Lord Jim and the Bare Faced Ladies

Well, this is nice… It’s called Solipsist and...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:19:03 +0000

Well, this is nice… It’s called Solipsist and it’s directed by Andrew Thomas Huang.

I’m in the process of designing interactive infrared...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:59:57 +0000

I’m in the process of designing interactive infrared tracking projection stuff for a show at the moment, and during a bit of research I came across this by the amazing Frieder Weiss for the dance group Chunky Move (whose work is well worth checking out as a whole). Needless to say, I’m a little jealous. To top it all off, this is soundtracked by the amazing Ben Frost. Brilliant all round.

Works by Charles Hinman (photos taken from artnet).

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:53:45 +0000

Works by Charles Hinman (photos taken from artnet).

Niodrara, part of Sara Ludy’s “Space Portrait”...

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:07:44 +0100

Niodrara, part of Sara Ludy’s “Space Portrait” series.

Sam introduced me to the work of Artie Vierkant the other day,...

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0100

Sam introduced me to the work of Artie Vierkant the other day, and I rather like it. Above are two images of Image Objects, which takes an interesting approach to filtering work through its documentation. Below is a sped up Avatar in 3D - a pirated version of James Cameron’s film mapped onto a slowly rotating sphere.

Larytta’s “You Got Nothing” directed...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:04:05 +0100

Larytta’s “You Got Nothing” directed by Tatiana Rihs.

So everything’s been a bit quiet over here hasn’t...

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:13:18 +0100

So everything’s been a bit quiet over here hasn’t it? Sorry about that, I’ll change it I promise. Meanwhile, here’s a nice video made by lovely friends Kat, Sam and Luke.

Sam did another one of those music video things for Drowned in...

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:54:38 +0100

Sam did another one of those music video things for Drowned in Sound.

Serigraphs by Takeshi Hara.

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:00:06 +0100

Serigraphs by Takeshi Hara.

Richard Galpin’s photographs are both beautiful and...

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 09:31:00 +0100

Richard Galpin’s photographs are both beautiful and interesting in terms of process - he removes the emulsion from them with a scalpel to create a revised form out of his urban subjects.

The choreography for this video by the weirdly...

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:02:00 +0100

The choreography for this video by the weirdly multi-talented Genki Sudo and his group WORLD ORDER is bloody brilliant. Via lovely Sam James Hill’s article for Drowned in Sound.

Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Ensemble Modern.

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:51:04 +0100

Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Ensemble Modern.

Photos from the Paper series by Nicholas Alan Cope.

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:03:25 +0100

Photos from the Paper series by Nicholas Alan Cope.

I’ve been investigating Corian as a material for some...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:19:30 +0100

I’ve been investigating Corian as a material for some work I’ve been planning and I came across these great (if slightly inconvenient looking) rings by Fritz Maierhofer. His metal work is interesting too - the last image is a brooch from his “Girder Structure” series.

Just the best.

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:45:58 +0000

Just the best.

I’ve got a remix out on an EP from Transept. Fill your...

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 10:15:00 +0000

I’ve got a remix out on an EP from Transept. Fill your boots. Alex set Luke’s remix to the beginning of Miami Vice, which I now really want to watch and am lamenting how bloody expensive it is on iTunes. Why Apple, why?

It probably goes without saying that I am hugely impressed by...

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:59:00 +0000

It probably goes without saying that I am hugely impressed by Google’s new Art Project. The level of detail which they have managed to capture is genuinely surprising, and provides an insight into technique for those of us who might not have managed to see all the works featured. Above is an up close and personal view of Botticelli’s Venus’ feet, which is I should add nowhere near the full zoom you can get to. Sadly not all of the paintings featured have quite the detail as this one, but the whole project is fantastic nonetheless.

Masterclass from Arvo Part. Episode from “24 preludes for a...

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 11:39:49 +0000

Masterclass from Arvo Part. Episode from “24 preludes for a Fugue” (via socialisimo).

Al-kimiya, a great looking font based on alchemical symbols by...

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:30:40 +0000

Al-kimiya, a great looking font based on alchemical symbols by Benjamin Varin and Pierre Fernandez. Found here.

Trish Keenan, who died last friday, was not only a great, clear...

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:31:00 +0000

Trish Keenan, who died last friday, was not only a great, clear and unpretentious singer with subtle phrasing but a thoughtful artist. No matter what you think of Broadcast’s music (I happen to like it very much), the thought and ideas invested in it are admirable and uncommon in much of today’s popular music.

Broadcast changed the way I thought about making music. They introduced me to a lot of new things - the United States of America, White Noise, the Free Design, Linda Perhacs, and a lot of library music amongst other things. The very tangible presence of their influences in the music is uniquely inspiring. It creates a timeless quality that has always seemed to me worth pursuing, the music is saturated with sketchy references but still striving to be new; as Simon Reynolds would have it, hauntology. The resulting product is often brilliantly uncanny, and singularly British. It’s a valuable lesson in all creative pursuits, not just music.

Keenan also showed me the value of being vague. In an interview with the Wire she described how she used exercises from Richard Hugo’s The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing to help with lyrical ideas. The book comes from Hugo’s time teaching creative writing at the University of Montana, and is a disarmingly personal treatise on the merits of automatic writing in poetry. In it he encourages one to “get off the subject”, to “give up what you think you have to say, and you’ll find something better”. “Your words used your way will generate your meaning”, and a well constructed lack of clarity will encourage your audience to find its own meaning in what you produce. The way Keenan used these ideas in Broadcast’s music and lyrics are obvious, and they have helped me not only in my rather clumsy lyrical efforts but in most other areas too (and by the way, Miss Mia Vigar, I want that book back…).

All that aside, they’re great pop songs, which is the most important part. “All truth must conform to music”, as it says in Hugo’s book.