The Perfect Martini

A perfect martini should be made by “filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy.”
Noel Coward

Gorillaz Record “The Fall” Entirely On iPad

Gorillaz have recorded an album called “The Fall”—over a 32-day period while the band was on tour this year—entirely on an Apple iPad.

Gorillaz gave the 15-track album away to members of its Sub-Division fan club on Christmas Eve. For the rest of us,, the record can be streamed online and will be available for sale early next year.

And for all us music nerds here’s a list of the 20 apps used to record the album:

• Mugician
• Speak It!
• Funk Box
• BS-16i
• SoundyThingie
• Xenon
• iElectribe
• Dub Siren Pro
• Moog Filatron
• Olsynth
• Solo Synth
• AmpliTube
• Gliss
• Mellotronics M3000 HD
• Synth
• Korg Cleartune
• iOrgel HD
• BassLine
• StudioMini XL
• Harmonizer

Artist: Dan Mountford – Double Exposures

Some pretty fantastic double exposures from UK designer Dan Mountford. Mountford’s manipulations seem effortless and magical, he creates a visceral experience, inventing a whole world I’m completely sold on. I want to live here. See more on his Flickr.

Chew Lips – When You Wake Up

It’s a new track from Chew Lips, and it’s a Christmas song!

Download it here for free!

Fancy Fast Food

“Yeah, it’s still bad for you – but see how good it can look!” teases the banner of food humor site Fancy Fast Food. The site—dedicated to all things fast food, just a little bit classier—takes your average dish and makes it appear to be something a little bit more delectable (or exactly the same amount of delectable if you already really dig fast food). Still don’t believe? Check out this Chicken Pizza Masala (Fancy Pizza Hut) recipe.

…By a Fire

If you’re starting to feel exhausted from the Christmas rush, I’m betting its fair to say you’re getting tired of the Christmas music. Well, the good news is I’m not really your Christmas traditional, and while I do enjoy some classics, I’ve put together this alternative—although not entirely disparate—Holiday Mixtape called …By a Fire.

If the idea of an hour long, 100% commercial-free Holiday Mixtape where only 1/3 of the tracks are Holiday related gets you going, allow me to introduce this all-killer, no-filler, stress-free set of indie feel-good. Perfect to play when the company comes over, when you’re walking down the street in the snow, when you’re hosting a dinner party, and especially when you’re huddled up by a fire.

1. Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Dean Martin
2. Comme Des Enfants by Coeur de pirate
3. You Are Too Beautiful by Hawksley Workman
4. Eskimo by Damien Rice
5. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Death Cab for Cutie
6. Christmastime by Smashing Pumpkins
7. Evening Kitchen by Band of Horses
8. Mercury by John Murphy with Underworld
9. Green Butterflies by Maria Taylor
10. Just Like Christmas by Low
11. Christmas in Hollis by Run-D.M.C.
12. God Bless Us All by N.E.R.D.
13. Helicopter (Star Slinger Remix) by Deerhunter
14. House of Mirrors by Ducktails
15. Hold Your Breath by The Acorn
16. The Christmas Song by The Raveonettes
17. The Indie Queens Are Waiting by Dan Mangan

Photography by Aidan Whiteley

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All I Want To Be Is…

All I want to be is someone that makes new things and thinks about them.
Carol Padberg, Verlag 3

Faked Potatoes Mixcast No. 007

There were just too many rocker gals to put on only one Mixcast so here is the second girl rock mixcast for your listening pleasure!

• Boy Trouble by Sharades
• Chick Habit by April March
• Sexy Mistake by The Chalets
• He Didn’t Fool Me by Valerie Masters
• Pot Kettle Black by Tilly and the Wall
• Heavy Cross by The Gossip
• Give ‘er by Peaches
• No Way by Plastiscines
• Saturday Night by Noisettes
• Magic by Ladyhawke

Subscribe to this Mixcast in iTunes

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River Island Menswear S/S 2011 Sneak Peak

An exciting sneak peak at the River Island menswear collection for Spring/Summer 2011. I love these clothes.

The Vintage Aesthetic of Photocroms

Seeing so many photos aged through Photoshop, it becomes something amazing to see how folks used to do it the old-timey way where things were much more hands on, where a poster would take a month, not an afternoon, to finish. The images shown here are likely more than 130 years old and, yes, you read that right. Using a process invented in the 1880s by Swiss chemist, Hans Jakob Schmid, these photochroms involve transferring glass negatives onto lithographic plates and then printing these with colored inks. While color photography was indeed around at the time, it was really only available in the labs of researchers. It wasn’t until 1907, almost 20 years after some of these photochroms were probably taken, that color photographic plates became commercially available.

Alex Dent of The Fox is Black shared these in April after he ran across them while perusing the Library of Congress’ flickr site. All three of the moody landscapes above are from around Scandinavia, I imagine anyone producing this quality of image at the time would’ve looked akin to a magician. Looking at these photos even today gives me shivers. Beautiful.

Lumitectura

Lumitectura is a musical video about the relation of light, music and architecture. This gorgeous video is actually one clip, separately defined by 3 elements. The first, the actual video, shot between 2 and 6 pm. The second is the speed of playback for that single video, synchronised manually to the music. Third and last is the application of about 50 masks, which define where the underlain movie will appear on the screen. It’s this process that makes it possible to have multiple light situations in the same moment.

iPhone 4 Case Customization

Having a case on your iPhone, for many, is a no-brainer. Keeping your phone protected is a full-time job for some (myself, mostly) and we’ve seen some pretty hideous options out there. Cases that are clunky, unreliable and unattractive. That being said, for every four-cornered tragedy, there arises something innovative and beautiful. I was recently turned onto this great cover that gives your new phone the classic look of an old Leica camera.

Or go one step further and replace getting a case with an entire customized iPhone for only $4,500. PS, this is on my wishlist this season and if you felt the urge to help a brother out, I wouldn’t say no to this under my tree.

A luxurious case made of 200-year-old African Blackwood. It is a rare, exclusive material of incredible strength and durability. Ornament of the case – branded Apple made of 18-karat gold on the back panel.

The Walking Dead – Alternate Poster

Andrew Kolb’s poster for The Walking Dead is something I’d expect to find on Grain Edit (and imagine we’ll see it there sometime soon) but is a testament to the fact that even—or rather especially—in the digital age, there is need and want for those classic, organic animation styles we grew up with or that make us feel safe and nostalgic.

Nowhere Near Here

Nowhere Near Here is a stop motion animation that uses a combination of light with stencils and long exposure photography to tell the story of a dog running around the city at night, doing whatever a dog does. The animation was first exhibited at the The Herbert, in Coventry, on the 7th October 2010.

Great song as well, “What Else Is There?” by Röyksopp with vocals by Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife.

More after the jump

Faked Potatoes Mixcast No. 006

The cover is of a warm, sunny day, but even those memories are starting to feel frosty around the edges these days. This Mixcast is for every dark-far-too-early afternoon; for every shivery, lifeless shuffle to a warm mug of something delicious. You need a beat to shuffle too, think of this as that. Also, check out more Little Jungles.

• Echoes by Klaxons
• Atlas by Battles
• Helen of Troy by Telefon Tel Aviv
• Please Put the Knife Away by Little Jungles
• Crazy by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
• Dream Electrixra by Blue Hawaii
• Greatlakescape by The Ghost Is Dancing
• The Past by Matt Mays
• Serio by Lost Valentinos

Subscribe to this Mixcast in iTunes

Watch Klaxons’ performing live with Rhianna at the 2008 Brit Awards

Watch The Asteroids Galaxy Tour’s video for The Sun Ain’t Shinning No More

Download The Asteroids Galaxy Tour myRMX app from the iTunes Store

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/asteroids-galaxy-tour-myrmx/id383524486?mt=8

And see?! I told you I’ve posted Rubik before…

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