Last week citizensound met Albion. We did (well, Paul did with our support..,) a presentation on music and how does that influence our daily life. It was a very pleasant gathering at Albion, we were invited for lunch. Upon our arrival there were already 15 people gathered round the table sipping their tea and having a bite in what could have been a perfect Sunday family lunch. We loved it!
Tim Bateman is a senior creative at Albion.
For Tim, music and design have always gone hand in hand so it was no surprise that he works with a bunch of musicaholics. They spent most time listening to music, talking about music and making compilations for each other, “they could have been inspired by a story we had read in the paper or made as a birthday present or to share our favourite tracks of the year. And, as designers, we’d always want to package them in a way that we thought represented the quality of the music” .
Can we have more of these kind of agencies? Please..
We asked Tim some questions about his favourites.
Favourite album at the moment? White Denim - Workout Holiday/Exposion. The UK and US releases had a slightly different tracklisting (and name) but either way this is an incredibly good debut and definitely the best album of 2008 and Pavement - Brighten The Corners. The original was awesome enough but the recent two disc reissue has got another 34 tracks including Grave Architecture, my favourite track from Wowee Zowee. Definitely the best reissue of 2008.
A song that always makes you smile? I think it’s the lyrics that make me smile in these two tracks from the Lemonheads: The Outdoor Type and Being Around . Evan Dando is a complete lyrical genius and The Outdoor Type contains my favourite line ever: “Never learnt to swim, can’t grow a beard or even fight, I lied about being the outdoor type”. Being Around is just good all the way through with lyrics like “If I was a booger, would you blow your nose? Where would you keep it? Would you eat it? I’m just trying to give myself a reason, for being around”. Lovely.
Favorite recent gig? Another twosome: In October, my girlfriend and I did an eight hour road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway, getting to Berkeley just in time to see Sigur Ros play an epic, rain soaked, crowd-stampingly good set at the open-air Greek Theatre. Then did the eight hour drive back down to dance our asses (american for arse. Not donkey) off to Cut Copy at another open air gig in downtown LA.
Greatest party record of all time? Again this one works in twos. And these two tracks have never failed to get parties going: First, put on the Headman mix of Seelenluft’s Manila. It’s impossible not to tap or nod a part of your body to this track, that bassline is just too damn funky (and the lyrics are all about starting to dance). Then, just before people realise how much fun they’re having, stick on House Of Jealous lovers by the Rapture and watch grown men (and women) dance around on tables screaming the chorus at the top of their voice like a bunch of air guitar-wielding girls.
Song you couldn’t resist singing or humming along to loudly? Even though you’re wearing your headphones? I could’ve just picked one for this question but I didn’t want it to feel left out. So, the ultimate singing, humming, tapping or screeching like a guitar riff along to song for me is Set You Free by The Black Keys. A friend of mine used to refer to it as knicker-elastic-snapping but I’m sure I’ve snapped a fair amount of people’s patience while I’m listening to it on headphones. And coming a close second is To The East by Electrelane. It sounds like the soundtrack to the coolest indie flick ever. I doubt I sound quite as cool while I’m squealing along to its addictive chorus.
This is the cover for Tim´s Two Thousand and Eight album.
