With the looming economic crisis at hand, it seems the music industry has been pushing through. It seems like everyone has put out a record in the first 3 months of 2009. The ones who haven't will probably soon put one out. I wanted to take some time to give you my picks for the top four albums so far of 2009.

1. It's a Blitz—Yeah Yeah Yeahs
This is an album I just hear for the first time a few days ago and I have to say I was mesmerized. I've been waiting for this album for the past 2 years and it did not disappoint. This was a bit of a softer side of the YYYs in comparison to Fever to Tell, but with it's mix of electronic beats, haunting melodic tones, and the siren song that this Karen O, this album will not disappoint.

2. Face Control—Handsome Furs
THis was originally going to be my number one and I went back and forth for a while on which would take the no. 1 position because I felt this album was another hauntingly beautiful mix of amazing vocals, awesome lyrics, and amazing electro beats just like YYYs. I've been listening to this album on repeat!!

3. Hospice—The Antlers
So I'm new to The Antlers, and I'm really glad I stumbled upon this album. It's got the right mix of hard and soft with haunting instrumental songs leading into harder lyrical masterpieces. Very nice.

4. The Hazards of Love—The Decemberists
I was so SHOCK to hear this album. I felt this album was a complete 180 from The Crane Wife and all other albums The Decemberists' albums before. It's hard rock tones and theatrical lyrics shocked me out of thinking The Decemberists were a folksy historic band. Still with they're amazing lyrics and historically references, it's obviously more of what you would expect but with a darker harsher side.

Obviously there have been many more amazing bands releasing great work this year. Some other notable albums: Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective, Tight Knit by Vetiver, Grr... by Bishop Allen, Hold Time by M. Ward, and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone will soon release Vs. Children which I'm looking forward to greatly. I would have it already if I had gone to their show Monday but I was too tired. :(

Kid's Village is a new program that the City of Houston has started up to promote proper eating habits, exercise and general well-balanced living. The picture above is the logo I created for them. I'm not in love with it but I think it turned out pretty good and it's nice the do something for the City of Houston especially for a great program like this one. I hope this program proves to be a success.

Anyone who knows me isn't surprised at all that I'm blogging about Prada. What? A gay guy who likes fashion? Imagine that. Pretty much everything Prada makes clothing-wise is absolutely beautiful with their simple silhouettes and emphasis on details. Beyond that fact, they also have been very smart to align themselves with some very talented Graphic Designers that makes amazingly beautiful designs. I thought last year's lookbook was absolutely amazing, but I feel that this year's (combined with what I consider a more beautiful collection) blew last year's out of the water. I feel like this one really feels like Prada—classic and simple with small touches that make it SUPER unique. I was stunned...to this very moment I still keep going back into the file. Check it out here.

So one looooong night later, the painting is done. I'm calling it Conception, and while I still wish I had more time to clean it up, I still think it came out pretty well. It's very pop-art-ish. Hard painting to finish up. I realized in painting this that my skillz are getting rusty and that I need to paint more. I remember when half my design work had an element of painting in it but now I got too clean and Suisse grid and stuff. Oh well. I'll get back to my roots someday.

I just downloaded an app foe my phone that should allow me to blog if this works. If this works properly then I could blog anytime and would make accessing my blog much much easier.

The photo is a painting I'm working on right now. I'm waiting for this layer to dry.


UPDATE: The app works pretty good. The only thing I don't like is the photos default to medium or small size and I want them the be bigger...

So, I'm not sure how I exactly stumbled upon Chris Garneau, but I'm glad I did. I have practically fallen in love with him. His voice is amazing and so is his writings. I've been listening to his cover of Elliot Smith's Between the Bar for weeks now over and over again. I've been so mesmerized by him.

Below is a link to some live performances that prove to be quite amazing...I was very happy when I found this. Check it out fo' sho.

Chris Garneau:They Shoot Music—Don't They

P.S. This sounds a lot like the Australian indie gay magazine They Shoot Homos, Don't They?

Well, looking at my archive, I haven't posted in over a year. I've been through a lot this past year, and I don't really want to get into detail, but now I'm trying to refocus and start fresh free of the distractions that I had. I've been doing some pretty awesome things this year so far and I'm excited about the stuff coming up as well. I'm going to try and post at least several times a week and also open this blog up to be much more than just a place to display my work. I want to show off a variety of amazing design and culture related posts with maybe a sprinkling of my work here and there.

At this very moment I'm painting a painting for a charity event and watching the Royal Tenenbaums, which is one of my favorite movies. I love everything Wes Anderson does. I have to watch Indie/Foreign films when I'm painting to keep me in the right state of mind. I'm not sure what's next after this. Maybe something foreign? I was also thinking about The Virgin Suicides today. We'll see. I have a lot of things to do today.

oh btw, the picture is of me putting up a gallery installation made out of paper.