Feb/100
Selected : Grizzy Bear – “Ready, Able” (Music Video)
This is one of those music videos that makes you experience the song in an entirely new way. Transportive, fantastic, beautiful. Video directed by Allison Shulnik.
Feb/100
Selected : Beach House – “Norway” (Live)
Beach House now has the distinction of being the only “Selected” feature artist to appear twice on the blog. The first post appeared about half a year ago.
I’m so happy for all of their current success, and their new album, Teen Dream, is stunning. Highly, highly recommended. The CD comes with a companion DVD of music videos + goodies, so make sure to get physical (like Olivia).
Rumor has it that they will be gracing Asheville with a performance at the Grey Eagle on April 30th. I’ll see you there!
Jan/100
Ephemera – Fever Ray Acceptance Speech
Fever Ray’s acceptance speech at Sweden’s P3 Guld 2010.
Jan/101
New Release : Marley Carroll – The Remixes
The Remixes is finally here. This long-awaited EP features six glitchy reimaginings by Marley Carroll and gorgeous high-res album artwork by Johan Stenbeck.
The album is available for free download. Just enter your email address in the form above; the download will start immediately.
If you enjoy The Remixes, please consider making a donation!
Dec/090
Video : Pelada [Trailer]
Music from Melanaster will be featured in the upcoming soccer documentary Pelada.
Check out the (awesome) trailer below, and be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter for information on the final release date!
The filmmakers are still seeking donations (it’s almost done!) – here’s how to help:
“
If you’d like to help us finish this film, take it to festivals, and ultimately to the big screen and DVD, please support us by donating. Every little bit helps!
Click on the DONATE tab at:
http://www.pelada-movie.com
Two soccer players take off around the globe exploring the other less glorified side of soccer: pick up games, impromptu contests that happen anywhere and between anyone.
“
Dec/090
Video : Highway Hearts [Music Video]
Marley Carroll – Highway Hearts [Music Video] from Marley Carroll on Vimeo.
Video for “Highway Hearts,” lead single from the album Melanaster.
Footage source is “Journey Through a Day” (1967) produced by Dale Johnson. Public domain, Prelinger archives.
Music ©2007-2010 Melanaster Records.
Oct/090
Selected : Micachu and the Shapes
Micachu and the Shapes (Credit unknown)
Micachu and the Shapes is an experimental pop trio from London fronted by composer Mica Levi.
Levi made her mark as a UK garage DJ before starting the band, but she’s also classically-trained and was commissioned to write a piece for the London Philharmonic while attending school. It’s hard to imagine what kind of band would be born from that mix-up, but here they are.
The Shapes present a really exploratory kind of songwriting, using some homemade instruments (modded vacuum!) and angular percussion samples to manifest their experimental pop songs. It’s fantastically unpretentious, playful stuff. The two videos below illustrate the many shapes of the Shapes – the punky, Deerhoof-like “Lips,” and the vacuum concerto heartbreaker “Turn Me Well.”
Micachu’s 2009 debut album Jewellry is available now on Rough Trade.
Oct/091
Selected : Beach House
Beach House. Photo credit unknown.
Beach House is a Baltimore duo that makes beautiful, dreamy indie pop.
That descriptor “dreamy indie pop” usually conjures Nineties groups like My Bloody Valentine and Ride, but unlike the wall-of-guitars approach favored by those bands, Beach House does it with spare, deliberate arrangements – usually no more than guitar, keyboard, voice, and gently-pulsing electronic drums.
I picked up Devotion at Harvest Records last week – it’s the perfect soundtrack for the approaching fall weather.
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Beach House – Gila
More at Beachhousemusic.net and iTunes.
Sep/092
Ephemera: Garfield Minus Garfield
Garfield Minus Garfield is a concept comic by Dan Walsh in which Garfield (the character) is removed from the strip, revealing Jon Arbuckle’s troubled inner life – his paranoia, loneliness and existential angst. The comics are alternately bizarre, hilarious and thought-provoking. The sampling provided here doesn’t really do it justice; click on the strips for more.
Sep/090
Selected : JT Nimoy
Josh Nimoy, 2009.
Josh Nimoy is an artist, designer, technologist and digital thing-maker that creates innovative aesthetic tools with custom software. He develops the code for use in his own commissions (music videos, ads, installations, performances) and makes some of them freely available for use and modification online. His CV is encyclopedic and includes things like writing custom code for use in the visual effects for the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” video (i.e. the biggest hit in the world at the moment).
The coolest thing about his work, and the reason I’m sharing it on the blog, is that many of Josh’s hand-rolled software toys are available for free download. Some of them are very inspiring and can be easily used as idea-generators for almost anyone – designers, musicians, graphic artists, or just anybody who wants a simple widget to make really cool images.
I certainly haven’t made it through all of them, but here are a few of my favorites:
Pinch (2008)
withDRAWal (2009)
GRL Graffiti Brush (2007)
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