I didn’t know who did this for a while because I found it online, it’s the work of Mike Alacantara – check out more of his stuff here.
I’m totally in love with the design of the new Tron Uprising cartoon that just premiered on Disney’s XD channel. Starting with a 30 minute pilot last month to set the whole thing up they have eighteen 20 minute episodes in the first season with only Flynn, Tron and Clu remaining from the films and a host of new characters to flesh out the story. The design cues are taken from Tron Legacy and ramped up with Aeon Flux-like proportions on the characters and hyper neon designs.
Looks promising, on set photos released so far have been a mixed bag, an R rating and a thumbs up from creator John Wagner are a good start but a trailer will be more telling. Up against the 1996 Stallone travesty the odds are in its favour but the proof will be in the pudding.
Kid Koala previews his new 12bit Blues album (I’ve heard it, it’s another step up) and I provide support with support from another Ninja act who I can’t name yet. Tickets can be bought here
An amazing, but very hard to photograph, mural dedicated to Moebius that wraps round three sides of a building in Shoreditch, London. Featuring many scenes and images he created in his lifetime and also a little MCA dedication too, I tried my best to join the images together fluidly but had to take some of these standing in the middle of the road. UPDATE: The mural was painted by JimVision / Probs over 9 days, check some much better photos over at the End of the Line blog.
I’ll be playing at the Société des Arts Technologiques in their SATosphere in Montreal, as part of the Osheaga Festival of Music & Arts 2012 this July. Bringing a revised and remixed version of The Search Engine show I presented at the London Planetarium in January to North America for four performances. Not only will the dome be bigger but the sound will be controllable with over 150 speakers providing a 25:4 surround sound system which I will be operating during each show. Here’s a short I did with the Evenko team, who are putting it on, whilst I was in Montreal recently – marvel at my inability to describe what it will be like.
[quicktime width=”636″ height=”380″]http://www.djfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/DJ-Food-–-The-Search-Engine-evenkoTV.mp4[/quicktime]
On sale at the SAT box office, Atom Heart and La Vitrine
July 19 & July 20 – 7pm + 9pm shows – $22,50 advance ($25 at the door)
The SATosphere is located at 1201, St-Laurent Blvd, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
I finally got to the Tate Modern to see the Damien Hirst exhibition yesterday and his butterfly ‘paintings’ are stunning. Kaleidoscopic, geometric mandalas, some of which glow like stained glass windows, they are quite breathtaking to behold. I’m no particular Hirst fan, I can take or (usually) leave him but occasionally he comes up with a winner and this is definitely one of them.
I came across these on Facebook the other day, does anyone recognise the artist? I think it’s all the same person judging by the tags I can see but I’m not certain. My first thought was that it was Replete but I’m not sure.
UPDATE: This is the guy who did these – Made514 – plus a whole lot more, check out his site here.
My brain hurts.
So much to say about the last few days and the opening of the DJ Food & Henry Flint exhibition at the Factory Road Gallery in Hinckley, Leicester with my friends Sarah (aka Inkymole) and Leigh. I’ve known them for around 15 years now and always enjoy their company so it was a no-brainer when they asked if they could host the work I’d got together for the Pure Evil Gallery earlier this year. What’s unique about this is that the gallery is in their own home, on the corner of a quiet suburban street, not in the middle of a hip part of a big city. A few years ago they did some major architectural restructuring and turned the downstairs of their home into a workspace cum gallery, dependent on what was on at the time. This is the third or fourth exhibition to be held there and, with the help of their intern, Brook, and amazing chef Jed Smith, they managed to make it a very unique event.
The difference between this and the Pure Evil show is that they were keen to feature a sort of retrospective element of my design work with Ninja Tune over the years alongside work that Henry and I had generated for ‘The Search Engine’ album, his book ‘Broadcast’ and past comic work. This took the form of a whole wall running the length of the downstairs plus a tabletop collage under glass of all manner of flyers, sleeves, proofs and other ephemera. Two sides of the central supporting wall were taken up with Henry’s past comic work with prints and original art from the album near the entrance. Near the rear of the gallery we set up a turntable and zoetrope disc to project animations that were also meant for London but didn’t happen as well as a 55 minute mix with visuals based on my planetarium show of the same time.
To add to this Sarah and Leigh always do special merchandise to go with each show, a regular item being a tea towel – or rather a visor / helmet polishing cloth (ooer) – printed locally and hemmed by Sarah’s mum. Also for sale was a limited edition ‘Skullstronaut’ giclee print and locally sourced chocolate bars, cleverly playing on the outer space theme and packaged like freeze-dried astronaut food.
Speaking of food, the killer addition of the night was Jed Smith in the kitchen, whipping up amazing bite-sized, space-themed eats for everyone. The cubed chips, baked pea shells and sauce were the hit of the night, a bowl of ‘space dust’ (homemade sherbert) looked like a moon surface and the dried rice and beetroot dip was literally out of this world (sorry). Everyone who came looked uncertainly at it all, took the plunge and were instantly in for seconds.
It’s rare to attend an opening and to ask the guests if they’ve been to the toilet yet (unless it’s for some sort of nose up) but the bathroom had it’s own charm in the form of Will Cooper-Mitchell’s press shots of me in an astronaut suit, alongside a hand-painted shuttle (by Sarah’s sister, close family ties going on here) and a short musical loop of space-themed sounds.
This, alongside a big barrel of local ale for refreshments, rounded the whole event off beautifully and added to the homely vibe of the exhibition. A steady stream of visitors arrived, both local and from further afield from 6pm until midnight and I talked to everyone from fans to friends, university professors to the local record store owner. Having been there since Thursday afternoon setting up and rearranging things I was beat by then and we had an early start the next morning but that’s another story.
Thank you so much to everyone who came but especially Sarah, Leigh, Jed, Brook and everyone who helped to make it such a success, some of the photos here are by their friend, Nigel, who was also the architect who helped them build the gallery. We realised, once it was all hung and arranged, that we’d fitted in twice the content than in London, in a smaller space too so there’s twice the reason to go and have a look. The show is at 71 Factory Road, Hinckley, Leicestershire, it’s free and on until June 15th, all merchandise is on sale on the Factory Road Shop now.
Well, the day came and went, and I chose to see Prometheus in 3D at the IMAX for the full monty. I’d been looking forward to this film more than any other this year and the hype and expectation had already built up to unreasonable levels before it opened. I realised this, had actively tried to avoid reading spoilers, scripts, watching the more recent ‘here’s the film all laid out for you’ trailers and the odd online opinion beforehand but this proved harder as the release date neared. I went in knowing that it couldn’t possibly live up to expectation but hoping that I hadn’t see or heard EVERYTHING about it and that there was still some mystery left. There was, not as much as I hoped, but enough so that there were surprises, a couple of revelations and more questions left unanswered than tied up neatly.
One aspect that virtually everyone who’s seen it is unanimous about is that it looks stunning, the sets, design and landscapes are as beautiful and richly detailed as you’d hope. There are lots of references to H.R. Giger’s classic Alien designs, it’s fleshed out, maybe not so creepy in the harsh light of day, but there is a strong lineage between the film and the original Alien. There are also some lovely designs for some of the interiors of the Prometheus ship although they look vaguely 70’s retro but are then juxtaposed with Minority Report-style touch screens which jarrs. The main failing point is that the characters aren’t particularly loveable, you don’t care about them enough, although Fassbender turns in a great performance as David, the artificial human, you’re never quite sure where his loyalties lie. Charlize Theron‘s character could have been put to much better use I felt and the last third of the film is a bit of a mess with no really satisfying pay off in the final scenes.
Overall it’s good though, I recommend you see it and make up your own mind, it will get people talking, disagreeing most likely, about the whole Alien universe. As far as prequels go and as an attempt to inject some new life into a franchise that’s had diminishing returns since Aliens, it succeeds admirably compared to something like The Phantom Menace or The Thing and I’d hold it above Alien 3, 4 and both AVP films (not hard) by a long way. It’s good but not great, I’d give it a 7 or 8 out of 10 but I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Avengers (I realise how ridiculous this comparison is though). I think it will bear repeat viewing and could be appraised differently once everyone’s calmed down with their reactionary conclusions and maybe given it a second chance. Look at Blade Runner‘s initial critical reception, I’m not suggesting it’s anywhere in that league as it’s not, but opinions differ when expectations are high. The 3D is good but not essential, I imagine it would be just as good without, but a big screen will make you appreciate some of the locations more than a small one.
Here’s the ‘Skullstronaut’ print, specially made for Friday’s exhibition opening at the Factory Road Gallery, Hinckley, Leicestershire. Taken from the cover of the recent DJ Food vs The Amorphous Androgynous 12″ single and measuring a hefty 55cm x 55cm this giclée print on Somerset Rag paper will set you back just £25 at the show. It’s an edition of 25 and will be signed by myself, any unsold stock will be on the Factory Road shop once the exhibition has finished.
Only 3 days to go until the DJ Food & Henry Flint show reopens, revitalised at the Factory Road Gallery in Hinckley. I sent a last load of sleeves, posters, flyers and other assorted memorabilia off for it today and there will be more of Henry’s old 2000ad artwork than we had in London, different pages too – all from my personal collection.
Also on sale there will be these space-themed chocolate bars in requisite silver foil packaging featuring the ‘skullstronaut’. There’ll be more exclusive merch on sale but I’ll post about that later. Sarah and Leigh, who run the gallery from their home, really take care and go to extra lengths to make bespoke items for their shows so that each one is a unique experience. I’m so pleased to be doing something with them after knowing them for over 15 years.
The Caketrope of BURTON’s Team – Alexandre DUBOSC from Alexandre DUBOSC on Vimeo.
Amazing, thanks to Duncan for the heads up, via i09
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.
