Maria Kallin: Day dreaming a Christmas walk

Maria Kallin is a photographer out of Sweden who has the ability to make everything she shoots look delicious. With the exception of the birds above, I want to eat all that she photographs knowing full well it may not be edible, yet still hoping a taste would transport me into the color field dream world she captures around her subjects. I chose these photos from among her rather large portfolio because they so nicely embody this time of year, at least here in the Midwest. They seize a certain chill in the air but manage to leave you with a warmth scarcely felt outside the holidays. Looking at this sequence of images I imagine a Christmas Day walk along the edge of the woods, snow crunching below taking special care to freeze these memories in time. Perhaps I’m idealizing these a bit much but as I’ve said before, I love to day dream, and these made me forget what I was doing for 20 minutes, and to me that’s a successful photograph. And a successful 20 minutes at that.

You can also check out her etsy shop where Maria has a number of prints for sale. Found via designworklife.

Collage Poems and Recontextualized Reading

Recently I’ve spent a lot of time chopping up old National Geographic magazines to use as material for my latest endeavor, creating motion collages for the Holy Spirits ep “The Afternoon’s Blood.” In order to keep my sanity and balance out all the hours in front of the computer I’ve started reading a little more than usual. Partly because Michael of Holy Spirits has turned me on to books I never would have known existed otherwise and partly because reading makes me day dream, a lot. I’ve always had a hard time focusing on a book for longer than a few pages, I would constantly find passages or even single words that would spark a train of thought that I couldn’t resist following. Next thing I know, 15 minutes go by and I’m still staring at the same page. Over the years I’ve come to accept that I can’t finish a book the way others can, so I now approach reading differently. Its more of a creative/meditative exploration and I don’t fight what I once considered ADD. Now, after 15 minutes of staring at page, is the point where I typically grab my sketchbook.

A few months back I did a couple writing experiments but nothing really became of it.. until I couldn’t find a bookmark. I tossed one of these in Emerson’s “Nature” and spent the next hour moving it around the page finding different word associations and new meanings within the text, it was a new book. I had just turned reading into an entirely new activity for myself. I found I wasn’t reading the book at all but making my own story with the pieces that shown through the cuts. It opened up a new realm of day dream inducing possibilities.

Having cut out countless pages of old Nat Geos for my collages, I have an apartment full of clippings that have nothing better to do than be turned into more of these. I’ve started hand laminating a few so they withstand normal bookmark handling and will likely be selling the first run at the Space Space event Dec. 4th in Queens. They’re completely handmade and one of a kind, I couldn’t duplicate one exactly if tried. This is just the beginning of these and I think I’ll eventually set up a shop to start getting these in the hands/books of fellow day dreamers.

If you’d like one of these sooner or have any requests you can email me (thinkorsmile at gmail) and we can talk. Looking forward to hearing what you think about these!

Free Music Collection: December 2010

I should have crafted a massive year end list that overwhelmed you with hundreds of my favorites.. but honestly that sounds too daunting for me to even think about. So I’ll present this month’s like any other, approx. 40 links to get you started exploring the free music abyss. On the year end list note, I won’t be completely passing up the opportunity to share the artists that got stuck on repeat. I’ll be contributing to a year’s end project far greater than I could have accomplished myself.. so stay tuned in the coming weeks for that!

If you need new music daily rather than monthly, follow me on twitter @thinkorsmile. I typically post links there as they are discovered. Or you can follow my twitter list of music bloggers who are doing the dirty work of digging these artists up. Happy exploring.

Think or Smile | Free Music Collection: December 2010

I’ll admit, I don’t really like Christmas music. At always the same generic overproduced garbage year after year. Luckily for me (and you), Unholy Rhythms and Cactus Mouth have put an end to the vicious cycle. They got together some of the year’s best artists and asked them to created an exclusive holiday track. The results are too good not to share. Artists involved are: BAnanas Symphony, Unouomedude, Ra Calium, Danniell Radall, Closed Cassette, Megafortress, Craig Cruiser, Dream Band, Ricky Eat Acid, Guerre, Holy Spirits, Martha! Mother, SNOWMINE and Mutual Benefit.

“Holiday Sweaters & Egg Nog” A Cactus Mouth & U/R Christmas 2010 Mix

Happy holidays!

• ATLAS SOUND: BEDROOM DATABANK VOL. 1 | VOL. 2 | VOL. 3 | VOL. 4 – massive collection of recently recorded home demos and sonic explorations.
• Painted Palms – Canopy EP – lush experimental pop thats both earthy and spacey at the same time.
• Wonder Bear – Azul EP – electronic, melodic pop from 16 year olds. but that makes no difference.
• Wanda and Wonder – epep – popped out tropics in the Of Montreal vein.
• A.P. WITOMSKI – Canionical single – indie pop. he has a lot of free offerings here.. do a little exploring.
• Shells – Lunar Park EP – chill post rock jazzy beats.
• Black Coffee & Cherry Pie – The high mood swing | The slow mood swing – chill, crisp, pop-rock.

• Introductions and Salutations (a Patrick Porter mix tape) – bedroom folk pop to space out to.
• GORILLA VS. BEAR – november 2010 mix – jj, korallreven, the samps make for a nice soundtrack to the workday.

• WOOM – MUU’S WAY REMIXED – remixes from Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Japanther and others.

• Crash Symbols – Dope Mountain Fuck – first mix from new cassette label Crash Symbols feat. exclusive tracks from Closed Cassette, Sport, Monster Rally + tons of others.
• Sutja Gutierrez – The Way I Feel – so easy and a little bit sad.
• Jaded Hipster Choir – Kodama E.P. – samples building, layering until you’ve lost your way.

• Neon Indian x Com Truise – Sleep Paralysist – chillwave remixed 80s synthpop style.
• Small Black mixtape for gorilla vs. bear – nostalgia-inducing selection from Small Black.
• Coyote Clean Up – EICV7″ No. 2 – chillwave, man, chillwave.
• NO MODEST BEAR – October 2010 mix – little late on this one, but it’s a good mix of the falls synthpop.
• Com Truise – Komputer Cast Vol. 4 – another delicious synth-laden podcast.

• Com Truise – GhostlyCaast #41 – com truise.. ghostly edition.

• Shigeto – Ghostlycast #40 – a barrage of beat & hip-hop head-nodders.
• Stones Throw Podcast 63: Dimlite – Lit Paper Hats Forever – Frank Zappa? Sonic Youth? TV on the Radio? it works.
• Myk Dyaleks – Make’em Yell(ow) – hip-hop full of soul.
• Emay – Sounds Like – slowed hip-hop from Canadian producer/mc Emay. lovin this sound lately.
• Low Limit mix for Brainfeeder – beats ya’ll.
• Grappapproved Sampler No.1 – 26 tracks of experimental beats. technically free but show some love and buy them a beer for all the work done compiling this.

• Matthewdavid – XLR8R podcast – sound collage full of beats, distorted R&B, field recording and cassette loops.

• ISO50 presents Dry Waves – comp of latest in experimental sounds. Shigeto, Com Truise, Mux Mool all provide fresh tunes.
• Darkstar – FACT Mix 200 – slow and steady, feat. Matthew Dear, Radiohead, Twin Shadow, New Order…
• Body Language Influences Series – 3 solid mixes of SOUL, DISCO, and close to my heart, DETROIT.
• GIRL TALK – ALL DAY – nothing unexpected but still worth a listen if you like hiphop mashed together with classic rock at a feverish pace.
• Polysick/SFVacid Split EP – experimenting with the 80s and maybe acid.

• Michna & Dust La Rock – Mix the Orb – mixtape tribute the the Orb. sonic journey through ambient soundscapes and electronics.
• The Social Network Soundtrack – Five Track Sampler - soundscapes from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
• Low Light Mixes – far from home – picture yourself floating in space.
• Emily Reo – Minha Gatinha – drifting between the lucid and hazy.

• Clark Warner – GhostlyCast #29: The Warm Up – last year at this time I was getting ready for my wedding.. this was the soundtrack.

If you’re feeling any of these artists show ‘em some love and go see them live. As always, if you have any music to share hit me up on Twitter, Facebook or good old fashioned email.