Image of the Day

.
Peep the line-up for Cairo's fourth annual Expo.
Quite fantastic, I would say. Info here.

Vibe, Vibrations

Illustration by Brian Standeford / type + layout by me
Mark your calendar, this is gonna be a fun one

Coming to Flex

.Front and back cover of the forthcoming Flexions LP Golden Fjord, designed for the newly-minted Cairo Records by yours truly.

The album is out August 2nd and in addition to band members Robin Stein, Devin Welch, and Tyler Swan, also features Margaret Jones and Morgan Henderson (Fleet Foxes, Past Lives, Blood Brothers, and, perhaps most importantly, Mt. Henderson).

Here's the first video, by Chris Ando and the homey Robert M. Wolfe, who is best known for design work with Wavves and Best Coast:


Flexions play at the Wildrose on July 9th and the release party is August 5th at Chop Suey. Mark them calendars. More info here.

The Rolling Stones

.
The Rolling Stones

Leisure Time

.Flexions
Secret Colors
M.Women
Tonight
The Rendezvous
2322 2nd Ave
Seattle Washington

Go East, Young Man, & c.

.
This past summer, Robin Stein, a Seattle-based photographer (you may also know him from such bands as Flexions), spent a week on a tree farm outside of Chesterhill, Ohio, as a guest of the Harold Arts Residency. While there, he studied the pages of an obscure guidebook published in Pittsburgh in 1811, The Navigator: "Containing Directions for Navigating the Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers; with an Ample Account of These Much Admired Waters, from the Head of the Former to the Mouth of the Latter; and a Concise Description of Their Towns, Villages, Harbours, Settlements, & c."

The week after, Stein journeyed up the Ohio River Valley, and then East through the Alleghenies, using what he had learned from The Navigator to loosely trace a route of early westbound settlers, but in reverse. He ended up in New York City. And then he came back to Seattle, and started posting photographs of the journey on his blog. Here are a few of my favorites:

Bernerd’s Yard, Chesterhill, Ohio

Pt. Pleasant, West Virginia

For me, Stein's photos capture a feeling that is difficult to describe – the feeling of being from the coasts, but finding yourself between them, observing the land as you move through it. A roadtrip is always a good idea, but a roadtrip with a theme becomes more epic – in this case, connecting with the westward migration that is our country's collective internal road movie.

Check out Robin Stein's blog here, or better yet, see more of his work in person at a show opening this Thursday, with painter Matt Lifson, at Ursa Minor Gallery, 3308 East Spring Street (one block South of Union in Madrona, Seattle).

Tonight & Tomorrow Night:

[ more info ]

At Your Leisure

.
Here's a picture of the forthcoming Flexions 12", designed and released by Byron Kalet/Popular Noise, with photography by Kyle Johnson and art direction from yours truly. It will be out May 1st in an edition of 500 copies, but you can pre-order it now (the vinyl purchase includes a free digital download) and get more info at popularnoise.net.

Flexi-Disc

I had the pleasure of working with Flexions and photographer Kyle Johnson last week on a photo shoot for the forthcoming Flexions record – a favor for my man Byron Kalet. Flexions = Robin Stein and Devin Welch and they are doing some interesting shit…it will be cool to see what else they come up with. I picked up the Flexions 7" (pictured above) at Cairo on one of the first weekends I was back in Seattle, and I highly recommend searching out a copy for yourself.

In the mean time, listen here.