MATEO

Here's a new poster I designed for the new documentary MATEO, a wonderful and captivating documentary about musician Mateo Stoneman. Mateo's songs are inspired by and recorded within the sound of Cuban music, and I drew on some Cuban poster art influences to create this piece. Catch MATEO at South by Southwest this March and at other festivals throughout the year. 

HER

My last Frames piece for The Dissolve is up-- a poster design for Spike Jonze's HER. Seen here in the bottom right along with the other seven designs I created for the Frames column (click to enlarge). Thanks to the fantastic staff and readers of The Dissolve, and keep your eyes there for more collaborations in the near future...

Design Bookshelf: GRAPHIS ANNUAL 65-66

Here are some highlights and personal favorite selections from Graphis Annual 65-66. Enjoy! (Above: Lionel Kalish, Time magazine advertisement; click to enlarge)

 

Bayer Team-vide Index - Bayer sedatives graphics

Andrzej Onegin-Dabrowski - i Delfini film poster

Elso Schiavo - Usego advertisement

Dan Reisinger - Julius Caesar poster

Maureen Roffey and Bernard Lodge - Guinness Nonscience pamphlet cover

G. Fankhauser - Flowers for Her

Harry Sehring - Frontiers magazine cover

Hans Jurgen Rau - Living With Conflicts

Gisela Tobler - Giocattoli advertisement

Ewa Frysztak-Witowska - A Kind of Loving film poster

Hannes and Barbara Geissler - Luxair brochure cover

Jerzy Flisak - Satirical Stories book jacket

George Wallder - Night Spot TV credits

STONE JACK JONES

I put together this cover for Ancestor, the new LP from Nashville artist Stone Jack Jones. Out March 4th!

B-SIDES

Lots of designs don't ever see the light of day, and I've been meaning for a while to dump some of them into a blog post now that some time has passed. For one reason or another, these designs never went to print, but they still hold a special place in my mind.

FOLON

Jean-Michel Folon was an award-winning Belgian artist who produced absolutely beautiful and iconic illustrations throughout the 70's and 80's. His watercolor dreamscapes give us a peek into his imagination, where fat figures with long skinny limbs float across hills and landscapes, where from hands spring birds of joy, where man becomes bird. Folon illustrated movie posters, newspaper spots, magazine covers (notably some wonderful New Yorker covers), and many pieces for ballet and the theater. He was originally a student of architecture before devoting himself completely to drawing and painting; Later in his life, he focused on sculpture and other mediums. Below, a smattering of some of my favorite Folon illustrations, including one of my all-time favorite movie posters for one of my all-time favorite films, STALKER. Read a little more about how Folon inspired a new piece of mine at The Dissolve, and visit the indispensable 50 Watts to view Folon's perfectly surreal illustrations for Kafka's Metamorphosis. 

2013 FAVORITES / CINEMA SOUND

Sammy here with a quick post on my favorite records and films of 2013, and a link to my annual playlist of film score selections from the year. Read on if you'd like and find the download link and tracklist to my soundtrack mix below.

2013 Music

1. William Tyler - Impossible Truth

2. Norm - NORM

3. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience

4. Angel Olsen - Half Way Home

5. Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

6. Sigur Ros - Kveikur

7. Hotpipes - Dust

8. Atoms for Peace - AMOK

9. The Flaming Lips - The Terror

10. The Features - s/t

honorable mention: Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Daze, Caitlin Rose - The Stand-In, Tristen - C A V E S, Those Darlins - Blur the Line, Four Tet - Beautiful Rewind. Phoenix - Bankrupt, Jon Hopkins - Immunity, The National - Trouble Will Find Me

2013 Film

1. SPRING BREAKERS

2. BEFORE MIDNIGHT

3. THE WIND RISES

4. HER

5. THE ACT OF KILLING

6. THE GREAT BEAUTY

7. MUD

8. ALL IS LOST

9. GRAVITY

10. TO THE WONDER

honorable mention: CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, MAIDENTRIP, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR, LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE, AT BERKELEY, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, STOKER, COMPUTER CHESS, POST TENEBRAS LUX, ROOM 237, KISS OF THE DAMNED, BLUE JASMINE, BASTARDS, BEHIND THE CANDELABRA.

And as I've done for the past few years, I've compiled an hour-long continuous playlist of selections from my favorite film scores of the year. It took a while to get the flow here, and it doesn't flow so quite as perfectly as in past years, but I'm always suprised to find how well certain cues match up with others (about a third of these ended up being in the same key). The tracks I selected-- mostly original scores with a couple exceptions-- are mostly very dark and very ambient so consider yourself warned. It was hard to pick which track to include from these great scores; I encourage anyone interested to seek out the rest of these featured scores and when possible support the artists and labels that have worked to release this music commerically. Listen and download at the link below.

Cinema Sound 2013 http://www.mixcloud.com/SamsMyth1/cinema-sound-2013/

0:00 - John Tavender - "The Lamb" - THE GREAT BEAUTY

3:30 - Shigeru Umebayashi - "Love Theme I" - THE GRANDMASTER

5:19 - Graham Reynolds - "Forgetting Little Things" - BEFORE MIDNIGHT

7:46 - Daniel Hart - "Ruth and Sylvie" - AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS

10:42 - Andy Quin - "Awakening" - TO THE WONDER

12:30 - M83 - "Oblivion" (excerpt) - OBLIVION

13:39 - Johann Johannsson - "I Can't Find Them" - PRISONERS

17:36 - Broadcast - "Beautiful Hair" - BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO

18:34 - Steven Price - "The Void" (excerpt) - GRAVITY

20:29 - Steve Hufsteter - "KOTD Love Theme" - KISS OF THE DAMNED

23:11 - Thomas Newman - "Very Sick Girl" - SIDE EFFECTS

25:26 - Explosions in the Sky & David Wingo - "Alone Time" - PRINCE AVALANCHE

30:12 - Pastoral - "Honey Wine & Bread (Instrumental)" - COMPUTER CHESS

32:55 - Skrillex feat. Ellie Goulding - "Ride Home" - SPRING BREAKERS

34:59 - Alexander Ebert - "Excelsior" - ALL IS LOST

37:30 - David Wingo & Lucero - "Ending" - MUD

39:29 - Joe Hisaishi - "Squad Falcon" - THE WIND RISES

41:00 - Clint Mansell - "In Full Bloom" - STOKER

43:29 - Tindersticks - "Opening" - BASTARDS

47:00 - Rob - "Headache" - MANIAC

50:39 - Shane Carruth - "Leaves Expanded May Be Prevailing Blue Mixed With Yellow of the Sand" - UPSTREAM COLOR

53:00 - Hanan Townshend - "Sweet Prospect" - TO THE WONDER

58:00 - Cliff Martinez - "Sister, Pt. 1" - ONLY GOD FORGIVES

Bonus tracks (THE SONGS) (didn't put these together but seek them out if you'd like)

Emily Wells - Becomes the Color, STOKER

Skrillex - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, SPRING BREAKERS

Collie Ryan - It's Gonna Rain, COMPUTER CHESS

Damien Jurado - Everything Trying, THE GREAT BEAUTY

Oscar Isaac & Marcus Mumford - Fair Thee Well (Dink's Song), INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

Arcade Fire - Supersymmetry, HER

M83 featuring Suzanne Sundfor - Oblivion, OBLIVION

Ellie Goulding - Lights, SPRING BREAKERS

Yumi Matsutoya - Kaze Tachinu (Vapor Trail), THE WIND RISES

SPRING BREAKERS & 2013 IN POSTERS

Over at my ongoing Frames column at The Dissolve, I've posted a new design for what is (at press time) my favorite film of the year, SPRING BREAKERS. See the full design at The Dissolve, and if you'd like a copy from a very limited run of screenprints you can get one here at my shop. 

In the same column at The Dissolve I've also posted a roundup of my ten favorite poster designs I saw this year. Check it out and leave a comment if you'd like. 

As for other stuff I liked this year? I'll get to that soon; Still a few more movies to see, and a long soundtrack mix to put together. In other news, Nashvillians can catch me at The Stone Fox's holiday market this Saturday from 10am-4pm. Happy holidays!

2013 WORK

It's been a fun year filled with great and interesting design projects that I've felt fortunate to work on. Here's a long look back. 

DR. STRANGELOVE

This new screenprint I designed for Spoke Art and the Castro Theatre is for sale now. Signed and numbered edition of 100. Always intimidating coming up with a Kubrick design... DR. STRANGELOVE is probably my favorite comedy of all time. Pick up a print at the Spoke Art store.

ROOM 237

Here's a new cover I designed for Death Waltz Recording Co, for ROOM 237. Available in both a condensed LP (with CD) and standalone CD with pop-up digipak. I wrote some liner notes as well and was very psyched to be involved with this release, a synthy, Italo-influenced score by Jonathan Snipes and William Hudson.

WILD STYLE

I did this new poster for the 30th Anniversary of the classic hip-hop movie WILD STYLE. We made some mini posters for a recent anniversary concert, and I believe the film will be making the rounds theatrically and on home viewing as well. Check it out!