Sunday September 25, 2005 -- 1:59 p.m.

I have this friend, see. She is oddly brilliant artistically, and has been turning her hand to a little bit of the old CD design lately with frighteningly amazing results. I made a few mixes for her a ways back, she gave me a deeply personal one (which is why you won't be seeing it in the music section of this site ever), and then I gave her some more CDs of albums that I just straight-up burned and made new covers for. And that was that. Or so I thought.

Months pass. I am visiting her one evening and she hesitantly says she would like to show me something. I am curious and sit patiently at the table until she returns with a small stack of CDs. At first they look so keen I think that she bought them somewhere, but then I recognize some of the names and think to myself "Wait, the cover doesn't look like that." Thunderstruck, I realize that she herself made these covers, using only glue, cutouts, ink, paint, and her own elegantly sublime handwriting.

At first I was sick with jealousy. After all, it was I, Matt Kish, who first gave her burned CDs with new covers. In fact, I think at the time I remember her mentioning something about how they were nice gifts from me but in general she preferred to buy CDs since she would rather have the band's cover art. I couldn't fault her for that since it is an opinion I have heard numerous friends express, and there is certainly something to be said for beautiful and professional CD packaging. Being a die hard do-it-yourselfer, though, part of me felt she was missing out a bit on the joy of building a personal music collection. Anyway, the jealousy simultaneously heightened and disappeared when I saw how far she had taken the CD design aesthetic. She approached it all in a completely different way than I had ever imagined, and reconceptualized every aspect of the process, including painting the CD itself, and sticking paper and other things to the surface of the CD. Her results were nothing short of incredible, and after a lot of begging on my part she agreed to let me borrow 3 of her efforts to share on this web site. Since she is somewhat reluctant in terms of me sharing her identity, I will not credit her here (as she requested) and instead share the only photo I have of her. If you know her, you'll be able to tell who it is from this photo. If you know me and not her, you might be able to guess who it is. And if you can't, then just enjoy the CD covers.


Here are the front and back covers for the Decemberists' "Castaways and Cutouts"...





Here are the front and back covers, plus a double-sized shot of the interior, of Yo La Tengo's "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out"...





...and the inside (I especially like the hand-stamped letters)...



And finally her cover (and CD) for the Magnetic Fields' "69 Love Songs, Vol. 1"...





...and the CD itself, which she painted on and then scored with the name of the CD...



I am looking forward to her next efforts with enormous anticipation, especially since she has promised me not one but two mix CDs.

Matt K.

Friday September 23, 2005 -- 2:38 p.m.

CD shopping last night was a welcome break for both Rudy and I. Although I did not find the Hella double disc "Chirpin Hard / Church Gone Wild" until my additional trip to Magnolia Thunderpussy this morning, we did snag "Collecting the Kid" from El-P and "Where's Black Ben?" by Need New Body finally. Both of those, plus the leaked copy of "The Mouse and the Mask" from DangerDoom that a friend hooked me up with provided the final ingredients necessary to complete the long awaited "Iron Galaxy 11" compilation which is done but waiting for a sub-title. The tracks are--

01. Overture : VIKTOR VAUGHN
02. Vaudeville Villain : VIKTOR VAUGHN
03. Sofa King : DANGERDOOM
04. Feel Like a Ghost : EL-P
05. Amazon : M.I.A.
06. Fist of Fury : PRINCE JAMMY
07. Jukie Skate Rock : EL-P featuring CENTRAL SERVICES
08. Bus Ride : QUASIMOTO
09. Funky Voltron : EDAN featuring INSIGHT
10. Fix Up, Look Sharp : DIZZEE RASCAL
11. Brite Tha' Day : NEED NEW BODY
12. Old School : DANGERDOOM featuring TALIB KWELI
13. Nowhere to Hide (processed beats remix) : GRAVEDIGGAZ vs. KASABIAN
14. Eskimo : NEED NEW BODY
15. Torture Chamber : EDAN featuring PERCEE-P
16. Fatbacks : QUASIMOTO
17. Omega Supreme (Who?) : DANGER MOUSE & JEMINI
18. Brand New Day : DIZZEE RASCAL
19. We Major : KANYE WEST featuring NAS & REALLY DOE
20. Slow Sex : EL-P

And no, there's not really any kind of musical theory behind the mix, nor does the music follow some kind of real-world connection or interrelationship between the artists, genres, or labels. I still don't know enough about music to be able to do that, although I think I am getting closer. As with all the mixes I've made so far, there is a kind of naivete to the arrangement...simply songs that I liked that I felt sounded good together and created a kind of context or narrative to me. I don't have a cover for this one yet, so it might be a few weeks before I can finish a cover for this (and "The Iron Galaxy" volumes 6-10) and get them up in the music section.

And speaking of Hella, "Chirpin Hard / Church Gone Wild" is amazing. I've been listening to it all morning. Following the example OutKast set with "Speakerboxxx / The Love Below," Spencer Seim and Zach Hill, the two people who make up Hella, each recorded a disc of their own, writing the songs and playing all of the instruments themselves. Spencer's disc "Chirpin Hard" is a lighter and more song-oriented, heavily electronic and video-game sounds influenced piece of delicious hard candy. Zach's disc "Church Gone Wild" is a 59 minute melange of sludgy pounding drums, walls of guitar, and pounding waves of doubled and tripled vocals balled up into a planet-sized fist of sound to blast your inner ear to shreds. It's dense, complex, labyrinthine, and at times maddening. In the liner notes, Zach writes that "Church Gone Wild was written and intended to be enjoyed as one single composition, but has been track marked for your convenience, short attention span, and/or busy lifestyle." I can't believe I missed this all when it was released in March.

Some cover art so you can track them down yourselves. All 3 are highly recommended. First Hella...



...next is Need New Body...



...and last is El-P...



I can't WAIT to do some drawing to this stuff!

Matt K.

Wednesday September 21, 2005 -- 8:33 a.m.

I really need to get more sleep. Anyway, I've updated the "FREE STUFF" page with a few new additions, and I've taken down the prints that other people have asked for. Check it out--

FREE STUFF FOR Y'ALL

Matt K.

Wednesday September 21, 2005 -- 12:08 a.m.

Since I'm not certain how often you check your e-mail, I wanted to let you know that you have a new message from me Angela K. And it is good and should make you smile. And thank you, but you already know why.

Matt K.

Tuesday September 20, 2005 -- 10:30 p.m. FREE STUFF FOR Y'ALL

Since we must move so quickly now, we are giving away most everything non-essential that we own and this includes a huge portion of the prints and art we have acquired over the years. I really truly want this stuff to find good homes since I am so terribly fond of it all. I am a little panicked actually, because I don't know if I can find homes for it all and I don't know what we'll do with it if we can't. Anyway, click on the happy line of text right below this line...

FREE STUFF FOR Y'ALL

...to take a look at what you could have. That will open up a new browser window with images and more info. I'll be adding more images, and more reminders to the "news," daily as the next 6 weeks count down to the move. And Stephanie, when you can, please e-mail me your new address since I have finished assembling a box of intriguing items to snail mail you.

Matt K.

Monday September 19, 2005 -- 8:04 p.m.

I am reading Eric Tamm's book Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound right now. It has a publication date of 1995, so some of the content is a bit out of date, but it has been a fascinating book so far. Tamm writes about an interview that Roger Tannenbaum conducted with both Eno and John Cage, and Cage mentioned something that really helped me clarify my own ideas about why it is that I almost always favor music without words, vocals, or lyrics. When asked how he would decide what sounds or music would be worth listening to, Cage responds by saying "I haven't yet heard sounds that I didn't enjoy, except when they became too musical. I have trouble, I think, when music attempts to control me." I think that is really at the heart of my complicated response to vocal music, particularly what is generally referred to as "pop" and "alternative" music. I almost always feel as if the lyrics and singing are intrusive, taking away or obscuring my ability to fully engage in the music. I've tried to talk about this with friends but I've never been able to find a similar point of view. I think that might be because I've had such a difficult time articulating my feelings.

Matt K.

Monday September 19, 2005 -- 7:31 a.m.

I think at one time this might have all gotten to me, but it's becoming so much less important now. Things have approached an almost comedic level, really. I guess the lesson to be learned (by me, at least) is that you just can't let what others think about your work affect you. When I first started making my comic "Spudd 64" I got pretty much unanimous praise from my friends. It was very sweet at the time, but probably not very accurate and certainly very biased. Lately, however, things seem to have undergone a complete reversal. Here are a few things I've run across lately...

First up is a review of the "Panel: HOME" anthology I had a story appear in. The review is by Shawn Hoke from his "Size Matters: The Mini-comic Blog" site and can be found here. Here is the portion where he discusses my story "Pilgrim" which I will probably add to the comics section of the site sometime this week. Read on...

“Pilgrim” by Matt Kish is a short wordless tale about an astronaut that gets disconnected from his lifeline in space. It’s short, effective and it stays with you after reading it. This one is visually pleasing as the panels are divided by the inky blackness of space and the bright white of the astronaut’s space suit.

Pretty nice words. Now a review of the "Panel: MYTH" anthology which was published about 6 months after "Panel: HOME" and included my piece "The Six Archons," which was not really a story at all but a suite of pen and ink drawings which you can see in the art section of this site. This review is by Sam Moyerman of Broken Frontier and can be read here. Regarding my piece, Sam had this to say...

All in all, there are six stories within this book (if you want to be technical only five would be classified by my old English teachers as stories, with the other one more an example of visual poetry). In order, they are Divinity Crisis, The Sun Mother’s Home, America, Seahorse, The Six Archons, and Cyclops Cowboy in Stakeout. They range from the comedic (Divinity Crisis) to the aforementioned visual poetry of The Six Archons. Seeing as how they don’t have an abundance of space to work with, each story is self contained within a few pages and easily accessible to any reader.

...and also this...

The final two pieces in the book are the ones that will be either "love’em" or "hate’em" stories. The Six Archons by Matt Kish starts with a brief description of some gods, and then has drawings of them on the pages that follow. Not really a story at all, Kish’s artwork somehow is incredibly detailed, yet still feels very amateurish. There’s some good design here, but something just feels off a bit. He should have figured a way to work a continuous theme of dialogue throughout the drawings to tie it together better, rather than just a set of drawings.

And last, a very thoughtful and helpful emailed critique of the first 3 issues of "Spudd 64" after I had submitted them to a shop. Selected portions follow...

Unfortunately, I think we're gonna pass on carrying Spudd64. I hope this doesn't come as discouraging, because you really are on to something with your comics and it was a tough decision.

There is certainly a lot to like in all of them, and it's clear you're getting better and better. Your drawing is flat out rad and you create surfaces and textures that are really great and unique amongst comics. You're pages are sort of crazy byzantine woodcuts filtered by aztec robots or something. I think the stories suffer a little from all the visual pyrotechnics at times though, especially in the first issue where every page is radically different from each other. It's awesome to look at but kind of hard to actually read. As boring as it sounds, I think it would benefit from some straightforward "comic-y" passages in straight up panels to serve as breathers between the explosive full-page stuff.

The wordless story was by far the best, because (like you state on the inside front cover) it was much more readable. I felt like I learned as much about the mythology and mechanics of the Spudd 64 world from that issue as I did from the first 2 issues, without having to wade through all the prose. I'm not saying you should abandon verbiage altogether - just work to your obvious strengths (world building through drawings, textures, decorative formalistic stuff, etc.).

Having said that, I think the silent stuff could still work a lot better, too. Take the sequence on pages 12 and 13, for instance (that winged, scaled (?) monster dude is nice, by the way). To me, you kind of lose the power of that monster dude pounding his fist down because of the camera and scale shift between pages. That is kind of a big leap for the reader to make, because on the left-hand page the monster dude's left hand (claw) is already sort of resting on the ground, and then suddenly it's smashed on the ground (although now seen closer up and from the left). I can't help but imagine how that sequence might have worked if you had done it with two nearly identical set-ups, just changing and emphasizing the action? I don't mean to get all armchair cartoonist or whatever but you got me thinking of Brinkman in the intro and I was thinking how me does that kind of shit. It's sort of the same deal with the sequence on the next spread, where all the weird critters are growing out of Spudd's arms. It's an awesome idea, but took me a minute to decipher exactly what was happening, just because of the sequence of the panels on page 15. I know it's nitpicky but that kind of stuff adds up and hurts the overall rhythm of the story, in my mind.

It's usually these kinds of letters that take a while to write. You're clearly a supremely talented dude (and I'm sure future issues of Spudd64 will be righteous) so we definitely want be encouraging.

Perhaps the funniest thing of all to me is that I think each and every one of these people is pretty dead-on in their assessment of things. At one time all of these different points of views would have probably driven me crazy, but I'm getting a lot better at filtering it all and making sure that I follow my own voice first. It hasn't been easy. I went from doing comics and art in complete and total obscurity for years to very suddenly having a web site and having the number of people I've shared my work with (intentionally or unintentionally) explode. It's been a very difficult transition for me, especially considering how genuinely terrified I was (and still am, really) of sharing what I do with anyone other than the closest friends. At this point I'm not too sure how this will all shake out in the end. On one hand, I've made some great new friends through this site, Kyle and Stephanie in particular. On the other, I've sometimes manically gone back and forth between feeling ashamed, elated, humiliated, famous, and depressed. Some days I love this site, and other days I just want to put up a page that says "Thank you very much, everyone, it has been a lot of fun. Bye!" and get back to the way things were before when I just did what I did for me and didn't share it with anyone but Rudy and Johnny Ampersand.

Comics stuff and art stuff will probably have to take a backseat for a while anyway since we are now moving to Dayton much more quickly then I had anticipated. Things are bad where we live. Really really really bad. The friction and tension between Rudy and her brother, who lives with us, has gotten absolutely unbearable and now the house is pretty much full of irrational screaming, anger and profanity all the time, most of it going from one particular person to the other. Those of you who know us can probably guess which direction the screaming and profanity flows. So now, rather than being able to finish this semester of school in peace and quiet and move to Dayton in early January, we are getting out of here as soon as humanly possible, which looks like it will be in early November at the latest. To be blunt, this is an enormous and incredibly badly timed pain in the ass since I am right in the middle of classes and will end up having to move everything during finals week (my classes are on a condensed schedule and I finish about 5 weeks before the regular semester ends). I'm rather nervous about that week since final exams are generally pretty stressful for me. The one thing that keeps me going is that moving out of here will bring some much-needed peace of mind to Rudy, and she needs that now that she is starting her new career at the university. So, yeah, we'll hopefully be taking possession of our new apartment six weeks from today. The scramble to pack the essentials and sell everything else is on. I'll keep you posted.

Matt K.

Saturday September 17, 2005 -- 5:55 p.m.

You work on things, and you keep learning. The news sections, including the archives, were getting a little huge and unwieldy because I had been including so many images at too high a resolution. I had to amputate that part of the site since I didn't want to exceed the space I've been allotted, and even though I will continue to include lots of pictures in the news updates, I know what to do now to make them a little smaller in terms of memory space so the pages should load more quickly and I should have plenty of room to play. This web site has really been a learning experience, in so many ways.

Also, I am very happy to add that I have re-installed the music page and the photos page. Even better, both have been expanded substantially. The music section has been broken down into different pages for easier navigation, and includes an incredible new mix CD from my ever-awesome friend Angela P. as well as an entirely new wing devoted to my personal music mentor, the one and only Bradley W. Check it all out in the music sectionto learn more.

I put the photo section back up thanks to some very timely and very welcome advice from a dear friend, and because I just really liked it and missed the pictures. My friend Fred gave me a homemade pinhole camera last year and I was able to make some amazing images with it, so I've added 9 new photographs to the photo section so you can see how my pinhole camera works. Since I like to sort of stick everything together chronologically, the pinhole photographs fall right in the middle, between 2 batches of Holga camera photographs. Just poke around a little bit and you'll find them.

Matt K.

Sunday September 10, 2005 -- 11:43 p.m.

THIS IS US, EXCELLENT.



We will be moving very soon now. To Dayton. Ask if you want to know more.

Angela K., I really need to talk to you. I know I've been MIA. Things were teetering badly for a while. I will call today, and tomorrow, and until I can reach you.

Matt K.

Friday September 9, 2005 -- 1:53 p.m.

Something very sweet came for me and Rudy in today's mail. Artist Nick Butcher has teamed up with Sara Padgett of Placetapes to create "The Complicated Bicycle," a 24 page silkscreened book of his art accompanied by a 30 minute CD of music that he created. The book itself is really beautiful and is completely handmade (always a huge plus). Here is an image of the cover and one of the pages of art...





Nick's art is dreamy and his music is the perfect aural accompaniment to the images. It is difficult to describe the music but many of the pieces (I am listening to it for the second time as I type this) are lo-fi washes of sounds, tones, and incidental noises knitted together into a sweetly textured whole. If you visit the Placetapes site you will be able to see more of the book, read some intriguing reviews of the CD (and some biographical info about Nick), and listen to one of the songs. I highly recommend doing that since Sara Padgett does a far better job of explaining things than I can. You can also order the book/CD from her, which you will not be sorry for doing. It is very inexpensive at $15 plus $3 shipping and there are only 500 being pressed. It seems as if this is the first project from Placetapes so I look forward to much more from them.

Matt K.

Thursday September 8, 2005 -- 2:25 p.m.

Yesterday, one of the books I have been waiting months for finally arrived in comic stores. It is called The Clouds Above by the extraordinary Jordan Crane. I've never been too swift at reviews or critiques,and honestly I tend to think that those who spend a lot of time "reviewing" things are a little arrogant, so I'll just share a little bit of what the book is about. First, here is a picture of the cover...



Isn't it lovely? The Clouds Above is a small 6" by 6" inch full color hardcover. Each page inside contains a single panel of a story about a little boy named Simon and his fat cat Jack. Simon's going to be late to school, so in order to avoid the teacher's wrath, he and Jack climb up to the school's roof. There they find a wooden stairway that leads up into the clouds and off they go. They meet storms, talking clouds, crazy birds, airplanes...it's really just an amazing and magical book, and very beautiful too. The colors are heavenly, the art divine, and the story is funny, scary, thrilling, sad, and just plain odd. I had really high expectations for this book, and it exceeded every one of them. The book is out in comic shops right now, but you can also buy it at theFantagraphics web site and probably a number of other book stores and online comics retailers too. It is only $18.95 and a huge bargain at that price considering how beautiful and well-designed the book is. Oh yeah, there is even a little bookplate in the beginning that says "This Book Belongs To __ " where you can write your name. All done up by Mr. Crane himself.

Finally, if you've got the dough and want to add a little sweetness to the book, head over to Jordan's site and buy the "Extra Fancy Edition" of the book, strictly limited to 526 signed and numbered hardcovers with a silkscreened dust-jacket and a new bookplate inside. That one is $40.00, and here is a peek at it...



Nice, huh? It's cool because you can get an even neater edition of an already incredible book and you get to support the artist directly, which is always a great thing. Sorry to gush about it so much, but I read it cover to cover twice (last night and this morning) and the book just made me really really happy. It cheered me up immensely. So take THAT, Stang!



Okay, bye for now!

Matt K.

Wednesday September 7, 2005 -- 9:20 a.m.

Special shout out to Stephanie and Kevin, laboring under the pressure of an impending move and jobs that demand much of them. Spudd wishes he could help! Here's hoping everything goes very well, goes by quickly, and is soon completely forgotten in the midst of much happier Brooklyn days...



(Please pardon the crudity. Spudd was drawn in seconds, in between finishing grad school assignments this morning)

Matt K.

Tuesday September 6, 2005 -- 10:27 p.m.

Tuesday September 6, 2005 -- 11:34 a.m.

Monday September 5, 2005 -- 3:52 p.m.

Sunday September 4, 2005 -- 6:50 p.m.

I know many of you have probably already done this, or plan to, but please do whatever you can to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina in any way you can. Donations of cash, blood, food, services, or even skills and labor can help ease the suffering of those who never had much and have now lost nearly everything. And that is all I will write because I know you are all adults and don't need to be preached to or treated like infants.

The best place I know of to start is at the Red Cross although I am certain that there are many others both national and local. Follow your own instincts and do what is best.

Matt K.

Thursday September 1, 2005 -- 8:55 a.m.

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TO RUDY!



Yes, today is a momentous day for the ever-amazing Rudy...she turns 30 years old. All of this is poetic justice in a way since she always made fun of me for being older than her and for having to turn 30 first. I was tempted to put tombstones in the yard, drape the house in black crepe, and dress as the grim reaper when I gave her presents, but in the end I decided that was simply too cruel and juvenile. Besides, I will turn 40 sooner than her, and I don't want to live through her revenge. Any way, enough of that. Happy Birthday again Rudy! You are still the best!

And here is another one of Rudy's watercolors. She is very partial to owls, and her next tattoo will be an owl of some sort.



Okay, now we are going to spend the whole entire day together, so see you all tomorrow!

Matt K.