In light of America’s last shuttle flight, Aaron weighs in on the legacy of the most familiar of space-faring vessels and a true Florida Icon, the Space Shuttle.
In 2011, mankind witnessed the conclusion of America’s grandest technological odyssey: the final launch of the Space Shuttle. STS-135, a four member mission of the space shuttle Atlantis, is the ultimate mission within a thirty year old campaign of scientific exploration and intrepid posturing by the most powerful, free nation in the world. For me, a young man that can recall standing outside in shorts and long socks, waving a tiny American flag and watching the shuttle arc into the sky while the glass doors on our patio shook with the unbelievable thrust of booster engines, this completion foreshadows too many ceilings to adequately name. There is the dearth of jobs to be snagged after NASA’s jettisoned workers enter the job market, the festering of the county that bore my youth, and only a lingering dream of being awakened by the twin thumps of orbiter re-entry. This is the series finale, the funeral of some beloved celebrity, of a distant acquired part of my identity. +Continue Reading
Guest author and friend-of-the-blog Dylan Boynton invites you to familiarize yourself with the music of Amon Tobin, weighing in on how Tobin’s newest album fits into his anthology.
Before Ableton Live there were guys like Amon Tobin, mastering clunkier tools to produce music for smaller audiences. For those unfamiliar with his name, Amon (formerly “Cujo”) has been one of the most influential producers in the world of IDM dating back to his first release in 1996. An Amon Tobin track can be listened to several times over without hearing every nuance. Much like other artists who produce such masterful output, Tobin’s works are at worst interesting, and are often on the vanguard of industry trends. But the industry has changed, and while the visibility for production specialists like Amon has increased, so has the competition. With the release of his newest album earlier this spring we wondered if a producer from the 90s could remain stylistically relevant in an age of renaissance for electronic music. Thanks in part to an expressed interest in new styles, it’s easy to argue that he’s succeeded. +Continue Reading
Sweet Cheeks Candy & Beauty Bar is happy to host The Steampunk Circus brought to you by We Merge Magazine for an awesome GRAND OPENING. Featuring original artwork, prints, photography, sculptures, and other merchandise. RSVP.
At the end of 2009, we included the work of Nicholas Bohac (San Francisco) among our featured art of the year:
“Mountain of Sound is an acrylic, ink, and photographic collage that depicts rainbow highways that run alongside windmills and mountains…this mixed media painting is among the most striking, masculine works that I encountered in 2009. Other paintings by Bohac that I appreciate include Kansas, A Place Between Progress & Hippie Shift, and Trippin Off the Land.”
If you also like his work, you’ll be excited to learn that his most recent project for an upcoming exhibit, Nothing & Everything at Once, will include 165 new paintings.
The paintings are all 9″x9″ collaged paintings that I’m calling “The Fragment Series”. They took about two months to make, but I typically worked on them like I was in a factory setting. The idea was to fill space with these images that were all unique, but all had this fractal quality to them. They’re all Icebergs, painting on film, and collaged on the panel. All of the panels have a painted sky, and over the top of the icebergs I have a graphic image of water silkscreen on clear film, so you can just make out the iceberg under the water. Here are all 165. Might take a few seconds to load. This is the first time in a long time that I can’t say that any one painting in a body of work is my favorite. I actually love all this work and fell it all works very well together. – Nicholas
The exhibit opens on April 29th and the formal artist takes place on May 7th.
You can also catch a sneak peak of a (60″x90″) painting , Hummingbird Wars, that will be used as album art for Back When:
When Nicholas isn’t busy painting, he clears his mind by running and sleeping. How could he find the time for anything else?
I really like going for longer runs, but have had to keep my runs to around 45 minutes or an hour. Between shipping the last of this work off and flying out for the show on the 20th, I plan on going on a few runs from my place up to and over the Golden Gate Bridge, which works out to about a half marathon. I’ve also got tickets for a baseball game next week, and depending on when the A’s are playing over in Oakland, I might go see a few of their games. So sleep, running, baseball games, and just mostly relaxing.
We should probably point out that creating 165 paintings in two months is very Brasky – but you probably already knew that.
Portlander and legacy Brasky, Paul Ogden, donates his face to help save Japan from nuclear meltdown.
A few months ago, a friend posted an animated image on Derek’s Facebook of a man with different facial hair for everyday of the week. I decided that I wanted to emulate that.
Day 1
Monday was the ‘short boxed beard’ which was not out of the norm, and I didn’t have to do anything for because it is my regular facial hair style.
Day 2
Tuesday was the ‘friendly mutton chops.’ Only a few people noticed on this day that anything was different.
Day 3
Wednesday was ‘The Winnfield.’ This certainly caught everyone’s attention at work. I had multiple people over the course of the day see me and immediately start laughing. This was also the hardest to shave for the entire week. I only had access to full sized hair clippers and a Mach 3, and creating a separation between the Fu Manchu and the mutton chops proved difficult for a man who very rarely shaves at all.
Day 4
Thursday was the classic ‘Fu Manchu,’ also known as the handlebar mustache. It was a great debate as to which I was sporting. After a series of intense internet research we determined that they were both indeed correct. Thursday night was St. Patty’s day and also, coincidentally enough, my 10,000th day alive. I spent it bouldering at the gym and then at a place in Portland, OR called Migration Brewery. After many beers, I went home and shaved and took a picture for the upcoming day.
Day 5
Friday was the ‘Copstache Standard.’ It is hard to tell if this mustache made me look like a cop, or like a pedophile. I tried to wear the aviators as much as possible throughout the day to keep myself from looking closer to law enforcement and further away from a pederast.
It felt good to be able to bring smiles and laughter to my coworkers who are otherwise just looking for the end of the day on Friday.
It’s been a full year since our last Publix Beer Cheers segment, and boy has a lot gone down. Our favorite local grocier, Publix, has begun a full-scale roll-out of delicious craft beers that has spilled over into end caps and coolers, bringing top notch libations to the free world and beyond. In honor of the bombers, six packs and finely packaged Belgian treats that we see on a weekly basis, Brasky would like to highlight five beers that you, the local hero that you are, can get at your neighborhood Publix. If you live in another part of the country, well, try Wegmans, Raleys, you get the drift. Publix is based in Central Florida, ok? Alright, now. Go on, read the beer cheers. Git! +Continue Reading
It’s exhausting to blog as well as we do here at Brasky, but you, too, can impress anonymous readers and old high school friends. No degree in (Live)Journalism? It’s OK. Sit back and let Emanuel school you on how to keep your blog game proper in 2011.
Everyone cares what you think. Write things out on your computer. People will care. People will understand. People will link each other to what you typed. It’s infectious, like your genius. Only you have thought these things. Don’t hesitate. Just do. Do it.
Write an article for a blog whose logo type is in Helvetica. Make blatant observations about your life that others can relate with on a level where they feel like they’re writing it. Keep each sentence short and simple – big words will only serve to get in the way of your poignancy. Sort of feel flustered as you realize half way through writing it that you’re not as intelligent as you thought you were. This is okay, thesaurus.com has your back.
When you’re bored of giving basic instructions to your word processor, keep going. It will only get more difficult, but this is the test of the unrecognized and tumultuous artist. People will think you’re significant after this, and that’s great. Done yet? Nope. Keep going. +Continue Reading
BRASKY:: You’ve been active in the scene for a while, before the emergence of genres often attributed with your music. How would you describe your music?
MOCHIPET:I’ve been asked this many times and it’s really hard to explain my music with words. I often find that words don’t accurately describe music. Maybe that’s why there is music. And I guess that’s why I became a musician and not a writer. I’m sorry I think they best way to understand my music is to listen to it. Here is my discography if you have the time. =) http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mochipet.
BRASKY:: What was the “weirdest” gig you’ve ever played?
MOCHIPET:I’ve definitely played many weird gigs. but I think the one that pops to mind most recently was for a wedding reception of a couple that feel in love during my performance at a camp out this summer. This is not necessarily weird at all but, this couple feel in love during my set and decided to get married because of it. So they wrote me this really sweet email and asked me to play their reception. It was really crazy. They basically told me they were getting married because of me and the circumstance that put them in a space where they realized they loved each other. That was really inspiring to me. I had no idea my music could make people fall in love and get married.
BRASKY:: How often do you modify your hardware and software arrangements for production and shows? What are your oldest and newest devices or programs?
MOCHIPET:I modify my arrangements all the time. I don’t know if you can tell from my music but I kind of have an ADD syndrome. So I’m always switching stuff up and changing things. for now I’m pretty much using Ableton Live for all my Live performances but for local shows I like to bring in more live instrumentation and other musicians. I hope to one day bring this out to the road but the cost factor has held me back. But once I get a bigger budget I’m sure it’s possible.
BRASKY:: What are some of the most memorable musical experiences for you?
MOCHIPET:Hmmmm. There are a lot but I think seeing Pink Floyd on the The Wall Tour was one of them for sure. The magnitude of the stage show was incredible and the music was right on cue.
BRASKY:: We love remixes and notice that you do a lot of them, what inspires your
ideas for them? What do you think is one of your most fun/best remixes?
MOCHIPET:Right now my favorite remixes I have done are MISSILL – Invincible and Far East Movement – Like a G6. I know the latter has been rather over played on radio but I had to get some azn representation in there! I usually do remixes for Fun. To put another spin on things. Make em pop out again. To get an idea you can listen to my Combat album if you get a chance. It’s all remixes with some scrabble thrown in for good measure as well!
Introducing Dark Sea of Awareness, a.k.a., the musical project of Orlando artist Steven Head. Brasky first became aware of Steven’s music last month when he opened up for Diamond Man’s CD release show in Tampa, offering a modest solo performance that roused us from a beerbar daydream (and as we would learn later, roused the attention others).
We caught up with Steven after the show to learn a little more about DSoA (<–Pro tip: acronymn establishes a sense of familiarity and importance). His music is composed and performed primarily on his synth, though occasionally he lets the robots loop while he plucks out some heavily ‘verbed accents on the guitar. The music style bears the accumulative and reflective nature of ambient work, slowly engaging listeners with the incremental introduction of new synth layers and, somewhat surprisingly, heavy bass kicks that firmly mark the listening pace. Steve cites Eastern thought, particularly Buddhism, and design philosophy as conscious influences over his creative process. The name “Dark Sea of Awareness” is a phrase borrowed from anthropologist–and shamanism historian/philosopher–Carlos Castaneda.
Having finished a degree in Urban Planning, we’re eager to see where Steven and Dark Sea of Awareness goes. Please join us in exploring the first chapter of the project with a sampling of tracks from his a first EP, Digital Magic.
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