Modern Day Expressionism....

.....That is the name of the exhibit currently showing at the ARTery located at the LAB in Costa Mesa, which for those of you who don't know, the ARTery is a series of reclaimed metal storage units refashioned into a small art gallery. Maria and I went to the opening reception for the show this past Saturday and got to see some really great artwork. There was an exceptional turnout of art patrons, students as well as artists, which was great because the show is for a good cause. The artwork in the exhibit is all for sale and a portion of the proceeds will be given to UNICEF. Aside from getting to have a good time taking pictures, eating, drinking, and enjoying the art we got to meet some really talented artists. One of which was a guest on our show today: John Bunney.

It was really great talking to John in the studio today because he has been a working artist for about 10 years now and grew up here in Orange County. We're all about supporting the local art community just as the ARTery does so we're were happy to hear what John had to say. He talked about working with acrylic paint and how working with that type of fast-drying medium contributed to the expressionism theme but also how his style kept it contemporary. John also discussed a series he painted of west coast city skylines that he did after doing some traveling, two of which are being shown.


John Bunney
Seattle, Orange



John Bunney
Vancouver, Green

If you can tell John likes to embrace color in his pieces as well as geometric shapes to create these abstracted cityscapes. Having confessed to being a fan of the decorative arts, much of his work reflects that. He even told us that these paintings were hanging in his place for a while and that parting with them is kind of bittersweet. I also got to catch a glimpse of the work he's doing now and I was pretty impressed. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of him in the future so you guys keep your eyes peeled for him.

Here are some more pictures of the rest of the show with some shots of some of the artwork... but there's nothing like going to see them in person! Go check it out! The show runs until May 2nd, so don't wait too long.




























Always a pleasure.
-K

serious case of the 'mondays'

Mondays are just the worst. We get it. Even as disembodied voices coming over your speakers, we are not immune. So, in order to combat the universal foe that is 'Monday' we had our friend Amanda co-host with us again, our metaphoric "spoonful of sugar" to help the "Monday medicine" go down. We always love having Amanda in-studio with us because she definitely brings a level of class and intellect that is just not achieved between me and Maria alone.
For today we chose a topic that was fitting for having our friend help us out on the show: "Collaboration". I know we've been doing a lot of music stuff for you guys recently but I've been dying to share some of these new albums with you guys. So today we talked about Broken Bells and their new, self-titled album. Nothing felt better than spinning their tracks on the air --- really. As we mentioned on the show, Broken Bells is a collaboration with The Shins' lead singer James Mercer and producer Brian Burton, also known as Danger Mouse.



We are loving this folk/indie, electronic hybrid. I'm a big fan of The Shins, but you don't have to be a fan of The Shins to appreciate this all new band. James Mercer's pure vocals are only highlighted by Danger Mouse's contribution of synthesizers and other digital noise. This album is really a great representation of successful collaboration because it takes two music makers from different genres to create a really cool, unique sound. It has a somewhat familiar sound to The Shins in James Mercer's voice, but it's just the little hints of futuristic synthesizers that take this band in another direction. If you loved Wincing the Night Away you're really going to enjoy Broken Bells. Regardless, this is a great album and I expect to be hearing loads from Broken Bells in the near future.



Here's the link to their website where there are tons of really cool graphics and videos for you guys to check out :
http://www.brokenbells.com/home.html





Always a pleasure.
-K

What we have here is a failure to communicate...

You think that after all this time we would be able to successfully play a song on the radio, apparently this isn't true. Technology is a tricky mother... It can either make your life simple or it can screw you in the worst way possible. It wasn't a complete tragedy that we couldn't play some songs from She & Him's Volume Two, but I really think our listeners were deprived a really beautiful moment... driving in the car, windows down, with Zooey Deschanel's soulful voice whipping through the air and M. Ward's guitar chords keeping you grounded. But to make up for it, here's one of my favorite songs from the album Thieves.



Regardless, we had a great show. We talked about musicians and their ability to appeal to audiences visually via album artwork. Musicians don't always have the ability to express themselves outside their music. Many of them rely solely on their music and their lyrics to convey something to their listeners and so cover art is a great way to expand on certain sentiments that exist within their songs. Marketing and advertising aside, cover art is as important to an artist as a music video or a performance. Sometimes a song cannot reach its full potential without some assistance. This also allows for great collaborations between graphic artists and musicians.
Here's the website that Maria was talking about with some really great examples of album artwork:
http://inspiredology.com/99-best-designed-album-covers/

One of the examples we talked about was the album artwork for She & Him Volume Two. I think that the cover art is able to achieve a separation of the music from both Zooey Deschanel's and M. Ward's previous work. Zooey is an already established actress and rather than putting a photo of herself on the cover, they opted for more simplistic, childlike drawings, similar to Volume One. And the artwork created for the covers definitely reflect the playfulness of their music.






Also, we talked about the exhibitions that are going on on-campus right now, "Hang Fire" in the UAG (University Art Gallery) by the Cyber A Cafe and "Ornamented Exigencies" in the Room Gallery right around the corner. I really want to encourage you guys to go to these exhibitions because there are some really interesting works at both exhibits. I'm not going to tell you much... which means you'll have to go see for yourselves!



Both exhibitions go until the 16th of April so go check it out! You can find more info on the UAG website:
http://ucigallery.com

Thanks for checking in everyone! xoxo
-K