February 2008 Playlist

by Tim Yu

This time of year brings a surplus of album releases and, for us, along with the fresh tunes comes a desire to do little more than stay home and listen to music while watching surf videos. The result is a collection of new faves and old jams, both up-tempo and down, to get you through the leap year.

Magnetic Fields: Distortion
The first album from the Magnetic Fields since 2004's i, Distortion is one of their better efforts this century. Chock full of smeary guitar arrangements that take on Dick Dale-like reverb, Stephin Merrit's definitive baritone is a mellifluous complement to the drawn out distortion. But it's Shirley Simms on this go around who comes through with tasteful harmonies on songs like "Drive on Driver."

Clean organs, the fuzzy guitars and a touch of feedback provide a surprisingly full but laid-back sound. It's one of those albums you can listen to all the way through. Pick up Distortion at Nonesuch or from iTunes. Also currently on tour, catch them live from 21-24 February at the Town Hall Theater in New York.

Floratone: Floratone
In my opinion one of the most innovative contemporary guitarists around, Bill Frisell, went back into the studio for a string of intense sessions to record Floratone with distinctive percussionist Matt Chamberlain and long-time producers Tucker Martine and Lee Townsend.

Conceived as a lab experiment, the recording process started with Frisell and Chamberlain improvising in the studio followed by Martine and Townsend splicing together a loose song format that the musicians then filled in. The result is an intricately produced blend of jazz-, reggae-, funk- and blues-drenched chords that create a distinctly Southern swamp-like sound. Overlaid twang and reversed tracks are add texture. Purchase it at Floratone or iTunes.—Tim Yu

Alela Diane: The Pirate's Gospel
British music store Rough Trade's #1 of 2007, Alela Diane's newest album The Pirate's Gospel is a folksy sound with trance-like lyrics. Our favorite tracks are easily the eponymous "The Pirate's Gospel" and "Oh! My Mama," a tribute to the role mother's play in the continuum of music and melody. Get the album from iTunes or from Holocene.

BellX1: Flock
The Irish music sensation BellX1, released their new album Flock today (available on eMusic), sounding a bit like Radiohead with less melancholy. A range of instruments and the strong vocals of Paul Noonan make it a must-listen. You can get a live tour CD/DVD (as well as a teapot!) from their site. Or get the new album from eMusic.—Joel Niedfeldt

Snowden: Anti-Anti
Released back in 2006, Snowden's debut has eluded much mainstream coverage. Which is strange, because the Atlanta foursome do an admirable job coupling fuzzed-out guitars and stuttering beats with hypnotic, monotone vocals (think Interpol, if they were bit less mopey and turned their distortion pedals up a few notches). Pick it up from iTunes, Amazon or Jade Tree.

Liars: Liars
Liars have made a business out of taking extreme, sometimes unmarketable, stylistic turns between albums. Their latest self-titled disc is closer to the middle ground and finds them keeping the dark rhythms of Drum's Not Dead, while incorporating more accessible hard-rock elements. Easily their catchiest album ever. Buy it from iTunes, Insound or their site.—Doug Black

Hot Chip: Made in the Dark
They've done it again. The boys of Hot Chip pull out another masterpiece with their third album Made in the Dark. The album starts with a most epic intro leading us into a mixture of wonderfully danceable upbeat tracks and beautiful slow love ballads. I don't know which I like more, but I do know if you have the opportunity to see them live, take it, having seen them upwards of five times, I still have yet to find a better live show. Whether you're looking to dance, or make some love, Hot Chip has you covered. Get it from iTunes or Insound.

Yeasayer: All Hour Cymbals
Yeasayer is hard to describe. Seeing them live is like watching Blues Traveler play Animal Collective songs, I don't know if that makes sense, but these guys rock. They harmonize beautifully, sing fast sometimes and it's just hypnotizing. Another live show that shouldn't be missed, these guys blew me away, taking their studio recordings to whole new levels on the stage. Listen for yourself, experience the magic by buying it from iTunes or their site. —Seth Brau

This Ain't No Disco: Inside Agencies

by Lost At E Minor

Who hasn't always wondered what the insides of some of the hottest advertising agencies look like? I mean really, there's enough advertising out there to make me think that some of the agencies must be lapping it up in some pretty stylish digs. Thanks to the This Ain't No Disco blog I can get a sneaky peek at the inside of these creative environments without ever having to leave my living room. Sigh. Now, if only the rest of life were that easy.

theAnemix at Harrods

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

If you were impressed with the holographic effects used at Diesel's runway show last year, you'd be just as taken with the neat 3-D lighting window displays Chilean group theAnemix created especially for Harrods' in-store "Senses" campaign currently running in London. (Click images for detail.)

Architects and designers Ximena Munoz and Paulina Villalobos studied bioluminescence before coming up with their LED lighting system, which was picked up for the Harrods campaign by Blend Design. It works via panels, one luminescent and the other reflective, to create images that look as alive and breathing as you and me.

Six panels were made for the promotion to cover the theme of human senses. Among them, the display for "hear" features headphones with music floating through them and "sight" is a moment in a bright fireworks show. In the "see" category is theAnemix system itself, available for purchase and customizable.

The window displays will be taken down when the promotion ends, on 28 March 2008.

Ornj Bags

by Brian Fichtner

Have you ever looked at an industrial material and wanted to craft something out of it? For most, the thought doesn’t go much further. For David Shock, who studied fine art and illustration, the idea of making bags out of construction fencing came to mind and took root. While no one can complain about the incremental progress reshaping downtown Detroit, Shock was unnerved by the prevalence of the orange plastic swathing the city and wanted to make something of it. “I was inspired by the material’s vibrant color, malleability, and strength,” he writes. “I first was going to create a simple laundry bag to carry my stuff down the three flights of stairs in my apartment but later realized what a great tote bag it would make for going to the market.”

After spending a great deal of time fine-tuning the design, he came up with three different models and found a sympathetic outlet in the local retail store Design 99. Named Ornj, the bags are priced from $35 to $65, and can be purchased with or without felt inserts. They're available online (without felt) starting at $26 from Motor City Handbags.

Design 99
10022 Joseph Campau Street
Hamtramck, MI map
tel. +1 313 576 6941

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

by Jacob Resneck

Many of us have had to eat our words; few have eaten our shoes. In 1978, German personality and New Wave director Werner Herzog did both after losing a bet with fellow filmmaker Errol Morris. In a bid to encourage his friend and protégé, Herzog wagered that Morris would not complete his first documentary film "Gates of Heaven" (1978), which examined pet cemeteries in America.

This funny and poignant short film by California director Les Blank is being shown at London's Seventeen Gallery. The 22-minute film will be shown on a loop for the whole month of March, which we think is as good excuse as any to check out this rare short of Herzog at his best. Herzog has a long list of accomplishments including Grizzly Man (2005) for which he won best director at Cannes.

Morris himself also went to become an accomplished director of course, winning an Academy Award for Best Documentary for The Fog of War(2003), an introspective interview with former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, one of the chief architects of the Vietnam War.

If you can't make it to the London exhibit, Criterion's release of Blank's " Burden of Dreams" features it as an extra.

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
27 February-22 March 2008
Seventeen Gallery
17 Kingsland Road
London E2 8AA map
United Kingdom
tel. +44 (0)20 77295777