MIXTAPES of the year

The Indie/Rock Playlist--a monthly collection of the best and brightest releases for alternative music. Kind of like those old mixed CD's you'd get inside music mags like CMJ during the 90's (back when CD's were still relevant, hah). The November edition was especially worth listening to. One of the best tracks is Lissie's rendition of Kid Cudi's Pursuit of Happiness. 

Torrent the newest release,  Indie/Rock Playlist Best of 2011 here

Gone Fishin'

We're on hiatus. But we'll be back, and better than before, in the fall!

Real Life Superheroes! The Keystone Crusaders

People in superhero costumes fight crime in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. Like Kick-Ass only in real life. This trend is awesome.

Cinemagraphs

Is it a GIF? Is it a video? No! It's a cinemagraph. (click on any of the images below to view the animations)

A newish technique in graphics, it's like a more advanced version of animated GIF's, which creates the properties of a video with images. The method was pioneered by Jamie Beck, a fashion photographer based in New York, with the help of graphic designer Kevin Burg. The mix of still image and motion creates a near 3D effect that would look perfect beside the moving portraits on the walls of Hogwarts.

just for lolz

Terror! 95 year old, wheelchair bound woman with leukemia asked to remove adult diaper during search.

No jokes. A woman filed a complaint with Homeland Security regarding her terminally ill, elderly, 105 pound mother who was forced to remove her adult diaper because it was interfering with an efficient strip search. This seems a bit wrong.


According to a representative of the TSA, “TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability"


Read the full article, here.

Lieke Romeijn

Lieke Romeign is a 20 year old photographer, and student at the Art Institute in Breda, the Netherlands.  Bordering on the painterly at times, much of her work looks like it could be an Alphonse Mucha painting in photography form--while still managing to look modern. To view more, go to her site.

Marcela Gutierrez

Artist Marcela Gutierrez is currently having her first solo show in LA, called Beauty for the Sake of Beauty.  Her portraits feature the likes of supermodels of the moment, Lara Stone and Sasha Pivarova. See more of her work at her website.

Upcoming Documentary:: DMT: The Spirit Molecule

A new documentary about the groundbreaking research of Dr. Rick Strassman on the hallucinogenic compound known as Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)--a compound which is produced naturally by the human brain, and which can be found in hundreds of plant species. Take a look.

Under appreciated artists of the day: Shooter Jennings and Hierophant

When you think of Shooter Jennings, you think of country music, right? Clearly, that was before you'd heard his newest album, Black Ribbons. It sounds like it would be more at home playing in some subversive underground nightclub than it would be in a country bar. Most of the songs are somewhere between progressive, psychedelic, and electronic, with vocals that sometimes verge on Marilyn-Mansonesque, and a little southern rock thrown in there for good measure. And sidenote--Stephen King collaborated with Jennings on Black Ribbons, being the voice of Will O' The Wisp, the fictional underground radio DJ whose dialogue (written in part by King) is featured in between tracks on the album. Here's one of the bangers of the album, "When the radio goes dead". Give it a listen here. DL here (looks a bit sketch, mostly because it's in Russian, but promise, it's clean).

Monster Mashup-E.T. Feels Starry Eyed, by Kap Slap

This is an epic dubstep mashup by Kap Slap. It features cuts and samples from Katy Perry's ET, Ellie Goulding's Starry Eyed, Empire of the Sun, and Modestep to name a few. Listen to the track and see the video, below. DL here.

Tatjana Radičević

Tatjana Radičević is a photographer from the Belgrade art scene. See more amazing shots here.

Ennui

An awesome piece of neo-psychedelia--or in other words, stoner music! This is Lights by Ennui. 

fire pretty: solar explosion

NASA captured a gigantic solar explosion on camera last week. This is an animation of the footage by Phil Plait, of Discover's Bad Astronomy, done on Helioviewer.

Onion-Like Headlines In Real-Life

Onion-Like Headlines in Real Life's sole purpose is to track down and record real news headlines from legitimate sources that sound like they could be from gag-newspaper, The Onion. Check it out.

Gentrified: Nick Gentry

This guy makes some pretty impressive images out of old computer floppies, among other materials. His website is here.

Sergio Albiac

For more about Albiac, click here

sick video for a sick song

This is the official music video for Hooray For Earth's track, True Loves. Makes no sense. But that's not to say this vid isn't fantastic: what do you get when you combine a cool song, a space cowboy, a futuristic indian, trippy Sliders-esque smoke portals to alternate universes, and levitation? Stunning visuals, and all around awesomeness, that's what.

no.9 spotlight on cults

Finding information about this band on the web is like pulling teeth, seeing as they have no Myspace page and a virtually ungoogleable name. What's more, finding a full album for download is nearly impossible. A guy/girl duo from NY, Cults recently put out their debut album (self titled), after they became an internet indie hit with the track Go Outside. Download the track here.

no.8 Machine Civilization

Japanese dance outfit World Order did a mindblowingly well-choreographed, and yet mildly comical dance to the track "Machine Civilization". Check it out.

no.7

To see more shots by Jovan Todorovic click here.

no.6 the earth is on fire

Yacht-Dystopia

I don't even know. This song kinda sounds like if classic rock (think Kansas and Blue Oyster Cult) and eighties electro got together and had a sweet but illegitimate love child who happened to be obsessed with the apocalypse.

"The earth, the earth, the earth is on fire. We don't have no daughters let the motherfucker burn"

Nuff said.

NO. 5 a summer tune about polygamy; thanks alex winston

Alex Winston-Sister Wife (Star Slinger Remix)

This song is so damn catchy. Alex Winston is a newer singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Michigan, who was just recently signed on to Usher's Label. Sans remix, Winston makes giddy, homespun, folky music, with a bit of quirk and good hooks. On this track, Star Slinger's influence adds a  shade of electro-pop a-la Passion Pit's Sleepy Head. 

No.4 Crimes of Minds--Urban Museum

Throughout 2011 a select number of leading edge and emerging painters, illustrators and street artists will journey to Brest, France, to paint various buildings throughout the town for the Crimes of Minds art festival. The goal? To, embellish, beautify, and to create an open gallery of sorts. Read more about the project here.

NO. 3 Tanked

This is an old image of a tank that I was playing around with on some photo-editing programs.

NO.2 summer tracks: first installment

WU LYF-dirt

Laroux-In for the kill-(Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix) <-download link

The Antlers-I don't want love (recording studio live) (album version)

Givers-Noche Nada 

Labyrinth Ear-Walk on the moon (Arthur Russel) <-download link

O'death-Bugs <-download link

B.O.B. feat. Hayley Williams-Airplanes (Gal B.H. Remix) 

EMA-Grey Ship