2010 is swiftly closing for business, if you hadn't noticed! It's time to take a look back on some stuff that has been fresh and engaging musically. First for me, left-field producer and remixer, Derwin, or Gold Panda, who has been dreamy. The great thing about him really is the processes of his creation. I seem to be on this theme quite a bit at present! Seriously though, how can you not love the idea of Mr. Panda scouring charity shops for old records and VHS tapes, which he then turns into distorted samples, wrapping them in minimal, warm beats. 'Snow & Taxis' & 'Peaky Caps' are 2 tracks that are essential in a summation of anything aural this year!!
Michael Craig-Martin's work has always been vibrant and compelling. I stumbled across this article the other day discussing his work processes, and more widely, his career development. For me, the idea of 'digitalism' is enthralling, as Craig-Martin, as a man of an older disposition, has fully embraced the uses of technology within the process of his work. But, he makes the rules between himself and machine. Seemingly relieved, he said "I could scan all the separate images that I wanted to assemble on to the computer, which was unbelievably liberating for me. My work process was tediously slow in the past, and the implications of making even the smallest change were immense, but now I can make 1,000 changes and think nothing of doing 100 drawings" Insightful. A lovely look at ideas and views, that'd otherwise usually be contained within the inner-sanctum of four studio walls.
Situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, this airport is haunting. Creepy, to the point that I want to go to the city just to make a ethereal 6-minute long silent film on Super8 - being wheeled around on a baggage trolley, shooting from ground level, of this now derelict shell. A film that contemplates not just the greatness of the space, the beauty in it's pre-war structure, but also its tormented Nazi past. Albert Speer, chief architect for the Third Reich, was in charge of designing all the Nazis building projects, the more grandiose, the better. Tempelhof was one of Europe's most iconic pre-WWII airports, which in its history has boasted having the world's smallest duty-free shop. However, in the 1930s, like most of Berlin, it took on the Nazis, lost, and got all expanded and redeveloped!!
The old terminal was replaced with a new terminal building in 1934. The airport halls and the adjoining buildings, intended to become the gateway to Europe and a symbol of Hitler's "World capital" Germania, are still known as one of the largest built entities worldwide, and have been described by British architect Sir Norman Foster as "the mother of all airports". With its façades of shell limestone, the terminal building, built between 1936 and 1941, forms a 1.2 kilometre long quadrant. Arriving passengers would have walked through customs controls to the reception hall. Interestingly, and less controversially, this is the birthplace of the German national airline, Lufthansa, which was founded in Tempelhof on 6 January 1926.
Yesterday I decided to make some, well, pictures(?!) around the topic of parquetry. Simply, parquet is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect. The two main uses of parquetry are as veneer patterns on furniture and block patterns for flooring. The past states, floors were highly valued and earned attention at all times, apparently. In Europe by the 17th century, masters had achieved perfection in producing art parquet - patterns that are entirely geometrical and angular - squares, triangles, lozenges etc. Art parquet developed in Russia very fast with the most popular parquet installation technique - herringbone.
Henrik Potter, other than being a real decent bloke, has done some work around flooring. Not specifically because of an burning infatuation with parquet and its techniques, craft, grandeur, and aesthetic, like in my case. His flooring solutions were made out of wanting to cover 'ugly spaces'. His floors are more substantial than my masking tape/card efforts, as Potter uses 8'x4' 12mm plywood, tape of various sorts and not just one, but yes! Two varnishes. You really can tell, can't you!(?!?!)
I have never felt overly awed by Australia. I have family there, have never been, and am not too bothered about going, well, just yet anyway. Stumbling onto these photographs though has definitely given me some food for thought. It's not all sprawling beaches of vast (boring?!) golden sand! Joe Coleman captures the ruggedness that Oz has to offer in a collage-y, over-exposed and vivid manner.
He seems to lead a pretty bohemian existence, with life, unsurprisingly, centering around the coast. He shoots off basic gear, which adds to the aesthetic of his work - using, for the moment, mainly a Yashica FX-3, Contax t2 and Smena 8m. Other work from Coleman is more subject driven, but it's his ethereal, geological, surfy-fused pictures that drew me in. Check out his pictures and words here!
I can't stop listening to The Strokes seminal debut work Is This It. I can't stop listening to it so much that I have even, rashly, just bought the US Import version of the same CD for a whole £4.99 (it's all about the different cover artwork, and the omission of the track New York City Cops for When It Started - a decision taken in light of the 9/11 terror just as the record was going to press/being released in 2001)
The album is just brilliant. Basically, it was the birth of late 90s/early noughties Garage Rock Revival, or as it has become more widely know as... all-out Indie music. Moving away from the mire of grunge was more than welcome, by myself, if not by anyone else. Although, for those who don't know, this record made The Strokes HUGE, so I think the sentiment was shared!! It's such an optimistic set of tracks, fast-paced, romantic, modern, and joyous. What's more, the album has a beautiful 'stuck-in-time-ness' about it. It encapsulates the time it came from so perfectly, carefree. It basically involved getting drunk, having fun, no pretension, and not giving a fuck! Summed up in Someday.
Anyway, I have got totally sidetracked. I wanted to get into Roman Coppola, the director for all the bands videos off Is This It. They are real simple, jokey and enjoyable affairs, which resonates and sympathise with the tone of the record. For instance, Last Night shows the band simply set up in a studio, drinking and playing, basic. This was a tried-and-tested method that the Arctic Monkeys re-used (ahem!) out-right copied when it was realised that they were going to be the biggest thing since, well... The Strokes!! Someday, shows the band indulging in fun. They appear in a (forced) Family Fortunes style panel show, and their being playful. Yet, an intimacy is shared on camera, as shots from the game-show are cut with time spent with friends, chilling in downtown bar in New York.
Hard To Explain has to be the most memorable and intriguing vids, out of them all, as it questions what you see, and questions life at large. Coppola's direction is clever, he introduces the band subtly, and plays his part in being controversial by including sexual content, images of bombs, etc. whilst keeping the image of the band... very, innocent-looking! Dropped after the video for for sci-fi effort on 12:51, that seems to be the end of their love affair! But what a great and iconic one it was!!
2010 is swiftly closing for business, if you hadn't noticed! It's time to take a look back on some stuff that has been fresh and engaging musically. First for me, left-field producer and remixer, Derwin, or Gold Panda, who has been dreamy. The great thing about him really is the processes of his creation. I seem to be on this theme quite a bit at present! Seriously though, how can you not love the idea of Mr. Panda scouring charity shops for old records and VHS tapes, which he then turns into distorted samples, wrapping them in minimal, warm beats. 'Snow & Taxis' & 'Peaky Caps' are 2 tracks that are essential in a summation of anything aural this year!!
