I just got my paws on a copy Alan Wilkis’ new EP “Pink & Purple”. It’s a funky adventure and I want to invite you all along.

Wilkis is an independent musician from Brooklyn, New York. His new six track EP is “chock full of 808s, synths, handclaps, hooks and harmonies” not to mention that sound from sonic the hedgehog (tract two). Have a listen.

Per usual, the “beware of dance” warning applies.

Alan Wilkis - Pink & Purple

MP3: Alan Wilkis - Snuggle Up To Nail Down
MP3: Alan Wilkis - Gotta Get You Back

Hemlock is an open-source framework that combines the richness of Flash with the scalability of XMPP, facilitating a new class of web applications where multiple users can interact in real time. Games, workspace collaboration, educational tools.

I designed the Hemlock site over at Mint Digital…enjoy!

I should start by saying that I hate facebook, and I’m not one of those people who hate all the new changes or gives a shit about who owns what photos. As a web/UI designer I actually think a lot of the changes (not all) were a good move, but the whole profile based social network model is just getting old to me. I guess I just don’t feel like I need another place on the internet to tell you about myself, I have a website for that. Now I know that most people don’t have their own websites, but for me I just don’t see the point anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the idea of establishing an online identity, I think that’s a great way to network and express yourself, but I just feel like having your blog, photo sharing, status, profile, etc. all in one place is diluting the purpose of each. Plus, I may like to be able to contact a given person, but that doesn’t mean I want to see updates of their status or photos. One thing I like about Twitter is that you’re never forced to follow someone you don’t care about. If someone is interested in me and wants to follow my feed, they can, but I’m not forced to be their “friend”.

So you’re probably just thinking to yourself, “shut up and cancel your Facebook account if you hate it so much”, and I’ve been tempted many a time, but Facebook is a dirty slut. Get this, the last screen you see when you go to cancel your account is a “say goodbye to…” page giving you the option to say goodbye to all your friends and loved ones. What kind of sick mind game is that? See they know that the only reason people can’t give up their account is because they don’t want to give up the connection to so many people they would otherwise never hear from again. I may not care that the kid I went to elementary school just got married, but it’s hard to sever all connection with them. Facebook is genius. I wonder how many people can really get past that page. It’s like Facebook is that slutty girl whose like “sure, you can walk out that door, but say goodbye to these”.

I guess it’s inevitable, Facebook and I will continue our unhealthy relationship like a loveless marriage. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll finally work up the strength to get up and walk out that door for good.

Last week I saw the new Star Trek flick (which was awesome btw) and what resulted was a Star Trek obsessed weekend full of episodes and movies of the original. I don’t really know why, I was never a real big fan of the franchise, but I found myself reading up all about the show and the new film as well as watching interviews of the new cast. The obsession died quickly however as a new one began. As I watched various interviews I noticed Zachary Quinto (New Spock) was continually wearing the coolest suits ever. I knew right then and there I had to have one.

The only problem with my new fancy suit obsession is that I have absolutely no reason for one. I’m a web designer, I wear tee shirts and jeans to work every day and I don’t have any weddings or interviews coming up. I’m currently trying to justify this purchase, so I hereby call on everyone I know to either get married, host a fancy party, attend a ball, or do anything that would require my attendance in a fancy suit.

You have your assignment people, lets get to work.

I know I haven’t been writing much lately and for that I’m sorry. It turns out that Twitter has fulfilled most of my needs to share useless information. So I’ll reiterated, follow me on Twitter!

Although I haven’t written in the past month or so, thats not so say I haven’t had a lot going on. Since we last spoke I’ve started a new job at Mint Digital and have officially forgiven J.J. Abrams for Lost.

Well anyway, I’ll make an effort to post more in May, and girl, you know I mean it this time.

So I’ve always kind of marketed myself as a web guy, and don’t get me wrong, I love web design, but while rummaging through some of my old work the other day I unearthed some old logos I designed for various projects.

I just thought I’d mention that the new album “Technicolor Health”, by Brooklyn’s Harlem Shakes came out last week! Having had anticipated it as much as I did, I downloaded it the minute it hit iTunes. For the most part I feel this album lived up to my expectations, it was quality from start to finish with a handful of tracks standing out above the rest. Tracks like “Niagara Falls”, “Sunlight”, and the albums first single “Strictly Game” hooked me immediately, with the rest of the album’s tracks soon following. Give it a listen…if you like what you hear show the band some love.

Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health

MP3: Harlem Shakes - “Strictly Game”
MP3: Harlem Shakes - “Niagara Falls”

We all knew this day would come. I’m sorry to all those I’ve let down. I can blame no one but myself (and maybe this guy). I wish I was stronger for you.

With that said…come follow me!

I don’t really even know what to say about this group. I wish I could just get down for you, as that would be the only appropriate and sufficient method of expressing how I feel about Francis and the Lights. While I’ll let the music speak for itself, I will say this…the band is gracious enough to offer the free download of their entire discography on their site at www.francisandthelights.com. So if you enjoy what you find here be sure to mosey on over there and download a few more tracks.

Caution: Please be sure to be standing in an open area before playing the following, as uncontrollable dancing is sure to ensue.

Francis and the Lights - Striking
The groups first EP (and in my opinion best). Be sure to check out the rest of it here.

MP3: Francis and the Lights - Striking
MP3: Francis and the Lights - My Goals

So I know I’m totally geeking out, but keep in mind that my life primarily revolves around web design/dev and music…so I was very please to see one of the sites I most frequent has spruced up a lil’ of their UI (If you don’t know what that is you’re not a big enough web/design nerd).

Well done Hype Machine, well done…now let’s just work on that navigation :).

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been listening to The Bird And The Bee’s latest album, “Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future” quite a bit. It’s catchy, and has a couple great tracks, but I have to say it doesn’t do the band justice when compared to a live show. Now I’ve enjoyed the album, but after seeing them this past friday at The Bell House I have to say, The Bird And The Bee know a thing or two about entertaining a crowd. They sounded great, and added a polish to the show with playfully choreographed dances, matching outfits, and backup dancers/singers. I guess what I’m trying to say that if you have any interest in these guys musically, you’re only getting half the experience, and you’re gonna wanna try and get out to one of their shows.

Just a taste…

The Bird And The Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
The duets latest album…enjoy.

MP3: The Bird And The Bee - “My Love”

So I’ve been meaning to post of few of these tracks for a couple weeks now but was waiting until I finished the update…so you might be more excited about them than I am at this point. None-the-less, here are a few sweet beats I’ve been diggin’ as of late.

Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health
One of my favorite recent finds (this song in particular) hailing from brooklyn, NY. Be sure to keep an ear out for their debut album coming out next month.

MP3: Harlem Shakes - “Strictly Game”

Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
Sweet sounds reminiscent of a better time (the 80’s). The whole album is worth a listen…this is just a taste.

MP3: Ladyhawke - “Magic”

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
I’m not huge into Animal Collective, but their new track “My Girls” is pretty sweet…especially this remix.

MP3: Animal Collective - “My Girls (HATCHMATIK Disco Bootleg)”

Well, thats all for now…enjoy!

Since I’ve moved to New York I’ve been trying to make a habit of trying new things. Here are a few interesting moments from the last couple of weeks.

We’ll start with my trip to a local book shop with a friend of mine while we were out one afternoon on Bedford Ave exploring my new neighborhood.

While I’m certainly going to hell for this, I just couldn’t help but enjoy this Magnetic Jesus Dress Up kit. And just when I thought I’d had my fill of offensive literary material I stumbled across this lil’ gem. I don’t really know what to say about this one…I’m just amazed by it’s existence.

Last week I went with a group of friends to an India restaurant in lower east side called Milon. As it turns out, Milon is one of 3 indian restaurants in the same building all adorned in crazy lights. We were heckled relentlessly by the different owners to pick their respective establishments the entire time we waited outside for our last member of our part to arrive. It was crazy, they were all fighting over us making promises of free desert or boos. When we finally decided it was like breaking it off with a girlfriend…the other owners just looked broken hearted.

The atmosphere was crazy, and food was hit or miss. I have to say my favorite part of the evening was when they cranked the indian techno birthday dance song and embarrassed some girl with their little scene.

Online marketing campaign for Rockstar Game’s first episode of Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content for Xbox Live. Campaign included banners, site takeovers, and video player skins.

There were dozens of units on sites all over the world…basically if you saw something for GTA IV: The Lost and Damned online, chances are I designed it. Below are just a few units that struck my fancy.

So recently I was delighted to notice on an otherwise dull saturday night that one of my favorite bands Loney Dear was playing a show at Union Hall, in Brooklyn. My excitement was almost immediately crushed however as a read a big “SOLD OUT” under the show listing. I noticed then that it said “a few tickets may be available at the door”. It didn’t sound particularly promising, but I didn’t have anything else going on that night (all my friends were out of town) and a friend I was talking to online convinced me to try my luck.

I made the trek downtown from Williamsburg to Park Slope, and ended up getting into the show (Horay!). Now here is where I should tell you all about how great Loney Dear was, but that’s not the point of this post. Loney Dear was fun and played well, but their new album (one I’m not particularly familiar/fond of) just came out and they only played like two songs from their previous albums. So needless to say it was a bit of a disappointment.

One part of the evening that was not a disappointment however was the band’s opener, Brooklyn’s own Arms, the solo project of Harlem Shake’s Todd Goldstein. He preformed an acoustic set that was just sick. His music had an almost haunting quality to it.

I googled Arms as soon as I got home and was a little thrown off initially to find most of his recorded music was with a full band, but it quickly grew on me. All in all, the show was worth going to if only for Arms, so check him out.

MP3: Arms - “Kids Aflame”
MP3: Arms - “TIger Tamer”
MP3: Arms - “Shitty Little Disco”