Ghostly Swim: Interview with Sam Valenti

by Brian Fichtner

For years, Ghostly International, the indie juggernaut of Avant-Pop music, has been redefining the record industry with innovative collaborations and a brand awareness that puts most labels to shame. On 21 April, the fruits of their latest collaborative efforts paid off in the release of "Ghostly Swim", a 19-song compilation made exclusively for Adult Swim and available for free download. The kicker? Ghostly mascots (yes, mascots) BoyCatBird make their animated debut in the music video "City Suckers," by Daniel Garcia. To coincide with this flurry of activity, the label has also launched new versions of both the Ghostly and BoyCatBird website. CH took a moment to ask founder and CEO Sam Valenti some questions about these latest developments.

As an indie label owner, you've obviously taken some unique steps towards enhancing your brand. Ghostly is one of the only companies taking a lifestyle approach to the music label. What guides your choices in brand enhancements such as the new BoyCatBird/Adult Swim project?
We get in the sandbox with other creative companies whenever it makes sense. We obviously love Adult Swim as do a lot of our fans, so it was a no-brainer. We were allowed a lot of creative latitude to represent the brand both musically and visually.

On the visual tip, it made sense that our mascots, BoyCatBird, would be front and center. They were created by our good friend, Detroit-artist Michael Segal and have been a visual part of the label since our first release "Hands Up For Detroit" by Matthew Dear and it was a chance to give them the spotlight.

And how did the project come about? Who approached whom?
We had been talking to Adult Swim about music for their "bumps" and it just developed from there. It was mutual in that respect.

Who selected the content for the compilation and what were the criteria for the songs selected? What guided the decision to mix Ghostly artists and label friends?
Diversity! The idea for all Ghostly compilations is to bring a solid crew of talent from across the genre spectrum.

With our Idol Tryouts compilation series, we've always featured artists we love, regardless of label affiliation. We see it as a big extended family of like-minded artists. I compiled the collection but these things come triple distilled with feedback from the Ghostly team and friends, plus spending time mixing and arranging with Josh Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv).

How long will the content be live on the Adult Swim site? Do you anticipate future Ghostly music/BoyCatBird animation shorts?
The music and video will live on their site for two months, we'll do a CD version later this year.

Yes, BoyCatBird will definitely see more animated adventures, we just released the toys too by Android 8. This aspect is totally a dream come true, to have BoyCatBird in physical and animated styles has been something I've dreamed about for ages. I got all misty when the first molds came back.

What's next in the cross pollination efforts of Ghostly International?
We try to keep it eye level and work with people when they want to work with us. Currently, we are working with a favorite label of ours on a project right now that should be out by summer.

The point of being involved in music and art is to try to keep things interesting for both our fans and ourselves. It's an advantage that small companies like ours have, so it would be a shame not to get in the sandbox once in a while.

On Cool Hunting Video: Matthew Dear

Creative Index

by Tim Yu

In response to feedback from agencies and companies that search for creative talent and wanted a "one-stop shop," our friends at Behance developed another great tool: Creative Index, an open and free service for creative professionals and those who search for them. The service makes it near effortless and far more efficient to find photographers, designers, dancers and even confectionery artists.

Clean, attractive and with an easy-to-use design, the site is the first to aggregate both portfolios and websites in one place and it's simple to join—just enter the addresses for your various websites and portfolios. Once entered, the sites are cataloged and up-to-date information becomes searchable in the Creative Index for any visitor, as well as the world's top agencies and creative companies.

So if you're ever looking for a package designer in Paris or a creative director in Seoul, check out Creative Index.

Also on Cool Hunting: Productive Creativity with Behance

Interview with Maarten Baas

by Brian Fichtner

The most talked about exhibition during the Salone del Mobile was that by Maarten Baas. Set within the chaotic mess of a working auto garage in the Zona Tortona, the show covered works to date, along with a preview of new collections for Contrasts Gallery and Established & Sons Limited. The choice of space initially felt to me like a commentary on the hyper-produced nature of the fair itself—e.g. instead of the Interni flag standing proudly on the sidewalk, it dangled from the shop's neon sign overhead, like a pair of worn sneakers tossed over an electric line. I soon discovered, though, from both Maarten and Bas (his production partner) that the choice had little to do with making a statement, and was more a way of feeling at home while abroad. (See more images after the jump.)

Below are Maarten's responses to a few questions about the garage, and his two latest projects.

I imagine everyone's asked you this a dozen times already, but why did you want to use this space?
Everybody indeed asks me. Though I was not even prepared for that question. For me it was so logical, it's just exactly what I want to do, and want to communicate. Which is to communicate the energy and feeling I experience when I'm in a normal workshop…It's kind of a normal situation for me.

How was it working with Chinese producers for Contrasts?
It was nice to work with a factory like that, which makes traditional Chinese furniture… Normally I make all my pieces myself, because it's so personal what I do…I don't want to make any concessions. I just want to make exactly what I think is interesting. It requires some guts from a company. If they say we can give you a go, yeah, that's very hard to expect from a company. Established & Sons and Contrasts did just that, they said these are the techniques we have and do whatever you want.

Could you explain The Chankley Bore?
I just wanted to make this. I had it in mind, before Established reached me. If no one would have made it for me, I would have produced it myself. Established said you can do what you want. I said this is what I have in mind, and they said, well this is great. For me it was really the next step after Smoke, Clay, Sculpt…

Where did the inspiration for this collection come from?
From anything actually. Furniture always has kind of the same shape. I mean, a chair almost always has four legs. It always looks more or less the same. But if you look in nature, for instance, and if you look at an underwater documentary or something, for example, the fish which are there, they have really bright colors, and then something sticks out of it, and there's something blinking… And then there's science fiction, or comics about outer space in which things happen that you cannot imagine. Many things.

I started to think there's much more to explore other than a chair must have four legs. And the title? I was searching for a title that covers this feeling the most. The Chankley Bore is a line from a poem which is a nonsense verse. It's a fantasy and part of it is about some creatures being [the lines go] "in the terrible zone and the fields of the Chankley Bore…" And, well...

A Paper Tiger

by Lost At E Minor

A Paper Tiger is a new venture that launched in January of this year selling exclusive prints by some favorite artists such as Jack Long (pictured). Usually so-called printmaking and distributor sites are unimpressive, but these guys really seem to know what they're doing. With artists like Ken Garduno, Haubs, Tesslar Lo, Jeana Song and many more, A Paper Tiger is releasing extremely limited edition sets of prints. Get some now while they're still cheap.

Von Totebags and T-Shirts

by Fiona Killackey

Award-winning London based illustrator Von has long been a CH favorite so when he decided to launch a range of tees and totes we grabbed the chance to find out more.

Why did you decide to brand into fashion now?
As much as t-shirts have been done a million times before I still get excited when I come across a really nice design printed up beautifully on a t-shirt. The opportunity to try and translate my work onto apparel was just too much to resist after a while so I hunted down a really good screen printer in town and got to producing the t-shirts and totes. Each one is screened by hand so it has a really nice sense of craft about the print, each varies slightly in tone with its own identity—a quality I was determined to carry through from my illustration to apparel.

How many different prints will there be?
These are the first two (right) in a series of prints I intend to release.

Is it limited in range?
These designs are not. But I definitely want to release a limited set at some point in the future. I would really like to make the most of my screen-printer's technical knowledge and do something very special for that.

And where can we get one?
Currently the apparel is available only from Shopvon, my online store, which ships worldwide. I am in talks with a few key retailers here in London at the moment with regard moving onto the next stage, off of the web and into the real world.

Also on Cool Hunting: Hellovon at Espeis, SVSV: Sartor's Habit, Vonhideki

All My Pretty Ones

by Doug Black

All My Pretty Ones are a six-member group from the San Francisco Bay Area. Led by songwriter Derek Schmidt, the band plays richly-orchestrated, folk-influenced music. Songs rely heavily on acoustic guitar and piano, with occasional flourishes from a wide array of instruments like oboe, upright bass, mandolin and glockenspiel.

Their debut EP, "Handsbreadth," was released last year and includes five songs combining lighthearted melodies with Schmidt's rather mournful lyrics. You can listen to songs on their Myspace page or catch them live at one of a handful of California shows in the coming months.