MY BEST :2011

It's always so tricky to write my top 20 list. This year there have been quite a few albums that really made an impact...However, there were also a lot of disappointments (Antlers, Iron & Wine-here's looking at you). There are also quite a few albums that I'm sure would've made it onto my list if I wasn't so spoilt for choice. What often seems to happen, is that one band releases a really solid album, which just as it starts growing on you gets neglected because of one of your favourite bands releasing something you are expecting to be promising. What I am actually trying to say, is that I wish there was more time to listen to everything from back to front... Over and over again, without fearing to miss out on another release that seems essential to lend an ear to.

Then apart from all the 2011 releases there are always those lingereing 2010 records you somehow skipped as well as the rest of your i tunes library..There are many albums that aren't on the list but that should've actually been on there...I didn't add them because I haven't dedicated enough time to them, or because they didn't quite make the cut. It seems they will form part of my 2012 heavy rotation...

These include Russian Circles-Empros, Young Widows-In and out of Youth and LIghtness, Wolves in the Throne Room-Celestial Lineage, The Middle East- I want that you are always Happy, , Adebisi Shank- This is the second album of, Boris-New Album, Idaho-You were a dick and despite the slight let down Antlers-Burst Apart. Radiohead gets enough attention which is also why it was left out depite being an album I really enjoyed this year (don't call me a fangirl)...





COLIN STETSON- A history of warfare vol.2
FAVOURITE TRACK: JUDGES


JOHN MAUS- We must become the pitiless censors of ourselves
FAVOURITE TRACK: STREETLIGHT / BELIEVER


KING CREOSOTE & JON HOPKINS-Diamond Mine
FAVOUORITE TRACK: JOHN TAYLOR'S MONTH AWAY


BATTLES-GLOSS DROP
FAVOURITE TRACK: AFRICASTLE


NILS FRAHM-FELT
FAVOURITE TRACK: LESS


GILES COREY-SELF-TITLED
FAVOURITE TRACK: NO ONE IS EVER GOING TO WANT ME


LOW-C’MON
FAVOURITE TRACK: WITCHES


TIM HECKER-RAVEDEATH
FAVOURITE TRACK: IN THE FOG II


M83-HURRY UP WE’RE DREAMING
FAVOURITE TRACK: WAIT


ESBEN & THE WITCH-VIOLET CRIES
FAVOURITE TRACK: CHOREA


JAMES BLAKE-SELF TITLED
FAVOURITE TRACK: TO CARE (LIKE YOU)


NAT BALDWIN-PEOPLE CHANGES
FAVOURITE TRACK: LIFTED


GROUPER: AIA ALIEN OBSERVER & DREAM LOSS
FAVOURITE TRACK: SHE LOVES ME THAT WAY


DARK DARK DARK-WILD GO
FAVOURITE TRACK: DAYDREAMING


JESU-ASCENSION
FAVOURITE TRACK: BRAVE NEW WORLD


EARTH-ANGELS OF DARKNESS & DEMONS OF LIGHT
FAVOURITE TRACK: FATHER MIDNIGHT


APPARAT-THE DEVIL’S WALK
FAVOURITE TRACK: GOODBYE (feat.soap & skin)


THIS WILL DESTROY YOU- TUNNEL BLANKET
FAVOURITE TRACK-LITTLE SMOKE


WYE OAK- CIVILIAN
FAVOURITE TRACK: HOT AS DAY


A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN-S.T
FAVOURITE TRACK- A SYMPHONY PATHETIQUE


JOSH T PEARSON-LAST OF THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN
FAVOURITE TRACK: WOMAN WHEN I'VE RAISED HELL


EXTRA LIFE-RIPPED HEART EP
FAVOURITE TRACK: RUN COLD


PALE SKETCHER- SEVENTH HEAVEN EP
FAVOURITE TRACK: SEVENTH HEAVEN


FLEET FOXES-HELPLESNESS BLUES
FAVOURITE TRACK: THE SHRINE / AN ARGUMENT


VAMPIRE 9000-COLOURS
FAVOURITE TRACK: COLOURS

/TRIPLE POST PT. III-ZANDER BLOM

I'm going to have to cheat with this part of my triple post... However, I do have a valid reason...The smell of the paint sculpturally 'stacked' onto the giant canvasses and the feeling of being overwhelmed by their size and magnitude all forms part of the experience...
That is why I am only giving you a sneak peak..Just a corner of an image so that if you're in the Johannesburg vicinity, you'll go and experience this phenomenal exhibition of Zander Blom's new paintings yourself... I'm not going to try say more about the show because it's all about the gut feeling and the over all experience... so here is just a sneak peek... Go see the exhibition at Stevenson gallery in Braamfontein...It's on until the 9th of December..
To make you more curious ...here's another grainy phone pic to keep the mystery alive...

/TRIPLE POST PT.II - JONAH SACK
I'm a huge fan of Cape Town based artist Jonah Sack... He is one of the artist who makes me feel what I assume people on ecstasy would feel like when at a rave...lovely comparison...what I'm trying to get to is that his work has a huge effect on me. Anyways, Sack recently had a solo at the established JHB based gallery Art on Paper. I made sure not to miss it and also took some pics... Please do yourself the favour and visit the official Art on Paper site because their photos of Sack's work will be less amateur and will probably depict the works more truthfully then my lo-fi phone pics do.... The immense detail and precision of his mark making is also not captured well in these pics, so there's another reason why you need to experience his work one on one..

visit the gallery Art on Paper & visit the artist's tumblr

photo below courtesy of AOP

//3 months later...

Wow..I see it's been 3 months again since my last post. Saying that time flies would be too much
of a cliche, so let me resort to saying that i'm getting older and the days are getting shorter (oh wait, a cliche replaced by a cliche)...

Nonetheless, I've found something blog worthy, which is what usually determines my posting schedule. In fact I will make this a triple post to catch up for the last 3 months! I hope this makes us even...

First and foremost...
My favourite net artist Rafaël Rozendaal has created a new piece of .net art...It's pretty straight
forward, but I guarantee you that it will help hours pass quickly...
Best part is that it (as net art usually is -duh) ineractive, and requires your mouse-clicks for it to evolve....

Here are some screen grabs directly pirated from one of my favourite blogs today and tomorrow...

visit and psych away ... www.intotime.org

//BLOODHEAD

I'm busy grappling with my Master's at the moment...It sometimes is pretty tough to keep yourself motivated. In my case the thing that does the job is the artwoks that inspire me to research conservation and re-exhibition, one of them is Marc Quinn's "Blood Head" or "Self".

Self consists of Quinn's head cast out of his own blood. The blood remains frozen in a refrigerator display case, and the artwork is re-cast at an interval of 5 years. Then a new cast is made and Quinn's fresh blood is used and a new mold is made portraying him at that stage of life.

Quinn's first Self was made in 1991 and was first exhibited as part of the Sensation exhibition.
The recasting of the head does not only address the artist's physical deterioration but it's fragile nature also underlines conservational problems that increasingly appear in contemporary art.
Quinn's 2006 Self is part of the National Portrait Gallery. This work definitely challenges our conventional idea of what constitutes an artwork which makes it an important acquisition to the Portrait Galleries collection.

check out more of the artist's work here: http://www.marcquinn.com

//LANDLAND

LandLand makes 'original' things. These days I hardly ever find anything that still strikes me as that, perhaps that is why my blog has been so quiet lately?! It seems the internet has made it tougher than ever before to avoid falling into these visual trend traps. Monkey see, monkey do?!Well, that does not apply to the graphic & illustration team LandLand from Minneapolis. They make gigposters and other prints that don't resemble 10 images that you've spotted on fffound. Their work is strangely exciting and gladly unfamiliar enough.

Please visit their site here to see more awesomeness.

Here are some of my favourites:

Poster for Baths:

poster for Growing



poster for Why?




poster for Mogwai

//TIME & SPACE/JUST FOR INTEREST'S SAKE.

I was spending my Sunday evening the way I usually do-reading blogs and making sure I haven't missed any posts on my favourite few...This is when I saw industrial designer Jesper Jonsson's "Moment of a Movement".It's a light that shows traces of time...I suppose in basic terms one could call it a light clock without a face, using lights as shadow blocking hands to operate and thereby referencing the rhythm of natural daylight.The thing that made it catch my eye is the visual similarity it has to Rowan Smith's (one of my favourite local artists) "Extensions of the Universe" (2007)....

So yesss...simply put,there you have it "time & space"..
:)

via designboom.com

Jesper Jonsson-





Rowan Smith-(more info here)

//I HATE HIPPIES TOO BUT...
Okay,so maybe "hate" is a bit of a harsh word here,but let me get to the point...
Check out the new kid on the block...I know pdfs are the business,but this new file format by WWF
is quite neat.It creates pdfs that cannot be printed.Why you may ask?Well-to help save trees of course...
Let's be fair-one hardly ever reads the stacks of paper one prints out,so why not just keep it digital?

It's even got quite a nice splash icon-
Yes-green is the new red!
download it here
via swissmiss

//TED | AMBER CASE /we are all cyborgs now.

I'm a sucker for TED.I found this one to be well presented.I just love how Amber Case talks.
enjoy.(I'll be posting more of my favourites)

//JUST FOR KICKS.

//HAPPY NEW YEAR & LEGO LETTERPRESS PRINTS.

I'm aiming to be a little more ambitious concerning my blog.I've been slacking end of last year but am now back to bizness...
I grew up playing with Lego rather than with dolls.I remember taking over the whole house (this includes the bathroom) to build my architectural empires (or not).
Hence,when I came across thee Lego letterpress prints by Physical Fiction I was nothing short of amazed.

Go to Physical Fiction to purchase or see more.
found at today and tomorrow