Neon Indian Giver

Flier for Seattle show at Nectar lounge.

Big Spider's Back Baby

Here's my latest piece for music blog Chickens Don't Clap. Check out his latest post on Seattle "Chillwave" project Big Spider's Back. This was definitely one of my most frustrating pieces to date, but also perhaps my most successful. I wanted to steer away from the more literal approach I took with the last Chickens Don't Clap piece, and try and represent the music in a more abstract way, as well as do just to my friend Yair, the man behind the band. The music of Big Spider's Back is so rich with textures and layers of sound that it's hard to keep in mind that this is all coming from the fingertips of one person. This piece started as a simple pencil sketch, which I used as a template for the inked version. Both are displayed below.





I made the nearly regrettable mistake of using a ridiculously time consuming rendering style that I've never actually done before for the entire piece, and I might be really upset about it if I wasn't so pleased with the result. It was one of those (all too familiar) situations where you have an idea in your head of the final result, but are not exactly sure how you're going to get there, or what it's actually going to look like in the end. I think the line shading came out really cool, but I also think the piece would have been just as successful if the shading was done in solid black. I really like the way the background came out and though it was intended to be abstract I can't help but see the shapes over Yairs head as a sort of animal totem pole. Do you see the bear head and the bird skull?

Japandering

My 2nd original piece for music blog Chickens Don't Clap. Check out the post to learn more about the Canadian "pop leaning noise-rock" duo, Japandroids, and to hear a streaming track off their new album "Post Nothing" (a preemptive strike against their sound being described as post rock or post punk maybe?). If you end up checking out the full album please notice how the last track "I Quit Girls" is eerily similar to "Mayonnaise" by The Smashing Pumpkins.

The Blogs the Thing!

Everyone's got a blog these days but some are more important than others. Namely the ones by my friends, and one of them got even more important yesterday with the beginning of an exciting new blog crossover in the blogosphere! Anyhow I don't want bog you down with a log of soggy blog details, but if you can check out Chickens Don't Clap! and read up on the latest from Brooklyn-based band The Dirty Projectors, and their collaboration with longtime experimental music vet David Byrne. Chicken's Don't Clap! is an mp3 blog run by longtime friend and San Diego native Derek Emery, and features news and in depth reviews of interesting and often under-the-radar bands.

On a personal note, the new Dirty Projector's album is reallllly good and worth checking out. As is the HIV benefit compilation cd that came out earlier this year "Dark was the Night." Below is the piece included in his review, which I call "The Dirty Byrne."