Our second track of the week from Israeli music label Anova Music is a summery, psychedelic pop song by Tel Aviv-based band Underwater Firemen. With its hazy harmonies and wall of fuzzy keyboard and guitar sounds, Burning Flowers wouldn’t sound out of place on an Of Montreal or Animal Collective album.
Israeli music label Anova Music have sent us over so many great tracks recently that we couldn’t just choose one, so we’re going to feature a track by one of their artists each day for the rest of the week on Dezeen Music Project.
First up is this slick track by Jerusalem-based band Kitzu. Taken from their recently released debut album, Going Far combines glitchy, post-rock instrumentation with a solid bass groove and infectious vocal hook.
We’ve been getting a lot of great remixes submitted to Dezeen Music Project recently, and this one by It Takes Two to Tango is no exception. The track is a competition entry in an Indaba Music contest to remix Settle Down by New Zealand singer-songwriter Kimbra, a voice you’ll recognise from Gotye’s 2011 hit Somebody That I Used to Know.
James Roper est un artiste anglais à la fois illustrateur, peintre, ou encore sculpteur. Avec des choix de couleurs surprenants et des compositions impressionnantes, ce dernier nous plonge dans son univers unique et envoutant. Découvrez une série d’images dans la suite.
Swedish sounds perfect for your next rooftop party, road trip or canoe ride
For summer bike rides, picnics and general fun in the sun, dreamy, burned-out music makes the perfect warm weather soundtrack. The electro-pop sounds of Swedish band “This is Head” have been making my ears happy as of late, so I asked band member Henric Claesson a few questions about their latest album, matter-of-factly titled “0001.”
You’ve named the tracks as numbers in chronological order. Are you just lazy?
When we started off as a band in 2008 all the songs were instrumental, without vocals, at least 99% of the time. We called them Number 1, Number 2, etc., and decided to continue with that, even after vocals were added. We’re not lazy, but we make quick decisions!
Some have described your sound as a mix between the Discovery Channel, Autobahn and a car accident.
It’s hard to explain it in another way. We think its the perfect description for the time when we wrote the music, rehearsed and recorded the album. Our friend Mikael described it this way, “They never thought of a song with the idea of sounding like Yeasayer joining up with the drummer from Neu! in an effort to play unreleased songs by U2 just so they could be mixed by Dan Lissvik from Studio and then be released by Touch & Go. That just happened.”
Do you think that being Swedish influences your sound?
The sound could probably have been created in all Northern European countries. The long dark winters create this kind of music I think.
Your record puts together a lot of different influences, such as vintage electronical music, ’80s pop and so on.
We didn’t think of it. It just happened. We’ve all been listening to different styles of music and are listening to different styles of music. Since we write the songs together in the rehearsal room we all do what we think is best at the moment. That’s probably why you hear a lot of different influences in our music. I think all of us have different views on “0001,” we describe it totally differently if we’re asked what it sounds like. Because we all mainly listen to the parts we’re the most proud of I guess.
You can add “This is Head” to your summer playlists by purchasing their album on iTunes or listen on Myspace and Facebook.
Réalisé par Arthur King, voici le nouveau clip “Animal” du groupe Mc Luvin. Coloré, joyeux et très bien pensé, cette vidéo permet de traduire l’enthousiasme et l’ambiance du duo qui sortira leur album à la rentrée 2011. Un clip vidéo à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.
L’artiste Jiri Geller apporte une touche intéressante dans l’art et le pop-surréalisme avec ces sculptures impliquant l’image de la culture populaire. Des oeuvres fabriquées artisanalement, avec l’utilisation par exemple de matériaux lourds juxtaposés avec des objets en apesanteur.
Après l’excellent meuble-module An Furniture, le studio et groupe design coréen Kamkam viennent de lancer cette collection sobrement intitulée “Dressed-Up” s’inspirant du style des vêtements du quotidien. Un style jeune et coloré à découvrir en images dans la suite.
Consisting of Harris Shper (on vox and guitar), Christine Hale (vox and keys), Al Mal (bass) and Farid Rener (drums), The Hoof & the Heel make unforgettably beautiful music that fits easily on dreamy summer playlists. Based out of Montreal, the quartet’s EP called “And All the Tigers” mixes folksy, poppy, hauntingly magical sounds to create some incredibly captivating tunes. We recently sat down with them down for a few questions, answered below.
Who’s the Hoof and who is the Heel and why?
This is a question we get a lot. Let’s just say Farid is both for now.
What’s the best show you have played?
Hard to pick just one, but an incredibly fun show was not too long ago at the Interstice loft in Griffintown. We played with Gutstrings and Peter Nevins, and everyone was just having a great time listening to music. There was no stage, so we were very close to 100 people dancing right in front of us and the energy was fantastic!
How did you meet?
Farid and Harris met through a mutual friend, then met Christine through a local promoter. She met Al when their names were picked out of a hat to play together in a band for Pop Montreal’s Rock Lotto, and voila!
Favorite song of all time (each of you) and brief description why?
Harris: “A Damn Good Disguise” by The Mendoza Line. Obviously a difficult question, but this is a song I can listen to forever and not get tired of. If I listen to it when I’m happy, I get happier. If I listen when I’m sad, I get sadder. It has a very simple melody and a lo-fi production, and the lyrics are beautiful and ugly and perfect.
Christine: I have two—”Jesus, Etc.” by Wilco because of Tweedy’s lyrics, voice and the overall production—and “Wally, Egon & the Models in the Studio” by Rachel’s because the cello somehow wraps around my heart and squeezes. Sometimes you just don’t have words for how music makes you feel. Both are so bittersweet, simple and honest.
NXNE in June, U.S. tour in July/August, mixed with local shows as well. Recording, writing, etc.
Why Montreal?
Love this city! So many creative, kind, beautiful people and the cold just makes us enjoy the summer more.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Work. [Harris is a recording engineer; Christine is an illustrator/designer.]
Who writes the songs?
Because it’s been hard to get us all in the same room at the same time other than practices and shows, Harris been writing the melodies/lyrics so far, and then we all work out arrangements very quickly in our practices. We all usually write our own parts with input from everyone in the band once the song is put on the table.
Anything else we should know?
Share our music with friends—if you don’t have enough cash at the moment to buy it from iTunes or the like, send us an email and we’ll send you a digital copy of the album! We love having people come out to our shows and want everyone to enjoy the music, thanks!
The second half of the 20th Century saw design attempting to unite the tension between the function and wonder of daily objects. A new exhibit, “Space Age Lights,” which opened today at La Triennale di Milano Design Museum, shows how lamps and lighting in particular have helped solve this conundrum.
With a collection of often anonymous and never-before-seen lamps, borrowed from individuals who gathered this eye-catching series of objects both in Europe and the U.S., the show offers a rare opportunity to study even the fringes of the era. While technically the Space Age goes from the late ’60s to the early ’70s, its influence extends to various related styles that have developed over the entire century.
Curator Gianluca Sgalippa created an exhibit based on meticulous research comparing each piece with paintings, sculptures, movies and graphics that date back to Futurism, Constructivism and Machinism, including science fiction and fashion icons such as André Courrèges and Pierre Cardin.
The display (conceived by Salvo Bonura) makes the upshot of his exploration clear, as does the show’s subtitle, “Between Pop and the Avant-Garde”—these objects always balance edginess with mass appeal.
The accompanying rich catalogue, in Italian and English, compares these masterpieces from the ’60s to the ’70s with the work of many great (though obscure) authors. “Space Age Lights” runs through 5 September 2010. See more images in the gallery below.
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