…and California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension; in which the mind is troubled by some buried but ineradicable suspicion that things had better work here, because here, beneath that immense bleached sky, is where we run out of continent.
— Joan Didion, “Notes From a Native Daughter”
Photograph by Todd Hido.
Those unable to make the journey to Seattle last weekend for the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary festival can live vicariously through fan uploaded videos and Sub Pop’s own mobile broadcasting. Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman delve into the label’s history in a fair amount of detail in this interview. There are lots of reasons to celebrate the label, and those are balanced by a slew of missteps in the post-Nirvana age, referred to the Pavitt and Poneman as the “dark ages”.
Some interesting tidbits, regarding creating a visual identity that matched the sound:
This is something that’s rarely discussed or brought up, but I was always very, very conscious of networking and trying to link people up. In the same way that label would link up a musician with a graphic designer or photographer, I felt it was very important for different regional scenes, and bands in different cities to get turned on to what was going on in other cities, so the whole national scene could kind of coalesce into a more unified thing.
You say that every level needs a motif, visually. What other labels were you looking to for inspiration?
In my own mind, let’s say Blue Note, most famously. Factory Records. 4AD. And as far as the U.S. indie scene at that time, SST. All had very distinctive looks, and as somebody who had — I had also started a couple of indie record stores, I’d pretty much worked indie rock from every possible facet — what I would notice from working at record stores is that people would walk in and more times than not buy records simply because of the cover art. If there was a label like 4AD or SST that had a very consistent look, people would want to collect those records. Postcard Records from Scotland was another example. Because of the similar look, oftentimes people would want to collect everything in the series. This had a lot to do with how we packaged our singles; with the singles club, we had the bar running across the top. They became a series, and people would go out of their way to get everything in the series, and that led to a lot more record sales.
To me, the key to this identity lies in the black and white photography of Charles Peterson, which captures the sweat, hair, denim, and flannel in bipolar moments of frenzied motion or apathetic daze. His photos grace the front and back covers of almost all of the early Sub Pop releases. Pavitt discusses how the partnership with Peterson came about:
He had just finished printing life-sized photos of bands like Malfunkshun and Green River, and he had this whole showcase in his house. I looked at those photos, and I immediately knew that he was catching the energy of the groups, and combining these images with the music would work. Every record label needs a visual motif to establish [itself], and those photos would help do it.
Charles Peterson’s iconic music photography of the era has been collected in the book Touch Me, I’m Sick.
Elsewhere, Toru Aki’s blurry portraits are the antithesis of Peterson’s work — emerging from a white void, they cast everyday scenes and faces as memory ghosts. More moody photography from Lane Coder. Jamie Chung’s Project One contains black and white abstracts that are part rorschach blot and part ink on water cocktail. Be sure to follow up with her fungus photography in Project Two. (No direct links for these flash portfolios…)
More sights at Artlog in focus, but no permalinks for guests. The portfolio of the Swiss duo Fageta (via It’s Nice That) and the design & illustration of Tim Fishlock.
Felix Sockwell explains the design process behind his gorgeous icons for the New York Times on the iPhone (via Brand New). Meanwhile, some NYTimes Labs developers have launched ShifD, which could be an interesting player in the manage-your-notes-on-all-your-devices space. Old school GTD fans will probably be beside themselves at the mention of Beeswax, a curses based todo application based on Lotus Agenda. Those same people might also be interested in TwitVim, a Twitter client for Vim (of course).
Above: Robert Edgar Broughton of the Edgar Broughton Band. Wasted blues from 1968 till the present, after starting as a more straight head blues band in the late 60’s, and what British rock group didn’t start that way, the Broughton Band let things get a bit looser and ended up twisting Howlin’ Wolf and the MC5 into some sort of anarchist free blues heaviness. Charting in the UK, their most popular single foreshadowed mashups of today, nonsensically mixing a cover of The Shadows’ hit “Apache” with a raw take on Captain Beefheart’s “Apache Dropout”. Here’s an ealier live performance, minus the “Apache” sections.
Speaking of 1968, the new issue of Aperture Magazine showcases famous and striking photographs from 1968.
Drawing: The Nonist digs up drawings by people suffering from various psychological afflictions. The lettering sketchbooks of Linzie Hunter. Aza Raskin’s Algorithmic Ink paints organic patterns within your browser using the Javascript port of Processing.
Some sort of disorder, or perhaps a bit too far left of wasted: hypnotizing footage of the infamous Royal Trux stumbling mightily through radio IDs. Five Dials, a magazine. Abandon NASA Photography by Richard Harrington, snapshots of decaying futures (via MB). Even more ghostly, Vincent Fournier’s Space Project channels Solaris, Sputnik, and the modern world’s vanished dreams of not so long ago.
Nina Katchadourian stacks books to creates meaning (via Coudal). A full album of outtakes for download from drone conjurer Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s out of print Shining Skull Breath.
Easier and cheaper than a whiteboard plus a projector: transparent Post-Its (via Torrez). Guidelines for Online Success by Rob Ford, published by Taschen. Ford attempts an all encompassing analysis of completed successful online projects, I look forward to viewing a hardcopy. Sometimes it can be inspiring to see a site’s humble genesis, ink and all (via TMN).
Caedmon, the Scottish folk band responsible for one of my all time favorite folk rock records, has been born again. While I remain skeptical of any new recordings (as always in these situations), the very least we can hope for with this reawakening will be an official, widely available reissue of their lone self-titled album. Caedmon was released in 1978, more than half a decade after the first wave of British folk-rock broke, and clearly shows the influence of the Fairport Convention, Pentangle, and Steeleye Span’s modern interpretations of traditional folk songs from the British Isles.
There’s something that sets it apart though. An eclectic mix of sounds, the album has a charming everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach- acoustic instrumentation mixes with cello, organ, fuzz guitar, primitive percussion, and more. The analog recording adds a warmness and intimacy (which may or may not be emphasized by the source of the bootleg LP copy I own). The vocals of Angela Naylor weave amongs the mellower passages, blending with the voices of the other band members like some melancholic choir a-caroling. The song “Aslan” shines the brightest here, full of dueling guitar and cello leads it’s staccato rhythm propels it at a pace where it seems the band might fall off the tracks. Truly the most compelling of their arrangements, the intricate counter-melodies and arresting interplay in between the members found here create an a haunting urgency.
A new official website contains quite a bit of info on Caedmon form the members themselves, which may be a the first for a one-off private press cult band. The smashing of an original of their much sought, $500+ album shows they are not too interested in reliving/living off of the past, so perhaps the spirit lingers.
Elsewhere, an interview with the Melvins courtesy of Joe Preston, published in his zine “Matt Lukin’s Legs” from the late 80’s. Happy 50th, Jello. Musicogenic Epilepsy: seizing to Sean Paul. Not quite as serious, obsessive compulsive media libray cataloging.
Some photography: Cinerama, a photoset. Alexey Titarenko’s City of Shadows captures kinetic energy as ghostly shadows. More haunting images from Martina Hoogland Ivanow. Portraits of people and pouring, Meg Wachter’s Dumped!. WhereWeDoWhatWeDo collects photos of workspaces. The mesmerizing peril of Mark Thiessen’s forest fire photography for National Geographic (via Shoot!).
Magcloud allows one to publish and distribute a magazine from a PDF file. Will there be a resurgence in zines thanks to the long tail?
Bullit, a theme for NetNewsWire. The Wrong House: The Architecture of Alfred Hitchcock, a book (via We Make Money Not Art). The fabulous Mystery on Fifth Avenue, a house as clues (as seen throughout the web but worth another link).
In Japan, QR codes are being embedded on gravestones, creating a URI for accessing photographs and videos of the deceased via cellphones. Those who have strolled through cemeteries, wandering through aisles of strangers will wonder no longer. Mobile technology before death: cellphones now allow scientists the ability to track human movement much more precisely. The studies have revealed that the patterns closely follow power laws.
Two interesting news visualizations: TimesMachine allows you to flip through New York Times front pages back to 1851. Big Picture, a news blog exploring the power of a single image. It consists of a large format AP photograph selected from breaking news stories.
Photos of the Titanic from the Library of Congress. The artwork of Yellena James. The photography of Cecile Bortoletti and those represented by AR Photographic Agency. Wild Light: a wildlife photography blog.
Until the Kingdom Comes: artwork by Simen Johan. The Sea Inside: psychedelic ink drawings by Maia Valenzuela. The art of David Haines, who tarnishes delicate pencil drawings with gum, mosquitoes, and blood.
An interview with John Gall on book cover design, including some of his favorites.