New Victionary book about retro design and how it’s appearing in contemporary graphical work. Looks good as both inspiration and a reference tool.

Emerged today as the perfect marriage between old and new, retrospective designs are deemed to be an inevitable phrase in the design cycle when designers begin to look back and find inspirations for new graphic styles in the depressive pixel age. Some think these designs has cheered the digital era with the lost enthusiasm for new findings and the future, others reckon it as a tribute to the prominent art and design movements between 1920 and 1990. Taking a trip down memory lane, Flashback unveils how the epoch persists to be an enduring spring with a bold and pronounced application of colour, shapes, typefaces and illustration works in contemporary graphic art.

Blockhead has only gotten better and better, and that’s saying a whole lot when you look at his contemporaries. Deeply intricate instrumental hip hop is a genre that gained numerous contributors after Endtroducing… told unspoken stories without the need for a lyricist. Subsequent albums made the style appear limited, as RJD2 managed only to put out one killer record (Deadringer), and DJ Shadow proved that being the founder doesn’t make you the king with The Outsider. After providing the maudlin soundtrack to Aesop Rock’s audible internal monologues, the New York based beatsmith dropped Music by Cavelight on Ninja Tune in the spring of ‘04. While the record had depth and staying power, it wasn’t a demonstration of Blockhead’s full potential. The following year’s Downtown Science was a similar story. Two years later, and after a couple of solid mixtapes, Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book came out, and the path of this producer’s skill had hit a brand new checkpoint, and it happened to come at a slightly higher average BPM rate. Blockhead has been playing with Ableton Live, so we can expect something a bit more loop based with The Music Scene. If you’ve used the software or seen it it used, you can probably guess that a guy like Blockhead will run with it. The Music Scene is out tomorrow on Ninja Tune records.

Great looking goods from my friend Jason at MAKR, the line has come a long way!

Ontour’s latest collection “This & That Ontour” is out now. Very nice, some of my favorite pieces after the jump (and I love these gloves!)…

In their words: “This & That Ontour” AW09 collectionWith our biggest and most detailed collection so far we show the direction Ontour is taking;we’ve grown up and combine sophisticated pieces, subtle details with our bold graphics and eye-catching garments.Our designs are soft and loud, round and square, they zoom in and out and combine the past and the present.Opposites attract…enjoy our This & That Autumn / Winter 09 collection.

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Lee Memorial’s new album took me by surprise twice over. First off, I’ll admit that I can’t think of a single Australian act that struck me since I heard Yeo and the Fresh Goods last year. Secondly, a mellowed out acoustic sound with poetic lyrics is not style of music that often captivates beat snobs like myself. You may be familiar with Sodastream, a duo that’s dropped releases in this vein for a decade before breaking up. Half of that now-defunct band, Karl Smith, assembled a band with a decent resume and put together The Lives of Lee Memorial, possibly named for a hospital, is fraught with Smith’s mystifying whines layered together. If you doesn’t sound like your taste, you’re probably not sold, and you’ll just have to take my word for it. It’s not out for a couple of weeks, so you’ve got time to conduct your research.

Monsieur T has always provided us with plenty of kick ass tees to rave about on a regular basis. However, with the sizzling season officially upon us, our good friends have upped the ante on their kick ass-ness to not only warm the cockles of our hearts, but our otherwise naked torsos as well. Their scorching new Summer ‘09 collection features designs from a gaggle of top-notch talents such as Arbito (best known for teaming up with MHAK, and Evan B. Harris). While there’s no shortage of eye-popping graphics on this set, there are very limited quantities of the actual shirts. So whether you’re walking around half-naked and need to cover up to get into that fast food restaurant or you’re just looking for a top that will catch that special someone’s attention while cruising the skate park this summer, we suggest you head on over to the Monsieur T website and grab something before they’re all gone.

Philadelphia often spits out something unconventional and intriguing. Bahamadia the whispering lady rapper, G-Love the hipster-ahead-of-his-time, and a band like no other called Black Landlord. I started hearing their name around town a few months back from a few heads gushing about their killer live shows and now there’s a full album to be had. The nine-piece band includes everything but the didgeridoo and gives an instrumental style like a funked out Soil & Pimp, with vocals laid down by founder Maxx Stoyaoff-Williams. Clever, funny, and inherently heavy, Addicted to Distraction kills it in every respect. In regard to album cover, I preferred the pimped out Redd Foxx on their myspace page, but I can see why they went another way with it.

Before the melding of organic hip hop with glitchy processing in Prefuse 73, Guillermo Scott Herren messed with ambient jazz and the chillest nooks of latin music. Many forget that Savath and Savalas brought Herren to Warp Records, leaving many of his records under this alias overlooked. Well, if you haven’t heard it before, now is the time to warm up to it, as we find ourselves smack in the middle of two releases. Stones Throw put out La Llama two weeks ago, living up to the expectations with an array of soundscapes and vocalists. Out in exactly two weeks is Golden Pollen, coming out on Anti, will showcase Herren’s own voice and instrument talents.

Still not convinced? Listen to a track on YouTube.

A lone singer/songwriter on a label that prides itself on producers, Fink landed with Ninja Tune in the late nineties with a pair of EPs, followed by 2001’s downtempo mix Fresh Produce. It wasn’t until five years later that he showed his melodic side on Biscuits for Breakfast, the first record that defines his current style. Since then, he seems to be back on track with his releases. Distance and Time dropped in 2007, and now we’ve got another mellow collection entitled Sort of Revolution. The LP features John Legend on a couple of tracks, as well as a cover of ‘Walking in the Sun’. Another solid Ninja Tune release.

Well, I’m impressed (and a little bit surprised) to see Tumi moving away from their core black and grey look towards a more youthful oriented and hipper design. In their own words: “The digital camouflage print is applied to ballistic nylon creating the ultimate statement in utilitarian style… With the intent to disguise or blend with the natural surroundings, this camouflage print instead will attract some attention and be easily identifiable among the sea of black bags.”

They seemed to have pulled off the digital-camo quite well here– and with the sturdy build quality (and lifetime warranty) of Tumi products to boot. No word on price and availability yet though.

Picture and Info Via Selectism

To most of us, DJ Shadow is a mind without a past. Everything he touched became a timeless piece, the demonstration of his powers beginning with 1996’s Endtroducing, an album that quickly became the soundtrack to the lives of many. While we often consider it his first full excursion into sampling production (in fact, it was the world’s first album composed entirely of samples), there was once a young Shadow; one who idolized influences and struggled with his own expressions just like any other artist. Over the past couple of years, we’ve had glimpses into this tape-deck past through The 4-Track Era series of radio mixes. Today we get the entire musical youth of DJ Shadow packaged in box-set entitled The 4-Track Era Bundle, featuring early noise through a now defunct medium that we all still love deep down. Pre-order now!

Anyone who can turn that crappy dance jam ‘What is Love’ into an alluring tune of just voice and Wurlitzer is onto something. Diane Birch, an American singer/songwriter whose preacher dad led her around the world during her childhood, has collected enough insight from her travels to make her expressions all the more interesting. It’s not the ethnic influence that shines through, but rather a maturity that is rare to find in a young artist. Her debut Bible Belt is out today.

With an aggressive yet upbeat sound, Baltimore’s Double Dagger assaulted our ears with unhinged drive through two albums and a slew of EP releases since the band’s formation in 2002. A sound labeled ‘post-punk’ could mean almost anything, so rather than obsessing over the fashionability of the genre, listen to More with an open mind. You’re bound to see beauty between the drums and the reverberating basslines. Simply constructed and intelligently delivered, the trio’s newest album conveys what could only have been concieved in a trashed B-more warehouse packed with thrashing scenesters.

When Dub Side of the Moon came out, love for a classic album resurged at its makeover. A mash-up idea taken to the next level, the concept caught on quick and it was on for the Easy All-Stars and another full album cover. Radiodread dropped in 2006, OK Computer broken down and reconstructed with dub. Going for the hat-trick, the once lesser known label knew they had to do just the right record. They considered London Calling, 40 Oz to Freedom, and Led Zeppelin’s II before settling on the classic to precede all classics. A themed makeover of the first real theme album of all time, Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band is exactly what it sounds like. If that’s not enough to convince you, just listen to one song if you don’t believe us.

From dubbed out acid synth to the low key swing of French pop, Denver’s Spaceflight Orchestra (Bobby Collins) is sugary, rhythmic, and packed with the same hype, upbeat voice clips that are making a resurgance in general these days. For all its means, An Orchestra of One (Black Bridge) comes off sounding like P-funk more often than not. Now that we’ve filled your head with what to expect, maybe you should try it out for yourself.