Dimensional Design Project (Work In Progress)

The design screened onto canvas

My screen printing setup consists of a light taped
 to the toilet paper holder in my bathroom.

Design exposed into the screen. Also pictured: my girlfriend's cat being a creep.

This was an assignment for my dimensional design class. We had to make a bag for the Fourth of July. We were free to employ our own concept and being that the holiday isn’t so much an environmentally friendly one I wanted to address that in my concept, that being to bring a message to encourage people to “Have a green fourth of July”.

Needless to say I ran into problems getting parts of the design to come through clearly, I think the ink i mixed has either been to thick or too thin, blotting up or not printing as crisp as I would have wanted but I intend to revise this before the quarter is over and have images up of the complete bag as well.

Visit my tumblr for other art related things: redntoothnclaw.tumblr.com/

Hintergrund - Nemesis Digital Release

Album Cover

I'm happy to say that the new Hintergrund album, 'Nemesis', our second release is finished and is now available for free to stream and download. I'd like to say a few things regarding details about the albums production and completion.

What we were able to accomplish with 'Nemesis' encompasses a much more expansive sonic range than our previous effort, Signal Blister. The sounds range from crushing walls of dense distortion and feedback, to screeching oscillation, to airy and colorful ambience. One of the beautiful things about noise and the likes of experimental music is the process, which many times is a wholly improvised matter that always leaves room for the possibility of failure and spontaneity, an aspect that is unfortunately all too often alien to music. In noise this additional element played a large role in how the album was created. We worked with what we had at the time; a broken guitar, an old broken karaoke microphone, prepared saxophone, circuit bent electronics, and whatever else we could find that we felt was worth recording. Much like the sound of 'Nemesis' the instrumentation directly reflects this brokenness. I think it is safe to say that, for me at least that 'Nemesis' is not only to be heard as a piece of music but to be seen as being representative of an exercise in experimentation, our instruments not simply being used as they were intended to be but rather used as an extension of our collective ideas, improvised and elaborated on in that moment.

From this point on I will be focusing on putting together the artwork for a physical release of the album. You can stream and download 'Nemesis' at the links provided below. Enjoy.

Download Nemesis Here

Also, Brian recently finished his latest solo effort under the name Glasslung entitled 'New Martyrs'. You can download and stream that here: Sleeping Glass.

Links:

Nemesis on Last.fm

Brian Sopher on Soundcloud

Tyler Thompson on Soundcloud

Moosick Records

Illustrations For New Hintergrund Album

Exterior Artwork

During the summer of last year my good friend Brian Sopher and I got together for a jam session in which we spent time making noises, drones, and generally experimenting. Out of these freeform jam sessions our experimentation evolved into what is now known as the drone / noise duo Hintergrund. We released our first album Signal Blister during the summer of last year. Sometime back in January nearing the end of my winter break away from school Brian and I got together once again to record with no specific goal in mind before departing back to our respective colleges. Early in the first weeks of summer we met up to finish what we had started and to say the least, having given multiple listens, I'm pretty pleased with the results. What we were able to achieve is much more diverse than what can be heard on our first full length, Signal Blister.

Interior Artwork

The artwork is nearing completion. The two images seen above, that of the interior and exterior spreads are complete. All that is necessary now is the addition of type and the application of color.

As I have stated in past posts I believe the artwork is a crucial part, perhaps even on an equal level as the music in which it accompanies. Sometimes the artwork can determine whether or not I actually purchase an album whereas I could simply download it for free. Not only is it important in that aspect but also reflectively. I believe the artwork should serve a purpose not separate from the music but rather compliment the music visually in a way that reflects the mood, the concept, and emotions derived from it. With that said the artwork I have begun working on can be looked at as my interpretation of the sounds on this album in a visual form; fragmented, disjointed, chaotic, and broken which needless to say are a few words that essentially summarize the music that Brian and I have created together sonically in a visual sense.

On Repeat: Pigeon Breeders - Luminous Debris, Teotl Expansion - P:1, Heccra - The Last Weekend of Summer, White Suns - Sinews

Choice Cinema: David Lynch - 'Mulholland Drive' and 'Blue Velvet'

Good Reads: Mark Z. Danielewski - 'House Of Leaves'

Blogs / Sites: The League of Movable Type, Fonts of Chaos

Hintergrund - Signal Blister Physical Release

Album Cover

Over the summer of 2011 friend and fellow musician Brian Sopher and I released a full length album entitled Signal Blister under the name Hintergrund consisting of improvised compositions created utilizing treated guitar, synth, a cheap broken microphone and plenty of digital processing. The music on the release is comprised of seven somewhat long droning compositions interlaced with traces of melody and rhythm all buried beneath layers of tectonic ever shifting walls of distortion and colorful textures.

Previously, I had written several blog posts including information as well as images and samples from the album. The album artwork is derived from a series of edited photographs of an abandoned factory I shot during the production of the album. One of my favorite aspects of purchasing a piece of music in a physical format, whether it be a CD or vinyl copy has been the artwork that accompanies it, something that gave me a reason to buy it as oppose to simply downloading a digital copy or pirating it. The artwork often times provides a deeper look into the music, sometimes exemplifying a more personal aspect of the music that wouldn't be present otherwise. I feel as though the artwork that accompanies the album does well in visually representing the sounds within the recordings, providing images to stimulate the listener; this idea of layers of paint and concrete having been removed, decayed, weathered, and worn away to reveal an underlying surface, much like the sounds on Signal Blister. The physical copies of the album were finished in October of last year and are handmade, therefore limited to only thirteen unnumbered copies, all of which will be given away to close friends and other desirables. Above is a cropped image of the album artwork and below is the physical release displaying the gatefold style packaging as well as the CD and sleeve. There is a link provided below to a free download of the album in 320 kbps which includes the artwork. Enjoy.

Thanks goes to Kyle Plaskon for photographing the album packaging. You can check out more of his photography here.

Check out the Last.fm page

Brian Sopher on Soundcloud

Tyler Thompson on Soundcloud

Click here to download

On Repeat: Orphan School - Secret Admirer, Burial - Kindred EP, Mustapha Mond - Keeping Secrets, Ben Frost - Discography

Choice Cinema: Wim Wenders 'Wings of Desire',  Jim Jarmusch 'Stranger Than Paradise'

inb4track Logo / Banner

I recently designed a logo / banner for inb4track, a music review blog about independent /mu/sicians that I and a mess of other people write for. I thought it would be nice if the site had a logo of it's own so I created one. Once again going off of the triangulated Andy Gilmore inspired theme, I designed the type around a triangular pattern. 

As for the design, the logo is pretty much self explanatory. The name of the blog plays off of the 'inb4' meme, a popular internet meme used on internet forums that generally refers to a person posting a reply, a thread, or a statement 'before' another user post an obvious and often times critical response. 'Inb4' is followed by a single word (i.e. 'track') or a short phrase that will indefinitely appear in the topic.

The 'b4' was substituted with a set of arrows that doubles as the rewind button on a cassette or CD player. I experimented with multiple color pallets and variations in placement of color beside color with the end result ultimately coming down to the combination you see above. All of the colors are slightly dulled to what I feel is colorful and fun without being gender biased or appealing on a male or female basis. In other words I feel like this is a logo that works in the context of what the blog is about.

Check out the page and let me know what you think of the design: inb4track.wordpress.com

Some recent reviews I wrote: Vasko Enough Enough, Mont Saint Michel, Studying / Carved Our Names In Snow split

On Repeat: Mont Saint Michel - Sediment, Dementia & Hope Trails - Parts of the Sea I & II, Caust - Page Turner, Studying / Carved Our Names In Snow split

Signal Blister Design and Layout

Hintergrund's Signal Blister is well on it's way to becoming a realized physical product. With the design and layout of the packaging complete I am currently working on assembling the CD case. Everything is being cut and put together by hand so it is taking some time to complete each one but it is coming along well. I have never assembled a CD case or any physical package for that matter so this has been a great learning experience.

Above is the cover art. The album cover is a wrap around gatefold style CD case. The right half of the image is the front of the album with the left half being the back. Since the music relies heavily on textures and soundscapes I saw it fitting that the artwork should convey the same feeling one might receive while listening to the album. Prior to this project, I had never taken photographs for art purposes so I seized this as an opportunity to try it out. Pictured below is the interior art for the album. Together the images reflect a cracked and fragmented landscape, something distant, far away from here. Something that has barely survived a long tormented relationship with a dangerous and unknown act of celestial wrath.

Above is the design for the CD sleeve with the credits and the track list. The sleeve will house the CD and slide into a pocket within the case.

More soon on details regarding the final product. Stay with me...

Black Line by Tyler.Thompson
Loss of Light by Tyler.Thompson


On Repeat: Yellow Swans - "At All Ends", Heavy Winged - "Sunspotted", The Weeknd - "Thursday"

Other Blogs / Sites of Interest: Incurably Optimistic, Zug Zwang Productions