Today is a big day for the Suite series (The Rorschach Suite, The Synchronicity Suite, The Nocturnal Suite), the third edition has come out on Ghostly International. The series is a various compilation collection that explores the variety in electronic music. Also, celebrating the 5 year anniversary of Moodgadget we made the last 2 Suites only 4.99 on iTunes which both have 20 songs each, I hope you all can enjoy something on here, there is some major melody going on in these songs, below is a great description by the talented editors at Ghostly:
“Ghostly affiliate Moodgadget Records exclusively releases music by up-and-coming artists; with the Nocturnal Suite, Moodgadget not only “exposes the diversity in electronic music” (the label’s mission statement), it unites dazzlingly talented, like-minded artists working in wildly divergent stylistic fields into a grand, unified whole. Like its predecessors, the Moodgadget-curated Rorschach Suite and Synchronicity Suite, the Nocturnal Suite plays like a lovingly assembled mixtape, compiling brief, catchy, electronic-minded pop songs built for obsessive repeat listening.
The Nocturnal Suite is eclectic, but even among its stylistic diversity (the liquid space-disco of Faux Pas’ “Rose’s Lament (Gadget Edit),” for instance, sits right next to Wild Yaks’ caveman-like “Crazy but Not Afraid,” which flanks 800Beloved’s Psychedelic Furs-esque anthem “Galaxies”), there’s a distinctly nighttime-y mood, folding acoustic guitars and sleepy vocals in with its distressed beats and synths. Daedelus’ remix of Praveen & Benoit’s “Chiaroscuro” clothes a distant clattering beat in ambient reverb swells and wisps of orchestral flutes; Bluejay’s “Blurry” wraps its bedroom electro-pop around a deliciously melancholy hook; City Center’s “Summer School” is an exercise in pastoral dream-beat, a psychedelic fog of a track that drifts like a late-afternoon beachside nap.
The Nocturnal Suite encompasses dance music, indie rock, synth-pop, experimental instrumentals—and, yes, electronic music—but its emotional core is its biggest asset. Even in the closing track, Daniel Johnson’s deadly serious cover of Sophie B. Hawkins’ 1991 classic “Damn (Wish I Was Your Lover),” the pea soup-thick production turns the jaunty original into a much more resonant affair; it’s a fitting end to a compilation that turns every genre it touches into perfect late-night listening.”
Track Listing: Flying Lotus – Massage Situation
Wax Stag – Folk Rock (Bibio Remix)
Jorge Ben – Cinco Minutos (5 Minutos)
St. Vincent – The Strangers
Todd Rundgren – I Saw the Light
Maria Helena Toledo & Luiz Bonfá – Whistle Samba
The Long Lost – Woebegone (Flying Lotus’ Luckiest Charm)
Isan – No. 1. (Lent Et Douloureux)
Peace Orchestra – Shining
Mount Kimbie – William
Metronomy – A Thing For Me (Breakbot Remix)
Superpitcher – Sad Boys
Bullion – That’s Not Dee
Césaria Évora – Angola (Get Down Dub By Pepe Bradock)
Ecstatic Sunshine – Duck
Born Ruffians – Litle Garçon
Cass McCombs – I Went To The Hospital
George Harrison – The Light That Has Lighted the World
Johnny Cash – Country Trash
Santo & Johnny – Sleepwalk
I just finished reading Never Sleep, the new book by Andre Adreev and Dan Covert of dress code. As a student, the back of the book (pictured) kind of freaked me out when I first saw it. My brief and occasional foray into the world of freelance has exposed me to some differences between school and the professional world of design, but I’ve always figured I’ll be in for a wake up call when I graduate regardless. I was psyched to see a book written about this exact process, and I spent last night (as the title suggested) reading the lot of it.
The book chronicles Andre and Dan’s transition from design school to the professional world. They describe, in-depth, just about every aspect of their journey; studying at CCA, working for MTV, and the eventual creation of their own studio in NYC. Along the way, they include examples of their own work from each stage of their career, as well as various essays by professors and professional designers (many of which are available on the site). The book describes just about everything that happened to Andre and Dan, even the occasional IM conversation, and this makes for a very engaging read. The third person narrative is just about as random as it is amusing, and is ultimately very accessible and insightful for the struggling design student (that’s me).
Dan is Ohio. Andre is Bulgaria. They is dress code. At the combined age of 50 their work has been recognized by shiny awards, appeared in lots of magazines, coffee table books, and 3 museums. They met while studying graphics designs at California College of the Arts. Then moved to New York and got jobs with MTV working in motion and print—before stupidly leaving their dream jobs to start a studio of their own. (Buy)
Hopefully won’t be needing either of these anytime soon, but with a cover like that, I’d take the Arctic one around with me regardless. Both survival manuals, along with a desert and jungle version, are up over at things magazine. You can even read the entire book if you think you might find yourself in an ice or sea related predicament.
Conserve your energy. Do not rush around aimlessly. Avoid fatigue. Get plenty of sleep. If you cannot sleep, just lie down and relax your body and mind. You will not freeze to death unless you are utterly exhausted.(link)
It’s been a few weeks since we launched the ISO50 Playlist and now a brand new set of tracks is loaded up for your listening pleasure. Just hit play — top of the page, center column (RSS readers must visit site to listen). I am working on the code to allow loading of older playlists which will be archived in the future. Enjoy!
1. SKALPEL – SCULPTURE
2. CLOUDLAND CANYON – DAMBALA
3. BIBIO – ABERRIW
4. JIM O’ROURKE – FUZZY SUN
5. M83 – YOU APPEARING (ADDLED EDIT)
6. GROUPER – HEAVY WATER/I’D RATHER BE SLEEPING
7. TSTEWART – WHAT’S THIS COLOR
8. AMERICA – AMERICA – TIN MAN
9. MICHNA – DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO
10. RATATAT – MONTANITA
11. STUDIO – LIFE’S A BEACH!
12. PETER BJORN AND JOHN – ERIK’S FISHING TRIP
13. TOM TYLER – DAYLIGHT ROBBED HER
14. CLOSER MUSIK – 1,2,3, NO GRAVITY
15. FARBEN – AS LONG AS THERE’S LOVE AROUND – ORIGINAL MIX
16. PAUL KALKBRENNER – AARON
17. THE CHAP – AUTO WHERE TO
18. MILOSH – COULDN’T SLEEP
19. MOUNTAINS – BLOWN GLASS TYPEWRITER
20. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – VISITING FRIENDS
Hit play on the player at the top of the page (center column) to start.
Track Listing: School Of Seven Bells – Half Asleep
Gang Gang Dance – Egowar
Mahogany – One Plus One Equals Three Or M
Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream
The Whitest Boy Alive vs Mylo vs Cut Copy – Otto’s Golden Journey (Andy Webb’s Dreamy Blend)
Phoenix – 1901
Air France – No Excuses
College – The Energy Story
Christ. – Cordate
Flying Lotus – Auntie’s lock/Infinitum (featuring Laura Darlington)
Flying Lotus – Roberta Flack (Mike Slott’s Other Mix)
The Avalanches – Since I Left You (Cornelius Remix)
Super Furry Animals – Some Things Come from Nothing
Engineers – Let’s Just See
Sigur Rós – Gobbledigook
French Kicks – Abandon
Blind Man’s Colour – Brother Sport (Animal Collective Cover)
Beirut – The Concubine
The Kooks – Kids (MGMT Cover)
Benoit Pioulard – Ash in the Sky
Bibio – Bewley In Grey
Daedelus – Experience
Unless you’re an RSS subscriber (if you are, click here to view player), you’ve probably noticed the new audio player at the top of the page. I’ve been wanting to add a flash based player for a long time because while the small single track player we have been using (and will continue to use) for music posts is good, it’s not something you can just turn on and let it play while you work. This new player is based on the JW Player framework and supports XML playlists and all the good stuff. It was a total pain to develop though, the documentation was a little thin in the skinning department so it’s been a very protracted process to say the least. I ironed out the last kinks over the past week so here it is…finally: the ISO50 Playlist. We’ll be refreshing the playlist often, usually with 16 or so song mixes probably every couple weeks or so.
The initial mix I put in tonight is just a collection of some of my favorites from the blog over the past year or so, nothing too specific or themed. Every song in the player (now and in the future) will be songs that we’ve previously posted on, so if you’re looking for more information on the song or artist just type it in the search box below (also new…well the design at least) and the relevant post(s) should come up. This is definitely a beta so give me the heads up in the comments if you run into any issues with the player as only a few people have tested it so far. On a related note, I’ve added a “featured posts” column in the hopes that it will make older posts a little more discoverable. I’ll also be adding a “featured categories” section next week as well in which I’ll try to compile some nice groupings of related articles on various subjects. As the blog gets on in years and the posts pile up, most of these additions are aimed squarely at highlighting older content, music and otherwise.
All of these changes and additions may get you thinking about the redesign I had discussed a while back. I haven’t given up on that plan, but it’s definitely taken a back seat as the process of finishing up my next album has sort of consumed me. I decided to make some incremental upgrades (like those mentioned above) using the current theme and then treat the redesign as it’s own phase a little later. Still contemplating that light background…
The record heads over at Kompakt have done it again by continuing to floor ambient lovers with one of the best compilation series of the 21st century. Pop Ambient 2009 has some jaw dropping moments, for example when you pick up the CD and find out that Tim Hecker, Burger/Voigt and Mint all make appearances then its an easy sell for any frequent ambient music buyer. The compilation starts out with what maybe could of been William Basinski’s original Disintegration Loops but with a layer of brass added by the ever talented Klimek. Popnoname comes in with one of the most gentle and entrancing melodic pieces. Freshman Sylvain Chauveau carries us into a more looped lo-fi laptop folk sound that seems to be a new branch that Kompakt has added under the Pop Ambient umbrella. The real show stealers are Burger/Voigt who really knock us back, the song Frieden gets me so excited that I almost become ill from my uncontrollable slow swaying, minute after minute I just think about how exciting it is to be able to own this song. For those who haven’t ever purchased a Pop Ambient compilation than this is a perfect one to begin on since its one of the more diverse and inviting collections because of its use of guitars and soft noise.
