Hi, we're OK Great, a tight-knit crew of designers, writers + artists, hell-bent on delivering the best in art, design and culture. The world is a big pile of awesome. We're the spoon. Dig in.
So, I found this post on Booooooom last week and I couldn’t stop thinking about it or singing it in my head. I took a look at the comments and a lot of people remarked that this whole vocal loop thing is old, old news – which is true. I’ve even experimented with a loop and drum machine once. It was in college. Whatever.
In case this isn’t old news to you, here are a bunch of really great contenders mainly from the Roland Loop Station festival (which is a big deal in most places outside of the US. Just like soccer. Or football). However, the artists below may be proud prize winners but I still think they pale in comparison to Kawehi’s brilliance in song choice and straight sweetly vocaled finesse. See, she made the song even better than the original.
Hosannas wanted to play in the Ape Caves, aka a giant lava tube. Into The Woods made it happen, and documented the process. Take a little time to watch this, it’s AMAZING.
I love finding good designers working on products you never imagine will get a facelift. Beyond the vintage ones (Shout out to my Russian Big Muff pedal), guitar pedals generally either look boring or like an Ed Hardy t-shirt exploded. Eric van den Boom jazzed up (see what I did there?) these pedals by DrNo Effects and the results are awesome. I mean, why the hell should pedals be boring?
You know Merge Records. The Durham (woo!) based label that represents the likes of Richard Buckner, Spoon, She & Him, and The Rosebuds. The label started by Mac & Laura of Superchunk. The label behind Arcade Fire’s grammy winning ‘best album of the year.’ You know, the label with the one woman art department… Say whaaaa!?
Yup, Maggie Fost runs the design show at Merge, and she does it all by herself.
I had the pleasure of working in the same building as Merge Records for a a couple of years, so I got to know Maggie during my time there. She’s one of those rare creatures that is both incredibly creative and yet is somehow incredibly organized at the same time. It’s a good thing too, because a one person art department at a successful record label is a very busy bee.
I’ve been thinking a lot about independent designers lately, as I recently quit my job to try my hand at freelancing. One of the things I know I’ll miss most, and something I always wonder if Maggie misses, is always having an outstanding creative team. It can certainly be difficult for designers to collaborate on projects, because it can result in disparate perspectives being forced to respect and work with one another. Which is especially tricky given that designers aren’t exactly sheepish with their opinions. BUT… when a team clicks, or when they can at least argue themselves into deferential understanding, the payoff can be enormous. Both in terms of calibre of work and the shared gratification that comes from successes. It just feels awesome to take a step back and look at something you’ve created, then turn to your compadres in triumph and say ‘Guys, we fucking ruled the farm on this one.’
