Happy finalz.

A reinterpretation of Jack Skellington's discovery of Christmas Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Created with traditional media assembled in After Effects.

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Big Blood - Old Time Primitives

Download: Free Music Archive

Tags: freak folk, psychedlic, experimental pop

Yay! Big Blood has a new album and you should support their willingness to give it away for free and download it. They're staying true to that beautiful atmosphere between ethereal and dense but are always experimenting. The title track is rockin'.

Go listen.

Big sap.

Uh oh, Alex is getting all sentimental about everything again.

FR IE ND S!




Material possessions!


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The Duchess & The Duke - She's the Duchess, He's the Duke

Download: Mediafire
Tags: indie, folk pop, acoustic

This is the first album of the folky Rolling Stonesy duo, The Duchess & The Duke. I hosted their second album a couple years ago and I don't know why because I've always liked this one so much more.
I listened to this a few summers ago when I was getting to know the lazier side of my hometown. It works just as well, if not better for springtime. It's a really cute, fairly short album that's great for feeling antsy on a nice day or thinking about someone who isn't around or when a friend is cutting your hair outside.

Things're so good.

Someone new and fun.

Someone old and timeless.

Who wants to take bets on how soon I get a Tumblr?

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The Great Valley - Holiday, Holinight EP

Download: Bandcamp (free)
Tags: pretend-pop, summertime, lo-fi

I remember it was this time last year that I was taking my first cracks at animation and rockin' to this EP. Now it's a year later and I'm still "just starting" so why not continue listening to it?
Yo, the Great Valley is the best. They describe themselves as "pretend-pop", which can mean whatever but I think it makes sense. This is my favorite release of theirs and it's full of so many catchy riffs and warm, pleasing textural sounds. The whole thing was recorded to an 8-track, for you analog dorks out there!

These flowers in my kitchen.

You apparently can't do this with a Tascam reel-to-reel.




My autumn of '09.



This is what thoughts look like.


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Ulaan Kohl - Ceremony. Vol. I

Download: Bandcamp
Tags: avant garde, experimental, psychedelic

Another Steven R. Smith project. This one is a lot more textural and droney. I hope y'all are into rockin' psychedelic soundscapes because it's all I've been listening to lately.

"The Brain of Pooh"

Masha wears a sweater of nighttime.

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The Act of Estimating as Worthless - These Splintered Minds//Leaden Thoughts Sing Softly

Download: Bandcamp
Tags: indie-acoustic, folk, majestic, lo-fi

Act Of is quiet and cute but swells to glory and triumph. Everything on this album is loaded with beauty, from the songwriting to the production to the the gorgeous cassette packaging.
Listen to it at night while chopping garlic.

Oh, the humidity.

Creepytown from Alex Krokus on Vimeo.

This was my final project for a 2D Computer Animation class I took this past semester. It's based on a doodle I posted a while back. Mike Ditrio did all of the sound, so props to him for adding a lot of mood and beauty that I sure as hell couldn't provide otherwise.

Things are hot and stressful but I think I'm learning what direction I'd like to be going with the things I'm making. Animated stories were essentially my third parent growing up and I feel as if it's only right to give back to what turned me into what I am today. Also, I feel that it's a field where I can tend to my love of illustration, storytelling and music all at once. No interest should be left behind, right?

And when you get blue...

April '11 Sound Demo from Alex Krokus on Vimeo.

This is my first sincere attempt at animation. It's a video demonstration of creating imagery and motion for sound. Over the past while, I've been scribbling a lot of words about the way we perceive the world and express ourselves through our different senses. Whether it be painting, singing, cooking or anything, we're trying to say something big that our words would fall short on. I believe that all forms of media are just boats sailing on the same mysterious ocean and I want to start trying to incorporate that concept into more of the things I do.

(Maybe one day I'll try to formalize my thoughts into something a little more literal and I won't have to hide behind a cute metaphor.)

This was created in Adobe After Effects. It's merely me working with the program so I can make a more ambitious video later in the semester. Get hyped!

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Jessy Carolina & The Hot Mess - October 2010 Bootleg

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?gkjwc5zmfmd78z9
Tags: early jazz, ragtime, blues, folk

The current incarnation of The Bill Murray Experience. Sure, it's a bootleg and that's not actually album art, but it's still really good! I swear! Just like the BME, these guys are practically a house band for Roots 'n' Ruckus at the Jalopy Theatre, so next time you're in Red Hook on a Wednesday night, see if you can catch them there.