Dan Germain

alex chilton RIP

Image by the legendary Petersen

the songs that get stuck

There are songs that get stuck in your head for no reason. For some reason, some synapsial logjam occurs and the same song will keep coming back again and again. Maybe not the whole song; perhaps just a bit of the melody. And it's not usually even a song you really like.

 

The one that comes back to me the most is I Don't Know by Teenage Fanclub. I like the song, but it's not one of their best. It just somehow got stuck. And so if I'm walking down the street, boiling some rice or even waiting for my tickets to come out of the automatic ticket machine, that's the song I'll most likely be whistling through the gap between my front teeth.

lightning bolt

I think that this week Lightning Bolt are my favourite band.

Next week it might be someone different.

so very good

 

Thank you to Ben for sending it over.

nasty dan

the making of inner meet me

I believe that this may be the greatest pop video ever. Here is an article about how it was made. I especially like the part about stirring a puddle with a stick to get that 'beam me up' effect.

the hot sound of keegan

eBay has delivered.

You can hear it here.

the designers republic is dead

The Designers Republic is dead, as read in Creative Review.

As a young man, I didn't know much about graphic design. I still don't really, but I have learned over the years what I like and what I don't like. And I think that I began learning by looking at record sleeves. They were the bits of design that I pored over more than any other as a young 'un. Could spend hours looking at every little bit of an album cover.

A sleeve that bore a tDR design was always a treat. The first Nightmares On Wax album (above) sticks out in my mind, as do lots of late 80s/early 90s releases on Warp (all of the LFO stuff for starters). They were always interesting and clear, with a few hidden bits of magic where it was least expected. You actually looked forward to see what the next one would look like.

I saw Ian Anderson (founder) speak in London a few years ago and he seemed like an excellent man - full of ideas, fairly opinionated, a bit rude, but in a good way. There's more from him here. I was happy to read that he plans to revive tDR, as a place where great design is done. It would have been rubbish if an era-defining design house was wiped out just because they weren't that good at being an ad agency.

shakey cuts loose

Neil's been making some home videos, with apples in them.

merry christmas

I hope Santa brings you some Superstars.