I was reading the New York Times this weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see the work of Cristina Couceiro as part of one of the magazine articles. I recognized her distinctive style from when Scott posted her work a little while back. In the capacity of the magazine article, it was interesting to see how the use contemporary imagery changed the overall impression of her work. I think it was successful — it brings context, and an slight twinge of humor to the work that wasn’t present in some of the earlier ‘found imagery’ pieces. Something about Steve Carrel especially just works for me…maybe it’s that ridiculous shirt he’s wearing.
This is probably the third time recently I’ve randomly stumbled upon the work of an artist I recognize in a magazine; I saw Leandro Castelao in a recent issue of GOOD, Mark Weaver in Wired, and someone else I’m forgetting now. It’s great to see how their work translates into an editorial environment. And great to see that magazines are supporting the amazing talent of all these artists!
Here are 4 bands that I think really bring something special to the indie rock table, bands that are pushing the envelope on sound and their passions reaching for something different.
Juana Molina makes me want to dig thru the world music crates and pick her brain, the drive in her voice in this song could make 101 yr old man stand up and dance, I need to see this song being played live, my jaw would probably hit the floor.
What can you say its a new Beach House single that just leaked and the indie world is fumbling over itself to get a listen and I have to say its pretty impressive, catchy and i’d like to throw out this genre idea – woodgaze [woodsy shoegaze], yes or no?
After Pitchfork’s Festival all I heard about was how outstanding Frightened Rabbit sounded live, this is my first taste of something that I like by them on CD, wow a collection of songs[this plus the other 3 songs and some shoegaze and maybe Red House Painters and thats really it, and The Police too] that actually make me want to listen to lyrics, its such a nice feeling.
I have to give it to Tom Croose, he called Real Estate being great in the spring and now look at us all, I have to go back to how I visually described it back in August: “to me its laid back feel makes me want to bust out the Yo La Tengo’s Summer Sun LP but i’m too busy chillin’ in my kids pool filled with hose water that is being warmed by the sun and I have grass blades stuck all over me that i’m trying to pick off, so lets just keep the Real Estate CD in.”
My friend Eli (who needs to do an Italo Disco installment of Synth Pioneers) put me onto this documentary, which is likely the best exploration of the English synth-pop moment. With great interviews from heroes like Daniel Miller, Vince Clark and Martin Gore, it really got my blood pumping so I wanted to write about a few other acts who were originators of the international electronic pop sound.
Kraftwerk – Computer Love
[audio:computerlove.mp3]
Talking about the greatness of Kraftwerk is like talking about the necessity of air, so I’ll keep it short. They just released all of their most well-known albums, remastered and with original artwork. “Computer Love” is one of my al time favorite songs. The way the lead seems to phase shift at the end always takes my breath away. Let’s get this straight: A song about loneliness and computers, made before the internet was invented which glides like classical music? Sounds like a plan.
Yellow Magic Orchestra – Technopolis
[audio:technopolis.mp3]
Yellow Magic Orchestra have been called the Japanese Kraftwerk, in that they were both pop innovators and an awesomely stoic synth band. Ryuichi Sakamoto has since gone on to collaborate with Fennesz and Christopher Willits amongst others. Their work may pre-date synth-pop but it’s surely in the canon of influential works. I often play their hit “Computer Games” if transitioning between sounds in a DJ set. When the beat drops at 1:50, it always lights up the room.
Japan – Gentlemen Take Polaroids
[audio:gentlementakepolaroids.mp3]
A band that is sorely overlooked is David Sylvian’s Japan project, which married glam and (some would say, invented) new romantic aesthetics to synth austerity and elegant arrangements. Their full sound was more complex than their peers and more sinister by a long shot. Recently, Sylvian has also collaborated with aritsts like Fennesz and covered acts like Blonde Redhead with stunning vocal clarity.
Simple Minds – Glittering Prize
[audio:glitteringprize.mp3]
Scotland’s Simple Minds were another band not included in this documentary, probably because they are more associated with the New Wave movement, but like labelmates the Human League, they’re example of a band moving from experimental work to pop success. Their work became increasing U2-like and less electronic, but this track captures them at the peak of a rewardingly sweeping sound, with pitch-perfect production to boot.
Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the Synth Pioneers series can be found here.
I’ve been sick in bed but that hasn’t stopped me from digging deep for music in between long naps, I found soo many nice tracks I even want to post the 4 songs for tomorrow now.
Helios is one of those bands i’ll always check out because I know they’ll have a stand out track on there album every time and this album is no exception. The song Cross The Ocean is the closest i’ve heard to something like Boards of Canada in a while but without the PBS feel, tell me if i’m wrong.
I’m loving this intro of this Cale Parks song, the whole song is really unique and forward thinking, definitely the definition of Avant Pop.
I just found Desolation Wilderness, a really low key post rock/surf-ish group and an enjoyable listen.
Yeasayer have the sound to take experimental indie pop to TOP 40, if you listen close to their instrumental its mind scrambling, how do you sit down and put that together with other band members?! they care and are super talented.
I’ve really been digging back into Midlake’s work since Sam posted the Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve remix of Roscoe in Playlist 6 (Jakub actually posted it quite a while back but I somehow missed it). This is one of the few rock remixes I actually like more than the original. In this case much more.
It’s been a while since Vanoccupanter, but apparently Midlake have apparently been busy in the years since working on a new album entitled The Courage of Others due out in February of 2010. I was completely bowled over by the new album art, it’s absolutely stunning. After a quick search I turned up a relatively large version at Tuba Records. Might have to fire up the 9900 and run off a copy of that one. Anybody know who designed / shot it?
And here’s one of my favorite Midlake songs, Young Bride from their last album, The Trials of Vanoccupanther. The bass is incredible on this one; I love that driving style. I keep wanting it to go to this place but it never does and I think that’s what makes it perfect.
As promised, here’s the final poster for the Analog Visions show on Friday in Toronto. In case you missed it, I’ll be doing a solo show at Function 13 Gallery this Friday, November 20th. I’ve been working out concepts for how to hang the posters throughout the past week, I’ve decided against frames and want to go with something a little more raw feeling for this one. The work that I’ll be showing are all printed on Hahnemühle German Etching paper which has this incredible texture. I don’t want anything to get between the viewer and the piece. I have been working with Bulldog clips and nails, spray painting the clips matte white and using longer nails to let the piece stand off the wall a little. I think it’s going to look nice, but I’m still open to any suggestions, if you have any ideas for alternative poster hanging methods, let me know in the comments.
As for the poster design itself, I spent way longer than expected on this one. It was meant to be a quick promo poster for the gallery but the deeper I got into it the more I realized I had to finish it off properly. Once you hit on a concept you kind of have to decide whether to go all the way with it or save it for when there’s time to do it right. It was a stretch, but I was able to get it done in time (deadline was this morning) so it’s pretty nice to finally see it in it’s completed form. As you can see, this is another take on the Nocturne poster, featuring the same model. Seeing as how these events are the same night I wanted them to be related, but not exactly the same. I wanted the Nocturne design to be a little more divergent from my earlier work while this one was meant to sort of bridge the gap between new and old given the nature of the gallery show. You can see a larger version of the image over at the studio site.
The version above is probably the fifth or sixth, not counting the various in between states. The final file ended up around 4GB, 24×36″ at 300dpi but I did most of the heavy lifting with low resolution smart object stand-ins so it wasn’t too slow. In case anyone was wondering, this is the project I was referring to in the Photoshop Question / Problem post. All of the circles were smart objects based on the same photograph. As stated above, I worked with a model I shot here in the studio for the silhouettes, but I worked with another photographer for some elements of the background. I used some shots from Jacob Sargeant’s beautiful Experimental Set on Flickr for the detailing and color shifts. Thanks to Disign Police for turning me on to Jacob’s work.
Time for a day off and some much needed rest, hope to see you out in Toronto.
Older poster series by Darren Firth. I’ve always been a fan of Darren’s web work and recently came upon the project above while searching around for innovative ways to shoot pictures of printed work. I thought this was a cool idea; playful and interesting without being distracting. Of course the poster design is what I really like. I’ve never been able to pull off this kind of mega overlapping layout, and I always appreciate it when it’s done well like this. Hopefully going to see some new projects soon! Keep an eye out at Darren’s portfolio.
