DESIGN: Buy Buffalo [spec]

Nick Mendola—a friend and constant collaborator of mine—had an idea to try and drive funds into the local, Mom-and-Pop businesses of the Western New York region. He was looking to make the city’s restaurants commodities unto themselves by creating a campaign to help push them into the public’s consciousness so entrenched in the allure of national franchises. After hearing his pitch of ideas to give price tags to the city, I came up with an alternative that would actually make the city the price. Using the concept of a barcode,…

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REVIEW: Ra Ra Riot’s The Orchard [2010]

“Enjoying the expansive views of the countryside Mennonite community” Tuesday, August 24, 2010 marks the drop date for Ra Ra Riot’s sophomore release The Orchard. Accompanying Special Edition copies of the disc, available at Barsuk Records, is a making of documentary short by directors Taryn Gould and Emily Kowalczyk. Deciding to self-produce the disc without having an extra personality in the room to use as a crutch to ‘get things done’, the group went to upstate New York where guitarist Milo Bonacci’s family had a peach orchard up for sale.…

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