April 20, 2010

The Tallest Building On Earth

» Ratatat – Shempi (3:58) – 5.5MB mp3 @ 192kbps

“Shempi” is easily my favorite track from Ratatat’s LP3 and I’m a sucker for overtly arty, washed-out, high-contrast cinematography and hyperreal hypothetical urbanism/architecture, so this video basically has my name on it.

Archdaily

Bonus pic:

Homemade wildcat stencil

April 8, 2010

Too Much, Too Much

Pitchfork has just announced the final lineup for their wildly successful eponymous music festival, and it’s pretty much an indie kid’s dream come true: Liars, Wolf Parade, Major Lazer, Beach House, Why?, Big Boi, Robyn, and several other independent music luminaries will be playing across three days in Chicago come July, alongside previously-announced headliners Pavement, LCD Soundsystem and Modest Mouse… not to mention the likes of Broken Social Scene, Panda Bear, Raekwon, Titus Andronicus, Dâm-Funk, Sleigh Bells et al.

Prepped-out Malkmus

Liars stole the show in 2006—they’re easily one of my favorite live acts—and Stephen Malkmus was a highlight in 2007, but Pitchfork has really outdone themselves for the fifth time around. Honestly, the lineup is basically too stacked at this point (if the previous run-on paragraph is any indication), an extreme case of ‘festival oversaturation’: there’s simply no way that one would have the opportunity to see every single band he or she wanted to see.

Liars' Angus Andrew shredding

Related: Liars, St. Vincent (also playing this festival this year) and ’fork fest veterans Os Mutantes covering INXS for Beck’s Record Club (Stereogum); Awesome interview with Angus from Liars (Motherboard); LCD Soundsystem dates for what may or may not be a final tour (BV).

Shameless self-promotion, because it’s been a while:

» The Purple Ribbon Allstars – Kryptokraft 400 (K Hessel’s On It) (3:42) – 6.6MB mp3 @ 246kbps

» Das Racist – Combination Pon de Floor and Wallpaper (K Hessel’s Mas Lazer Mashup) (3:27) – 7.9MB mp3 @ 320kbps

March 29, 2010

Tunnel Vision

The Second Avenue Subway (SAS) is a rapid transit subway line, part of the New York City Subway system, currently under construction underneath Second Avenue in the borough of Manhattan.
…
As a consequence of the many “false starts”, the SAS is often cited as an example of bureaucratic red tape and government incompetence. However, the reasons for its delay are numerous and complex. The line is sometimes referred to as “The Line That Time Forgot”.

–Wikipedia, Second Avenue Subway

Over the weekend, he MTA posted photos of excavation for the Second Avenue Subway between 91st and 96th on Facebook. I can only assume that the MTA’s PR department has a dedicated 20-something Social Media Coordinator who decided to try his or her hand at creating the next viral hit.

Here’s a selection of my favorites, tastefully re-touched for dramatic effect—where’s Ryan McGinley when you need him?

Second Avenue Sagas via Curbed. Also on Gothamist.

NYMag featured the “Line That Time Forgot” in a 2004 article; read more about recent SAS-related developments here. The G, on the other hand, is the Line That I Wish I Could Forget.

Try as I might to resist an obvious pun, I can’t help myself: the MTA is boring tunnels.

A couple more pics—plus an indie rock classic, a house and an infant—after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

March 28, 2010

Gonz Sale

» Coconut Records – West Coast (3:30) – 5.2MB mp3 @ 204kbps

via DQM

Skateboard prodigy / creative polymath Mark Gonzales is holding a studio sale on Monday, featuring “Original Drawings + Skate Tees + Zines + Videos, DVDs and Much More.” I imagine it will attract the same crowd that constitutes the line outside Supreme when they drop new gear every season (the skateshop’s Soho outpost is actually just around the corner).

I wanted to appear like a dancer but not too feminine. The fencing uniform shows your body type but also means business.

–Mark Gonzales

Jocko Weyland profiled the Gonz for the New York Times a couple years back (with a further explanation of the above video). Weyland also happened to write a nice series of essays about China/Beijing for Vice.

March 25, 2010

Little Bit Taller

» Dizzee Rascal – Stand Up Tall (Radioclit Remix) (5:16) – 6.2MB mp3 @ 160kbps

» Dizzee Rascal – Stand Up Tall (Clockwork Remix) (4:53) – 11.2MB mp3 @ 320kbps

via Core77

I don’t know why, but my first reaction to this picture was to laugh out loud.

Seriously though, I would have loved to have been there.

2 Many Bonus Beats!

» 2 Many DJs – Skee Lo / Survivor – Little Bit Taller / Eye of the Tiger (1:51) – 2.2MB mp3 @ 160kbps

» 2 Many DJs – Skee Lo / Maurice Fulton / The Breeders – I Wish [A Capella] / My Gigolo / Cannonball (3:31) – 4.9MB mp3 @ 192kbps

March 19, 2010

So Sentimental

» Phoenix – Lisztomania (Classixx Version) (5:04) – 12.4MB mp3 @ 320kbps

Classixx’s take on “Lisztomania” was easily one of my favorite remixes of 2009, but the PS22 chorus of Graniteville, Staten Island offers yet another take on the pop gem.

Via Opening Ceremony.

Like OK Go, the PS22 chorus comes pretty close to manufacturing viral videos (which technically may not be possible). They got some press in NYMag last summer and you’ve probably heard them on a couple tracks on Passion Pit’s debut LP Manners (video of the PS22 chorus in the studio).

It seems that they’re best known for their rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” and they’ve also covered the likes of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”… but they have yet to take on the ultimate hipster party jam: Lady Gaga vs. Journey – Don’t Stop Just Dance (6:16) – 14.5MB mp3 @ 320kbps

March 18, 2010

Why There Are Mountains

» Fuck Buttons – Space Mountain (8:45) – 13.2MB mp3 @ 210kbps

» The Flaming Lips – Worm Mountain (5:22) – 6.3MB mp3 @ 160kbps

Zhou Hongjun and Xiong Lu have created Hermit Mountain, a multifaceted, multipurpose skyscraper, drawing inspiration from both traditional Chinese culture and modern design. The design explores a dialogue between rationality and chaos to achieve a refined yet altogether organic aesthetic.

More images at Designboom.

Designer Enrico Dini has developed a 3D printer that makes rocks.

Dini claims the d-shape process is four times faster than conventional building, costs a third to a half as much as using Portland cement, creates little waste and is better for the environment. But its chief selling point may simply be that it makes creating Gaudiesque, curvy structures simple.

Two-dimensional print may be dead, but 3D is on the up-and-up.

Full story at Blueprint (FastCompany via Inhabitat)

Read the rest of this entry »

March 16, 2010

Daylight Saving Time & Other Items

» Aesop Rock – Daylight (4:25) – 4.1MB m4a @ 128kbps

The Persistence of Trite Imagery

Since this Sunday marked Daylight Saving Time, I decided to put my philosophy degree to good use by pondering the psychology and metaphysics of this semi-annual ritual.

First of all, there is technically only one daylight to be saved: contrary to folk wisdom that might suggest otherwise, daylight is an indivisible entity. In a sense, daylight is like money—which is also grammatically singular but conceptually plural (insofar as one would hope to have more than one money)—such that daylight is quantifiable, at least in terms of daylight hours. In other words, official terminology denotes that summer is ‘Time to Save Daylight’—i.e., Time for Daylight-Saving—while the colloquial (if not altogether prevalent) shorthand “Daylight Savings” is a gerund, as per the nominal usage of “Savings” for that type of  bank account. (Even the Wikipedia URL for the Daylight Saving Time entry is Daylight_savings.)

The monetary metaphor is useful in illustrating how DST’s pithy essence “spring forward, fall back” belies the curious phenomenon that either occasion—the turning of the clocks in spring or in fall—can be described as gaining or losing an hour. Common parlance suggests that we have indeed acquired a full 60 minutes, yet this increment simultaneously seems to have slipped through a mysterious temporal rift in the wee hours of Sunday morning. It appears that we have both gained and lost an hour on Sunday, a discrepancy that reveals two divergent systems of belief concerning time and how it is measured: absolute vs. relative. The two views correspond to a scientific picture of an independent physical world and a pragmatic ‘lived’ experience of time, respectively.

The former system holds that time marches forward of its own accord and that to push a clock forward—from 2AM to 3AM, say—disturbs the clockwork of the universe to the effect that humans have erased an hour from their day. Here the bank analogy must be modified: on Sunday, we withdrew an hour on credit, which we will pay back in October; for the next six months, we owe one hour to the universe, or nature, or whatever. We have lost it in the interest of practicality—we need to borrow the hour for the better half of the year—though we plan on restoring balance in six months or so. For the absolutist, the hour is deferred.

Those who abide by the second perspective, on the other hand, see time as more malleable, where chronology is purely pragmatic: we gained an hour on Sunday because we now have an extra hour of sunlight—and, ostensibly, productivity—to the effect that the days themselves grow longer. By springing forward, we stake a claim to the greater daylight afforded by the rotation of the Earth, silently folding one hour into the shroud of slumber in order to extend each and every day in those six months. For the relativist, it’s possible to save daylight like money albeit not in the interest of yielding a long-term dividend: everyone cashes out the same predetermined amount at the end of each day.

Of course, both schools of thought understand that the actual demarcation of time to be incidental (i.e. pragmatic in a broad sense)—otherwise we wouldn’t have license to give and take (or take and give) hours as we please. Nevertheless, I wonder if there is any correlation between the saving(s) locution and the gain/loss dichotomy: are relativists more predisposed to regarding DST as a savings account, as opposed to absolutists who treat the extra time as a line of credit?

Does that even make sense? Rather, does it even matter?

Now for the real news:

• Advertising 2.0: This Time, It’s Personal. FaceBook is now crowdsourcing targeted advertising like social AdSense (=AdBook?). (NYT, Future Perfect) Also, Product Placement: Geolocation is so hot right now (NYT)
• Mattel Mentality x Mad Men = Barbie. WTF. (NYT)
• Google Maps now has (spotty) bike directions: Gothamist blurbs, Streetsblog mentions, Wired crowdsources; Bike Snob NYC is more thorough, with an incisive riposte to the Post
• Big ups to the Alma Mater in the Times. But seriously, the prospect of digitally tracking writers’ inspiration and composition process is quite fascinating.
• Stanley Fish on Pragmatism’s Gift.
• I’ve always been a stickler for free throws (i.e. I don’t understand why every player isn’t shooting 90+% from the line), so I was pleased to see that Wired has posted a guide on How to Nail a Free Throw.
• Old news, but here’s a couple of interesting articles on sports video games and their source material; specifically, how video games are have become increasingly true to life for athletes: League of Gamers (ESPN); Gamechangers: How Videogames Trained a Generation of Athletes (Wired)
• Speaking of video games, Virtusphere. Just watch the damn video.
• G4 (correctly, I think) identifies Chatroulette’s ‘Merton.’ NYMag’s Vulture (correctly, I think) identifies Ben Folds as a “Fin de siècle singer-songwriter.” Just watch the damn video.
• (Over)analysis of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” music video. (Vigilant Citizen)

Music news:

• What Would They Know: Matthew Perpetua interviews Liars for Pitchfork.
• Time to Get Away: LCD Soundsystem finishing up their last record. (Daily Swarm)
• Wanna Be Startin’ Something: MJ posthumously lands a massive record deal. (WSJ, NYT)

Art news:

• Deitch Mark II (ArtInfo)
• Rhizome / New Museum presents Seven On Seven (April 17th).
• Marina Abramovic at MoMA: Reperformance art or selling out? See for yourself or read all about it. Plus a short intro vid on Nowness.
• Saltz on the demise of Dia / X-Initiative / Independent (NYMag)
• Ai Weiwei in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall this October (ArtForum via the Guardian)

Bonus Trailer:

March 13, 2010

Psychic City

» Modest Mouse – Tiny Cities Made of Ashes (3:42) – 4.3MB mp3 @ 160kbps

Director & VFX artist Sam O’Hare has just completed a short film using time-lapse tilt-shift technology to create the illusion of a miniature New York City. The Sandpit is really quite amazing—I recommend viewing it in fullscreen HD.

I’m not quite clear on how the film was created, even after reading this brief interview on how the film was created, but, as with so many other Internet rabbitholes, Kottke simultaneously introduced me to Koyaanisqatsi, a landmark 1982 art film by Godfrey Reggio and Ron Fricke with an original score by Philip Glass (viewable in full on Hulu), as an obvious reference point for O’Hare.

Meanwhile, an unidentified student at Kyoto University of Art & Design has transformed several home appliances into tiny cities.

Spoon & Tamago via Swiss Miss

8-Bit NYC is perhaps the polar opposite of the beautiful works of video and sculpture above, but it’s pleasantly diverting nonetheless.

What the hell, I love this song: YACHT – Psychic City (5:09) – 9.8MB mp3 @ 262kbps

March 8, 2010

Simian Mobile Disco – Cruel Intentions (Joker Remix)

» Simian Mobile Disco – Cruel Intentions (Joker Remix) (4:12) – 9.7MB mp3 @ 320kbps

The track is from last year, but I’ve been on a dubstep / Joker fix lately. Aeroplane’s October mix opened with Maurice Fulton’s remix (they’re playing Santo’s a week from Tuesday). That’s Beth Ditto of the Gossip on vocals.

Simian Mobile Disco is playing (Le) Poisson Rouge this Thursday (DJ set). Brooklyn Vegan has more info, plus the new video for “Cruel Intentions.”

A longer music post may or may not follow in the near future.