1. What are your thoughts on mainstream music and the current state of the music industry?

I think it’s pretty dismal and have stopped paying attention. There’s just too much great stuff going on in the fringes to have much of ones consumptive energy left for the stuff whatever mind numbing drivel they’re cramming down our ears these days. A few of my favorites: Happy Rhodes, Eric Metzgar, Emily Bezar, Sufjan Stephens, Faun Fables.

2. How do you feel about the internet as a means of distribution and promotion? Obviously times have changed and there is less need for the big industry machine.

It’s pretty extraordinary… I have been fairly much camped out underground for the past couple of years, working on a new album, not out touring or playing shows, and yet people continue to somehow find the website, take a listen, maybe order a record or two… It’s nice that one can remain somehow present even during a period of relative hermitage…

And I’ve found at least one of my favorite artist by stumbling upon her on the web. The internet blows my mind. It’s like this vast virtual meadow, and you just accidentally turn over some rock, and there’s this person with a whole life and existence, a whole reality, thousands of miles from your own, and they’re playing you the latest song they wrote, or telling you what they ate for breakfast. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of the collective unconscious, some giant soup pot of knowledge and wisdom that we’re all throwing vegetables into. And what’s so funny is that within our lifetime, with the rise of the internet, with the internet we now have an actual quasi physical model of it.

3. What do you hope to accomplish with the music that you make?

I guess there are probably some things I’m trying to figure out in music, some persistent questions I keep circling around again and again. I don’t know if I get closer to answering them. About love… Trees… Minutes and hours. Falling asleep. Waking up. Getting older. At the same time, I don’t know that I’m always the one asking the questions. I feel more like I’m just the one writing things down. Music keeps me connected to something; I’d never want to pin it down in mind or in word by trying to say what. I’d like to make something beautiful…Just a bit of beauty amidst all of the warcries and television screens… Something I could go to like a stream and drink from, something merciful, something clear and trickling along the ground. All I really know is what’s beautiful to me, what I hold dear… I never know if it’s going to communicate or not. And it changes…

4 What’s in the works at the moment for projects or albums?(For future and current fans).

The next thing I plan to release is an album of songs which is a hairs breadth away from completion,(unfortunately, sometimes that last hair’s breadth can take way too long. But yes, it’s close.)

My other project is a concept album which I started writing in the wilderness last year and which is still developing. I’m learning the cello in hopes that I will be able to play in its little orchestra when it comes time to perform it. That’s been a pleasure. The cello is an absolutely gorgeously untamed beast of an instrument and I’m completely in love with it. I’m not quite at the point technically where I can write very effectively on it, but I hope to be taking it out of the house soon.

Well, I have to go… The cats are wailing for their breakfast.

be well ~ nv

You can find her site here: NoeVenable.com]]> http://michaelbox.net/2011/05/21/four-question-interview-with-noe-venable/feed/ 1 http://michaelbox.net/2010/10/31/vinyl-junkie/ http://michaelbox.net/2010/10/31/vinyl-junkie/#comments Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:27:01 +0000 tw2113 http://michaelbox.net/?p=218 I will admit that ever since sometime this summer, I’ve slowly become a vinyl LP junkie. I was even slowly purchasing some before I even had a way to play them. By now I feel that I’ve gathered up a small but respectable library of mostly full albums, but also a tiny amount of 45rpm singles. Thankfully I have also since then purchased a record player and it works quite nicely for me. Down below is my library:

Full LPs

• An American Tail — Soundtrack
• The B-52s — The B-52s
• Back To The Future — Soundtrack
• The Bangles — Different Light
• Big Pig — Bonk
• Billy Squier — Emotions In Motion
• Blondie — The Best of Blondie
• Blondie — Eat To The Beat
• The Cars — Candy O
• Cheap Trick — Dream Police
• Creedence Clearwater Revival — Chronicle
• Cyndi Lauper — She’s So Unusual
• Cyndi Lauper — True Colors
• Dire Straits — Brothers In Arms
• Duran Duran — Rio
• Dusty Springfield — Dusty In Memphis
• Eddie Murphy — How Could It Be
• Elton John — Madman Across The Water
• Fiddler On The Roof — Soundtrack
• Fleetwood Mac — Rumours
• The Great Muppet Caper — Soundtrack
• The Knack — Get The Knack
• Linda Ronstadt — Heart Like A Wheel
• Mary Poppins — Soundtrack
• Mike Oldfield — Tubular Bells
• Mr Bungle — Disco Volante
• Nat King Cole — The Christmas Song
• Neil Young — After The Gold Rush
• Poi Dog Pondering — Poi Dog Pondering
• Rockwell — Somebody’s Watching Me
• Roxy Music — Avalon
• Saturday Night Live — Clips from the First Season
• Sid Straw — Surprise
• Sly & The Family Stone — Greatest Hits
• Soul Asylum — Hang Time
• Spaceballs The Soundtrack
• Thomas Dolby — The Flat Earth
• Thomas Dolby — The Golden Age of WIreless
• Van Halen — Van Halen
• Willow — Official Soundtrack
• The Wonder Stuff — Hup
• Young Frankenstein — Official Soundtrack

Singles

• Peter Parker — Swallow The Rockets
• Thomas Dolby — Europa and the Pirate Twins/Radio Silence
• Thomas Dolby — She Blinded Me With Science/Flying North

Emac?

I recall the day that the idea of interviewing him came up. Selene M. Bowlby and I were talking and I went to my twitter list to see who I could interview next. Jon’s profile showed up and to me, approaching him felt like aiming for the stars. I mentioned the idea to Selene and she was for it 100%, She suggested to mention herself in my introduction email since her and Jon had conversed a lot in the past. Thankfully, Jon agreed to participate and here we are, about to get to know Jon Phillips.

On top of being a designer, you are also a musician in your spare time. Have you been privileged to work with other musicians and help them with their branding and marketing?

Jon Phillips: Actually I haven’t. I try to keep design and music separate as much as possible. I’m usually too involved with the music to be able to design something with an outside perspective. I did design my band’s blog, but it was a one shot thing and it felt like designing my own site — and we know designers often have trouble designing their own sites

The smartphone market is hotter than really really really hot things. Which smartphone are you? Has anyone approached you about designing for any apps?

Jon: I doubt the smartphone market can be hotter than my apartment right now but once I get a new air conditioner I’m sure it will be considered hot again. I’ve never designed any apps and to be honest it’s not something I’m particularly interested in. For some reason the whole ‘apps’ market gives me a weird feeling of deja-vu — remember when CDs were all the rage?

If you put a gun to my head and gave me a choice, I’d go for the iPhone (well I’d go with the iPhone even without the gun part).

Would you be interested in joining a harmonica/kazoo/cowbell/wawa pedal experimental music group? We’re looking for new members.

Jon: Totally! That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for for years! Just tell me when and where and I’ll be there! (if you provide the cowbell I’ll explore the studio space like there’s no tomorrow!)

WordPress 3.0 was released in late June, with a plethora of new features. What elements are still not part of a WordPress default install that you’d love to see made default?

Jon: I’m very happy with all the new features in WP 3.0, but there are definitely some things I would’ve liked to see. Things like a built-in spam flagging system and a stats package that offers more than the WordPress one would have been nice. You can do so many thing with WordPress with custom templates, functions and plug-ins, but those two things should really be in the WP core in my opinion.

Pretend for a moment that you were asked to gather, from your twitter list, a team for a record label’s web and marketing department. Who would you tap on the shoulder for the task?

Jon: I think the first person I would ask is Marc Davison (1000wattMarc (Twitter)), not only cause he’s a cool and professional guy but also because he knows a ton about the music business and he’s got years of experience in the music and web fields. I would also ask Tean Schultz (Schrecker (Twitter)) for similar reasons, of course we’re in the same band, but he’s also a sick producer and songwriter.

I know I would also post something on my Twitter feed asking for recommendations. That’s the beauty of a service like Twitter.

What are some of the best and worst uses of typography you have seen by musicians?

Jon: There’s a lot of extremely unreadable logotypes in the metal scene, especially in the more obscure branches of metal. I can’t just pick one cause that wouldn’t be fair, but just to give you a taste of how unreadable it can get sometimes, have a look around the Brutal Death Metal Logos blog.

As for great uses of typography, I really like John Mayer’s website, I think the typography there is pretty sweet. There’s also Jamie Cullum’s site, nice typography and a great minimalist layout with good color contrast. In case you didn’t know, I like simplicity and minimalism

Rumor on the street is that you failed art class in the 4th grade. Did the teacher give you low grades due to you claiming all of your doodles were you playing with wingdings/webdings?

Jon: Haha, well I failed my art class mostly because I didn’t care too much about drawing and painting and all that artsy stuff when I was that age. I didn’t get into design until I was much older. I got into music at around 12, and then years later started getting interested in design.

Have you devised any digital “Subscribe to me” pullout cards to replace the ones from print magazines?

Jon: I have not, but it’s a great idea! Can I use it and give you credit?

What are some challenges in running a digital magazine that people may not expect compared to a print magazine? Advantages?

Jon: I can’t really compare the two because I’ve never run a print magazine but I’m guessing that some advantages would be the very low start-up, operating and maintenance costs of an online magazine compared to a print one. Of course running an online magazine will incur some costs (in both time and money) such as hosting, paying writers, maintenance, marketing and promotion, but at the end of the day it’s cheaper, easier to get up and running and reaching a large audience may happen sooner.

Have you experienced an 80s heavy metal hair phase yet? If so, did you use bad client stories to poof up your hair instead of Aqua Net ? If not, you now have an idea to achieve the effect.

Jon: I have! I kept the long hair for about 7 or 8 years and about 3 years ago I decided that phase was over (a bit tired of head banging to heavy bands). As for Aqua Net, to be honest I had to Google it to find out it was hair spray cause I had no idea what it was. Then I found out there’s also a band called Aquanet — that really really made my day!

What is your position on the whole music piracy topic, being a musician yourself? Is it personally a benefit for your band The Gods of Now or more a harm? Have you given any considerations to less restrictive licenses like Creative Commons?

Jon: Of course being a musician, making money from CD sales is great, but I believe music should be free. The whole music industry is not even about the music anymore anyway! That’s probably why a lot of the major labels are going belly up and you see more and more independent labels pop up everywhere. A lot of bands and artists these days make more selling t-shirts and stickers at shows and live events than selling CDs.

I still believe it’s wrong to steal music though. If an artist chooses to sell his or her music, don’t steal it, buy the album instead. I simply believe more artists should follow Radiohead’s and Trent Reznor’s steps and give the music away for free and find other means of making money.

Where can we find online, both your designer half as well as your musician half? Also, any last thoughts?

Jon: You can find my designer’s half on SpyreStudios and my musician’s half on the TGON website

Borrowing this wording from a very popular topic. Team Pirates or Team Ninjas?

Jon: Definitely Pirates. Ninjas don’t drink Whiskey, Pirates do.

What is the most inventive way you have mashed up your two trades, design and music?

Jon: Well I haven’t tried to mash the two together (like I said I like to keep them separate). It could be interesting though.

What trends in design would you love to see fade away, never to return?

Jon: The glossy and mirrored Web 2.0 logos. Oh, and designers calling themselves rockstars, ninjas or gurus (pirates are ok). What about Pornstar Designer? That would be cool. (Editor’s note: said like a true rockstar)

Like with all of my interviews, I’d like to thank Jon for agreeing to participate and hope that he had fun answering the hairbrained questions I managed to come up with.

This is also a very personal interview for me. Out of everyone, Alex may be the one who I know the most, and knows me the most in return. I have known her since sometime in mid 2009. When I had the idea to include her in this post series, I knew that it would be my chance to offer a lending hand and help her out as much as I could. With that said, lets help her get her feet off the ground and get to know Alex Cook.

Please introduce yourself to everyone. What did you major in and where at? Did you specialize in any areas?

Alex Cook: Hello! :3 I’m Alex Cook, your typical unemployed, yet hopeful graduate with an interest in design, writing and film. Seriously, talk to me about movies and I’ll likely love you forever. Anyways! I recently graduated with a BS in New Media Publishing from Rochester Institute of Technology. My major includes a mix of graphic design, web development, printing, business and IT. At RIT, I concentrated/specialized in both French Language and Culture and Contemporary Publishing. Think eBook creation and designing, studying the pros and cons of the New York Times Reader, and so on!

You just graduated this past spring. What do you hope for in your near future, and what fears do you have given the current job market?

Alex: Good. Question. Since I’ve graduated, I’ve come up with such a multitude of plans, it’s borderline ridiculous. Do I want another bachelor’s degree? In graphic design? Journalism? How about a masters in human computer interaction? Who knows. I think I’d really just like to get some more design practice and experience.. we’ll worry about the job front later. (aka I’d prefer to not think about the current job market. ;p )

If you could choose for the pigment in your skin to be any color possible, what would that color’s RGB/CYMK value be?

Alex: Oh man, ideally? #333366. I’m crazy about this purple. (C: 93% M: 90% Y: 31% K: 20%) (R: 51 G: 51 B: 102) Realistically though, I need a tan. –__– #CC9966. (C: 20% M: 41% Y: 67% K: 1%) (R: 204 G: 153 B: 102)

If you had control of who follows your twitter account, what four people would you add to your followers list? Why?

Alex: Eeeee! dessadarling (Twitter). Dessa is hands down my favorite artist/rapper/author. Her lyrics and essays are a constant source of inspiration for me in writing, illustrating, so on and so forth.

disneypixar (Twitter). Yet another source of inspiration for me. To say that I never dreamed of working for Disney would be an absolute, terrible lie. If you could see my wish list of books right now, it’d be over 75% full of Pixar art books.

andrewhussie (Twitter). I follow the newest MS Paint Adventure like it’s my job (“Homestuck,” go read it! :p). He’s got one heck of an imagination, seems to write like a pro, and oh man are his drawings cute or what?!

Andddd ConanOBrien (Twitter), because everyone loves a little attention now and then, amiright?

Below, is a question and answer

Recently, you returned to Minnesota where you had an internship last year. Is there anywhere in the area that you would absolutely love to work at? Any specific companies?

Alex: Minnesota is so full of major corporations, I’m certain holding a design position at any would be more than fine in my book! (Hey there Target, Best Buy, 3M, General Mills! (; ) If dreams could come true, I’d die to work for Rhymesayers Entertainment, an independent hip hop record label based in Minneapolis. I missed out on a design internship for them due to poor timing, but shall we keep our fingers crossed for the future? And as for an area? Anywhere. Seriously, I’m so in love with the state.

What are some of your favorite bands to listen to while designing?

Alex: First and foremost, Dessa. I mentioned the inspiration deal already, but she’s just an awesome artist regardless. Otherwise, Portishead, Bjork, Cat Power, Death Cab for Cutie, P.O.S, Bright Eyes, or mostly my collection of film soundtracks and scores. Anything that I can listen but not have to put all of my attention into really. Oh, and of course, the Glee Cast station on Pandora when I need something peppy and exciting. ;3

A zombie, pirate, politician, and ninja have all made it to the Rock/Paper/Scissor final four. Who are you rooting for and who do you hope they beat to win the championship?

Alex: The zombie, of course. And it’d have to beat out the ninja, seeing as the politician clearly wouldn’t make it to the final round.. and, well, I just don’t like pirates sometimes.

Do you have any preferred styles of design or art?

Alex: Absolutely. Anything with some vector-y goodness in it and I’m more than sold. Also, anything that’s got a vintage feel, or even something that’s “totally adorable” and appeals more so to children will always catch my eye. So think vintage Disney (especially Disneyland attraction ads and signs) and maybe even my favorite collectables, Golden Books. I go crazy for these.

Although you are still very young in your career, can you recall any client/customer moments that made you go D: ?

Alex: When I was interning at a printing company, I was a customer service rep for mostly donation jobs. (why is it that anyone getting anything for free will always be disgustingly demanding, finicky, and on the occasion, insane?) I’ve had a two hour+ phone call proofreading a brochure (there were only three paragraphs!). I’ve hand delivered pieces because a client told me he’d pick up the final product, then changed his mind. My favorite D: moment though, at my first job developing pictures, is when a customer accused me of ruining her negatives and making them.. blurry?

If photoshop features or method tricks could report people for overuse and abuse, which one(s) would be able to report you?

Alex: How about.. undo? :p I don’t use Photoshop nearly as much as I should, but if we were talking about Illustrator.. Well, probably anything related to the pen tool. And live trace/live paint. And undo.

Is there anything about being a student that you’ll immediately miss? *cough* adobe product discounts *cough cough*

Alex: Adobe product discounts! I absolutely love being a student. I like learning, assignments, essays (love these actually) and lectures, I already know I’ll miss all of that. But most of all, having a set schedule and things to do daily.. even if I’m stuck on campus till 5:30 am writing XSLT for the first time, working on research papers, or illustrating an eBook.

Are there any areas where you wish your degree program(s) focused more on? less on?

Alex: I could write a novel for this answer unfortunately. My degree was brand new, ever changing and confusing. Professors were never able to give us a definition of New Media Publishing, saying it was “too new, there’s always something changing!” (You know, aka “we have no idea.”) I wish my program offered more than two beginner design classes and one basic business class, employed professors who told us more than “I don’t know what you can do with your degree to be honest,” and was simply more organized in general. Oh, and I really wish we didn’t have to literally beg professors to get into any interesting or worthwhile classes outside of our program.

If you were a design super hero, who would you be and what would be your super power?

Alex: I’d have to be Vector Girl! Using mathematical formulas and specifications of geometric elements to fight crime (ha ha!) with my paths and lines..gun. And looking all around spiffy and clean and wonderful. Gonna need a sidekick though, anyone down to be Illustrator Boy? ;D

Any final thoughts?

Alex: Thanks soso much for having me do this interview! Beats all of those job interviews that seem to be missing in action any day of the week.

And seriously, Illustrator Boy, whatchu think?!

The absolute greatest thing that all of you readers, who have been in the industry for awhile already, could do for Alex is to give her any advice you have for someone in her position. Think back to when you were in Alex’s position, what advice would you have loved to get from your peers? What do you wish you knew then that you know now? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below and I will make sure Alex reads it all. Follow her on twitter at her twitter profile cooxie (Twitter).

With the following code, <?php function twitter_shortcode( $atts, $content = null ) { return '<a href="http://twitter.com/' . $content . '" title="' . $content . '\'s Twitter Profile">' . $content . '</a>'; } add_shortcode('twitter', 'twitter_shortcode'); ?> I can wrap a username in [twitter] [/twitter] and have it output the full link, like this (Twitter)

Edit

Like so: (Identica)