modern music for a modern house: best downbeat tracks of 2016

I used to restrict these lists to ten tracks and then whatever would fit on a CD (cause I used to burn 'em). But rather than painfully cull these wheaty tracks, you're getting them all!

Here's a YouTube playlist of all the tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_ixHZ11zQNbUhPpo1BqwChFbTM7hyi7k

These tracks are available at iTunes or your favorite eMusic retailer.

"Black River (feat. Mark Lanegan) [Lulu Rouge Stella Polaris remix]" by Bomb the Bass
Anything Lulu Rouge touches is turned into something darkly wonderful, and this track is no exception. A dank, dark, and quietly creeping piece of music.

"Where the Wind Blows" by Coco O.
A steampunk track that fuses 1920s Great Gatsby torch singer with a digital work station.

"Black Sunrise (feat. Black Soda)" by Francesco Chiocci
Smokey and mildly charred with Black Soda's soulish vocals means I don;t care if the sun come sup tomorrow.

"Hide" by N U B U and Ne.Hau
I promise I'm not homing here, but these Austin producers produced a swanky, slithering masterpiece of downtempo tunage that is simple delicious. Good to hear that Austin is representing!

"Numb and Getting Colder (feat. Kucka)" by Flume
These tracks: They are so uplifting! Flume's release this year was simply stellar, featuring well produced glitchy goodness like this number. 

"SOS" by Portishead
Portishead doesn't stop in for a visit too much lately, but I'm grateful for this driveby smooch of gloom with lyrics courtesy of ABBA. That's right, THAT SOS.

"State Trooper (Trentemoller mix)" by Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen: Meh. Trentemoller: Yeah. Trentemoller's unauthorized remix of Bruce? HELL YEAH!

"4 Degrees" by Anohni
This track is a mess of timeliness, sung as it is by the transgendered Antony Hegarty about global warming: "I want to see this world, I want to see it boil.  It's only 4 degrees."

"Let Myself Go (feat. Kieran Fowkes)" by Just Her
In case you are wondering, Kieran is a dude, and he does a great job plaintively cooing "..and I let myself go" over and over and over on this track. I feel the same way this holiday season.

"Leave You" by Tee Mango
A message of hope delivered by Tee Mango: "I'm going to leave you..."

"The World" by Bajka
In a perfect world, Bajka would write the theme songs for every James Bond movie. Her smokey voice and music politely whispers "shaken AND stirred" in your ear.

 "Fucking to Songs on Radios" by Ricky Eat Acid
For an act with a gawdawfull name, this track is delightfully creative in all its warped glory.

"Reminder" by Moderat
Moderat has really been putting a lot of quality stuff out there, including this track that has a Radiohead-with-someone-who-actually-knows-how-to-play synths vibe.

"small blue soft" by Audiofly
A long but wonderful track by Audiofly to take baths by. Available as a free download via soundcloud. Not available on YouTube, so I've subbed a track above.

"The Wind (feat. Awir Leon)" by Jumo
A nice song about the wind. Not available on YouTube, so I've subbed a track above.

"Ritual Spirit (feat. Azekel)" by Massive Attack
Going through the year's tracks, I'd forgotten that MA released a solid four-track EP earlier in the year. This track, by my ears, was the best: tribal, sorrowful, and foreboding.

"IM U" by Beacon
Beacon pulls a twofer with a track here as well as on the upbeat list as well. This much moodier track evokes (kinda) Pink Floyd's quieter moments (if they had better synths).

"Breathe" by Mr. Silla
I had forgetten about Mr. Silla, a young lady from Reykjavik we saw some 10 years ago at an Iceland Airwaves off-venue, until I was putting together a playlist for friends going to Iceland over New Years. This new track is quietly disquieting and warmly icy.

"I Can't Let Go" by Champion
Champion (the Canadian electroblues band, not Champion, the American hardcore band) lost themselves for a decade when Betty Bonifossi left the act. But with Betty's swampy vocals back in the mix, Champion is back. This track is the best of the bunch: minimal and bluesy.

"Eva (IVVO Sensimilla Cut)" by MMOTHS
A remix got MMOTHS on my best upbeat tracks, and this haunting track earns a spot on the downbeat list. Space opera.

"Eating Hooks (Siriusmo remix-Solomon edit)" by Moderat
 I desparately try to keep any particular act to one track per list, but this one is just too good to leave behind. Besides, given the remix and subsequent edit, it's more of an sequential ensemble effort than an original Moderat track.

"K304v2 Walk With Me" by dubspeeka
A spooky walk down a moonlit path in the woods. In Arkansas.

"Hide" by FKA twigs
Ms. twigs made it OK to produce music like this (that is, there's a market for it), and for that I am grateful. This triphoppy track ticks like a bomb in its beauty.

SaveSave

10ish architecty resolutions for 2017

I'm a listmaker, so I love to make lists. New Year's resolutions are my time of year: A time to reflect and (ahem) make a list for next year. So here are my architecty resolutions for the new year.

1. design the cabin

Already have loose plans to take the architect(s) to visit the lot this summer. Plans by the end of the year?

2. restore and hang the schoolhouse modern lights

Way back when, before we built, we bought a couple schoolhouse Mid-Century Modern hanging pendadnts for our stairwell. We found a local spot that restores old fixtures. Time to make it rain pendants!




3. cypress shelves in the kitchen

The open shelves in the kitchen are great but have too much height and, therefore, too much unused space. Thinking about installing cypress sub-shelves to break-up the space (and get more storage!). This would also carry the cypress from the dining room/penninsula into the kitchen.




4. dance with architecture in palm springs

Not sure this is the year: Ideally need to do this in the spring, but my job will keep me camped out in Austin through May. But who knows? At the very least it will be here to carry over into 2018...




5. dance with architecture in new york city

Every year it gets more ridiculous that we haven't been to New York, New York (besides our layovers to Iceland). WTH?




6. cut the cable

This is the year. We keep it for football, but football is getting tiresome (and there are starting to be tempting internet options).




7. upgrade the plugs

This is the year to get off our fat arses and finish installing our fancy-pants plugs and switches!




8. build a shed

It was there last year. Here it is again.




9. chair the front yard

A friend at work turned us onto this, something called The Turquoise Table, where people put a turquoise picnic table in the front yard and hang out there, visiting with neighbors. Yes, it sounds a little too precious and overmedicated, but whenever we hang out under our carport, we always wind up enjoyably chatting with passerbys (the house is a great conversation starter). We want to do more of that. I doubt we're going to put something turquoise in our front yard (maybe pale blue?) or a picnic table, but all we really need is a couple-few unstealable chairs. Would love concrete Corbus!




10. design our gravestone

Seems morbid, but with the recent passing of the bride's mother (and our spot in the New Mexican landscape staked), it seems we need to get this done.

11. write a book on building a modern house

A carry over from last year. If I drink lots of coffee, I feel more motivated!

modern music for a modern house: best upbeat tracks of 2016

My friend A. says I need to act my age and only listen to music from my youth like everyone else does. I'm not like everyone else. So here are my top upbeat tracks of 2016. The downbeat list is coming soon!

You can peruse individual tracks below (and read my overcaffeinated descriptions thereof) or listen to a YouTube playlist of all the tracks here.

These tracks are available (at a minimum) at iTunes or Beatport.

"Deu (Lee Bannon remix)" by MMOTHS
This track is a soft sandy beach with jutting peaks of granite, a glorius fusion of shoegazer and drum et bass. Prolly my fave of the year.

"Burn the Witch" by Radiohead
Another excellent too-moody-for-booty rock opera track by Thom and crew with impeccable timing. "This is a low-flying panic attack." Theme song for 2016?

"Preserve" by Beacon
Moody, mildly funky, and propelled forward into darkness.

"Fool" by Junk Son
Of the same ilk as the previous track but with a tasteful touch of late-80s nostalgia. Music by accountants (but cool accountants).

"Make Me Fall in Love" by Tiga
Now for some full-on electro-funk from long-time musicmaker Tiga. The bass that drops like your stomach after a three-hour Torchy's binge.

"Dreaming Dragonflies" by LeBaci
Dynamic upbeat/downbeat loungy track with a bipolar edge.

"One Time Game (feat. Jem Cooke)" by Kate Simko and London Electronic Orchestra
Jeezlouise I love moody music. This track is the gray sky behind the naked fingers of a tree reaching for Spring.

"Jonny (feat. Jonny)" by Powell
Is electroclash making a comeback? This goofy little track accurately traps punky guitar angst among the quantized goose steps of a digital work station.

"All of Us" by Fakear
There's a geisha. She's carefully raking the small, rounded gravel of her Zen garden into broad curves echoing the shores of greenery.

"Ain't No Turning Back" by Break
A wonderful Thanksgiving dinner of deep house and drum and bass with lumpy dollops of dubstep. Please pass the pepper!

"New Life" by Dennis Cruz
A stone-cold floor thumper with a touch of blues to melt the frost.

"Take It Easy (feat. Sonny Fodera) [Mat.Joe remix]" by Gershon Jackson
This is another one of those late-80s flashback tracks. This one channels the mellower side of a-ha onto modern dancefloors.

"In the Flames" by DJDS
I'm a sucker for chopped-up vocal sounds. The vocals on this track have been slap-chopped into a beautiful mush.

"Long Wait (feat. Solomon Grey)" by Dusky
Dusky keeps it chunky and thick like Gryla's Christmas stew (with yet another dash of a-ha era vocals).

"Pretty Lights (feat. Rkayna)" by Royal Blood
I love Andrew Sisters-era big band tunage and (obviously) I love electronic music, so combos of the two leave me on the ground quivering with a clothespin in my mouth to keep from chewing my tongue. This is also a happy glitch hop track to end the list. There's hope for the future, right? Right?

architecty resolutions for 2016: How did we do?

Before we go off and make resolutions for 2017, here's how we fared with our resolutions for 2016:

1. Success! Visit Corbu, Reitveld, and Weissenhof in the Old Countries.

After failing the year before (due to unplanned surgery...) we made it to Europe and saw all these sites and more. As you know, we are still writing about them. Stay tuned!

2. Partial...  Build a Schindler Shed 



No shed, but we did make progress is learning how to build a shed (thanks to some books) and what we want to build. If anything, due to the small footprint required, it won't be a Schindler Shed: It'll be a shed shed echoing the garage.

3. Fail... Dance with architecture in Palm Springs



Although we planned to take the trip in the summer or fall, we really needed to take this trip in the spring. We learned too late that the temps in Palm Springs are BRUTAL in the summer, so summer was out. And with the trip to Europe in the fall, we were tripped out for 2016. Next year?

4. Success! Dance with architecture in Miami


photo via free people

We had a fabulous pre-Zika trip to Miami and Miami Beach. We need to go back to focus on MiMo on the Beach as well as check in on the latest murals at Wyndam Walls.

5. Success! "Finish" the landscaping



Yay! Finally! The only regret was that we didn't do it earlier (like do-it-when-the-house-was-getting-built earlier). Our architects (element 5) really knew what they were doing with the hardscape they designed for the back patio. It stunningly finished out the back yard, turning it into a comfy cubby.

6. Partial... Dance with architecture in 12 state parks



We hit 3 of the planned 12. Weak (but better than nothing!).

7. Success! Put together a list of architecture to see in Austin



And here it is! It still needs some work (and I need to move it to a tab), but the bones (and most of hte meat) is there.

8. Success! Put together a plan for building a cabin



We moved surprisingly fast on this one, buying a lot earlier this year, architecting up, and planning to design in 2017 (and build in 2018?). We even have the rough beginnings of a build blog for the cabin.

9. Success! Keep the blogs going





So far, so good. Although I didn't provide a metric, my goal was 104 posts on austin cubed this year, and, with less than a week left, I've written 87 posts (including this one). The Schindler List is still alive, although I've neglected it lately with too many other projects...

10. Partial... Write a book on building a Modern house



This was a stretch goal, so I didn't quite make it, but I made some progress, pulling together slightly north of 21,000 words so far.

Some bonus goals from last year:

11. Partial... Cut the cable

Still have cable, but looking at AT&T and online programming. Is this week the week?

12. Fail... Finish upgrading the plugs

I'm still a slug on this... Is this week the week?


SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

neoplastic drug dealers

Was I the only one that noticed the delicious neoplastic tendencies of the Zetas leader's house? A bad man with good architectural taste...

modern quilting at quiltcon 2015

A number of years ago, the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama, came through town via the Austin Museum of Art. We gawked at the quilts and, by happenchance, got to meet some of the quilters. The remarkable thing about their their work is how beautifully abstract it is:

Inspired by these modernistic quilts, the Modern Quilt Guild formed to carry forward the art of Modern quilting. And as happenchance would have it (I love getting happenchanced...), their 2015 international show and conference, QuiltCon 2015, was in Austin this past weekend.

The show was impressive, and the quilts were fabulous. Hard to say how many quilts were there, but it had to have been around 250. Below are some of the better ones (by my eyes...).

I sewed a kittycat using this awesome machine...

I've been wanting to quilt Mies van der Rohe's brick house for a while now...