appreciate. Every time I go there I resolve to find a nice bike in the Dutch style when I get home but I can never seem to find anything.
That’s why I got really excited when I first saw Vanilla Bicycle’s site. These handcrafted bikes from Portland, OR (of course) are beautiful examples of classic design and everything I’d want out of a bike. Vanilla’s attention to detail and reverence for classic styling is breathtaking. So yeah, I’m really excited at this point.
Then I checked out the ordering page. THE WAIT FOR ONE IS FIVE YEARS. 5. Of course. And of course, any time you have to wait that long for something you can go ahead and multiply the number of years times 2000 and you’ll probably get close to the price (but actually, probably nowhere near it). Also, if they don’t list the price on the site, you can’t afford it. So that’s settled, I’ll never own, see, or be within a mile of a Vanilla Bicycle, but fortunately they’ve provided us with some beautiful photos of the bikes shot with a Canon 5D so we can dream a little. If they sold posters of these I’d buy all of them. The site is a bit confusing but just click around and you’ll start finding some galleries of various custom jobs they’ve done: Vanilla Bicycles Site
P.S. Is anyone else getting all nostalgic lately for the original 5D? It might be the first classic DSLR. I need to get one. In 25 years indie kids will probably be hanging out backstage at shows talking about their Canon 5D MK1 and how it “just has that feel that you can’t get with holographic, man…” Then you can start picking up Hasselblads cheap on eBay and the cycle begins anew.
A new Onra single is out, for some it might just sound like the Casino level in Sonic The Hedgehog on Sega Genesis but to many of the heads its a solid ode to 90’s R&B.
A sneak peek at the upcoming Solvent LP coming to us via his single that drops next week digitally. Less stiff than previous Solvent releases and a lovingly tame style fills the Lost For Words track, should go over big with new and old Solvent fans.
Samiyam has something that a good chunk of the new wave of beat makers don’t have is the attention to choice samples that makes a song feel like he owns a sound. Samiyam keeps things rough, loose and most important honest, he still makes music he wants to hear and it shows release after release that he’s one of the better beatsmith’s out there.
Can we talk about how genius Eric Wareheim is? just taking an idea that is so simple and embarassing and just running it thru the mud in front of your grandma, this kind of humor will never die.
One of the very first articles I ever wrote for this blog lamented the careless proliferation of Archer, the slab serif from H&FJ. At the time, I was specifically reacting to the unfortunate redesign of the San Francisco Chronicle. That was in February of last year. Since then, the typeface has spread itself ever further, and continues to pop up just about everywhere.
Lauren Adams wrote a article about this very topic over on the AIGA blog. She states, “Archer’s instant stardom raises questions about its appropriateness. Can a font with such a defined character properly suit so many purposes?” She goes on to point out numerous recent examples of Archer’s continued domination of the ‘friendly’ typeface sphere. I was excited to see her article, as this issue continues to bug me the more I spot those little ball terminals. (Be sure to check out the blog she mentions, Archer Alert, for recent examples of Archer in the wild.)
At the end of my article back then, I asked if “Archer was the next Papyrus” — a polarizing contention to be sure — but maybe now my question doesn’t seem so far fetched. Before you get all crazy on me, let me say again that I am a *fan* of Archer. It looks good. I have nothing against the way it is drawn and actually think that it is quite amazing (like all of H&FJ’s work). Though as Lauren states, “an elegant typeface doesn’t simply translate to universal functionality.” I would add that such a distinctive typeface shouldn’t translate to ubiquity.
Like Papyrus, Archer shares a unique personality and the aforementioned “defined character”. Just as Papyrus became the go-to font for “exotic” or “earthy”, Archer has become the easy choice for “friendly” and “approachable”, which makes its misuse all the more prevalent. The more Archer is used in scenarios where it’s vaguely appropriate, the less effective it becomes in situations where it actually makes sense. As Christopher Simmons points out in the comments over there, “In unskilled hands even a Stradivarious will only make noise”. With Archer being clumsily wielded as frequently as it is, it’s this “noise” that has rendered unbiased viewings of the typeface impossible.
