Two new takes on an old concept – films as Penguin Book covers – with the, now ubiquitous original Star Wars trilogy and Studio Ghibli films too. The SW ones are available as posters by Studio Concepcion, the SG ones by 84/5 Studio as prints and a postcard set.
It’s fast becoming a vintage year for great album releases and today, another is finally unleashed into the world. I’ve said more than enough about Aaron Thomason over the past years, aside from actually collaborating with him on the multi-track ‘Magpie Music’ on my last album as well as getting him to remix ‘The Illectrik Hoax’, and his second album release lives up to, and expands, on the first. I think I have about three different versions of this record on my hard drive from the last 18 months at least, each one has built upon the preceding version and got better and better. There is no filler on this record and it’s attracting some very favourable reviews, check out the lush gatefold vinyl and CD too!
You can finally buy it today after being on pre-order for a while, particularly from the Equinox online store, but if you order via the HHV.DE site then you have a chance to get a limited edition bundle CD with the album preview mini mix I did alongside vinyl or CD album plus a poster too.
I’ve written about SoundSci before, I even cut a video for them for a track called ‘The Illness’ from their ‘Dig For Victory’ EP on Crate Escape the other year. I’m slightly biased in my opinion of the group being that two of my closest friends are in it (ex-Dynamic Syncopation producer Jonny Cuba and current part-Herbaliser DJ Ollie Teeba – alongside Audessey, ex-Mass Influence, U-George and Oxygen). As you may have guessed if you recognise any of the names present, they make Hip Hop, the great kind, the Boom-Bap kind, the kind you remember and wish people made more of. It’s solid, made with love and care, skills on the mic, the decks and the SP 1200, made with respect for the artform, an ear for a dope sample and an eye for a great sleeve design (here supplied by Mr Krum no less).
There are plenty of people making this kind of Hip Hop but, like the samples that form it’s foundations, you have to dig for it these days as it’s no longer the prominent kind. After an EP and a 45, their LP, ‘Formula 99’, is finally ready to be released on double vinyl with insert and CD on Crate Escape. An ultra limited deluxe package is up for order now as well (see image below). This set contains hand stamped test pressings, T-shirt, poster, sticker, badge and more.
Here’s a little snippets mix by Ollie Teeba to wet the taste buds…
[youtube width=”640″ height=”479″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKP0rmBUMp8&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
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I saw the first episode of this late last night and the design of it blew my mind, it’s SO beautiful and heavily styled. It takes what Tron Legacy did to the look of Tron and then ramps it up again with the character and costume designs. There must have been some fashion designers on the team for this because the double-length legs and the ultra-styled figures look straight out of a catwalk scenario sketchbook. Whilst the first episode is very much a ‘set the scene’ type affair, which borrows liberally from Tron Legacy for its fight and chase scenes, it’s got enough going for it in the looks dept. alone to warrant tuning in again.
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I found this weird take on Brian Bolland‘s synthetti monster cover for 2000ad prog 216 over on Juxtapoz.com.
I did a mini Kraftwerk Kover Kollection (7.5) mix for Mister Sushi‘s Kraftwerk special radio show a couple of weeks ago.
Here’s some more info on the show:
In May 2012, London Fields Radio returned to multi-arts, multi-venue festival Land of Kings in Dalston to host an evening of pop-up radio with guests and hosts from across the festival line-up. We took over the Print House Gallery until midnight with a special selection of shows.
In this podcast, Nuts N’ Bolts presenter Mister Sushi hosts a one-off show in celebration of our favourite Düsseldorf quartet, Kraftwerk, a band whose influence can be clearly seen across Land of Kings festival this year. He’s joined by DJ, blog and club night Feel My Bicep to talk about how and why their legacy lives on in east London today and he premieres an exclusive mix by DJ Food filled with some of his favourite Kraftwerk covers.
The most anticipated comic of the year in this household: Mike Mignola‘s return to the main on-going Hellboy story on both writing AND art duties in ‘Hellboy In Hell’. Also check out Duncan Fegredo‘s incredible cover for B.P.R.D.s newest story arc, ‘The Devil’s Engine’. This Hellboy offshoot has slowly but surely stepped into a class of its own over the years and has now added a Hell On Earth suffix to the title.
This is to mark the emergence of all manner of monstrosities on Earth, no longer confined to nooks and crannies, and is just as essential as its parent publication with all sorts of plot threads currently dangling loose as well as the ever-present ‘when will Hellboy return?’ There’s a fascinating making of feature over on the Dark Horse blog too.
Working, recordable 4 track Moog on Google today in commemoration of Robert Moog‘s birthday – wish I knew how to control the thing. Click the image to go to the page, mess with the filters to control sound, numbers on your keyboard will play notes, click the red button to record track one, then play back or record track 2 as 1 plays back.
Image nicked from Secret Oranges – there’s a Batman one over there too but it’s all about Anne Hathaway as Cat Woman.
A gorgeous original piece of Kevin O’Neill cover art from prog 230 of 2000AD, recently acquired by my friend David Rees, what a beauty.
Also, Kevin will be signing copies of the new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen issue, 2009, on June 23rd (not May as I’d previously posted) at Gosh Comics in Soho alongside none other than Alan Moore – expect queues round the block.
Gosh will also have copies of The Black Dossier hardback for sale -WITH the 7″ record that was meant to come with it originally.
More sleeve porn from the ever-reliable Stones Throw label, a Bruce Haack remix LP and an Oh No/Doom collaboration which comes as an LP, a double sided poster and a 5″ single.
Out today, on Catskillz, lots of remixes, the Husky Rescue one actually holds a candle to the original (no mean feat)
Catmerch: http://tinyurl.com/bsj2qxx
iTunes – http://bit.ly/Lthm3I
Amazon – http://amzn.to/Ji3yY8
Play – http://bit.ly/KqUbSZ
Spotify – http://spoti.fi/Krxsnu
7 Digital – http://bit.ly/MzzKr7
HMV – http://bit.ly/Ji9qR7
Nokia – http://bit.ly/KKQ5F0
Deezer – http://bit.ly/MadRvP
Juno – http://bit.ly/LtrWrz
DJ Download – http://bit.ly/JxTeeY
A quick gallery of images I shot whilst walking around the lovely city of Montreal this past week. So much art on the streets of this city, second favourite only to my own home town of London.
The reason some of the posts this week have been coming from Montreal is that I’ve been spending a week there working with people at the SATsosphere in the downtown area. They’ve been giving me lessons and advice on creating content for their dome, where I will be presenting a newly remixed version of The Search Engine planetarium show I did in London for them in July. Getting your head around the software is mind-boggling and forget 5.1 sound, theirs is 25.4 (!) Here are a few shots – you can’t get much of an idea of what the dome stuff will look like because it’s such an expanse and there’s no way to get it all in the frame.
I spent yesterday afternoon with my friend Otis Fodder, tramping round record stores in north of Montreal. We went to Sonorama, Phonopolis and even found a guy selling records out of the back of his house. We finally ended up at Death of Vinyl – easily my favourite, a real USED store, ridiculously crammed with record of all shapes and sizes plus CDs, DVDs, cassettes and even 8 tracks. The prices are low, the quantity is high, they even have coffee plus monthly art installations.
I went to the Star Wars Identities exhibition yesterday at the Montreal Science Centre which is full of over 200 props, costumes, figures, ships and production designs from the six films and beyond. The whole thing is tied together with a ‘quest’ to find your SW identity which you complete by selecting various characteristics from 10 steps amongst the exhibits which are then compiled into an image when you exit. I went for the original props though which are well worth it as there’s a lot and it’s pretty comprehensive, good for kids and adults.
I visited Eric San yesterday (aka Kid Koala) and got co-opted into drawing a piece of artwork for his new album (I didn’t mind a bit). While I was there I took these shots around his ridiculously packed studio.
Eric loves anything odd or kooky that makes a noise, he owns a cutting lathe to cut his own tour records, a vintage rhythm machine that plays drum beats on 8-track cartridges and a customised jukebox that plays cassettes!
Three brilliant tributes to MCA, a ‘Sabotage’ parody by James Winters, a ‘Licensed To Ill’ mural by Aroe, and a US departure lounge sign.
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