My mate Louis Rodgers aka Charlie Fanclub is a producer/DJ from Derby and apart from being very good at what he does, he has acquired some nice artwork for his single "Nightbreed" released on the predominantly house label 'Work It Baby'.
A 21year old Parisian who goes by the name of 'Empire' designed this new identity for Charlie Fanclub. It just looks pretty cool I think. Some good Photoshop skills with the gold/neon reflecting and glowing effects, much like the 'datA - Rapture' sleeve. Some bon type work too.
www.myspace.com/akadigitalblonde
www.empireisok.com
p.s. keep an ear out for Charlie Fanclub and also have a look at the motion section on Empire's website, nice little video.
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Mr. Charlie Fanclub
Monday, 29 September 2008
Sleeveface
I saw this epic website quite a while ago, but was reminded of it recently by Smooth Radio's new multi million pound advertising campaign. At first, as usual, I thought they had just robbed this idea, however, a little research tells me that it's a collaboration. This is a difficult thing to describe, but basically sleeveface.com is a brilliant website displaying everyday people's photos of themselves 'making up' the parts of their LP sleeves that are missing. The photo above explains it better than I could ever do really. Well, actually, sleeveface.com defines itself as "one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion". The idea transfers across to the music/radio industry with ease, but I find the Smooth FM advert is nothing other than just remotely amusing because it reminds me of Sleeveface.
p.s. there's a Sleeveface book coming out soon showing the best of the images. Expect to find this coffee table item in somewhere like Urban Outfitters.
Hipster Olympics
Been forever since my last post, but I've been moving into Uni again and adjusting to independent life after a summer of (s)mothering has proven quite time-consuming!
Aaanyway I just remembered about this little beauty. My mate Tom Grainger, a cinematography student, posted this as a bulletin on Myspace (R.I.P.) about six months ago. Some brilliant satire, 'it's funny cos it's true'. It's stuff like this that makes my day. If I could inject even a smidgen of this type of humour into my work and get the idea across successfully, I'd be a happy boy, with a nice little portfolio.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
DatA - Rapture
Popular French DJ DatA, usually known for his remixes, has joined forces with the voice of DFA 1979, Sebastien Grainger, to produce this electro pop belter.
I really like the artwork for this song. Firstly its been designed to look like a dog-eared LP with scuffs and creases over the image. I love the typeface, can't go wrong with a bit of Avant Garde Alternative and it's professionally executed. The reflective gold/silver is cool and the photography is great along with the Photoshopping and overall art direction. I particularly like the puddle reflection and futuristic look. I just find it interesting to look at.
www.myspace.com/0data0
Oatmeal.tv
Russ Tannen and his mate Tom present an online TV show called Oatmeal TV. It's hilarious. They go to various gigs and festivals interviewing acts, asking comedy questions. They are great presenters and come up with interesting intros and filming techniques for each episode. The animations/illustrations are excellent too.
www.youtube.com/oatmealtv
p.s. watch out at the end for "Hi my name's Andy and I'm watching Oatmeal TV" ahaaa!
Russ Tannen photography
I met Tannen through the Underground Heroes. He's (mostly) a band photographer. I included a colour photograph, but he prefers black and white, or black and wight as he calls it, he's from the Isle of Wight. He got a first in his photography degree. He's good with a camera.
www.russtannen.com
Roy & The City
I hate Sex & The City, but at the moment there is a cool advert on Paramout Comedy for "the best of Miranda". It's done in a comic book/Roy Lichtenstein pop art style and the parallels between the content and style of the programme and that of the original Lichtenstein art are really strong so the idea is great. It's surprising no-one recognised the similarity earlier.
Monday, 15 September 2008
I'm hating it
McDonald's board meeting:
"We need a makeover"
"I've got an idea! Let's paint our fascia green and use fancy furniture"
This is bad design. It's immoral! Pretending to be natural, eco-friendly and posh. It's like Hitler wearing a mask of Barbara Streisand. Antithesis much? Surely there are laws against this???
Ideas?
Rory Phillips & Skull Juice poster
My mate Si Sherlock will be annoyed I found this before him.
This clubnight event poster is really different to all the flyers and posters of the moment. Not only that, it's actually good, the type is well done, the colours compliment each other and the grid system is evident. I'm not usually a big fan of stuff like this, the oversue of the modernistic 'Swiss style' (as I've said before), but I can't help liking what I like at the end of the day!
Pisa
Shithole.
This place has nothing apart from the leaning tower, which provides about 20 minutes of enjoyment and isn't even impressive. If you're in Italy, only go there for a day trip, its well worth the classic tourist photos though (I hate my life).
Rome, Florence, Pisa . . . . . done.
Florence
There wasn't much to do in Florence, it was just really scenic. We rented bicycles n went on a ride along the river. The only thing Florence really has is Michaelangelo's 'David'. It was nice to see it 'in-the-flesh', but it wasn't anything special because we'd seen it all before in Rome. It was weird though because David was meant to be a little boy and Michaelangelo made him as a giant muscular figure. Don't know if this was on purpose or just stupid. I'm guessing it was purposefully unconventional.
Rome - interesting poster
Saw this poster everywhere in Rome. No idea what it's for, but it just looks well cool. Leaves you wanting to know more.
Rome - Schifano
Scoped out the Museum of Modern Art whilst I was in Rome. Free entry for students! The gallery just had one big exhibition on Mario Schifano. I had never heard of him so was apprehensive, but I enjoyed his art a lot. His works are very large and mainly mixed media - paint on cardboard, collages, acrylic (plastic) etc. Schifano was also a film maker and typographer. I enjoy 'NO' a lot, big, red and angry. The typography in 'Machine' is great and works well on the creamy substrate and in contrast with the black shoe. The other one below (don't know what it's called) just looks like a giant 'A' and just I like it, purely for aesthetics, as with most art. The gallery also had some classic pieces of modern art, like a cool Mondrian I hadn't seen before, a Pollock and a glass cabinet full of Duchamp (shit).
Rome - The Sistine Chapel
My girlfriend had to close my mouth because I didn't realise I was sitting there, looking up at the ceiling, with my jaw literally dropped in awe. ('Gay', I know)
p.s. photo not actually of Sistine Chapel, but of room nextdoor, lots of guards saying "Noooa photoo" you see.
Rome - St Peters
Too many steps to the top.
My girlfriend and I got a bit angry in this place. It's amazingly decorated with mosaic, so much so that the ceiling looks like a painting, and the building itself is ingeniously built, like everything else, but we were peeved about one thing. Most of these impressive buildings and paintings and everything we saw would not exist if it wasn't for religion. And this annoys us because we both dislike the idea of religion. Pretty much a catch 22 then. We aren't religious, but most of the most awesome things in the world are.
Rome - The Pantheon
I reckon this was more impressive than the Coliseum. Possibly this is because it's the best preserved of all the Roman buildings and maybe of all buildings of its age worldwide. All the same, it's epic. From outside, the giant columns that support it's roof just exude 'ancient Rome'. To try and show you the full awesomeness of the inside, I made an attempt at a mini panoramic image, collaged on Photoshop. The ceiling is a giant dome with a big hole in it basically. And it looks wicked. Now this was ORIGINALLY built in 27BC as a temple for the gods and then was rebuilt in about 125AD after it was destroyed in a fire. This was built 2000 years ago! Builders today couldn't do this, fucking cowboys. The intricacy of it's design is mesmerising, involving wooden moulds, scaffolding and 6metre thick walls. It's massive.
Rome - Trevor
The Trevi Fountain is probably the best fountain ever. Charlie Dimmock ain't got shit on the Roman's. We saw it at night time and it was full of tourists. This fountain is huge and it' so impressive when you think about how they built it and how the sculptors had to consider where the water would come out of on each figure. Roman's love fountains, they are bloody everywhere. But none quite as cool as this one.
Rome - The Foot Museum
Not actually a foot museum, but it did feature large foot statues. This place, AKA Musei Capitolini, was impressive. It was full of incredible statues. The best was the colossal statue of Mars (pictured above). Even though it was in pieces, you could imagine how big it would have been standing. I said to my girlfriend that the Roman's were crap at proportion accuracy because his feet were somewhat smaller than his face. However, she was quick to put me down by saying that was on purpose so that when you look up at it, it is actually proportioned to the eye.
Type was another great thing. It's mental to think that the ancient Romans' had typography skills. This tablet shows knowledge about kerning, serifs, x-heights and so on. I guess the Romans pretty much invented standardised type? (Actually no they didn't, it had something to do with the Greeks, welllll BC I think). The typeface itself, elegant and attractive. The 'Q' is fit. This stuff has to be seen to be appreciated, you can read about it in books, but you just don't think about it in the same way as when you see it for yourself, in situ.
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Rome - The Coliseum
Like most sites I seem to go and visit, the Coliseum is not as big as you think it's going to be. It looks muuuch bigger on Gladiator aha. (maybe its just me though, I thought the Empire State Building wasn't that tall and it was in a cloud). After being accosted by a deaf and dumb Roman soldier, having our photos taken, and being stripped of 4euros for them, my girlfriend and I made it inside. After my typical initial reaction, I did then think that it was actually immense that they built this tiiime ago, sans powertools. This was a recurring feeling throughout my 'Roman Holiday'. Inside the edifice, it was actually quite gigantic and impressive, you could see how people would have interacted with it centuries ago. It was bigger than Old Trafford I would say. The best bit was being able to see under the ground, where all the animals and gladiators were kept before fighting, I got excited like a small boy, thinking of the film Gladiator.
Rome
Photo by my birdRomans take the piss when it comes to taking advantage of tourists. I thought England was expensive! For 20euros you can get the cheapest wine in a cheap restaurant and enjoy its vinegary flavour. Spoke to some nice Italian bloke though who told us they have a 20% tax on alcohol over there so no wonder. Food was dear too though.
Other than that, Rome was lovely. You can see why tourists flock there. It's beautiful. Everything is old and huge. The 'wow' factor I felt though dissipated somewhat for the fact that EVERYTHING was that big and spectacular, it lost its uniqueness and became samey and we ended up speeding round Rome, only occasionally stopping for a special jaw-drop. I'd say you would have to go there before you die though, because it is so old n cool, you cant help but be flabbergasted (awesome word) by it.
p.s. we spoke to an English/American couple who worked for Adobe one night, got some inside scoop, sworn to secrecy like though. READ MORE...yes please!
Italy
Got back from Italy a couple of days ago so I'm going to write about my experiences there one by one whilst they're fresh in my memory, then I'm going to have to backtrack to Valencia, Liverpoool etc, not enough time to write things as they happen you see. I went with my girlfriend for six days and we visited Rome, Florence and Pisa. There were much more touristy things to visit in Rome (and therefore write about) than Florence or Pisa, but Florence had a much nicer vibe to it. We squeezed everything in. It would have been nice to go on some guided tours and learn a bit more about each place we visited, but being poor students, we could not afford.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Letraset
Now doesn't that just look so fit.
I've only just remembered about these babies.
My mum used to give me sheets of Letraset to use when I was in school. They were the best thing since sliced bread, that was until Satan, aka the computer, came along. Pages and pages of transferable type, simply scribble over the top with a pencil and it presses right through to your paper. Genius.
The typography, colouring and layout on this piece is astonishingly attractive.
Good vinyl
Vinyl records are so effing sweet.
They look sex.
I think it's the squareness of them or the size, but they just beat the shit out of CDs and especially invisible MP3s. My speakers for my decks have been broken for a year now and I still buy vinyl. It's kind of nostalgic, I just like taking them out of me box and looking at the covers. I have a penchant for vinyl charity shopping too. Got me a copy of Madison Avenue - Don't Call Me Baby the other day!
Playing a record too. I mean . . . it's like farming your field, riding you horse n cart to Ye Olde Pub, having a tankard of ale and going home to your good lady wife for a ploughmans and a roger.
Classic.
What's the chuffing deal Noel?
What are these fucking 'designer' vinyl toys that have been getting in the way of my life for a couple of years now???
They are poor. They aesthetically please me for like a second and then I want to melt them like I used to do so to Playmobil with my mate Magor (Playmobil was awesome though, they didn't deserve the melting).
Who decided to make 'nice looking' toys for adults, that aren't toys, but in fact just sit there on your shelf, or probably in clear vacuum formed containers, looking shit? They aren't Pokemon cards ok? And you aren't a child, so you don't need a pretend toy. It's not 'kooky', it's stupid. At least Pokemon cards were cool (yes i do still have the complete original base set in plastic card-sized wallets, there's just something about shineys!!!)
So yeah, just what's the deal here? This designer toy explosion needs to im-fucking-plode.
The Japanese had a good thing going with karaoke and they ruin it all with this.
VICE magamazine
Vice is cool.
A free magazine, full to the brim with hilarious, zaney and extremely interesting material.
The copy in each editorial and the website is just 'the best'. Its so witty. Great photography, illustration, fashion, music and unique articles fill the pages. Its a good cultural read with lots of eye and brain candy. Be sure to read the "do's and don'ts" section, I'm reading some now, they're fucking hilarious. Go to your local hipster shop or local record store and invest in a free copy of Vice today. Also visit the website . . .
www.viceland.com
p.s. I'm doing a mini photography project for Vice at the mo, as well as do's and don'ts photos, saweeet.
Underground Heroes
photo by Russ TannenThey hail from my great hometown of Chatham, yes, where the word chav comes from. Their local, the TapnTin (infamous comeback gig venue for the Libertines), their genre . . . hard to define. Best way of putting it is indie-chav/punk/ska.
They're set to be big, you have to see them live, people love it.
"The Jam if they'd read the Razzle instead of books on politics" - NME
"Million miles an hour cocky-yet-witty-with-it-lad-punk - in the best possible way" NME
www.myspace.com/undergroundheroes
www.last.fm/music/Underground+Heroes
p.s. their Jamie Reid-esque logo is something to be admired too. READ MORE...yes please!
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