If there´s an album i just cant stop listening to and i cant stop recommending these days its Wild Beasts “Two dancers” (Domino 2009)...from the opening chords of “The fun powder plot” you just know that this is going to be a great record to hear, what´s the big deal about it that makes it one of the best 2009 albums? i would say that the way of handling falsetto by their two singers its so near to perfection that makes it work out so well with the never-ending delays and guitar harmonies
it´s not easy to use falsetto there´s a really thin line between making a good job or just screw the whole song up and frontman Hayden Thorpe knows exactly what he is doing in this art-pop record full of ethereal compositions with strong lyrics and dance floor beats
a look into central market
another recomendation i would like to make its for the majestic debut of Battles frontman Tyondai Braxton with his ambicious solo project, in his first album Central Market he basically took an orchestra put them inside a room and gave them his vision of music translated into partitures.
a wild trip inside braxton´s world through imaginary landscapes, an enormous variety of instrumentation from all kinds of brass, kazoos to strings weird voices with a final outcome that makes you remember of a crazy cartoonish psychodelic soundtrack.
“Platinum rows” its the central theme for this record and i would describe it as nothing less than a masterpiece of our days, full of unusual musical harmonies with Braxton compositional style all over the song this is one of those albums that nobody should miss the opportunity to hear, in the next interview Braxton explains how he recorded the album working in a multilayer style, recording each part of the orchestra brass, woodwinds, strings, etc separatedly so he could then put them all together as a big musical puzzle.
This album had been cooking in Braxton studio in New York for years and as Pitchfork media described it "Central Market proves bigger in the sense that it's clearly been delivered as a statement record-- a summation of lots of ideas accrued over the years and lots of restless thinking about how best to engage those ideas in ways far from expected".
Hope you enjoy listening to both of these records more recommendations coming soon....
How does The Pigmy Deer Network promotes Mexican creativity ?
Since 2008, The Pigmy Deer Network , a project conceived by Las Bellas Artes Org. , has supported Mexican artists and the promotion of their work BOTH: home and abroad. The Pigmy Deer Network aims are to seize the best original, creative national projects in order to represent Mexico´s Contemporary Creativity worldwide. We go from assessing and selecting projects to publish, guide or connect to other artists. This creates an active network, where its participants are informed and aware of the artistic/creative situation in matter.
That´s why The Pigmy Deer Network was created by Las Bellas Artes Org. . Not only to be recognized as The First Mexican Talent Stock ever structured, but to be a project where the multidisciplinary collaboration structures results worth seeing worldwide.
On the other side, Las Bellas Artes.Org is an art-based business platform hired by artists and institutions. We structure the conception, organization and production ofexhibitions. We are based in Mexico, New York & Barcelona.
ART+CULTURE+CRITIQUE MAGAZINE THE 1st. EDITORIAL PROJECT BY
THE PIGMY DEER NETWORK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Art+Culture+Critique Magazine is an almost-daily compilation of national and international news about contemporary culture and all its manifestations, including art. We feature the best national artists, projects, and websites along with the best creative manifestations.
Our collaborators are artists, architects, curators, designers, editors, etc. Until now , 5 different counties are involved in this online editorial project.
We are always looking for the best collaborators so if you are interested on being part of us, drop a line:
Everyone shouts who you should "follow" , and it´s all in a hidden code ( hash tag ). Easy, very easy cowboy !!! There is even a contact called @followfriday, that rates the most"follow-fridayed" contacts....UFF....I KNOW...IT´S ALL TWISTED.
#FF made me realize the power of this incredible tool called Twitter. The power of someone to shout out loud whom to follow, AND TO REALIZE PEOPLE ARE "LISTENING" .
As a friend of mine wrote down on my personal blog: Crochet is the new Yoga.Everybody is doing it, experiencing it and finding it really mind-inspiring and body-freeing.
Truly. If you have recently had problems with concentration, self-esteem, depression, whatever, try and shop your hook or your needles, some colorful yarns and get to it. Youtube has some serious and trustworthy links on how-to's by professionals.
But if you truly want to do something else besides scarves, sweaters and headbands, try to crochet antropomorphic forms, cute animals or even ragged dolls the japanese way. Amigurumi(編みぐるみ?, lit. knittedstuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed
animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. .
This is as further as the "modernize grandma's art" has gone. It is hip, it is new, it is cute. Amigurumi dolls can go from the cutest teddy-bear to full-sized sandwiches and tea parties for your eyes and hands delight.
Nothing screams "young & fresh" more as this japanese artistry with fans all over the world, and photographs and how-to's and patterns flooding the internet, it's about time we all joined the creative Amigurumi mayhem.
It's about time to make little pieces of "affordable art ".
I believe that at the beginning of an architect’s career, design becomes more attractive with the awareness of the temporal concept, because it involves an expiration date and it's strategic approach in such a complex way that has to be purely functional. These terms applied to the way of life result on the “URBAN NOMADS”, which are people who base their lives on mobility; they go from one place to another taking with them just the necessary things for survival. Is it true? Do they exist? Is it a fantasy or is the project of an artist is always making real their most anarchist feelings that all of us want to experiment some times? There are so many referents that become more well-known by the people that design a place for the homeless. Here are some links so that everyone can decide if they want bring their lives into a bag.
Maybe I should talk about a contemporary worry that affects all artists in these days. Manifest a way of reaction, the fear of losing the green areas around the earth and a “pay attention” for everybody to have the conscious of this actual concern calling global warming. Sometimes more artistic interventions, sometimes really trying to fix the human problem called selfish. We’re talking about URBAN TEMPORAL GARDENS. Yes, because (today I feel “more green” than other days) I’d really like found with this surprises on the streets. There´re so many projects but I share the most well-done for me.
Sean Martindale & Eric Cheung, some like guerrilla gardening taking advantage of urban holes to plant some green. Interesting photos here.
This is “Urban buds” of Gionata Gatto, a portable garden shaped in the form of a movable suitcase. Users can grow vegetables and fruits on each side of the structure.
This is a design by Vaughn Bell. He has a lot projects about gardens but I choose this outfit for the unique idea of carry on your own garden.
And the Dutch Annechien Meier that incorporates the idea of mobility and even more subversive transforming a plane or a bus into a garden.
And my favorite temporal garden, is the Public Farm 1 is a project designed by WORK Architecture Company for MoMA and P.S.1's Young Architects Program on New York.
"¿Dónde se encuentra toda la gente creativa de este país? ¿Dónde exponen? ¿Por qué no nos conocemos y empezamos a formar una red de creativos? ¿Quien los representa en otros países? Estas fueron las premisas con la que empezamos este gran proyecto y para tratar de entender lo que significa Las Bellas Artes solo basta con decir que somos una agrupación liderada por tres creativos. Nuestro impulso es que se reconozca el arte y diseño junto con sus autores a nivel internacional. Dos arquitectos y una diseñadora han sido los cimientos para que esta plataforma se integre de una manera progresiva. LBA, es el acrónico que utilizamos para Las Bellas Artes.
Lo conformamos Eva Guerra, arquitecta urbanista, originaria de la ciudad de Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Fundadora de The Pigmy Deer Network –stock de talento mexicano-ahora proyecto satélite y fuente de inspiración para LBA. Katia Rodriguez, diseñadora grafica por la UDEM en Monterrey, con estudios de fotografía en Florencia, Italia y Gustavo Ortega-Oyarzun oriundo de Celaya, Guanajuato, arquitecto con especialidad en diseño de interiores y carpintería de diseño, quien reúne en el 2008 ideas y expresiones que surgen en la escena artística y creativa en nuestro país con el objetivo de dar acceso a una red de difusión para la exhibición de la obra de artistas y diseñadores, y así aumentar la conciencia artística en otros países.
Las artes, como ya sabemos, son un medio de comunicación, una necesidad del hombre de expresarse y comunicarse mediante formas, colores, sonidos y movimientos, hoy en día "Bellas Artes" sigue siendo una expresión asociada a la belleza y se refiere al conjunto de los 7 tipos de arte que existen. Nosotros consideramos utilizar este nombre como antítesis del peso que conlleva, explicando que no es necesario tener una trayectoria larga o un currículum destacado para que un artista emergente, el cual es poco conocido por el publico y que todavía permanece en retaguardia, pueda romper el silencio que rodea su trabajo y así luchar casi en el anonimato por comunicar su naturaleza particular.
Nuestra labor es intensificar el dialogo entre el artista y el receptor, nuestro objetivo es darles la oportunidad de presentar su obra frente una audiencia internacional y nuestra misión es servir como puente para que las nuevas ideas y el arte emergente fluyan entre las comunidades del arte contemporáneo a nivel local, nacional e internacional."
i will be starting to write for this blog about music, album and concert reviews, sound techniques, mixing and recording tips, music history, sound art etc, etc hope you enjoy reading
to begin with i´d like to start talking about a general debate among the music industry nowadays, what is better digital sound or analog sound?
in our daily life we come across all sorts of media from tv to newspaper to the internet talking about how wonderful digital world is, how we couldnt live without it and saturating us with the latest gadgets and gizmos available...in music there is no exception and actually music industry as we used to know it it´s already evolving into something yet unknown for us thanks to this technological progress.
our generation fell into this big gap between the collapsing of the record industry and the growing of streaming, and also between the falling of the huge recording studios full of amazing analog equipment emulating all of those sounds with plug-ins in a tiny little laptop for our home studios...is this a tragedy for us musicians, composers, producers, and everyone who just likes to seat down , relax and hear some music?? well there are two sides to view it:
why analog sound is better?
as society our ears are already used to hear music in its worst form and shape: MP3 the most popular data reduction format which basically takes all the information that our ears “dont hear” and erase it besides of crushing the dynamic range of our favorite songs just so it can be listened as loud as it can and you can fit a billion songs in your mp3 player.
From that point of view its more than obvious that digital world killed the beauty of analog sound. The best possible way of hearing music took place in the late 60's with totally analog recordings and the perfecting of vinyl records allowing people to hear their favorite records in stereo. There are still many people listening music this way but its more than a minority if we compare it with people streaming music or listening with their ipod through some cheap speakers.The most beautiful and iconic records were made through analog equipment taking for example the best album ever recorded Kind of blue by Miles Davis and in a more mainstream way Michael Jackson´s Thriller which is the biggest sales album of all time and as Quincy Jones (Jackson´s producer) would say “there is certain magic when you seat down and start recording, the way circuits and sound interact and the outcome of this interaction its just overwhelming”.
Unfortunately for us in these times with the whole industry going down its almost impossible to afford this kind of equipment or recording sessions, record companies are no longer interested in spending thousands and thousands of dollars in the production of an album if they can spend 8 times less using digital equipment and earn 8 times more with huge world tours.
why digital sound is better?
digital sound as it is could never be compared with analog since its only data stored in a computer but there are several reasons as to why its the best choice to record nowadays, its more affordable , more portable , and the quality its so good that for the regular ear its impossible to notice the difference from analog sound.
take your own conclusions and while we find out what is going to be the solution for music industry not to die the best thing i would recommend you to do is:
ºif you are a musician, composer, producer and want to get the most out of your home studio get the best Monitors you can afford, if you are not able to have a good listening to what you´re doing you are doomed, good Microphones to have the best possible captation of your recording and the most important thing above all, get also the best Analog to Digital Converter you can afford since we are already inmersed in the digital world you have to get into it as smooth as you can, as a personal recommendation you can take a look at these brands to get the most out of your recordings:
http://www.apogeedigital.com/ ---great sound quality for A/D Converters at reasonable price.
http://www.lucidaudio.com/ --- also great A/D Converters
http://www.rodemic.com/ --- for me Rode Microphones are one of the best choices in the market they are affordable and have an amazing captation quality.
http://www.adam-audio.com/de --- one of the best choices for studio monitors
http://www.genelec.com/products/?c=spain --- another groundbreaking choice for monitors
And if you are ever lucky enough to seat and mix in an analog console simply enjoy the ride
I admit that Posen is not exactly my favorite designer, I think of him as an overrated talent that could not carry his brand with a lot of sense, sometimes it was good, sometimes it was bad, sometimes very regular and almost never spectacular, after 8 years of this you are obviously left with a bad impression.
This idea of him been overrated comes on how the press presented him back in 2002: a huge fashion talent with a very short carrier. He was one of the “designers to watch” pack that went straight from school to the runway (Proenza Schouler and Behnaz Sarafpour were part of this).
Proenza Schouler Primavera 2010.
But then I got to think, what Zac Posen did wrong? How come he is now so far from the beginning of his carrier? Did he loose his talent along the way?
Not precisely. It’s not as simple as talent-equals-success; you need to make careful choices for what you do with your craft.
Behnaz Sarafpour Primavera 2010.
I’m no fashion designer, I write about fashion, so I can only begin to understand what they go trough to make it in the business.
Analyzing his and other designers that had lost momentum as well, I noticed some choices that could have led them to be forgotten or (and much worse) cause the indifference of the industry.
I reduce it to these 3 advises that you can follow (or not) for avoiding becoming an ephemeral designer.
1. Relax. Do not succumb to pressure.
As a “young promise” you’ll get a lot of praising, exaggerated compliments will come in tons, adjectives like “The new Ralph Lauren” or “The salvation of Halston” would drop on your shoulders and will not let you sleep. This kind of pressure can cause designers to act nervous and unsure, so they will not be at the top of their game to show off their talent.
That was the case of Julien Macdonald, in 2001 the LVMH Group hired the designer to be the creative director of the house of Givenchy, replacing (after a very public dispute with the group) Alexander McQueen and winning over Alber Elbaz and Olivier Theyskens. When he started he was dubbed as “The Welch wizard” because of his very well executed garments, but for 2003 his clothes were described as “trying too hard”. Julien felt the weight of the house of Hubert de Givenchy (and their owners) and after only 3 years he left the company to star one of his own. He did not wanted to deal with the critics and bad reviews anymore.
Givenchy Primavera 2002.
The opposite of this story is Riccardo Tisci, who has prove to have a very thick skin, his biggest detractor is non other than Cathy Horyn the critic of the New York Times, who until recent seasons has been accepting his designs.
Is better to take the risk reinventing a house being loyal to your vision than fall under the pressure of the legacy, trying to please the owners to the extreme.
Givenchy Primavera 2010
2.Choose your home very well.
As newly graduate is almost impossible to say NO to the great offers of being in charge of a well-known brand that the big luxury groups (like LVMH, PPR or the Prada Group) make. But choose wisely because no matter your talent, as a designer you can have cero chemistry with the company.
Olivier Theyskens is one of the great talents that right now is unemployed. The designer can’t find a fashion house that fits him: his success with Rochas in 2003 disappeared when the brand was discontinued in 2006; his next opportunity with Nina Ricci was a failure (even though the critics loved the collections) when the shareholders did not renewed his contract. Theyskens is now busy with the publication of his book“The Other Side of The Picture” (published by Assouline), but is still looking for a place to work his fashion ideas. Is almost a crime to see all that talent being waste.
Rochas por Olivier Theyskens.
A good example of choosing correctly is Raf Simons. When Gianni Versace died he was offered to be his replacement but something happen and Donatella was left in charge.
Jil Sander Otoño 2009 por Raf Simons.
Simons today plays with the silhouette of a woman with exceptional craft in every collection he presents for Jil Sander, a true match made in heaven that has brought him critics and commercial success.
Talent can be abundant, but it needs someone that understands the value that it has so the designer will not be forsaken (or replace by Lindsay Lohan).
3.Do not underestimate experience.
Is quite normal to see young designers being thrown to the center stage with just one collection in their portfolio and cero experience on how to deal with the press or the administration of a business.
Zac Posen had the world on his feet for 4 seasons with investors and critics praising his collections, he got carried away by all of this and he began to create this extravagant persona in the style of John Galliano: a dramatic outfit, famous friendships and an attitude full with confidence that was easily mistaken for arrogance, the problem was that he has not Galliano’s long career in fashion and this behavior was making the stage persona more important than the clothes itself.
The Proenza Schouler boys (Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough) are the success case, their graduation collection was bought for Barneys New York and ever since they have been focus in the design of each product they develop to the max. The Proenza Schouler accessories line was launch last year with the same positive reviews and sales than the clothing line.
It doesn’t matter how good you are, if you are new in the business you need to learn all the tricks so you can use it in your favor.
A good friend of mine is studying fashion design in Paris, when we discussed the topic of this post, he asked me to talked about the not so successful designers with a lot of love, recognizing their talent.
And he is totally right, the new designers suffer that the press elevates them to the point of gods and then destroys them in the next seasons. The CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) choose every season a young design promise to promote using all of their resources.
The council can easily forget about this if the chosen talent doesn’t bring investors in a certain amount of time. Is like they only have a small moment to prove they are worth it.
Is not all the fault of the institutions when the designers also give in to the game. Is like survival of the fittest, there always will be someone to praise them, but not always to guide them.
