Hokkaido Show Gardens Music

It's amazing how much pleasure and delight a simple idea can create. Hokkaido Show Gardens' Garden of Sound is such a charming installation.

WOW! Hokkaido Show Gardens! Garden of sound! Great art!
Posted by Ruben Mandolini on Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Hehehe. It's also just super fun watching the ball roll down all those wooden blocks, but y'know.

Intro to Visual Development

Last Spring I took Introduction to Visual Development class with John Clapp at San Jose State. The task was to develop characters, a prop, and environments for Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. During this class, I learned a powerful, important lesson: having faith in one's vision is an invaluable requirement. An idea is "good" or "bad" depending on how carefully it is cultivated, analyzed, and produced. As a third year student, there's still much I have to learn. Spring semester was highly educational. 

Hope you enjoy viewing these!

My First Experience with Bandcamp

Back in 2014, Gladys, my fellow Michael Cera lovin' sister, directed my attention to Cera's Bandcamp. "True That" was therefore my first bandcamp purchase. Fast-forward to 2015, I'm sitting in my room, nauseous from jet-lag--and bandcamp delivers auditory jet-lag pills. 

Trio (3 tracks) | HSK 

Despite having distinctive, rumbling personalities, each song seamlessly pours into the next. I strongly recommend this one. If jazz had a rebel child, this might just be it. (Top Pick: E.S.P.)

The Grid (Featuring Four)  (11 tracks) | The Grid 

The Grid is an album that is...all over the place, in the best of ways. It feels like I'm exploring 11, unique, curated spaces within the span of a single album. Take a listen. (Top Picks: Unanimous Decision, Got to Be)

Sleet (8 tracks) | My Home, Sinking 

Sleet...I could go on forever about Sleet. Folky, surprisingly warm, and sharp in all the right places--it's my muse this year--I can feel it. Sleet is naturally a winter album, but I'm weird and I like it in the summer as well. (Top Picks: Sleet, Sheperd's).