I have a video project coming up. Coming up you say?! Yes, it's true, my teachers have been a tad unorganized. Classes end in two weeks and I have yet to start a final project worth 45% of my final grade. Super. For this project I get to do animations in a 3d environment (not necessarily 3d objects) and combine it with green screen shot film footage.
I'm pretty excited. I've learned a lot of really cool things this term about video, and when I see things like this:
I only get more excited. This is a promo for season 4 of Skins (guilty pleasure British teen melodrama) for a quirky character named Pandora. She's awesome. Equally awesome is the illustrator who made this promo: Julia Potts.
I first saw Julia Potts' work hanging up in the White Elephant in Hamilton. I pointed it out to friend Vivian who instantly recognized her patterned bears. Vivian told me all about who she was, and I bought a print. Then much later, Vivian saw this promo and had to send it to me.
I got the message during class and my teacher saw what I was watching and thought it was way cool. He told me I could do something like this for my green screen project and since then I've been itching to get started.
Another cool video stylistically is Us by Regina Spektor.
I love how this video is kind of stop motion, really fantastical, and though it must have taken hours appears to be so bricolage.
This is my first time dabbling into video but it is one of the coolest mediums to work with. You can do so much with so few elements. When you make something, you really feel a sense of accomplishment. I would like to play around more with it. Once I get a better computer I don't think I'll stop playing with After Effects. Until then I'll live in music videos, and promo reels.
If I like my final project enough, maybe I'll share it with you.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Meet Paul Gardner
By now I think my love of show posters is pretty apparent. I like the artistic freedom that they allow. I stumbled across FloraFauna, or Paul Gardner a while ago and was really impressed with what I saw. 
I like his use of geometric shapes and images. The interaction of elements is very playful and clever. They make me want them all. Also to make my own. Enjoy!
I like his use of geometric shapes and images. The interaction of elements is very playful and clever. They make me want them all. Also to make my own. Enjoy!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Concert Love
Last Thursday I went to see Mr. Owen Pallett at Aeolian Hall in London (which, by the way is an amazing venue). I must say it was one of the best live shows I've been to in a while. First of all, it was probably the only concert I've ever been to (other than Coldplay in grade 12 at ACC) where it was all seating, which made for a very relaxing atmosphere. I got my first pleasent suprise with the openers, Snowblink, who were melodic, beautifully soothing, and played a perfect set. It was so refined, that it only makes sense that Snowblink is affiliated with Dirty Projectors (who played on their album LONG LIVE), and Bruce Penninsula (joined the band as part of the choir).
Owen Pallett was very personable and played a meaty set including old favourites This is the Dream of Win and Regine, Please Please Please, as well as Several new songs off of this year's release Heartland. This is the third time I have seen Final Fantasy, and by far the best. It was a concert that makes you like the artist about a million times more than when you first arrived.
Owen Pallett was very personable and played a meaty set including old favourites This is the Dream of Win and Regine, Please Please Please, as well as Several new songs off of this year's release Heartland. This is the third time I have seen Final Fantasy, and by far the best. It was a concert that makes you like the artist about a million times more than when you first arrived.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A History of Noise
Just as the title might suggest, the recent treat unburied by Bradford is solidly overindulgent. However, you can't really look at it with any singular vision. When he was just kicking around with Moses, and Deerhunter was new blood and obsessed with tapes, these songs were the product of those times.
The band has changed a lot since then, but this album has certain genetic makeup built into every track. It's like having a picture of your best friend, then after years of knowing him getting to look at a picture of him as a child. At first you are surprised by how different they looked back then, but, as you look at it closely, you notice the same bones are behind all of that flesh.
When you first start it off, you might think that it's a little ridiculous in scope. Noise-band meets disco-trance was my first impression. Really, its more of a wandering narrative, which actually exposes itself in more ways, especially with Bradford stating at the beginning of But I'm a Boy, "don't take yourself too seriously." It's a conversation really. It leaps into being as it rolls along. Not really knowing where it will go, it makes sure to cover the important parts of not trying too hard. They are just a bunch of kids with tapes and ideas.
Listening to it with a purpose might be a mistake, but if you roll with it, you find some great moments.
Carve Your Initials Into The Walls Of The Night
Also, I can not believe how brave this man is:
Monday, January 25, 2010
I'm scattered
Scissor
Its a song that makes me fantasize about what is behind that little golden door on the cover of their album. I'm not sure what to expect from them, all I know is that the two songs I've heard are a sign that they haven't gone stale yet. And that is good enough for me.
If you want to give out your email for it, or even a fake one you don't really use, Caribou is coming out with a new album called Swim and he wants to let you listen to Odessa.
One last thing, I'm not one for online magazines, but FISK is a magazine that isn't afraid to look like a blog, because, well, isn't that what blogs are nowadays?
They have had a pretty good start so far, there are some interesting interviews and image posts that keep it pretty eclectic. The most interesting thing about it is "stuff we have stolen". I think that would be a great blog itself. Can you really steal a poster?
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Hopelessly So, Another Top 10
While I am still doing silly things, like listening to Microcastle/Weird Era Continued or chewing on Feel Good Lost for yet another time (seriously who is gonna write a response to that?), the musical universe trudges along without me.
I don't like top ten lists for the reason that they force me to make quick decisions about albums I've only had a few weeks to listen to. Out of all the albums that were released this year 38 or so made their way onto my computer, and I've cut out what I think are the best 10 from that selection. As far as I'm concerned, its a list that could change in the next few days. As I look over it more and more it is possible that it will, but for now it acts as an accurate tell on what impressed me from this year's batch of albums.
10. Bromst - Dan Deacon
Less buzzy fuzz and more melodies.
Okay, so maybe the same energy stacked dace-maker-fuzz, but with this album, Dan really makes Bromst a journey, instead of just a collection of songs that make you want to dance around in your underpants. Despite its early release, Bromst still resonates with me. It reaches the intensity of his previous work, but captures moments that are true, melodic, and kind.
9. Tarot Sport - Fuck Buttons
Quite simply, this album tells me a story that I want to hear. Whenever I listen to Tarot Sport I get this overwhelming sense of narrative. No longer do these songs reach out to you from a sea of noisy noise, but they are able to grab you by the collar and say something. It's an album that reads like a soundtrack to something, somewhere. Its so charged and yet still open, it says something about, well, anything. Heck, walk down the street with Tarot Sport and eventually you'll get the idea.
8. Embryonic - The Flaming Lips
I listened to the first 4 or so songs and was convinced it was one of the best albums this year. Then someone said I should listen to the rest of it to make sure it should belong on here. That's when it was really sold for me. You don't get many chances to hear Karen O cackle behind a list of animal names, nor do you get a song that seems like The Lips are teaching MGMT how to have fun. The most impressive thing about this album has to be that every time a harp sweeps my speakers, I get a feeling equivalent to holding my breath.
7. Get Color - Health
If you get past the first 16 seconds of Severin you arrive in the middle of one of the greatest shoegaze songs this year. I think it was probably Health's way of telling us they have changed. It's a song that is so telling about their transition from more avant-garde indulgences to filling an album with interest and composure. Get Color is an album that favors more traditional song structures. It becomes a more composed way of looking into health's overall structure. Which is lean, distant, downtrodden, but only on the surface of something all the more powerful, loud, and razor sharp. This way, when you listen to Get Color you don't have the excuse of dismissing it by saying that it's "just noise".
Because, now you are only half right.
6. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear
Maybe a bit too trim and elloquent, Veckatimest sits in this list as one of the more cohesive recordings this year. It's supported by the juggernauts Two Weeks and Cheerleader, but can't we just admit that the best song on this album is Ready, Able? As far as Veckatimes feels: it chugs and coos. When Daniel Rosen is in the driver's seat, it chugs along at a steady pace, and feels porous enough to really see what this new-er electric-er Grizzly Bear is all about. When Droste steps up to the plate, I want to be a 14 year old girl again sitting on my bed singing along with curls in my hair.... er, lets just say I more than get the sentiment. But lets face it, as shockingly beautiful as these Valium soaked vocals get, and as interesting as it is that Veckatimest drips with the flavour of an off shore island, there is a bit of distance between me and certain songs that attempt to place the album in any sort of location. Which translates into distance between me and the album.
5. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
Whoa whoa whoa! How can you make an album that is packed with so many great songs it ships like a CD of all the years favourite singles? Is that even fair? Besides the fact that it contains all of this years best singles, Wolfgang can spin all night and no one would complain. It strikes a perfectly placed target that is in the middle of everyone's taste. It's just the right amount of indie rock, with just the right amount of texture on just the right amount of synths, which in turn charges the background of an album that picks just the right pace, along with our attention, and never lets go. Not to mention Thomas Mars and his quirky, light ended vocals that tip-toe over prancey riffs, that seals it for me.
4. Merriweather Post Pavillion - Animal Collective
Please listen to this album in headphones.
Also, I'm glad that this wasn't the best album of 2009, because then it would have ruined the rest of my musical year by taking all of the glory, just six days into the running. However, back to my earlier point, and why this album is so good: headphones. It's kind of silly that the most dance worthy release by Animal Collective would be the one that sounds the best as you sit in a chair to don a pair of proper ear cannons. I'm overcome by how intricately mixed Merriweather is, and just as disappointed that most people listening to it will don a pair of pea sized ear stuffers to do so. Still, for all of its schlack and gloss, Merriweather lets me down. As Animal Collective gains more popularity and regard, I fear that no one will notice the minor details missing, such as the reason why we all listened to Animal Collective in the first place. I look to Animal Collective to show me what music can be, but I didn't get my fair share on Merriweather Post Pavilion, even as I sit, yet again memorized by their musical finesse.
3. Bitte Orca - The Dirty Projectors
Bitte Orca is packed with just about every technical demonstration of musical intellectualism that it makes it hard to understand why exactly it is as good as people say it is. There are unstable key signatures, vocal harmonies interlaced like shoelaces, virtuoso guitar riffs that smash apart smoothly placed drum machine beats. The list can go on for a while, because Bitte Orca is a musical index that has everything popular albums shouldn't, but remains able to carry your interest without being too antiseptic. The interesting thing I find about the album, is that my least favourite song is its first single. Besides teaching us that getting a Masters degree can actually turn into something meaningful, I think The Dirty Projectors have proved that an album with so much compositional vigor can also be one of my favourite albums to listen to over and over again.
2. Born Again Revisited - Times New Viking
I'm aware that this album will be disregarded almost immediately, but it is impossible to ignore some of the best songwriting of the year. I have written about this album before so its not a surprise that it is on this list, but why so high is the case in point. In the context of this year, with bands trading in production value for that all too popular "low-fi" glow, Born Again Revisited is an album that was born sipping it from a juice box. Most bands tried to grab our attention this year from behind a wall of buzz, or tape hiss, or amplifier malfunctions. Born Again Revisited was written the same way, yes, however it does not use low-fi as innocent party tricks, it's propelled from within the heart of what low-fi first popped up as. Yes, it sounds 'bad'. Still, Born Again Revisited makes the 'bad' a good thing as we listen to these talented three link together riffs with a sly humor and some badassness. There is a reason for the mess, because the content displays a messiness too, one that is a bit jarring and dirty. This doesn't mean that it lacks substance, but that its substance is keen to its form, and for that I am impressed.
1. Logos - Atlas Sound
Bradford Cox lied to us when he said Logos was less indulgent than his previous release. It's just a different kind of indulgent. One that is less alienating and more persuasive, which ultimately makes for a cohesive but chillingly great collection of songs. They are by no means complex. Yet, Cox uses simple songwriting to punch a hole through my attention span long enough to deliver songs full personal stories of which I will never understand their true meaning.
It is in this way that he is so indulgent. As dark words are delivered through bright songs, I am left wondering what kind of a face he is making behind that flash glare. By no means is it cynical. As I make my way through Logos, I'm aware of the window I'm given into his psyche, and I haven't a clue as to what it means. Maybe they are delivered this way to provoke a great deal of thought, perhaps not. All I know is that, well, I can't stop thinking about them. And I can't stop listening to the album because of it.
I don't like top ten lists for the reason that they force me to make quick decisions about albums I've only had a few weeks to listen to. Out of all the albums that were released this year 38 or so made their way onto my computer, and I've cut out what I think are the best 10 from that selection. As far as I'm concerned, its a list that could change in the next few days. As I look over it more and more it is possible that it will, but for now it acts as an accurate tell on what impressed me from this year's batch of albums.
10. Bromst - Dan Deacon
Less buzzy fuzz and more melodies.
Okay, so maybe the same energy stacked dace-maker-fuzz, but with this album, Dan really makes Bromst a journey, instead of just a collection of songs that make you want to dance around in your underpants. Despite its early release, Bromst still resonates with me. It reaches the intensity of his previous work, but captures moments that are true, melodic, and kind.
9. Tarot Sport - Fuck Buttons
Quite simply, this album tells me a story that I want to hear. Whenever I listen to Tarot Sport I get this overwhelming sense of narrative. No longer do these songs reach out to you from a sea of noisy noise, but they are able to grab you by the collar and say something. It's an album that reads like a soundtrack to something, somewhere. Its so charged and yet still open, it says something about, well, anything. Heck, walk down the street with Tarot Sport and eventually you'll get the idea.
8. Embryonic - The Flaming Lips
I listened to the first 4 or so songs and was convinced it was one of the best albums this year. Then someone said I should listen to the rest of it to make sure it should belong on here. That's when it was really sold for me. You don't get many chances to hear Karen O cackle behind a list of animal names, nor do you get a song that seems like The Lips are teaching MGMT how to have fun. The most impressive thing about this album has to be that every time a harp sweeps my speakers, I get a feeling equivalent to holding my breath.
7. Get Color - Health
If you get past the first 16 seconds of Severin you arrive in the middle of one of the greatest shoegaze songs this year. I think it was probably Health's way of telling us they have changed. It's a song that is so telling about their transition from more avant-garde indulgences to filling an album with interest and composure. Get Color is an album that favors more traditional song structures. It becomes a more composed way of looking into health's overall structure. Which is lean, distant, downtrodden, but only on the surface of something all the more powerful, loud, and razor sharp. This way, when you listen to Get Color you don't have the excuse of dismissing it by saying that it's "just noise".
Because, now you are only half right.
6. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear
Maybe a bit too trim and elloquent, Veckatimest sits in this list as one of the more cohesive recordings this year. It's supported by the juggernauts Two Weeks and Cheerleader, but can't we just admit that the best song on this album is Ready, Able? As far as Veckatimes feels: it chugs and coos. When Daniel Rosen is in the driver's seat, it chugs along at a steady pace, and feels porous enough to really see what this new-er electric-er Grizzly Bear is all about. When Droste steps up to the plate, I want to be a 14 year old girl again sitting on my bed singing along with curls in my hair.... er, lets just say I more than get the sentiment. But lets face it, as shockingly beautiful as these Valium soaked vocals get, and as interesting as it is that Veckatimest drips with the flavour of an off shore island, there is a bit of distance between me and certain songs that attempt to place the album in any sort of location. Which translates into distance between me and the album.
5. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
Whoa whoa whoa! How can you make an album that is packed with so many great songs it ships like a CD of all the years favourite singles? Is that even fair? Besides the fact that it contains all of this years best singles, Wolfgang can spin all night and no one would complain. It strikes a perfectly placed target that is in the middle of everyone's taste. It's just the right amount of indie rock, with just the right amount of texture on just the right amount of synths, which in turn charges the background of an album that picks just the right pace, along with our attention, and never lets go. Not to mention Thomas Mars and his quirky, light ended vocals that tip-toe over prancey riffs, that seals it for me.
4. Merriweather Post Pavillion - Animal Collective
Please listen to this album in headphones.
Also, I'm glad that this wasn't the best album of 2009, because then it would have ruined the rest of my musical year by taking all of the glory, just six days into the running. However, back to my earlier point, and why this album is so good: headphones. It's kind of silly that the most dance worthy release by Animal Collective would be the one that sounds the best as you sit in a chair to don a pair of proper ear cannons. I'm overcome by how intricately mixed Merriweather is, and just as disappointed that most people listening to it will don a pair of pea sized ear stuffers to do so. Still, for all of its schlack and gloss, Merriweather lets me down. As Animal Collective gains more popularity and regard, I fear that no one will notice the minor details missing, such as the reason why we all listened to Animal Collective in the first place. I look to Animal Collective to show me what music can be, but I didn't get my fair share on Merriweather Post Pavilion, even as I sit, yet again memorized by their musical finesse.
3. Bitte Orca - The Dirty Projectors
Bitte Orca is packed with just about every technical demonstration of musical intellectualism that it makes it hard to understand why exactly it is as good as people say it is. There are unstable key signatures, vocal harmonies interlaced like shoelaces, virtuoso guitar riffs that smash apart smoothly placed drum machine beats. The list can go on for a while, because Bitte Orca is a musical index that has everything popular albums shouldn't, but remains able to carry your interest without being too antiseptic. The interesting thing I find about the album, is that my least favourite song is its first single. Besides teaching us that getting a Masters degree can actually turn into something meaningful, I think The Dirty Projectors have proved that an album with so much compositional vigor can also be one of my favourite albums to listen to over and over again.
2. Born Again Revisited - Times New Viking
I'm aware that this album will be disregarded almost immediately, but it is impossible to ignore some of the best songwriting of the year. I have written about this album before so its not a surprise that it is on this list, but why so high is the case in point. In the context of this year, with bands trading in production value for that all too popular "low-fi" glow, Born Again Revisited is an album that was born sipping it from a juice box. Most bands tried to grab our attention this year from behind a wall of buzz, or tape hiss, or amplifier malfunctions. Born Again Revisited was written the same way, yes, however it does not use low-fi as innocent party tricks, it's propelled from within the heart of what low-fi first popped up as. Yes, it sounds 'bad'. Still, Born Again Revisited makes the 'bad' a good thing as we listen to these talented three link together riffs with a sly humor and some badassness. There is a reason for the mess, because the content displays a messiness too, one that is a bit jarring and dirty. This doesn't mean that it lacks substance, but that its substance is keen to its form, and for that I am impressed.
1. Logos - Atlas Sound
Bradford Cox lied to us when he said Logos was less indulgent than his previous release. It's just a different kind of indulgent. One that is less alienating and more persuasive, which ultimately makes for a cohesive but chillingly great collection of songs. They are by no means complex. Yet, Cox uses simple songwriting to punch a hole through my attention span long enough to deliver songs full personal stories of which I will never understand their true meaning.
It is in this way that he is so indulgent. As dark words are delivered through bright songs, I am left wondering what kind of a face he is making behind that flash glare. By no means is it cynical. As I make my way through Logos, I'm aware of the window I'm given into his psyche, and I haven't a clue as to what it means. Maybe they are delivered this way to provoke a great deal of thought, perhaps not. All I know is that, well, I can't stop thinking about them. And I can't stop listening to the album because of it.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Top 10 Albums of 2009
Alright. New Year, new music. 2009 was an amazing year for music. Here I shall count down my top 10 favourite albums of 2009. Maybe next time I'll do top ten songs. Without further ado...
10. Noble Beast- Andrew Bird: If you have the deluxe version you know why. Bird's catchy melodies, poetic lyrics, and beautiful instrumentation (I have a thing for violins) make this double album one of my favourites of 2009.
9. Fantasies- Metric: Fantasies was a highly anticipated album from Metric after a four year hiatus. The band's sound remains firmly rooted in high energy indie pop. A solid return gives Metric the number 9 spot on my list.
8. Family- Think About Life: One of my favourite albums to dance to in 2009, seeing them live was also an awesome experience. They put on a great show that was highly theatrical and had everyone dancing.7. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix- Phoenix: I love Phoenix. One of France's greatest exports musically Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix built on what It's Never Been Like That started: well-crafted and catchy as hell songs that you want stuck in your head.
6. It's Blitz- Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Is Is was not sufficient enough; the more I listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the more I want to listen to them. That being said, It's Blitz was awesome.
5. Popular Songs- Yo La Tengo: Yo La Tengo has been around for decades and are still making amazing music. Popular Songs embodies the characteristics that make them so great. A plethora of musical stylings ranging from pop, funk, blues, shoe-gaze, and a lot in between creates an interestingly diverse album.
4. Bitte Orca- Dirty Projectors: I cannot possibly fathom how the Dirty Projectors write their music. It is so calculated and complex that all you can do is listen in awe. Bitte Orca is surrealy beautiful.
3. Logos- Atlas Sound: Bradford Cox's solo project is just as delicious as Deerhunter. It's a newer release but with songs like Criminals, Kid Klimax, and Walkabout I just keep liking it more and more the more I listen to it.2. Veckatimest- Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest was easily the most beautiful album of 2009.
1. Merriweather Post Pavilion- Animal Collective: It was almost a year ago since the release of Merriweather. I almost overlooked it because of this, but then I considered how many times I listened to it on repeat, and had to make it number 1.
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