Earlier this week I caught wind of the hotness that is the Dekalb Police Deptartment’s website. The minute your browser pulls up the site, it immediately starts playing one of many lo-fi crunk beats on loop. I enjoyed the website’s soundtracks so much that I sent the link out to lots of friends and received responses such as “Only in ATL…” and “omg this is awesome”. Unfortunately, the DCPD realized that their website was an internet sensation for the wrong reasons and has since taken the music off of their site, but not before nerdcore-rapper, ytcracker, could got a hold of them. He’s since created a six track album where he and his posse drop lyrics to the beats that were previously hosted on the DCPD website. Each song is named after the web URL where the lyric-less track was originally hosted. Don’t believe me? Get the full story here.

Download: ytcracker - http://www.dekalbpolice.com_index_home.html

Name:
Christopher Schlitzer

Aka:  
DJ Chris Crisis

Website:
www.rehabmusic.com

Where are you from?
Allentown, Pennsylvania

Who do you work for? 
Boonbox Records

What are your Current Project(s)? 
REHAB, WRBN, making Beats/Songs, Demun Jones’ album, the Lamar Williams Jr. album, mixtapes, filming and editing the Rehab Tour DVD!

Who would you love to work with?
Quincy Jones, Rick Rubin, The Neptunes, and people with unique talent.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
My exclusive zooms Hano Leathers gave me. Or my Nike Aqua socks.

What’s on your iPod right now?
RUN DMC! Forever! It never gets old.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Papi’s Cuban on Ponce

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Halo!

What are your Pet Peeves?
Popping gum, radio commercials, unstable stages.

Shout outs?
Danny Boone, Steak, MIke Hartnett, Hano Leathers, Foz, Chris Hood, Demun Jones, Lamar Williams Jr., Ron Lewis and of course Epidemik Coalition!

My buddy Jesse Miller sent me this photo from downtown Atlanta the other day. It looks like we’ve put words in the mouth of ATL’s own, Dr. Blade. This isn’t the first time we’ve crossed paths with Dr. Blade. A couple years back, we both participated in Museum of Design Atlanta’s “To A T” show together.

This Tuesday the 20th, come join us at El Bar for the inauguration of our new president, Barack Obama. DJ Lord and Cristo Disco will be supplying us with celebration music all night. Doors open at 9 PM and the music starts at 10 PM. Free Admission.

Name:
Aaron Martell

Website:
thejonesesway.com

Where are you from?
I’m from outside of Chicago originally. I moved back to Chicago six months ago and have been living in Bucktown since then. Come up here and I’ll show you around

Who do you work for? 
I won’t bore you with the details of my nine to five. After the day job it’s The Joneses. 

What are your Current Project(s)? 
I’m mainly focused on The Joneses at the moment. I’m trying to make it into something worth while that people are excited to be a part of. Outside of that, creating the perfect ice cube.

Who would you love to work with?
Wes Anderson, Richard Branson, and the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
My white vans seem to be the most versatile shoe I own. So the white vans.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Bill Withers, James Brown, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Chromeo, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and whatever is new on Kitschworth.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Highland Bakery

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Standard and El Bar

What are your Pet Peeves?
One of my biggest pet peeves is people with bad manners. One of our tees from this season was a social commentary on the gradual disappearance of manners. I’m by no means an expert so if you notice something let me know. 

Shout outs?
Atlanta. I know that’s cliché but without the support from Atlanta in last year or so the Joneses most likely wouldn’t exist. I owe a lot of thanks to many people down there. The city feels like a second home and I’m always excited when I know a new trip is on the horizon. Thanks for making that the case. EC keep up the good work and thanks for letting me be a part of the blog.

Friend of EC and Atlanta-based designer Mick Bailey recently launched his very own online magazine called Commuter Culture Magazine. I caught wind of this school-project-turned-online-masterpiece last month and have been checking it regularly since.

Mick describes the vision behind the online magazine as showcasing people and communities have a unique way of doing what we all deal with everyday: commuting. Whether that manifests itself in reporting on a customized surfer van, a world-class bicycle culture, or a story about national ridership trends on rail lines, this site covers real info. Aside from sporting a great visual design, the attitude and content of the online magazine is both unique for Atlanta and very topical in this woeful post-2008 America. Quality-over-quantity rules here, as each post is written as an article with carefully gathered or custom-designed imagery.

I’m interested to see where this haven for a good attitude towards commuting goes!

Name:
Chris Black

Aka:  
Mr. Done To Death, Black Nasty, C. Black

Website:
www.donetodeathprojects.com

Where are you from?
Atlanta, GA & New York City

Who do you work for? 
Done To Death Projects

What are your Current Project(s)? 
Cartel, U.S. Royalty, SCOPE Art Fair Events, Listen Up, Staying High, Getting Money, Having Fun

Who would you love to work with?
Larry David, Perez Hilton, Lil Wayne, Joel McHale, DJ Premier, Steven Alan

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
Vans Chukka Boots - All White

What’s on your iPod right now?
U.S. Royalty “Keep It Cool” (Bo Flex Remix), Passion Pit “Chunk Of Change”, Lily Allen “It’s Not Me, It’s You”, Paper Route Gangstaz “Fear And Loathing In Huntsvegas”, Wiley Feat Daniel Merriweather “Money In My Pocket”, T.I. “Papertrail”, James Pants “Welcome”, Lissy Trullie “Self Taught Learner”, Kid Cudi Feat Collie Buddz “Day & Nite (Remix)”, The Killers “Day and Age”, Atlas Sound “Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel”, Jessica Tonder “Art Of War”

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Tortillas(RIP), El Myr, Fritti, Eats, Spoon, The Globe, Carrol Street Cafe, Bluepointe, Surin

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
El Bar, The Local, Drunken Unicorn, The Bookhouse, The Highland Inn Hotel (GET DARK)

What are your Pet Peeves?
BAPE extremists, bad drivers, rain, southern accents, Miami fashion, rude bartenders, general untrillness.

Shout outs?
Cartel, U.S. Royalty, Rob Wonder, Ezra Morris, Kenn TwoFour, Wearwolf Press, Standard, Farshad Arshid, Decatur Dan, Mr. Ryan, Dan Suh (Korean Tom Cruise), Ellis Jones, Chuck Sammons, Michelle Sellers, Jessica Tonder, Kenyon Tavares, Gracie T-Pleasure, Cakes, Blu Jemz, Nightmare Of You, Bo Flex, Stanley, Jude, Little Joe, Vacation, Larry Luk, Georgios Saliaris, Elizabeth Elliot, SCOPE, Tom Chesire, Lloyd Benjamin, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, Get This! Gallery, Dry Ink Magazine, Scott Ingram, The Coathangers, Ultragrrrl, Gurj Bassi, Athletics NYC, Vice, Swindle / R Rock Enterprises, Marc Brown & Buzznet, The Hotel On Rivington, The Joneses, Are Bernard, Vapors Magazine, IHEARTJLP, Gary & Lynda Black.

Our downtown Atlanta studio was bustling this morning, as everyone on team EC was finally in one place to meet and discuss the launch of our PROCESS line and our studio goals for 2009. It feels good to shed that holiday weight and get back to work.

photo by Rob Wonder

Here’s a look inside the PROCESS gift bags from El Bar’s New Years Eve party. Inside you’ve got the new El Bar tee (designed by Georgios of EC & PROCESS where he remixed the logo by Steve Deniro), a sticker pack from The Joneses, a StreetLocal Gentleman comb, the new Frank magazine, Scion socks, and various mixtapes including remixes from ATL’s own, Rob Wonder, Klever, & Treasure Fingers. Not pictured are the 2009 V.I.P./No Cover keychains that were also handed out at the door. Thanks to everyone who came out and made it an extra-special evening!

If you were at El Bar for New Years Eve last night, you may have noticed their new sign hanging behind the bar (designed by Steve Deniro). Here’s how it was made…

Read the rest of this entry »

2008 was a different year for me in music.

It was the first year when all of my new music was acquired from blog surfing, the iTunes store, and from links to full album downloads provided by friends. This was in place of browsing and purchasing the majority of my discs at my local record shop. I kinda feel guilty about it, but I know the internet is a funny thing that both enables and disables success in the music industry. In any case, I have been able to hear more music this year, only a portion of which I ended up keeping. Some people despise this as ‘consuming’ music. I say its just being hungry for what’s new and taking advantage of the internet. I also enjoy reading a bit of the conversation about a piece of audible culture on the blogs and want to partake in it all by clicking download.

Meanwhile, efforts started by Geographic North, a music label co-birthed by Atlanta designer Farbod Kokabi, has emphasized the importance of tangibility and design in their vinyl LP subscription-based system of new artists. It has been great to have both and is a refreshing way to experience music in an era of 1’s and 0’s.

After the jump is my top-5 list for this year consisting of music collected from all the sources mentioned above, with a lil commentary for each. This is not based on music I wanted to advertise, but instead a direct result of sorting by iTunes’ play-count. Enjoy!
Read the rest of this entry »

Name:
Chris Cantagallo

Aka:  
DJ Cristo Disco. Just Cristo for short.

Website:
http://www.myspace.com/cristo1atl

Where are you from?
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and New Jersey, but reppin ATL

Who do you work for? 
El Bar, The Warren, and one time gigs here and there and everywhere.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
Constantly looking up new and old music.

Who would you love to work with?
Justice and/or Rick Rubin

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
I would Definitly keep my black Nike Dunk High Nylons with the gold swoosh. They got to be the most comfortable shoes I’ve worn.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Gucci Mane “in the Kitchen”, Justice “Stress, Genesis”,  Metallica “Battery”, Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”, Ice Tea “6 in the morning”, Steppin’ Out (Rob Wonder Rmx), ‘93 Too Short and Kilo, Prince Presto The Glamour Mix, and Slugger Mixes 1, 2, & 3.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Fellini’s & wings at The Local

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
El Bar, MJQ, Bookhouse, The Local

What are your Pet Peeves?
Harassing Music Requests while I’m playing records. So annoying.

Shout outs?
Farzana, Prince Presto, Rob Wonder, Rosa, Slugger, Dax, Sumner, Corey King Alga, Henry, The Joneses, PROCESS/EC, Colleen, Tara, Frank 151, Lush Life, Freshiam, Standard, Street Local, Oh Snap Kid for the awesome pics, Zach Wolfe, Mimi thanks for the fresh hair did, and my Poncey Peeps. My mind just went blank… lol

Jeremy Abernathy from ArtVoices Magazine conducted a phone interview with me back in October, as his coverage of the LeFlash event in Castleberry Hill. The interview was just published in the December issue of this print-only magazine, which has distribution in New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, DC, NYC, LA, and Seattle.

The article mentions Epidemik Coalition and an installation called THE WALL which was featured in Art House Gallery the night of the event. For those who remember, THE WALL is a project I designed which accepts user-submitted images via email and throws them up large-scale in a public space to create a sort of live, electronic, community billboard. Your neighbor’s new baby, an absurd situation in the grocery store, your friends clinking their beer glasses: anything you would photo-blog from your cell phone cam is fair-game for this system that publicizes these images in an outdoor setting. (instead of being stuck in a private setting on your home laptop).

Although brief, the article touches on the point of the project and something all of the EC crew is aiming for: using design to build better and stronger places and people. Until I can get my hands on a copy of the printed magazine to have around the studio, click here to link to the full-page scan of the write-up.

Last week while visiting our foosball buddy, Ian McPherson, at Ruin skate shop, we got a sneak preview of his store’s collaboration with skateboarding staple, Spitfire wheels. Kids have been rolling around on Spitfires for ages. I remember when nothing else would suffice. Congrats to Ian on being part of such a skateboarding legacy. Trade in your crappy Xmas gifts for $$ and head over to Ruin for these babies. Available very soon. I’d call and ask about availability: (404) 943-1178

In the spirit of giving, here’s our contribution to New Years Eve at El Bar. Our PROCESS tote bags will be holding new El Bar tees, designed by Georgios of EC/PROCESS, in addition to other gifts from Frank 151, The Joneses, StreetLocal and more.

Check out production photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Esper Magazine is a revolutionary web-based, interactive magazine from England. They felt strongly about featuring PROCESS and conducting an interview with yours truly in their premiere issue. Special thanks to Terry, Marc, and the rest of the Esper team for puttin’ us on! Check out our feature here.

Name(s):
Catherine and Lauren Lee

Aka:  
The AsianCajuns

Website:
asiancajuns.blogspot.com

Where are you from?
Born and raised in the D.C. ‘burbs.

Who do you work for? 
Catherine - City of Decatur. Three cheers for municipal government!
Lauren – Lampe-Farley Communications, Inc. as a graphic designer.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
C - At work: updating the city’s website. At home: creating a playlist with a New Year’s theme, knitting a teapot cozy and beefing up the blog.
L – Turning the blog into a full-blown website, illustrating/painting, and making traveling plans around the world (pipe dreams at the moment).

Who would you love to work with?
C - I would love to create sets with Tim Walker, roam the streets of NYC with The Sartorialist and plan a city plaza with William H. Whyte.
L – Jeff Wall (as his assistant, lacky, coffee-fetcher), Eve Ensler (again, anything required), Stephan Sagmeister, Christian Louboutin, my sister (on more than just the blog).

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
C - My beat up Chuck Taylors are my only pair of sneakers. I wore them all around Europe and dread the day they fall apart. They’re 6 years old, but I’ve been able to preserve them pretty well since I mostly wear heels - 3 to 4 inch heels are best for us short girls.
L – I don’t own any sneakers, but have about 9 pairs of boots, and the rest are heels of some sort. After 8 years in pointe shoes, Cath and I built up a reasonably impressive tolerance to foot pain. 

What’s on your iPod right now?
C - Empire of the Sun, MGMT, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
L – (I don’t own an ipod, but my playlist would be the same as Cath’s. We have the exact same taste in music, but luckily not other things)

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
C - Roasted onion and pork sandwich from Sawicki’s, Brewhouse’s fish and chips, and shrimp and grits at Watershed.
L – Margaritas from Taqueria del Sol, cinnamon sugar doughnuts from Duck’s Cosmic Kitchen, anything from Southern Sweets, and cookies from The Cookie Studio.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
C - Brickstore Pub.
L – Brickstore, The Grange and The Wren’s Nest

What are your Pet Peeves?
C - Squeaky doors. WD-40 is a godsend.
L – Loud mastication.

Shout outs?
C - Cheers to all of our fellow Atlanta bloggers!
L – All of our readers! You guys seriously make our day, everyday.

Black El Bar keychain

Remember to pre-pay your $20 for New Years Eve at El Bar. You’ll get one of these “No Cover / V.I.P.” keychains that will allow you to get into El Bar for FREE in 2009. It’s totally worth it! If you can’t make it by the bar in time, you can always email them at and they should be able to work something out with you.

Keychains will come in 3 different colorways, see them all after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

European-based clothing designer and friend of EC, Megan Huntz, stopped by the studio friday for some help with updates to her website. We incorporated some beautiful shots of girls wearing Megan’s handmade dresses taken by EC’s Jorge Menes in Barcelona, Spain this past summer. Megan just wrapped-up with a special holiday clothing sale at Atlanta’s Center for Design Study and is prepping for continued work on her dress line in 2009. Her items are carried in multiple boutiques in Italy and Spain, check her website for more information and store names. Being in the holiday spirit, Megan left sporting an I Bike ATL shirt courtesy of yours truly.

While she was here, I asked Megan if she had any ideas for a conceptual sweatshirt for me. Something I could ride a bike in. I have some ideas and am ready to create. Now just to find someone with a sewing machine state-side…

Here’s a preview of the new El Bar tee that is one of the many reasons you should pre-pay for their New Years Eve party. $20 gets you so many benefits including one of these shirts. Nothing is more ATL than this tee… except for being a Celtic hater. (Don’t pretend like you rep the A and let me see you at Philips Arena cheering for Boston. That’s negative points in my book, you poser!)

Check out production photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »