The music industry is a different animal today than it was even 10 years ago. It’s becoming more of a rarity for musicians to put out an album, as opposed to a collection of singles. But, every now and then, something comes along and totally amazes you.
Enter The Dear Hunter’s “The Color Spectrum,” released this past Tuesday.
The fourth effort from the Boston prog-rock outfit is a 36 track, two and a half hour epic that gives sonic interpretations of the color spectrum with black and white as the end-caps. Comprised of nine, 4-song EPs, it provides a bit for everybody, covering a musical spectrum that ranges from gritty electro-rock (black), to twangy country, pedal steel and all (green), to orchestrated, super-layered prog-rock (white).
The best part? There are no filler tracks. Each song is given the same care as the next.
Oh, and did I mention that front man Casey Crescenzo tracked everything but percussion, as well as co-produced the album?
Pretty incredible.
He also has a wicked beard.
Here are a couple videos that go in depth into the thought behind the album and it’s concept.
June 14, 2011 • 3:56 pm • POSTED BY stephen penning
1. The blatant rip-off of the ‘Got Milk’ campaign that has been taken beyond the novelty ‘Got Jesus’ bumper sticker and moved to the back of an oil tanker
Summer is here, and so are 160over90′s creative interns. For the next few months, James Alex Snyder and Ryan Hubbard will call One South Broad Street home. And call home only to speak to their mothers.
Ryan was born and raised in central Iowa, sharing a hometown with Cleveland Indians great, Bob Feller. Ryan is entering his senior year at Iowa State University, studying graphic design. He enjoys baseball, music, High Life, food (though you wouldn’t know it looking at him), and good company. One day he plans on growing a gnarly beard.
James Alex is a graphic designer who lives in Philadelphia. He lives in a one-room apartment with the girl he loves. They play in a band together. When he’s not thinking of things, he’s making them. He is smitten with the books of Charles Bukowski, the music of The Pixies, and the challenge of keeping his shoes tied. He has a wonderful habit of hugging strangers.
We asked James and Ryan a few questions about life and design. They gave us answers about Ray Romano and Marvin Gaye.
1. The biography of your life, what would it be titled? Ryan: The Art of Being Awkward
James: I Saved Latin. What Did You Ever Do?
2. If you could trade places with any other person (real or fiction, living or dead, past or present, etc.) who would it be and why? R: Frodo Baggins, Post-Mt Doom. Being a hobbit and living in middle earth would be
awesome, I just wouldn’t want to deal with orcs & giant flaming eyes.
J: Whoever Francoise Hardy was kissing in 1966.
3. If you could have any one superpower, what would it be? R: The ability to stop time.
J: To sing like Stephin Merritt or Marvin Gaye.
4. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten? R: Don’t sweat the small things, and always do what makes you happy.
J: You really only need to know three chords.
5. If you could put together your dream rock and roll band, who would you pick to play what? R: Ray Romano would play everything. At once.
J: The Pixies. Without revision. Well, maybe with Keith Moon sometimes.
6. What art movement(s) are you most influenced by? R: Post-Modernism and Art Deco probably influence my work the most. But they
don’t dictate my work by any means.
I try to pull from a variety of sources pending on the needs of the project.
J: International Typographic Style, Pop Art, and Dada.
7. If you’re house is on fire, what is the very first non-living thing you’d save? R: If my computer were in better shape, I’d take it. Since it’s gonna need replaced in
less than a year, I choose my bass.
J: My sketchbooks/love letters (really, they’re the same thing).
8. Last movie you watched? R: I watch Roadhouse before bed every night.
(but in actuality, I took my girlfriend to see Water for Elephants. That was probably the
last movie I’ve seen.)
J: Exit Through the Gift Shop and Fast Times at Ridgemont High double feature.
9. Last book you read? R: Design as Art by Bruno Munari
J: Over The Anvil We Stretch by Anis Mojgani
10. A quote that best describes you?
R: “If I were a real werewolf I’d wear baggy clothes so my nice clothes
wouldn’t get all torn up.” – Tracy Jordan of 30 Rock
J: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars” – Oscar Wilde
Assuming they don’t run off together to start their own agency in the Caribbean, James and Ryan will be contributing to the blog as well as posting a final project later this summer. Stay tuned!
A lot of you have probably read about this or seen the trailer but for all those who haven’t, look into it, seems pretty cool.
British director Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scottland”, “Touching the Void”) asked people around the world to document important moments of their lives on July 24 2010 and upload those videos to youtube. More than 80.000 people from 192 countries participated and submitted more than 4500 hours of digital film.
Using that material Macdonald then, together with his editor Joe Walker, cut a film that’s partly happy, partly sad, and sometimes thrilling. Produced is the movie by “Blade Runner” director Ridley Scott. Starting this July it will hit theaters in the US.
June 7, 2011 • 11:12 am • POSTED BY stephen penning
Hub Group, a transportation management company (they move large containers of just about everything everywhere) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. 40 at 40 is an internal campaign that invites Hub employees to nominate co-workers who embody the spirit of the organization. This summer 40 employees will become members of The Hub 40 and be honored with a gift.
In addition to conceiving the initiative we created a promotional poster to be hung at the many Hub offices. We chose to have the piece screen-printed to achieve a gritty, tactile look which to us felt industry appropriate. The numerals in the poster are composed of illustrations of Hub shipping containers. The hexagon shape that contains the ‘at’ is a nod to the Hub logo.
Team:
Creative Director: Stephen Penning
Designers: Mikey Burton, Dan Blackman
Copywriter: Jill Spradely
Production: Ro Fahime, Christopher van Auken
Account: Lindsay Hendler, Meredith Kearney
Printing: Erik Hamline
Here’s the specs for you production geeks:
Quantity produced – 200
Production time – 2 days (not a typo)
Dimensions – 18 x 24
Print Method – Screen Print
Paper Stock – Cougar White 100#
Number of Colors – 4
Check out this commercial Newmerica did for Elmyr Restaurant in Atlanta. The Pharma parody is funny enough, but what really puts it over the top is the star… Brent Hinds of Mastadon. His delivery is pretty priceless.
They were also the folks behind the Kickstarter video for Chunklet’s Indie Cred Test. HIlarious!
