Playlist 2

I’m bringing quite a few of the favorites to the table with this playlist. We start with possibly the most funk fueled making-love-in-the-summer-with-a-case-of-Colt-45 song, Party Down by Little Beaver. Dabble in a BoC remix of a track from Anticon co-founder, Why?. Another bay area favorite, Tycho. The best track from the new LCD Soundsystem album. Ghostly International’s School of seven bells, featuring a member of The Secret Machines (they have a new album dropping soon). One of the dreamiest dream-pop songs that I’ve heard in a long time, from A Sunny Day in Glasgow. One of my all time favs, Tortoise, which I will be seeing this month at the Casbah San Diego! And who can forget Milosh, Yeasayer and Subtle!? Not I. They’re on there too.

Enjoy!

Iceland LIVE!

This is an example of one of the better websites out there. I know it’s now top 10 for me.

“Inspired by Iceland” is a lovely visual chillout website (which I presume was created by or paid for by the Tourism Board of Iceland) that allows you to gaze through various high-speed webcams throughout the land. Included vistas: glacial lakes (complete with icebergs), the famed blue lagoon, and downtown Reykjavík.

(Thanks, Alex Zamora, BoingBoing * Alas, Flash required, so you won’t be enjoying this on your iPad any time soon.)

Yes, please.

Designed to evoke the spirit of the lean, powerful motorcycles of the 1950s, Hammarhead Motorcycles ($9,500-$18,500) are affordable, hand-built, rugged rides. Available in three models — the Royal Enfield Electra X-based Woodsman, the Triumph Scrambler-based Jack Pine (pictured), and the Royal Enfield Bullet-based Volta — these simple, sleek machines are quieter than your average chopper, making them perfectly suited to modern urban environments. In other words, chances of waking up neighbors with your late-night Taco Bell runs go way, way down. [Thanks, Uncrate & Jeremy]

House Industries Presents…

I just received the new House Industries catalog for the Eames Centry Modern collection. This is a very exciting day! Read more about this new font released in collaboration with House Ind. and the Eames Company.

Eames Century Modern is a typographic workhorse that honors the Eames aesthetic while offering unprecedented functionality. An eighteen-style serif typeface family strikes an unprecedented balance between distinctive idiosyncrasies, readability and space economy. Its 18 styles include gracefully complementary italics and a virtually endless supply of deep text handling features. Carefully-weighted small caps, nine different figure styles, ligatures, contextual alternate forms and thousands of lines of computer code give Eames Century Modern a significant edge in contemporary design environments. A stencil font on the heaviest weight of Eames Century Modern takes the curvature of bent plywood and abstracts the shapes into type.

In a nod to Charles and Ray’s infatuation with circus imagery, we penned three elephantine numeral fonts whose woodcut-inspired forms leave a tastefully pachydermic impact on any layout. Fanciful figures from Ray’s January and December 1943 Arts and Architecture® covers were the impetus for a more delicate set of numbers. All four figure sets boast a rich array of currency symbols, punctuation and a sophisticated fraction feature.

The Eames’ pragmatism was always tempered with their love of adornment, so this collection would not be complete without a host of carefully drawn ornaments and a galley of frames. These elements are sure to provide dignified directional stability and exquisitely cultivated closure to any design project.

Phil Ashcroft

I love when I see art that looks like the abstract landscapes of some dream that I’ve had. Art that can convey powerful emotion while remaining relatively minimal. In fact, it may be what I live for. A few examples of the work of English artist Phil Ashcroft.

“The unknown is a space at once fascinating and fearful by mankind’s technological advances and the romantic notion that there still lies undiscovered elements to the world in which we live. A derelict hospital, oil depots, nuclear power stations, the abominable snowman; collectively these semi-surreal settings and cartoon-like motifs appear as mysterious manifestations, phenomena both real and imagined.”

via Changethethought & ISO50

Fieldtriqp

Fieldtriqp (Oregon, USA) is easily one of the biggest hidden gems in electronic music today. Take your favorite childhood memories, the greatest hikes, the beauty of a sunrise a haunted house and a few of the books your parents read to you growing up (Runaway Bunny, Goodnight Moon, ftw) and set those components to music. What comes out is the sound of Fieldtriqp (MySpace).

You can’t visit an electronic music forum and miss a post or two about this guy, there is a definite buzz in the community. That being said, if you’re looking to run out to you local record store to snag an album, sadly you are in for a long search. The only knowledge I have of purchasing tangible Fieldtriqp media is if you were one of the lucky 100 people to grab a copy of his ‘None’ album released on Unlabel in 2006. Count me in. Hand crafted packaging featuring hand numbered card sleeves, and a beautiful glossy photo taken by Rick Manthey mounted on the cover. Volume 47 in the Unlabel Series52 collection in which 1 album was released every day for a year. I don’t know what the other 364 discs might sound like, but if they’re anything like this sign me up for every release. For fans of Boards of Canada, Casino Vs. Japan,

When I want to gain recognition from a known music aficionado (especially the IDM/Downbeat/Ambient junkies) I feel full confidence in whipping out a few ftq tracks. Guaranteed to please and raise the old ‘street cred’ by a few bars.

Here’s a great quote from Last.fm user:
“Fieldtriqp is bliss. It’s a haunting soundscape over an eerie plain, a nostalgic throwback to a place no one can go, a stopped segment of time adjusting constantly, and a barren layering of unearthly enigma. It’s a fieldtriqp. ”

I’ve posted a few download/streaming audio links below. Enjoy!

Fieldtriqp – Old Haunts
Fieldtriqp on Soundcloud (Unreleased Material)
Milieu Remixes Fieldtriqp