Archived entries for Music

Awesome new products from Phonographic Unlimited

If you’re into music, Phonographic Unlimited has the goods for you. If you’re into vinyl, this place is going to help you empty your bank account. They currently offer the genius Seeing Sound t-shirts, the simple & beautiful Pitch Control modular record shelves, & two styles of awesome 45 adapters (one in wood and one laser cut from old records.)

Phonographic Unlimited, and its products, are the brainchild of DJ / Designer Matt Braun.

From Phonographic Unlimited:

Phonographic Unlimited is a small company that produces well-designed products influenced by music and DJ cultures. The beginning product line includes T-shirts, shelving and 45 adapters.

The company is currently based in Philadelphia and has a flexible business model that will allow it to scale up or even relocate and retain a locally produced production strategy. This is possible by designing products that can be made in small quantities using easily accessible traditional and digital fabrication methods.

Seeing Sound

Seeing Sound T-shirts are your favorite songs visualized by translating the song into a 3d CAD file, then tracing the contour lines & editing them to create the final graphic.

Phonographic Unlimited - Seeing Sound T-Shirts

Phonographic Unlimited - Seeing Sound T-ShirtsPhonographic Unlimited - Seeing Sound T-ShirtsPhonographic Unlimited - Seeing Sound T-Shirts

Phonographic Unlimited - Seeing Sound T-ShirtsPhonographic Unlimited - Seeing Sound T-ShirtsPhonographic Unlimited - Seeing Sound T-Shirts

Pitch Control

The slight pitch allows for records, books or magazines to lean naturally and prevent warping. The simple geometry and modernist aesthetic allows these to be configured in many ways to suit a variety of shelving needs and even as seating! Very few shelving systems for home use have large enough openings for records or can withstand the weight. The shelves are handmade in Philadelphia using high quality birch plywood and stainless steel fasteners.

Phonographic Unlimited - Pitch Control Shelves

Phonographic Unlimited - Pitch Control ShelvesPhonographic Unlimited - Pitch Control ShelvesPhonographic Unlimited - Pitch Control Shelves

Adapters

This very limited edition run of wooden global adapters are lovingly crafted from walnut using both traditional and digital milling techniques. They are then hand finished and packaged in a black faux suede pouch. The vinyl are adapters are laser cut from junk 12″s in the traditional “3 snakes” style.

Phonographic Unlimited - Adapters

Phonographic Unlimited - AdaptersPhonographic Unlimited - AdaptersPhonographic Unlimited - Adapters

Playground, a short film from Mojo & Exit

Playground, a Mojo and Exit co-production, is a short film that follows a Philadelphia artist through an exploration of tap beats. The imagery, beats, and rhymes are straight Philly style. The film is part of Coka Cola’s Burn Energy Drink series.

New Video by OK Go / End Love

OK Go‘s new music video for the song End Love. Why is every video that OK Go puts out so entertaining to watch? Ignore the first 40 seconds though.

Directed by OK Go, Eric Gunther, and Jeff Lieberman.

Music Philosophy by Mico

Music Philosophy is a weekly graphic/typographic interpretation of song quotes from a growing collection of bands, by designer Mico. I just love the colors and the specific lines Mico has choosen. I could do without the Dave Matthews Band quotes but who am I to say what music is deserving of these awesome prints.

You can buy t-shirts over on the Skreened website

Music Philosophy

Music PhilosophyMusic PhilosophyMusic Philosophy

Music PhilosophyMusic PhilosophyMusic Philosophy

New Music Friday – Free Energy, Stuck on Nothing

This weeks New Music Friday was a toss up between The National’s new album, High Violet, and the Philadelphia locals Free Energy with their new release, Stuck on Nothing. I decided to go with Free Energy since I like to support local bands. The also happen to be the WXPN artist to watch of May.

Free Energy - Band Image

Review from XPN

Their fun spirited rock has a reminiscent appeal to it, as if pulled right from a batch of 70′s records. So while their heady and raw sound is fringed with familiarity, it managed to distance the group from a huge pool of emerging indie rock bands. Fusing elements of 70′s glam, power pop, bubble gum, and arena rock, the band unabashedly embraces poppy hooks and boy-girl romance, wooing critics and fans with their exuberant and joyous take on life. That take won the attention of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, who produced the band’s debut album, Stuck on Nothing, for DFA Records. The album’s spring arrival saw the band quickly catapulted to the national stage, with stellar SXSW performances cementing what fans knew all along: Free Energy’s “hopelessly hopeful” music is not only jam-packed with fun,it’s also really good.

Get the album on iTunes: Free Energy – Stuck on Nothing

Band’s website: Free Energy

Listen to: All I Know

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Listen to: Young Hearts

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Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing Cover

New Music Firday – Yeasayer – Odd Blood

I may be a little late to the party on these guys but they are new to me and its what I’m grooving to this week.

US trio Yeasayer are musical magpies, cut from the same colourful cloth as acts like MGMT or Santogold. “Odd Blood” is their sophomore disc, comprising catchy jittery electronic Pop with a myriad of influences.

The woozy “Strange Reunions” has a Middle Eastern feel as does “Madder Red” (with a hummed wordless chorus), while the psychedelic clap-filled ballad “I Remember” is remniscent of “Animal Collective”. At 10 tracks, no two songs are alike. Their debut CD was beautifully fractured psychedelic Folk/Pop, and they retain their strong sense of melody despite the change in style.

Other standouts are the Radiohead-style “The Children” (with eerie vocodered vocals and clanking beats), the tribal-sounding “O.N.E.”, the progressively trancey “Love Me Girl” (my favourite), the bouncy “Rome” with stabbing syths & the experimental ballad “Grizelda”.

review written by Nse Ette on Amazon

Get the album on iTunes: Yeasayer – Odd Blood

Band’s website: Yeasayer

Listen to: ONE

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Yeasayer - Odd Blood Album Cover

Really excited for this – To Have & To Hold, A Documentary about Vinyl Records

To Have & To Hold is a new documentary from Jony Lyle that celebrates and explores the phenomenon of collecting Vinyl.

The documetary includes interviews with well known collectors like Bobbito Garcia, ?uestlove, Chuck D, Andre Torres (From Wax Poetics), Amir (of Kon & Amir) and Bruce Ludvall, the owner of Bluenote. Based on the trailer the film seems to be heavily focused on collectors in or around New York.

You can learn more about the film at the official Facebook page. Also there’s an interview with the director over at Mat Dolphin’s blog.

text from Grain Edit

New Music Friday – Erin Mekeown

Just found the album Hundreds of Lions by Erin Mekeown. This is definitely a feel-good album, and there are plenty of standout tracks that will be played time and time again, “Santa Cruz” is only one of them. The pop sounds and jazz-pop influances really makes this album deserve a second (and more ) listen.

The genre of music may not be for you, but I’m sure anyone can appreciate her musical talent.

Get the album on iTunes: Hundreds of Lions – Erin Mekeown

Listen to: Santa Cruz

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Erin Mckeown - Hundreds Of Lions

New Music Friday – Nouvelle Vague

New Music Friday on Saturday again. Fridays are quickly becoming my busiest days. Anyway, he is an awesome album that I just discovered using Pandora.

Nouvelle Vague is two well seasoned, multi-instrumentalists / producers, Marc Colins and Oliver Libaus, who have found the beauty and heart in the sounds from this era and transformed them — cleverly merging and arranging this radical music. Some of the songs are stripped back to acoustic arrangements with lithe shaker rhythms achieved by gathering a parade of heavenly chanteuses from all over the world (six French, one Brazilian and one New Yorker) as guest vocalists to sex up everyone from XTC and Modern English to The Clash and The Undertones.

— text from Luakabop

Get the album on iTunes: Nouvelle Vague

Listen to: Just Can’t Get Enough

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Nouvelle Vague - Nouvelle Vague

New Music Friday – Strange Boys

This is one cool song from the new Strange Boys album, Be Brave on In The Red Records.

I imagine some obscure garage band sounded like this back in the nuggets-era, with girls in go-go boots and bikinis dancing away at late night beach bonfires. While once appearing to be revivalists, this Austin band are now coming in to their own voice. What their fellow-Austinites Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears are doing for blues & soul, Strange Boys are going to garage.

Bruce Warren from WXPN

Check them out when they hit Philly on March 25th at Danger Danger.

Get the album on iTunes: Be Brave

Listen to: Be Brave

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Strange Boys - Be Brave album cover



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