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I know, I pretty much only use this 'blog' to post top records lists. Oh well. This year, instead of stopping at an arbritrary number, I counted up all the albums from 2012 that I've added to my 10gb 'favorites' playlist that gets synced with my iPhone. Obviously that list is mostly older albums, and space is tight, so it has to be a damn good record to get added. Here are the 26 that made it this year, ranked for your convenience:
26. Grizzly Bear - Shields
25. Sun Araw x Congos - Icon Give Thanks
24. Captain Murphy - Duality
23. Ty Segall - Slaughterhouse
22. Fred Thomas - Kuma
21. Peaking Lights - Lucifer
20. Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action At a Distance
19. Fresh & Onlys - Long Slow Dance
18. Jessica Pratt - s/t
17. The Amazing - Gentle Stream
16. Ty Segall - Twins
15. Thee Oh Sees - Purifiers II
14. Sic Alps - s/t
13. Goat - World Music
12. Melody's Echo Chamber - s/t
11. Moon Duo - Circles
10. Tame Impala - Lonerism
09. Karriem Riggins - Alone Together
08. Opossom - Electric Hawaii
07. Pond - Beards, Wives, Denim
06. Ty Segall x White Fence - Hair
05. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo, Magellan
04. Woods - Bend Beyond
03. Jim Guthrie - Indie Game The Movie
02. Godspeed You! Black Emperor! - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
01. White Fence - Family Perfume
A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of dropping in on Danielle Aubert's Graphic Design 3 class at Detroit's Wayne State University. I met some really cool students and saw some really cool work. Below is a small sampling of some of the projects, which were loosely based on the theme of machines.
Unfortunately I didn't get the names of any of the students who made the above work, so please, if you're one of them, don't hesitate to contact me and I'll add it.
Noted DJ and all-around bad dude Mick Boogie made this killer official mixtape of Nas x the Roots for Madden Bowl and contacted me about making the cover. Really happy with how everything turned out, I think it looks and sounds great. You can download this thing here for free, or check out Mick's mixtape-streaming site, mixstream.com
Three new big projects on the site, with an even bigger one on the horizon. Stay warm.
01 Sic Alps - Napa Asylum
02 Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania
03 Stephen Malkmus - Mirror Traffic
04 Panda Bear - Tomboy
05 City Center - Redeemer
06 Real Estate - Days
07 White Fence - Is Growing Faith
08 Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
09 Ducktails - Arcade Dynamics
10 Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness
11 Tycho - DIve
12 Woods - Sun and Shade
13 Atlas Sound - Parallax
14 Megafaun - Megafaun
15 Cults - Cults
16 Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler / The Dream
17 M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
18 Tennis - Cape Dory
19 Bottomless Pit - Blood Under the Bridge
20 the Dodos - No Color
New mix for streaming / downloading here:
http://soundcloud.com/loganmills/summer-jams-11
Also I updated my portfolio quite a bit, and there's more coming. Happy summer!
A little behind most of the rest of the internet on this one, but yeah, I made the cover for Shaolin Jazz: the 37th Chamber. This Wu-Tang x Jazz mixtape by DJ 2-Tone Jones actually came about because of an interview I did with Gerald Watson, and I worked with them on the cover. Hope you enjoy it, download this jammer here: http://www.mediafire.com/?rq6ypn00dhzi34v
Working on so much stuff these days coupled with raising a three week old makes it difficult to maintain a "blog" presence, but here ya go. Slowly this stuff will get added to the site, like for example the recent OK Bollywood release, but here's a little teaser. Some vector goodness (my favorite kind of goodness).
You have to get used to thinking about how you can do something easily. That's a completely different approach than saying, "I'll work hard at it!"
Yeah. I do say, "Put forth effort," but I also say, "Don't put forth unnecessary effort."
When you do a poor job during times of input, there's no way your output will be good.
How should I put it? My parents always said, "Don't change your vessel all the time."
At the time, when someone came to me and said, "I'm having trouble because there isn't enough memory," I was—to be honest—really happy. (laughs) Seeing if you could achieve programming for the same functions with a smaller amount of memory was one way for a programmer to show off.
The above graphic is from when they first decided to make the sky blue in Super Mario Bros.
Olly Moss is so good it makes my brain hurt. These go on sale sometime Monday.
Stop what you're doing and read this excellent profile on one of my heroes, Shigeru Miyamoto:
Mario, his most famous creation, owes his appearance to the technological limitations of the first Donkey Kong game. The primitive graphics—there were hardly enough pixels to approximate a human form—compelled Miyamoto to give Mario white gloves and red overalls (so that you could see his arms swing), a big bushy mustache and a red hat (to hide the fact that the engineers couldn’t yet do mouths or hair that moved), and a big head (to exaggerate his collisions). Form has always followed functionality. The problem now, if you want to call it one, is the degree of functionality.
Just found this unfinished illustration of Tayshaun Prince while looking through some old files. Also found some logos I should've included on my portfolio page, which I've since amended.
Picking a #1 album this year was more difficult than usual — there wasn't an "Embryonic" this year that really made me sit up and take notice. That said, Deerhunter's Halcyon Digest is pretty damn great. Here are my top 10, see the whole top 25 here.
Deerhunter — Halcyon Digest
Mighty Clouds — Mighty Clouds
Mount Eerie — Song Islands, Vol. 2
Madlib — Medicine Show #7: High Jazz
Poison Control Center — Sad Sour Future
Tame Impala — Innerspeaker
Kanye West — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Thee Oh Sees — Warm Slime
MGMT — Congratulations
Fred Thomas — Night TImes
Two sweet treats to start this shortened work week: two volumes of "bedroom databank" recordings by Atlas Sound. Maybe we'll get a third tomorrow? Download them from the official Deerhunter blog, they're really great.
Nice round-up of all the Madlib/Yesterday's New Quintet releases on Stones Throw so far, including a video with some great rare footage. I've been really into a lot of these albums recently, and I wonder sometimes about what classic jazz guys might think of it. Start with Yesterday's Universe, I just picked it up on vinyl and it's a great package.
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Please read this
Woodblock poster, edition of 200, signed in pencil, 51x76cm.
Printed by Adams of Rye onto 100% recycled paper using traditional woodblock printing techniques.
£75.00 + P&P
Genis Carreras, a Catalonian living and working in London, recently created this wonderful series of posters which attempt to explain complex philosophical theories through basic shapes. The resulting graphics are perfect in their colorful and elegant simplicity. Check out Genis’ site for more great work.
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Also worth viewing:
Timba Smits
Herb Lubalin Archives
Mike Davis Interview
Not signed up for the Grain Edit RSS Feed yet? Give it a try. Its free and yummy.
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No TagsAnd the Headline of the Week award goes to Trevor Gilbert.
I wrote about the Italian magazine Intelligence in Lifestyle back in December of last year and I’ve gotten to know its art director, Francesco Franchi, since then. He’s incredibly talented. The magazine now has a new masthead courtesy of the famous type designer Christian Schwartz of Commercial Type, which, if you ask me, makes for the very definition of an embarrassment of riches.
Francesco has posted samples from the magazine in this Flickr set for everyone to marvel over.
To follow me on Twitter click here.
If you stash your iPhone by your bed at night, here’s a handy way to keep it charged and functional: designery home products vendor Areaware sells Alarm Dock, a clever holder of sorts that displays the phone horizontally in a familiar presentation. The company even has a companion app that displays the time just like a clock radio.
The product copy says, “The Alarm Dock uses a nostalgic product language to meet the progressively thin and disappearing profiles of consumer electronics. It is at once a critique and an accommodation to new technology.” Uh, yeah. Anyway, I bought one for my girlfriend, and I’m happy to report that it’s a substantial object, meaning the wood (real beechwood) is solid and of sufficient weight to keep it from being easily yanked by the cord. Buy it here.
To follow me on Twitter click here.
Over the weekend I picked up a copy of the 10 Oct issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, which is dedicated through and through to the memory of Steve Jobs. The issue is a tour de force of editorial design, filled with emotionally and visually stunning layout after layout. What’s even more remarkable is that the publisher had the good taste to forgo all advertising throughout the issue.
Sample Spreads
The front cover is wonderfully succinct and unexpectedly powerful. The black and white silhouette of Jobs is set against a background of silver-colored metallic ink. The back of the magazine, too, is incredibly effective: a diminutive shot of the original Macintosh tucked into the lower right-hand corner, with “Good bye” on the screen.
The magazine opens up with a series of large, full-bleed images, overlaid with quotes from Jobs himself. These made me tear up.
There are essays later in the issue, as well as this extensive timeline of Jobs’ life.
News of Jobs’ passing first broke on Wednesday night. This issue was on newsstands by Sunday, at least, or maybe even Saturday night. Which means the Bloomberg Businessweek team must have been working like mad to make this happen, probably with very little sleep and almost assuredly under the duress of simultaneously mourning a man that many of them probably felt very strongly about. That effort is an incredibly fitting, touching and commendable tribute to Steve Jobs himself. Congratulations to the team.
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Dear Robert,
Thank you for taking the time to interview me for the junior analyst position at Rawles and Hilt. It was great to meet with you and learn more about the company. Please don’t hesitate to call or email if you have any more questions for me.
Also, I just wanted to say I’m sorry I bit you during the interview.
Obviously, there is no excuse for biting anyone. But I feel the need to explain what I was thinking at the time, in the hope that it might mitigate my disappointing conduct.
The interview was going fine, until you threw me a curveball. “Could you talk about your previous work experience?” you asked. I panicked. It’s clear to me now that I should have just answered honestly (“No, I can’t.”) But instead I shrieked and bit you hard on the collarbone. The instant after I’d done it, I knew I’d messed up. It’s a testament to your professionalism that you were even willing to continue our interview after such a regrettable lack of judgment on my part.
The second time I bit you I think I was just hungry. Full disclosure: I hadn’t had any breakfast that morning (Okay. Full, full disclosure: I’d had a small breakfast.) When your fingers passed near my mouth, they actually did that cartoon desert-island thing where they seemed to morph into sausages. I think I was still hungry for sausages after the sausages I had eaten right before the interview, so I bit you again. If I’d only stopped and taken a moment to assess the situation, I would have remembered: sausages don’t grow out of human hands. But unfortunately, I didn’t. The sad irony is that my briefcase was full of leftover sausages from breakfast. That’s why my résumé was so greasy.
The third time I bit you, it was supposed to be a joke. In retrospect, I’m not sure it came off that way. I was trying to break the tension created by me biting you and you being all weird about it. It was meant to be playful, like, “Ha ha. I’m biting you again, because I guess I’m ‘The Biting Guy’ now.” But after sinking my teeth into the tender flesh of your calf muscle and holding on for 30 seconds, it started to seem like you weren’t getting it. It’s obvious to me now that I was misinterpreting your screams of pain as screams of pained laughter.
The fourth time I bit you was honestly your fault. If someone who has already bitten you several times is standing on your desk, completely naked and snarling, don’t make any sudden movements! That’s practically a recipe for getting bitten. If this situation ever arises again, play dead. Lie on the ground in a fetal position. Curl your face toward your knees and make sure to protect your vulnerable neck area. This will tend to reduce the level of injury sustained in the event of an attack. Once I’ve realized you are not a threat I will generally show no further interest.
Frankly I think this all goes back to my childhood, when I would constantly bite people for no reason. I also did this as a teenager and an adult.
Regardless, I am extremely sorry for biting you. I hope you can look past this (not to mention my lack of experience with Excel macros) when making a final hiring decision. After all, who hasn’t freaked out and bitten someone during a job interview at some point in their life?
Sincerely,
Mike Edling
P.S. Please apologize to everyone I bit on my way out of your office.
The most he ever revealed about himself — his 2005 commencement address at Stanford. Can’t think of any better way to sign off tonight than to quote Steve himself:
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Beautiful packaging and identity design by Atipus for Fruita Blanch. Great color and typography give the identity a certain character.
I want these Club Nintendo Handheld System collectible cards. They cover the 30-year history of Nintendo handhelds, from the Game & Watch units all the way up to today's 3DS.
There's 12 cards in all, featuring hand-drawn art and history info. They come in a pouch featuring system art, too.
You'll need 300 Coins to nab this new item. Hey, I've got that much!
Looking at these has me thinking back to my favorite handhelds from Nintendo. I still love the Micro, and I had mad love for my Timex Indigo-lit Game Boy Pocket.
I don’t know what’s going on with me, but I’m clearly space crazy right now. I noticed my buddy James Gulliver Hancock had a new website and with it, some great new work. My favorite thing I saw were these silkscreened Solar System Education posters. I love all of the patterns and details in these pieces, and the colors are amazing as well. I think the best one is Mars at top because of the red color on the natural paper, they compliment each other really nicely. I suggest you check out the rest of his work as well, he’s done a fantastic job on his portfolio site and his work, as always, is fantastic.
Bobby
This is a great idea. Das Programm is an shop that only sells objects designed by Dieter Rams that were issued between 1955 and 1995, the time when Rams was Braun’s Director of Design. It also acts as a museum of sorts, with relevant historical product details available when possible.
Last week I posted on the NASA logo and suggested that it might be the most iconic logo of our time. In the comments, Design+Conquer begged to differ and reminded me of an equally perfect logo. The CN logo was designed by Allan Fleming and James Valkus for the Canadian National Railway in 1960. Being an American I’ve had limited exposure to the mark, but every time I’ve come across it (usually on trains passing through when I lived in Sacramento) I’ve always been stricken by it’s minimal perfection.
Canadian Design Resource via Design+Conquer
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Post tags: Allan Fleming, Branding, canada, canadian, canadian railway, cn, logo, trains
Anarchy covers by Rufus Segar via recto verso Will 50 Watts
I was invited to join a planning meeting last week for an upcoming publishing event, and the majority of those present were talking about the digital future. It was an interesting discussion, with many current media themes included: does the iPad provide a useful direction for magazines and newspapers; the importance of mobile; how do you earn from digital. The usual subjects.
Centred on economics and appeals for journalist to ‘get real’, the conversation painted a picture of a future dominated by content farms, of giving people what they wanted, of being search-orientated. From my point of view a miserable picture emerged of grey look-a-like digital content geared around the restrictions of mobile devices with little visual difference between sources. What a future!
It continued in this vein until one person reminded us that the majotity of publishers still rely on their printed editions for income, and that the extreme digital directions being disucssed were interesting but irrelevant to most publishers.
With this in mind, I’m happy to recommend the latest issue of Monocle. What caught my attention reading the last two issues is the way the magazine, despite its evident interest in having a strong web presence and their latest move into 24-hour radio, constantly evangelises about print. Monocle’s own physical presence makes a strong case for intelligent choices and variations in paper, but they also regularly feature interesting magazines, two recent examples being Underscore and Wrap.
The October issue, out this week, makes this interest explicit with a special report on international media. It focuses on how old school media continues to thrive just about everywhere but the US, and backs up the argument that the real future is multi-channel. Quality and context are what count – check the above list of US failings – not a rabid rush to digital-only.
If you haven’t read Monocle for a while the issue is well worth a look.
Updates
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@cashrhymes Sounds like 1Q84. Or 2Q13, I guess
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Really bummed that I don't have a great desk for my home office. Send help
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RT @fanfiction_txt: Contain's intense, rough gangbanging between a dog, wolf, fox, lion, polar bear, dragon, tiger, and lizard; M/M/F, M/M/…
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No desk, no way to play. It's like Gift of the Magi or something
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Today's crisis: Eric found a copy of the new Dodonpachi reasonably priced online. I'm supposed to be buying a desk though.
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@monotonemumbler You better be asleep in your seat well before takeoff to rival @azizansari
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GREAT WHERE DO I SIGN UP lol jk
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10:14:09 AM PDT Mehdi uses his mobile phone as a remote controller, then uses a "grab" gesture to return to the home of the Xbox One UI.
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It's like 'the death of disco' segued right into 'the year punk broke' in the space of a morning
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Seriously the new Daft Punk put me right into a Dinosaur Jr / Sebadoh / Superchunk / Archers of Loaf tailspin that I have yet to come out of
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Feel like I'm never gonna 'get' Daft Punk. Just sounds like mediocre ELO?
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@laurengitis @cashrhymes Tell Reno to stop being lazy and to get some shark eggs too — kids need a balanced breakfast to grow big and strong
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RT @Official_TMUK: @loganmills Good luck to #Detroit for #TitMonday from everyone at @Official_TMUK. Hope it's as good for you as it was f…
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S/O to @GregHeaney for recommending this Case Studies album, it's spot-on. Or my tastes are just that predictable...
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RT @whathappened: It’s Panic Friday! Let’s panic about stuff! I’ll start: animal cruelty, car accidents, the incomprehensible vastness of s…
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PSYCHED http://t.co/Iv2nHeC3br
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'If you seek a pleasant pair, look about you' http://t.co/SfIlciw2eS #titmonday
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RT @EuropaLeague: TEAM PHOTO: @chelseafc players pose with the #UELfinal trophy... http://t.co/FXo0FWpCZR
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RT @WAGNH_CFC: Chelsea win the Europa League. Never in doubt
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RT @TNG_S8: A Ferengi attracts the Borg towards a colony he wants to loot. Riker's replicator catchphrase, "Steak, for mouth, hot," needs w…
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