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October 18, 2010

Guest Blogger Series 03: RSTB

Long overdue installment in our Guest Blogger Series, an ongoing forum for some of our friends and collaborators to share some thoughts on their favorite music related products.

Raven Sings The Blues, helmed by Andy French, is one of the few blogs we read regularly. Readers have come to love the thoughtful writing, diverse choice of bands, and fully approved streaming tracks. Personally, we can list 50 bands we learned about from RSTB, and for that we are thankful.

We asked Andy to pick a record he loves as much for the packaging as he does the music. He chose Ensemble Economique’s Standing Still, Facing Forward, which is available from Amish Records.

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The beauty of the packaging alone on Brian Pyle’s Standing Still, Facing Forward is enough to pique interest but once opened and explored this solo project from the Starving Weirdos member is a gorgeous expanse of tones and emotion. Built around a bed of field recordings, later manipulated by edits and composition added to the pieces; the album moves from gorgeous soundtrack-like moments to cavernous drone explorations, each further solidifying Pyle’s intention to sum up the California coast on the record. It’s as beautiful and otherworldly intense as the natural surroundings it is attempting to capture. At times feeling wrathful and as chaotic as storms; at other times the album becomes serene, as crystalline and calm as early morning stillness. It’s certainly a more practiced step forward from Pyle’s work with the Weirdos, noisy but never in the same abstract way that they seem to function. Here he seems to have harnessed noise only to impart to his listeners the nature of his mutable subject.

The release is the second installment in Amish Records’ Required Wreckers series, created with equal nods to Throbbing Gristle’s retrograde conceptualism and Recommended Records unwavering musicality. In their own words the series aims to “disrupt the boundaries typically used to delimit genre and the sensibilities that help to inform taste. In so doing, R/W slips out from under the simple, reductive classifications so often used to discuss, and even critically engage, contemporary music.” Each release is a one-time vinyl pressing and will be housed in a letterpress band (designed by Bryan Christopher Baker) that will vary with each installment. The Ensemble Economique release also comes with a 16-page art book in stark black and white style assembled by the band.

March 16, 2010

Essay Series 01: Michael Winter

We are excited to introduce a new blog series which will serve as an ongoing platform for our friends and collaborators to share long form essays on music related topics of their choosing. Thinking critically about creative output is essential to good product development, whether the product is an album, record packaging, a poster, or a t-shirt. The introductory post, from sociologist, strategist, and critic Michael Winter, provides a refreshing perspective on “Seen and Not Seen”, a standout track from Talking Heads’ Remain in Light.

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Seen and Not Seen: Identity Formation in the Talking Heads

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On “Remain In Light”, the Talking Heads’ magnum opus they explore the theme of identity formation and self-awareness on the apt titled “Seen and Not Seen”. The song written in 1980, sets up against a changing national, political and cultural landscape on the verge of reinvention – gas lines, the Iran hostage crisis and stagflation of the maligned Carter administration giving way to the incoming optimism, Morning in America of the yuppie Reagan presidency; the death of disco, CBGB and explosion of alternative DIY music genres (punk, new wave, hip-hop, world beat) and an influx of young artists such as Basquiat who was merging street art and African-American cultural icons with political/poetical slogans. Juxtaposed against an atmosphere for the band, which had released a series of critically acclaimed records on which they explored “existential futility, suburban limitations, mental disorders and the evils of corporate culture.” (“Talking Heads: Once In A Lifetime: The Stories Behind Every Talking Heads Song”, Ian Gittins, 2004); that was in flux - rumors of disbanding fueled by their front man, the encroaching influence and accreditation of Brian Eno (producer) and increasing national and international attention of their contemporaries.

From the moment one sees the cover of “Remain in Light” they are confronted with the question of identity. Psychoanalyst Michael A. Brog called the front cover a “disarming image, which suggests both splitting and obliteration of identity” and which introduces the listener to the album’s recurring theme of “identity disturbance”; he states, “The image is in bleak contrast to the title with the obscured images of the band members unable to ‘remain in light’.” To create the cover image the band called upon M&Co. Design affiliated with MIT Media Lab founded that same year and whose “domain is applying unorthodox research approaches for envisioning the impact of emerging technologies on everyday life - technologies that promise to fundamentally transform our most basic notions of human capabilities.” It is evident that this subtext that the role technology plays in our own identity transformation and human evolution was critical in the duality of the band’s exploration of their evolving musical identity and devolving band identity. By inverting the A in their name on the cover they clearly are challenging the role of ones name in defining oneself and illustrating the fissure/’identity disturbance’ happening behind the scenes.

The opening lyrics of “Seen and Not Seen” pronounce “He would see faces in movies, on T.V., in magazines, and in books….”. Exploring the function that media and cultural influences one encounters plays in identity development and then through self actualization seeks, as J.J. Arnett writes in his piece on “Adolescents’ Uses of Media for Self-Socialization” (Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 24, No. 5, 1995),  “the ones that best suit their individual preferences and personalities” mirroring as the character in the song thinks “that some of these faces might be right for him…” On this album the band was reaching beyond their urbane art-punk borders and blending emerging cultural influences from that of continental African culture, music and storytelling via mythology and the music of Fela Kuti to the emergent African American hip-hop cultural generation of Kurtis Blow’s The Breaks. Not only were the Heads looking at different faces they were going global and to the street, co-opting an entirely different skin, not unlike Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly taking from gospel hymns and the blues of southern black culture as the root of rock n’ roll, in similar respects equally repressed from the main street white cultural identity of the time.

As the song continues through its narrative - the writing style continues the use of visual cues to show how this image is different from the rest, not following the formal line breaks of standard song structure it adopts the run on prose style of stream of consciousness; represented as blocks. As one listens to “Remain in Light” they are assaulted by a repetitive polyrhythm that forms the basis and formal hook of each song on the album - ‘almost by force of will’ creating a uniformity, a signature persona projecting an ‘ideal[ized] image’ onto themselves, away from the monochromatic  Americanism to a more tuned in world view.  This was achieved by moving away from previous album constructs and so by changing their own working process, their identifying characteristic, and instead relying on jam sessions, deconstructing and looping sequences that were then moved in a non-linear fashion across the entire album they were able to “arrive at an appearance that bears no relationship to them…” altering their born identity of earlier premature albums with that of this complex subconscious or developed cultural identity like the multi-textured, cultural beat sampling coming from rap music like Afrika Bambaattaa sampling Kraftwerk in the Bronx to the radiant child graffiti of Keith Haring downtown.

Turning the lens away from the formation of the identity in the first stanza to the self-realization and questioning of this idealized persona in the second stanza they sing/chant “Maybe they imagined that their new face would better suit their personality….Or maybe they imagined that their personality would be forced to change to fit the new appearance….” Jon Pareles wrote, (“Talking Heads Talk”, Mother Jones, May 1982) “they refuse to formalize their music or their image. Each successive album has been more experimental and more ambiguous.” Going on to say, “they try a bunch of concepts and personas and want to be judged by the resulting work, consistency be damned.” The following year would see individual side projects from all of the Heads, through these non-group works the full vision and identity of “Remain in Light” is realized via these fractured prisms of David Byrne and Brian Eno’s “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” a more deeply explored cultural mash-up blending African instrumentation with televangelists, husband and wife Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz’s eponymous “Tom Tom Club” album a send up to the dialectic rap/hip-hop and house music of the African-American and gay ghettos and Jerry Harrison’s first solo effort “The Red and the Black” a veiled critique of the red faces and black border of “Remain in Light” which incorporated many of the same musicians and back-up singers to create a funkier version.

“Remain in Light”, the fourth of eight studio albums, places the band in its adolescent stage revealed through its increased fascination and awareness with the outside world and wide-eyed exploration of something individual to them, internal rebellion and formation of social cliques and political side-taking.  The resulting effect as is common in adolescence is that of something unique and often fleeting yet profound in its prophetic naivety; not yet approaching the jaded self-doubt of the closing phrase “He wonders if he too might have made a similar mistake.”

February 1, 2010

Guest Blogger Series 02: BJ Rubin

We are excited to continue our Guest Blogger Series, an ongoing forum for some of our friends and collaborators to share some thoughts on their favorite music related products.

BJ Rubin is a man of many talents. Comedian, musician, archivist, writer, and all around knowledgeable guy, its no exaggeration to say that a conversation with BJ is always an enlightening experience. As avid readers of his absolutely fantastic blog, Pukekos, we knew we had to ask him to guest blog, but little did we know he would unearth this gem of a record.

For the purposes of full disclosure, it must be stated that some of us here at SSD HQ have Three Mile Pilot tattoos, and don’t own this record. If you have not heard Chief Assassin to the Sinister, head over to Pukekos now to check it out.

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This record is very special.

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It appears to have been hand assembled, at great time and effort I imagine. Sewing things to burlap doesn’t sound like the most pleasant way to spend an afternoon, but not liking doing something doesn’t mean that you don’t like having it done.

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They obviously couldn’t contain themselves when they were putting this together, as they threw in pages from scientific reference books and Cub Scout manuals. Every bit of positive energy they could muster was put into this artifact; they cast all the spells they knew at the time on these objects.

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What we have done here is capture some of that specialness for you. Most of you will probably never know what it feels like touch an actual copy of this record, as there were very few made (and I’m sure some are already lost to history). I agree with the belief that photographing a person or an object does steal its soul, a little bit of it anyway (don’t worry, you won’t even miss it). I am sure many hands touched this object before it was put out into the world, each of them imbuing it with a little piece of their soul too.

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Not being able to touch it with your own hands shouldn’t mean that you aren’t allowed to feel it, etc.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, Three Mile Pilot’s Chief Assassin to the Sinister.

November 25, 2009

Guest Blogger Series 01: Joel Speasmaker

We are excited to introduce our Guest Blogger Series, an ongoing forum for some of our friends and collaborators to share some thoughts on their favorite music related products. Creating products that allow people to live with their music, be it apparel or music inspired art journals or frames to hang their favorite gigposters, is the mission statement for Soundscreen Design. As a company, we place tremendous value in the physical, music related objects that take up space in our homes and on our walls. Please send us a note and let us know what items you cherish, and perhaps you could be the next guest blogger.

Joel Speasmaker has been a wonderful partner in crime since we launched Soundscreen. If you know anything about Joel, you know he loves music and collecting objects, mainly records, comics and zines. In a past life, Joel was the mastermind, editor, curator, and designer of the all too short-lived art / design / comics magazine The Drama, and we could think of no better way to kick off the series than with his contribution.

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P.W. Elverum & Sun, ltd.
www.pwelverumandsun.com

As Soundscreen Design has so elegantly been an example of, music is undeniably linked to art in both its presentation and its particular meaning. For me, and no doubt many others, the emotional response a record forces out of me is completely enhanced by its packaging, whether it be through the design of the LP, the visuals accompanying a live show, or even a video streamed on the internet. Format aside, I am most drawn toward artists who obviously spend just as much time with how the public will interact with their creations as they do creating them. And I’m not talking about coming up with new ways to simply sell a product, as the music industry struggles to do. Sure, it will always be a part of it, as we all search for ways to sustain by doing what we love. But I’m looking for a tiny peek inside the brain of the artist; I want to see his or her hand at work, and witness their ideas in such a way that they can subtly influence my own. I’m looking for the honest and the passionate creators of the world.

I can’t think of a more inspiring example than Phil Elverum, formerly of The Microphones, currently of Mount Eerie, and the man behind P.W. Elverum & Sun. Long before mp3 downloads accompanied vinyl-only releases, Phil was crafting his own musical language and releasing it as beautiful and physical pieces of art, first through several LPs on K Records, and then eventually through his own label. Receiving a package in the mail from Phil is like getting something from a longtime pen pal, mailed just to you. The releases on P.W. Elverum all share this personal touch, no matter if its a simple gatefold LP or an extravagant 130+ page hard-cover book. Everything about his work is epic and magnificent, but you can tell that his intentions are pure. He loves to do what he is doing, he is searching for inspiration and meaning, he is haunted by similar demons, he cares enough to share them with you.

Maybe this description is a bit over-the-top, but its a sharp contrast to most of what I find out there. I’ve made it a point to collect most everything put out through P.W. Elverum (there’s special releases by other artists as well, including Woelv, Thanksgiving, and The Spectacle), and would suggest the same to any music OR art lover.

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noflashlight

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No Flashlight
by Mount Eerie

The first proper album as Mount Eerie, with LP packaging unfolding into a GIANT 3.5 x 5 foot two-sided poster, with lyrics and quotations and explanations and more.

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dontsmoke

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Don’t Smoke / Get Off the Internet
by The Microphones

Two song 7″ with a beautiful letterpressed cover, and a beautiful message, including “Being ‘free’, you are born with a responsibility. Your parents will not take care of you forever. There is no God. You will not be punished. Deal with yourself. Recognizing problems in the world around you, hold yourself upright and do everything well.”

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lostwisdom

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Lost Wisdom
by Mount Eerie, with Julie Doiron and Fred Squire

I saw this album played live straight through by the original creators (Phil, Julie, and Fred); not sure what else could be better. LP packaging unfolds into a haunting ink and watercolor by Phil. Haunting is a good word for his art.

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windspoem

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Wind’s Poem
by Mount Eerie

The newest release, gatefold LP with gold foil on the front and back. OK, maybe there is nothing better than seeing this album performed live: two drummers, heavy distortion, Nick & Julia from No Kids on keys, Tara Jane O’Neil, and Phil - front and center. In my opinion there are few artists who can captivatingly perform in so many different settings and formations.