Weird Christmas

Can't really get into Christmas/Holiday music but part of me wishes I could. To reconcile this fact, I made a playlist this year called "Weird Christmas" which is made up of not-so-traditional Christmas/Winter/Holiday songs by independent artists. It's indeed pretty weird - you wouldn't even know some of these were Christmas-themed by listening to them, like the 65daysofstatic track, but that's OK. Anyway, here it is.

1. I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun (what a great title) - Beach House
2. White Nights (Psychic TV cover) - The Golden Filter
3. The Village Drunkard - Father and Son
4. Wish List - Neon Trees
5. Christmas Reindeer - The Knife
6. TwentyFourTwelve - 65daysofstatic
7. Christmas Suite - Heidecker & Wood
8. She Came Home for Christmas - Mew
9. What's This? - Danny Elfman
10. Artificial Snow (Bedroom Take) - Atlas Sound
11. Silent Nation - AWOLNATION

I also used to have a version of "Silent Night" by IAMX/Chris Corner sung in French called "Douce Nuit" but lost it. That would've made the list otherwise.

Sketches 11-3-10

Had an absolute blast working on these today. Could have easily stayed at school another hour or two just drawing and whatnot. Been feeling very inspired lately, which I attribute to finally having a grasp on Illustrator + Photoshop as well as seeing Father and Son play this past weekend.

Sniper Girl
-An original character with no name that pops up a lot. I have fun drawing her even if she has no place or proper title (yet).






Lonely Girl
-A sketch I did this weekend that was inked with a Caligraphy pen and ink, which was really fun and a nice change of pace (I'll post the others I did using those tools soon). This is each iteration in chronological order - each one basically a test in some way. I quite like this, but I'm not sure what direction I'd want to take a final version.
















Flamehead



If you didn't already notice, I like to draw on scrap paper. It's certainly better than just throwing it out. Part of the reason I like using scrap is because I sometimes put too much pressure on myself to do something brilliant when using good paper. Also, it's convenient. That said, "Flamehead" was drawn on a piece of scrap - on a test piece for my "Expressive Type" project (which I documented below). Since I thought the figure interacted in a cool way with the text behind him, I adjusted the levels in such a way that merged the 2 sides of the paper together rather keeping them separated. I think the results are kind of interesting.

I absolutely plan on doing some drawings in the near future with a heavy type/figure relationship. Something I've been wanting to do for a while.



and here's a color version...

Adventures in Photoshop

In my experience, Photoshop (and virtually any kind of software) is very hard to teach. The intangible nature, to me, doesn't exactly lend itself to easy explanation. I'm sure most would agree it's best to learn when simply indulging in play - messing around; clicking on things and seeing what happens. In any case, I've always been a novice in Photoshop, only being able to do the most basic actions. However, we went over it this week in class, and maybe it's the fact that I've had a slow accumulation of knowledge regarding the program, but it started to click for the first time. Every button was explained and demoed one by one, which may not be the quickest way to do things, but logically it's the most effective. In past courses, we used Photoshop on... well... images that weren't photos. Rather, we'd create images from scratch in Photoshop. Not that there's anything wrong with. PS is obviously very versatile (something I knew at the time), but in retrospect, it makes sense why I didn't fully understand.

I'm not an expert all of a sudden or anything, but now I plan on being one. I had more fun this past Monday playing around than I ever have, most likely because I actually had some idea of how to appropriate all the functions. Definitely looking forward to playing around more. These are some of my early experiments - hope you enjoy!

NIGHT by NIGHT Clothing and Accessories

So my midterm for my Intro to Electronic Publishing class was pretty involved. First we had to create a fictional jewelery, pet, or clothing store then design a logo, letterhead, envelope, business card, and finally a package for an item at that store. Fairly quickly I decided that I wanted to go with a clothing company inspired by one of my favorite bands, Chromeo, given that they already have such a distinct fashion sense. The name was taken directly from one of their recent singles, "Night by Night." Once I settled on that, I began doing thumbnails...







...eventually leaning towards the sketch based on this black & white promo pic:



I then Photoshopped that in a way that was indicative of the original sketch I'd done.



From there, I used a sharpie marker on tracing paper to create a line drawing that was soon scanned. That drawing was adjusted in Photoshop to make it even more graphic. I also filled in the Moon shape and added text.



In retrospect, I'm not sure why I decided to omit Pee Thugg (the thickly beared gentelman on the right), but it wasn't a decision I wanted to make. At the time, I think I was going to produce the final logo in Photoshop, and Pee's presence wasn't entirely working for me in that format. Since this was a school project, and I knew my Professor wouldn't ask "Where's Pee?" or "Why did you remove Pee?" I obviously thought it was for the greater good. In any case, once I brought the Photoshop document into Illustrator it really came together. I got the thick graphic quality I was going for and could start playing around with the letterhead, business card, etc.



The logo was the biggest challenge at that point, so when that reached a place I was happy with, the other stuff fell into place fairly quickly, each one with subtle variations. These are the finals:







Lastly, I had to do the package design, which was by far the most intimidating aspect. I'm the first to admit that 3D is not my strength, so I wasn't looking forward to this. What was originally going to be a basic rectangular box for a pair of sunglasses turned into something more triangular (and hopefully more creative and unconventional). By the time I embraced the new shape I tried to fashion it in such a way that could make it work as a display case as well as an actual package. The bubble-wrap was "glued" down with spray mount. Eh, my Prof actually kinda liked it. Could have been much worse.

Y

So my fascination with iamamiwhoami continues. This 12" x 12" painting, completed a few weeks ago, was based on a still from the last music video "Y."

Expressive Type

My last project in my Typography class had to deal with Expressive Type, i.e. personifying the words on the page. We were allowed to choose any poem or the lyrics from any song. I was juggling a lot of different ideas (songs from The Faint, Autolux, and Chromeo were all in the running) but ultimately my Professor responded most to a song from The Black Angels called "The Sniper." This being one of favorites off their excellent new album I had no problem embracing the lyrics.

Overall, this was not an easy project (none of my Type assignments have been): between the difficulty of giving the words character while also attempting to maintain legibility and a logical sense of motion (i.e. top to bottom, left to right) there was a lot to consider. It had to be visually appealing at the end of the day, too. It's easy to go a little crazy as you finely tinker with the placement and point size of word or letter, but I think it's important to emphasize how demanding a project like this can be. There seems to be a myth than anyone can do Graphic Design, but just because the computer is most often the tool associated with the profession doesn't make it any less challenging. When all's said and done, it's simply a vessel for your ability and ideas. That's not supposed to be a boast or self -congratulatory in any way, but I often have a tougher time working with the computer than I do with the more traditional aspects of art. Bottom line: Type is hard! Keeping that in mind, I'm pretty happy with the final result, and I hope I accurately conveyed the creepy and hostile mood that's so present in the song itself.

This piece was created entirely in Adobe Illustrator. The final, physical version will see both 6 x 12 panels lined up as one 6 x 24 image. Hope you like it!

Sketches 10-30-10

Just some character doodles done between classes, except for the colored piece with the four girls. That one was done for my Intro to Electronic Publishing class in which we had to draw a CD cover. I chose the band Warpaint who I saw open for and nearly upstage The xx. Great band, more on them in future. Until then, enjoy!

Album of the Week: Blonde Redhead - Penny Sparkle

PREFACE: Whoaaaa it's been a while! Been absolutely swamped between work and school and haven't had a chance to update this place in a while. Well, time to change that. Been meaning to do some writing and uploading of recent drawings/art projects/etc for a while now. Without further ado......




Blonde Redhead: Penny Sparke

Album of the Year? Maybe. If not that, certainly the most beautiful. One thing I can say for sure is that Blonde Redhead's latest will undoubtedly make it into my 2010 list of favorites. First and foremost, I'm no authority on the band: I know they've been around for a while and have a ton of albums I have yet to listen to, but their last 2 LPs (2007's "23" and 2004's "Misery Is A Butterfly") were outstanding. As such, I was really looking forward to "Penny Sparkle." Once I found out Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid produced it - who also took production reigns on Fever Ray's debut - I couldn't wait. With that said, I'm happy to report that they transferred all the brilliant synth-tastic nuances of that album over to "Penny Sparkle." The combination of BR's finely honed songwriting with Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid's detailed studio trickery is a college art student's dream.

Every song, from opener "Here Sometimes" to the goosebump-inducing "Spain" are rich with ethereal melodies, subtle guitar lines, layered percussion, and all manner of electronic magic. The anchor to every track however is singer Kazu Makino. Despite her noticeable accent, Makino's voice strikes an incredible balance between her powerful melodies and extremely delicate vocals. This is apparent on every song she sings on. The 2 tracks where she doesn't take lead, "Will There Be Stars" and "Black Guitar" (sung by guitarist Amedeo Pace) are still excellent - "Black Guitar" in particular, where the two alternate on the verse and chorus, is one of the best on the album: the melancholy mood sounds like some something Lennon or McCartney might've written on one of their darker days.

Similarly, the emotionally stunning "Love Or Prison", the album's centerpiece, leaves quite a lasting impression. The amount of space in the mix allows every sound and instrument to coalesce beautifully, the wide open feel reflective of the lonely subject matter. Listen to this one in the dark.

Yet, amongst all the amazing tunes, the closer "Spain" would have to be my favorite. The emotional intensity reaches a peak here - it's sad, triumphant, and empowering without ever missing a beat. Few bands can reach into me and settle so comfortably across different feelings, but Blonde Redhead are one of them.

The only song that doesn't stand out to me is the title track. It's not bad by any means but it lacks the memorable instrumentation of everything else on the album. As tempting as it is to review each individual song, just know that the album is perfectly balanced in its running order: it starts strong, stays strong, and ends even stronger.

This album will make your heart cry, but that makes it no less addicting.

Album of the Week: Autolux - Transit Transit

After roughly 5 to 6 years since their amazing debut (2004's Future Perfect), Autolux have finally made a formal return with their comfortably experimental but equally great sophomore LP Transit Transit. Whereas their first album found a formula and perfected it over the course of 50 minutes, their second breaks up the noise with spacey passages of piano and ambiguous ambiance. Though less loud overall, Transit Transit still manages to pile on the layers of sonic texture in great and surprising ways. Track 2 is an album highlight - loud and hard rocking, but restrained and accented in all the right places. From the angelic "dooh-doohs" and toy piano of the chorus to the arcing synthesizer of the outro, "Census" is Autolux at their best: unexpected and pleasingly disparate. The following track, "Highchair", treads similar ground and may be the most bewildering on the album, at least for fans of Future Perfect: Distorted chords are replaced with a skinny guitar line and drum machine, led by guitarist/pianist/vocalist Greg Edward's high-pitched and vaguely malicious vocals. It's Autolux being minimalist in other words, and it works. It breaks up the pacing of the album nicely while creating a tense moment that you can actually move your body to.

"Supertoys" should satisfy any fans itching for more Future Perfect-esque freakouts, the only huge difference being that the band have finely honed their craft even more here. Alternating lead vocals between bassist/vocalist Eugene Goreshter and drummer/vocalist Carla Azar provide the basis for a song that is elevated to even greater heights during the ending, when Edwards' bizarre guitar stylings (which few others can get away with) take center stage.

"Spots", not unlike the title track, bravely enters downtempo piano-central territory, often times sounding like French duo Air (a big compliment in my book). However, in place of the trumpet and uplifting backing vocals of Transit Transit are wailing screeches of far-off guitar and strings. It's a somber late night ballad that wouldn't look out of place playing behind Bill Murray in Lost In Translation. A sad but comforting highlight.

The Azar sung "Bouncing Wall" further pushes the band in interesting directions, as does the uncompromisingly repetitious but effective "Headless Sky." Yet, closing track "The Science of Imaginary Solutions" is more profound, bleak, and optimistic than anything else on the album. The dark lyrics and quiet/loud instrumentation grow to contrast each other in a way that isn't so much schizophrenic as it is poignant. When you hear the transition from pounding guitar, bass, and drums to piano and lyric-less vocals, it's more strikingly melancholy than off putting. Autolux make it work.

Was it worth the wait? That's up to you (and a little irrelevant at this point). The bottom line is that Greg, Eugene, and Carla have made an album that isn't safe. Better yet, they've made a good one. Transit Transit is not Future Perfect 2. The fact that they've pushed themselves while still maintaining songwriting ability in the process is a real achievement. Get listening.

Eagle Martial Arts

For the past few months I've been working at a place called Eagle Martial Arts in Boonton, NJ, doing all manner of murals for their new location on Main Street. It's a beautiful training facility and I'm happy to have been involved in its creation. The below are the first two pieces I did, just prior to its Grand Opening 2 months ago. The giant eagle was completed first, designed to be a more stylized and aggressive interpretation of their main logo. After that I did the arches, which cover the entrance to the main training floor.






Just a few days ago I finally finished a 3rd mural covering three walls in the basement area, displaying a ton of different martial arts figures, poses, and interactions. I'll have final pictures of that soon. Up next, I think I'll be helping out with their classroom area that's currently in the works.

Paintings 8-22-10

Been a while, no? Here's those paintings I've been putting off photographing for months.

I write music, too!

My first post on this blog is a failed attempt at uploading one of my songs. I was trying to integrate a direct download, or at least some kind of stream but couldn't find any hosting websites that suited my needs. So let's just try an old fashioned link.

This was the last song I wrote in Garageband before upgrading to Logic. I quite like it. I'm particularly surprised by how well some of the noise-y sections turned out. Enjoy!

Sketch!

More fun with Gas Masks - don't expect to see any less of these.

How To Destroy Angels to release free EP

From the most recent update at nin.com...

How To Destroy Angels, the new band featuring Mariqueen Maandig, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross are releasing their debut EP as a free download on June 1st. If you pre-order you'll get one new track, 'The Believers,' immediately. A selection of merchandise is also available.

The EP will be released on CD July 6th, with a vinyl release TBA. For updates, follow @destroyangels on Twitter, or on Facebook here.

If you haven't heard of this band yet, get hearin'! Their first single "A Drowning" is available on Amazon's MP3 Store as well as iTunes, and their high concept debut music video for "The Space In Between" will give you chills here.


And for an interview with the video's director, Rupert Sanders, check out this article from Pitchfork.


Did I mention the debut EP is free this Tuesday? If you wanna throw the band a few bones, there's a pleasantly surprising amount of merch already available (and ready to ship by mid-June). Also, if you're a snobby iPad owner like me, there's a brand new app from Wired magazine in which they've essentially created a very sleek electronic version of their publication specifically for the Apple product. One of the features is an interactive article on the creation of a song by How To Destroy Angels. Read it here.

While reading through each step, you can listen to the element being described, culminating in the finished version of "The Believers" which might be my favorite track by HTDA thus far. As the Wired article points out, there's an unsettling and extremely satisfying combination of electronic and organic elements that make it so enjoyable. Imagine the glitchy noise of Year Zero with the marimbas of Ghosts and you've got a rough idea. However, this is probably the least NIN-sounding track to date, and the comparison to those 2 albums is strictly to illustrate what it sounds like. Granted, I'm only going off of one listen. June 1st being mere days away, I'd rather just wait to hear the song in context rather than burn myself out on it (which I could easily do).

Anyway, the point is "The Believers", more so than any of the songs released so far, hints at the true potential of How To Destroy Angels. In other words, it starts to make sense why it's an entity separate from Nine Inch Nails, and I can't wait to hear more.

Misc. Links:

http://howtodestroyangels.com/

http://www.facebook.com/howtodestroyangels

http://www.myspace.com/howtodestroyangels


http://www.youtube.com/howtodestroyangels

http://vimeo.com/destroyangels

http://twitter.com/destroyangels



And as an added bonus, Trent/NIN recently completed a song for the foreign film Tetsuo: The Bullet Man. Check it out here.


Make sure to listen to it loud. You might die from the epic-ness of it, but it'll be a good death.

Album of the Week: UNKLE - Where Did The Night Fall

Band/Artist: UNKLE
Album: Where Did The Night Fall

A band that has had a truly transformative journey, UNKLE have reached a point with their newest LP that seems to combine all their past albums to create something that could best be described as electronically informed psych-rock. A series of collaborations from the likes of up-and-comers and under-appreciated groups such as Autolux, The Black Angels, and more congeals into a simultaneously cohesive and diverse listening experience. Though the whole thing is fantastic, highlights for me include Follow Me Down, Caged Bird, and The Runaway - 3 tracks with 3 different though equally talented female vocalists. Follow Me Down features a stunning vocal performance by Sleepy Sun's Rachel Fannan that simply must be heard, while Caged Bird with Katrina Ford displays a similarly powerful performance, both women carrying enormous presence, though never at the expense of the song (quite the contrary). Perhaps on the other side of the spectrum is Lisa Elle, who goes in the other direction for The Runaway: what she lacks in terms of sheer power she more than makes up for in mood. Somehow she manages to convey menace, fear, and apathy all in the same song to ultimately come across like a severely disturbed Alison Goldfrapp. Great stuff. Probably my favorite song on the album.

Check out Lisa's day job at the below links:

Official Site
MySpace [<--"Alone" in particular is great]
Facebook
Twitter

Aside from the excellent music, the deluxe packaging for Where Did The Night Fall is likely the best I've seen since the last UNKLE album War Stories. Record companies take note - this is how you combat piracy: the included lyrics, liner notes, and especially the amazing photography are expertly presented. This is exactly the type of thing I look for when seeking a physical copy of a band's new album.

And speaking of the incredible photography, UNKLE's latest music video (for Follow Me Down) is essentially the album artwork in motion, which makes total sense since it was directed by WDTNF's extremely talented art directors Warren du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones. It's one of the best music videos I've seen this year. Sincerely inspiring work.

Feast your eyes on it here.

So go out and buy this album, or at least listen to it.

p.s.

if it wasn't already clear, I'd like to consistently make "Album of the Week" posts (this being the first), or at least a weekly entry that highlights my current playlist or something. We shall see. Stay tuned!