Sampling Culture

Seth Troxler has funny shorts, a new track and an Electric Island appearance in Toronto

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:51:00 -0400

Caught swatting non-existant bats and wearing his girlfriend’s shorts, Seth Troxler proved himself to be a very comical man with 1970’s swagger, when DJ MAG caught him for an impromptu interview at the Winter Music Conference in Miami in 2010. So, just what we can expect from him today at Electric Island, on Center Island in Toronto? It’s an open question - but one thing is for sure — the music should be good.

Seth’s music is dark and unequivocally trippy, with rolling bass-lines and tricked out lyrics that have hallucinogenic undertones.

Here’s his newest track with Deetron that came out 6 days ago on his Soundcloud page:

And another good one:

Along with Seth Troxler performing at Toronto’s inaugural Electric Island summer festival, are Nitin, My Favorite Robot and Nathan Barato.

Electric Island is organized by a group of people from several of the leading event companies in Toronto: Platform, Embrace and Footwork.

I caught up with Jeremy Kesten of Platform to hear more about the festival. “It was inspired by the Piknic Electronik in Montreal… We wanted to work with the city to do a positive outdoors event during the day… and The City and Parks and Recreation have been great on working with us.” “It’s good for everyone. The City will make money from our event permits and equipment rentals, and the vendors on the Island will also make more money than usual with all of our event attendees.”

Organizers are hoping for 2000 people today, with sunny skies, and only a slight chance of rain later in the evening. The Electric Island starts at 2 PM and goes until 10 PM. There will be a BBQ on site and a full-service bar at the licensed event.

When asked about the sound, Jeremy said “We have a Sennheiser K-Array sound system. It produces huge bass, but the speakers are flat and very thin. It produces massive sound and it’s like a space age technology. It’s all portable – and although it’s pretty heavy and needs to be dollied around, you have a full concert sound system that fits into a few boxes!”

It’s possible that residents on Wards Island could complain of noise but the organizers of Electric Island have been as careful as possible to position the sound so that it’s barricaded by buildings. They’re excited to be doing the event and have everyone cooperating to make it a success.

Electric Island events will take place on the 4 holiday weekends this summer and they’d like to keep their event as an affordable option for electronic music fans who want to attend a relatively low-key event with amazing music and friends.

Find out more on their website: http://www.electricisland.to

Wooden Toy by Leviathan Wins FITC Award for Best Animation

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:56:00 -0400

Teaming up with musician Amon Tobin of Ninja Tune label fame, Leviathan studio produced the animation for two songs as part of the ISAM 2.0 live audio-visual experience tour. In their stellar promotional video they expose some of their creative process and illuminate the mastery of their studio at work.

Here are some reasons why Leviathan’s multiplatform animation project is especially innovative and most deserving of an FITC award.

Real 3-dimensional mechanical pieces are integrated with software generated animation; creating an amazing illusion that plays with the audience’s sense of vision and sound.
3-D image mapping is used to create animation on the surfaces of the existing physical structures on stage and animation is overlaid to crea te an illusory experience for the audience.
Interdisciplinary fields merge in a collaboration between mechanics, set-designers, engineers, pixel pushers, animators, cinematographers, musicians and producers, to create a beautiful live experience that is consumed by audiences in realtime all over the world on the ISAM tour.

Like what you see? Check out more work by Leviathan.

Rediscovering RED Interactive's Website at the FITC Awards

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:04:00 -0400

Having attended the FITC awards show several weeks ago in Toronto, I was inspired to look into more of the projects and companies represented that night.

Here are some reasons I like the RED Interactive Agency site.

I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of one company I had only recently heard about. A runner up for best self-promotion was RED Interactive Agency; an agency that works with strategists, designers, UX specialists, storytellers and programmers to build solutions for other brands. Clearly one thing they’re doing well is leading by example! They walk the talk, by presenting their own content in a way that it is easily discoverable in an creative user-friendly experience.

Their website is a very visual space, following the current trend for images taking front and centre on the web.
Their site is responsive, and adapts to all screen sizes, getting smaller and changing as the browser or tablet size changes.
Multiple category navigation and multiple thumbnail views with roll-over text give you a good idea at a glance as to what the content is before you click on a link.
They reflect a range of modalities on the web and include media from multiple threads on the homepage of their website - For example a quote from twitter, a recent instagram photo, a blog post, or a featured project on their website.
Their color scheme and layout remind me on TED (and I absolutely love TED talks - I could spend hours on that website, clicking from one video to the next, never needing to navigate away)!

What do you think? Do you agree? Do you like RED’s website?

[Thanks to my friend Jonathan Coe, who was DJing that night and got me into the Awards show.]

Toronto is always changing… Slowly, but surely. These are...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 01:44:00 -0400

Toronto is always changing… Slowly, but surely.

These are some images I’ve taken in the last month from around the city: from a condo on Richmond Street West, from the AGO and from the Sky Dragon mall in China Town.

Wow. Bernhoft performing his song “Cmon Talk” at the Drake...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:52:00 -0400

Wow. Bernhoft performing his song “Cmon Talk” at the Drake Underground blew my mind. Much like he is in his music video, he stole the show with his one-man band, voice range and crowd-pleaser abilities. He is one talented performer. We were lucky to see him before he left for SXSW. He had performed in Brooklyn the night before… He is highly recommended and we were so lucky to see him perform in this intimate venue!

On Friday night I got one of the seats in the balcony to watch...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:16:00 -0400

On Friday night I got one of the seats in the balcony to watch the Beat Nation All Styles Dance Battle at the Power Plant theatre in Toronto. Great space for the battle with some great talent!

The dancers battled 2-on-2 for a $1000 cash prize. This showcase was part of “Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture.”

How to Live a More Creative Life? - Start by Reading this!

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 12:33:00 -0500

What do you struggle with? What keeps you from being the most inspired and creative you can be? This poster helps you stay on point by suggesting ways to stay inspired in work and life to be more creative.

What are your favourite tactics to stay creative on a daily basis?

Check out more work by Islam Abudaoud on Behance.

Amazing New Tycho Remix of Ulrich Schnauss' Song

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:01:00 -0500

Listen to this beautiful remix of German composer Ulrich Schnauss’ song ‘I Take Comfort in Your Ignorance’ by Californian artist extraordinaire Tycho.

Share this post if you ♥ (love) this song as much as we do!

Find Ulrich Schnauss & Find Tycho.

Bonobo's New Single "Cirrus" & Music Video Dazzles with Mechanical Movements!

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:42:00 -0500

Check out this trippy video for a melodic track called “Cirrus” by Bonobo - the first single for his upcoming album, The North Borders, which will be released worldwide on April 1st, and April 2nd in North America. Can’t wait for this album, and Bonobo’s live tour starting in April 2013.

This video, highlighting the mechanical monotonous nature of 1950’s suburban life is directed by British animator Cyriak, who has done lots of great work, including Eskmo’s “We Got More” video, which showed city street life from a unique perspective.

Download Cirrus for FREE at http://bonobomusic.com

Pre-order the new album ‘The North Borders’ now at:http://bonobomusic.com + http://ninjatune.net/store

Video by http://www.cyriak.co.uk

Intricate graphic art like a kaleidoscope by Andy Gilmore!

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 01:00:00 -0500

Andy Gilmore creates graphic art, with intense colours and patterns that mimic nature and sometimes the arrangements found in music.

He says that his education outside of school was probably more formative of his art, than his college years at SUNY Empire State College. It was after completing his BFA that he ended up in California to start a career in graphic design, working first on print ads for big sports apparel brands, and then eventually for clients such as Wallpaper, The New York Times, Wired, Warp Records and Ghostly International.

Some of his amazing images are beneath this text, and on his website!

In this video, watch part of a Byetone performance in Toronto,...

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 02:13:00 -0500

In this video, watch part of a Byetone performance in Toronto, with some amazing visuals and sounds!

Byeton is one of the founders of the Raster-Noton label out of Germany.

The music in his recent performance was much like the tracks off of his 2011 album “Symeta”, which are darker and harder than his previous sounds.

Nosaj Thing's Amazing New Music Video

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 21:17:00 -0500

Nosaj Thing’s brilliant new music video for their song “Eclipse/Blue” features fantastic visual work by Daito Manabe. On screen, dancers move to the choreographed set by MIKIKO of Perfume; meanwhile their movements are amplified by projection mapped visuals on a screen behind them. Their bodies also become canvases for the projection; making the visual effects become larger than life.

The lovely voice on this song, off Nosaj Thing’s forthcoming album “Home” (due out in January 2013), is none other than Kazu/Makino’s of Blonde Redhead.

Keeping up with Arthur Oskan

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:44:00 -0500

Arthur Oskan’s recent release “Exit Strategy” (Thoughtless Music, 2012) attracts some attention on the CBC Electronic site. And; what’s more, Arthur has just released a fresh new bio (written by me), that sums up his journey to success and his recent projects.

An excerpt for the early part of his bio, describing the first years of his work, is below.

To read Arthur Oskan’s full bio and learn more about his latest projects, visit his site.

Hailing from Toronto, Arthur Oskan has spent the last twenty years solidifying his place as one of Canada’s top electronic music producers.

A Juno Award nomination (an award given to Canada’s top musicians) for his album ‘A Little More Than Everything’ (2011) on Thoughtless Music was not something he ever expected when he started making music, but it was something that others who have watched his music evolve might say was inevitable.

“As a teen, I knew I wanted to work in a creative field, so my driving motivation then, as it is now, was to express myself in any way possible” says Arthur.

In the early 1990’s, in a Toronto suburb, Arthur routinely headed into the big city to shop for records to feed his insatiable appetite for avant-garde sounds: new wave, electro and synth-pop. Nestled in the confines of his growing studio, Arthur began dissecting elements of his newfound records, re-mixing and re-programming them to create his own tape edits.

“While working as a dishwasher, I purchased my first keyboard; a Roland JX-3P which I still own today. From the moment I turned it on, its sound instantly connected me to every record I had owned up until that point”. It was then that he really began collecting more gear and creating his own compositions.

Following the mild success of his first two industrial music projects, he made the move downtown, and by the mid-1990’s, Arthur found himself performing live for local rave promoters. In that same period, he began making the four-hour trek to Detroit; trips that proved to be life-changing experiences. Arthur’s industrial and synth driven influences finally came full circle, and he soon realized his own brand of electronic music, ready to present to the world.

Shining a Light on Another Kind of Pollution (Video)

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:59:00 -0400

The 2011 documentary The City Dark, continues to make an impression on audiences around the world. It’s a documentary produced out of Brooklyn, in which the director Ian Cheney goes around the world to discover exactly how harmful light pollution is.

As technological advances in lighting were improved over the last hundred years, what harms are caused by our increasing over-use of lights in cities? The answers are surprisingly revelatory - Not only about what is at stake in scientific discovery and the environment, but also about the very meaning of what it is to be human.

This is a thought-provoking documentary that’s worth catching if it comes to a theatre near you. The DVD is also now available for purchase.

Architectural Mapping on Gaudí's Sagrada Família in Barcelona (Video)

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:34:00 -0400

Montreal company ‘Moment Factory’ designed this amazing 15-minute interactive fresco using 3D projection mapping as a tribute to one of the world’s most celebrated architecturally stunning cathedrals.

The soundtrack for the show, ”Ode à la vie (Ode to Life),” fuses classical with modern electronic elements, and the concept is an exploration the creation of the universe, inspired by original colour sketches by Gaudi.

Although this is not Moment Factory’s first projection mapping project, it is their most complicated surface to date. They’ve previously projected on the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, on ruins at Pointe-à-Callière (Montreal), and on the façade of Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

To achieve their impressive effects they use their X-Agora software. At the Sagrada their canvas was 150 meters by 30 meters, and they used 16 video projectors and 13 computers for their playback system; as well as 25 moving lights.

The results look quite impressive!

Tycho Performs Chilling Hits in Toronto (Video)

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 19:49:00 -0400

At a concert at The Hoxton this spring, Tycho performed many of the hits from his last two albums on Ghostly International, “Past is Prologue” (2006) and “Dive” (2011).

The audience was treated to Tycho’s lush hues of color, as his visuals played on a screen behind the band. In addition to being known as a musician, Tycho is a prolific graphic designer who creates stunning posters and his own album art, which are both showcased and regularly updated on his website.

Since Tycho started touring his live show, he has come a long way. From a one-man A/V band performing in small one-room venues, he now tours with a three-piece band, with a bassist and drummer adding more texture to his synths and keyboards, to a growing audience of fans, who increasingly recognize his songs.

Everything Begins Now - Preview "The End of Time" at TIFF

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:45:00 -0400

Have you longed to find a filmmaker who creates poetry out of a new visual-sound-motion lexicon? Canadian Peter Mettler just might be that Director. He connects the dots between disparate themes and makes meaning out of the world. He’s a long-time filmmaker who weaves together multiple story lines and creates a more nuanced and evokative whole that is not easily expressed through regular narrative.

His work includes the experimental “Gambling Gods and LSD”, and a film for Greenpeace called “Petropolis,” which explores the Alberta Tar Sands and their changing landscapes. Over the years he has worked with some of the greatest creatives in film and culture of our time: Atom Egoyan, Robert Lepage, Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal and Michael Ondaatje.

In Mettler’s new film “The End of Time” - he explores our perception of time; from past to present to future. He features techno icon, Richie Hawtin, and uses the innovative Touch Designer software to create a unique mixing effect of his film.

The End of Time premieres in North America at The Toronto International Film Festival next month.

Of particular interest are some segments of the film which detail the evolution of technology and our relationship to it. Below is an excerpt from an interview with Peter Mettler in July 2012, from the official press kit.

Who are the people we encounter in Detroit, in the film? What’s going on there?

The people in Detroit are part of a community that purchased an entire block of abandoned houses for very little money in the middle of a largely destitute neighbourhood. They have created their own vegetable gardens, fixed up their homes, and are part of a new generation with an alternative approach to city living.

In Detroit I was interested in seeing the transitioning eras, which are remarkably visible there – the old opulent movie theatre, which is now a parking lot but was once the site of Henry Ford’s workshop, for example.

Nature is reclaiming the city in places, demonstrating its power to continue on without us. And you have these people with a new vision inhabiting the ruins of the automotive industry dream – the factories of which are still strewn around, picked over for sheet metal or other resources.

Detroit also gave birth to the ever-expanding music movement of Techno or electronic music. We visit with Richie Hawtin who plays an important part in this evolution, having migrated weekly across the river from Windsor, Canada, in the early days. To me Techno is emblematic of the digital age, which has sprouted out of this old industrial-dream city.

New Producer on Post-Dubstep's Radar: 'Morning High'

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 00:24:00 -0400

Twenty year old ‘Morning High,’ Matthew from Atlanta, is producing some interesting new soft dubstep that fans of James Blake might fancy. He might just be the next big thing to arrive on the scene on Soundcloud, especially if his latest 3-track net album “Out of Place” on Optimystic Records catches on.

Kudos for the nice album artwork too!

A tip of the hat to mthrfnkr.com who brought his latest single to our attention:

Alternative track:

Find Morning High on facebook.

Richie Hawtin at Digital Dreams, Toronto (Photo Set)

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400

“The Fashion World of Jean-Paul Gaultier - from the...

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 01:43:00 -0400

Projectors at Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit

X-Rated Fetish themed haute-couture

More inspiring Jean-Paul Gaultier dress

Punk Rock Divas by Jean-Paul Gaultier

UK Punk rock inspired fashion

Recycled materials for couture

“The Fashion World of Jean-Paul Gaultier - from the sidewalk to the catwalk” is a cutting edge museum exhibit featuring the provocative couture dresses that Jean-Paul Gaultier has crafted over the years.

Tracing the trajectory of his long career, the clothes on display are referencing the symbols of the era. Always preoccupied with women’s powerful sexuality, Gaultier’s costumes symbolize expanded notions of gender relations and the continual pursuit of pushing boundaries in mainstream society.

Of particular interest to interactive visual enthusiasts will be the way that faces are projected onto the bare manequins faces. For the exhibit, Gaultier partnered with Montreal theatre company Ubu Compagnie de Creation to design the animated mannequins who talk, with moving faces and vocals.

Catch this cool exhibit while it lasts at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, before August 19, 2012.