isn't anything like loveless?

image: sandra croft

atonal, architonal. you and i listen to more music than
anyone else in the history of civilization. there are so
many records competing for attention, and so many
are potentially appealing on first listen that it is often
tempting to cling to the familiar and instantly likeable.
but it's important not to give up on those more difficult
albums. they serve as barometers, showing the limits
of your taste and understanding: here's where the music
gets too noisy; here's where it gets too atonal; this is the
place where i don't know what the hell is going on. and
while difficult records measure a boundary, they also
measure how your understanding changes between
listens. the way you hear music is continually shifting,
and many of those changes are unconscious. when a
difficult record finally makes sense, you will understand
how you yourself have expanded. in the end, it ultimately
serves as a reminder to listen real hard but harden not
your heart.

sy summer oh-eight

sincerely yours sends YOURS0088 down the wire after
a quiet summer with an interesting proposition: a sales
contest.

"pelle's cd på nordpolen is out of the 24th of september
and for financial reasons we need to know how many
copies to expect to sell. 435 or 466? or maybe 632?
we're thinking maybe 1300. closest wins a night with
air france, a couple of 88:an or whatever. just tell us
what you need, baby.

mail your entry to 88an@sincerelyyours.se"

heartbeast: 886
wolfgang: 1234...

nordpolen is SY's newest signing, and his lyrics apparently
so affected TTA that they requested he sing in swedish so
as not to lose any of it in translation. to get the ball rolling,
the label has conveniently packaged all the nordpolen you
could ever want into a few cute little packages. the one that
caught our interest in particular: YOURS0086 + YOURS
0080 + some coke for 130 €...let us know if you do. the
gothenburg label ends a very successful summer of 2008
still coasting on the props from air france's lovely no way
down ep, as well as embarking on wide-reaching distribution
partnerships with the esteemed modular and montreal's
summer lovers unlimited label for all your TTA needs. what
next? we await.

see the forest for the trees

image: elise castrodale

we'll miss you summer

image: elise castrodale

happy birthday!

image: wordle

wolfgang:
tell me what you hoped to say on your birthday.

heartbeast:
the secrets that we held that day will be kept
straight. everyone will be dismayed if you run
away.

wolfgang:
if you will stay with me we'll face the hardest
part. now, let's go out and have some fun.

c.y.o.a.
happy birthday! from modeselektor

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.

kidz at the disco: modular.

modular is now 10 years old. really? really. one of the
record labels at the forefront of music right now, you'd
never guess it's been around since 1998. started in
sydney, australia by music promoter steve pavlovic,
the label made its name in 2001 by releasing the
staggeringly brilliant since i left you by the avalanches.
wolfmother, remember them? well people actually
bought their album, and it came out on modular. fast
forward to 2004, Year Zero for modern electro and the
first cut copy album, bright like neon love. in case you
didn't quite believe that cut copy would go on to rule the
world then, we're sure in ghost colours was quick to
change your mind. the rest of modular's current artist
roster reads like the dream festival bill: van she, the
presets, bang gang djs, ladyhawke, KIM (from the
presets/acidgirls), bumblebeez, ghostwood, softlightes
...and those are just the australians, before we even get
to the international signings and distribution list: the
tough alliance, new young pony club, chromeo, yeah
yeah yeahs, soulwax, klaxons, the whitest boy alive,
and MSTRKRFT. what, no mgmt?

the label has made heavy investments in talent for 2008,
so the recent financial losses come as less of a surprise in
that context, appearing as more of an ebb than a gloomy
end point. critics have pointed out part of the problem is
that its high-profile artists take too long to make albums,
citing the recent pushbacks to 2008 from cut copy, van
she, the presets and the avalanches, but maybe it's all a
clever strategy on the part of the label in an attempt to
cultivate a loyal and long-standing fanbase for its artists
in a notoriously fickle blogosphere. you can't buy the
priceless blog love that anticipation leads too. whatever
it is, it appears to be paying off - cut copy's in ghost
colours and the presets' apocalypso have already gone
to #1 on the ARIA charts - and will continue to do so with
the buzz about the recently released full-length from van
she, V.

the sun-kissed disco pop of modular is matched in equal
parts with graphics that convey a retro-futurist visual
language: technicolour shades with a whimsical sense of
humour, and madcap fonts. welcome to your childhood,
kids of the 80s, you'll love it here. popularized already by
so-me for ed banger and those four capital letters written
in gold, it's a sense of nostalgia without being old, and that
would explain how it's been so quickly assimilated as the
frontier aesthetic for dance music's blog culture.

it's not really a surprise to learn that most of modular's
branding and artwork is done by alter, the design studio
that includes dan whitford from cut copy. we shift into
music + graphics mode for week 2 of our design focus by
presenting you with a taste of alter's work for modular:
a balance of music and design, en vogue yet timeless.
stay with us, this week the dance party goes visual and
you're all invited.

modular people

far away: the modular magazine.

image by modular people - it's the harbor bridge between city and north sydney.

in a distant arm of the design galaxy of modular but no less
awesome sits the magazine. if you've ever wondered what
exactly the presets eat while on tour, what on earth would
make the klaxons and label boss steve pavlovic travel to a
dalmatian island and about masturbation in music through
the generations, this magazine is for you. featuring beautiful
art direction from jonathan zawada from alter, it's a feast for
the eyes and even more proof of the diverse visual language
of modular. we couldn't have predicted the waves of envy
that descended on us upon discovering this and the inevitable
comparisons to the great escape issue that followed. we'll get
there, eventually, though. thanks for the push, modular, see
you on the other side.

modular magazine 01 (download)

time stands still: alter + modular.

modular presents leave them all behind (album cover)

if you had a band, you'd do it too. it's not a surprise that
modular and alter have linked arms, since dan whitford
from cut copy is a member of the studio. the graphics of
cut copy evoke a distinctly 80s flavour with kaleidoscope
hues and playful stenciling that lends a dimension to the
band that is inseparable from their music. it's fair to say
that the cut copy covers are heavily influenced by the
style of international realism, arguably the most perfect
style for a band like cut copy that mixes emotion and
technology together into one synthful whole. here we
go, alter for cut copy:


cut copy - bright like neon love (album cover)


cut copy - future (single cover)


cut copy - saturdays (single cover)

cut copy - in ghost colours (album cover)

modular posters:

want it all?

where to turn when bored of the bland AA options in your
closet, but scared of the garish and over-patterned jerseys
that scream at you from every main street window? luckily
there can be a harmonious marriage of graphic design and
fashion. one that is both witty and original -- of course
it's from japan.

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prayers. graniph takes the next step from where AA basic
t-shirts leave off. what sets graniph apart are collaborations
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using images from great minds of the 20th century. always
looking for more without pretense, graniph accepts ideas
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maybe you don't want to drop 2000 yen ($20!) for a tshirt,
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graniph translates their ideas into portable mediums as
well -- the lighter! there's graniph all over japan and a
handful of locations around southeast asia and australia,
and if you get the chance to visit the Ueno location in tokyo,
you will be rewarded with a stunning store and lovely staff.
but even if you only visit their website, you will still be
presented with a modern and forward-thinking approach to
graphic design, complete with artist biographies, current
items for the season, and wealth of archived images that are
a feast for the eyes after all that boring cotton out there.

design tshirts store graniph