Yeti Ball

Last week, it was spring holiday in the south part of Holland. Spring was very invisible; we all had to bear with the rain and wind. But in between showers I found the time to go the the screenprinting workshop and make some long overdue prints.. just for fun!


This Yeti (his bark is worse than his bite) is a screenprinted version of a sketch I did for Bombay Showpig. This Amsterdam/The Hague/Leiden based band asked me to design stuff for their merchandise and website. Off course I was thrilled when I got the phonecall, because that would be the job of my dreams! I was extra happy when I heard the song below, because it reminds me of Pretty Girls Make Graves a little bit. More tunes and artwork will follow!

Bombay Showpig - Yeti Ball (demo) get it here (ysi).

Do it for Daan

Our (former class-/house-)mate Daan a.k.a. Botlek designed a t-shirt voor Threadless. We urge you all to vote for his design so it gets printed and he can pay off his debts! Oh and because it is FREAKIN' awesome! Do it here.

It's all I can Talk Talk about

So here I went... off to my favorite record store in The Hague for some very necessary vinyl. I wanted to find some female hiphop and some ragga. But before I went to the 'urban' section I went through a pile of low-budget records and found something that would soon become a bit of an obsession. It has been for four weeks now, but we're still counting...


This Talk Talk record It's My life was only 2,50 and I knew I hated Such a Shame, but I knew I loved It's my life, so I bought it. I generally try to ignore tracks that get airtime at Arrow Classic Rock because that is better for my reputation. But this early eighties album is a gem. This sound is filed under New-Romantic or Post-Rock. Which are horrible horrible words that I identify with dirty old men and dried flowers. Besides that, I recognize the brilliance and intensity of Mark Hollis's voice and the tastefull arrangements and production. I can definately see that this album could have been a big influence on personal heroes such as Chromatics, John Maus and Caribou. In which case post-rock turns into experimental psychedelic electronic music which sounds much more artistic and intelligent. But either dried flowers or avantgarde, this record has become my anthem and on that note I'm playing it AGAIN.

Talk Talk - Tomorrow Started Get it here (ysi)

Talk Talk - It's My life Get it here (ysi)

massive tunes on a mini disc

Does anyone remember the MINI DISC? For those of you who don't, it was (I quote wonderful Wiki here) "a magneto-optical disc-based data storage device initially intended for storage of up to 80 minutes of digitized audio. Introduced in 1992, the MiniDisc was targeted as a replacement for the analog cassette audio tape system. Despite having a loyal customer base (primarily musicians and audio enthusiasts), MiniDisc met with only limited success."


I had one and I thought it was the coolest thing.. As it were the mid '90s a lot of my little discs were filled with triphop and drum 'n bass type a stuff. For instance I had all the Massive Attack albums on MiniDisc. But at a certain point my precious gadget broke down and I never listened to Massive Attack again. Up until two weeks ago, when my friends from the Word Virus Essay asked me if I wanted to come along to one of the three charity gigs that MA was putting up for the Hoping Foundation, an organization in aid of Palestinian refugee children. The ticket wasn't cheap, but it was for a good cause and it turned out to be a show that was worth every penny..

The concert was held yesterday in nearby Newport (supposedly the worst city in the UK!), just across the water from MA's native Bristol. The venue was a leisure center with a tropical swimming pool, squash, etc. It had a faint smell of chlorine throughout and judging by the lines on the floor the main hall doubled as a basketball field. And when I got lost on my way to the toilets I ran into literally rows of old fashioned bubble gum machines. I bought a giant "jaw breaker", which I frantically tried to finish before the first beat dropped.

Anyways.. I thought the light (a giant LED light wall) and sound and band (including two drummers) were amazing. Best of all were the guest vocalists they brought with them: Horace Andy (the man is a legend!), Martina Topley Bird (who you also might know from her collaborations with Tricky) and Shara Nelson (who sang Unfinished Symphony and Save from Harm).

Their new album Heligoland came out this week and track number 4 has been stuck on repeat! "Tune, innit?"


Massive Attack feat. Horace Andy - Girl I love you. Get it here (YSI). But I suggest you buy it and play it properly over your sound system. Loud!