À l'écoute

Just came back from our third tour of the Western Balkans. Cindy and I drove from Belgrade (Serbia) to the further east border between Serbian and Bulgaria, then into Macedonia, through Kosovo and Albania, up the south-east coast of Croatia along the Bosnia and Herzegovina border, up to Zagreb, then north Croatia into Hungary, back down to Slavonski Brod (Croatia) and Bosanski Brod (Bosnia) and then back to Belgrade. Phew.

That's allot of driving—needless to say, but allot of time to catch up with old and recent additions to my music collection. Here are a few gems that stood out:

The Good, The Bad & The Queen (Honest Jon's/Parlophone)
This is proving to be a totally interesting album. What first began as a collaboration between Damon Albarn and Danger Mouse resulted in a very interesting band. The lax jams aside, it's a very good record. See them perform here.

PJ Harvey, Rid Of Me (Island)
A late entry into my collection, yes, but I'm making sure it catches up in play counts. May I add: super-duper?

Late Of The Pier, Fantasy Black Channel (Parlophone)
A super record. In and out (although I'm not sure what that means...) but it must mean good and on both sides. Great jams, guitar driven key-pop over a pavement of great song structure. Get it.

Mos Def, The Ecstatic (Downtown)
Mos Def! Who doesn't love Mos Def? His most broad record to date. Really, really great.

Rachel's, Systems/Layers (Quarterstick)
I previously only had a few tracks from this one. Completed it before we left—it proved to be a great soundtrack to the Western Balkans' ominous mountain ranges. No really.

Ween, Québec (Sanctuary)
A classic and must-have-if-you-don't-already. Killer production, great songs and not too far from one of the best records coming out of America in the last 20 years. Yes, really.

Neozoon

This is the work of the Berlin-based collective Neozoon. Animal silhouettes cut out of recycled fur coats and glued to city walls. Too dope. Loads more here and see them at work here.

From top to bottom: Rabbits (in Berlin), 2009; Flock of Sheep (in Paris), 2009; Bull for Huesca (in Berlin), 2009; Fox (in Berlin), 2008.

Western Balkans Typography (Redux)

More from Bosnia i Hercegovina, Croatia and Serbia.

Western Balkans Typography

Cindy and I are spending the next few weeks in the south of the Western Balkans (aka Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania) to work on The Culture Lobby. The first three places I mentioned were once part of Yugoslavia and typography in that area of the world is taken seriously. Here are a few examples of signage from Pirot, Serbia and Skopje, Macedonia. I'll post more over the next few weeks.

Go here and here for previous posts while we were in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belgrade, Serbia, last year.