SENSE: DESIGN RADIO

While it may seem strange to listen to (rather than look at) issues in design, several design podcasts have succeeded in creating large fan bases.
As a medium, audio invites us to visualize independently, using our imaginations to conjure up images that match the sound. In this way, listening to the radio or to a podcast [...]

SENSE: SOUND AND SILENCE, 2012

Another beautiful film by The Selby.

SENSE: New Year; New Songs

2011, You sound different.

Here’s what we’re listening to:
World News, Local Natives
Blowin’ in the Wind, Stevie Wonder (that’s right!) [click on "preview this track"]
Little Life, Josephine Foster
Province, TV on the Radio
Lollipop, Squeak E. Clean
Can’t Get it Right Today, Joe Purdy

SENSE: SOUND

I laid eyes on this ceramic speaker, here, and discovered a whole exhibit of ceramic speakers. I missed the event, but take a minute to scroll through this list of designers. Joey Roth’s speaker is drool-worthy.

Recently, I noticed some other beautiful speaker designs, at MOMA, like these speech bubble speakers:

I’m also a fan of these [...]

SENSE: SIGHT

Technically speaking, this link will take you to a delightful place involving sight and–thanks to digital technology––touch. It’s precisely your touch that determines the pattern by which all these gorgeous shapes split and change color. I am not going to give you any more hints. Go here! Recommended when you need a little meditation time, [...]

SENSE: MIX TAPE, SPRING/”SPRUMMER”

 Some people are calling the strange weather “Sprimmer,” or “Sprummer,” for the up-and-down temperatures that resemble spring one day and summer, the next. As long as everything’s blooming, we will take it by any name. Here’s our Sprummer soundtrack.

“Coca Cola,” Pepi Ginsburg
“Could you be loved,” Bob Marley
“The magic of crashing stars,” Tender Forever
“Unwed fathers,” John Prine (+Iris Dement)
“Blackbird,” Crosby, [...]

SENSE: SOUND III

Fall Mix Tape: something about fall can be very exhausting. We are adjusting to the shorter days, the darkness, and covered skin. There are rewards: apple cider and donuts, pumpkins, sweaters and scarves, leaf peeping, etcetera. But while you’re struggling with the transition, here are some songs that are keeping the feeling of summer alive.
Chasing [...]

SOUND, PART II

We still love to work to the tune of heavy break-up songs, but lately we’re also looking for a little 4 o’clock jolt (see the Avett Brothers). Enjoy!
 
1. If it Be Your Will, Leonard Cohen 
2. Typical, Laura Marling
3. My Shadow, Lavender Diamond
4. Stitching Leggings, Kate Nash 
5. Breathe Me, Sia 
6. Dancing Daze, Avett Brothers
7. Wig in a Box, the Polyphonic Spree (Hedwig [...]

SOUND, Part I

   
Listening and reading are different. To start, most of us are steeped (and even drowning) in the written word–the daily news, our bills, e-mail correspondence, work memos, proposals, reports, you name it.  But sound can stop us in our tracks, even when we’re most determined to keep trucking. Almost always, it either carries us more [...]

SENSE: ORAL HISTORY/ARCHITECTURE, SOUND Part II

 
Here is an exciting project combining oral history with architecture: some of the great Chicago architects talk about their work. Go ahead and click on the excerpt from Gertrude Lemp Kerbis’s interview–her first impression of Taliesen East.