Cool Websites / Crimea X’s Secret Playlist

November 21, 2009 | Cool Websites | 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.

Cool Websites / I Was A King Secret Playlist

November 19, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Zolton |

Boasting members of Serena Maneesh, Harry’s Gym and Danielson, revolving around frontman and songwriter Frode Stromstad — with the album’s supporting cast including Sufjan Stephens and Gary Olsen of Lady Bug Transistor — I Was A King are a misty eyed pop-gaze of West Coast harmonies and ringing Rickenbacker. They have just released a new single — Norman Bleik — through Sonic Cathedral and we checked in with Stromstad to get the inside word on the music that inspired it all. He started with the Flaming Lips song, Slow Nerve Action [listen below]: ‘The last song out on one of my favorite Flaming Lips albums, Transmissions From The Satellite Heart. I think Flaming Lips are responsible for creating the coolest drum sound ever’. Read the rest of I Was A King’s Secret Playlist.

Cool Websites / Popopop 2

November 19, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Gerry Mak |

I never played Popopop 1, if there is one, but I can’t imagine a game much more simple than this. Just drop detonating balls next to balls of the same color to pop them. I feel like someone out there is getting way to much pleasure playing this game.

Cool Websites / Random Creepy Guy

November 17, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Zolton |

In the finest tradition of People of Public Transit and People Of Walmart comes the latest bizarro meme blog, Random Creepy Guy. Spot him? Look a little closer. That’s right. Indeed.

Cool Websites / Let Them Sing It For You

November 16, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Gerry Mak |

Let them sing it for you is a web widget that allows you to type in a sentence which is then played back using the same words culled from a library of popular songs. For instance if you type the word “I” it will play Chris Isaak singing that word in the song Wicked Games. If a word cannot be found, you can enter a song which contains the missing word and expand the library.

Cool Websites / Tweet, tweet, who’s there?

November 13, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Zolton |

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]

Cool Websites / The Virtual Shoe Museum

November 12, 2009 | Cool Websites | by The Uncool Hunter |

Not surprisingly, the Virtual Shoe Museum is a site with lots of shoe designs. This collaborative project flashes rarities and great heroic deeds in architecture for feet, but its most interesting section focuses on unusable shoes. The section is called Extreme Design and it’s an image gallery for lovers of foot aches. Read more

Cool Websites / Cubed

November 11, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Gerry Mak |

Cubed is a fun little game where you strategically manipulate various cubes to capture a flag posted on each level. It gets hard, don’t let the first couple levels fool you.

Cool Websites / People Of Public Transit

November 7, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Zolton |

Following on from the People of Walmart website, comes People Of Public Transit: ‘The public bus and subway systems are littered with amazing photo opportunities. Many of us have been sitting alone witnessing something amazing and only wishing we could share the experience with our friends. Well now you can!’ Read more

Cool Websites / Malcolm Middleton’s Secret Playlist

November 5, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Zolton |

Malcolm Middleton (ex-Arab Strap) has just released his fifth solo album, Waxing Gibbous, composed from years worth of scribbles in notebooks, which were ‘chiseled and connived into being songs’. We checked in with him to get his words n the music that inspired the new recrding. He started with The Auteurs song, Lenny Valentino [listen below]: ‘I must have missed this band the first time around, but since reading Luke Haines’ autobiography, I am hooked. Anyone who can write about their own life and come across so badly gets the thumbs up from me!’ Read the rest of Malcolm Middleton’s Secret Playlist.

Cool Websites / Dads In Short Shorts

November 2, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Zolton |

I have an unwritten rule by which I live: never, ever wear shorts unless I absolutely, positively need to. Why, you ask? Well, from a lifetime of experience, the only men who should wear shorts are professional athletes and skaters. On everyone else, they just look damn awful. That’s right. Men’s legs are either too scrawny, too hairy, or too disproportionate. Which is why I love this blog so much. It merely affirms what I’ve always suspected. Now, for the life of me, go and put on some jeans and look half respectable again! Read more

Cool Websites / But Does It Float

October 30, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Gerry Mak |

Found-image blogs are a dime a dozen, but but does it float is a particularly well-curated one that has an interesting layout, using flash for continuous scrolling without freaking your browser out. The blog focuses on art and design images, many of which you might recognize, but the juxta-positioning of the images draws out certain themes and ideas.

Cool Websites / Cave Chaos

October 29, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Gerry Mak |

Side-scrolling funage for a rainy, lazy day. I’ve been putzing around on this and sipping nettle tea. Moles are cute.

Cool Websites / Thao Nguyen’s Secret Playlist

October 28, 2009 | Cool Websites | by Zolton |

Thao and the Get Down Stay Down (Adam Thompson on bass, keys and additional guitar, and Willis Thompson on drums and percussion) return with the follow up to their critically lauded album, We Brave Bee Stings and All, the best-selling record of 2008 for Kill Rock Stars. We checked in with Nguyen to get the inside word on the music that inspired it all. She started with The Avett Brothers song, Will Your Return [listent below]: ‘So catchy, forlorn, provocative and rakishly charming. It reminds me of touring. I love the cutting sincerity and the charisma of the Avett Brothers. And, totally unrelated, they are the nicest band in the world. Seriously. Ask anyone’. Read the rest of Thao Nguyen’s Secret Playlist.

Cool Websites / Dogs dressed up for Halloween

October 28, 2009 | Cool Websites | by The Uncool Hunter |

Why don’t dogs like Halloween? This is the title of an article on the Urlesque website, which recently featured the craziest costumes of the canine world for Halloween night. Dogs with manes, a dog being bitten by a crocodile, the All-American football player, the giraffe, the tarantula, and the shrimp are just some of the pseudo-artistic expressions that these poor animals are subjected to. Read more