A viewpoint with: Pat Perry (date 21st December 2011)
Pat Perry is an artist, painter, illustrator hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan and to be honest, he’s a bit of a genius too. Whilst Pat’s client work is visually stunning, it’s his personal work that has taken such a hold on myself and has proved to be a great, constant source of inspiration within the ever growing, saturated field of contemporary illustration. Discovering Pat’s work three years ago, it was everything about his work that made me fall in love. The blend of graphic line work with a strong sense of a more ‘fine-art’ direction. The striking washes of colour used on subject matters that were oh so relatable. It was work that touched a 16 year-old me dramatically and personally on a subconscious level, it was everything that was going on in my head at the time. The overgrowing lust for adventure, the great unknown, seeing other peoples lives and my human relationship with the natural environment. Riding my bike around unknown suburbs of the city, establishing my own home, seeing beauty in the mundane and wanting to document it in it’s purest form. Having been following Pat’s work for an extended period of time now, it’s been nothing short of a pleasure to see his style grow into what it is today. His recent paintings are his most evocative yet and the ‘Process’ pages on his website gives us a true insight into just how talented Pat Perry is.
I wanted to quickly stop by with Pat to get a brief Viewpoint with him.
>Where are you right now?
My house in Michigan. I can see the old brick street I live on, a gray sky, and a still neighborhood.
>Favorite object within your current surroundings?
My moped that is tucked away on my porch outside the window.
>If you could listen to any song right now, what would it be?
“Me and Bobby McGee” by Kris Kristofferson
>If you could teleport right now, where would you go?
It’s still morning, so probably this small cafe with great breakfast that sits tucked away in Pancake Bay, just south of Lake Superior provincial park.
>What is your perfect environment for creating artwork?
My desk, music, good lighting, good vibes, and bad weather so I am not tempted to escape and frolic outdoors.
To see way more drawings, paintings, sketchbook and client work, visit Pat’s website!
New Album Stream: Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Once again, another album that came out of nowhere and surprised me completely. I really shouldn’t have been surprised though; these guys were touring with Wild Beasts, which as you know released my favourite album of last year. Unsurprisingly Alt-j bear some resemblance to Wild Beasts, especially with their wildly eccentric vocal style. Those eccentricities bleed throughout the rest of the music. It is very difficult to classify this album under any real genre. Soft, melodic, guitars are dispersed cautiously, and then blatantly juxtaposed, abrasive, hard-hitting, hip-hop-like beats crisply punch the mix. Many other sounds pop in and out, while the vocals swim, swerving swiftly. You’d expect this collage to be unfocused, derailed, and messy; however we get just the opposite. An Awesome Wave is especially focused. The flow between tracks is impeccable; the interludes give us brief introductions to new musical ideas that follow. Everything just works so well, it’s a feat that I did not expect hear out of this band with such a peculiar name. It is indeed a wave that overcomes you, from start to finish. Each track is impeccably constructed, and you will find catchy grooves around every corner, such as on Something Good. Or if you’d like something louder, just take a listen to Fitzpleasure. Or maybe you’re looking for some deeper production, well Tessellate is just that. This is possibly my favourite release so far this year; don’t be surprised to see it on my end of the year list. This album is streaming so you have no excuse to just ignore it!
New Music Stream: Nicolas Jaar - BBC Essential Mix
Recently the beloved electronic producer Nicolas Jaar was on BBC radio’s Essential Mix and played one of the best mixes I’ve possibly ever heard. He opened with a charming dialogue segment from the man who made the soundtrack for the film Twin Peaks, a few bass hits later, the sound completely surrounds you with magnificent textural qualities. This sort of buzzing grainy transition reminds me of the same sort of method used in Burial’s Kindred EP which came out earlier this year. However after this change of pace we are met with the inevitably unique mixture of old and new. Jumping from the past to present, not only smoothly, but masterfully. Sprawling sound scapes, suave transitional moments, building tension, all envisioned by this young New York artist. Take listen to experience this atmospheric monolith (it is two hours long!).
New Album Stream: Laurel Halo - Quarantine
In the year of 2012 it’s easy to find yourself swamped in the vast ocean of sounds that currently exist within contemporary music. With pretty much any genre, sub-genre and style being excavated and explored it’s not very often that you find an artist practicing a sound that is truly unique. Last month Death Grips provided us with hope with a gritty and unique blend of various styles to construct their second LP, The Money Store. I believe Laurel Halo is next in line as she manages to completely topple the boundaries of two polar opposite genres on her debut outing ‘Quarantine’ to create a sound that is distinct and absolutely her own.
On ‘Quarantine’ Halo juxtaposes bewildering, confident vocals with pop melodies against electronic arrangements of lush, dark and deep, pulsing ambient sounds. The vocals are very much foregrounded and impossible to ignore. Slightly contorted and warped, the vocals are disorientating and lull you into woozy, trance-like state whilst the dark, immersing ambient sounds are constantly flowing and circling around you. However, I feel it’s some of the quietest moments on the album that really stand out and end up leaving my jaw hanging and my mind disconnected. Track 4 ‘Joy’ is a perfect example of this. Similarly, track 6 ‘Wow’ is a standout track that contains a gorgeous blend of pitch stretched vocals and whirring synths that when combined, echo the more early and ambient works of Animal Collective. Before you realize it, you’ll have made it to the end of the LP and will be subsequently greeted with the one of strongest tracks on the record, ‘Light + Space’ to tie the whole experience up to a blissful end. A innovative and truly unique debut record from Laurel Halo released on Hyperdub that you just have to listen to for yourself.
New Music: Nobunny - La La La La Love You
The 21st century is constantly battling and struggling with an identity crisis. With an unprecedented amount of information readily available at our fingertips we have become the decade of the ‘borrowing’ and rehashing. This culture is far more prevalent in the visual arts with areas such as graphic design, fashion and photography being hit to a stupendous degree. With incredible technological advances with the likes of the iPhone, we still have the desire to download one very popular app that allows us to slather our photographs in a cheap effect to make it seem like it was taken 30 to 40 years prior. Popular design is to create images that scarily mirror a very dodgy late 80’s low budget film poster campaign. And finally fashion. What decade of the past century hasn’t had a god damn comeback? More and more regularly I’m finding myself asking the question why do we have this painful, nostalgic obsession with the past? Should we be concerned with being branded as the copy-cat era by future generations?
Although this doom and gloom collage culture isn’t as widespread in the music industry there is no denial that we have been experiencing some pretty heavy revivals of the past. 1980’s synthpop with the likes of Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode has well and truly been covered but in hindsight, the revival has, and still is producing some pretty great and ironically unique music. Ratatat, Grimes and Twin Shadow are a few favourites that spring to mind.
Amidst the cloudiness of rehashes and the many forgettable bands that come with the collage territory you can actually dig up some real gems. A noticeable trend coming back into relevance is straight up 1960’s, The Stooges inspired garage rock with the likes of Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, White Fence, Black Lips, King Tuff and Nobunny all putting out quality new releases. This week we saw the release of Nobunny’s appropriately titled La La La La Love You single with the rather unconventional b-side Drei Blondinen. The single is everything it should be when it comes to dealing with reviving genres that some people may say is dead and buried. It’s raw, fearless and incredibly to the point. You wont find any sugar coatings here and that’s why I think it’s impossible not to fall for it. It doesn’t get that much more fearless than Nobunny, the man who regularly sports a dodgy rabbit mask and the lack of clothes at a live show. Just imagine him being like a character out of a Harmony Korine film…
So all this raises the question in my mind, is our collage culture really all that bad? Like it or not there is no denying that revivals are exciting and although they may come and go in a matter of months it’s probably better than sitting through a rather prolonged and painful spell like other decades have had the unfortunate pleasure of experiencing.
Stream Nobunny’s single via Soundcloud!
A viewpoint with: Ky Anderson (date 24th December 2011)
Ky Anderson is a fine art painter born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri but currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. It’s very easy to label Ky’s work as abstract but for it to be so, it needs to be void of any recognisable imagery and I believe many of her paintings hold the exact opposite characteristic. From chaotic portraits poured full of colour to serene, weaving landscapes, Ky’s paintings hold so much detail and information that we can identify and feel at home with. The detail that is evident on each sheet of paper, board or stretch of canvas appears to have been cut from a far, distant memory and translated into pure block colour and beautiful, hand crafted line work.
In the very first episode, so to speak, of our Viewpoints series, I wanted to catch up with Ky to get a better insight into her everyday life and learn more about the person creating the art. The slight irony of this viewpoint is that it is roughly five months out of date. Many apologies!
> Where are you right now?
I’m sitting on my couch in my apartment in Brooklyn, NY. I live pretty close to a busy main street, so I see and hear constant street noise, but right now the street has some pretty nice holiday decoration so I also see one giant snowflake suspended in midair.
> Favorite object within your current surroundings?
I think my favorite object in my living room is a really large painting painted by an old professor/friend, Lester Goldman. My living room is small so this painting has quite a presence. It is an inspiration and something I love living with.
> If you could listen to any song right now, what would it be?
I’ve been listening to a lot of Kate Bush and Grace Jones lately. Both are amazing.
> If you could teleport right now, where would you go?
Why stop at just one place? If I could teleport, I would take a tour of all the most remote and difficult places to get to in the world. The highest mountains, coldest northern location, remote islands in the middle of the ocean, tops of the largest trees, a giant iceberg and Kim Jong’s palace in North Korea.
> What is your perfect environment for creating artwork?
Once I was walking through Paris with a friend, I stopped to look at a great old building with giant old metal skylights. My Parisian friend told me they were studios for artists provided by the government. That’s where I want to work, in a beautiful old building with giant northern skylights provided by the government. Too much to ask? Probably… Other than that fantasy, I can work anywhere. I’ve moved my studio so many times that I have learned to work in any space. I try to be positive and flexible in the space I’m working in, if the space is large, I paint large, if it’s small I paint small. One of these days I will settle into a space.
You can see many, many more paintings and drawings by Ky Anderson on her website!
New Music: St. Vincent - Krokodil
So it’s the day after the world-renowned Record Store Day and through the plethora of new releases put out, I find myself immensely addicted to the brand new St. Vincent. Despite arriving an hour before my local store’s opening time, thanks to nationwide and local news promoting the event, I was greeted to find 400-500 people there in line before me. So after the lovely 4 hour wait in the cold and wet Manchester climate I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find that some of my most sought after releases (St. Vincent, the Olafur Arnalds/Nils Frahm collab and the new Beach House single) had all been ransacked, so to speak, by vinyl addicts who had obviously waited even longer than I had. After the initial disappointment of my attempts, I rejoiced in the fact that many people own vinyl to MP3 recorders and as soon I got home, the tracks were already up on youtube!
‘Krokodil’ is without a doubt Annie Clark’s most aggressive, loud and fist-pumping track she has ever released. A little light researching into the origins of the word Krokodil and you’ll understand where all the gut busting anger comes from. In some of Annie’s older work it’s easy to feel that she was holding back her emotions, her voice sometimes cracking but always refusing to scream. This is all thrown out of the window for ‘Krokodil’ as she let’s loose and screams for us to “shut up, so I can think”. The track has colossal, pummeling drums running throughout and Annie’s guitar is far less nimble than usual and a whole lot more distorted. Small onslaughts of yelling come from Annie in bursts like in a similar fashion to Karen O in an older Yeah Yeah Yeah’s track. The track clocks in at a short two and half minutes and leaves the door wide open for a truly unique and thrilling upcoming St. Vincent album that’s to be expected this year hopfully!
Overlooked Music : Snowmine - Laminate Pet Animal
This is not something that has come out recently. It actually came out last year in May but I only have discovered it now, sadly. Snowmine are a five piece group from Brooklyn, New York. You could classify them under the Indie Pop genre but I feel they have much more depth than your average pop group. Their music has an extenuated organic feel which develops the sound to be much more weighted. Laminate Pet Animal is an LP which crosses paths with this natural sounding instrumentation constantly. The uniqueness of this sound is accented with production from Dave Trumfio, who has worked with Wilco. There is a certain vibrancy and lushness that flows with the music, which is presented beautifully with serene qualities. I feel like this piece of work has been under appreciated, so definitely check it out. You can download the album free of charge, or if you can pay whatever you’d like!
New Music: Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm - Stare (Album Preview)
Arnalds and Frahm are both well respected ‘modern-classical’ musicians within their own right and when the news dropped that they had recorded a collaborative album, myself and fans alike can’t help but get excited, very excited. The story between Arnalds and Frahm and how they came to make this recording is a charming and romantic one. Short stays in each others apartments in Germany and Iceland, long inspiring conversations, making music late into the night and keeping the whole thing a secret, not telling a soul. It’s the perfect romance story to match the absolutely stunning music these two make. If you are new to these artists then check out the releases they both put out last year. Nils Frahm’s ‘felt’ and Ólafur Arnald’s ‘Living Rooms Songs’ are two fantastic ‘modern-classical’ spectacles in sound. Back to the collaboration though. ‘Stare’ is the outcome and it’s being released this Saturday on vinyl, perfectly in time for Record Store Day. The sound on the record is far more minimal and more electronic than their usual material but the beautiful ambiance that these two can both create still remains. All I can say, is give it listen. It’s music that speaks for itself.
The album is being fully streamed on Drowned In Sound’s website and while you a listening there you can read words from both Arnald’s and Frahm’s about the project.
New Music: Peaking Lights - LO HI
The ground that Peaking Lights’ music covers is admittedly new for me but increasingly, I’m finding myself always returning and getting completely immersed in it. When describing the sound, Sun Araw’s name will almost always come up in conversation and it’s easy to understand why. Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw creates huge soundscapes jam packed with dubbed out basslines, pulsating beats, wierd synths, reverb drenched murmuring and everything else inbetween to result in a psychedelic stew of sounds. Although Peaking Lights share many, if not all, these characteristics, they are laid out with more emphasis on a constant rhythm and doesn’t sound a million miles away from reggae music and the likes of The Congos. The basslines in Peaking Lights’ 2011 release ‘936’ are huge. They are the type of basslines that even when played at a rather tame and temperate volume, your neighbors will have no choice but to sit down and listen (see ‘All The Sun That Shines’… or pretty much every track on ‘936’).
A little over a year later from the release of ‘936’ comes news of their next record titled ‘Lucifer’ that will be released on the 19th of June. This news is delightfully accompanied with the track ‘LO HI’. The track is in true Peaking Lights fashion, big basslines and the like, but this time round things are sounding way more relaxed, free flowing and reggae inspired. The introduction of majestic flutes and the chuckling of the duo’s baby son Mikko, adds to the sense of joy, freshness and a new life for the pair. ‘Lucifer’ is definitely another one to add to my highly anticipated releases list for this summer!
