Thursday, April 30, 2009

now we speak rememberese.



is it still yesterday? is there somewhere else we should be? no,
no i don't think so. but after all the things we've been through,
it's the end of april, and isn't scary that after all this we might
just be forgotten? so while we can, let's take the day off, we'll
forget what the future holds. maybe this is what it will sound
like.

memory cassette - rewind while sleepy ep

Sunday, April 26, 2009

font love


house industries, foundry extraordinare out of delaware,
continues to produce typefaces and fonts to dream about.
chalet is so simple and subtle, equal parts modern and
nostalgic, it's like a pin up girl for typographers.












not only is the font gorgeous it comes with a set of 100
clever and wide-ranging silhouette shapes — from the
taj mahal to milk jugs — that are versatile even on their
own.



house industries
kap bambino - chalet

Sunday, April 19, 2009

one day, baby.



outta respect for johnny walker, paul oakenfold, nicky holloway
and danny rampling, and of course, the packed dancefloors of
the hacienda, here comes the new single from DFA's the juan
mclean, like it's 1989 all over again. 20 years after madchester
ended, the party lives on through the rampling-style chunky
synthetic house beats that backdrop this year's minimalist
version of the human league's don't you want me. two decades
of the intersection of human and machine have created a sparkly,
timeless future where any era can be recreated with precision
and with enough love to fill your empty heart. so it's 2009, and
if you weren't there in 82, or 92, or even 02 (hey this owes as
much to electroclash as disco) come soak in the future of the
juan mclean, whose new album is titled, aptly, The Future Will
Come.

the juan mclean - one day

Saturday, April 18, 2009

ether09: noise of art



the noise of art collective celebrates the convergence of music and art brought about by the digital age. its latest project Deep Space Disco involves visual artists manipulating soviet-era space films from the 1960s, while fantastically costumed performers roam the floor, all set to space disco grooves by a live stellar international lineup:

the juan mclean (DFA, new york city)
dj t vs. thomas schumacher (get physical, berlin)
chateau flight (innervisions, paris)
ben osborne (noise of art, london)

dj gilb'r will also be playing a live score to the 1911 film les vampires, and orca and budam bring a taste of the new musical revolution coming out of the faroe islands. bizarre, and awesome at the same time, so what more could you really want:

NOISE OF ART presents DEEP SPACE DISCO
sunday, 19 april 2009
6.30pm
queen elizabeth hall
£16

ether 09: noise of art

ether09: spaceshipp



ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space. 12 years on from that masterpiece of 90s psychedelia, j spaceman returns in a collaboration with producer mathew shipp. the result is an extended noise piece, sculpted from feedback, abstract guitar shapes, celeste and harmonium. not too far from the orchestral drone of spiritualized, and with the same quality of celestial ecstacy, so ladies and gentlemen, we are still floating in space. also at ether 09:

SPACESHIPP (j spaceman + matthew shipp)
monday, 20 april 2009
8pm
queen elizabeth hall
£17.50

ether 09: spaceshipp


ether09: fennesz




do you ever get the feeling that fennesz has been forever defined by Endless Summer? it seemed to be as close to a guitar pop record that experimental electronica could ever get — despite the thickly veiled, scrambled processing and song structures sliced up and diced out, its title, cover art, sun-kissed aura, and surprising dreaminess nodded to a tradition of amiable pop music that started with brian wilson and those original boys of summer. maybe though, it is just that some of us have inflated Endless Summer‘s popness, forming it into the record we wished it to be, instead of letting it exist as it was. the “best” records challenge us while satisfying our need for simplicity and order, in a way that feels balanced and unforced. between what fennesz gave us and what we wanted from him, we ended up with a pop album by meeting him halfway.

so it's no surprise that everything he's made after Endless Summer feels like it carries a slight air of diminishing returns, like coming off a high resonating with endless-ism. still, it would be a mistake to dismiss his latest, Black Sea. instead of a blizzard of pixilated electronic fuzz, there are stately and slowly- evolving melodies. the puffs of static, feedback swoops, and digitally distressed acoustic guitars are still there of course, but in a welcome inverse: spaciousness over density. the record’s best moment is 'glide', a live duet with new zealander rosy parlane. wrapping what seems like orchestral samples in barbed wreaths of guitar noise, they build to a crescendo that rolls over the listener like a sonic wave, then dissolves, but this time to near silence.it makes what's come before it on the record seem even more momentous.

maybe the idea is that Black Sea, unlike Endless Summer, calls for an external imagery, rather than evoking its own - unlike the heady rush of Endless Summer, the theme that runs through Black Sea is actually static. you could say that it's an Endless Summer for the winter; spend some time with it, and it delivers on the satisfaction of blossoming into something beautiful and three-dimensional, something that asks little, but hands out a lot.

if you're lucky enough to be in london, you get to experience it all in full colour as part of Ether 09 at southbank centre. the influential Touch Records presents fennesz showcasing Black Sea, along with rosy parlane, and swedish artist christian von hausswolff, whose new double album Perhaps I Arrive - Music for Ataturk Airport, Istanbul contains four tracks that were playing in the transit hall during the Istanbul Biennial in 1997.

TOUCH presents FENNESZ, ROSY PARLANE, CM VON HAUSSWOLFF
tuesday, 21 april 2009
7:30pm
queen elizabeth hall
£17.50

a day before, at 6.30pm on monday 20th April in the purcell room at the QEH, Touch's jon wozencroft and mike harding will also be hosting a q&a session with fennesz, rosy parlane and cm von hausswolff.

ether 09: fennesz

Thursday, April 16, 2009

it's only over until it starts again.



a favourite weekend ending on a sunday in paris, and now here we have it. a video for lisztomania, a search for franz liszt. it's every bit as good as you think it will be. WOLFGANG amadeus phoenix is out on may 25, so get ready for the summer. everything old will be new again, even more favourite weekend endings. it's gonna be real love and real lovely all the way: you, us, phoenix.

phoenix - lisztomania (video)

Monday, April 13, 2009

four long days.



everyone we know is losing their minds. but everyone
we know has a really good time. we've got so many
questions but so little time. so walk with me, say you
love me, do it for your sister, honey. i'll be there to
hold you when you're seeing double.

voxtrot - trepanation party

Sunday, April 12, 2009

however down we get, baby, we'll always be in style.




images: the lookbook

the lookbook is a real-life fashion magazine, but unlike
a fashion magazine, there are no stockists, no overpriced
skirts, and the only thing it encourages you to sharpen is
your imagination. it's a site where real-life people post
their 'looks' and the result is a wildly diverse and endlessly
eclectic combination of styles from all over the world. the
photos are works of art in their own right - this is no shoot-
from-the-hip myspace-athon of photography. dreamily
blurred, sharply contrasted, always hinting at something
elusive about the wearer. it's no surprise, then, that almost
everyone on the site is some combination of an art student/
model/photographer/designer/fashion student/under-22.
whatever you think of the fashion zeitgeist, this is a reminder
that the kids are alright and that if there is an international
style, it thankfully exists outside of the stifling confines of
the big-name fashion industry.

the lookbook

Friday, April 10, 2009

lego version 2.0



USB 2.0 docking station



8 GB memory sticks

we never wanted to stop playing with lego, we just
discovered macs. now lego can be a part of all the
electronic things you build. 8 GB memory sticks,
USB 2.0 docking stations, and even lego webcams
are born and bred in wang, germany.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

dead disco.


photo: eanna freeney

days they go fast and nights they go slow, so here's the
perfect band for that. diamond vampires only come out
at night, bringing their slow bpm-ed disco, a synthesized
coda of pulses and a low-end bass that makes time shift
just a little bit. in the day we all dress in tight black jeans,
flannel shirts and the requisite chucks so at night it's a
nice change to have these slow-burning atmospherics and
a voice from a different era, being knocked around side
to side by that drumbeat, glowing translucently in the
inverted shade of the moon.

about diamond vampires you will know nothing, because
they hunger for the mystery and glamour to return to
music. but they've given us 6 gorgeous slices of carnivorous
sex to go roaming in the night to, and you can pick it up for
free right here.

meanwhile. they stay hidden. and remain unseen.

diamond vampires - friday nights