I like music a lot. I enjoy listening to it, let it grow on me, let it define me for that moment. Maybe I build up a connection to a certain song because of my mood, or because of the memories I’ve attached to it over time.
Discovering music has changed a lot the last years. There are great online services helping you find amazing gems from all over the globe. But I realized one thing: this whole thing around timing and newness of music is slowly fading away. It’s not important anymore if you discover this band right after they released their new EP, or if you heard that song on the radio the first day it aired.
Of course you remember Primer. That film from 2004 that would keep you puzzled for days. After nine years Shane Carruth is back with a new project, Upstream Color.
Last week my friend Peter Bihr tweeted about this Gotye mashup that was being played at the Wired 2012 conference. Yes- we’ve all about died of how many times this track has been played on the radio, tv, well everywhere and ALL THE TIME, but I must admit my interest was raised when I found out Wally De Backer (aka Gotye) was giving this mashup “back to the internet”. You’ll find a writeup of this talk here.
“I’m fascinated that people would spend all day covering themselves in body paint to create this humour, (…) I realised this song wasn’t really mine anymore, but belonged to the internet.”
Browsing my Spotify playlists I stumbled upon this great album again zZz – Running with the Beast. I saw them once years ago as a support act and was really impressed by the energy and performance these guys were putting up.
A bit later they released their album Running with the Beast, for which Roel Wouters aka Xelor has made this awesome video. I agree, it’s pushing quite some moral boundaries but I think that’s mostly because of the switching of contexts, both creative and biological. There is an animal welfare statement on Roel’s website to make sure you won’t loose any sleep. If you want to know more, check out todayandtomorrow for more posters and the ‘making of’ video.
Erased Tapes did a tour featuring Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds and Winged Victory for the Sullen. I attended one of their shows in Berlin and it was amazing.
My good friends Claudio and Ian are doing an amazing job with their band called Mighty Oaks. A recent feature by ARD during the Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg shows that these guys are seriously kicking ass.
The last months I have been helping out my friends Kamiel & Martijn with the launch of their new company called Blom & Blom.
Homepage design by Till Wiedeck
In their own words:
Blom & Blom is about two brothers. Two brothers who share a passion for forgotten items from forgotten places. Unique items. Items that once had an industrial life, but have now been abandoned; left to perish. Items with a rich, and almost epic history. Items that deserve a new life.
So what they do is discover forgotten lamps and other furniture, to grant them a new life. Here are some images that make up for exactly such a great story:
Exploring those abandoned buildings does have something magical, I’m looking forward to future adventures with them.
Design
The design has been done by Till Wiedeck, who has done a great job in developing not only a super clear identity for them, but also approached the webdesign in a very lean attitude. We shaped and modified the basic concept with the whole team bringing the end result to the level it is now. So proud of this.
The website is build using WordPress and WP E-commerce plugin. There are some cool responsive features and the site is highly optimized using W3 Total Cache, but I’ll make a writeup of the technical details later.
For now, check out Blomandblom.com, or view their video portrait:
