i heard she broke your heart again.

image: sandra croft

can you see it's much better? it's been soo long.
can you believe it's much better, you've been so wrong.

van she - so high

seasonal adjustments, stars realign.

image: sandra croft

we could change. we should change. you know that every
day from now on nature is trying to say "the summer is
over. and winter is on its way." summer songs have simple
blueprints, syndicated by open windows in june; winter's
about bells, strings, digital sounds, anything with a sharp
edge; spring can start from a fresh beat and grow in the
sunshine. autumn songs though...they're a lot harder to
pin down. not as pensive or hollow as winter songs, and
just that little bit more hopeful. autumn songs mean that
much more, because like the changing season, they're
about renewal; feelings come and go and change, good
and bad and sad. you can never tell exactly where it will
lead, and that's the beauty of it all. it's all about making
sure that as the season transitions, you do too, just a little
bit each day. when the leaves start to fall, hold out your
hand and close your eyes, coz you're in for a big surprise.

the bridal shop - violation

we are the image-makers.

autechre - quaristice (album cover)

heartbeast:
music is my imaginary friend.

wolfgang:
music is like the air, after that, it's gone.

what is the relationship between graphics and music,
especially in the age of ipods and torrents, when the
dissemination of music appears to rely so little on it?
well, the job of the visuals is both to announce - before
you've even heard the music - and to remind you of
its core attributes. it can arguably be said that music
is the one art form that has absolutely no basis in
reality. it purely exists at the time it is being heard,
other than that it's intangible. good artwork has the
ability to give the music credibility and vision that
plays an important role in creating a world for the
listeners to immerse themselves in. it can be the link
between what they're hearing and imagining. maybe
that's the relationship, then - perhaps the graphics
are a function that can make the ethereal slightly
more visible and less transient.

time travel is possible.

international realism: image by elise castrodale.

international realism rose to prominence with the
technological possibilities of the late 1990s, combining
real life with an imagined reality to create a style that
could be from any era and all places. the marks of this
style are: a fluid sense of data, dignified elegance, and
flowing timelines that are neither synchronistic nor
linear. the style was created as a means to bring mystery
and graphic potency back into the international imagination
by transporting the viewer back to a time more innocent
of the normalization of the exotic.

international realism is set apart from other realism styles
by its revivalist use of perspective in international settings,
giving it the ability to hint at secrets of the past that never
actually reveal themselves. with the rapid advancement of
digital photography techniques and accessibility to photo-
manipulation software in the later part of the last century,
international realism developed into diverse and somewhat
abstract components combining identity and travel, each
representing a micro-style relating to either local history or
national vernacular.

it's philosophy is both simple and profound: eventually,
things will get to where we want them to be.

field guide to style & colour

nostalgia+saturdays=youth.

photos: sandra croft

is it august already? soon the leaves will fall in the
park, and the whole thing will look like a M83 album
cover. oh, which one? you tell us. let's go, xo.

5am in a perfect world.

words: burial, photo: sandra croft

"i would sit around waiting for night to fall, wait for
summer to end. or i would go out, wait for it to get
dark, and then i'd go back and work on it, sort of
hypnotise myself. i love that feeling when you know
that almost everyone in your city is asleep, or you
go out and listen to your tunes in someone's car at
night. it's like hibernating. when i'm awake all night,
sometimes i see the people and the city waking up
around me. i feel a little bit moody at them for
stepping into my night-time. what i want is that
feeling when you're in the rain, or a storm. it's a
shiver at the edge of your mind, an atmosphere
of hearing a sad, distant sound, but it seems closer -
like it's just for you."

burial - near dark

nobody lost, nobody found.

photos: sandra croft

burning in the face of love, staring at a silver sun.
i can see you almost in my town. nothing but a sea
of blue separates the seasons, and i think of you.
black out, keep your colours dim so nobody can see
you. leave me heading to the ground, always from
the same height, always falling down.

more than real.

image: sandra croft

through the haze of countless days...eventually
things will get to where we want them to be.

caught in a wave.

photo: sandra croft

sometimes it's just the simplicity of summer that lingers
in memory and nags with longing through the dead of
winter. from lazy afternoons to slow nights, this is a song
so simple and welcoming like a fresh breeze on a steamy
summer's night. the sound of ocean waves that begins
"beach baby" is an indication of the ease at which it will
roll over you; the vocals so seamless and dreamy that
you can almost imagine phil spector nodding in approval
at the modern, clean pop aesthetic. the beach boys will
inevitably surface as a reference, but it's all done in great
admiration for those original boys of summer. for all the
spaces between the wild nights, this is a reminder that
summer at its best is sweet, easy and smooth.

miracle fortress - beach baby

perfect sound always.

photo: robin lacambra

why do all the kids on the west coast hate us? would it still
be that way if we headed out to the open sky, did acid all
night waiting for the rising sun, then after that we'll drive
into the setting sun? well, the future looks bright, so come
on, let's go.

history itself has revealed very little about the lives of
girlsareshort, other than their 2001 debut contact kiss
was written and recorded while alex lived in brooklyn and
daniel remained at home in missisauga, ontario, a suburb
west of toronto. but they were kind enough to leave us a
legacy of some of the most exhilaratingly relentless, and
ridiculously catchy electronic indie pop ever made, and
for that we'll always be thankful. when it rains (take note,
pacific coast kids!) this is how we keep dry - it's also the
sound of a busload of kids skipping school, running home,
pressing 'record', and shouting for joy. it's tough to decide
what to do when you're drenched in sunshine, and this is
not going to make it any easier, so let's go back to where
it all began (in more than one sense, since alex is now the
other half of MSTRKRFT) to the sound of an endless summer
when our biggest problem was just that - deciding.

there's your headphones, there's the door, there's the sun:
you know what to do.

girlsareshort - lovecal

postcards from the edge.

here with you.

warm like the sunshine and just as fleeting. time's passing by,
we're moving slow. all you need is this year's calendar, dear.
watching vapour trails, losing track of time...are you ready?