Knicks
In the last year or so I have re-kindled my love of basketball (well, of watching it on TV at least) and consequently my masochistic love of NY Knicks has been renewed. Recently, the Knicks unveiled their new jerseys which feature a basketball logo* on the back that I wasn't familiar with (and that I...
Michael Gira
I went to see Michael Gira play the Button Factory last Wednesday. During one anecdote he wryly described himself as an ‘abrasive old man’. This modest description belies the fact that this was a solo acoustic delivered with rare force and conviction. There was a fierce and confrontational vulneribility that intimadated and enthralled, and when...
More Visual music
Partitura 001 from Abstract Birds on Vimeo. Really interesting post about this video on the always excellent Create Digital Motion. Vessel – Jon Hopkins from Alba G. Corral on Vimeo. More info on the Visual Music blog. Great music for this video by Jon Hopkins, whose soundtrack for Monsters is one of the best scores...
Chronic City
Love this cover by Miriam Rosenbloom for Chronic City (also, love her cover for James Franco’s new book). Finished reading it the other day, enjoyed it. I like it when authors incorporate elements of the surreal into real-world settings, displacing the narrative so as to allegorically interrogate grander themes. Anyway, for a proper review that...
White Box
WHITE BOX | Excerpts from Purform on Vimeo. Nicely executed audio-visual piece by Purform. I have a great deal of respect for pieces that are able to combine programming/technology with high-quality sonic and visual aesthetics. It’s not easy as one weak link in the chain, be it a sound designer or programmer, can mean that...
CCCP
Possibly the first time I have ever pre-ordered a book, as soon as I saw images from this book in the Guardian I knew I had to get it. On a trip to Berlin last year I became increasingly interested in the scale and conviction with which GDR architects undertook their brutalist re-workings of the...
Queens of the Stone Age
One of my favourite record/artwork combos. Vintage pin-up shots form a perfect compliment to the scuzzed, low-slung riffage of the Queens of the Stone Age debut. I like it when artists do an alternative cover shot for the vinyl release, with the CD version here shown on the inside. Also, I love gatefold covers. The...
Nosaj Thing & Romain Tardy
Nosaj Thing vs. Aalto @ LUNCHMEAT 2010 from …::LUNCHMEAT::… on Vimeo. Nice little documentary video about Romain Tard & Nosaj Thing’s audio-visual collaboration in Prague last year. The result is a wooden structure covered by more than 500 polystyrene triangles, blended with a layer of light. This installation completely fades out the boundaries between a DJ booth,...
Designers and books
One of those ideas that you see and then think that it seems so obvious it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done already. This website essentially brings together a selection of top international designers and gets them to submit their personally indispensable reading material. I haven’t had a chance for more then a cursory glance...
More Black Swan
OK, last Black Swan-related post. Finally got to see the movie on Wednesday at Screen Cinema & really enjoyed it. It is a relentless, visceral 108 minutes that forms a pleasing synthesis of different elements Aronofsky has developed in his last couple of films, including the verité-style camera work, kinetic editing and elaborate art design,...
