Screen Printing Hintergrund T-Shirts

So its been a minute since I've updated this blog.

Late last year I purchased a Speedball screen printing kit which due to time constraints from school work and a general lack of motivation (mostly the latter) I didn't bother messing around with. With all of the free time I had during the summer away from school I decided to set aside some time to learn about the process of screen printing.

The image I worked with is a photograph of an old factory tower I took that was used as artwork for the album sleeve of the first Hintergrund release, Signal Blister. I used the diazo photo emulsion technique to reproduce the image seeing as that is pretty much the only way of replicating it while retaining as much detail as possible. The process involved much trial and error as I often ended up with either an under exposed image or an over-exposed one but finally I was able to achieve a proper exposure.

I think the final image turned out nicely and have printed around 12 black on white t-shirts for the first run. If demand is high enough I may print more but until now this is it.

In other Hintergrund related news, during the summer Brian and I got together to record material for the next Hintergrund release, all post-production and mastering has been completed and having given multiple listens the results sound great. More details regarding the new album and a release date will be determined as soon as I finish completing the art work, which I will post the progress of here.

On Repeat: Wreck and Reference - 'No Youth', White Suns - 'Sinews', Bosse-de-Nage - 'III', Death Grips - 'No Love Deep Web'

Choice Cinema: Last Year At Marienbad, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, Julien Donkey-Boy, Naked

Good Reads: Mark Danielewski - 'House Of Leaves, Miranda July' - 'No One Belongs Here More Than You', Jack Kerouac - 'On The Road', Alison Bechdel - 'Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'

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

Circuit Bent Toy Keyboard

As I mentioned in my last post, I have recently taken an interest in circuit bending and experimenting with sound in general so I thought I would share my first foray into it. The toy used in the video is a cheap toy keyboard that I picked up from a goodwill for about 4 dollars. The video exists to document some interesting sounds that I was able to achieve as I was exploring the toy's circuits. I wired the bends to a potentiometer and two switches which can be seen (and heard) manipulating the sound.

Initially, I wanted to attach an output for use with an amplifier and ultimately repackage the toy into an instrument of it's own but unfortunately, shortly after the video was made the toy died which is somewhat disappointing but oh well. Expect more.

On Repeat: Kilgore Trout - Split with False Flag

Other Blogs / Sites of Interest: seeyouinsleep / BrianWilliamGreen (beautiful sounds)

Oedipus Rex Theatrical Poster Illustration

Gouache and ink on 11x16 cold press illustration board.

Pictured above is a recent project for my intermediate illustration final. We were asked to complete an illustration for either a poster promoting a blues event or a theater poster promoting a production of our choice. I obviously chose the latter as I felt it get me more freedom in terms of what I wanted to illustrate and with that opened up possibilities in materials and techniques I could experiment with.

For those who are unfamiliar with Oedipus Rex, in summary the story is the first in a series of three Greek tragedies by Sophocles that detail the events of Oedipus who is prophesied to kill his father and sexually posses his mother. Throughout much of the play Oedipus does everything in his power to alter his destiny in order to prevent it from occurring but ironically enough all of the actions he takes in hopes of reversing the prophecy ultimately end up bringing him to face his inescapable fate. Upon realizing that his fate has been completed he gouges his eyes out symbolizing his blindness to reality.

I began by researching some theatrical posters, specifically ones having to do with the subject at hand. I felt that most of the posters I found promoting showings of Oedipus Rex were very static and boring. They did a poor job of capturing the climactic tragedy that the story builds up to and I wanted to capture that in my depiction. The image is a photo I took of a friend which I broke down into a simple two part stencil. For this painting I used black india ink and watercolor gouache. To achieve the speckled textural effect almost the entirety of the painting was created using a dog toothbrush which has two ends, one large and one small for bigger blotches of paint and smaller speckles respectively.

I think the illustration does its job capturing much of what the play is about so I'm pretty happy with the way the painting turned out. On a side note I now write for inb4track, a music review blog dedicated to reviewing /mu/sicians, home recorded projects, and independently made music. Check out a few of my latest reviews of The Pessimist Hangs the Optimist's latest EP and Qwertzuiop - Dead Oak. Recently circuit bending has developed into a small hobby of mine so expect to see posts documenting my exploitation of electronic toys in the future.

On Repeat: The Pessimist Hangs the Optimist -  You See All Kinds of Things When You Are The Only One Awake EP, Vasko - Enough Enough

Other Blogs / Sites of Interest: Thumbtack Press (pretty cool art site)

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

Hintergrund - Half Halo / Antithesis

Antithesis

Half Halo

Summer is coming slowly to a close as fall inches closer with each passing day. I believe many of us like to think of the seasons in relation to the basic emotions holiday cliches make us want to believe in. Fall, being the time off year I am most fond is a season I feel indifferently, apathetically toward. To me it represents a time of passing on. For nearly all of us death is indeed a negative occurrence, however, in this context I tend to not think of it in a negative way at all. For me it evokes the sense of a slow and natural death. It is the last breath for summer but for some of us it will be our first. This whole idea of other things passing on and giving life to the still living is something that interests me. It seems ironic how the occurrence of death, a thing many react to so negatively is something that keeps us alive. It is not necessarily a positive thing for those left behind but it is welcome, it is natural and if one looks hard enough there is color beneath all of the gray.

Featured below are two selections from Signal Blister; a project that Brian Sopher and I have been collaborating on over the course of the past few weeks under the name Hintergrund. Although absent of any preconceived concept there is a distinct mood that runs throughout the album. "Half Halo" is filled with fluttering synth sounds while swells of distorted guitar linger, rising and falling in the background. "Antithesis" comes in the form of a wave of sound that washes over the listener, a sense of structure begins to surface as the song progresses before fading out in a hollow sounding haze. The album has a layered and rather noisy feel, potentially abrasive to some but if one looks past the layers of dense sound melodies can be found hiding underneath.

The images pictured above are a series of photographs I took to use for packaging art. I believe the concept of the photographs follow the mood of the music well. Both of the buildings pictured are powerful structures, each shot from a ground perspective to entail that these structures are threateningly towering over them. Stark cracks of worn gray concrete show through stripped white paint. It is almost otherworldly, reminiscent of some distant world. The photographs pictured above follow the same loosely applied principle/poor analogy. Most of the effect were achieved by dropping the vibrance and bringing the color up slightly in saturation so that it looks as though it is fading away from years of poor weather. I'm currently working on putting together a physical CD version of the album including packaging, layout and photography. 

End your summer and start the fall season with these two tracks. More on the packaging and full album soon. Until then give it a listen, let me know what you think and feel free to let Brian know as well.

-Later

Brian Sopher:

Blogspot: http://sleepingglass.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @bsophs

Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/briansopher

Music Review: http://incurablyoptimistic.blogspot.com/

 Hintergrund - Half Halo by Tyler.Thompson 

 Hintergrund - Antithesis by Tyler.Thompson 

On Repeat: Balam Acab - "Wander / Wonder", Yellow Swans - "Going Places", Nadja - "Radiance of Shadows", Defiance, Ohio - "Share What Ya Got".