Friday, December 5, 2008

Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans


"what."

Drink to Me Babe Then

December 5th is Repeal Day – take extra joy in your pints this evening if you are so inclined.

A.C. Newman Drink to Me Babe Then mp3
(Side note, A.C. Newman has a new record coming out in January, yet another reason to look forward to the New Year.)

In a way, good.

Via A Special Way of Being Afraid and Conan, Louis C.K. comes through with some much-needed perspective as the economy spirals toward rock bottom:

The ink is black, the page is white

I love the simplicity of the current Givenchy campaign by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. There's a lot of subtle action going on in what would otherwise be fairly straightforward studio shots, and by straying from their usual (also outstanding) gray backgrounds in favor of higher contrast, it somehow helps capture the somewhat aggressive-seeming attitude of Givenchy very well.



Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci is guest creative director for the current issue of A Magazine as well – definitely worth a trip to the newsstand.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Three Eyes Make It Lovelier to See

Last night we went to Vermillion for an installation by Michael Hall – aka Specs, pictured above left – and the launch of his new comic book Mux Adapter. The show was the first in Vermillion's current series of one-nighters. Here are some pics (click to enlarge).








I have known Specs for a long time – I think it was 1994 when I bummed an Elevators tape off him in Tower Records – and it's great to see him going creatively strong, both visually and musically. Here are a couple classics from the crates:

Specs One Who Is He? mp3
from Return of the Artist (available here)

Specs One Concrete mp3
from The Long Awaited Mega EP (available here)

The Crew Clockwise
Rap Capsule mp3
(produced by King Otto) from Tribal Productions' Do the Math

Elevators
Back In It mp3 from 1994

Hear more at myspace.com/specsone and get your copy of Mux Adapter (80 pages, limited edition of 500 copies) by sending $7 to
Michael Hall / Capstan Media
PMB 824
1122 E Pike Street
Seattle, WA 98122-3934
E-mail capstanmedia[at]gmail.com for press or retail inquiries, or check out myspace.com/capstanmedia for more info.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Graphic

A recent post at the top notch design blog HI+LOW inspired me to pull out this Graphis annual I got through Abe Books a few years ago.
Even in (mostly) black and white, it's a pretty amazing collection of album covers, circa 1974.




One of my favorite weirdo perv records they feature is this German Oh! Calcutta! soundtrack:

I picked it up from Steve (not Stinky Steve, the other Steve) at the 25th Street flea market in Chelsea several years ago. A couple cuts:
Brave New World Oh Calcutta mp3
Brave New World Jack & Jill mp3

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Grimly Fiendish

Official economic recession notwithstanding, I picked up a couple records at Wall of Sound the other day:

The Damned Edward the Bear mp3

Vivian Girls Blind Spot mp3 (Daisy Chain cover)
Order it directly from In the Red and get more info, blog, tour dates, and the VIVIAN GIRLS SURF'S UP FUN PACK! at viviangirls.net.

I took a chance on this 7", I liked the cover. It's from a local label called dirty knobby.

Oh also, Emily pointed out that two of the above covers have planes on them.

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Morning Fog