Music of the Year Megapost

I do post about music from time to time, but this is a mostly art-based blog so I decided to pair my favorite albums of the year with the art, video or photos that listening to the album brings to mind.

Best music for gravel roads:
Constantines, Kensington Heights
Richard Serra at Denver Art Museum, photo by fernandor93

Best music for missing someone or some place:

Best music for golden hour sunlight:

Fleet Foxes

Tony Sherman, Near Asolo, Encaustic on Canvas, 48x54"

Best music to listen to while under a fur blanket in an ice hotel:

Portishead, ThirdTacita Dean, Chere

Best music to accompany finding old newspapers in your grandparents attic:

Atlas Sound, Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

Not Vital, 50 Snowballs, Murano Glass, 2001

Best music to eat cupcakes to:

Chairlift, Does You Inspire YouChristian Holstad, Grasping For Straws, 2005

Best music for scenic vistas - grand, operatic and powerful:

Shearwater, Rook

Caspar David Friedrich

Best music for driving through the desert:

Earth, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull

This photo is from the Four Corners area and perfectly suits the desolate expanses of the Earth album.

Best music for making a huge mess with complete abandon:

Man Man, Rabbit Habits

Daniel Richter, untitled, 1999, oil paint on canvas, 219.9 x 150.1 cm / 86 4/7 x 59 1/8 "

Best music to have an indulgent and somewhat nostalgic party to:

MGMT, Oracular Spectacular

Jeff Koons at Versailles - photo steph90j

The closest sonic equivalent of several weeks of Midwestern overcast skies:

Grouper, Dragging a Deer Up A Hill

Paul Graham, Man Walking in White Shirt, Atlanta, 2002

Stay tuned for my top ten of the year...

Image of the Day

I absolutely love this wood-block/wheat-paste street art by Swoon:

found in this set of Swoon images on flickr

(look at these big)

Songs of the Rockies

I found an illustration from Songs of the Rockies, by Charles Edwin Hewes, 1915-1921 in the visitors center in Estes Park yesterday and sought out the book online. I was happy to find that you can read the book on Google books here. There are many beautiful drawings (block prints) by Dean Babcock are found throughout the book. I had trouble limiting myself, so I've posted a lot of the drawings:

I love this drawing of ptarmigans. I posted about these beautiful mountain birds in September.

New Mountain Photos

These were taken in Rocky Mountain National Park this morning. Check out the coyote in the last one.

Participate by NOT Participating

Tomorrow is "Buy Nothing Day" and this will be my second year to "participate by not participating". I remember in years past on Thanksgiving day we would get a turkey-coma and sit on the couch flipping through Black Friday ads while our cousins dozed off - but what I can't remember is what we bought on Black Friday. The campaign to buy nothing is loaded slogans ("Shop Less, Live More") and demonstrations, but at it's core it's a very simple gesture. Go visit a park, take a hike in the mountains, or create gifts at home to give to people this holiday season. Do you need more? Let's celebrate what we already have.

Derek Erdman

If you're looking for gifts online - I would recommend checking out Derek Erdman's work. His work is very affordable and he is constantly making new and interesting work. I really like these sculptural screen-printed buildings:

Derek Erdman, "Buildings", 2008, Screen print on Wood, Foam

New Drawing

New drawing: Untitled study, Pastel on Paper, 11x15"

Chicago 1909

Chicago 1909 - scanned from my collection.