I’ve become a bigger fan of the Engineers the more and more the last LP grew older and I didn’t have new Engineers music to listen to. They did a remix for Bloc Party that did nothing for me, I wanted the remix to sound like what “The Fear Has Gone” sounds like on Three Fact Fader which is this new album. One thing I notice and it hit me like a ton of bricks is the song Clean Coloured Wire which heavily samples Harmonia’s song ‘Watussi‘ which we’ve posted on the blog before and don’t worry Harmonia approved it.
Here in the States I don’t see much love for this record, I wonder if any of the readers in the UK totally have a different story? is the new album huge there? not like Arctic Monkey’s huge you know what I mean. But getting back to the music, I don’t think there are many good shoegaze bands out there that get it, i’m not saying Engineers is the best example because the vocal is too dreamy, upfront, clear and sometimes makes me ask myself do I really like this like I say i do and then a nice noisy wall of sounds hushes that thought.
Hatch is a San Francisco design firm founded by Joel Templin and Katie Jain. Since its inception in 2007, Hatch has developed innovative campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Coca-Cola, Apple, and Target. They are known not only for their exceptional work, but also their distinctive business model, which allows them to be a launch pad for their own products. Most recently, Hatch was at the World Series of Poker promoting their first “hatchling”, JAQK Cellars.
I had the chance to sit down with Joel and Katie last week to discuss their work, process, and the recent goings on over at Hatch. With the launch of their new website and the success of JAQK, and they have their hands full! Check out the interview after the jump.
Be sure to check out Part Two of this interview over on Grain Edit!
I stumbled onto James P. Morse’s work via the Deastro Video and I’m really enjoying the style. I’d seen his Dabrye portraits before but never knew who was behind them. Very cool stuff, his whole portfolio is certainly worth checking out.
You’ve heard Sorcerer on the blog before when he was one half of Windsurf multiple times and now with an LP under his belt like his partner Hatchback its a full on assault of laid back tracks coming out of the California. When these guys do disco I picture them doing it in the least stressful way by having their own hide out close to the beach where they grill and play synths until the breeze slows down and all the sails on the horizon head home.
What better way to keep the feeling going from that Sorcerer track by following it with Toto – Africa.
Prepare for a bit of downer with The Antlers LP, the tempo kinda of bums you out without even listening to the sad bastard lyrics BUT musically this Shiva song has some magic to it that keeps your chin up.
Air has been ruined for me by TV commercials, small plate restaurants playlists, loungey martini bars etc and I probably wouldn’t of done up their career differently if I were them. I usually check out everything they put out even though i’ll probably never put it on again, all I do is give it a listen and just go straight to Les professionnels and listen to the horns and smile, its almost like visiting grave in a weird and creepy way because the feelings I had for old Air were amazing at the time I liked them and now all I have memories of the times I heard the music for the first time.
A little peek inside the wonderful world of Randolph Chabot, aka Deastro by James P. Morse. I had the chance to play with Deastro in Detroit and they really put on an incredible show, catch them if you have the chance.
The Cove looks like it could be the most heart wrenching movie I’ll see for a long while. The documentary about the plight of Dolphins in Japan shines a light into a secretive cove where an estimated 23,000 are slaughtered annually. There are screenings being held in select US cities throughout August. If you’re in the San Francisco bay area it’s playing at Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley on 8/7 where producer Fisher Stevens will be holding a Q&A after the screening. Hopefully this story gets some traction and will effect some sort of change.
So I’m back home after my nice little break, it feels good. Luckily the weather here in San Francisco today is sunny so it’s not such a huge change from Tulum (although it’s about 20°F cooler). I had a great time and got some good shots with the little Canon Elf but I did miss having my D80 along. It was nice to not have to lug around a big DSLR, but the handheld just didn’t cut it for a lot of the shots. I’ll try posting up some of the better ones this week. Now it’s time to start sifting through the email and get back into work mode…
