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random imagery no. 8

THE FULL SERIES

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New Music No. 5

Restless People

There’s something about the debut from Brooklyn-based Restless People that makes me really, really happy. It’s a great listen for summertime and nails the global, big breezy dance sound happening right now (check “Days of Our Lives”, below, for a reference to bands in a similar vein like Delorean).

The four friends have been working together in the groups Tanlines, Professor Murder, and Family Edition before coming together on this project.

The first single “Victimless Crime” is available on their site.  I dig the description:

“Finger point / boogie / windmill / 2-step (??) / lie on bed & stare at ceiling / head bob / strut”

It makes me sympathize with artists in having to categorize their own music!

Get “Days of Our Lives” over at RCRDLBL.

The album is out September 14th (also National Cream Filled Donut Day! also my birthday! ) on IAMSOUND.

http://restlesspeople.com/

Andreya Triana

Andreya is a self-taught singer and songwriter from Brighton.

Her voice is soulful, hauntingly beautiful and put me in that “place” straight away. See for yourself, Andreya performing live with Simon Green aka Bonobo (also on the Ninja Tune label and producer of her debut album):

Visit her website for a free download of the tune “Lost Where I Belong” (the Flying Lotus Preview edit).

A Town Called Obsolete is set for release August 23rd on Ninja Tune.

http://www.ninjatune.net/andreyatriana/

@andreyatriana

Shit Robot

Irish born DJ Marcus Lambkin is Shit Robot. Co-founder to The Leaf label, he’s also co-conspiritor behind seminal NYC label DFA Records alongside LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.

Guest vocalists on the album include LCD’s Nancy Whang, Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, James Murphy, and more.

The long-anticipated debut From The Cradle to the Rave is out September 21st.

Shit Robot on Facebook

Hear the July Mixcast:

Full selections:

Arcade Fire “The Suburbs (continued)”
Christopher Willits “You Are Always Surrounded by Stars”
B.O.B. “Generation Lost”
Kid CuDi “REVOFEV”
Baths “Animals”
Onra “Mechanical”
The Chemical Brothers “K+D+B”
Shit Robot “I Found Love (TBD Remix)”
Kele “12 EYW – RAC Remix”
!!! “Blue (Bonus Track)”
Restless People “Basic Needs”
Local Natives “Wide Eyes (Fool’s Gold Remix)”
Awesome New Republic “Dark Water”
Hugo “99 Problems (Jay-Z cover)”
The Drums “Let’s Go Surfing (The Raveonettes Remix)”
Bryan Ferry “You Can Dance”
Kisses “People Can Do The Most Amazing Things (Saint Etienne Remix)”
School of Seven Bells “Windstorm (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix)”
Musee Mecanique “Sleeping In Our Clothes”
Laura Veirs “Summer is The Champion”

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The Age of Convenience

In any given week, many people choose to have someone else:

-wash their car
-clean their house
-feed, walk, bathe, and groom their pets
-fix the car
-landscape the yard
-drive us around. to the airport, home from the pub…
-take care of financial matters including taxes
-launder and fold our clothes
-make coffee and for that matter:
-breakfast, lunch, and dinner

(Any other big ones I’m missing?)

Obviously, these things we can do ourselves.

Someone in my office roasts his own coffee. I think there’s something great about that.

As I’m writing this, I sip from my savvily-packaged (yet weak in defense, fully-recyclable) venti Starbucks I picked up on the way in because truthfully who knows where my mug went. And, I like their Tazo tea.

This package is more than $2.39. It’s comfort, it’s identity (oh, the options to choose from! I’d like a “tall extra-hot americano, please” an actual reply from a baristo “I’ll let you know when he walks in the door!”) , and most importantly it’s ease.

In looking over the aformentioned list, I subscribe to many of these. Why? The answer to that is simple. Why not? It’s not a matter being unable to handle the day-to-day minutiae anymore. I’m buying convenience.

It makes me wonder what kind of shift is happening here on a socioeconomic level. As we place a higher value on the reliance of services, will we place a higher premium on the service-based industries? Will we start to see higher end and/or gourmet services with higher premiums?

What does this say about the way we work, and live?

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Random Imagery No. 7


THE FULL SERIES

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Part 7: The Messages We Receive

Imagine if each message in your inbox was an actual letter. Imagine, opening each letter and reading the pages every morning, during the course of the day – filing away some, sending on others.

How many of us get hundreds of e-mails a day? Can you imagine sorting through some one-hundred odd letters every day and night? No wonder we get bogged down.

The other evening I found myself perusing various feeds in Google reader. I also had two email programs open (work and personal). I was running iChat, Yahoo IM, G-mail chat, and Tweetie. Oh, and I was texting from my iPhone.

This common situation is infinite, part of a lifestyle that defines the ultimate interactive experience – the one we speculated about years ago while learning Microsoft Front Page and building interactive CD-ROM’s.

The baseline 1′s and 0′s of a 2-dimensional social destiny in the making.

Here within the Digital Age, the way we read is changing. We absorb information from various mediums creating a non-linear path of focus. Perhaps due to the multitude of interactive media available to us, we’re brief in how we consume content. We sample and browse, allowing the inevitable multi-tasking to occur.

It can be said that cumulatively, we’re actually reading more than ever.

So I’m wondering – does this new process, this newly adapted way of working through multitasking – affect the quality of our interpersonal communications? And what are the long-term effects of this?

Do we communicate in shorter amounts – but with more folks, in higher frequencies?

The interactive experience is rich. We have the real-time aspect of Twitter, the private element of chat. The social aspect of Facebook. Time delayed emails, character counts, garbled texts sent on-the-go.

It’s easier to reach folks more than ever. But is it confusing? Is it too much? Or is being networked 24/7 merely a lesson in brevity?

On a business level, this may not be a bad thing. We can cut to the chase.

But what about on a personal level? Where in time and space does all of this communication add up?

I wonder if it makes our relationships fluid and transparent – like with the prevalence of social networking we have the ability to see everyone’s business. Or, if it creates more obstacles through illusions of what we choose to share.

And, how can we get to know someone if we never slow down?

Maybe we need to slow down in general and become more present when we multi-task.  We can take the time to stop and chat with someone in person. We can stop needle dropping and enjoy an entire song or album. We can put 5 more minutes into that email.

Maybe we need to appreciate…Life. Or we may wake up one day with nothing but a bunch of intangible 1′s and 0′s.

Reads:

Yes, People Still Read, but Now It’s Social – http://nyti.ms/c1P81A