TRMW

Finally, Nice Nice on Warp

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:20:02 -0800

Nice Nice is an experimental electroacoustic duo (I guess?) from Portland, Oregon. They’re one of my favorite live bands ever, and I saw them many, many times when I lived in Portland.

The above video shows Nice Nice playing the PDX Pop Now! festival in 2005. I booked the festival that year, and was super excited to put them on the big stage, where they could be seen by an audience larger than the people who typically check out arty, jammy noise bands. They totally brought the house down — seriously, people were FREAKING OUT — and sold out of every piece of merch they brought to the show. They were pumped, I was pumped, it was awesome. Definitely one of my peak Portland music memories (as was the entire festival, actually).

Here’s a crappy cellphone video I took at a house show in 2005:

Warp Records signed Nice Nice in 2006. It was/is a perfect match, and as a longtime Warp fanboy, it pretty much made my year (alongside Blitzen Trapper getting signed to Sub Pop — that was a damn good year). Then I didn’t really hear anything for a few years, though friends assured me the band was still together (phew!) and carefully crafting their Warp debut.

Which brings us to the present. Starting today, someone besides me and Portland can finally start getting excited about these guys, because Warp just posted free MP3s of both tracks from the One Hit 7”. They sound good, and I’ve embedded them below. I’m pretty sure “One Hit” is actually the same song they’re playing the first video above, which is kind of a trip. “Ark Drum” is brand new to me, and really exciting. Nice Nice could get into this amazing black-lit tropical funk mode when you saw them live, but it never really came out on the records. It does here. The production sounds immaculate too — glossy, lush and detailed. Guess they weren’t just sitting around for those three years, eh?

These tracks will be followed by the full-length, Extra Wow, in April of 2010. Get excited!

Design Council Slide Collection Playplax, Little Men, Mosaic,...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:03:49 -0800

Design Council Slide Collection

Playplax, Little Men, Mosaic, Gyrosphere, Bird and Fish, designed by Patrick Rylands for Trendon. Duke of Edinburgh’s prize for Elegant Design 1970.

Design Council Slide Collection Wooden toy building blocks with...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:03:09 -0800

Design Council Slide Collection

Wooden toy building blocks with box, by Camphill Village Trust, 1964.

(via an ambitious project collapsing)

A page from Shape, by David Goodman and Zoe Miller (aka...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:03:52 -0800

A page from Shape, by David Goodman and Zoe Miller (aka millergoodman).

Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:01:52 -0800

Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made

Ten books in one tell the fascinating tale of Kubrick’s unfilmed masterpiece

Tucked inside of a carved-out book, all the elements from Stanley Kubrick’s archives that readers need to imagine what his unmade film about the emperor might have been like, including a facsimile of the script

Now that is some adventurous book design! Looks like interesting material to boot.

Photo by Sarah Meadows

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:18:00 -0800

Photo by Sarah Meadows

Livia Marin’s “Broken Things” at House of...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:44:07 -0800

Livia Marin’s “Broken Things” at House of Propellers

Book Cover Archive: Series of experimental covers for Faber’s...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:17:39 -0800

Book Cover Archive:

Series of experimental covers for Faber’s new POD film range. Inspired by the phenomena of a visual glitch, the design utilizes a logarithm that translates the title and section into a distinct graphic pattern. Original script developed by Ted Davis.

PS: I’m back from Argentina. More on the trip soon!

Hat-trick Design’s stamp series for Royal Mail - Eye blog (via...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:15:00 -0700

Hat-trick Design’s stamp series for Royal Mail - Eye blog (via Z.B.)

This series of stamps uses ‘historical and modern stock images to portray all the areas of Darwin’s study, from Geology to Biology. We wanted to communicate how all these areas were interlinked, and that each study informed the bigger picture and ultimately led to his theories.’

As someone who collected stamps as a child, and apparently still has a little bit of lingering stamp fetish going on, let me just say: these are nice looking stamps.

Ninety Years of Refrigerators, and Logos - Brand New What is...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:02:00 -0700

Ninety Years of Refrigerators, and Logos - Brand New

What is saddest still is viewing the logo in color. The placement of the red triangle results in breaking the word Frigidaire into two separate words: Frigid and Ire. Given that these products are specifically marketed to moms, this messaging system is likely not going to appeal to anyone.

Not that I’m particularly invested in Frigidaire’s brand or anything, but yeah, poorly done. Seems like mid-century is as chic as ever right now, so the timing on this is odd as well. Also: FRIGID IRE.

The first recorded photo of Buenos Aires’ Boca Juniors...

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:21:00 -0700

The first recorded photo of Buenos Aires’ Boca Juniors football/soccer team, taken in 1906. If all goes well, I’ll be seeing these guys play next week. Well, not these exact guys, but guys like them. (via Wikipedia)

This picture is adorable. (via thegrandarchives)

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:41:46 -0700

This picture is adorable. (via thegrandarchives)

Blank Meets Pettibon “We’re An American...

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:41:00 -0700

Blank Meets Pettibon “We’re An American Band”

Music by Augst/Carl/Korn
Words by Pettibon
Recorded live October 31, 2001 at the philharmonie, Cologne
Coverart by Raymond Pettibon

This has “art music” written all over it, but I have to say I found it surprisingly moving. “The power trio makes louder,” indeed. John Cale eat your heart out.

More info here and here.

Blank Plays Duden DVD cover art by Günther Förg and Tobias...

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:40:51 -0700

Blank Plays Duden DVD cover art by Günther Förg and Tobias Rehberger

Günter Förg, Untitled, 2007. 160 x 150 cm. Acrylic on...

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:34:49 -0700

Günter Förg, Untitled, 2007. 160 x 150 cm. Acrylic on canvas

(via Something ^ Something)

What cleaning up a whole bunch of hazardous materials following a tsunami looks like

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:34:52 -0700

My friend Seth is a… well, I don’t know what his job title is actually, but I do know that he cleans up toxic stuff for a living. He recently flew out to American Samoa to take care of the chemical mess following the tsunami there. There’s a big photo gallery depicting their work on the project here. Interesting, dirty stuff.

Archinect: Evolver is an architectural artefact intervening on...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:07:29 -0700

Archinect:

Evolver is an architectural artefact intervening on the panorama surrounding Zermatt. It was designed and executed by a team of 2nd year students from the ALICE Studio at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. In an effort to take full advantage of the site’s extensive and astounding views, the project sits strategically next to the lake Stelli at an altitude of 2,536 m (8,320 feet).

Very nicely photographed by Joël Tettamanti. (via ext)

Another Joël Tettamanti shot. Really liking this guy’s...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:04:48 -0700

Another Joël Tettamanti shot. Really liking this guy’s sense of color.

Hotel Sidi Driss | Matmata Ancienne, Tunisia | Atlas...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:03:15 -0700

Hotel Sidi Driss | Matmata Ancienne, Tunisia | Atlas Obscura

Hotel Sidi Driss should be on a map of every hard core Star War fan. It is the place where many of the most memorable scenes of the saga were filmed and fans will no doubt recognize Luke Skywalker’s childhood home on the planet of Tatooine. Of course for anyone who grew up around the Sidi Driss hotel and Berber architecture the Star Wars planet of Tattooine looks less like an alien planet and more like the old neighborhood.

My incredibly talented friend Dru Donovan has some photos in the...

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:02:00 -0700

My incredibly talented friend Dru Donovan has some photos in the most recent New York Times Magazine as part of this story about California food banks. This is her second time appearing there — this was the first (ties in nicely with the glaciers from the last post actually). Things like this make me love the world just a little bit more.

Side note: I’ll be designing a website for Dru soon-ish. Thinking of using the awesome-looking Cargo portfolio thingy that’s powering (and I believe founded/run by) one of my favorite blogs ever.