If you haven’t seen Street View Hyperlapse making its way across the Internet at hyper-speed, now’s the time to check it out. The creative labs over at Teehan+Lax put together this nifty chunk of code that lets you take a Back-To-The-Future style road trip from point A to point B.

Watch the demo above and then go play with it here (and make sure you play with the camera angles, possibly the most stunning part.)

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A pretty great video of Amanda Palmer’s Ted Talk, discussing not how to make people to pay for music, but how we can let them pay for music. Loved how she related the connections from in-person to online. Worth a watch.

Mika and I on NYE. Photo by my talented friend Colin Medley.
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This month has been insanely busy. I have relaunched my art project, An Hour Of My Time, making paintings each hour almost every day. This time I’ve partnered with SKETCH Toronto -a great organisation that brings at-risk youth into studios- to help raise awareness of the great work they do. I am terribly behind on scanning and production and it’s becoming painfully clear that an undertaking like this is more difficult without the studio space I was afforded the first time around.

If you have a moment, take a loot at the Tumblr or peruse the gallery. There are some fantastic guest artists participating and I’d really love it if you’d support this project.

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I’ve also been hard at work in the music studio, getting close to finishing a new KASHKA record with Leon Taheny. The sounds we’re getting are rich and lush and I’m more than a little excited to share the new music as soon as I can. Singing feels really good these days and so much more physical than before.

C’est tout pour maintenent. Keep up with my daily nonsense through my Twitter or Instagram feed. Spring’s just around the corner!

x

“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the music the words make.”

― Truman Capote

Some of my current favourite images from German photographer Martin Scott. 

Sometimes when I have nothing to listen to, I dig up an Elton John playlist on YouTube and just admire the songwriting. Sure, there’s been some cheesy stuff over the years (Lion King!) but an unmistakable sincerity runs throughout his catalogue. His long time collaborator, Bernie Taupin, writes lyrics that are deceptively simple but so utterly effective at dragging a tired hand across one’s heartstrings.

I was hanging out with a friend the other day and we were tossing ideas back and forth about writing, and how to really capture the mood in a song. He maintains adopting a simpler way of lyric writing, reducing the metaphors to be more straightforward statements. This both intrigued and terrified me. On one hand, it is a completely reasonable way to write a song that will be understood by a large number of people but on the other hand, it feels like a very intense undertaking. For me, metaphors allow the song to be relatable in a variety of contexts, dependent on what the listener brings to the listener experience.

Perhaps just returning to Elton John for all the answers is best: “If you write great songs with meaning and emotion, they will last for ever because songs are the key to everything.”

Decay – a zombie movie. A long time supporter-of-the-music-I-make tweeted at me recently to let me know he did the soundtrack for this film. It’s a decent zombie flick, watch it if you can!

Please consider dropping a few bucks on some independent music for your gift-giving needs. I can even draw a custom postcard for you… just sayin’.

Thanks for all your support, and have a great holiday time with family.
And if you’re willing, just click that wee image and buy a few songs instead of a coffee today :) xo

What a great time I have had in Poland so far! Lublin has been an enlightening experience, and one I cherish. The city is just steeped in history, culture and art and I had the fortune of being taught all about it from a number of fantastic residents. Wonderfully kind, the Orkiestra sw Mikołaj also taught me about the kuta, dulcimer and other regional instruments. Not only are they all fantastic musicians in their own right, they are also very much involved in their community and play a significant role in inspiring others to the beauty of Lublin and surrounding areas.

Oh, and if you are into all things printed, like I am, check out the amazing House of Print if you ever visit. They’ve got a large collection of early presses and about a hundred drawers of type. I totally geeked over the wooden fonts and the rebellion print material that was secretly printed during the war. Wicked stuff.