Fireworks for Friday.

60s (or so) era slide of Niagara Falls at night, found by us on a trip to upstate New York + Canada in the early nineties.

We just created this poster for a friend’s screening of the film Nineteen Eighty-Four, based on George Orwell’s seminal dystopian novel.

The event—which happens this Friday night at Echo Park’s Sweat Spot—is a fundraiser for Bernie Sanders with $27 donations going directly to Sanders’ campaign and featuring vegan street tacos by Let’s Taco ‘Bout It, a photo booth by Nicholas Iverson, and voter registration for those not yet registered.

It’s also, as one may have guessed, a bit of a comment on the world in which we may live if the wrong person wins this election in November.

Details + RSVP via Facebook and hope to see you there—feel the Bern!

We’re reminded this week of the importance of taking time to reconnect with nature, step back to appreciate friendships, and stop and smell the…thistles I guess?

Shot on our way to Inspiration Point and the old site of the Alpine Inn, a hike we’d highly recommend to anyone wanting any of the above, thistles included.

Some of the heaviest lifting in the making of these monthly mixtapes—besides combing through the wealth of new music—comes with the cull; the inevitable whittling down of twenty-some or even thirty-some songs to our self-prescribed set of 15 songs for each list. This month, it was more difficult than most, but the result is an eclectic mix of great new songs from great artists, old and new.

We’re starting off with a slow-build folky number from Calvin Johnson-approved LT Leif out of  Calgary before moving on to a song that hits a little too close to home—”Getting Older” from Brooklyn duo Retail Space. That’s right—the Canada-Brooklyn one-two punch.

This month’s mix also features Berlin’s Slow Steve off of longtime favorite label, Morr Music; a dancer track from Sydney’s Phebe Starr; a musical kicking of our collective asses from Mitski; a long-awaited single from the forthcoming new Local Natives full-length; a new one from another Angeleno, Tokimonsta; a very Belly-esque track from Poland’s Brodka; a nice track from New York by way of Norway’s Okay Kaya, who we caught opening up for Peter Bjorn and John last week; and much more.

Check it out.

How we respond when a client asks us to include the worldwide web acronym in their URL.

If you’ve never been to Colonial Williamsburg—pride of our mutually native Virginia, along with ham, peanuts, and cigarettes—we’d recommend it. The historical park is some beautifully strange combination of Busch Gardens amusement park minus the rides and a giant, constant colonial-era LARP event (live action role playing), complete with battle reenactments, settlement tours,  and in-chartacer crafters, glass-blowers, townspeople, and shop keeps.

Years back, on a work trip to the park, I bought this deck of beautifully illustrated playing cards from one such shop keep and have them to this day. They’re reproductions of 18th-century playing cards featuring a selection of Aesop’s Fables, based on a deck printed by I. Kirk circa 1759.

Primary take-aways—Aesop loved the “long s” (a confusingly complicated writing practice we’re happy died out long ago), had a thing for foxes, and did not care for crows.

Greek jerk.

You can order online from Colonial Williamsburg…but then you’d miss out on the in-character shop keep’s totally amusing befuddlement over your strange paper money with confusing faces on it and/or shock at this off plasticine card you wish to somehow barter with. Oh, LARPing.

Stumbled across this long-forgotten photo, shot last year through a telescope at one of Griffith Park’s monthly star parties, which we’d highly recommend as one of Los Angeles’ top public free events. Next one’s Saturday.

Though we didn’t realize it at first, we’ve been fans of artist and illustrator Tallulah Fontaine for quite some time. We were lucky enough to have been keyed into the music of Purity Ring since their start and Fontaine’s hand-done illustrations and narrative imagery has been integral to the band’s public image and most every release since their first single. From there, Fontaine’s gone on to work with a whole host of musical artists (many of whom we’re big fans of), writers, and collaborators from many creative realms, all the while bringing her distinctive style to each project.

We took a little time to speak with Tallulah about what inspires her art, projects to come, and what she likes about the city of Los Angeles.

raven + crow studio: So, first off, thanks for doing this. We’re fans of your work. I guess the first thing we’d like to know is, how’d you get into illustration and fine art? Did you go to art school or have you just kind of always been doing this?

Tallulah Fontaine: I didn’t go to art school or any kind of college. I waitressed after high school and picked up art again when I was in my early 20s.

Being self-trained myself, I applaud that wholeheartedly. Our first exposure to your work was through Purity Ring, a longtime favorite band of ours. How’d you initially get hooked up with those two?

I’ve known them for ages—we grew up together in Edmonton, Alberta. They asked me to do the single art for their first track they put up on Myspace and I’ve worked with them ever since.

Myspace—that was a while back then. And you know Braids too, yeah? Really love their last album.

Me too! It’s one of my favourites from last year!

Mine too!

I met them in 2009 when they played in the basement of a house in Edmonton we used to call Castle Awesome.

Castle Awesome? Awesome. Yeah, I think the most recent work we saw by you was what you did for LA artist Soayla (above)—are you drawn to work in music in particular or has that more just an effect of your friends being in that business?

A little of both—I’ve always been surrounded by musicians even though I’m not one myself. Music is a really important part of my life and I love to get to be a part of it in some way.

Makes sense. We loved the collab you did with Ali Munn last year and resulting rings too—how did that come about?

Thank you. I’ve admired her work for a long time and approached her to make me a custom ring for a friend. We ended up collaborating on some designs together instead! I’m very happy with them.

No, they’re great. I love the idea of marrying jewelry design and illustration. You’ve done a good bit of work in the literary world too—book covers, magazine and book illustrations. Have books always been an important part of your life? Are you a big reader?

I used to be, especially when I worked in a used bookstore. These days, I don’t always make the time for it like I should.

You and me both. Favorite recent read?

I will never be beautiful enough to make us beautiful together by Mira Gonzalez.

Love that title. Much of your work is so narrative—it seems like there’s a larger story behind so many of your individual pieces. I now you’ve done some zine work, but have you ever considered larger, longer form things like graphic novels or the like?

I’m working on my first short comic to be released this summer. It’s 24 pages, longer than anything I’ve made so far. I’m really enjoying working on it and would love to make more comics after this one.

That is awesome and exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for. Can you tell us more about your process in general? Like, what inspires the pieces you do? For instance, do you try to take content from a song or album or book and illustrate it in a sense, or are you inspired by other things? Or both?

When I work on a book cover or album art I do consider the content and meanings when working on my representation of them. In those kinds of projects, It’s much more of a collaboration with the other artists. My personal work is usually inspired by a significant moment or memory. Something I’m trying to hold onto and remember.

Illustrated memories—I like it. It’s always weird to speak to what or who influences your work as an artist, but who are some other visual artists whose work you admire?

I have so many artists I admire—Georgia O’Keeffe, Kiki Smith, Kenojuak Ashevak. So many of my friends are incredible artists also.

The arts scene in and around Toronto does seem really very vibrant. Am I right in thinking that you recently moved from Canada to Los Angeles…but more recently moved back north?

Yes that’s right. I moved from Montreal to LA for a year and now I’ve been in Toronto since January.

What are your thoughts on Los Angeles? It’s such a diverse city, but it’s also got a lot of common great and not-so-great things about it.

I really loved Los Angeles, although it did take me some time to get used to! I have a wonderful group of friends there and I’m crazy about the landscape and weather. I would definitely move back there again but I would learn how to drive next time! Never want to bus around that city again.

Oh, god no. Any projects we can look forward to besides the comic?

That and the final issue of Home Zine, a collective I co-run with Carla McRae.

Awesome. Thanks so much for talking with us.

You can see more of Talulah’s work and buy some of her pins, jewelry, and prints on her web site. Below, her cover for Purity Ring’s 2015 album, Another Eternity (another one of our favorites last year) and her collab with Ali Munn. Artist photo by Angela Lewis.

A few months back, I got an email from the band Tennis—not because we’re pals, because I’m on their email list—explaining that they were giving up the touring life for the open sea for a while.

To be fair, that’s how the husband-and-wife band started, more or less. As singer + musician Alaina Moore wrote, back in January:

“Six year ago, Patrick and I wrote an album under the moniker Tennis as a way of documenting our time living aboard a small boat, sailing over 2000 miles of North Atlantic coastline. In the following years, our work as Tennis surprised me by out-sizing  and eventually supplanting our dreams of life at sea.” She continued—”The last six years have belonged to music. Voyaging is a way I have found to live close to nature without changing it. It is a way of limiting my social and financial obligations. I find it to be the most cathartic, psychically cleansing way to live event though I am at every moment insecure and subject to the indifference of nature. This time my creative work will be archival, motivated by the desire to show you what I mean rather than sing it to you.”

Roughly every month-and-a-half to two months, the two have sent updates with a few photos, always equally inspiring. The most recent one came this morning, ending with the lines: “Sailing is an act of faith. We strike out into nothing believing that something will be there on the other side. When we arrive, it is like a truth revealed.”

I recommend signing up for the band’s updates—yes, it’s handy to know what such talented music-makers are up to, but, maybe more importantly, we can take these words to heart and find our own new adventure.

Normally I’d insert a song by the band via SoundCloud here, but, with their recent move to keep with subscription services like Apple + Spotify, Tennis’ entire catalog (like many bands’) is on preview lock, so you can no longer listen to them fully there without paying SoundCloud (who does not pay Tennis…or any other artist currently, it should be point out).

So YouTube it is! Oldie-but-goodie.