Horizon Fire is the music project of graphic designer Paul Tebbott. From reading information about him it is clear that he is dedicated to his work whether it be his art or music. Paul is a self-taught graphic designer and electronic musician. His sound reminds me of the styles of Boards of Canada, Tycho and GDEB which are all great musicians. It came to my attention that Horizon Fire has release an EP called "Piney Hills Blaze EP" which he is making available to download for free. I highly recommend downloading this EP. Paul informed his Myspace followers that there will be some new music coming in 2010 along with some new posters. He states he will also be working on another music project. In the mean time while you wait patiently for new works from Paul enjoy his CD and posters designs.
Being a huge fan of Speed Garage I wanted to share with the readers of Damion DJ & Producer Blog "The Speed Garage Chronicles". The project has been taken on by Dj Skillz a speed garage enthusiast. Skillz has spent some many years behind the decks making crowds bounce to Speed Garage and in doing so he has acquired a large amount of Speed Garage records. So in having all these vinyl's the Speed Garage Chronicles is born. Skillz decided to take all of his vinyl that he owns and turn it into a large collection of mixed speed garage sets for your enjoyment. He will be posting 1 to 2 new mixes a week until he has played all of his vinyl.
So you might be wondering what is Speed Garage. Well let me tell you it is a form of house with vocal samples. Unlike garage, speed garage is based on a 4/4 time break beat and is characterized by a distinctive reggae influenced, jumpy, synthesized bass line and time stretched, phased or flanged samples. If you really want to find out what speed garage is check out the first two chapters of the chronicles right here. If you want to download them click here
I was looking for posters of the 2010 Olympics and I found out that the Olympics were held in Canada back in 1976. So I was then intrigued to see what the designs were on the posters that were created and used back in 1976. It seems in 1976 they had very minimalistic designs concepts. I'm still not sure about the beaver poster and it's meaning but then I found out that the beaver is the animal symbol for Canada. If you want to know why you can find out at Canadiana Connection.
Well it is that time again where I share some awesome music with the readers of TCL. This playlist has some good bands like the Geographer, Frighten Rabbit, Said the Whale and more.. I would advice though that the last track by Mux Mool is off the chain and deserves a listen to. The guy has skill. So have a listen to Playlist-10.
Cover art by: Damion Schweizer
Tracklist
1. Boy Lilikoi by Jonsi
2. Holly Ontario by Said The Whale
3. Josephine If You Only Knew by Dylan & The Movie
4. Lately (Deuxieme) by Memoryhouse
5. Despicable Dogs by Small Black
6. My Arms by Bloodgroup
7. Blood by The Middle East
8. Boys at School (Hot Chip Cover) by Grizzly Bear
9. Can't You Wait by Geographer
10. Daydream by Beach Fossils
11. Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms by Frighten Rabbit
12. Map And Compasses by Goodnight Owl
13. California English Pt. 2 by Vampire Weekend
14. Death 9000 (Prof & P.o.S. Broadcasting Version) by Mux Mool
There are times in your life when you will hear a bands sound that will forever be embedded into your hearts and memories. There is a new band that is doing just that and they are called: Geographer. This band was voted one of “Three Undiscovered Bands You Need to Hear Now” by Spin Magazine. I now know why, Deni's voice is so soothing and versatile while providing simple, sweet melodies. The cellos plus synthesizers make their music a little poppy yet danceable but still relaxing to the ears. They are currently working on their New EP Animal Shapes which will be released in March 2010 and I cannot wait to get a copy. This band is a great collection to the music that will be part of my life. This band is going to be a big player this year in 2010 I can feel it. If you're interesting in purchasing there earlier CD Innocent Ghosts you can download it on iTunes and Amazon.
In today's post I wanted to share with you some brushes that I think are pretty inspirational and could be useful in your Photoshop brush collections. I have search for these brushes on Brusheezy due to the large collection of brushes available. I also found that they are of good quality. If the brushes listed below don't fit your fancy then check out Brusheezy for more brushes available.
Just had lunch with a friend and we were talking about comics. That's right comics cause well let's face it there awesome. He started talking to me about a program that would allow you to read comics on your iphone. So I thought why not let others know about this sweet app.
Panelfly which is a free app (App Store Link) let’s you purchase, read, and download your comics right from your iPhone or iPod touch. It has some of the biggest names in comics including Marvel and they have hundreds of titles to pick from. Panelfy’s has a well-designed interface which makes reading each issue as easy as possible. Now if you’re thinking that the iPhone or iPod touch is just to small then no worries. Panelfly will be available on the iPad in March of 2010 to give you a bigger experience.
Side note: Tycho Song "The Daydream" playing in the background.
These are some amazing sculptures by Claire Morgan. The time and skill level to complete these projects are compelling. The smallest details are very well thought out and it leaves you with wonder when admiring these pieces of art. At an early stage Claire developed a strong interest in the organic, in natural processes, and in the bodily connotations of natural materials. This formed the basis for her practice as an artist creating sculptural installations and it continues to influence her work at present. If you want to find out more information about Claire Morgan check out her site for more great work.
Belgian photographer Filip Dujardin makes images of unexpected buildings – that is, he "combines photographs of parts of buildings into new, fictional, architectonic structures," Mark Magazine explains.
From Mark Magazine:
Every montage, says Dujardin, is one project. It begins with an idea for a specific image. Often he starts off by building a model of the form he is trying to achieve – at first in cardboard, but he has recently discovered. He then goes on a photo safari, often just around the corner, to find suitable buildings "with a lot of the same things," so that they can be cut and pasted and serve as building material. In fact most of the fictional structures are buildings in Ghent, just re-sampled
All of his fictional buildings leave the mind to wonder into a world where this structures exist and are marveled for their design. It also makes you wonder if something like these can actually exist. Take a look at some of his work and let me know what it reminds you of when you gaze upon his structural masterpieces.
I found this really interesting project lead by Alan Woo on seeing if there were any stark similarities or contrasts within particular films. Pie aims to create an incredibly simple and concise baseline of comparison of films trough one particular trait: color say Alan Woo. The outcome is a number of triptychs comparing various films of particular trilogies, directors or genres. A program written in processing captures each frame of each movie and essentially creates a 'pie chart' of the colors contained within each film producing a simplistic and abstracted representation. Each poster includes the film title, year, director, cinematographer, running time and occasionally, various surprising/unsurprising similarities.
I found this very interesting and the depth in which he thought up this idea is pretty neat. The posters also have a very simplistic look but an in-depth background of how it came about.
I thought this was something I had to share with the readers of Damion DJ and Producer Blog. It is a 2010 pop up calendar designed by German designer Johann Volkmer.
I am unsure if he designed this calendar to show his amazing skills at crafting a pop up calendar for each month or he is looking to mass produce these calendars. Either way I would want one for my desk at work.
I would have to say though that his website is well designed and he shows pictures of each month and also shows you the making of one of the calendars. Even though the site is in German it is still pretty easy to navigate. If you want to see more pictures of the calendars check them out here.
"In computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDR is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows." - From Wikipedia.
If applied carefully, High Dynamic Range-technique (HDR) can create incredibly beautiful pictures which blur our sense of the difference between reality and illusion. HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography is a technique that is becoming very popular at the moment, an HDR photo is created using software such as Photoshop or Photomatix and produces images with more detail in the highlights and shadows.
Acoustic folk seems to be the sound that I have been enjoying lately. It has that chill factor while still being able to enjoy the soft sounds of a guitar and listening to the well written lyrics.
Joshua Radin is one of those artist that meets those criteria. Radin, who was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio is known for his works that have been on many different TV shows such as Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy and many more.. That is how I came about finding his music. He currently has two CD out "We Were Here" (2006) and "Simple Times" (2008). Here is some information about Radin that I found interesting. He never intended on being a professional musician. He actual went to school for art and after his stint as an art teacher, screenwriter, and art gallery employee he gave music a try. Good thing he took that plunge cause his music is well written and performed.
The iGo Green power smart tower is a well thought out power strip not only for the user but also for the conservation of energy usage. This smart surge bar has eight outlets and four of them stay in a fixed position while the other four feature iGo Green technology and it rotates 360 degrees to accommodate all the different shaped plugs.
The iGo Green technology automatically powers down outlets that aren't currently in use and powers them back up when devices need power, reducing standby power usage by up to 85%. Other features include a tower-style design with integrated cable management, dual front-mounted USB ports for charging portable devices, and a 6-foot power cable with a right-angle rotating plug. The price on the iGo Green power Smart tower is a little pricey at ($80) however, it is sure to save you money in the end.
Apple has unveiled it's new Tablet called the iPad. Apple will sell the newly unveiled tablet-style iPad starting at $499 which is a lot cheaper than most would have expected from Apple. The new iPad looks to be just a overly large version of the iPhone which I think most will agree in that department.
The iPad has a 9.7-inch touch screen, is a half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds and comes with 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes of flash memory storage.Carrying a custom 1 GHz "Apple A4" chip, the iPad weighs in at 1.5 pounds and is .5-inch thin. All iPad models have an accelerometer, compass, speakers, a microphone, and a 30-pin dock connector. It will also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity built in. The iPad screen is an OLED back lit which is a plus. Just a note on the iPad it does not allow you to run more than one app at a time. Jobs said the device has a battery that lasts 10 hours and can sit for a month on standby without needing a charge. The basic iPad models will cost $499, $599 and $699, depending on the storage size. The iPad will start shipping in 60 days. And, then later, they will have 3G models. The Non-3G models will be available in March.
Now if your looking for an iPad that has 3G services you will have to wait longer and pay more in price and also have a subscription with AT&T for the data plan. AT&T will have two tiers of data plan will be available without contracts: $14.99 per month for 250 megabytes of data, or $29.99 for unlimited data usage. The 3G models will cost you $629, $729 and $829, depending on the amount of memory. These models will be available in April.
Jobs said the iPad will also be better for playing games and watching video than either a laptop or a smart phone. The iPad comes with software including a calendar, maps, a video player and iPod software for playing music. All seem to have been slightly redesigned to take advantage of the iPad's bigger screen. Applications designed for the iPhone can run on the iPad. Apple is also releasing updated tools for software developers to help them build iPhone and iPad programs.
Now here comes the task of convincing the consumer that they need this product. So many of use out there already have laptops and smartphones. Is this something that you think you would use or want. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
I happened to find the photography works of Julius Shulman wondering the internet of the world. I was fascinated by his work and his use of different angles, styles, and lighting that he used to capture his images. So while I was doing some research I found that he has a movie about how his works have coined today's view of modern architecture, many of his photographs became iconic shots. Especially famous are his photographs of Californian modernism, buildings by Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, Pierre Koenig, and Charles Eames.
Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930's. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images. The movie came out October 2009 and was narrated by Dustin Hoffman. I rather enjoyed watching the trailer to Visual Acoustics and enjoyed his photography. Therefore, my hat goes off to you Julius Shulman.
The people at the University of California, San Diego are looking to find out how babies develop and it's importants of understanding how the human brain works. So to do that they built a creepy robotic baby. In cooperation with Japanese robotics firm Kokoro Co., Ltd., the team constructed this rather complicated machine that is meant to mimic the actions of a one-year-old human child. I still can't figure out why they gave it a baby face but they forgot to give it body skin.
The robot, named Diego-san, has over 60 moving parts in its body. Its five-fingered hands are able to grasp objects, and the robot can even stand up from a sitting (in a chair) position. The head contains more than 20 moving parts that allow Diego-san to create facial expressions. The head also contains high-res cameras in the eyes, a speaker in the mouth, and accelerometers in the ears that detect the robot’s movement and position.
Diego-san is also learning while he is being taught which I think is pretty cool for a robot to do but on the other hand if he got mad. That would not be good. It could turn into a really disturbing Chucky movie.
