We're meeting people; nice people like you.

So I've seen a lot of things in the past few years that have been really important to me and they've all certainly influenced whatever it is I am now. I feel if I'm trying to be one of these artist-types, I should be able to communicate the significance of an experience, right? I'm so envious of people who can make something that just grabs me by the hand and shows me the world that its creator has seen. And there's always that perfect balance of ambiguity that lets you just plug yourself in.
So here's some sketchbook-extractions that try to accomplish that.

--------------------




Sxip Shirey - Sonic New York

Download: Removed by request
Tags: experimental, world, hip hop

Speaking of plugging yourself into a world, Sxip Shirey does it really well. New York City is clearly a place he feels really strongly about and he does a really good job romanticizing the day-to-day drudgery of a New Yorker, whether it be wasting away time in the park or falling asleep on the subway.
And sure, his lyrics are a little... blatant but there's some really creative instrumentals on this album. The man makes beat-box harmonica sound so right.

Edit: Album download has been removed per request. You can listen to the whole thing through Sxip's Bandcamp!

Paintin' the rock.

Odetta

Shel Silverstein

So as thick as the stigma for the caricaturist in the art world may be, I can't get around how much I like making cartoons. Especially, if they involve noodley limbs. Good God, I love noodley limbs.

Everything is great with me. I'm making lots of things and loving my friends.

(100 posts! Confetti!)

-----------------




Odetta - My Eyes Have Seen

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?txsln8exyf63tfa
Tags: blues, gospel, folk

Shel Silverstein - The Great Conch Train Robbery

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?lhm54xsp4phm8wg
Tags: country, folk, blues
(This is in m4a. Sorry!)

I figured I should share the inspiration for these two paintings. My Eyes Have Seen is powerful as hell and has a lot of intense, rushing tracks. Try and listen to Ox Driver Song and not imagine her riding a chariot and barreling through all of the trees in a forest. Oh, and the reigns are flapping wildly in the wind because she's wailing on guitar.
The Great Conch Train Robbery is an album of a lot of goofy country songs. It's kind of like if Randy Newman got really heartbroken and sang about it passively through lyrics about quaalude addictions.
I love it, but if you're looking for something a little more straight-folk, I hosted his earlier album Inside Folk Songs, a while back.

And you lost all your dreams...

My first crack at a digital painting. I can see there being future cracks.

A flier I designed for an event that already passed, so it's promotional power is pretty dry. There were sweet prints of it available, too! I mean, I think so. I didn't see them. But I heard they were sweet!

-----------------





o'death - Outside

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?oq48zxe3so3kpoh
Tags: freak folk, gothic, indie rock

It's o'death, so of course you should download it. Stuff got pretty different. So get ready for that.
(May I also add that the track "Don't Come Back" is like the most beautiful thing.)

And when you get blue...

April '11 Sound Demo from Alex Krokus on Vimeo.

This is my first sincere attempt at animation. It's a video demonstration of creating imagery and motion for sound. Over the past while, I've been scribbling a lot of words about the way we perceive the world and express ourselves through our different senses. Whether it be painting, singing, cooking or anything, we're trying to say something big that our words would fall short on. I believe that all forms of media are just boats sailing on the same mysterious ocean and I want to start trying to incorporate that concept into more of the things I do.

(Maybe one day I'll try to formalize my thoughts into something a little more literal and I won't have to hide behind a cute metaphor.)

This was created in Adobe After Effects. It's merely me working with the program so I can make a more ambitious video later in the semester. Get hyped!

---------------------




Jessy Carolina & The Hot Mess - October 2010 Bootleg

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?gkjwc5zmfmd78z9
Tags: early jazz, ragtime, blues, folk

The current incarnation of The Bill Murray Experience. Sure, it's a bootleg and that's not actually album art, but it's still really good! I swear! Just like the BME, these guys are practically a house band for Roots 'n' Ruckus at the Jalopy Theatre, so next time you're in Red Hook on a Wednesday night, see if you can catch them there.