Cool Hunting

Audioscrobbler: Musical Match-making
There are all sorts of match making sites out there, but few of them really work well. The best ones take very specific information in to account. But who wants to enter all sorts of specific information? Audioscrobbler finds matches based on music listening preferences. It sits in the background of your music player, so there's not extra work for you. Thanks Scott!...

Labelscar
A blog documenting the mundanely beautiful side of retail history since its launch in 2006, Labelscar takes its name from the mark left when a business closes and removes their sign exposing the virgin facade below, the equivalent of an architectural watch tan. Organized by state and with images and info, the site includes hundreds of entries to date and encourages submissions from readers....

Modeselektor
Long the de facto home of techno music, it's no surprise that Berlin is bursting at the seams with electronic music. But it is a rare feat when one of these artists transcends the club scene like Modeselektor. A staple of the German capital's underground party circuit dating back to the mid-'90s, the group produces a genre-straddling brand of glitchy beats that are equal...

Monome
Since the multi-use controller Monome first came out a few years back, it's slowly gained a cult following thanks to its attractive and flexible design. If you're unfamiliar with the device, the Monome is an ultra-tactile, interactive and adaptable MIDI interface that takes advantage of open-source software to manipulate any number of musical parameters. With a pleasing grid-based design, the programmable buttons function as...

Tryphone
The newly launched website, Tryphone provides the ultimate assist in purchasing a new mobile phone, allowing for test drives of different models on their site through a virtual interactive design. Clicking on buttons gives a sense of the user interface and functionality, just choose which phone you'd like to try from their surprisingly well-stocked inventory. Also featuring reviews and side-by-side comparisons, it's a good...

Holiday Playlist 2007
Le Loup: The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly A weird mixture of banjos, percussion and computer sounds Le Loup creates an experimental sound that's still fun listening. Based on Sam Simkoff's original cheap recordings of a hodge-podge of inexpensive instruments, such as toy glockenspiels and an old banjo, and recorded using the microphone and recording software included with...