One of my main influences in the graphic design field has got his new site up and running. You might know him from his work for Talking Loud, Straight No Chaser or Addict. Would love to have one of his artworks. If ever my dj-career takes off and I start making money instead of investing (a euphemism for losing nowadays) tones of it, I surely buy one of his works. For now I’ll keep it with acquiring some of those (still) super fresh fonts.
Big up to alex from On-Point. He has contributed to the new Shook magazine. He has written and illustrated the Marc Moulin in memoriam. Nice one.
You’ll hear plenty more of this kid in the near future. He’s getting noticed. Maybe, even in his own country. Haha.
These days everything is design. Or better said, everybody thinks he’s a (graphic) designer or, even worse, an plastic artist. And frankly, most are nothing more than decent copyist at best. There’s only a few truly innovative and good ones out there. My personal favourites being Mode2, Swifty, Sozyone, Delta and the one they call Shoe. That last one, known by his mum as Niels Meulman, is an Amsterdam based graffiti artist with a keen interest in calligraphy. Merging both styles to something he calls Calligraffiti. Something I’m a huge fan of.
Combine this with my favourite record shop, also based in Amsterdam, and you got yourself an killer exhibition. Called Different Strokes. Starting December 19th and ending January 18th. Keeping the Rush Hour tradition with fine graphics going strong. I’ve been known to buy records of their label mainly for the artwork, afterwards discovering they’re wrapped around fantastic music. Will definitely try to make the trip up north in January.
Oh, and if somebody with way too much money wants to offer me a nice Christmas present. Browse a bit through the site and I’m sure you’ll find something that’ll please me a lot.
Different Strokes, 19 December – 18 January 2008
Rush Hour, Spuistraat 98, Amsterdam
I agree a lot with Kevin Hedge on the Obama point he makes in the interview we aired yesterday (and which is still available through the FM Brussel streaming). The positive aspect of his “change” rhetoric is the most important. I may not agree with everything he stands for – I’m way more progressive - but I think he might be the catalyst in making this world a bit more pleasant to live in for everyone. A world where we don’t blame others for our shortcomings and do something about it ourselves. In a positive way. Might sound hippie but I don’t care. I think the world lacks warmth and understanding. And I hope Obama’s election is a spark towards more of that. The fact alone that he gives me hope is already half of the struggle.
Dustin Ross, one of the most interesting photographers I know, and which I discovered through his “musical” work with a lot of the artists I like, made a nice “behind the scenes” reportage of the Democratic convention in Denver. Check out his blog for some pictures.
Kind of last minute. Sunday afternoon I’ll be playing at D+ Design, Rue Blaes 87 in Brussels. I’ll be playing some oldskool Hiphop, Funk and breaks like it was 1979 in the Bronx. This will be the soundtrack to the live painting the legendary Kool Koor will do on one of the outside walls of the shop. This to cover up some inferior scrabbles with a real piece of graffiti.
The shops got some neat 20th century design for sale. Could be a real cool afternoon out.
It will all take place between 13h and 15h. Come say hi if you got nothing better to do.
Kozyndan. Love their work. Think it’s genius and really dig the fact they are doing their own thing, far away from hypes and trends. Next 2 week they’re doing an expo in Amsterdam called “Beneath the surface”. If I go to Phil Asher I’ll certainly try to check it.
Read all about it here. With pictures of some of their works and a little interview.
There’s a big Street Art expo running at Tate Modern as you might have heard on Deviation. And they are doing it the proper way. Letting 6 artists, among them my favourites Os Gemeos from Sao Paolo, loose on the exterior walls of the immense Tate Modern building in London. Nice one. Find some info here.
Will visit it when in London at the end of August. Will be there just in time to check it.
An addictive site / font construction tool for all typography freaks around.
Saw it mentioned by Alex (Delforce, haha) but didn’t pay much attention to it. Only after some shameless self promotion by Laid Back’s Julien I taught “what the heck” and went for the free subscription. It dropped in my mailbox today and I must say it looks very neat. Feels nice too. Need to give it a proper check but from what I’ve seen at first glance this is a definite winner.
It’s about neighbourhood life and global style. Neighbourhood being Brussels, written in English and about everything and nothing at the same time. Love the layout (it’s actually a magazine that’s easy and nice to read), love the humour and the lightness of it all without it being disposable.
As said before, subscription is free. If you live in Belgium that is. Check it out.
Like I hoped for in this post somebody is collecting pictures from the livingrooms of Belgian DJ”s. Nice one. Big up to Hannes and the BloodyHornyCrew.
Send him the pics of your lvingroom if you’re a DJ with the answers to following questions:
Number of records in your collection ?
Ugliest record cover ?
Nicest record cover ?
Hottest electronic device you own ?
When did you start deejaying ?
It has been 50 years since the world expo made a stop in Brussels. Expo ‘58 has a near legendary status in Belgium, rightfully. Never has there been so much cutting edge Modern architecture than in those days. Many new things now common good were introduced back then. From food to appliances.
Biggest rest of it all is the Atomium. Since it has been renovated certainly at night super dope. In and around it there will be a lot of events for 50th birthday of the Expo ‘58. You can find all info on this Blog. One of the nicest ones will be the pavilion of temporary happiness. The title alone is genius but the construction is something nice too. Made out of beer crates. It will house an exhibition about the expo.
This ad for a hair care product is genius. Through the genius ffffound.com and Swissmiss.
For all you Star Wars freaks liking a well designed t-shirt by someone like Mitchy. The artist should be no stranger to everybody following all things nice. He designed among other things sleeves for Amp Fiddler and many bruk releases and did a lot of work for Straight no Chaser and now Shook. And Addict is my personal favourite streetwear brand. Sure fire combo.
I’m subscribed to tons of Blogs. Most of them are rarely interesting if I’m really honest. Only few blogs achieve greatness in (almost) all of their posts. I’m aware of the fact that this Blog itself isn’t bang on it for everybody with every post. That’s not our aim. Our aim is to inform those interested about what we do and what we like and support what we think is worth supporting. That’s a way too diverse aim to please everybody. But that’s no problem because you can ignore what’s not your cuppa. And the philosophy behind our Blog is that if you like Onda Sonora you’ll be interested in our Blog and vice versa. Onda Sonora is still our main focus and we keep that one sharp.
All the Blogs that are top all the time are very focused. They have one topic and keep to that rigorously. Like this one about record sleeves. It’s not really interesting unless you’re way deep into crate diggin’ but I like it as an inspiration for my graphic design projects. And just because I like the idea. It’s simple and fantastic. Always happy if I discover one like this.
The Blogs that I don’t like are mp3-Blogs (giving away other people’s music for free without their permission is something I can’t agree with plus it makes the hardcore digger in me go wild – making it way too easy to acquire those rare gems), copycat Blogs (people just copying other Blogs without mentioning them – give credit to your sources) and Blogs hopelessly trying to be cooler than others and losing the point completely (fairly common in design-minded Blogs). But I’m subscribed to some of these too. I lose my focus quite easily, I must admit.
Not so long ago we had mad fun making buttons. Got a machine and the hardware and spent a whole afternoon pressing the most stupid stuff to a pile of buttons. For those with inspiration in stock there’s this competition but you got to act fast. Otherwise browse the site for some inspiration. Some really nice pieces for sale. We should get that machine back and go loose again. It’s mad fun.
Phat Phil Cooper sent me this. Mad fun that could keep me busy all day. Looking forward to see Phil spinning at Café Bota together with Nick Blow and Rainer Trüby next month. He’s always in for a good party.
Well, seems like The Cool Kids are coming to Belgium. Still all in the (tbc) fase but it looks like they’ll be on a stage in the Antwerp area somewhere around 6/03/08. Oh, and that “Black Mags” tune is really heavy. It’s on iTunes plus download which means the bitrate is acceptable (256 kbps).
Buy the Muhsinah album, “Daybreak”, on iTunes too while you’re at it. It’s very good.
A little message for the vinyl police; both are only available on digital download for now.
Preparations for our first visit to GP’s Worldwide festival will be made over the NYE proceedings. We sent our scout to the south of France to find us some lovely place to rest between the party moments.
Looks like I’m going to miss the Antown Trix thing. Don’t find a ride and because I’m heading for Amsterdam early the morning after I’m not going to do the “we’ll see how and when to get back once we’re there” trick. A shame because I really wanted to see Blocnotes. And the rest of course.
Oh and while you’re hunting for presents you might as well check this dope shop, Alice, where you can find the finest books about all things urban art and beyond. Well, books and beyond to be a little more precise. And if you want to chill out for a moment from all the stressed shoppers, bloody annoying Christmas market tourists and fake good spirit and all; check the gallery where Sozyone is having an expo. Always an experience.
Oh, and keep an eye on my moblog. I will send pics every now and then. Like I did at Nothinghill Carnival.
Got the final Straight no Chaser issue last Friday. Makes me a bit sad although they’re not completely gone. Going to miss the most stylish magazine around. Browsing through that last bundle of neatly designed paper makes it clear nothing ever came close. Big up to Paul Bradshaw, Swifty, Mitchybwoy, Ian Wright and all involved.
For those addicted to all things stylishly designed; check Tyler Askew, top designer and man behind one of the parties I want to check most, Rude Movements, his new Blog.
