A name by any other rose
A lot of people have asked us where the name Lost At E Minor comes from and what the phrase implies. Well, several years ago I came across a compilation of obscure electro music called Famous When Dead, which is off the commendably experimental German label, Playhouse. One of the tracks on the album was by the production duo, Light Fantastic, and was titled Lost At C Minor. It’s an awesome song which weaves and winds its way through several distinct melodic changes. Anyway, the name kinda stuck in my head. There was something quite beautiful about the symbolism of being lost in a minor key world. C Minor is an interesting chord, but being a musician with an ear for the melancholic, I’ve long thought that E Minor was the most evocative and honest of the keys – haunting, endearing, a little sombre, yet strangely uplifting. So when we were brainstorming a name for this website and newsletter that would showcase all the magnificent cultural things that we love, the name Lost At E Minor leapt out just like the song had done the first time I heard it. It captures the immediacy of the moment but also hints at the depth of those that we feature. But above all, it’s about total immersion in this artistic, creative world we seek to create where anything is truly possible. [illustration by Sam Weber]
Tagged: Lost At E Minor, sam weber
- 2
- 6
RELATED
Sam Weber’s Illustrated Lord of the Flies
Brooklyn-based artist Sam Weber recently collaborated with the Folio Society and the William Golding estate to create an illustrated edition of Golding’s classic novel, Lord of the Flies. Copies are currently available to Folio Society members only, but they’re still sure to sell quick. Read more
Illest of Ill illustration book
Those amazing illustration seniors from The Ringling School have outdone themselves with their beautifully designed book, Illest of Ill. The book was created with the intention of selling it to raise funds for their senior show. They contacted various illustrators and asked them to contribute an illustration based on the classic Gibson Girl or Arrow Shirt Man (myself included). The book includes some fantastic work from illustrators Sam Weber, Nathan Fox, George Pratt and Sterling Hundley, among so, so many others. Read more
If you’re a Twitterer, a Tweeter, or a Twit (in the nicest possible way!), then you might like to follow the Lost At E Minor Twitter feed, which is an extension of the things we post about here. We get access to a lot of tips and information that we don’t always post about. But we will Twitter it, ’cause, hey Twitter is so right now. Follow Lost At E Minor on Twitter. [Illustration by Robert Thompson]
Also by ZOLTON
Crimea X is the coming together of two offbeat, disparate characters, DJ Rocca (Ajello, Super Sonic Lovers, Maffia Sound System) and Jukka Reverberi from 90s Italian glam cult rockers, Giardini di Mirò, who have often have been compared with the sound of Mogwai, Arab Strap, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. We asked them about their favourite music and they started with The Smiths song, Ask [listen below] ‘I saw them playing live on Italian TV. It was during the 80s when I was extremely young, and I’ve never stopped listening to this song’. Read the rest of Crimea X’s Secret Playlist.
I love the curated selection of abandoned swimming pool photos on Feature Shoot today, featuring work by Carlo Van de Roer and Albert Jodar, amongst others.
Win a set of Sony personal audio prizes
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (6)
Gary said | 2 October, 2006
Oooo… That’s how the name was derived. Been wondering about it myself really. Interesting, never thought of that. Thanks. 
Zac said | 2 October, 2006
nice theory jake. makes alot of sense too. maybe subconsciously there’s something in that. hey, and gary, i know you love your rock music, so i have a tip for you to check out if you haven’t already: two gallants. american duo. so good.
ellyy said | 2 October, 2006
What a beautiful story, strange too cause when I was trying to find a blog name I pressed some random keys on my piano to find a chord I liked and then rearranged the note letters to form a name.
I came up with eggface, but I think yours is far more poetic. Great minds eh? :}
Sophie Ward said | 14 December, 2008
I love your site, it is regular bliss, constantly changing and always interesting. I’ve played piano since I was 8 years old, and have a weird brain for nifty word constructions…. Everything you share is exactly what I enjoy. Thank you for keeping a true pulse on what is happening in our culture. You all rock at E Minor.
The Beautiful Kind said | 8 October, 2009
I’m so glad you shared this! I love how things play out like this, like serendipity. Here’s to haunting and endearing!
HAVE YOUR SAY
The loose linework and watercolors that mark the illustration of Victor Kerlow bring to mind several other well known editorial illustrators, but Kerlow is clearly doing his own thing. I love his White Sheik illustration, which he did for the New Yorker, in particular. The New Yorker, yes. It’s hard to believe this guy is only just about to graduate from SVA. We will most certainly be seeing more of him in the years to come. Read more
A colonial-style fishing village on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, San Juan Del Sur is becoming a popular tourist location but has remained largely unspoiled by the tourist dollar. Read more
She may have designed for Ralph Lauren, but it’s hard to believe that Brandy Lunsford’s first two collections have been of this calibre. Read more
Back before The Beatles became the iconic poster-group of the free-spirited generation, they had a catchphrase that they would rally around as they struggled from club to club on the tough German circuit. This was in the early 1960s, before their star had risen and well before Sgt Pepper’s was even a twinkle in their eyes. Read more
Bunnylicious transcends cuteness and takes bunny worship to a another level. Squirrels are so passe. Read more
Australian group Pivot have recently signed with the mighty Warp label and — even better (well, for us anyway) — have written a fun Secret Playlist for us. You can see where the many disparate influences have seeped into their latest recording, the beautiful and colourful, O Soundtrack My Heart.
The highly polished electronic sound of Minneapolis band UltraChorus falls somewhere between Hot Chip and Phoenix, bringing a cut and paste indie rock aesthetic to late nineties Hip-Hop and R&B. We have their debut single, Words Kept Talking [listen below], available for free download in our Music Download section.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.
Forget battery powered vehicles. Cars made from ice are the future of transportation: no pollution, no honking horns, no painful rap music blasting out of souped up stereos. And if they melt, they melt. You just swim the rest of the way down the slipstream.
Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
Karen Caldicott’s clay head models
British born, New York-based model maker Karen Caldicott has been making clay heads for all major US publications over the last decade. Read more
Hong Kong-based illustrator Man-Tsun draws dark and beautiful painterly images that look like they are straight off a high-end Japanese animated film. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Created by graphic t shirt label, the-affair, and printed on beautifully soft American Apparel. Limited edition of 200.
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
Jake said | 1 October, 2006
It’s funny you say that.
I actually thought that the name “Lost at E Minor” was selected for an entirely different reason. The E minor chord is probably the most basic of any chord played on a standard guitar, and thus the first chord which most beginners will learn.
I had assumed that Lost at E Minor was a tongue-in-cheek mention of this basic chord, and a reflection of our ever shortening attention spans as consumers in the digital age.
Maybe I should stop thinking about this sorta stuff so much….