bad boys II

Daniel said it,

we

are

back

i've been in portland since august/september and it's pretty rad
there's less rain and work than i thought but it's a good balance
the only real bummer i can think of is that most shows are 21+ but i saw dan deacon a few weeks ago and he was filled with good vibes
otherwise i've just seen shows hosted at my school which isn't bad at all
surfer blood, thee oh sees, das racist, total bros, weed, and hausu have all rocked it (along with a buncha other bands)
people dance at shows here, it's nice
as far as what i've been up to, i finished recording some songs back in august and daniel did some art for me
if ya check it out i will love you forever



workoutculture.bandcamp.com

i've also taken some pics and am trying to get a photo zine together at some point

i'm in the airport right now about to leave for berlin



xoxo

alec

Rebirth

Hey anyone, as it turns out, we haven't completely forgotten about this blog. I've been at Rhode Island School of Design for the last three months and things have been pretty hectic. On the bright side, I have been making art a lot, and I guess I probably have some stuff I could share. Providence is a lovely and tiny city, and I've started longboarding to get around. In fact, my new board came in just yesterday:

Unfortunately, I'm still in the midst of final critique week so I won't have time for a proper art post for a few more days. Anyway, we're back, and I'm pretty confident we'll be able to get a respectable blog running again.

Daniel

XO KID

former heartthrob XO KID is being stuck doing whatever in your middle-upper-middle-upper class-teen-life going to school (public/private but probably public) and going to your "shit ass" part time job to make money for college or just because you "have to" get a job this summer or whatever and being so bored (so bored) but you stick through this because what else is there that's better to do it totally sucks where you are nothing goes on and you wish you lived in the city and you wait through all this (hating it) until that show or that weekend or that friday or that new mp3 download or going skating or summer when everything seems good and you realise "yeah, this sucks" but only most of the time and while you can't wait to be somewhere else and leave high school you are in the perfect place "for me" (even rondout valley) and it's all worth it when you finally have that moment.

XO KID is that moment. THE SLUMP is that moment. XOKID09 is that moment

xoxo

alec

Richard Long

Hey there,

I'm just going to get right into this. Richard Long is a geographical sculptor, which is to say his sculptures are inspired by geography and affect it. He's been working since the mid 60's, and his website shows and tells of his love for exploration and sensitivity to an individual's interaction with his environment. Many of his sculptures represent (or, are) paths created by walking over and over in the same area, and many others are simply visual representations of travel, energy, and geography.

This is an instillation done for the Sao Paulo Biennial, called White River Line. While some of his works represent naturally occurring landforms, others deal more with different ways of visualizing distances traveled. Via:
"A line the same length as a straight walk from the bottom to the top of Silbury Hill." Mostly I just think his work is very clever and unlike what any other artist I have seen. So, look at his stuff. I cant write anymore tonight. We are shitty.

Daniel

PURE X // PURO INSTINCT

PURE X (you may know them, previously, as Pure Ecstasy) is sitting in the kitchenette of a friend's with a friend (not necessarily that friend (although that is acceptable)) feeling warm feeling content and everything is still going on around you but you are separate and removed and can just "chill" and look back and understand and feel akin to lying with your head in between two pillows feeling "not fucked".

there's a chance that i wrote about these guys before but it has been so long since we've posted and i didn't want to lose motivation. they don't have any official albums or anything (just 7"s i think) and are really easy to just hype machine or something.



PURO INSTINCT is karen smith of the plastics of mean girls. she is very polished to a degree of plasticity yet despite this sheen not bad. It is off putting at first giving false impressions but when you delve a little deeper and get to know her you find that even she is actually very nice and has a "good personality" with well meaning intentions and ideas and you wouldn't expect it but there is creativity in her and a creation of something unique.

Headbangers in Ecstasy

we still suck
xoxo
Alec

APs

Well this is the first week of AP testing and I'm currently enrolled in 5 AP classes, so I have been busy. I'd do a proper post but I am in need of sleep. So here are some things I'm sending to the AP graders. I hope they like them (and you too.)
Named "BraveNewShit.jpg" in my AP folder (also maybe a good official title.) If you couldn't tell this didn't take much time, but it is actually a pretty serious submission.

Anyway
-Daniel

SPRING MIXXXXX

happy easter and all that

SO

I apologize a lot (about lack of posting). There is maybe a semi-legitimate reason here though, as I was in San Francisco for about half my spring break, so I couldn't have posted then. Anyways, as a present of sorts here is a mix to celebrate the spring season and the feeling of not-being-cold.

TRACKLISTING

1. Rangers - Deerfield
2. Sweet Draemz - WALSH
3. Honesty - Weed Diamond
4. Dreaming - Seapony
5. I Can Be Dreamy - COOLRUNNINGS
6. The Air Was Cold, But The Sun Was Hot - XO Kid
7. 'I Love Money Island' - Stay Cool Forever
8. Drastic and Difficult - Big Troubles
9. Horse Steppin' - Sun Araw
10. It Doesn't Mean Shit - Golden Ages
11. Salao - Branches
12. Macaulay Culkin - Workout Culture
13. A Big Fan of the Pigpen - Guided by Voices
14. In Your Room - Ghost Animal
15. Lemonade - Braids
16. Planet Party - Games

RAWK OUT


regular posting will resume shortly, i imagine

xoxo
Alec

Mister Hipp

Yo Hey I know how much you're craving a normal post, so I've no choice but to oblige. Today I'll show you some work by cartoonist Dan Hipp (a.k.a. MisterHipp.) Dan has illustrated a number of graphic novels, including the solo project Gyakushu!, and Amazing Joy Buzzards. Outside of his comic work, he makes a lot of nerdy pop-culture illustrations. His illustrations are generally done in this style: not-too-detailed but very expressive characters with exaggerated proportions and gestures, and dreamy gradient fills. His drawings are simple and cute, with inside jokes for people familiar with the fictions he draws upon, but I dont think appreciation really relies on recognition of the source material necessarily. The work on his site isn't terribly sophisticated and pretty much speaks for itself so there's not much else to say about it. He's definitely a good illustrator and a pretty strong graphic designer, and if you're any kind of culture nerd, you should be able to find some enjoyment in his work. His blog is a pretty comprehensive archive of his illustrations, so i suggest you czech it out. Link
Thanks for reading,
Daniel

I'll post in a little while but right now I am feeling supremely unmotivated. In the meantime, here is a pair of gifs I made on Friday (Friday, gotta get down on Friday).



-Daniel

DIRTY BEACHES

Dirty Beaches is lying in the back of an old beat up car that's filled with smoke, because you're smoking but also because the driver's smoking too, maybe, if there even is a driver, the smoke's been wafting around (windows closed) and this isn't even your first cigarette, there's a pack on the floor (slightly crumpled (really, only lightly)) and you are daydreaming, caught up, it's hazy and you are on the road and the lights go by in fine hypnagogic form and you feel alone and if you could only put things in perspective and see the actual passage and travel of the car you would know you are right.

I thought about writing more but end-of-america music seems better off alone.

Snag: Badlands s/t cassette

xoxo
Alec

Current Work

Turns out I haven't just been sitting on my ass for the last month. Here's some stuff I've made recently.




Love,
Daniel

Senioritis

pax
nutella
ny
bread

These are the things that Alec told me to write about. So it shall be.

So PAX East, which I may or may not have mentioned a year ago, happened March 11-13. If you don't remember that far back, or if I am lying, PAX East is the east coast version of Seattle's Penny Arcade Expo, started by the creators of the web comic Penny Arcade. It was off the chain, yo. Last year I totally did it wrong, putting way too much importance on trawling the expo floor for loot. This year I had the right idea, and although I didn't hear Mike and Jerry (of Penny Arcade) talk as much I would have liked, I did hear some good speakers, and got a chance to see some of Boston with some okay guys.
One good piece of loot I got was the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set. I've wanted to get a table together for a while and will soon be living out my nerdiest fantasies. I reckon I'll be DMing a table including Alec and some other nerds in not too long.
Oh, also I got autographs from some of my favorite vaguely famous people: Mike Krahulik, Dan Paladin, and Scott Kurtz.
And there was a giant pikachu.
As for Nutella: I am like an addict or something. I ran out a few weeks ago and until today refused to allow myself to buy more for my thighs' sakes. What caused me to cave was a bit of culinary experimentation with frying things in pancake batter. I tried frying a banana covered in nutella and was happy with the results, so I'll be doing a lot more of the sort. Also, the Nutella was on sale at the same time as buttermilk Wonderbread so it was hard not to buy both.

My school's art department went to New York on Friday on its annual visit to the Met and MoMA. I think I took some quality photos that I'll be learning how to develop on Monday. Not much to say about it until I've got pictures to talk about.

Thanks for reading this sham of a post.

Daniel

WEIRD - 0HS

Listen to Speculator. If you don't recognize the samples, you are old. It's not for everyone, sure, but if you had a childhood, not so long ago, your ears will perk up. The haze will clear from your eyes and your ears will perk up and you are a cat and you will have that feeling that you have heard that somewhere before and you are right. From those old cartoons, from those old sit-coms and tv shows and radio programs and everything. His lifestyle tape is absolutely kickin'. It's only 7 bucks and he makes them himself juuust for you. If you can't understand what a Super Shredder is or reasonably infer, you are an oldie. Not a bad thing. This tape will make you young again.

Free download from his official Angelfire: 21st century!



I've heard James Ferraro described as "the King of Drone". It could be true. It could not be true. I'm no drone-expert I can't say. What I can say is that I listened to a 14 minute drone piece by this feller and it was pretty superb. What's more, I can say that his latest album, Night Dolls with Hairspray is even better. It's not even (too) drone-y. Chock full of sick 'n' twisted jams about high school and life and girls and babes and hunks and hucksters and nerds and jocks. It's the John Hughes album Ariel Pink never released because it was too weird for him. If James Ferraro was a Breakfast Club character, he'd be the one that dies.

SNAG SWAG NOW

- xoxo Alec
(sorry I suck so much and it took a whole month to post. wowee)

Rafael Sarmento

Hey everyone, today I'll be talking a bit about the work of Rafael "Rafa" Sarmento. I am irked by his lack of a substantial online presence, but I think there is enough to at least talk about. The most recent information I have on Rafa is from 2008, so it may be a bit outdated, but as of then, he was a self-taught illustrator from Brazil, with plans to study abroad and acquire formal training and some experience. With that in mind (and even without) I think his work is quite impressive.

Something Rafa's been doing lately is "Tradigital" pieces; art created primarily by traditional means, (in this case, graphite, acrylic, and gauche) and finished with digital effects. I am under the impression that this is a technique that's on the rise, but I really like how he's used it; the digital effects augment the traditional foundation in a variably subtle way, without becoming the focus. I think it's good that the traditional elements remain dominant because at least in the case of Rafael's work, the parts created manually have a lot of life and sensitivity in them, which I think is harder to achieve digitally. Here is some more stuff so you can get a feel for his style:

I think it is apparent from the work available on his flickr that he would benefit from a formal education. I don't really think his technique is lacking, but I feel that his creative process would benefit from the experience of art school. His pieces are not exactly homogeneous, but there is a certain similarity between them beyond their shared style, so I feel like has been somewhat limited by the kinds of subjects and style he is familiar with.

I think the fragmentation motif is a lot of fun, but a little played out. Still, I really enjoy looking at Rafa's work.

I hope you've enjoyed and thank you for reading.

Daniel

TONSTARTSSBANDHT/BIG TROUBLES

Just finished coming off a weeklong weekend and I guess I never found the time to post. Sorry about that.
Tonstartssbandht consists of two brothers, Andy and Edwin White, who used to live in Florida but now live up in Montreal. Tonstartssbandht is a little bit like you are at a party and in a room that is not the music room, chatting to some friends/chicks/w/e, and you hear this music coming over the speakers and it sounds kind of like there are two people in the music room fighting over what music is playing and they keep skipping back and forth between two cds and one of the cd's contains fuzzed out guitar and drum rock and roll and the other has some guys who are singing weird catchy pop songs but that cd is scratched so it is even stranger than you might imagine. Oh, and the speakers are torn so everything is extra fuzzed. Tonstartssbandht is those two cds.

Check 'em out: Dick Nights and An When


Big Troubles is a sublime shoegaze band from new york/new jersey (i think) and they're signed to one of my fave labels, Olde English Spelling Bee. Think of old MBV (pre-loveless, gee whiz) and they've got those really great, heartfelt, bittersweet vocals singing simple, why-didn't-think-of-that kind of melodies soaked in and surrounded by swirly fuzzed out guitars. Their album Worry came out last year and is one of my favorites, been blasting it pretty constantly.

Worry

that's all for now

xoxo
Alec

Photography

Hey guys, long time, no see.

I feel bad about not posting in forever and even this post will be curt. At any rate, here are some photographs I took this summer but really didn't around to looking at until now.

When I was in San Francisco, I got to meet my dad's college roommate and some friends of his. It was pretty special. We had a weenie roast and clam bake on the beach.
It got very cold after the fog rolled in. This is when we were putting out the coals.
Here is one from more recently:


I hope some of these appeal to you.

Thanks a lot for reading.

-Daniel

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HEY

IT'S DANIEL'S
BIRTHDAY TODAY


HAPPY BIRTHDAY

xoxox Alec

The New Year

Wow, the first post of the new year. Just about one year ago we started this blog, and we are still going. We've had some ups and downs, especially about frequency of posting but hopefully we'll get better in the new year.

Anyway, I've been listening to a lot of stuff lately but the first thing I want to mention is Reading Rainbow.

This is the cover of their first real/offish album. They've kicked around in the lo-fi/noise pop scene for a while (and that stuff is really good) but they've cleaned it up a bit on Prism Eyes. It came out near the end of 2010 and the only reason it didn't make my year end's list was because I really hadn't had enough time with it. It's a killer album though, plenty of sweet pop hooks and they didn't completely eradicate the noise so it is still fun. I think they're gonna blow up/get huge this year, they've already gotten way more popular. Kinda bummed I missed seeing them in a pizza parlor in December (with Coasting) but I wouldn't have had anyone to go with anyway.

Stream the stuff on their bandcamp or download it here, but if you like it please buy it, it's definitely worth it.
Next up is Philip Seymour Hoffman. Named after the actor/director (featured in such films as Capote (about Truman Capote/In Cold Blood)) he makes these off-kilter, really sweet and endearing songs. He's not for everyone (a friend I recently sent a song to stopped listening after like 20 seconds) but if you can dig it, you'll probably really like it. His stuff is generally pretty simple but it's crazy intimate. From songs about crushin' on Natalie Portman (ode2natalie) to Watching the sun rise (The Lighthouse Itself is the Rocket), basically anyone can relate. They'll hit you hard an you'll feel like you're right there with him.

He's got two full length tapes out, which are both unfortunately sold-out, but you can download them for free on his bandcamp. If possible though, pay for it, they're well worth it and he's definitely worth supporting.

xoxo
Alec