I don’t know what’s the occasion, the only event I know is Apple ‘Rock and Roll‘ yesterday, which is releasing new series iPod generation, iTunes 9 (first screenshot below, great new store interface) and the return of Steve Jobs to the stage. Since yesterday there are changes in web interface of some big sites. And also they have same changes, everything bigger. Button and font in Google, header in Last.fm, font and box in Yahoo mail (don’t like it, reduce my reading area). Meanwhile Yahoo homepage already changes about a month ago. It’s better.

[update 120909] Picture below is Norah Jones at iTunes Store, she’s already featured in iTunes LP so you can dive into animated lyrics and liner notes, watch performance videos, view her photos, and enjoy other bonus materials. She performed at Apple Special Event, Rock and Roll (I just watch it), with two song Come Away With Me and new song Young Blood from her new album which will be released at November.

Here another free release from In A Cabin With. Actually, I got the email from IACW about 2 weeks ago. The Black Atlantic with their album Reverence for Fallen Trees. Recorded in Saranac lake, Upstate New York with Geert van der Velde, Kim Janssen, Marcel Wolthof and a bunch of additional musicians like Peter Silberman of The Antlers [I like this], Brandan Stephens and Adam Labutka.

Musically the new songs showcase a much wider variety of instrumentation and willingness to experiment with sounds and soundscapes, and the use of multi-layered vocal harmonies; inspired by such acts as Bon Iver [I like this], Fleet Foxes and the Beach Boys. Rhytmically the group has chosen for a much more minimal, percussive approach touring with only a snare drum, floor tom and cymbal. (IP)

Genre : Indie, Rock, Pop, Acoustic, Experimental.

[MySpace. Download (email needed)]

Six day ago, first day of this month, Opera unveiled the final version of Opera 10. It came with new application interface, it’s nice, not like an old time software in v.9. It also came with new icon (on the right). New red color, brighter, I like the new color! And now the light come from above, so the shadow is under the icon, no more floating shadow. But it kinda look fat. I’m not saying brighter but fatter. Brighter and fatter. It’s not like big is not beautiful. Maybe it’s just because it’s different from the previous.

Back to the color. Here’s some screenshot from Romance (1999). The dress color look like the same with the new icon. The most interesting about this scene is the contrast between the dress and the room, red and white. Really great setting for this scene. In my dock this Opera icon is right beside Adium icon which is white too. It make the icon shining just like this girl shining (unfortunately I don’t have HD version to state this).

[update 180909] Here’s another shoot from Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009). Kinda similar.

A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies, which can either imitate other instruments, such as flutes or guitars, or generate unusual new timbres.

So, humanthesizer is synthesizer made from human, in this case made of, er, pretty ladies! Take 15 bikini-clad lovelies, paint them in special ink and put them in a dance studio with special conductive pads on the floor and, hey presto, you have the Humanthesizer. (But this is not about the ladies.)

Basically, the ladies stand on conductive pads on the floor, and paint their (and Harris’s) hands with the conductive skin-safe ink called Bare Conductive. When Harris slaps his hands against those of the ladies, a small current travels through their bodies and onto the pads on the floor, which triggers a sound, all without the girls feeling a thing (Giz).

This is made to promote Calvin Harris’s single, Ready for the Weekend. And the album already out now! If you need a preview of this new album take a look at his MySpace, genre: Electro, Electroclash, Pop, Disco, Dance.

The winners of the idea competition for the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) 2009 in collaboration with Ikatan Arsitek Indonesia (Indonesian Institute of Architect) have just been announced. The theme of this year’s competition  Gotong Royong City (translated to be “mutual assistance”) is took create an “urban condition that enables diverse cultures and lifestyles to coexist….in the context of the extended metropolitan region of Jakarta”. Three winning entries was selected by an international jury for exhibition in the IABR 2009 and awarded prizes totaling 7,000 Euros.

First prize: Jakarta Bersih!

Here’s one special mention: Ojek City

And here’s the comparison of Busway Route and Ojek Route LOL

Ojek, take you anywhere you wanna go.

[gotongroyongcity via ArchDaily]

They got similar nice voice, similar kind of music, and similar ‘future robotic doll’ face (at least in this album cover), which is great.

First cover from Sarah Blasko “As Day Follows Night”, second one from Ingrid Michaelson “Be OK”. By the way Ingrid just release her new single called “Maybe”. You can get it at iTunes.

I like Ingrid better than Sarah and I like to live like Ingrid says in her song “Far Away” from “Girls and Boys” album:

Far away far away, I want to go far away.
To a new life on a new shore line.
Where the water is blue and the people are new.
To another island, in another life.

Beyond the Sky is a compilation album from Invasi Records that consist of 15 bands from Indonesia and 1 from Singapore.

Ansaphone (Bandung), Korine Conception (Medan), Individual Life (Jogja), Autumn Ode (Bandung), Marche La Void (Jakarta), Retrieval (Bandung), Under The Big Bright Yellow Sun (Bandung), Stellarium (Singapore), Midnight Ark (Jakarta), Mataharibisu (Jakarta), Slylab (Bandung), Channelpain (Jakarta), Amanda oh Amanda (Jakarta), Little Space Donkey (Jakarta), Summer in Berlin (Jakarta), dan Folkaholic (Jakarta).

dl: First Part: shoegaze, post-rock, experimental

dl: Second Part: electronic, electroacoustic, ambient, and down-tempo

Great indie local compilation album. First part is my fav music genre, post rock. I already got one of the song, Scientific Despair from Marché La Void. Nice cover picture by the way. It’s one picture, separated into two part, for part one and two.

[Beyond The Sky: big thing from us!]

We’ll Make It Right. Genre: jazz, pop, ballad

1. Stop Trying So Hard
2. My Best Friend
3. It Ain’t All Good
4. Just Like A Man
5. For The Sleeping
6. Peace And Happiness
7. Some Say
8. Some Day
9. We’ll make It Bright

The 9 songs that make up this album were recorded in a fancy hotel, The Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, The Netherlands between the 1st and 7th of January 2009. Probably the most famous of these musicians is Benny Sings, so it comes as no surprise that the whole album sounds a lot like his personal works.

Nice album. I like track 7 most! It’s difficult to find the lyrics.

dl: IN A CABIN WITH

They are students, not professional, but their work is professional. Nice ads!

Response to D&AD Student Awards (design and advertising) brief set by Hewlett Packard.
“Present an idea which promotes HP Workstations ability to bring to life anything the creative mind can conceive.”

They asked us to make a new icon that really represents iTunes, not that old, busted CD. I circled mine in the picture, The PiraTunes. It’s not in the big three, but still have a place in the top of the page.