User Interface, Branding and Motion Design by Craig Rocman Vitello | Rocman Design http://rocmandesign.com User Interface, Branding and Motion Design by Craig Rocman Vitello | Rocman Design Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:02:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Top 100 Songs of 2011 http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2011/12/top-100-songs-of-2011.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2011/12/top-100-songs-of-2011.html#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:31:32 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=1917

Sooo many good singles this year, throwing 100 together (7 hours of listening) was way too easy. Can’t wait to hit shuffle and put the Spotify playlist to work, a whole workday. Tons of danceable dark pop, flamboyant pop, punk, indie rock and some hip hop. The featured artists are listed below in alphabetical order (not song rankings). My favorite song of the year was probably Blood Orange’s Champagne Coast, was obsessed Dev Hynes album for months. Click the link to listen to all the songs… enjoy, Craig!

>>Listen to Spotify Playlist

1. Active Child – Playing House (You Are All I See)
2. The Antlers – Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out (Burst Apart)
3. Austra – Lose It (Feel It Break)
4. Battles – Ice Cream (Gloss Drop)
5. Ben Westbeech – Inflections (There’s More To Life Than This)
6. Black Devil Disco Club – My Screen (Circus)
7. The Black Ghosts – Diamonds (When Animals Stare)
8. Blood Orange – Champagne Coast (Coastal Grooves)
9. Bon Iver – Towers (Bon Iver)
10. Cant – The Edge (Dreams Come True)
11. Cass McCombs – County Line (WIT’S END)
12. The Cave Singers – Swim Club (No Witch)
13. Chad Valley – Now That I’m Real/How Does It Feel (Equatorial Ultravox EP)
14. Chris Brown – Look At Me Now (F.A.M.E.)
15. Cold Cave – Underworld USA (Cherish The Light Years)
16. Com Truise – VHS Sex (Galactic Melt)
17. Connan Mockasin – Forever Dolphin Love (Forever Dolphin Love)
18. Crystal Fighters – Champion Sounds (Star Of Love)
19. Cut Copy – Pharaohs & Pyramids (Zonoscope)
20. Cut Off Your Hands – You Should Do Better (Hollow)
21. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – An Ugly Person On A Movie Screen (It’s a Corporate World)
22. Das Racist – Girl (Relax)
23. Destroyer – Downtown (Kaputt)
24. Digitalism – 2 Hearts (I Love You, Dude)
25. Dirty Beaches – Horses (Badlands)
26. DJ Khaled – I’m On One (We The Best Forever)
27. Drake – Take Care (Take Care)
28. The Drums – Money (Portamento)
29. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (Helplessness Blues)
30. Ford & Lopatin – Too Much MIDI (Channel Pressure)
31. Frank Ocean – Novacane (Nostalgia, Ultra)
32. Future Islands – Before The Bridge (On The Water)
33. Gardens & Villa – Black Hills (Gardens & Villa)
34. Gauntlet Hair – Top Bunk (Gauntlet Hair)
35. Girls – Vomit (Father, Son, Holy Ghost)
36. Handsome Furs – Repatriated (Sound Kapital)
37. Holy Ghost! – Some Children (Holy Ghost!)
38. Hooray For Earth – No Love (True Loves)
39. The Horrors – Endless Blue (Skying)
40. Hudson Mohawke – Thank You (Satin Panthers EP)
41. Is Tropical – The Greeks (Native To)
42. James Blake – Limit To Your Love (James Blake)
43. James Pants – Strange Girl (James Pants)
44. Jamie Woon – Night Air (Mirrorwriting)
45. Jay Z & Kanye West – Otis (Watch The Throne)
46. Jeff The Brotherhood – Diamond Way (We Are The Champions)
47. Joakim – Nothing Gold (Nothing Gold)
48. Joe Goddard – Gabriel (Gabriel)
49. John Maus – Hey Moon (We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves)
50. Junior Boys – ep (It’s All True)
51. Kurt Vile – Puppet To The Man (Smoke Ring For My Halo)
52. Little Dragon – Shuffle A Dream (Ritual Union)
53. Love Inks – Black Eye (E.S.P)
54. Lupe Fiasco – Out Of My Head (Lasers)
55. M83 – Midnight City (Hurry Up We’re Dreaming)
56. Memory Tapes – Wait In The Dark (Player Piano)
57. The Men – Bataille (Leave Home)
58. Metronomy – The Bay (The English Riviera)
59. The Naked and Famous – Young Blood (Passive Me, Aggressive You)
60. Neon Indian – Polish Girl (Era Extraña)
61. Nicolas Jaar – Too Many Kids Finding Rain In The Dust (Space Is Only Noise)
62. Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica (Replica)
63. Panda Bear – Alsatian Darn (Tom Boy)
64. Peaking Lights – Birds Of Paradise Dub Version (936)
65. Penguin Prison – Fair Warning (Penguin Prison)
66. Phantogram – Don’t Move (Nightlife)
67. Pictureplane – Post Physical (THEE PHYSICAL)
68. Planningtorock – The Breaks (W)
69. The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love? (In The Grace Of Your Love)
70. Real Estate – Out Of Tune (Days)
71. Robot Koch – Nitesky (The Other Side)
72. The Rosebuds – Woods (Loud Planes Fly Low)
73. SBTRKT – Wildfire (SBTRKT)
74. Shabazz Palaces – Free Press And Curl (Black Up)
75. Smith Westerns – All Die Young (Dye It Blonde)
76. St. Vincent – Cruel (Strange Mercy)
77. The Stepkids – Shadows On Behalf (The Stepkids)
78. Telekinesis – Car Crash (12 Desperate Straight Lines)
79. Theophilus London – Stop It (Timez Are Weird These Days)
80. Tom Vek – A Chore (Leisure Seizure)
81. Toro Y Moi – New Beat (Underneath The Pine)
82. Tune-Yards – Bizness (W H O K I L L)
83. TV On The Radio – Will Do (9 Types Of Light)
84. Twin Shadow – Changes (Changes EP)
85. Twin Sister – Bad Street (Bad Street)
86. Tyler, The Creator – Radicals (Goblin)
87. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – FFunny FFriends (Unknown Mortal Orchestra)
88. Vetiver – It’s Beyond Me (The Errant Charm)
89. The War On Drugs – Best Night (Slave Ambient)
90. Washed Out – Amor Fati (Within And Without)
91. White Denim – Street Joy (D)
92. Wild Beasts – End Come Too Soon (Smother)
93. WILD FLAG – Romance (Wild Flag)
94. Woodsman – In Circles (Mystic Places EP)
95. WU LYF – We Bros (Go Tell The Fire To The Mountain)
96. Wye Oak – Civilian (Civilian)
97. YACHT – Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire)
98. Young Galaxy – Cover your Tracks (Shapeshifting)
99. Yuck – Get Away (Yuck)
100. Zomby – Things Fall Apart (Dedication)

]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2011/12/top-100-songs-of-2011.html/feed 0 Top Ten Pop Albums of 2011 http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2011/12/top-ten-pop-albums-of-2011.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2011/12/top-ten-pop-albums-of-2011.html#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:59:40 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=1890 I have absolutely no business spending time on this list, but I couldn’t resist… I had to at least do one! I noticed a few trends this year, I gravitated toward more classic production value and the presence of a band, not quite as many DJ/producer  albums. I’d been on a huge bass music kick and this year saw my interest return to the band format (except SBTRKT’s amazing debut LP). Another huge influence on my listening habits can be attributed to Spotify, what an amazing discovery app, the related artists tab has been keeping me busy for months, checking out all those bands I had heard about but never had the chance to purchase/download before. Below you’ll find links to a Grooveshark playlist with one track from each artist or a Spotify playlist with the full album stream. What was your favorite album this year?

>>Listen to Playlist on Grooveshark
>>Listen to Full Albums on Spotify

Top Ten Pop Albums of 2011

  • Metronomy English Riviera
  • Real Estate Days
  • Destroyer Kaputt
  • Holy Ghost! Holy Ghost!
  • Blood Orange Coastal Grooves
  • Gardens & Villa Gardens & Villa
  • SBTRKT SBTRKT
  • Cold Cave Cherish the Light Years
  • The Drums Portamento
  • Ford & Lopatin Channel Pressure

Honorable Mention (ABC order)

  • Little Dragon Ritual Union
  • Future Islands On the Water
  • Telekinesis 12 Desperate Straight Lines
  • Twin Sister In Heaven
  • Young Galaxy Shapeshifting
]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2011/12/top-ten-pop-albums-of-2011.html/feed 0 Top Ten Mixes and Mixtapes of 2010 http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-mixes-and-mixtapes-of-2010.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-mixes-and-mixtapes-of-2010.html#comments Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:35:16 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=867 Mix outlets that I religiously listen to: Beats In Space, XLR8R, Resident Advisor, Ghostly, FACT, Dummy and Self-Titled. The time and effort put into weekly and even biweekly podcasts is amazing, and therefore I solute you. These are free and a great way to spend an hour shooting into orbit in the comfort of you office, home or on the go. Listening to a lot of mixes has made me a much more patient listener. A ten minute song is nothing, when you compare it to an hour where there may or may not be vocals to hook you in. You have to just go with it, whether it goes to slomo r&b or breakbeat techno. I hate clubs, so these mixes are completely outta the context to booze, drugs and dancing. For me it’s just headphones, beats and some knodding of the head (I won’t lie, the occasional fist pump). Anyways, here are my favorite mixes and mixtapes of the year. Most are available for free download so there should be at least a couple of wasted hours here for your holiday break. Enjoy, Craig.

Top Ten Mixes and Mixtapes of 2010

  • Das Racist Sit Down, Man mixtape
    Download
  • Girl Unit Dollars to Pounds mixtape
    Download
  • The Death Set Artificially Sweetened mixtape
    Download
  • CFCF Altered Zones mix
    Download
  • The Juan Maclean Dummy mix
    Download
  • Games Self-Titled mix
    Download
  • Soul Clap XLR8R mix
    Download
  • Nicolas Jaar Beats in Space mix
    Download
  • Gucci Mane Free Gucci mixtape
    Download
  • Tri Angle Records Let Me Shine For You (Lindsay Lohan) mixtape
    Download

Honorable Mention (ABC order)

]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-mixes-and-mixtapes-of-2010.html/feed 2 Top Twenty Five Remixes of 2010 http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-twenty-five-remixes-of-2010.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-twenty-five-remixes-of-2010.html#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:21:02 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=841 I started this list with the intention of ranking the remixes one through twenty five, like I did with others. But soon realized that this was not going to happen because I feel remixes occupy the gray areas in music. It’s difficult to rank a reworking, in my mind it’s either great or crap, a visceral reaction. Some criteria can be the quality of the original, distance from the original while keeping the feeling, production techniques or simply much it makes you wanna dance. I have a love hate relationship with dance music, I hate to dance but I love the beats. So, the best I can do at this point is present my favorite twenty five songs in alpha order. There are some serious scorchers here though, can’t wait to listen to this playlist for a while. Enjoy, Craig.

Listen to Playlist

Top Twenty Five Remixes (ABC order)

  • 100 (SUNGLASSES remix) Keepaway
  • Brothers (Caribou Remix) Hot Chip
  • Come Closer (Azari & III Remix)CFCF
  • Dancing in Slow Motion (Brenmar Remix) Teengirl Fantasy
  • Drunk Girls (Holy Ghost! Remix) LCD Soundsystem
  • The Fun Powder Plot (Junior Boys Vocal Remix) Wild Beasts
  • Hologram (Salem Remix) These New Puritans
  • I Am Dead (CFCF Remix) Jori Hulkkonen
  • I Am Not A Robot (Penguin Prison Remix) Marina And The Diamonds
  • I Will Come Back (DJ Mehdi Remix) Holy Ghost!
  • If I Knew, I’d Tell You (Javelin Remix) Neon Indian
  • Into The Night (Nicolas Jaar Remix) Azari & III
  • Jamelia (DJ Koze Remix) Caribou
  • Lifted (Le Chev Reunion Tour Remix) Lemonade
  • Me & the Moon (Matthew Dear remix) The Drums
  • Mistake (Yuksek Remix) Moby
  • Moon Theory (Sam La More Remix) Miami Horror
  • The Most Certain Sure (Bibio Remix) !!!
  • My Plants Are Dead (Games Remix) Blonde Redhead
  • Nice Girls (Blondes Remix) HEALTH
  • Night Air (Deadboy Remix) Jamie Woon
  • Sleep Paralysist (Com Truise ‘Disorder’ Remix) Neon Indian
  • So Light is Her Football (Breakbot Remix) AIR
  • Solitude Is Bliss (Canyons Remix) Tame Impala
  • Tremel (Jamie xx Remix) Glasser
]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-twenty-five-remixes-of-2010.html/feed 0 Top Ten Pop and Electronic Dance Music EPs of 2010 http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-pop-and-electronic-dance-music-eps-or-2010.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-pop-and-electronic-dance-music-eps-or-2010.html#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:39:32 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=802 The beauty of the EP is the shorter format and the opportunity to discover new music. Nowadays upcoming artists just want as many people to listen to their music as possible and often use the “pay what you want” model. There were a ton of great EPs this year and aside from the best songs list (to come), narrowing down to ten in each category proved difficult. Enjoy, Craig.

>>Listen to Playlist on Grooveshark
>>Listen to Full EP on Spotify

Top Ten Pop EPs of 2010

  • Active ChildCurtis Lane
  • Twin Sister Color Your Life
  • Girls Broken Dreams Club
  • Zola Jesus Valusia
  • Phone Home Phone Home
  • Keepaway KOMPETITOR
  • Teen Daze Four More Years
  • Real Estate Reality
  • Nite Jewel Am I Real?
  • DOM Sun Bronzed Greek Gods

Honorable Mention (ABC order)

  • British Sea Power Zeus
  • Central Services Forever Frozen In Television Time
  • J Dilla Donut Shop
  • Phone Tag Look and Feel
  • Wild Beasts Two Dancers Remixes

>>Listen to Playlist
>>Listen to Full EP on Spotify

Top Ten Electronic Dance Music EPs of 2010

  • Holy Ghost! Static On The Wire
  • James Blake CMYK
  • oOoOO oOoOO
  • Com Truise Cyanide Sisters
  • Lemonade Pure Moods
  • Balam Acab See Birds
  • Muscles Younger & Immature
  • !!! Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass
  • CFCF Drifts
  • Major LazerLazers Never Die

Honorable Mention (ABC oder)

  • Soul Clap The Clap & Friends
  • Devonwho Keepthafunkalive
  • Hot Chip We Have Remixes
  • Nicolas Jaar 6 Edits
  • Penguin Prison Golden Train
]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-pop-and-electronic-dance-music-eps-or-2010.html/feed 0 Top Ten Pop and Electronic Dance Music Albums of 2010 http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-pop-and-electronic-dance-music-albums-of-2010.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-pop-and-electronic-dance-music-albums-of-2010.html#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:09:03 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=767 This year has been utter shit in so many ways. I don’t wanna get into specifics, but let’s just say I’m sooo glad it will be behind us soon. If it wasn’t for the avalanche of quality releases this year, I don’t know where I’d be. This is the first of a couple lists I’ll be puting together, keep a lookout for top ten songs, EPs and remixes. Like last year I’ll be breaking the list into two categories, pop and electronic. The lines have been blurred a lot these past couple years between what’s considered pop songwriting and and electronic dance music. It just didn’t make sense to group them into 1 category, since a lot of of the EDM albums have a feeling or sound, rather a group of independent “songs”. No less impressive, but the EDM albums are often meant to be listened to like a mix, one track blending into the next. There’s a lot of criteria used to rate music, I rank by listenability. If I can’t put a record down or I’m going to the same album over, it’s gonna place higher. Make sure you listen to a track from each album. As always, feel free to tear me a new one after reading this! Also, I left out a few heavyweights cuz it’s BORING to state the obvious (e.g. Kanye, Big Boi, Kid Kudi etc.). Enjoy, Craig.

>>Listen to Playlist on Grooveshark
>>Listen to Full Albums on Spotify

Top Ten Pop Albums of 2010

  • Twin Shadow Forget
  • LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening
  • Deerhunter Halcyon Digest
  • Foals Total Life Forever
  • Beach House Teen Dream
  • Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Before Today
  • Yeasayer Odd Blood
  • White Denim Last Day Of Summer
  • Future Islands In Evening Air
  • Villagers Becoming A Jackal

Honorable Mention (ABC order)

  • The Radio Dept. Clinging To A Scheme
  • Suckers Wild Smile
  • Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz
  • Tame Impala Innerspeaker
  • Wild Nothing Gemini

>>Listen to Playlist

Top Ten Electronic Dance Music Albums of 2010

  • Matthew Dear Black City
  • Delorean Subiza
  • Four Tet There Is Love in You
  • Caribou Swim
  • Chromeo Business Casual
  • Small Black New Chain
  • Shit Robot From the Cradle to the Rave
  • Aeroplane We Can’t Fly
  • Teengirl Fantasy 7 AM
  • Flying Lotus Cosmogramma

Honorable Mention (ABC order)

  • Blackbird Blackbird Summer Heart LP
  • Gold Panda Lucky Shiner
  • El Guincho Pop Negro
  • Girl Talk All Day
  • Javelin No Mas
]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/12/top-ten-pop-and-electronic-dance-music-albums-of-2010.html/feed 1 Deerhunter’s Helicopter On Interface (made my day) http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/11/deerhunters-helicopter-on-interface-made-my-day.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/11/deerhunters-helicopter-on-interface-made-my-day.html#comments Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:12:15 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=741 This song live was amazing, transition to We Would Have Laughed (the amazing album closer), WOW.

In other news, come out to Phone Home’s first headlining show at LIT tomorrow night. A spot that Lauren and I used to haunt in 2004 when we first met!

P.S. I promise I’ll write about something other than Deerhunter soon

]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/11/deerhunters-helicopter-on-interface-made-my-day.html/feed 0 Deerhunter and Real Estate at Webster Hall http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/10/deerhunter-and-real-estate-at-webster-hall.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/10/deerhunter-and-real-estate-at-webster-hall.html#comments Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:59:14 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=722 Better late than never right…

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending Deerhunter and Real Estate at Webster Hall. I always missed out on Deerhunter in the past and was super bummed that I couldn’t attend the intimate Apple store performance a few weeks prior. I knew Deerhunter would be utterly epic, I love their new record and was obsessed with Microcastle for the better part of 2008.  I listened to the Real Estate discography religiously the days leading up to the show and was getting really stoked to see how it translated live.

I got outta work early and headed down to Dos Toros for some SF style mexican food, two words… chicken quesadillas. My buddy Alex was running late so I had to get sufficiently lubricated by my lonesome. Pour House across from Webster Hall leaves a lot to be desired, but they had a $2 bud special so I was content.

We got to the show a bit late and Real Estate was already on. They were a lot more deadpan than I had expected, I figured they’d be a bunch of shaggy looking dudes jamming out hard, but they were surprisingly composed (and spectacled). To their credit, the songs sounded super tight and it did get heavy at times, definitely some strong players and it held up really nice live… highly recommended. Also of note, the drummers overall appearance and playing style were amazing, like he could easily play in Spicoli’s high school band in Fast Times.

Deerhunter took a while to come on, which always pisses me off, but so is rock’n'roll. They had a tranquil background of small LED lights that looked like the stars in the sky as if you lived somewhere that’s called big sky country, maybe Montana. Aside from the super drunk college kids bookending Alex and I, this was one of the most impressive live performances of my life. It was equal parts understated, psychadelic, heavy and rhythmic. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything like it. The set list was great, the energy was phenomenal and the songs were taken far enough from the album version to keep you guessing. The highlight of my night was the new single Helicopter, what an incredible song, the downward bend before the chorus was ridiculous live and I got huge chills. Bradford Cox is a genius, this band rules and I have only one suggestion, get the obnoxious bass player off center stage. The smirking stare and sensual pogo-ing is really annoying and cheapens the experience. That’s it, great night, great music, check it off the bucket list. Below are a few shots I took with my utterly inferior blackberry camera.



]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/10/deerhunter-and-real-estate-at-webster-hall.html/feed 0 New Phone Home Artwork http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/09/new-phone-home-artwork.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/09/new-phone-home-artwork.html#comments Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:45:22 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.com/?p=177 Hello All,
It’s been a while, new post on a new blog (sorry, the sites still under construction, haven’t updated my portfolio or site in 3 years!). I had the pleasure of working on some album art for Phone Home, buddy of mine. Him and his brother make some perfectly-poised math rock, super spacey. I really dug his vibe and loved the songs so I did the cover art pro bono. Here’s the finished artwork, I’m pretty stoke about it, I haven’t delved into psychadelia for while, so it was a welcome change of direction. The Phone EP is available download only from their bandcamp page for $4, go get it!


]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/09/new-phone-home-artwork.html/feed 0 Can’t Stand Up for One Life Stand http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/02/cant-take-a-stand-on-one-life-stand.html http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/02/cant-take-a-stand-on-one-life-stand.html#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:34:52 +0000 Craig Vitello http://rocmandesign.wordpress.com/?p=151

I’ve been eating heaping spoonfuls of hater flakes for Hot Chip‘s One Life Stand for weeks. On the first couple listens I thought… too mellow, too soulful and horrible flow. I’ve always felt Alexis Taylor’s penchant for balladry would grow to be their achilles heel. Subtlety has never been Hot Chip’s strong suit and their interest in exploring slower, moodier textures never interested me. I was taken off-guard because the lead single, Take It In was great:

The first half of the album was a total snoozer, choosing to explore sedate pop songs. It begins to hit a nice stride from Alley Cats on, which is probably my favorite track off the album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9_CqxHyuzk

Alley Cats kept evoking memories of  Arthur Russell’s This Is How We Walk On The Moon:

It’s a tough task to follow 2008′s absolutely classic album, Made In The Dark. It had a ton of uptempo bangers that were perfect for the club or the headphones, like Ready For The Floor:

So… for now I’m gonna keep the album on light rotation in hopes of it becoming a grower and not turning into lost cause.

]]> http://rocmandesign.com/blog/2010/02/cant-take-a-stand-on-one-life-stand.html/feed 0