The Active Listener sampler 39

The Active Listener is an essential blog for fans of psychedelic music in all it's forms. As well as news, reviews and interviews, the fantastic people provide a monthly sampler containing the best sonic wonders. Here's the cover for the upcoming sampler, which I designed:

Shelf Heroes 'All at C'

A sneaky peek at the drawings I used to make up the Shelf Heroes pieces. I opted for an identikit portrait made up of face parts belonging to heroes and villains mentioned in the piece. Either the film or the character's name begins with the letter "C".
Shelf Heroes is a fantastic publication, packed with amazing writing and illustration all for the love of film. Check it out here. Thanks to Ben Smith for the opportunity on this one.

'The Forbidden Room' process

Just wanted to share with you a little insight into the Little White Lies Weekly cover I did recently. The film was Guy Maddin's 'The Forbidden Room', a multi-faceted, dream-like narrative which begins with a stranger inexplicably arriving aboard a submarine then proceeds to go all kinds of bonkers from there....here's the trailer:



So where to start....the brief included a mock-up of one of my collages as a general direction, along with a colour palette. The concept asked for an abstract image with the title in distorted letters. The guys liked the way I layer different textures and use ink/water "accidents" in some of my work. The only mandatory was to include the title in a prominent position within the composition.

I began with text experiments. Lots of text experiments. My favourite was the one using wax resist to create negative lettering with a "cloud" of ink bleeding into the surrounding areas.

I decided to use a circular motif as the centre of the composition, to suggest a portal to different places and times. Once again, more ink experiments...and elements of portraiture in keeping with the iconic LWLies cover aesthetic.

This was a really enjoyable commission, lots of layering of different textures and techniques. Thanks to Laurene Boglio and Timba Smits for the great direction.

Evening all! Here's the first of many mixes I'll be doing and posting up here for a limited time. The first is entitled 'Winter Warmers' and is a reaction to the awfully cold weather we're experiencing...oof isn't it bitter eh? You can download it here kids. Hope you likee.



"Winter Warmers"
1 Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Mysteries
2 Plaid - Ralome
3 Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Way
4 Antony & the Johnsons - Another World
5 Fridge - Cut up Piano & Xylophone
6 Alela Diane - White As Diamonds
7 Grouper - Heavy Water
8 Mary Hampton - Concerning a Frozen Sparrow
9 Mogwai - Christmas Steps
10 Bon Iver - Flume
11 Ween - Ice Castles
12 Bibio - Mr & Mrs Compost
13 Vashti Bunyan - Winter is Blue
14 Boom Bip - Last Walk Around Mirror Lake
15 Elliot Smith - Angel in the Snow
16 Icebreaker - Melody for Nato
17 James Yorkston - Woozy with Cider
18 Windy & Carl - Christmas Song
19 Seeland - Station Sky
20 My Brightest Diamond - The Ice and the Storm
21 Nick Drake - Northern Sky
22 Boards of Canada - Macquarie Ridge

Well howdy. The lovely people over at BalladOf magazine have done a lovely feature on my work, thanks very much Lindsey and Claire for the kind words!!

Champion sounds of the moment:

Mountains - Choral (Thrill Jockey)
F**k Buttons - Tarot Sport (ATP)

Studio ambience...

Easy Star All Stars - Dub Side of the Moon
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Nathan Fake - Drowning in a Sea of Love