Four Tet - There is Love in You

I have just got round to buying the newest album by Four Tet, 'There is Love in You' but have not listened to it yet! I want to save it for when I reallllly want to hear it. Soon.

I love trying to put music into words, and may try my own review once I've listened to the new album. But for now, here's a BBC review by Si Hawkins

(I'm enjoying the words 'mesmeric', 'melody-laden' and 'bliss')

"You have to admire Kieran Hebden for sticking so rigidly to his vision. Back in 2003 the London-based producer made an album called Rounds, which became rather more popular than he’d envisaged due to its winning mix of beautiful, organic-sounding melodies and novel, cleverly-manipulated samples. Radiohead invited him out on tour, tracks from the album began to pop up on everything from sportswear ads to television gardening shows, and Hebden looked set to become a quasi-household name.

Instead, two years on he released Everything Ecstatic, a record that upped the beats-per-minute dramatically in a bid to counteract the unlovely term ‘folktronica’ he’d been saddled with, and any suggestion of commercial intent. Those listeners who abandoned Four Tet at this point may want to give There is Love in You a spin, however, because, as the title suggests: the bliss is back.

Five years is a fair gap between Four Tet albums but then Hebden’s tracks are aural mosaics, painstakingly compiled to work on several levels. The skipping two-step of Love Cry, for example, may appear relatively traditional; but take a closer listen and there are intricacies aplenty, including an underlying synth whirr that sounds oddly reminiscent of the noise Fred Flintstone’s legs used to make when he carried the car to work. This presumably wasn’t the intention.

Even the more straightforward offerings, such as the aptly-titled This Unfolds, gently lull the listener in while sneaking a bewildering array of bells and whistles into the mix, so by the denouement you’re blissfully nodding along to what in less dextrous hands would be a chaotic maelstrom of noise.
There are a few recognisable Four Tet trademarks along the way, notably the chopped-up vocals and general CD-on-the-blink effects of album opener Angel Echoes, which, again, may sound slightly off-putting for those who wouldn’t normally purchase experimental electronica. But the soulful female voice, stuttering and struggling against the onrushing sonic wave, is so affecting that the track’s abstract nature becomes almost incidental.

It’s a theme that recurs throughout the record, and, indeed, that defines the Four Tet canon: mesmeric, melody-laden music, with varying degrees of difficulty. There is Love in You should be a fine introductory course."

I once met Kieran Hebden after sneaking backstage at a gig. Here's me and Four Tet smiling wildly in 2007:

Some audio for you (Please go and buy the album though!)

Burial & Four Tet - Moth



Four Tet - Angel Echoes (Radio 1 live session)

Angel Echoes (BBC session) by Four Tet

Little colored bits

Making posters for Light Box today. made these to scan and use as part of the background. Here's the finished poster!So much work has been done today!

Gross words/sayings

gutted
guts
chow down
simmer down
"I'll see if i have some shrapnel"
kooky
Sophie Ellis Bextor sounds like Alan Partridge "it's murder on the dancefloor, but you better not kill the groove"

Union Street, Bristol

Barfoot and Duggan have been busy creating an attractive shop front hoarding to use to board up the disused shops in Union Street, Broadmead, Bristol.

Here are some of my sketchy designs:

I found those pics of the boxes in THE MOST AMAZING BOOK IN THE WORLD, Tactile:High Touch Visuals by Klanten, Ehmann and Hubner. Published by Dgv in November 2007. It's only £26.80 in Amazon, and I found it in Urban Outfitters for £25. The rrp is £40!

Everything in the book is so delicious, I am so inspired. There is also 'Tangible', which is next on my list!

So the box pics are titled 'De Designpolite' made by students at the Utrecht School of Art in 2004.

The Text Project at Planet Pizza

Hurrah! My work is up in Planet Pizza Bishopston, Bristol. I am being honest here, I have never tasted a more delicious pizza, they are incredible! Not only are they incredible, but they have a fantastic deal: buy 1 pizza get 1 free from Sunday – Wednesday 5-7pm & all day on Mondays for students with a valid id card.

The artwork is being displayed as a Valentines Exhibition, all pieces are for sale, at good prices -

small sizes (about 5" tall) are £15
the larger frames are £20
and there are two big pieces in wooden frames are £35

Click here to be redirected to my website where you can see all the pieces I have in stock! 


All the other frames have been saved from being chucked, restored, polished and repainted.

I have many more text project pieces, and lots more Valentines ones too.

LO
VE

LO
VE

Confused man sculpture

My fingers made this silly little man out of clay, i don't know where he came from, but he obviously had to get out! I like his teeth the best.

And this is a bit of fluff i made from bits of fluff.

It reminds me of everlasting gob stoppers and my friend Jack Warren Meeks. Actually, It's pretty much exactly the same, and i only realised this since looking on his website. oh my!

Image copyright Jack Warren Meeks

Rosemarie Auberson

Something I found today:

Rosemarie Auberson's collages:

Improv Everywhere: trouserless subway ride!

Incredible! 'Improv Everywhere' held it's ninth 'no pants subway ride' in New York this week.

Here's the video of the 2009 No pants subway ride:



Found on 'Color Me Katie' the great creative blog. Click here.

There's More to Life than Lists caption competition!

When we had the 'There's More to Life than Lists' exhibition, we had an article in the paper, and the week after the article was out, we were the Evening Post's caption competition! which i find very funny! here is is, great caption ay!

Project 2010: The Love Of It

Project 2010: 52 projects. One year to live for the love of it. Oodles of fun! Get involved in the following Project 2010 challenges then send the outcomes to The Love Of It.

Project ONE

Put aside an hour this week to scribble down your ultimate ‘things to do before you die’ list. Where in the world do you want to go, what sights do you want to see, what books do you want to read and what adventures do you want to go on?

Email your list to loveofit@googlemail.com or, better still, write it on a scrap of paper, beer mat or postcard, cross things out, change your mind and write them back in again, cover it in doodles and send it to: The Love of It Bucket List, Barfoot and Duggan, Stokes Croft Studios, Top Floor, 77-79 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RD.


Here are a couple of samples of the postal lists we've recieved so far:

Lucy Barfoot as Blind Drawing

Thanks Duggan!

Studio pictures

Thank you to Will Ablett for taking these pictures of me hard at work in the studio!

Two Lucy's One Happiness

A while ago, us Lucy and I had an interview with Megan Cara. We just found it, and it made a lovely read! Thank you Megan! 

"Their attitude toward art and people and the world is what i found to be most intriguing about them. Lucy Duggan has a degree in Sociology from Bristol University and has been a Bristol resident for 9 years. Lucy Barfoot has a fine arts degree from the University of Creative Arts which is in Surrey.

The two women are just so positive and excited to be doing what they are doing. They explained to me that they have a very naive approach to things, but knowingly naive. They have accomplished a lot with this outlook. For their collaborative list installation they sent letters to many organizations and people asking for lists. Even to the Queen of England! They are cheeky and silly and people find it charming.

Their latest collaboration is called Light Box, a series of workshops they are assembling. The workshops are a combination of positive psychology and creativity, ultimately helping people live a more happy life. Their passion for happiness is truly inspiring. They are holding test workshops now and will be piloting the project in March.

My interview with them turned into a casual conversation about life, happiness, art, and Bristol. I had a wonderful time chatting with them. I wanted to get their point of view on street art in the UK and Bristol, since that is what my original inspiration was for the blog… They both commented that the street art in Bristol is changing all the time, and really is beautiful. Some of it is allowed, and there are even designated areas for the artwork, but some people do find themselves in a lot of trouble for it. Barfoot commented that she doesn’t see Banksy as “some big thing.” Duggan expressed interest in temporary street art, images made with baking flour or sugar paper that disappear in the rain, this takes care of the possibility of getting in trouble.

Over all it was wonderful to speak with such positive and open minded artists. The one thing that stuck with me most was something one of them said - more relating to life. We were discussing having bad friends, or toxic relationships and how that very much effects one’s happiness, and one of the Lucys said something like…as soon as i realised that i couldn't do anything to change how other people live their lives, it was much easier for me to live my own life happily. Lets all take a page out of their book."