Playlist: April 2013

The first half of April was spent enjoying some quality time (and rain) with family in Hong Kong.

The latter half marked the start of part time employment at Mediaburst where I’ve been working on some exciting projects. More about that in another post.

Thankfully, plenty of music caught my ear this month so compiling a playlist was no hassle. The tail end of April also saw Boards Of Canada fans treated to some material from their forthcoming album “Tomorrow’s Harvest”, due out on 10/11 June on Warp Records. The internet broke.

Listen with your ears:

  1. Bibio – You
  2. Mount Kimbie – Blood and Form
  3. TNGHT – ACRYLICS
  4. King Midas Sound – Aroo
  5. Blue Hawaii – Try to Be
  6. DJ Muggs – Breathe Slow
  7. Zomby – Soliloquy
  8. Suuns – 2020
  9. Solar Bears – Supermigration
  10. Boards Of Canada – volscp
  11. Boards Of Canada – csch
  12. Boards Of Canada – Cosecha Signal One
  13. Boards Of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest Transmission

Playlist: March 2013

Just in time for Easter, here’s my playlist for March.

Enjoy!

Tracklist:

  1. Woodkid – Iron
  2. Lulu James – Closer
  3. James Blake – Retrograde
  4. Lapalux – Without You (ft. Kerry Leatham)
  5. Barbarossa – The Load
  6. !!! – Slyd
  7. Bonobo – First Fires (ft. Grey Reverend)
  8. John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
  9. Captain Murphy – The Killing Joke
  10. Sigur Rós – Brennisteinn

Bonus Easter Eggs:

  1. Applescal – Spring and Life
  2. Youth Lagoon – Mute
  3. Om’Mas Keith – Pulse Of The City
  4. Vessel – Court Of Lions
  5. Bibio – À tout à l’heure

Playlist: February 2013

OK, so I missed my self-imposed, playlist creation deadline of the end of February. Boo!

However a house move plus a new part-time job at Mediaburst means that I have a valid excuse for the delay, right? Thanks for understanding.

Without further ado, here are the tracks:

  1. Blue Daisy presents Dahlia Black – F**k A Rap Song (Explicit)
  2. How To Destroy Angels – How Long?
  3. Missa Watanabe vs Space Traveler – Further Good News From The Don’t Think Channel
  4. Tall Ships – T=0
  5. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Secret Xtians
  6. Letherette – D&T (Dorian Concept Remix in lieu of the Clark Remix)
  7. DVA DAMAS – Out Of Thin Air
  8. Local Natives – Heavy Feet
  9. Melt Yourself Down – Fix My Life
  10. Kirk Spencer – Kukcu (feat. Safia May)

Warning: This playlist features rude words, cannibalism, ballerinas and singing sandwiches. If you are offended by any of these things, soz.

Playlist: January 2013

Having really enjoyed compiling a little mix to mark the end of 2012 (and the world), I decided it would be a great idea to create a monthly playlist of tracks that I’ve discovered. Great ideas often seem to entail making a rod for your own back. We’ll see.

Here’s the tracklist:

  1. Wave Machines – I Hold Loneliness
  2. A$AP ROCKY – Long Live A$AP (Explicit)
  3. Clams Casino – Dem Wan
  4. Jamie Lidell – What A Shame
  5. Dutch Uncles – Fester
  6. Cristobal Tapia de Veer – Utopia Soundtrack
  7. The Child of Lov – Give Me*
  8. AlunaGeorge – Your Drums, Your Love
  9. Bondax – Gold
  10. Nosaj Thing – Distance

* Ever so slightly NOT SAFE FOR WORK (depending on how prudish your colleagues are).

Hackintosh

Hackintosh

I started off 2013 with a strong desire build something. By hand.

I’d been considering building a Hackintosh for some time but couldn’t really justify the indulgence until my six year old Mac Pro workhorse decided it was time for the glue factory (which it inevitably did on my first working day of the year).

Continue Reading…

MMXIII

We’re almost halfway through the first month of the new year so I’m already a little late in posting the obligatory 2012 recap. Soz.

You may have noticed that 2012 passed without the eagerly anticipated apocalypse. Check out a little festive mix I created to mark the non-event.

Personally, the year was a mixed bag, but the highs definitely outweighed the lows.

It started with a sad farewell to Stiff Rowlands, my agency of four years. Tears were shed.

I was lucky enough to continue working with The Rolling Stones and the success of the official Brussels Affair bootleg led to the redesign of Stones Archive and a further four bootleg releases.

I then had the great privilege of redesigning the official Rolling Stones website in time for their 50th anniversary. The site supported a whole host of activity in 2012: an exhibition, book, film, new tracks, greatest hits album, a takeover of Carnaby Street’s Christmas lights plus a handful of gigs.

Before the dust even had a chance to settle, I also worked on a couple of great projects with my friends at Pivotal. I’d love to tell you more about them but I’d probably have to kill you and that would be a shame.

My year ended on a high with a competition-winning logo design for Twestival.

So, 2013 arrived.

I actively try to avoid making resolutions, but here are some things I’d like to achieve in 2013:

• Build a Hackintosh to replace an obsolete Mac Pro
• Contribute to the recently revived TEFOSAV – there are already T-shirts in the works and hopefully more to come
• Brush up on my coding skills which have been somewhat neglected in recent years
• Create some screenprints
• Learn some carpentry (if only to avoid the hellish trips to IKEA)
• Read and re-read David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” until it’s second nature
• Work on some exciting, new projects

First up is the Hackintosh as some of the above items will be a bit tricky without it. The parts are ordered, now I’m just waiting on delivery so I can get cracking with the build. Watch this space.

Seasons Greetings!

Season’s Greetings!

Assuming that the world doesn’t end on Friday 21 December 2012, have yourself a very merry festive season and a happy start to 2013!

Best wishes

James

Twestival: Logo Design

December 11, 2012 — Leave a comment

Twestival: New Logo

Twestival is a unique global festival that uses social media for social good. Over 200 international cities from 45 countries have participated in Twestival events, with volunteers raising $1.75 million for charities and non-profits.

In November 2012, Twestival launched a crowdSPRING competition to design a new logo for their 2013 campaign.

My design was selected as the winning concept from over 70 entries and the prize was a $500 donation to my chosen charity, Wood Street Mission.

Big thanks to Ivan Filipov for the excellent free font Multicolore, without which this logo wouldn’t have been possible.

RollingStones.com

The Rolling Stones celebrated the 50th anniversary of their first gig on 12th July 2012.

To mark this milestone and support the launch of a new greatest hits album, documentary and London/New York live dates, they commissioned me to redesign their website from scratch.

Working closely with the band’s management team, I partnered up with specialist WordPress web development agency, Code For The People to deliver the project.

The site exceeded 4 million pageviews in the first 3 months after launch.

Visit The Rolling Stones’ official website

Stones Archive: Home

The Rolling Stones Archive launched in late 2011 with the long awaited, official “Brussels Affair” bootleg.

Following the success of the initial microsite, I went back to the drawing board in early 2012 to redesign the website for subsequent releases including LA Friday (1975), Hampton Coliseum (1981), Live At The Tokyo Dome (1990) and Light The Fuse (2005).

The site build was by freelance WordPress developer/designer Phil Thompson.

Visit The Rolling Stones Archive website