A drawing from Anatomy (part 1), a series by Alex Konahin

Christine Sefolosha, Le Capitaine, 2010

Jeremy Enecio, Cthulhu 

Joe Nguyen, Los Angeles, CA

Yuewei Vivien Zhang, Vessels, Blast, Pink and Green, 2012

Mat Collishaw, Insecticide 15, 2009

Josef Sudek, Window of My Studio - Spring in My Garden

Darina Karpov, Sinister Influence, 2010

Diana McClure, Crown Chakra Shakti 

Some stuff I love right now.

Neil's new album with Crazy Horse.
Unfortunately it is $130 on vinyl.

 

Paula Toto Blake, Serie la Casa Como Amenaza, 2006 

Frank S. Nicholson, 1939

"El Curiot".

Fernando Navarro Vejo

Jon Contino

Leontine Greenberg

"Stinkfish".

I also love my friends and my workmates and my flatmates and my job and my cats but I'm not going to post pictures of them because that would be weird. 

Weekend ended.

I keep wondering/looking forward when I'm going to run out of energy for all the things I do.

What I REALLY wanted to post was the song Brawl by Pumice, which is probably my favourite NZ song of all time, but it's not on bloody youtube. So I'm going to post Gold Day by Sparklehorse because it's been stuck in my head all day. And it's so beautiful. Such a perfect end to my somewhat exhausting weekend.

As far as art etc goes, I've just got these tonight. I don't know the credits to all of them, sorry.

Akitaka Ido

Bill from Freaks and Geeks, obviously.

Minor White - Silver Plume, 1962

Tetsuo Ikeda

Liu Ruowang, The Wolf is Coming.

Charles L. Ripper, Bats, 1954

Biho Takashi, Bat Before the Moon, c. 1910

A recent installation by 2501.

If you know anything about the Louvin Brothers, I think you'll appreciate this one.

Matticchio, Phototessera

Anthony Browne & Graeme Base

I was at the art gallery the other week with a couple of friends and I saw a piece that reminded me of picture books I used to read as a child. I just couldn't place the author's name though and my friends had no idea who I was talking about either.

However, when I was in a bookstore (oh, what a surprise), the other day with my flatmate looking at the children's books (he wants to be an illustrator/graphic novelist etc), the images in the books I had been thinking of came back again. My flatmate had a better idea of who and what I was talking about so when we got home we did some research. My flatmate found that the author he was thinking of was Graeme Base of Animalia fame, and the author and illustrator I was thinking of was Anthony Browne.

Unfortunately the following images really don't do his work justice. On the pages of a real book they are unbelievably lush and glossy. I always liked them because they were kind of dark, not just in the imagery but also in the narrative.

Most of these are from King Kong.

Anthony Browne Wikipedia

And my flatmate's favourite, Graeme Base:

Graeme Base's Official Website

Again, the internet really doesn't do these images justice. They're so detailed and wonderful; I highly recommend going to your local bookstore just to see them in person. You might look like a weirdo but I guess if you know a kid you can make their life a lot more awesome by getting them one of these books. They've got to be something special if my flatmate and I remember them so fondly 20 years after reading them as children. 

Fire by the Moonflowers

Another sweet $4 score.

I wouldn't say I enjoy this record as much as the Kawaguchi Masami's New Rock Syndicate one but it's not every day that you come across a virtually unknown band (I could find almost nothing about them on Google - I mean, they have a Wikipedia page but that's it), that sounds like a perfect mix of The Stone Roses, Primal Scream and Pink Floyd. As you can imagine, they do sound really really English. Not that that's a bad thing at all, in fact it's one of the things that I enjoy about them. 

I did manage to learn that they formed in 1987 and made a good effort releasing albums until 2000. Fire is pretty good but I can't say I'd go out and look for all their stuff. Especially if heaps of it is mushy lovey goo like some of the tracks on Fire are. 

If anyone's reading this, definitely check this band out - I'm not kidding when I say they sound really Pink Floydy. And I totally mean that in a good way, and that's a hard thing to pull off.

Jap Rock

This is a sweet record I picked up for about $4. 

So this album was released on Palindrone Recordings (what a fucking sweet name for a record label), in 2007. I can't find much information on it other than that, unfortunately. 

The "Cat" side is pretty fast-paced, kinda punky but not that shit new punk kind of stuff. More thrashy and awesome and just having a fucking good time kind of sound. I really enjoyed the whole side. "Frog" is slower (so far, I'm just listening to it for the first time right now). It really reminds me of Real Estate a bit except I can't understand a word of the lyrics. The song I'm listening to is called Echo and whoa - a fucking sweet guitar solo just started. Nice and slow but wowww - epic. If I could find a video of this song I'd post it because it's seriously good. Unfortunately I can't find much information on this band at all except for on discogs. Anyway, the next song is called "Fading Out" and it sounds really good too - definitely a '70s kind of vibe, kind of Doorsy I guess even though I hate the Doors. I think I might enjoy the song more if I could understand what Masami was saying, but it's good regardless. His vocals really remind me of someone too but I can't put my finger on it. I'm sure it'll come to me. Masami really loves his guitar and it shows. The drums in this song are fucking sweet too. The next song is called "Melt" and it has that awesome twangy guitar that I love and a good meandering bassline. 

So all in all - hell yeah I would have paid full price for this. What a catch for four bucks though. And it's pressed on white vinyl, which makes it even cooler.

Johanna Naukkarinen

Entrapment by Tanapol Kawpring, 2010.

One of the best songs in human existence. 

I need to walk by the flowers, with someone who can share my face
and it looks like no one can take your place
And I could bleed in sympathy with you
On those days
And I could drink up everything you have
Don't let it go to waste

I could give you memories
To rival Berlin in the Thirties
I understand your dating bar ways
And I could bleed in sympathy with you
On those days
And I could drink up everything you have
Don't let it go to waste

Say something warm, say something nice
I can't stand to see you when you're cold
Nor can I stand being out of your life
And I could bleed in sympathy with you
On those days
And I could drink up everything you have

Don't let our youth go to waste

A few of my favourite things.