Reviews: Placebo - Battle For The Sun
June 11th, 2009
As I always have with new Placebo albums, I was expecting something special. Meds, Sleeping With Ghosts, and Black Market Music were each consistently phenomenal albums, so naturally I expected Battle for the Sun to keep up that track record. Sadly, it does not. There is too much space; too much waiting for something to kick in. They have also grossly overused the soft/quiet formula here. The lyrics - usually a Placebo high point - feel very basic and lack the sense that a listener can really focus on them and do their best to figure out what Molko is singing about. Surprisingly, the loss of their longtime drummer in this current lineup really has nothing to do with the album’s shortcomings; the drumming is great, but overall the songs just aren’t there. I found myself watching each track queue up hoping something was about to blow my socks off, either sonically or melodically, but it never happens. I expected much more from such a great band. Honestly, I don’t think I can give this much more than a few listens.
The only song that really grabbed me was the very last track, In A Funk - apparently a bonus song on the itunes download. It’s wholly ironic that every song before this finds Placebo in exactly that.
Posted in Music, Reviews | No Comments »
Portfolio - Looming Lights - New Work Posted
June 7th, 2009
My band recently changed our name to Looming Lights after about four years as The Atlantic Divide. We needed something new, something to give us a different outlook on our music as we started work on a new album earlier this year. Looming Lights, one of our earlier song names, was the name we chose. It was an interesting process to create new artwork and a new theme for the band. As The Atlantic Divide I constantly felt some sort of need to base themes, artwork and lyrics around the ocean. With this new name, I wanted to stay away from anything too literal and go for something that didn’t really have to mean much of anything. I went through a variety of concepts before looking back at some photos I’d taken of Chicago at night while landing at the airport. While I did not take the photo used above, it’s a pretty close match for a few I’d taken on that flight.
So with the new imagery we are using, I think it has a good connection to lyrics I’ve been writing since we made the change. I like to think of just being above the city thinking about all the stories that are being made in any given second - who’s at a party, who’s in love, who’s breaking the rules, who’s dreaming about something a million miles away from where they are. The connection between imagery and lyrics is something I have always had tremendous appreciation for - no idea how all this will end up but it’s great to be excited about something new in this way.
To view my portfolio, you can use the link above or just click here. The band’s web site is available at www.loominglights.com.
Posted in Graphic Design, My Music, My Portfolio | No Comments »
Vans Vault - Why are some shoes so hard to find?
June 7th, 2009
I recently found a pair of Vans Vault Sk8-Hi LX shoes in Complex magazine and quickly discovered that they were nearly impossible to find. Zappos, Shoes.com, and other site’s don’t carry many of the more custom lines by major shoe companies; they’re often sold only in stores - and it seems like most of them rarely have an online store. As I looked around I discovered that Vans is releasing a ridiculous amount of shoes under the Vault line that I’m really craving. The two above are set for late summer/early fall release and are part of the wool / peacoat series.
If anyone happens to come across this post and knows where these might be available, drop a comment down below.
Tags: Shoes, sneakers, vans, vans vault
Posted in Shoes | No Comments »
Card Observer - Business Card Design Inspiration
June 7th, 2009
This is a site I found a while back that includes an incredible range of business cards - and what really caught my eye was the great variety of letterpress style cards. Letterpress has always had a strong appeal to me, from the variety of paper textures available, to the ability for minimal typographic visuals to be very bold. If you’re looking to do a new card for yourself, or just looking for design inspiration in general, have a look at the site here: Card Observer - Business Card Design Inspiration.
Posted in Designers and Artists, Graphic Design | No Comments »
Star Wars AT-AT, 20+ Years Later
March 25th, 2009
A great Flickr gallery was posted over at qbn.com that includes all sorts of photos of an AT-AT at the beach, walking around the house, and various other situations. Suffice to say, seeing this was a great way to start my day and it’s all downhill from here.
View the full gallery here.
Posted in Photography | No Comments »
Now Reading: Bands On The Road: The Tour Sketchbook, Morrissey In Conversation - The Essential Interviews
February 26th, 2009
I picked up both of these books a couple weeks ago and while Bands On The Road is more of a coffee table book, Morrissey In Conversation is something much more substantial. As a massive fan of The Smiths since I first ever heard them in the late 80s, this book is turning out to be an interesting reflection of not only their formative years, but of Morrissey’s relentless pursuit of being everything that the pop stars at the time were not. This book contains virtually ever major interview he gave from the beginning of The Smiths through 2007. While I imagine a great deal of the book to be somewhat repetitive - I’ve counted seven references to his choice of celibacy and I’m only 40 pages in - for me it is a remarkable lo0k at a giant inspiration of mine and someone who there is really no equal for. I highly suggest this book for any fans of The Smiths; if you’ve read Morrissey & Marr - The Severed Alliance, this book is a great companion.
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Now Listening: Lightspeed Champion
February 16th, 2009
Lightspeed Champion are the current band of Devonte Hynes, formerly of Test-Icicles, and the contrast in style couldn’t be more noticeable. Test Icicles were a brash, explosive band of grating guitars and shouted lyrics, and they’d have been the perfect tourmates for Death From Above 1979 - another great band that closed up shop too soon.
From Wikipedia:
Lightspeed Champion is the name of the new musical venture by ex-Test Icicle Devonte Hynes. He is currently signed to Domino Records. Containing musical elements from a variety of genres, Lightspeed Champion has a radically different sound to Hynes’ previous band. The name ‘Lightspeed Champion’ comes from a series of comic strips Hynes did as a teenager in his school mathematics books. Hynes was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Essex, England.
In early 2007, Hynes went to Omaha, Nebraska to record Lightspeed Champion’s debut album with Saddle Creekproducer Mike Mogis, also a member of the band Bright Eyes. A number of Omaha-based musicians appear on the record including Mogis himself, trumpet player and pianist Nate Walcott (also of Bright Eyes), The Faint’s drummer Clark Baechle and guest vocalist Emmy The Great - along with moonlighting members of Cursive and Tilly And The Wall.
The result of those recording sessions is the album Falling Off the Lavender Bridge which was released on January 21, 2008. The first single from the album is “Galaxy of the Lost”, which was released on July 30, 2007. (Additional wikipedia entry here)
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I’ve been a huge fan of this album since a friend suggested it and I love seeing the diversity of a songwriter I previously knew only for what Test-Icicles had produced. There’s a great blend of instrumentation here - strings, horns, and acoustic guitars.
Read more about Lightspeed Champion at metacritic.com.
Listen: Lightspeed Champion - Tell Me What It’s Worth
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Wake n’ Bacon Alarm Clock is Meant for Me
January 5th, 2009
While searching for a new alarm clock and trying to track down the completely cool Seth Thomas Baxter Retro clock (more on that in a future post), my fiance came across the alarm clock above. Yes, it’s an alarm clock that heats up and delivers hot bacon when the alarm goes off. I really don’t think there could be a better device anywhere.
I don’t know if it’s completely real, but it has been featured in the New York Times Style Magazine and on Good Morning America. Take a look at more information here.
I need this, badly…
Posted in Products, Wanted Items | No Comments »
NOPATTERN.COM - New Book and Blog
January 3rd, 2009
Artist Chuck Anderson, better known as NoPattern has recently released a small book featuring a variety of his artwork from the past few years. Over at QBN Chuck was a regular long ago but it’s obvious he’s been spending his time on some great projects. Chuck has a style that’s instantly recognizable, and it’s been cool to see it pop up here and there - the Lupe Fiasco Food and Liquor album cover, a giant Reebok / Chicago Bears banner on a downtown Chicago building, for example.
I had not been to his site in a while and had possibly forgotten about his blog at formatmag.com. He’s got a post up there with some home office pictures, and I’m drooling.
Posted in Designers and Artists, Graphic Design | No Comments »
