Tonal Irreverence is, in short, a weekly summary of new (and new-ish) music releases, the print and e-buzz surrounding them, followed by our honest opinions…without the pretentious crap that often accompanies in unneccessarily long reviews. We’re not music journalists…we just love music. Period.

This week: The White Stripes, Art Brut, The Polyphonic Spree, Battles and Rihanna.

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The White Stripes: Icky Thump [Warner Bros]

New Musical Express says: “[Icky Thump] was recorded over the course of a practically-gargantuan three weeks in Nashville’s Blackbird Studio, and addresses the problem most people had with its predecessor by dispensing with the sombre piano balladry and replacing it with snarling, hellbound guitars and a healthy dollop of gleeful perversity.”

New York Times says: “The White Stripes aren't preservationists; they're magical utilitarians. Authenticity, in and of itself, seems to bore them. They're on a far more selfish mission, smelting down favorite bits of English-language culture for their own ends. Here these include Led Zeppelin, perfumed '50s pop, Celtic folk song and the blues, which Mr. White plays with an electronic pitch shifter. (The White Stripes' junk cart would have spinner rims.)”

Tiny Mix Tapes says: “People gawk at the monuments The White Stripes construct. Loitering teens vandalize them with aerosol spray and gum wads. Others take photographs in front of them, smiling and with thumbs-up. In the end, no wear-and-tear will tarnish these monuments. They are sturdy, virtually indestructible testaments. They are impressive, breathtaking at turns, and everlastingly present. They will go on to rival D.C., Greece, Rome, Egypt, and even Led Zeppelin.”

We say: “God, just shut up, already. This is rock and roll, motherfuckers.”

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The work of So-Cal based Jonathan Moore makes my brain hurt. With a portfolio thick full of award winning work for visually demanding clients like Motorola, Adobe and Disney, Moore’s six years in the interactive design industry scarcely seem to allow for the complete command he seems to hold in his enormous skill set (a line-up including flash motion/development, art direction, motion design, 3D production, web-standards build, and development languages). Working under the moniker New Ezra, Moore creates some of the most aesthetically arresting and enveloping site designs around today, many of which are now available to view at the recently re-vamped New Ezra, Moore’s enchanting online portfolio. I can’t get over how much depth his work displays; his sites all possess the kind of intense realism (along the lines of what we experienced in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) that makes it tough to believe these places don’t really exist. Additionally, we can’t help but blush over the shout out the site throws our way- wow. We’re so very flattered to be counted as a place you find inspiration — thanks, Jonathan!

Outward Creative is the online portfolio of Eli Horn, a Vancouver-based freelance designer, web developer and artist with strong talent in all three areas. Eli’s website does well to demonstrate his creative and technical aptness with a clean and interactive layout that’s simple to navigate yet impressive to use. Mr. Horn is still a student at IDEA (Illustration/Design: Elements & Applications) at Capilano College — a fact that will pull your eyebrows further upward as you search through his very developed art and design work — and if his Photoshop experiments (like this one) are any indication of his academic success, I’d say someone’s getting straight A’s. Eli is currently available for projects and collaborations, so if you’re in the market, go get him while he’s fresh!

Being such a huge cheerleader for industrial design rockstar Eion McNally (as well as his sometime co-conspirator, Ian Walton), I get super-excited when I get wind of any new project he’s got going on — and I wasn’t at all disappointed when he emailed me about his Packaging for Re-Use prototype. Using a combination of wax-coated cardboard, adhesive patches, velcro, lambswool felt and some DIY ingenuity, the once disposable-but-not-so-recyclable packaging protecting your spankin’ new laptop converts into a sleeve, perfect for insulating your prized possession from dings and dirt. Because, if you ask me, getting all craftser is a hell of a lot more fun than throwing away a box filled with styrofoam blocks. Note to Mr. Jobs, though — when you buy this from Eion, I’m expecting a finder’s fee.

Bethany Shorb is breathing some long overdue freshness into neckties with her CYBEROPTIX TIE LAB. My favorites have to be the three ties from the Concealed Weapons Series — above, from left: ‘Ticking Timebomb,’ ‘40 Whacks,’ and ‘Let Them Eat Cake.’ The fronts of the ties employ simple and benign iconography, but the backs stealthily reveal the true, dangerous personalities of the accessories. All of the ties are handmade in downtown Detroit with your choice of a pretty interesting and unusual array of materials and come in a wide variety of colors; I most certainly recommend a visit to the website to have a closer look. At around $40, these handmade beauties blow department store ties out of the water.

The Footy Contest Series is a new online video footage contest community that invites those who are passionate about their board sport – and those who catch all the action on film – to upload their footage to the footyCS website for all the others in the community to vote on. Through weekly, monthly, and seasonal contests that are decided by the footyCS community, winners (both riders and videographers) will receive prizes that with help them progress in their sport. Tonight at 8PM PST on The Learning Channel (you know, the one that shows all of those nasty surgeries and stuff), footyCS will be introduced through the show “How to Make Millions,” which follows the founders of footyCS through the trials and tribulations of their entrepreneurial endeavor. The word from the founders is that the site will be alpha ready by 8PM PST this evening, and their first contest will begin to accept submissions at 12AM on June 25th.

Most of the buzz surrounding Uhuru, a furniture design shop based in Red Hook, Brooklyn has focused on its commitment to making environmentally sustainable designs — something that has, of late, moved beyond a trend to a absolute necessity for many a designer and consumer. True to form, in their most recent collection (appearing at both BKLYN Designs and ICFF this year), Uhuru frequently make use of pine wood reclaimed from demolished New York City buildings, old bicycle rims, recycled steel, and other such attractive waste. All the furniture is assembled in their own studio in Brooklyn or in other local workshops.

But what might be left out in the appropriately congratulatory assessments of Uhuru’s eco-friendliness, is the other side of their designs — their attractiveness. Featuring clean lines and simple functionality, items like the Stoolen (pictured) and the Fenced in Table demonstrate that Uhuru isn’t just about politics or idealism, it’s about aesthetics as well. With increasing press coverage and interior design contracts — including one for Bar Martignetti on Broome Street in Manhattan, Uhuru might just make its way into your living room before you know it.

–Dan Steckenberg

Hush Studios does something really interesting, the kind of thing you see in ReadyMade’s “HYGTFAJ?” column. Looking at their website is a little like finding out there’s no such thing as Santa Claus. Well, maybe it’s not as emotionally scaring as all that, but it’s definitely revelatory.

You know those 15 second animations that come right before the opening credits of movies? Those jarring and usually wicked-awesome clips that confer an element of the sublime on the studio (or studios) responsible for your Feature Presentation, and leave no doubt that Miramax (or whomever) is really doing something? Turns out that those little animations are actually made by Hush, and other firms like Hush. You can check out their website and watch Random House Films’ new clip, which (according to Hush) will appear for the first time in front of the film Reservation Road, to be released in November. Hush does other stuff too, like commercials for Nike and Acura. It’s the kind of short video content that always seemed to pop up in front of your eyes, absolutely impressive and completely lacking in context. Now you know where at least some of it comes from, and you can watch it over and over again.

–Dan Steckenberg