stoked on your general scene

department of eagles (dan rossen from grizzly bear) posted a sweet song on his squaresville blog.
ostensibly this "obscure psychedelic groove" is a track from "Flow: The Early Tapes" by Gestural Breezway.
except google returns nothing for that band or album title, and the song has a definite grizzly bear vibe to it.
too bad, because i was seriously looking forward to buying some gestural breezway on vinyl.

you're a champagne of beers kinda guy

seven-nine aka andy sargent has a lot in common with 'nails' also hailing from down under and also taking his hand to some less conventional mediums, displaying a novel designs-esque appreciation for typography:

you remind me of a t.v. show

niels 'nails' oeltjen is from melbourne, australia and is another one of these gifted individuals who chooses to apply his/her talents to any and every conceivable medium.

he curated an exhibit "exploring the bandanna’s potential as an art object. Seeing the bandanna as an element of outlaw style, we wanted to celebrate its aesthetic, its cultural roots, and its history. The selected artists were invited to express their ideas in the form of an original drawing, painting, or print. The images created by the artists were then printed onto fabric and made into bandannas, which were shown and sold at the exhibition. "





like all great novel designs approved artists he's also adorned a few decks with his aussie aesthetic, using lasers to burn designs into the wood.

well i've got news for you

the feelies have one of the best gimmicks known to man. they only play on national holidays. and they're reuniting for a july 4th show with sonic youth this year. if you're in nyc go see them. you may never have another chance. sporadically based out of hoboken between '76 and '92, the feelies left an indelible though difficult to trace mark on the modern music scene. raised eyebrows is my favorite track right now. anything off of crazy rhythms is incredible. also let's go is notable for its inclusion in the squid and the whale.

the world was a mess but their hair was perfect

euan duncan aka isho is a little slick for novel designs but a few of his ruscha inspired prints and illustrations caught the nd eye. love the velvet u reference:

welcome to the hotel sanjijh

an abandoned hotel in sanjijh, taiwan. one of the two things must happen with this place. i) it should it should be renovated and reopened to the public or ii) season six of lost should should be shot here exclusively.

profiles of courage or conspiracy a go-go

i'm not a huge electronic music fan, but this poster makes me want to be

the curious case of benjamin button

this video will almost certainly be taken down but this trailer for the upcoming film the curious case of benjamin button played at cannes at the premiere of the new indy film. from conversations around town i understand this film is absolutely magnificent. it's pitt, fincher and fitzgerald (plus toss in a charlie kaufman rewrite). how could it not be.

design is thinking made visual

saul bass (1920-1996) is one of the most prestigious designers of motion picture title sequences in the history of cinema. in addition he designed posters and graciously turned his attention to matchbooks which i think a little more attention could be paid to these days.

there ain't no bottomless pit here, this is f***ing magic, man, and we're all a part of it together

one) don pendleton boards - posting about pendleton's skateboard design is a little bit like posting about led zeppelin making cool music but these are just killer:



two) this was found in chicago by apartment therapy and it's both funny and relevant given the gentrification of the area in which it was discovered:




three) wall calendar by dutch artist christian postma. novel designs has a wall for this...though probably not the need.

alfred mosher butts would blush

novel designs is due for a scrabble rematch and with rain and thunder approaching la and CAP suffering boldly with a broken wrist there may be plenty of time spent shuffling the ole word blocks around this weekend. to further put us in the mood for wordplay i recently found these ads from ogilvy for the classic game. granted novel designs doesn't make a habit of competing with monosyllabic three pointers...

there is sun and spring and green forever

josh kenyon works under the moniker enyo creative doing just about everything imaginable in the realm of design and illustration from work on paper, skateboard and even guitar.

some delicious samples:

i'd love to mull over it

dave over at dreamtard just knocked it so far out of the park with his latest post. i won't post it here so you can check out the other wondrous things dreamtard has to offer, but i will say this: once you hit play don't plan on doing anything for the following thirty five minutes. at all.

cause = time

one of novel designs' all time favorites came today.

it's what's on the inside that counts

jasmine raznahan has made some special post related materials.

below are images of her proposal for an edition of postage stamps, featuring a variety of patterns found on the interior of envelopes.










and here is her post-it stamp. not sure what purpose it could serve, but it sure looks cool.