Lost AT E Minor

Music / You are real

January 25, 2006 | Music | by Zolton |

On You Are Real, Australian duo Stewart & Melville channel the spirit of 10cc, Supertramp and Pink Floyd, in the process creating one of the more adventurous and compelling albums of the past few years. It’s a real sonic journey, kicking off with the synth and vocoder driven intro - ‘U R Real’ - and moving across all ten windswept, heavily treated and melodically twisting tracks. The psychedelic tone of the production offsets the rather straight compositional nature of the album. It’s not so much the songs that captivate but the bold and progressive package in which they’re wrapped. The second song, ‘Friends’, is a good case in point - a standard chord progression, dressed to kill. Indeed, one gets the impression that the epic nature of this album will scare conservative radio programmers, so you’ll probably have to discover it for yourself.

Illustration / Table for one

January 21, 2006 | Illustration | by Zolton |

Artist Andrew James Jones is Welsh born but now resides in London. His website is full of his unique illustrations. Speaking of which, check out the work of Marco. Simply brilliant. As is the photography of Australian Matthew Sleeth.

Music / Curling ponds wood

January 18, 2006 | Music | by Zolton |

On Curling Pond Woods, New York-based songwriter and producer, Greg Davis, resides in that left-of-center musical patch where experimentalism is encouraged and melody is often forsaken for a handful of interesting sound effects. This album symbolizes everything good about the movement - from the use of beautiful acoustic guitar riffs to lay basic patterns over which different instrumental concepts are introduced to the sense he creates of permanent unease where a structural twist could happen at the most unexpected of moments. This is not music to relax by. Instead it challenges the listener by never settling down, the broken melodies sitting nicely over a series of deconstructed rhythms. Also worth exploring is the Jimpster: Selected Remixes 2000/2003 compilation featuring Lisa Shaw, Reunion and Hajime Yoshizawa, all of whom benefit from the expert production touch of Jamie Odell (aka Jimpster).

Music / The sighting

January 18, 2006 | Music | by Zolton |

The lush orchestration and gravelly vocal intonation that characterizes this album from singer/songwriter Hayden Desser fails to mask the simple beauty and devastating melodic impact that these 16 songs impart. Desser is an introspective fellow. His music barely crawls along, heavily weighted by its lyrical catharsis. Songs such as ‘Home By Saturday’ and ‘Robbed Blind’ are as much built around the confessional narratives as they are the bouncy acoustic arrangements. And while the instrumentation is subtle throughout, with a scratchy guitar carrying the brunt of the rhythm, strings leap boldly into the mix on occasions to elevate the tone considerably. This is an evocative and mature recording, every bit as compelling and convincing as Neil Young’s Harvest - undoubtedly an influence - yet possessed enough of its own voice so that it sits as a strikingly assured contribution to the burgeoning nu folk/country genre.

Art / Peter Mitchell

January 18, 2006 | Art | by Zolton |

A couple of nice works from Canadian illustrator Peter Mitchell. His distinctive and vibrant pieces have been featured in The LA Times and The Boston Globe amongst other publications and hang in the homes of luminaries such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Seriously inspiring stuff.

Illustration / Leap of innocence

January 11, 2006 | Illustration | by Zolton |

Back in the day when BMX’s ruled the streets and rat-tails were still a symbol of underground credibility, I was a trumps obsessive. That’s right. A card playing maniac with a taste for the exotic. Read more

Illustration / Of the silent variety

January 11, 2006 | Illustration | by Zolton |

It’s amazing how quickly new technology is embraced and exploited. The latest trend in online wheeling and dealing is for virtual property, which means that you can buy or sell anything that doesn’t actually exist. This includes online gaming roles and treasure, fonts, graphics, photos and so on. It’s become a huge market now - a virtual land recently sold for $100,000 - and one of the best places to explore all this at is via the Virtual Property Market website. Another interesting online store is Produkt, which is full of creative goodies. Particularly like the PYMCA photo prints.

Speaking of creative goodies, is this guy for real?! He’s either a genius or completely deranged. I vote for the former though I’m happy to be corrected. There’s some nice work up on Mrs Pink Eyes’ website. I’m also enjoying Cacy Forgenie’s blog and the quirky illustration work of Claudio Marzano. Meanwhile, I’ve been having a bit of fun making my own postcards. Hmmm. Expect a few in the mail. The feature artist, Kristian Olson, is a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and artist whose work has recently been included in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and the Applied Arts Photography and Illustration Annual.

Music / Double agent

January 11, 2006 | Music | by Zolton |

Dirty pop and roll straight outta Melbourne, The Double Agents are as raw as anything yet exude charisma and confidence. Friends In Low Places is a guitar-driven, garage sounding recording of a band very much detached from the stylistic concerns of the major labels. It’s all DIY blues melded with country and distorted rock hedonism, packing a punch and a strut in all the right places and remaining icy cool throughout. These guys are integral members of the Melbourne underground scene. Fuse them altogether, crank the amps up to eleven and what a sweet, sweet noise they generate. As is the sound of Detroit band, The Dirtbombs, the latest sonic destroyers to be hurled onto the world stage. Theirs is a vicious assault, full of crunchy guitars, scrappy drumbeats and an insistent vocal growl. They aren?t particularly unique but they play with plenty of energy and passion. And do it all much louder than most.

Music / Good for what ails ya

January 11, 2006 | Music | by Zolton |

On Hold On Love, Azure Ray operate within that neo-classical electro realm where melody is everything and the delicateness of the instrumentation allows their voices to shine. It’s an impressive resource, dripping with sentiment and displaying a distinct tonality. The programming is tight - though decidedly less frenetic than an Everything But The Girl album where the closest parallel could be drawn. At the other end of spectrum, The Bloggs are the latest retro-rock group to impress. Their anthemic music is remarkable for its raw energy. Drums, acoustic guitars and the gravelly vocals of Jason Friedman dominate the mix, but beneath its pseudo-punk coarseness and slight western swing are a handful of some of the most captivating melodies imaginable. The Bloggs may have the least attractive name in popular music, but one gets the feeling that they are destined for cult hero status.

Illustration / Ice Cream For Free

January 11, 2006 | Illustration | by Zolton |

Some edgy illustrations from Berlin collective, Ice Cream For Free take a multi-faceted approach to their agency work, embracing everything from directing, photography, illustration, 2d and 3d animation, vfx and editing. They are also interested in collaborating with ‘forward thinking people’.

Illustration / Collect the blue

January 4, 2006 | Illustration | by Zolton |

Happy New Year from both of us at Lost At E Minor. If 2005 was one of transition, of unrest, of sporadic inspiration amongst the spot fires of global discontent, here’s hoping 2006 is just a little more settled. That being said, my resolutions point to more unrest - albeit of a domestic kind. So for the moment I’ll just pinch the resolutions of some random folk instead and claim them as my own. Heck, they’re a lot less debauched than the three I came up with. By the way, I want to pay a debt of gratitude to those inspiring folk whose blogs, online mags, artworks, photography, music, mayhem and general creative restlessness have kept my head spinning and my eyes wedded to the small screen throughout the past year. You have kept me sane. Thank you. This includes the featured artist, Linn Olofsdotter (and, yes, in my next life I will own that name), who hails from Sweden before she moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2003 to set up Nakd.tv, a design company specialising in television branding. She’s since relocated to Boston and now works as a freelance illustrator. Nice.

Illustration / Favourite chord

January 4, 2006 | Illustration | by Zolton |

A couple of links to check out. One is for the illustrator, Ra (aka Raoul Sinier), whose work is so distinct and so out there. As is the work of Marissa Newell, who I’ve plugged before, but she deserves another mention because she has some new work up and it’s hot. I also like the work of Jesse LeDoux who has designed seminal CD covers and posters for bands such as The Shins, Minmae and Elliot Smith. He has a real preference for pastel colours. But don’t hold that against him. Oh, and this dude cannot be beaten! Speaking of which, anyone up for game? Best of three. Winner takes all, which, from my side of the ditch, consists of eight dvds, a weird Baseman figurine and the entire back catalogues of Roxy Music and Brian Eno. Aw. Hardly seems fair.

Music / Music for you

January 4, 2006 | Music | by Zolton |

The simple acoustic arrangements and lovesick lyrics seem almost incongruous given the complex vocal melodies that Australian songwriter Emily Ulman weaves throughout this delicate and beautifully introspective album. With sparse instrumentation - invariably just an acoustic guitar, a lightly brushed drum kit, and a bass - much of the focus falls on the quality of the songwriting. And Upping The Ante is full of timeless material; the triumphant and somewhat uplifting tone of the title track runs against what is generally a sombre tone. ‘Still’ is the standout - the gentle, fingerpicked arrangement allowing plenty of space for Ulman’s voice to soar. And soar it does as she steals the moment with a wonderful lyric on the value of serenity when everything around you is rushing: ‘you’re jumping around the moshpit of my mind’, she sings. And who would doubt her. This is truly captivating. Try not to let it slip away.

Music / Plus one

January 4, 2006 | Music | by Zolton |

The debut King of Woolworths (aka Jon Brooks) album, Mingstar, was an outstanding release - full of melancholy yet tempered by uplifting string arrangements and occasionally dark vocal samples. The follow-up, Rediffusion, was a solid but decidedly unspectacular album, lacking in real creativity and firmly wedded to a rather innocuous comfort zone. The intriguingly complex drum patterns that characterized parts of Mingstar were replaced by simple, jazz-tinged snare arrangements that carry the songs along pleasantly enough but fail to excite. This is more lounge than electro. The melodies are strong and the production is seamless - parts of the album actually sound like excerpts from a 1970s television theme song such is the incessant repetition of key melodic motifs. But, sadly, Rediffusion never reaches any great heights. It’s just too safe to be satisfying. Especially when you know what Brooks is capable of doing.

Illustration / Gary Taxali

January 4, 2006 | Illustration | by Zolton |

A couple of bold works from Indian-born, Canadian-raised artist Gary Taxali. With a list of clients including Rolling Stone, Esquire, Time, Warner Bros, Converse, and MTV, Taxali has managed to diversify away from straight illustration. In 2005, for instance, he released a funky vinyl play thing - the Toy Monkey - which was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Taxali’s style incorporates thick block colours over which his surreal line drawings sit, always appearing to be in a state of flux or distraction.