Sights & Sounds: Animal Collective / ‘Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished’ by Nick Iluzada

Sights & Sounds: Animal Collective / 'Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished' by Nick Iluzada

Nick Iluzada

I’m really excited to share this new Sights & Sounds series, and so happy to see people who are equally excited to create something rad. I’ve been a big Animal Collective fan for years now, and I felt like they had the right vibe to really inspire some great looking wallpapers. Our first wallpaper in the series is for Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished. Recorded back in ’99, the album is technically the work of Avey Tare and Panda Bear, the other guys hadn’t joined the group yet, and was heavily inspired by Avey Tare’s move from Baltimore to New York. It’s amazing how you can so easily hear the very foundations of their style in this album. The production, while not the greatest, is the one thing that makes it feel not quite right. Nonetheless, it’s actually a pretty amazing album, Panda Bear’s drumming in particular is something to hear at the very least.

To illustrate the album our fearless curator Andy chose Nick Iluzada, who has one of the coolest last names ever. Before this project I wasn’t familiar with Nick’s illustration work, which is a total shame. Nick has a wonderful sense for color and motion, check out his Footbawlerz series to see exactly what I mean. The variety and creativity in his sketchbooks is also something worth checking out as well.

Here’s what Nick had to say about his wallpaper:

“I created this image simply with the hope of capturing the feel of some specific tracks (most notably Chocolate Girl, Untitled, Someday I’ll Grow To Be As Tall As the Giant, and Alvin Row) with the album title as the jumping off point. While the record sways back and forth between gritty, high-pitched noise and serene textures, I felt that there was some sort of middle ground that could be worked with in terms of bringing the imagery away from it’s Baltimore (make everything neon rainbows) roots and a subdued yet coarse feel would do just the trick.”

A huge thanks to Nick for creating such a beautiful wallpaper and Andy Mangold for choosing such a talented guy. Check back next Wednesday at 10AM PST for the next wallpaper in our series, Animal Collective’s Danse Manatee.

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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July 20, 2011 - See more posts by Bobby

Sights & Sounds Presents Animal Collective

Sights & Sounds Presents Animal Collective

It’s been a few months since the last Sights & Sounds wallpapers, so I figured it was time for more music influenced wallpapers. This time around we’re going to visualize the music of Animal Collective, the Baltimore based weirdo-rock outfit who are always expanding their sound.

To curate this round of wallpapers, I’ve asked Baltimore designer Andy Mangold to gather the troops and create a well-rounded group of creative individuals. Andy is a phenomenal graphic designer who creates inventive logos, beautiful posters, creative branding and so much more. He’s also the founder of Friends of the Web, a team of designers building websites and mobile apps, as well as Love & Utility, which collects beautiful paraphernalia.

There are eight wallpapers total, and I promise that all of them are stunning. I was really excited by how well they all turned out. I think you’ll be excited too. The first wallpaper will be released at 10AM PST, so be sure to check it out and come back every Wednesday for more.

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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July 20, 2011 - See more posts by Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Charlie Sheen

Richard Perez, Dan Cassaro, Erik Marinovich

A little under a week ago I had a random idea, which I wrote to three of my buddies on Twitter – Richard Perez (aka Skinny Ships), Dan Cassaro (aka Young Jerks) and Erik Marinovich (aka The Big Animals). I asked them, “Can someone please get us some #tigerblood typography already? It’s already overdue.” Later that night, completely randomly and out of nowhere, I get an email from Richard that says, “Thanks to your call to arms on twitter Dan Cassaro, Erik from friends of type and I are collaborating on a special Sheen inspired desktop wallpaper for ya.”

So we’ve totally bought into the Charlie Sheen hype and these guys have made the very best Charlie Sheen wallpaper you’re ever going to see. Honestly this wallpaper could have been a horrible mess of who knows what, but these guys are professionals and are all #winning. I love that they decided to bottle up everything crazy and wonderful about Charlie Sheen. If we could honestly sell these bottles I think we’d be millionaires. You absolutely have to see the extra large sizes of these, plus there’s an iPad and inidividual iPhone wallpapers for each. A huge thanks to Richard, Dan and Erik!

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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March 9, 2011 - See more posts by Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project featuring Somefield

Somefield

For a while now I’ve had kind of a crush on the work of Somefield, also known as Barnaby Ward, who I posted about a couple years back. I’ve been keeping an eye on him and seen his work explode all over the internet. I’m absolutely in love with his style, which is very anime inspired, but I feel like he puts his own unique twist on it. I don’t think anyone will argue that it’s all downright beautiful.

For his wallpaper he created an image that to me looks like something out of Alice in Wonderland. It’s a bizarre little vignette that he decided to enhance by giving it a watercolor look and feel. I’m also smitten with the colors of it, the blues, violets and magentas absolutely pop. But it’s also a rather simple desktop at the same time, so it shouldn’t get i the way of your icons either. This is hands down one of my favorites of 2010 so far. Thanks Barnaby!

Bobby

Bobby Solomon

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April 21, 2010 - See more posts by Bobby

The Desktop Wallpaper Project by Ian O’Phelan

The Desktop Wallpaper Project by Ian O'Phelan

Ian O’Phelan

This is definitely one of the most beautifully, phallic wallpapers I’ve ever seen. Maybe I just have the mind of a 13 year old boy, but nonetheless it’s a beautiful wallpaper and extremely well done. It was made by Ian O’Phelan, a Los Angeles based illustrator who does the most incredible patterns. The pattern section on his site is absolutely stunning and should definitely be checked out if you have any kind of interest in the area.

I’m guessing that the creatures you see are all underwater beasties, but don’t they kind of look like spores as well? It’s funny because I’m listening to a new song off of Sufjan Steven’s The BQE Soundtrack and it totally fits with this wallpaper, very ethereal and unreal feeling. Give it a download and check back next week for a new wallpaper.

Bobby Solomon

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September 16, 2009 - See more posts by Bobby

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