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There’s always that one song every year that whispers summer is over, time to preparing for hibernation. Andy Stott delivered that song this week, he’s in that excellent position of knowing what to play for a crowd but also in the studio has complete control of beautiful ambience. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
The Canadians have been owning independent music in 2012, mainly Montreal, the latest collab comes from CFCF and Austra, with their cover of David Bowie, this is a good example of what I think the Bat For Lashes album is missing, the theatrics are there but the sound plays a bit better with a bit more substance.
If anyone missed this thoughtful Four Tet remix od The Xx I wanted to make sure you had a chance with it, he has been simplifying his production lately and its giving his sound new life.
Wareika is a go to for all my DJ sets, everything is brought in slowly like its feeling out if its going to work, the vox isn’t sterile nor diva-ish which lately have been drowning the House scene.
Why Design is a great video series by furniture company and all around design icon Herman Miller, which profiles some of it’s best designers:
At Herman Miller design is the language we use to ask questions and seek answers to the problems our customers face. The design process is a journey into the unknown—or as George Nelson once quipped, “I have never met a designer who was retained to keep things the same as they were.” Before we decide what we do and how we do it, we like to begin by asking the question “Why?” In Why Design, a new video series, we explore the world through the eyes of our designers, and share something of why we value their point of view.
Each Monday morning, from September 10th through October 29th, Herman Miller will launch a new designer profile at Why Design. The series includes:
9.10.12 – Yves Béhar – “Surfing Is Like Improvisational Jazz” 9.17.12 – Don Chadwick – “The Camera Becomes an Extension of Your Eyes” 9.24.12 – Ayse Birsel – “Your Life Is Your Most Important Project” 10.1.12 – Irving Harper – “Paper Is a Versatile Medium” 10.8.12 – Gianfranco Zaccai – “Great Food Should Be Like Great Design” 10.15.12 – Studio 7.5 – “Design by Its Nature Is Collaborative” 10.22.12 – Steve Frykholm – “It’s the Breaks That Allow My Mind to Refresh” 10.29.12 – Sam Hecht + Kim Colin – “We Need Contrast and Tension to Be Able to Create”
Slowly i’m filtering thru the latest videos that I think have been visually appealing and a bit more underground since the last Colorvision. Below are some experimental videos but also songs that I go back to in youtube playlists i’ve made.
Coyote Clean Up x Daytime Television – McKayla Scowl
Many people might find this effect as the one that might frustrate you when you have a internet connection but its eased by such a gorgeous track.
Solar Year – Brotherhood
In love with this one, good ideas sometimes bring your video budget down, you just need the right people making all the calls, really looking forward to the Solar Year record.
Vladislav Delay – Levite
An old favorite uncovered, not really into the effect on this one, seems a bit preset-ish.
Trust – Dressed For Space
Everything by Trust has my ear this year, the man shouldn’t stop until each song has video.
Daphni – Pairs
I’m not sure if this is going to be the Daphni live show visuals but by the looks of Pairs and Ye Ye I can see some transitions happening.
Apple was up to some cool stuff in the 80s. We’ve seen evidence of it before with Apple’s 1986 clothing line and with this Apple gift catalog from 1983. The logo made it on a range of products including race cars, kites and carpets.
Lorn fans: if you haven’t already, you need to go and download his latest free offering in the Lorn & Dolor beat-tape series. If you’ve been following these then you only need to download part IV – otherwise hit the PARTS I-IV link for the whole thing zipped up.
The series is compilation of unreleased material and sketches all with Lorn’s usual HEAVY hitting dark yet ethereal and beautiful sound. It might not flow like a ‘mix’ (it clearly wasn’t intended to), but it’s surprisingly cohesive, given the jumpy/cut nature of some of the transitions.
I’m not sure who this ‘mysterious’ Dolor fellow is – but judging from the severe lack of info on him online and the similarity in sound, I’m thinking it’s just an alias of Lorn himself. Then again, in 1996 when I first heard Feed Me Weird Things I was absolutely convinced Squarepusher was Richard D. James.
Oh, I also though Burial was Four yet. So there’s that.
Image Blender is my go to app for blending and masking but I was getting frustrated using the brush tool to mask a straight line, then it dawned on me that I could use a solid black or white image to “knock out” the part I wanted to be transparent (or in this case to be opaque). Once I blended down the solid black or white I could bring the image back in and use the blending modes to get the transparency.
The screenshots above show this process. The original photo was the edge of a window frame. I overlaid a blank white image at four different angles. I then flipped it and blended it over the mountain photo. Tip: Swipe to the right to move and rotate the image and then from the main screen tap and hold to flatten down, switch images or copy. I did the final color adjustments in picfx, another go to app for me. If you have any other Blender tricks post them below!
One of America’s dying traditions, or so it seems to be dying, is visiting our backyards: National Parks. I’ll get into that subject later but for now I wanted to share these amazing art pieces created by an aritst who goes by the name of Ranger Doug.
The history behind these posters is quite a story. You can read about why the WPA created these posters in the first place here. Here’s a little excerpt from his website:
Between 1935 and 1943 the WPA’s Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public’s imagination for education, theater, health, safety, and travel. Due to their fragile nature only two thousand posters have survived to this day; less than one tenth of one percent!
Ranger Doug’s Enterprises is the only source for faithful reproductions of WPA National Park serigraphed posters. Originally produced between 1938 and 1941, these sixteen stunning historical posters have been painstakingly restored, one screen at a time and are now offered as silkscreened prints.
I’ve managed to collect nearly all of these stunning prints in postcard form. As some of you know, I’m an avid National Park traveler. Not only for what each park’s beauty has to offer but each park has its own fascinating history behind it that I love learning about. One of my favorite parks has to be Glacier National Park in northern Montana. I’ve never felt so small and insignificant in this universe before when I was there. Absolutely breathtaking. What are some of your favorite National Parks or National Monuments here in America?
Until The Quiet Comes is ready for your ears, the record is out October 2nd on Warp, below is his upcoming tour schedule and here’s a link to preorder the record, as always support physical music if you like what you heard.
Flying Lotus Tour Dates
October
07 New York, NY, Terminal 5
12 Montreal, QC, Neon
13 Toronto, ON, Danforth Music Hall
15 Detroit, MI, Majestic Theatre
16 Chicago, IL, Metro
18 Denver, CO, Ogden
19 Salt Lake City, UT, Urban Lounge
22 Vancouver, BC, Fortune Club
23 Seattle, WA, Neptune
25 Oakland, CA, Fox Theatre
November
03 London, UK, Brixton Academy ‘All-nighter’ w/ 2 special Flying Lotus performances + support from Thundercat (live)
04 Amsterdam, Netherlands, Paradiso
05 Leipzig, Germany, Conne Island
06 Paris, France, La Machine du Moulin Rouge
07 Fribourg, Switzerland, Fri-Son
08 Berlin, Germany, Gretchen
09 Manchester, UK, Manchester Warehouse Project
23 Makuhari Messe, JP, electraglide festival
