Christmas Tombola 004: After Life by Pictish Trail

This December, I’m sharing 31 things that I like. This is number 04.

While I’m on the subject, Johnny’s new video for “After Life” is an absolute banger and gets a spot in my Christmas Tombola (which I got 3 days into before neglecting).

The 3rd single from his phenomenal Future Echoes album (seriously, buy it, it’s the best thing he’s ever done), “After Life” was recently playlisted by BBC 6 Music and it comes on fairly regularly while I’m working. Hearing your pals on the radio is cool as hell. That bass, man.

For the video, Hankin Films went appropriately nuts. Johnny can be silly on-camera in a really unselfconscious way that’s fun to watch. He reminds me of Adam Buxton in that respect. Loads of great wee moments - finger-guns in time to the handclaps at 1:54 is my fav bit.

Christmas Tombola 002: Jerry Hsu

This December, I’m sharing 31 things that I like. This is number 02.

Jerry Hsu is probably my favourite skateboarder. This October, he had a part in Emerica's Made Chapter Two, his first since 2010 and kinda-sorta his first full part since 2006's Bag of Suck (he's been battling injuries and, as a result, the 2010 clips all favoured his irregular foot). It's good to see him back.

While the actual part is too new to share, these "b-sides" (alternative attempts / different angles / raw footage etc.) are just as good. I slacked off my board pretty badly in 2016 but, come the good weather, I'm up for a schralp.

Christmas Tombola 001: Smell the Audi

This December, I’m sharing 31 things that I like. This is number 01.

Glasgow's MC Almond Milk (aka my pal Jamie, aka James Scott) & Jay Rolex (aka Jamie's pal Jay who I've met a couple of times and is very nice) released their first album, Smell the Audi, a couple of weeks ago and it's a belter. Listen to / buy it.

I first saw Jamie (aka James Scott / MC Almond Milk) supporting his big brother, Jonnie Common, in 2011 whilst performing as The Japanese War Effort (aka Martin Moog), a side project alongside his day-job as one half of Conquering Animal Sound. Like Jonnie, Jamie (aka James / MC Almond Milk / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound) has a gift for converting spectators into die-hard fans. Catch him live if you get the chance.

More recently, the Jonnie and Jamie (aka James / MC Almond Milk / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound) collab, CARBS, let Jamie (aka James / MC Almond Milk / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound / one half of CARBS) stretch his MC-ing legs. Their album, Joyous Material Failure, was one of 2015’s goodies. With Smell the Audi, Jamie (aka James / MC Almond Milk / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound / one half of CARBS) is off to MC-Donalds, declaring himself Scotland’s Best Rapper*.

Glaswegian hip-hop is a funny one, in that it’s not funny. The scene's proclivity to social commentary is great but has an earnestness that I can’t really stomach. Alex and I once caught a performance by an act so toe-curling that we’re still not over it.

Scotland ya bass

None of that from MC Almond Milk (aka James / Jamie / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound / one half of CARBS) and Jay Rolex, though. The boys understand how not to be a pure embarrassment and Smell the Audi is one of the best albums of the year.

A music video for “Studz Up” is imminent. I’ll share that too. How great is that album teaser at the top of the page? Both directed by Ciaran Lyons (who’s also nice).

* also Scotland’s Worst Rapper

Favs! 001

I've been considering making big lists of things for ages - my favourite illustrators, my favourite podcasts, my favourite films etc. The idea got outta control and I never got round to starting.

So instead, here's Favs. Small, semi-regular lists of things I like on a given day.

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1. Bad Machinery: The Case of the Missing Piece

View fullsize

I've only recently discovered Bad Machinery, John Allison's follow up to Scary Go Round (which I never read, despite meaning to for the entirety of its 7-year run) and it's quickly become a must-read part of my routine.

I started sometime last year with The Case of the Missing Piece *, which is still ongoing. The characters have lovely, distinct voices (literally in the case of Claire's adorbs lisp) and, once you're hooked, the interweaving storylines are proper exciting - romance! crime! fights! It's like Grange Hill but good.

2. OXO Good Grips Magnetic Can Opener With Lid Catch

Last Monday I got so frustrated with our crappy tin opener that I straight-up Googled 'what's the best tin opener in the world?'. According to The Sweethome, it's the OXO Good Grips Magnetic Can Opener With Lid Catch (really it's this Zwilling J.A Henckels number, but I wasn't ready to pay £35 for a tin opener).

Anyway, the OXO is a beast and opening a tin of tuna without having to -snip- -snip- -snip- around the lid is the best thing in the whole wide world. £14 on Amazon.

3. 30 Days of Animation by Ashleigh Green

I think I first found Asleigh Green's work on Ello (which I haven't used in about a year). Her deceptively simple illustrations and animations are really satisfying. They, like, click.

Throughout January, Ashleigh posted an animation every day on Instagram. The above video collects them together and adds a soundtrack. Super nice.

4. Sammy Bethune’s Cab Tricks

A video posted by Andy White (@andygsswhite) on Nov 6, 2015 at 3:28pm PST

Sammy Bethune is a skateboarder from Glasgow. I don't know him, although I'm sure I've seen him skating Kelvingrove on some of my skate dates.

Clips of Sammy recently blew up. His approach to cab tricks - sort of a quickly whipped 180 whilst popping - is crazy. I've never seen anyone do them like that before. Fakie 540s on lock!

5. Bit Socket Podcast: Jimmy Shand & his Video Game Band

Also from Glasgow, one of my favourite podcasts: Bit Socket. Bit Socket is about computer games - it's good natured, weird and funny.

The hosts, Scott and Joe, regularly make quizzes for one another. They reached peak-quz on episode 19 where Scott attempted singing game soundtracks in the style of Auchtermuchty's favourite son, Jimmy Shand. The MGS3 cover'll be rattling round your skull on your death bed. Sn'keeta.

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More Favs coming soon. Or maybe not!

* (a note to new Bad Machinery readers - John occasionally drops unrelated strips into the timeline. These come at weekends and holidays and can be confusing if you don't know what's going on)

Beth Dawson - Getaway

Getaway, a comic by friend Beth was shortlisted for the Cape Observer Comica Graphic Short Story Prize 2015. She didn't win (screw those guys) but that's by-the-by, it's a beautiful piece of work. Make sure you read to the end*.

A high-res PDF version is available on Beth's site. Share it around if you can, it deserves a wide audience.

Beth's other work is equally amazing - comics, illustration, animation and jewellery. Follow her on Twitter (@bethmadethis) and on Facebook (Bethmadethis). You can also read an interview with her (by me) from last November when she came runner-up in the COCGSSP 2014 with her comic After Life.

* Sorry for going all clickbaity, but you'll see what I mean.

Carbs

Carbs, AKA Jonnie Common and Jamie Scott, released their debut album Joyous Material Failure yesterday. It comes in a pizza box and it's very good. Here's a review to prove it.

Going by other articles, I'm now meant to say something about Scottish hip-hop and how crazy a prospect that might (or might not) be but och, you're a smart cookie. I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself. The video for Life Drawing is a good starter:

The official album launch is tonight (Saturday 12th September) at the Glad Cafe in Shawlands. I wholeheartedly recommend you come along. J&J are fantastic live and the Glad is a brilliant venue. Don't be scared of the Southside. It's, what, 5 minutes on the train from Central? C'mon.

Support comes from PHOENE and Sham Gate who are new to me. DJ Miaoux Miaoux is playing tunes too. He's old to me. Christ, he's old.

If this appeals, you should follow @carbsinjection on Twitter, check out the Save As Collective and commit to coming to the gig tonight on the Facebook event page. Here's Jonnie's new video for Stick a Flake in Me (I’m Done) as a prize for getting to the end.

Oh, and here's a couple of big versions of my drawing: Jonnie on top / Jamie on top.

Reconcilable Differences Podcast

Reconcilable Differences is a new Relay.fm podcast hosted by John Siracusa and Merlin Mann. It launched yesterday. I was so excited that I drew a picture.

John Siracusa, who I've drawn before, is a longtime favourite podcaster of mine. I first heard him on Hypercritical and have followed him through Neutral to ATP. He's a picky guy (by picky, I mean two whole episodes on video game controllers and a 3 hour conversation about Goodfellas picky) who talks a lot of sense.

Merlin Mann's Back to Work was incredibly helpful to me when I had a job I really hated. I don't think I'd have had the confidence to go full-time as an illustrator without listening to episodes like Failing with Style on my miserable morning cycle to the office. His other podcasts, You Look Nice Today and Roderick on the Line are also great.

John and Merlin have occasionally talked about things like Totoro and Toy Story over on the incomparable, um, The Incomparable podcast, but having them together on the regs is gonna be a treat. Cheers to the folks at Relay for making it happen (co-founders Myke and Stephen seem like the nicest dudes in the world. I'm stoked for them).

Reconcilable Differences is pencilled in for 10 episodes over the summer and episode 1, We All Ruined It Together is a brilliant start. I'm already hoping that they'll keep going longer. Give it a listen.

ps. There's a big version of the artwork over here.

Aphex Twin - (un)Selected Ambient Works

Since releasing Syro in September, Richard D. James can't stop battering out music.

First there was the Syrobonkers interview (gear talk, lies and conspiracy theories interspersed with tons of unreleased music that vanished after a few days), then the Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt. 2 E.P. and now a cavalcade of new (old) tracks on an anonymous SoundCloud page.

In the last 24 hours, user48736353001 has uploaded 81 tracks that seem to be from Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works / I Care Because You Do / Richard D. James Album era (my fav). Wait, now there's 83. Considering RDJ came out in '96, there might be another 19 years worth of stuff to come.

I'm not even an Aphex Twin superfan but dang, I'm going to grab what I can before he inevitably deletes it all. It's kinda daunting (and it might not even be him, though he did accidentally upload something from 26 Remixes for Cash then commented 'oh yeah forgot i released that one'), but what I've heard so far sounds great.

If you don't know much of Aphex Twin beyond Windowlicker, I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend you try giving Selected Ambient Works 85-92 a go (that link'll let you listen to the whole thing on YouTube). It's his first album, it's beautiful and it's a great place to start - one of the few no-brainers when I try to list my top 10 albums. Xtal, the opening track still gives me butterflies and I must've heard it a thousand times.

Oh, 84 now.

Ex Machina

On a spur-of-the-moment cinema trip, Alex and I saw Ex Machina on its opening night. I knew nothing about it beyond hearing a short radio interview with Domhnall Gleeson that made me curious enough to suggest we try it (plus it was starting in, like, 2 minutes). I loved it. You should watch it.

The plot follows a young programmer at Blue Book (a Google-like search engine) as he tests a revolutionary new robotic A.I. after winning a competition to visit with the company's CEO. Everything goes perfectly.

Ex Machina reminded me of Moon - both are small, satisfying character-based sci-fi films with twists and turns. Both are very good. The tech speculations are well illustrated, regardless of plausibility. It's easy to imagine how the near future could be, um, unimaginable thanks to one or two developments. Remember how the Tamagotchi changed everything?

Under The Skin and Her also make perfect boxed-set companions, though even after a single watch I reckon I prefer Ex Machina. It's not so bleak as the former and it's not trying as hard as the latter to have cool trousers.

Anyway, if you're in the UK, go see it now. Give it love. It'd be great if Alex Garland got to direct more films. If you're in the US, you gotta wait until the 10th of April.

Oh, and don't watch the trailer if you possibly can. It doesn't spoil much but, like with lots of things, it's better to know nothing.

Beth Dawson - After Life

Read full comic »

My friend Beth came joint runner up in this year's Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story prize with her comic After Life. It's an amazing piece of work and it shoulda won.

Beth makes stuff - Illustration, animation, sculpture and jewellery. We've know each other since old times and, from the get-go, her projects have always been personal and full of imagination.

After Life is no exception. A quiet, melancholic short story that perfectly captures the weird ubiquitousness of loss. There's always comfort in seeing these feelings that everyone knows, or will know, on the page (or said out loud).

I've uploaded a nice big version of After Life to accompany this post. Once Beth gets her finger out and puts it on her own site, I'll point my links there. You can also read The Observer's piece on the competition which features short interviews with the winners and links to their entries.

Because I know Beth, I can ask her stupid questions. Here follows a short interview.

Interview With Beth Dawson

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Hello. Well done.

Thanks David! I am chuffed.

Also hello.

Do you hate Alexis Deacon for beating you?

Hahaha, cheers. I don't hate anyone! Hate is so ugly and never good for you or useful.

No I feel pretty good about being beaten by a guy with such a good reputation in the field. Until I got told I had won I wasn't even sure if my story was any good so I didn't have any massive expectations. It's cool to think that if Alexis hadn't bothered entering I coulda been joint first. I wouldn't mind splitting a grand with someone. But no.. I love Alexis' work, I spent some time today getting to know what he does and has done and I think he has a really interesting way of thinking and tells a good story. His drawings are really beautiful too. Hey we both studied at the University of Brighton too (ten years apart) which makes me collectively proud of the both of us despite the fact I've never met him.

A panel from The River by Alexis Deacon

As far as I know, you've never drawn comics before After Life, is that right?

I've not drawn any comics I'd be happy to show people before this one, nope. I have been thinking about this one for a long time though.. About 3 years or more since I wrote it and started to draw ideas for it.

I think though that once you reach a certain level of crafting skills and creative thinking you can transfer some skills and figure things out a lot more quickly. I also made a lot of animations when I was studying and the story boarding process for this is quite similar. I've had a few people say they can imagine my comic animated which is great to hear because I really wanted there to be a bit of "imaginative space" for the reader to bring the story to life.

Have you considered animating it?

Considered yes. Having done a bit of animation though I know how much work it would be. Maybe if someone wanted to take it on I’d be happy to work with them. I’ve also considered putting it online as a bit of an interactive comic but it may be some time before I get a chance to do anything like that. I think it could look really beautiful animated though and I’d like to see how it worked with music.

Do you read comics?

I do like to read comics.. I fell in love with the medium after being given a copy of Black Hole by Charles Burns "Black Hole on Wikipedia"). Such a satisfying reading experience, I remember being so in awe of how that book was constructed and how it affected me. I love that with a book you can take your time to read and study certain parts and you can pick them up and put them down. Though it's often a linear reading experience you're not bound by the time constraints and keeping up with the story like you might be with a film and there's an economy to the imagery and a special way of looking that you can get from a graphic story. It's a great medium. I especially like the meatier books that tackle big subjects. My comic strip is really about capturing a very physical experience and feeling, it's very personal and I think the format makes it a comfortable space to explore that kind of subject matter in your own time.

Black Hole by Charles Burns / Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs / Dinner at Eight by Kristyna Baczynski

I could reel off a bunch of comic artists that I love but they are pretty much the same list as what I've read other people referencing (Ware, Spiegelman, Satrapi) I was aware that the few I picked for my Observer interview might've been a bit obvious too but I think that Raymond Briggs story was really formative and Audrey Niffenegger.. Well I just love that she has done both graphic stories and novels too. I also love Graham Rawle's stories and how he doesn't draw but works with ephemera. I find it really interesting how with his work the materials he uses really flavour the language of his books so much.

Also some contemporary illustrators who I think make stunning work and deserve to have praise heaped upon them: Lizzy Stewart, Kristyna Baczynski and Kaye Blegvad.

I think you should recommend some other people who do comics too.. Just a friendly plug for the community.

OK, 3 quickies: 1, Friends of the blog, Carolyn Alexander and Coll Hamilton put out a brilliant collaborative comic called Amber and Chelsea (pt.2 out at Thought Bubble next week). 2, I recently found that The Hand of Gold by Jordan Crane was online - it's a brilliant wee short story that I've loved for years. 3, If you give it time, Achewood by Chris Onstad is the funniest comic ever written.

Amber & Chelsea by Carolyn Alexander and Coll Hamilton / The Hand of Gold by Jordan Crane / Achewood by Chris Onstad

Can you talk a little about the process of drawing the comic? Does it exist as an original or as separate parts?

Well the process was quite lengthy. I started out with just the words, highlighting bits of text I thought were the best to turn into key panels and making notes about the certain scenes and locations I wanted to include. I then started to draw the panels that I could imagine most clearly. I think the initial image I drew was the couple in bed together. When I first made my notes I’d considered having dual narrators, so I drew the scenes from both the girl and boy’s perspective but visually this narrative was a bit muddled so I chose to draw it instead from just the girl’s perspective with the shift at the end. It took me a bit of time to warm into how to go about constructing the scenes and initially I think I was trying to draw too much detail.

After Life work-in-progress

The first issue I had was figuring out a way to convey a sense of sadness throughout the whole comic, it would have been incredibly repetitive to draw just the girl’s glum face over and over, so I had to find more ways of expressing her feelings or a sense of her vulnerability. I knew I didn’t want to draw her crying so I began to focus on her hands and once I’d got into this I found it a lot easier. I drew a lot of the panels directly onto either layout paper or brown paper and there were lots of goes of figuring out how much of the story I should put on each page and how I should divide it up. Each page was then drawn on white using a very fine felt tip type marker, scanned in and cleaned up. I then laser printed it in just black and orange onto brown kraft paper and coloured the white layer by hand with a posca pen. So there is an original of sorts; a print with a hand coloured white layer and this is what’s going to be on display in the exhibition along with the winner, other runner up and the 5 shortlisted entries at Central St Martins.

After Life work-in-progress

The things you make, from illustrations to jewellery to sculptures often feel like they're little pieces of bigger stories. Looking back, can you spot any themes or interesting overlaps between the projects you've worked on?

Yeah absolutely I think I've been gnawing at the same bone for years really.. It all skirts around similar ideas and I think that was why I wanted to do the comic because I consider myself an illustrator but most of my output is object based. The way I put my comic together is the same way I think about my sculpture or jewellery.. It's all about capturing something or communicating quite oblique or nuanced ideas. Whichever way I work or the medium I use ...it all boils down to the same thing, they are all just props or triggers for the notions and feelings many of us have swimming around our heads. Childhood, memory, nostalgia blah blah etc blah.

Three Little Mementos by Beth Dawson

Yeah my work is definitely nodding to a kind of hyper textual or meta fictive type experience. Going back to the idea of the objects I create being quite "prop-like" what I'm interested in making are pieces of work that give just enough of a sense of a story or character or moment to the audience for them to take it in a direction that works best and allows them to feel more like it's their story not mine. With a book there's a start and a finish too , a definite articulated experience between the first page and the last but with an object.. Well it's interactive and can be explored from many angles within different times and contexts. So really now I know I can do comics, it's a natural progression to see how the two worlds might collide. I’ve been considering the idea of making comics that relate to the object work I do since I was last studying. I’d like to give some of the pieces I make a backstory and context - like personal myths or folklore.

Marble necklaces by Beth Dawson

There’s a little bit of this in the story I made for the competition with the drawings of the marble. I’m keen to continue with this.. I think some people might consider this 'merchandising' but perhaps that's just the term we've come to consider these things under. In reality, the notion of a souvenir or a real object that is linked to a pertinent experience or story is actually quite a deeply entrenched and emotive part of how we exist and how we navigate our lives and material culture.. It could just be tat or it could be a jumping off point for many other stories and shared experiences, I guess that's up to the viewer.

Tell a story in 10 emoji or less

👫 💀 💔 👖 😩 😫 🌊 🐱 ✨ 👌 👎

That's 11 ..I'm giving myself a 10% word allowance .. That's After Life right there in emoji. If I'd have known it was that simple I would have downloaded them to my keyboard sooner and saved myself a lot of effort.

What's next?

Comics wise, I’m working on a story with my sister which is again about relationships but focussed on emotional manipulation and the darker side of a loving relationship. I’d like to do a funny comic in-between though (I've got a few sketched ideas for a bit of a coming of age anthology).. Something just to lighten things up a bit. I’m a pretty goofy and chipper person in real life.

Cool. Thanks for answering my questions.

Thanks! Um, bye.

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You can find Beth around the web:

bethmadethis.co.uk
@bethmadethis
Facebook.com/bethmadethis
Instagram.com/bethmadethis

and with Christmas coming up, Beth's shop is a good place to buy (or be bought) some nice stuff.

Daxflame

Daxflame, the YouTube sensation, resurfaced yesterday after years of inactivity with a link to Brushing Kevin's Hair, an animation by Augenblick Studios that tells the tale of Dax getting into trouble at school. I really enjoyed it.

If you don't know Dax's work, it's, um, complicated.

Trauma Queen: "You've Seen Some Things..."

Trauma Queen:

Falling into a sofa
With a numb thump.
A grand mother says to me.
“You’ve seen some terrible things, haven’t you?”
I nod at my shoes.  
“It’s different when you love them, isn’t it?”

A consistently brilliant blog written by an Edinburgh paramedic. Sometimes funny. Sometimes heartbreaking.

Hypercritical Ends

One of my very favourite podcasts, Hypercritical, hosted by John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin on the 5by5 network is due to end in a few weeks time when it reaches episode 100. On hearing the news, I felt motivated to draw a little illustration of J-Sir climbing a mountain*. To infinity and beyond, John. To infinity and beyond.

Hypercritical is a tech podcast of sorts. Each week, everything from Apple to Pixar to toaster ovens is tackled (and often torn apart) by Siracusa in his particularly, um, hypercritical manner while Dan gently steers the ship. Their insights are consistently interesting, surprising and funny, even when I have absolutely no idea what they're talking about (both hosts have backgrounds in development, I most definitely don't).

It's nerdy and no mistake, but that's not a bad thing. Clever people talking with enthusiasm (and going into very specific specifics) on topics that they really care about is something I have a lot of time for, even if I'm too dumb to keep up. When a topic does come along that I know something about, it's the best. The best, Jerry, the best. The more detail the better.

If a 3 hour discussion about Goodfellas sounds like a very good thing and not a very bad thing, hello, take a seat, you're amongst friends.

Although I'll be sad to see Hypercritical go, the archive lives on. I recommend the aforementioned toaster oven and Pixar episodes as well as Siracusa's two part history of video game controllers (my personal favourite) as good starting points for non-technically minded folks. He also continues to semi-regularly co-host the very good geek culture podcast The Incomparable on 5by5. Elsewhere, Siracusa has a blog and famously reviews Apple's operating software for Ars Technica.

Big thanks to John & Dan for the many (many) hours of entertainment and good luck for the future.

* I gave Siracusa glasses - I think he wears glasses despite being glassesless in my, um, extensive Google Images research. Ach, even if it's inaccurate, it looks funnier.

Pete Drake - Forever

Pete Drake (and his talking steel guitar) - Forever. The loveliest thing I've seen / heard all week. Also the creepiest.

(via Worship Friendship)

Presstube Screensaver

Presstube.com is a site I've dipped into now-and-again since college. James Paterson, the man behind the scenes, is an astonishingly talented artist who brings drawings to life through digital animation and Flash. His layered, loose, illustrations move so fluidly and with such depth that they become completely hypnotic in an elephants-on-parade sorta way.

Back in 2003, James created a screensaver for Mac and PC. A clean white surface broken by morphing inky black lines and bursts of colour. A perfect showcase for his mixture of art and technology. I used it exclusively on my sturdy old iMac G5 for years. Then, when I finally upgraded my machine, the screensaver stopped working. Turns out that it couldn't run on newer, Intel-based Macs because it was coded for the older Power-PC processors (I guess?). Ever since, I've kept my eyes peeled for an update. All the alternatives I've tried haven't quite cut it (although thecolourclock is damn beautiful)... until now!

Yep, as of 3 months ago there is a new version of the ALib1 screensaver (never knew that was its name) up on Presstube. A lucky bit of browsing brought me there today and I've immediately whacked it back on my computer (above), where it belongs. Hopefully this will be good news to some of my readers too, as I still get the occasional email asking if I know where to find a working version - I guess because my previous post does pretty well on Google.

It seems Presstube has changed a little since my last visit. It's more of a blog now and it also features the work of a handful of James' friends alongside his drawings and animations. If you've never visited before, or if it's been a while - have a look.

Bonus: James has made 2 new screensavers in the meantime.