It All Started With A T-Shirt

"Year Zero" - the new Nine Inch Nails disc (released today) is in danger of becoming only a peripheral of a much larger work of art. Think of the music as a soundtrack to a continually evolving tale told through a huge web of media sources. This is the big bang of liner notes. Other musicians have taken this approach, but I'm certain nobody's ever come close to this sort of complexity.

My prayers are with the nerds who'll be giving up huge chunks of their lives, following each and every breadcrumb Reznor's scattered. The whole project can be monitored here.

*Update: I've been listening to it for a few days. It's good. Very good, in fact.

That Smell

Another article on one of my favourite subjects - music packaging. More specifically, what place do graphics hold in today's (and the future's) increasingly non-physical world of music distribution?

The article will explain my odd post title.

A Contest

Recognize this building? Have a PayPal account? Tell me how this structure relates to the music industry and win $10.00

** OK - contest officially over. No winner. Mystery solved below.



Via Wikipedia:
Mapledurham Watermill is a historic watermill on the River Thames at the village of Mapledurham in Oxfordshire, England. The mill is driven by the head of water created by Mapledurham Lock and Weir and is preserved in an operational state.

The mill building is also the backdrop in the image on the cover of Black Sabbath's eponymous album.

John Belushi

John Belushi died 25 years ago today. Still missed.

From Above

Awesome collection of aerial photography. Enjoy.

Expressive Branding

Bryant Simon, professor of history at Temple University, has been studying Starbucks - here's his talk on the subject from the 2006 Taste3 conference.

Ron Howard Slated to Ruin "Cache"

Variety is reporting Ron Howard will direct a remake of the excellent French film, "Cache." Apparently, it will be "less intellectual and socially relevant and more amped up in terms of suspense." Of course.

XXX

Martin Scorcese loaded "The Departed" with X's. Several scenes use an X as a foreshadowing symbol. Here's the story with a bunch of screenshots.

Barney Bubbles

Here's a nice overview of Barney Bubbles' design career within the music industry. Interesting to see how he very effectively moved from the spacey world of Hawkwind to Elvis Costello and Stiff Records.

Here's to Ben

I'm not much of a metal fan, but I am a fan of good writing. This NY Times review of a recent Slayer show is nicely done. The writer is Ben Ratliff.