#musicmonday
March 16, 2010 // #musicmonday

Whoops, #musicmonday on a Tuesday, whatcha’ gonna’ do? This week there wasn’t a whole lot of new stuff, mostly just familiar things. The number one spot by a large lead was Caribou and his new album Swim. As I mentioned on the post of his new video for the song Odessa it’s an amazing album that I think is going to blow up. I don’t know how you can’t enjoy this album.

I’m still enjoying the heck out of The Go Find as well, their music is just so poppy and fun and perfectly suitable for any time. Rounding things out was a new band I found through my friend Chris called White Hinterlands, which I’m still getting into, and of course Casiokids who’ve won my heart over.

I also have been digging the new She & Him Volume Two which you can stream over on NPR. It’s rad that NPR keeps getting these exclusives, it’s a nice way to premiere an album.

As usual feel free to add me on Last.fm by clicking here.

Bobby

Magic: The Designinging – A Contest
March 15, 2010 // Design + Games

Earlier tonight I sent my buddy Frank Chimero an IM that simply said,

“Idea: Make a deck of Magic: The Gathering cards based around current and classic designers.”

His response:

“i’m tapping 7 mana to summon josef muller brockmann
MANA BURN”

And with that we decided to create a contest where you, the reader, should design a Magic: The Gathering card for your favorite artist/designer/architect. Frank and I are both nerds and played magic when we were younger, so this is our tribute to this fine sport.
Here’s the gist:

- They can be dead or alive.
- Their Mana needs to be their country of origin or where they currently reside, the choice is yours. As you can see Josef is Swiss powered. You design what you think is rad.
- You must create original artwork for this. I made that whole damn card, except for Mr. Brockmann’s portrait which was done by Frank, in like 3 hours, so no whining.
- Make it funny. This is a stupid contest, so be creative and have fun!
- All designs should be 8″ wide at 72 DPI so it fits in the blog nicely.

The deadline for this little contest is Saturday, March 20th at Midnight PST. Frank and I will be judging these Sunday and then announce the winners on Monday. The winner will receive some Frank Chimero posters or maybe some of the weird crap he’s been buying lately like this pipe smoking viking. No matter what we promise it’ll be cool shit.

Please send all entries to thefoxisblack@gmail.com with the title Magic: The Designinging. Failure to do so may get you kicked out of the contest and all that jazz.

Happy designing and if you have any questions just leave them in the comments.

Bobby + Frank

P.S. We have no affiliation with Wizards of the Coast. Please don’t sue us.

‘Parallel World’ by Ji Lee
March 15, 2010 // Art





I’m really enjoying these tiny installation by artist Ji Lee as a part of a series he calls Parallel World. What’s funny to me is that Ji works at Google as the creative director of branding and marketing, so it’s rad to see a tech person be so artistic… or is an artistic person that’s quite comfortable with technology? Either way he’s got a ton of great work on his personal site Please Enjoy, which you should probably…. enjoy.

Found through T Magazine

Bobby

Oliver Spencer Waxed Cotton Pole Jacket
March 15, 2010 // Clothing

I had a fellow write me yesterday saying he enjoyed more of the style related posts, that he wasn’t so hot at dressing himself, so I thought I might start including a few more clothing related posts throughout the week. Though for the best style advice you should visit my friends at A Continuous Lean, Valet, Inventory Magazine and Selectism.

What I have today is a pole jacket by Oliver Spencer, a British brand that reminds me a lot of J.Crew, in that they make really solid, timeless looking pieces that you can wear forever and with anything. Both of those ideas are key. The jacket is a waxed cotton so it’s a bit lighter than a winter coat and has a zipper and buttons, which make for a nice detail on the front of the coat. I’m digging the pockets as well, I’d totally stash my iPhone in one of those top ones.

The jacket, painfully, is priced upwards of $400. But the way to think about pieces like this is that they’re extremely well made with great materials. So instead of buying four $100 dollar jackets over four years you can buy one that will last you 10 to 20 years. And it’s got such a timeless look to it that unless we start wearing some sort of future clothing, you’ll always be in style.

Bobby

Caribou’s New Video for ‘Odessa’
March 15, 2010 // Music Video

For the last 3 days I’ve been listening to the new Caribou album Swim pretty much non-stop. It’s kinda of a departure since his last album Andorra back in 2007 but it’s an absolute welcome change. I feel like he’s got this synthesis of LCD Soundsystem, Animal Collective and Junior Boys, but with a splash of Flaming Lips Embryonic weirdness as well.

This is the first song and first single off the album called Odessa which will definitely make some people instant fans. The video is a dreamy haze so watch it full screen to enjoy it completely. The video itself was directed by Video Marsh, who can you find out more about by clicking here.

Bobby