If you haven’t heard of Phantogram, then I suggest you should quickly do a search for them. They recently released their latest EP Nightlife, which I can’t stop listening to. It’s a very strong EP which one can play over and over again with no fillers.  A couple of songs that really stand out to me are “Don’t Move”, “Turning into Stone”,  and “Nightlife”.  I think those songs show a good range of what type of music this band can turn out.  After you  check out Nightlife, go and purchase their album Eyelid Movies which was released just last year. I have a good feeling about this band and can’t wait for their next full album release.

Here are some songs to check out:

The band Memoryhouse has been on heavy rotation, or I should just say repeat playlist on my Itunes lately. Perfect music for the fall.

Who is Memoryhouse? A little excerpt from their site.

Evan Abeele is a musician who takes his inspiration as a student of the neo-classical and modernist modes of the past century. Denise Nouvion is a photographer-videographer who focuses on the blurred boundaries of the moment, of memory, and of what will manifest. With a shared common aesthetic to their creative output, it was only natural for these Ontario artists to collaborate. Their music seeks to render this blending of the contemporary with the forgotten, the traditional and the technological, the visual and the aural, within the sonographic landscapes of pop music.

Some videos for your pleasure:

Tennis – “Marathon”

Cults – “You Know What I Mean”

The Vaccines – “Post Break Up Sex”

French Films – “Take You With Me”

California Wives – “Tokyo”

Horse Shoes – “Changing Winds”

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “The Body”

Dum Dum Girls – “There is A light That Never Goes Out” – Great Cover

This is not really a song for the summer playlist, but I thought it was a very cool opening for the anime Gunslinger Girl. The band is The Delgados and the track is “The Light Before We Land”

Got another bag!

Okay you’re probably thinking I’m sick and have issues, which is sort of true, but let me explain myself first.

I originally got the the Crumpler Karachi Outpost so I can carry all my gear with me when I travel, but I decided at the last minute that I really didn’t want to wear a backpack all the time when I visit Boston and Maine (pictures coming soon) for vacation.

I did some more research and looked into many companies, but I always end up going back to Crumpler. I didn’t want something too expensive and most importantly something just to carry my Canon 40D with lens attached, one more lens, spare battery, extra memory cards, and cleaning tools. I wanted to keep the size to a minimum as well so I can move around  freely through the city and of course at a baseball game.

I was originally going for the 4 Million Dollar Home, but read on other forums and blogs that a 40D would be too tight. I finally decided on the 5 MDH and it was the wisest decisions I ever made regarding gear.

After I received the bag and took pictures of course, I then brought out the gear that I would be using in the bag. A Canon 40D minus the battery grip (it will definitely not fit), a Tamron 17-50 2.8 attached, and a Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 EX DC HSM and the other smaller items. I adjusted the inserts and everything fit nicely! I was worried though that the 5MDH didn’t come with a shoulder pad for the strap, but I will tell that part of the story later.

The materials they used on the bag seems very sturdy and rugged, and I read on the site they use water resistant  materials on the outside so your gear stays dry on the inside. This will be tested by the way, and not by choice. Crumpler thought about the details when making this bag. They considered the possibility that sometimes you need to be discrete and have these handy panels that go over the velcro in the front to keep your bag silent when you open it up (third picture in the gallery). Other parts of the bag that I found really helpful was a zipper mesh pocket that is under the flap and another separate front velcro pocket to keep your smaller items like batteries or memory cards. Also, they have these side pockets on each side that can store items like a gronola bar or a cellphone. I’m telling you this bag can hold some serious shit!

So how did the bag do during the actual trip? It was a champ and I had it on me all the time. In a previous part of this long winded review I mentioned the shoulder strap and my concern with weight. It didn’t bother me even with all my mentioned gear, now add a small umbrella that I fit inside across the top, or a rocket blower, or even a small water bottle. This bag distributes the weight well. Crumpler made the strap wide enough so it doesn’t dig in your shoulders and I believe there’s a sweet spot to wearing this bag. When the bag is worn more behind your back like in the product photos on their site, you really don’t feel the weight. I wore this bag all day around Boston, during rush hour on the subways, high traffic tourist areas and no complaints. The thing I complained about was the weather and my flat feet.

Speaking of weather, the first three days in Boston had some pretty good showers. When we were at Fenway the sky just opened up. Luckily I had a poncho to cover my bag. but it did get rained upon bad in the beginning. I was so worried about my camera, but every time I checked everything under the flap was dry. I was relieved to say the least. I now know that if it starts to rain and I see the water start to bead up on the bag, I have some reassurance.

So you must be thinking that there has to be something that you didn’t like about the bag or something that you would like to see improved upon. I thought about this and maybe would of like a dedicated water bottle pouch or something on the side, but that’s really about it.  Everything else I really have no complaints. The bag is the perfect size, not too big and not too small. It carries enough of the essentials and then some. The bag is reliable and definitely durable.  That’s everything I would really want in a camera bag.

I got a new camera bag!

I have to say that I’m really happy with the purchase of this bag starting with the great customer service from Crumpler. When I was going to actually buy the bag, I noticed on their website there was no mention of their inventory and every online store I went to was out of stock. I sent an email late at night to Crumpler, which their only store is in New York City, and got a quick email response from a dedicated employee named Morgan the next day. He replied they were out for a few months and they finally got them back in stock.

Being the worrisome person that I am, I started to wonder if I should go with the medium or the small size bag and I also noticed on the site they didn’t have  any pictures of people actually wearing this bag. My goal was not to look like the hunch back of Notre Dame, so I looked around many different photography forums and nothing substantial came up. I emailed Morgan back if he had any pictures of a person actually wearing the bag, but I told him it was okay if there wasn’t any. He comes back with his measurements and three different angled images of himself wearing the bag.  Now that’s great service!

After a few more email exchanges with my personal liaison to Crumpler, I finally narrowed it down to the medium size.  Morgan even helped me try to visually configure the bag with my gear to see if it would fit the small, but in the end I went with the safer choice and I’m glad I did.

So after all the great service, Morgan replied back wondering if ArchaSung.com was my site. He mentioned to me that it was only natural since I’m a fan of music and Crumpler to want me to hear some music.  You see, Morgan is actually in a band called Robbers on High Street. He also forwarded me their streaming album that will later be release this year titled, Hey There Golden Hair.  They have a very poppy 60′s retro sound to them with a catchy horn section. If you want something new to listen to and maybe a soundtrack for the summer, this could very well be it.

I guess I should get back to the bag…

So far the backpack is working out well and I love the fact you can take out the entire inner compartment and use the bag as a regular backpack. The 15″ laptop carrier can also be taken out as well. I did however have to reconfigure the bag so I can actually fit the 40D with the battery grip on top of the bag instead of the default bottom.

We’ll definitely see how this bag holds up on vacation, but I have a good feeling it will.

Here are some pics

A few of months ago my friend introduce me to a band while we were playing the game Have you heard of this band? over email. The one that got my attention was an English band named Chapel Club.  I did my research on Youtube and was pretty much hooked from the beginning. Unfortunately I had to wait to download their album at the time, because they weren’t release here in the States yet. So I waited and waited and I finally got to download their album on Itunes last month and it was definitely worth it.

Have a listen.

Chapel Club -The Shore by Nadinchen

Chapel Club – ‘All The Eastern Girls’ by east city records

So a couple of weeks ago Labrador Records , the Swedish power house record label of such bands like The Radio Dept.., Club 8, The Mary Onettes and Sambassadeur, signed a 16 year old sensation named Amanda Mair. 16 years old, what was I doing when I was 16? Probably playing legos, yes still at 16. Anyways the single “House” will be released June 8th. She’s definitely in good hands with Labrador and hopefully she can open up for The Mary Onettes, since they had to cancel their concert due to the volcano I can’t pronounce.

Have a listen to something unique

Amanda Mair – House by TLOBF

I recently stumbled upon a synthpop band named Marsheaux that is highly addicting to listen to. They have all the traits of a good synthpop band, catchy beats, poppy delicious synth hooks, female vocals, and are from Greece, whaaaaaat? Yeah much to my surprise this duo is from Thessaloniki, Greece. Not like it matters, but I wasn’t thinking Greece as the first place on my list of cool synthpop bands. I guess you do learn something new everyday.

Some videos for your enjoyment.

After looking at Christopher Thomas’s work, I believe this is the reason why I got into photography . It’s fine art photography that I appreciate and one that I want to strive to be like. Christopher is a well known commercial photographer, but went back to the basics with a large format camera and  black and white film with his series New York Sleeps.  It’s a great series that you can check out more on his website.

Here’s also a video from Crane.tv about his work.

Image from Flavorwire.com and Fifty One Fine Art Photography

On Wednesday night I got to see one of my favorite Swedish Bands, The Radio Dept. at the El Rey.  I’ve been waiting awhile for this band to come out west since they normally just play in New York.  I can tell a lot of other people were eager to see them play live as well, because the place was pretty packed. I’m not being biased, but they sounded really good live and they chose a good mix of songs for their playlist. My only complaint was that they maybe played for an hour including the one song encore.  My friends and I were hoping for more, but we still walked away enjoying the show.

If you missed them, they will be playing at Coachella this year… if you can afford the tickets.

Here’s a vid