Huge gig at Motion in Bristol coming up at the end of the month, I’ll be doing an AV set alongside DJ Yoda, Wrong Tom w. the Ragga Twins, Asian Dub Foundation + more.
Here’s the link for tickets and more info
Size isn’t everything but… my third installment for The Vinyl Factory‘s Freaky Formats series is all about odd-sized records – check it out here.
Yes, you read that right, Stolid Seal, not Solid Steel unfortunately as this mix got squeezed out of the selection process due to an overflowing number of guest mixes piling up for the show. I asked Glyn and PK from The Dandelion Set to do a mix last year after the band had played at the Delaware Road event in Reading. To me this is prime SS material and he’s done a sterling job but alas, it wasn’t to be. But, by the miracle that is the internet, you can still hear it and see what you’re missing.
I’ve featured The Dandelion Set before, way back when their releases were confined to digital only, and I’m now pleased to learn that their debut album is coming out on a favourite label of mine, Buried Treasure. It also features the sleeve notes, lyrics & vocals of none other than Alan Moore (surely no introduction necessary?) among others. Inhabiting the worlds of folk, radiophonics, jazz, psychedelia, library music, soundtracks and spoken word, the album is packed with over 20 tracks and enough tricky time signatures to require some very deep listening. ‘A Thousand Strands’ is out April 22nd on CD, LP, cassette (yes!) and download from Buried Treasure. Beautiful cover too
DEEZER – Music Unleashed from CRCR on Vimeo.
Fantastic animation by CRCR using designs by McBess and a remixed ‘Wannamama’ by Pop Levi.
Throughout April I’ll be posting examples each day from an unseen series of Op Art pieces I made earlier this year under the Kosmischer Debris banner on my Instagram account, above is the first one.
The, by now, ubiquitous Ghost Box post when they release a new record (they’re not paying me, honest). Hintermass – a collaboration between Jon Brooks and Tim Felton – just came out on LP, CD and DL and lovely it is too. Next up is an album by Belbury Poly (at last!), Jim Jupp‘s recording alias which is coming in May. Download these two posters HERE.
The vinyl heads among you may want to jump sharpish over to the Drumetrics store and secure a copy of this gorgeous op art-covered, die-cut triangular picture disc and sleeve (300 copies only). If you don’t know about Drumetrics then you need to visit their site
New Shadow album campaign starting, check the track on his site djshadow.com
The First Book Of Jazz (1955) is the third of five books that Langston Hughes (1902-1967) wrote for the Franklin Watts First Books series. “When boys and girls FIRST start asking why?…what?…and how? FIRST BOOKS are the first books to read on any subject.”
Cliff Roberts (1929-1999) was a cartoonist and animator. His cartoons appeared in magazines such as The New Yorker and Playboy. He worked as an animator on Sesame Street, and wrote and drew the short-lived Sesame Street newspaper comic strip.
Image and text cribbed from Ariel S. Winter’s Flickr where he has the full book scanned. For more information see this blog post
Been a bit quiet on here of late, sorry for the lack of activity but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, making some big changes this year. Just finished a fantastic graphic design project that I can show in full soon. Also I’ve been more active on Instagram this year than last so you can find quite a few things cropping up there daily.
The pieces above are some circular experiments with circuit boards (Circuit Mandalas), colour shift try-outs with recent collages and some digital trickery with an old photo collage I made in the late 90s of a 180 degree shot of a Tokyo street. In April I’m going to do a month’s worth of B&W Op Art designs I made one afternoon recently before launching into something a little different…
Sleeve way better than the music
One of the first ever rap records, we all know ‘Rapper’s Delight’, Fatback Band‘s ‘King Tim III’ and ‘Christmas Rapping’ but this is up there from 1979 as well.
German pressing of these two Pierre Henry classics
Some variations and tests for work in progress on a box set for the De:Tuned label in Belgium. More on my Instagram
I do like seeing animated versions of graphics I’ve designed. This was done by Elliot Seeds from the Ninja Tune office and here’s this week’s guest mix version.
You’re probably sick of reading about these two characters on here – Dan Lish and Rammellzee – a perfect combination, a before and after depiction, a pair of limited, signed colour A4 prints available from Gamma Proforma now.
I’m very chuffed to have an interview with Savage Pencil aka Edwin Pouncey in the new Rough Trade book celebrating 40 years of the shop and associated labels. Just published by Thurston Moore‘s Ecstatic Peace imprint it’s packed with scrapbook-like anecdotes, photos, poems, drawings and interviews by a who’s who of the independent scene.
My piece runs to five pages and covers SavX‘s career from aspiring cartoonist and early employee of the Portobello shop to Blast First cover artist and abstract painter with Battle Of The Eyes. The interview was so long that I had to cut it down by more than half so I’ll publish the full thing here with many illustrations once the book has been out a while.
*Also – there’s a free John Grant one-sided 45 with etched B side if you buy the book from Rough Trade shops
The Hintermass LP arrived yesterday in all its summery glory, just check out that artwork, good enough to eat. As with all things Ghost Box it’s another piece of Julian House wonder, how he does it I do not know, always different but always quintessentially ‘House’. The music is a new collaboration by Jon Brooks (The Advisory Circle etc.) with lyrics on half the tracks by Tim Felton (Seeland / ex-Broadcast). A mixture of folk-tinged songs and ‘Krauty’ electronica, it’s too early to fully comment at the moment but on first listen I’d say it’s worth it for the last track alone. Listen and buy here
Just opened at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (alongside the current KAWS exhibition) Eduardo Paolozzi collage prints from their collection. I’m booking a train to Wakefield.
The end is nigh, Hellboy’s story is done (for the moment) as far as Mike Mignola is concerned. Read more here