Dope + Accurate as Hell Bitchery on the Plight of Us Freelance Starving Graphic Orchestrators

Random Aesthetic Loveliness of the Day: Technicolor Loveliness from... Kobe? Kyoto? Uncertain But It's Resplendent

Random Aesthetic Loveliness of the Day: Type by Jeff Rogers for How + Metropolis

A rather sweet type exercise by Jeff Rogers for Metropolis (along with a mightily dope gig poster) that makes me jealous once again that I am not a typographer, but thankfully I have lovely/spot-on sense in choosing fonts + orchestrating their interplay. Thank goodness for little favors! Still, jealous or not, I get a little giddy inspiration from typographers this brilliant!

Far from Random Aesthetic Loveliness Redux: Gilles P.'s Havana Cultura

Exquisite footage, sounds like a mightily lovely project, + is it just me or Gilles (ALWAYS my sonic god of the world, the reason I became a DJ 15 years ago) starting to once again look slightly adorable as he did when I first saw him spin @ a Galliano/Brand New Heavies showcase @ the Village Gate 16 years ago? A night that changed my life + gave me a lifelong love for Gilles! Thanks Gigi Lau for the link!!! xxoo, B.

Random Aesthetic Loveliness of the Day: Charley Harper for the Kids

Loveliness from the immortal Charley Harper via Canadian House + Home by way of Poppytalk. Ostensibly for the "kids' rooms," I say fuck that, I want them for my room!!! Charley's work for me is tantamount to the visual equivalent of Swing Out Sister or Saint Etienne: pure unbridled giddy Technicolor bliss! If I could own a print of every piece he ever created I'd be a mightily happy boy (at least for a little while)... xo, B.

Swing Out Loveliness Redux: HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORINNE!!!!!!

More Sonic Loveliness for the Morning: The Brilliant Nicola Conte + the Beautiful José James

Sonic Sublimity for the Morning: Marlena Shaw c. NOW

After seeing this clip I'm pining to be back in NYC to see the brilliant Marlena Shaw @ Dizzy's tonight, particularly since I could then go on to see Chico Hamilton @ Le Poisson Rouge. As if I wasn't pining enough to be in the city next weekend to see the goddess Marva Whitney. Yes, I'm theoretically seeing my husbands, the beautiful ones—that'd be KINKY for those of you who've just met me—but after hearing the crushing news of Roc Raida's passing, seeing Marlena + Chico feels more than a little apt. As always, I'll be looking to Swing Out Sister + Saint Etienne to get me through another rough patch, with a dose of dancing till I break a hip under the sublimity that is Kinky's Gilberto... Trying to stay strong here, or some such. x, B.

Random Aesthetic Loveliness of the Day: Pure Genius (Frequency Response) + 2 Lovely Fukutomi Chasers

Far from Random Aesthetic Loveliness Coupled with an Essential Message

Clearly I love the immediacy of my technology, but nothing can erase the fact that print will always come first and foremost, and needs to be cherished. From a design perspective, there is NOTHING more beautiful than the tactile sensation of holding something luxurious and opulent in your hands—and that doesn't just apply to precious art book projects: I'm still despondent that Straight No Chaser, Playgirl, + Latin Inches are all strictly digital now!!! (And just a note—calling it an environmental coup is bullshit, there are plenty of recycled paper + eco-friendly inks options widely—+ cheaply—available now (a fact that I do love)!) CAN I GET AN AMEN??!!??!!??

via http://blog.howdesign.com/2009/09/16/LongLivePrint.aspx.

Perennial Loveliness for Those of Us Up Too Early...

Far from Random Aesthetic Loveliness Redux: New Epic Exquisiteness from the Ever-Brilliant Draco Rosa

Hello all,

Just a quick note on a day that begs for distraction—to offer one of the most epically transcendent, immaculately burnished, and flawlessly sublime sort, from a perennially lovely man who also happens to be a sonic GENIUS: Robi Draco Rosa. "Paraiso Prometido" is an epic, sun-drenched Technicolor vista that indefatigably demands to be soaked in... a turbinado, mint and tropical-sake infused kaleidoscope of Valaparaiso... San Juan... Veracruz... Punta del Mar... and Fortaleza, all luxuriously muddled into the most beautiful brew I've doused myself in in YEARS!!! Take a soak, + enjoy the scent, the vistas, + the pure f**king brilliantly potent sonic loveliness! xxoo, B.

Sonic Sublimity for the Morning: The Noisettes Cover the Killers

London Loveliness: Vibe Bar Hosts Tru Thoughts' 10th Anniversary

My first of today's inevitable 862 reminders that everything lovely happens in locales that aren't mine... A kaleidoscopically beautiful montage in rapturous Technicolor of Tru Thoughts' 10th anniversary party @ Vibe Bar in London, with Alice Russell, TM Juke, Nostalgia 77 + more. Check the godly lovely + slightly Boricua-looking new boy serving as Alice's guitarist starting @ 2:16 in. The first of today's inevitable 4,484 times today that I'll say I'm in love... xxoo, B.

Far from Random Aesthetic Loveliness Redux: The Ever-Radiantly Beautiful Nickodemus @ Afro-Funké

How is it that the pure transcendent beauty that is Nickodemus just keeps getting lovelier/more adorable with age? We all knew—or should've known—long ago that he's a sonic genius/capable of all manner of hella brilliance (musical + otherwise), but this radiantly filmed + edited reel from Nick's 7.09 guest @ the also-indefatigably-wise Jeremy Sole's Afro Funké, is a shimmeringly lovely testament. This spot proves without a doubt that Afro Funké is stronger than ever @ Zanzibar, although I only know this via word of mouth, since getting to Santa Monica was an impossibility even when I was still located in Los Feliz—let alone stranded in Long Beach. But I digress—I just wanted to spread this sun-drenched love, + always want to share the boundless charm + loveliness of Nickodemus. It might be frowned on in some circles that I've been in love with him since the early Giant Step days (When did I first meet him/hear him spin? '93? Dunno...), but if loving him is wrong... you know the rest! Soak in this Technicolor splendor, aesthetic + sonic... Dig! xo, B.