My Secret Playlist
We’re launching a new email newsletter in a few weeks time called My Secret Playlist in which a different guest musician each week will write about eight songs that they’re loving right now. It’s all about music discovery, about raiding the iPods of some of our favorite musicians and getting their thoughts on new music for us all to explore. And it’s going to be fun. That’s a promise. We already have Playlists from Midlake, Mekons, Syd Matters, Pajo, Moby, Young Knives [above], The B52s, and The Concretes in the bag, with many more to come. So if you’d like to be added to the list to receive My Secret Playlist direct into your inbox every Tuesday, just sign-up below:
Tagged: electronic music, pop music, rock music
RELATED
The Knife’s Colouring of Pigeons
Why am I so fond of The Knife’s latest track? Yes, the opera chanting opening takes me down memory lane: reminiscent of Edea’s theme song, reminding me of childhood Final Fantasy VIII playstation days. But ultimately this collaborative effort with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock is ambitiously rich in sparkling percussion and takes the listener on an ethereal journey to Darwinism.
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The music behind the new Howling Bells album, Radio Wars
The last time I caught up with London-based, Australian band, Howling Bells, was in New York in early 2007 when they played a show at one of the many seedy Lower East Side bars. Since then, they’ve recorded a new album, the aptly named Radio Wars [listen to their song, Treasure Hunt, below], a remarkable follow-up to their 2006 self-titled debut. I checked in with guitarist Joel Stein to find out what music the four-piece had been listening to around the time the album was written: ‘The Byrds’ Eight Miles High always sounds so futuristic to me. It has one of the best guitar sounds ever and really moves me with its color and power. Every time I hear the Tortoise track, I Set My Face to the Hillside, I instantly get transported to the ocean. Beautiful! Joy Division’s Isolation is incredible. I love the intro keyboard riff, in particular (the keyboard was self-built). It expresses urgency and truth. And then there’s Neu!’s Hallogallo, a truly inspiring instrumental track that I always want to go on for longer. Its fuzzy guitars are so warm and vibrant. Perfect!’ Read frontwoman Juanita Stein’s Playlist of inspiring songs.
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Cold War Kids’ Loyalty to Loyalty
With their slow burning, ramshackle pop escapism, Cold War Kids have ignited a spark in that oft-derided indie music scene. So perk up! Their new album, Loyalty to Loyalty, can be heard in its entirety through the MTV Leak website.
Download the track, Something is Not Right With Me
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Also by ZOLTON
Maths explains the origin of superhero characters
I love the colours and simple reasoning in this clever series by Scottish illustrator Matt Cowen, which uses basic maths equations to explain how certain pop culture icons came to be. Read more
Star Wars Uncut: a fully crowdsourced version of Episode IV
The project of creative technologist, Casey Pugh, this full length version of the George Lucas masterpiece was created from multiple 15 second segments recreated from the original movie and submitted by thousands of Star Wars fans, which were then spliced together by editor Aaron Valdez to form the final product. Genius, as both a commentary on contemporary pop culture trends (there are references to LEGO, stop motion, memes and the like) and on the power of tapping your audience for quality material.
Filmmaker creates LEGO stop motion to propose to girlfriend
Now, this is one for the ages: back in 2010, Atlanta film-maker Walter Thompson created a jaw-dropping LEGO stop motion to propose to Nealey Dozier, his girlfriend of four years. The video took 22 hours of shooting and some 2,600 pictures to splice together, a small sacrifice to pay for years of happiness together. Right? Right! Oh, and she said yes. Bonus.
YOU'RE SAYING (4)
grace said | 28 May, 2008
i love you and read you everyday.
Lost At E Minor: Music, illustration, art, photography and more » Hello Tokyo’s Secret Playlist said | 26 June, 2008
[...] launch our new newsletter, My Secret Playlist next Tuesday — with Moby’s selections — and as a teaser for it, we asked John from [...]
jean strong said | 4 April, 2011
Hey I am a big fan of the My Secret Playlist page.
I was wondering what sound player you are using. I know it’s flash but is it an easy plug in anyone can use from adobe? Is it from a third party website? Or did you design it yourself?
Thanks so much.
Jean
HAVE YOUR SAY
New Orleans-based artist Ryn Wilson specializes in highly-composed installations that deal with notions of the body, sexual trauma and objectification, and horror. Read more
Ben Hood (aka The Creative Panic) is currently knee-deep in a One Illustration a Day project, passing 100 illustrations and going strong. He is aiming for a whole year and doesn’t look like slowing down. Read more
Sparks’ album Kimono My House is a demented mix of hard rock, pop, glam, new wave, and baroque pop. Why this record never caught on in the States I’ll never know. The songs will get stuck in your head and prevent you from sleeping. Oh yeah, and the keyboard player has a nice mustache too, as evidenced by this track above — This Town Ain’t Big Enough.
I spent time recently in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee, enjoying fine Southern cuisine, gracious hospitality [’y'all come back now!’] and the warmth of a sun beating down like a semi-gnarled blanket. It was interesting to see the cultural values of the city; the social graces of its people which permeate every conversation. Read more
Vintage Kids Books My Kid Loves is a great resource for people looking for gift ideas or simply for those who dig the artwork in out-of-print and esoteric children’s books from years past. The author provides reviews from the perspective of a parent, not merely a hobbyist.
Curxes (pronounced ‘curses’) are one of the most exciting new bands you’ll hear all year. Roberta Fidora and Macaulay Hopwood make music that will suck you in, invade your brain, and make you lose sense of time. Their music is somewhere between Depeche Mode and Crystal Castles.
With the recent financial qualms, a moment of reflection takes over as we begin to wonder how we all became so out of touch with reality. Somehow Luxury lost its way and mistook itself for decadence, joining the Bling-Bling parade and gravitating towards the streets of self-indulgence. Yet, the true essence of Luxury, as the divine Coco Chanel states ‘is not in the richness and ornateness, but in the absence of vulgarity’. Bravo, I say! Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Pencils made from recycled newspaper
The problem with awesome things like these pencils made out of recycled newspaper is that you almost don’t want to use them.
Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more
Here are a couple awesome pieces by Matt Leines that were recently on display in the Doubting Thomases exhibit at Nudashank gallery in Baltimore. Gives me ideas for Halloween. Read more
The return of the Brionvega rr226
Italian brand Brionvega has resurrected the classy Radiofonografio piece first created in 1965. The updated version is just like the original turntable/radio unit, but also has a CD/DVD player.
Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more
We’re pleased to announce that, as of today, there is free shipping on all items and for all orders in the Lost At E Minor store — our stash of favoured goodies that you can buy for yourself, your friends, or your frenemies (hey, hey, why not?) We’ve got heaps of cool tees, jewellery, watches and other fun items, so knock yourself out. Not literally, of course. [browse the Lost At E Minor online store]
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
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Pi said | 23 May, 2008
Yup, I’ll take that