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I’ve been an ISO50 reader for a long time—long before Jakub and I put on Ghostly International Roller Hockey Team jerseys and took to a rink in rural New Jersey to embarrass the label—and so when Jakub invited me to take a whack at a guest post, I naturally jumped at the chance. (Meanwhile, does anyone want my (priceless) jersey?)
I’ve since moved to California, where I work out of the Los Angeles “Vitsoe apartment,” which is both the home I share with my wife, and a unique space where we show Dieter Rams’ 606 Universal Shelving system deployed in all ways. From straightforward bookshelves, to workstations, to room dividers, kitchen shelving, and closets, it’s pretty much all represented here (we specifically chose an apartment without any built-in storage).. As a former dj and avid collector of music, my favorite use of the system is for media storage. After all these years of collecting vinyl, I’m finally able to put it all on shelves that will not bow under the weight. Vinyl collectors: contact me, it’s more affordable than you’d think!
I thought it might make sense to do a first post about some of the songs that have been keeping me going while working out of the apartment—and since it’s a Vitsoe apartment, share some images of the shelving put to use for various media, plus the beautiful Dieter Rams equipment we listen to it all on.
Lorn – Weigh Me Down (Illum SphereRemix).
Unbelievably beautiful reworking of one of my favorite tracks on Lorn’s new album “Ask the Dust.” I’m huge fan of his heavy hitting beats, but this is a nice change of pace, skillfully re-tooled by Illum Sphere. For a taste of Lorn’s own softer side, check out ‘Pause’ from his ‘Self Confidence Vol.2’ unfinished / unreleased / demo tracks over at the Brainfeeder site. A strange anomaly in a very dark oeuvre.
Yppah – Blue Schwinn.
I’m a huge fan of Joe Corrales’ work as Yppah, it’s sort of a shoegazy version of Bonobo, a combo that is pure win in my book. This track is from his third and most recent release on Ninja Tune, “Eighty One.” Anomie Belle’s vocals are a great addition in an instrumental sense, I love how she’s just swirling around in the background and I’m unable to make out the words.
Lost Twin – Soothing Words.
There’s no shortage of great producers in Brighton these days. I can’t remember exactly how, but I found him via Bandcamp, and to my pleasant surprise, he’s offering the whole ‘Birds’ album for free. I would have no problem paying full price (and then some) for his work. Although obviously entirely different in tone, there’s something a little Burialesque about the auto-tuned quick vocal snippets.
Dextro – Ring Cycle.
I’m not sure exactly why Dextro has stayed off most people’s radars for so long: He deserves far more exposure in my opinion. His first release was on Border Community, then the subsequent releases were through his own imprint, 16K Records. Maybe that’s why. I don’t know. What I do know is that his sound manages to successfully bring together elements of Ulrich Schnauss, Slowdive, and dare I say it, BOC. His last album, Winded, from 2009, is a real gem. I’m hoping he follows it up soon, it’s been too long.
A Sol Mechanic – [Almst(Touching)].
I’ll never tire of a good “Everything in Its Right Place” sample. In his own words “it’s less of a remix and more of a branch off. N E Ways.” That’s a good way of describing it, because after that amazing initial drop, the sample gets filtered into the background and the minimal stutter beat takes over.
Geskia! – Melamine.
Geskia’s sound is unabashedly Scoott Herren influenced, and most of his work occupies a space dead center between Prefuse and the long gone DeLarosa & Asora projects. This is a compliment, as he pulls off what so many other fail to do successfully.
Jai Paul – BTSTU.
There’s been a lot of buzz about this kid from London, and deservedly so. I saw a tweet from Four Tet that said simply: “that Jai Paul track,” which of course sent me into a Google frenzy. What I discovered is that there are literally only two tracks under his belt to date. It sounds like he’s in good hands over at XL, in a recent NPR spot I heard them describe how they are giving him loads of space and time to do what he needs to do, because that’s just how he rolls. He really has a grasp on the “Less, but better” approach.
Autechre – See On See (PixelordRemix).
The thing I like about this unofficial Pixelord remix of ‘See on See’ from 2010’s Oversteps is that it brings me back to the Tri-Repetae days, when the tracks were grounded in dark emotion, and they would hit you in the gut with crisp, hard beats. They lost me long ago, but it’s nice to be brought back if even for a few minutes.
Mark Kozelek could write a song about oatmeal and i’d first in line to check it out. His new album Among The Leaves is full of gold plus plenty of live versions, if you want more I made a Sun Kil Moon / Red House Painters / Mark Kozelek playlist years ago on the blog.
Sasquatch Festival was one of the most tolerable festivals i’ve been to, you don’t feel like cattle and the security guards are super kind and keep the crowd happy by letting the energy happen. Gardens & Villa we’re the best band live, great stage presence and kept you ever wanting them to end.
Onra is slowly unveiling tracks from his upcoming sophomore album, the first taste is L.O.V.E. a track thats more upbeat than a lot of his recent tunes.
I don’t much about Chateaubriand but this edit of an oler Bibio cut is getting some love recently. I guess it just gave me a chance to post about an older great record which never hurts.
The Sacramento Electronic Music Festival is looking to be the best yet with a great lineup this year including ISO50 favorite and Ghostly label-mate Mux Mool and my good friend and collaborator Dusty Brown. If you’re anywhere near Sacto you owe it to yourself to make it out. This is always a really fun event and it’s being held for the first time at Harlow’s, my favorite venue out there. Details follow.
The 3rd Annual Sacramento Electronic Music Festival – May 3rd, 4th and 5th
Harlow’s & Momo Lounge in midtown Sacramento. 21 and over – Tickets
2012 Lineup:
Shlohmo, Mux Mool, Dusty Brown, Death Grips, Light Year, Lorn, Salva, B.Bravo, Starship Connection, Jantsen, Raleigh Montcrief, DJ Nobody, Dibiase, D.A.M.B, Giraffage, DJ Whores, Yalls, iNi, CrookOne, Doombird, Satellites, Favors, Melee Beats, Little Foxes, Tha Fruitbat, El Conductor, James & Evander, Dolor, Bad Looks, adoptahighway, Chachi Jones, Young Aundee, Paper Pistols, Ryan Lindow, Eames, thriftcar
Explorers of Tomorrow is the title of the first book project I completed at the Academy of Art University in Spring 2009. Up to this point our projects consisted of posters and small printed materials, so this was the first time we were pushed to develop a consistent visual language and extend it across multiple pages. The assignment was to take a subject of interest, research its future 10 years from the present, and display our findings in a book.
Growing up, one of my favorite books was Automobiles of the Future by Irwin Stambler. Written in the 60s, it imagined the automobile in the 80s, 90s, and even the new millenium. The book was a window to a strange parallel dimension, where everything inside was a streamlined, pastel version of reality. Its pages held promise, for the future of automobiles was about more than spark plugs and oil filters, it was the story of man’s struggle to better himself. At the same time, it was very naive and simplified the world of tomorrow to a utopia that answered all of the problems facing their society. It never considered the possibility that the future would have its own set of obstacles to overcome. But that was its biggest appeal to me, to see the ways our society had advanced so far from their wildest dreams, yet fallen short on its fundamental ideals.
Space exploration has always been a fascination of mine. With that in mind I began to think about our future. 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 flight, and I thought it would be interesting to look at the future of space exploration 10 years from the present, but from the perspective of writers in the past. Specifically, I wanted to look at how a society that had just landed on the moon would view space travel in the future: how would our idea of 2019 compare to a society’s that looked to the stars for answers?
Been kind of obsessing over this video for White Denim’s Street Joy. Not sure how I missed this but apparently it’s been out for six months. Director Carlos LaRotta’s (Birds on Fire) treatment includes a healthy dose of Tim & Eric / Doug Lussenhop VHS style. It’s always nice to see a band not take themselves too seriously, even in the case of such a somber and reflective song. but in spite of the humor there seems to be a fittingly nostalgic undercurrent at work here that ties the whole thing together. Really beautiful stuff.
With 9 million users Instragram really doesn’t need anymore adaptors, it just needed what people wanted the most and I feel the newest updated is a huge success.
1. 4 new filters: Personally my favorite has been the Brandon filter or no filter at all but these ones like Rise definitely have potential in being used more often.
2. The option to have frames or not: Now you can use Earlybird(another good filter) without that heavy Polaroid border/frame.
3. Finally a pretty big one, live effects: no more guessing and fumbling around, put your favorite filter on and take the photo within the app.
So, if any of you Instagram users haven’t updated yet, I highly suggest it, the photo game just got even more fun.
These shapes by Axel Brechensbauer remind me of some strange and wonderful life-size chess set. They certainly don’t look like objects I normally come upon in real life. If one day I do, I will purchase and display them atop of my home for all to see.