Sam Koch Studio Space

New Location

2010-03-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hey all. So, I have this awesome website now called SDKworks.

I will be posting all my news/events/random stuff there from now on

also, all of my paintings, EPs, and mixtapes are there.

the address is

sdkworks.com

check it out!!

sam

Doin It For Themselves

2010-03-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

MICRO-PIXEL-RITES: SISTERS DOIN' IT FOR THEMSELVES from Elise Oh on Vimeo.

thought this video was funny. it's from the pixelhorse blog, which I check out now and then. If anyone reading this blog happens to be in Austin, Texas, you should stop by their party. Looks like a good time.

I actually have a funny story about this blog. I've been sending out demos to a bunch of blogs, ya know, to create that "blogosphere buzz", and this was one of the many many random blogs I sent the demo too. It just so happens that my good buddy Brendan Murray's ex girlfriend Elise O was one of the people running pixelhorse! Weird coincidence. I think she actually edited and posted the video above. Oh and then this girl Danger Dome from the dipped in dollars blog knew my sister Galen because she met her somewhere a while ago.

Apparently I know more people then I thought.

Also, SXSW (south by south west) is all the rage now, I'd never heard of it before, but apparently it's some kind of epic cultural festival in Austin, Texas. Austin, you say? Yes, Austin, the hippest shit in the universe.

Photo Shoot!

2010-03-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you and your girlfriend try to have a photo shoot where you're trying to look cool. Things go horribly wrong. Me and kate were out doing stuff, hanging out under a bridge, taking pictures, ya know. The picture of me where I look like a demented wood nymph was taken in some really mystical woods next to a parking lot. I like the one of kate though.

Indie? Pop? it's all good...

2010-03-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

In interesting article over at pitchfork. read it here. For those of you who don't know, pitchfork is a music site, kinda like the mother of all indie music sites. I've been pretty impressed with them for a while now, well, with their writing anyway. The quality of their writing kind of makes up for the fact that they seem generally underwhelmed about all of the albums they review. This article is written by Nitsuh Abebe.

It's good, it's kind of an examination of how my generation thinks about popular/indie music in general, and how we decide if something is 'real' or 'pretentious', or whatever. Part of what I find fascinating about art, and music especially, is how there are so many other things going on in each song that really has nothing to do with the song at all. It's what it sounds like, what it's trying to sound like, what came before from the artist, and what time period/social environment this song is being created in.

I liked it almost all the way to the end, which I didn't like at all. Abebe goes along, talking about how we box music into different social classes, pretentious cliches, etc, but then he dihes out this AWFUL youtube video of this band Parenthetical Girls who I have never heard of before but who I now hate, thank you very much. After watching this video I literally felt physically sick. I honestly couldn't even finish it. This is a load of indie crap, dare I say, pretentious, nonsense. So congratulations, Mr.Abebe, you have made your point. The music I listen to and the things I associate with that music are usually one and the same.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go write some songs on my piano, walk around in the farmers market, go to record store, and then the thrift store. I mean, thats what Zooey Deshanel does everyday! How does she find the time to be so indie and also make cute little songs about cotton? wow...

2010-03-12T17:18:00.001-08:00

AWESOME

Garden

2010-03-12T05:55:00.000-08:00

2010-03-11T16:07:00.001-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Sour Gropes

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Reform

Get On By

2010-03-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

<a href="http://japanesesummer.bandcamp.com/track/get-on-by">Get On By by Japanese Summer</a>

heres another song from the upcoming 'japanese summer' release. listen to it, download it, spread the word.

sam

Nap

2010-03-10T12:35:00.000-08:00

Bandcamp Site

2010-03-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

Hey! I just got a site at bandcamp, which is pretty awesome. It kicks myspace's ass (of course) and I really like the layout and simplicity of use. You can find the site here.

Here are the other songs I currently have up on the site (the first is posted below)

<a href="http://japanesesummer.bandcamp.com/track/japanese-summer">Japanese Summer by Japanese Summer</a>

<a href="http://japanesesummer.bandcamp.com/track/get-on-by">Get On By by Japanese Summer</a>

hope ya like em

Sampling

2010-03-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

this video is awesome. basically four guys making beats on the fly off records they find in thrift stores. this was my LIFE sophomore year of college. I went this cycle so many times, and it feels good to see them doing the same, weird thing here. also, Daedelus and J.Rocc are great. heck all of em are good.

Daily Planet

2010-03-08T13:43:00.001-08:00

<a href="http://japanesesummer.bandcamp.com/track/daily-planet">Daily Planet by Japanese Summer</a>

Bean-Town

2010-03-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I roamed around Boston for a while this weekend, stayed with my buddy alex, and then saw the asteroid m collective perform in Jamaica Plain. I really made it around the city considering the short amount of time I was there.

Most of the asteroid m music was pretty experimental and well... angry. I respect what those guys are doing, but it's not exactly my thing. Pretty hardcore stuff.

One act that came last, that I was really a fan of was Main Fader. It is the moniker of my friend Dan Kenney. He makes some pretty sweet hip-hop/electronica beats... cool stuff.

finally, here is another piece called 'Migration'

'She Said'

2010-03-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

I'm going into boston today, I'm gonna buy some tapes at some where, perhaps Nuggets. I'm really trying to sample more ,and tapes are just easier then a record player. however, I could care less about the tape fad, in fact I think it's fucking ridiculous.

I'm definitely gonna stop by Kenmore Square, I love that place. On saturday I'll be checking out my buddy jeremy's band fractilian and other members of the asteriod m collective. I'm also gonna try and hook up with my buddy alex and perhaps record something or other. He makes his own sick music that can be found here.

oh yeah, im also getting my website made for free! well in exchange for a piece of art, which is fine by me. thank you my brother ezra for hooking me up!

laters

sam

Chaos Bot

2010-03-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

Fighter

2010-03-03T08:34:00.001-08:00

BLAST

2010-03-02T06:15:00.000-08:00

ink on water color paper

Drifter

2010-03-01T00:16:00.000-08:00

Ink on Water Color Paper

Vortex

2010-02-28T10:49:00.001-08:00

Japanese Summer

2010-02-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a new project called 'Japanese Summer', This is going to be the band, the group, whatever. Its what I'm calling it. The first single of this project is located here. It has the same name as the band, 'Japanese Summer'

pretty hazy and crazy.

More tracks up as this album grows.

da Music and da ART

2010-02-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try and be more vigilant in my blog posting. I've just gotten back from a month and a half long trip to california, and I'm hitting to studio once again for a bit. I'm working on a new music project (last one was the Paugus EP) but this time its gonna be all solo. Pretty electronic I as well...

I'm also trying to get my website up (finally) so that i can have that, here were may instances out in cali where being able to point someone to a website would have been very, very helpful. Anyway, I'm hitting the dreamweaver.

I put the DFS mixtape up a bit ago, which can be found here.

so... I'll try and update on a regular basis... I have been slackin!!!

p.s. Paugus EP has 185 downloads! word!

Paugus EP link

2010-02-21T16:58:00.001-08:00

here is the Paugus EP. Check it!!

sam

Albums, Ep's, and Mixtapes

2009-12-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

I have recently completed a slew of musical projects. First of all, I have released a "best of" compilation for the Downeast Funk Syndicate, a rap group I was part of for a few years, Secondly, I have released two EP's for my alternative/indie group Paugus, and finally I have released a full-length alcum of my personal work entitled "Monster Evolver" on itunes. I designed all the cover art myself.

All of these projects area available on the internet for free, except for "monster evolver" which is on itutnes and lala.

If it seems that I have been slow on the art making lately then this is the reason.

I'll post links to all of these albums on this blog shortly, but in the meantime I have posted the links on my facebook page.

on the radio

2009-11-30T23:40:00.000-08:00

so i was on maine public broadcasting network last sunday, or should i say, a song of mine was. My song "coyote king" was on the show "in tune by ten" with sara willis. Its a pretty good show, so I was pretty happy to be on it. It feels good having my music played with my name attached to it. It makes me feel more "official" as a song writer.

sorry i have been neglecting his blog so much. I honestly have been working on music a lot recently, but these things move in cycles. Some days I wake up and want to write a song, other days I want to make a graphic novel. I think that I'm just going to start posting whatever on here because it's stupid for me to only post scanned images. speaking of music, i have an account at "number one music" now, which is isn't that cool in itself, but it is cool that I'm getting like 500 plays a day on it. screw myspace!

so... i'll keep posting, and one of these days I may actually make some money with all this shit. That's how the "real world" recognizes accomplishment, right?

thoughts on grace period

2009-10-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

well, I randomly decided to post my degree project, and I did it. It was a much more intense experience then I thought it would be. I got to slowly re- evaluate the whole thing, and to be honest I'm not sure I like it. I guess it's just me growing, or something. I like that I accomplished finishing a "graphic story", but I'm really not that impressed with this one, it just seems a little melodramatic and overly depressing. Granted, I was in a pretty rough period of my life when I wrote it. It's just really RAW, I guess.

It was and still is a huge learning experience for me, which was the point, but ultimately I feel I've grown a lot as an artist since I did Grace Period, and that is a good thing. Hopefully soon I'll start posting a new comic on this blog soon, one that I'm working on right now.

It's damn cold in maine, and I'm climbing mount katadin this weekend.

sam

GP. pg. 35

2009-10-15T10:06:00.001-07:00

gp. pg. 34

2009-10-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Gp. pg. 33

2009-10-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Gp. pg. 32

2009-10-12T15:11:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 31

2009-10-11T06:03:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 30

2009-10-10T10:04:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 29

2009-10-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

GP. pg. 28

2009-10-07T06:00:00.001-07:00

Grace Period. pg. 27

2009-10-06T07:13:00.001-07:00

Grace Period. pg. 26

2009-10-05T10:37:00.001-07:00

Grace Period. pg. 25

2009-10-04T06:17:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 24

2009-10-03T11:02:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 23

2009-10-02T07:33:00.001-07:00

2009-10-01T09:30:00.001-07:00

2009-10-01T09:27:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 22

2009-09-30T05:45:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 21

2009-09-29T16:11:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 20

2009-09-28T05:09:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 19

2009-09-27T09:43:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 18

2009-09-26T05:17:00.001-07:00

Gp. pg. 17

2009-09-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

Gp. pg. 16

2009-09-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

GP. pg. 15

2009-09-23T09:16:00.001-07:00

GP Pg. 14

2009-09-22T05:38:00.001-07:00

GP Pg. 13

2009-09-21T10:32:00.001-07:00

GP. pg. 12

2009-09-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

GP. Pg. 11

2009-09-19T05:19:00.000-07:00

GP Pg. 10

2009-09-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II

2009-09-17T10:09:00.001-07:00

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II

Shared via AddThis

youtube post

2009-09-17T04:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PEAQr5FOH4

I posted a video of me singing and playing guitar on youtube.

GP. Pg. 9

2009-09-16T03:57:00.001-07:00

GP pg. 8

2009-09-15T05:02:00.001-07:00

gp pg. 7

2009-09-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

GP pg. 6

2009-09-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

GP pg. 5

2009-09-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

GP pg. 4

2009-09-08T12:22:00.001-07:00

GP pg. 3

2009-09-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

GP Pg.2

2009-09-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

GP page 1

2009-09-01T05:48:00.000-07:00

PAUGUS at the Pleasant View

2009-08-24T03:42:00.000-07:00

PAUGUS performed yesterday at the Pleasant View Gallery Opening. It went very well. We only performed three songs throughout the afternoon, but the response was really good and we sold some CD's. Fun!!

The OPening itself was great. A lot of really talented artists all in one place. It was also a lot of young artists, which I think is awesome, and it's awesome that Susan would give us all the opportunity to have such exposure.

Thank You Susan!

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments on the art and music.

lastly, thank you eric for playing the violin.

sam

paugus design

2009-08-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

Paugus: The Barn

2009-08-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

This Sunday at the Pleasant View Barn, I will be selling CD's of Paugus for 5 dollars. This is the cover, which may change a little, but that's mostly it. If anyone wants to see what I've been doing musically, and what mr. kestenbaum has been doing musically, I suggest you pick it up. It has 13 tracks, and was recoreded in various locations throughout new england. What kind of music is it? good music.

Brooklin ME on front of NY times website

2009-08-21T00:23:00.000-07:00

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/travel/escapes/21Amer.html?hp

check out the wooden boat school in Brooklin ME being covered by the NY times! This is right next to where I grew up.

Eugene Koch: Lines Of Sight

2009-08-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

If anyone is around Downtown Stonington this Sunday, I suggest you check out my father's solo show at Isalos Fine Art. He has been working like crazy on it for a while now, and it should be pretty awesome.

The opening is from 4 to 7 on Friday, August 21, at Isalo's Fine Art in Downtown Stonington. It's called "Lines Of Sight"

The show will be up from August 21- September 3rd.

Pleasant View Art Gallery

2009-08-18T04:28:00.000-07:00

There will be an opening at the Pleasant View Art Gallery on Sunday, August 23 from 3 to 5 pm.

The Pleasant View is a new gallery being opened by my friend Susan Webster at The Kestenbaum Barn in Deer Isle.

I will have art there, and so will Bouthot, Hou, Kestenbaum, Menken, Poland, Saaf, and Webster.

It's gonna be a real relaxed atmosphere, with art and music. If you are in the area then come on by!

5 North Deer Isle Road
Deer Isle
207-348-2434

When musicians get the comics itch (and vice-versa)

2009-08-17T05:36:00.001-07:00

When musicians get the comics itch (and vice-versa)

Posted using ShareThis

roald dahl's ghost story book

2009-08-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

I also just read Roald Dahls' Book of Ghost Stories, which I recommend to anyone who love ghost stories. The stories aren't by Roald Dahl, they are picked out by him out of probably 100's of other ghost stories to only 14. Really excellent, scary stuff.

the mysteries of pittsburgh

2009-08-15T05:49:00.000-07:00

I just read 'The Mysteries of Pittsburgh' by Michael Chabon. It was just lying around the house, and I like Michael Chabon, so I decided to read it. I gotta say, it was great. I would recommend it to anyone. It might have a had an even deeper significance with me because it's about a college grad in his summer after he graduates and all the crazy stuff that happens to him. It sounds kind lame from that description, but it's really well written, and it's easy to see how the author went on to win the pulitzer prize. The book really has an interesting mix of style and vulnerability.

Oh and I guess there's a movie based on it, but it probably sucks.

sam

grace period

2009-08-15T05:41:00.000-07:00

A little ways back I did my degree project for school. It was about my experiences with diabetes (which I have had since I was 13) and was ultimately a very satisfying thing to do. I made one copy of it that went to my professor, and that was it. However, I now have the means to make more copies, and I will be doing this soon. Until then I'll be posting pages from 'grace period' up every once in a while on this blog, amongst other things.

new song "real life"

2009-08-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

hey all.

I have a new acoustic song I made recently on the widget to the right.

It's called "real life".

I've been getting pretty into harmony lately, as you will hear.

sam

.... dfs

2009-07-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

the them

2009-07-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

sketch boooook

2009-07-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

so back in maine i be.

sketchbook

2009-07-23T06:43:00.001-07:00

some sketches from my current sketchbook. I sometimes buy sketchbooks and fill the entire thing with writing, so there are a lot of words thrown in between the pictures, usually some rhyme (or poems, if I want to sound like a real artsy fart) that im writing.

it would be cool to combine words and image in a fine art piece, but a difficult thing to do.

sam

Sketchbook

2009-07-22T11:46:00.001-07:00

new song

2009-07-21T09:07:00.001-07:00

hey all. sorry for the extreme lack of posts lately. I'm figuring some stuff out with scanning and uploading files and such.

I just got back from the dominican republic with my girlfriend, which was really fun. I've been living in maine recently, where I've been making some music (slowly but surely..)

I have a show coming up in p town, and i'll get some pics of that and put them up.

I shall be more vigilant!

to hear me in my rapper mode (called SDK) click on the first song on the widget to the left.
It's called "ya know" with SDK on the vocals, Samwise (sam kestenbaum) on the beat.

I guess it's hip- hop, bit I'm not rapping about how much of an awesome asshole I am.

more soon

sam

new music

2009-06-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

I've been working on some new music recently with my buddy Sam Kestenbaum, or DJ Samwise. I went up to Maine for about a week and spent a lot of time in the studio. Me and Sam (sam and sam) collaborated on some tracks, and I really like the result. Sam made the beats and I kind of wrote lyrics to them. The result is a kind of rock/ hip-hop/funk sound.

To hear the tracks we did, "morning bread" and "feel are real" just click play on the widget to the right.

Oh yeah and the DFS was called to WERU again, where we kicked it old school with Magnus for an hour. He played a lot of our new stuff for the masses, and we even managed to find brendan murray through the radio. He was no where to be found, so we called him out on air, and he heard it in his car! It was a pretty fun.

DFS... crazy stuff...

sam

PAUGUS

2009-05-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

so I'm trying to consolidate the huge amount of music me and my friends have made over the last few years, including my solo stuff, and right now I'm just grouping it all in a band called PAUGUS. I know the downeast funk syndicate is classic (to some), but the name really isn't appropriate for covering all the music we make, some of which is not very funky at all.

Click on the widget to hear it. It's folk, hip- hop, and a damn good time. All downloadable for free!

sam

more pieces for gallery

2009-05-16T22:56:00.001-07:00

migration and don't tell

2009-05-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

here are a couple of the pieces I'm putting on the gallery.

sam

stuff goin on

2009-05-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

sorry for the lack of posts recently, i have been making art but it's so big that i need to take a picture of it and the quality usually sucks. however, thats just gonna have to be how I do it for now. i guess it is a little better overall because it's pretty hard for people to rip off a piece of mine if its taken from a picture.

my buddy is opening a gallery soon. i talked to him yesterday about it and it sounds pretty cool. He has also offered me a space at the gallery, which I'm pretty amped about. I'm in the process of framing/ making new work for the space, which should be opening around late may/ early june. more info soon...

musically i have also been doing fairly well, my "myspace" music page hit the 3000 views mark, which is cool but also kind of lame because it doesn't really mean that much. I'm holding out for a few new contraptions before starting my new music project, but the brainstorming is constant.

I want to do another DFS project, but unfortunately the other members of the band are just as sporadic as I am, and getting us all in the same place is a task in itself, let alone having us all make a concentrated effort towards a finished product.

I have faith, though...

to check out some DFS, go to

myspace.com/dfunks

more art up soon!

sam

New Widget

2009-04-25T06:41:00.000-07:00

I got a widget on the blog now with all my recent music on it. You can listen to it from there, or even download it.

sweet...

sam

myspace.com/actionfigureman

2009-04-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

hey all. more work up soon.

I've been concentrating on music for the last month or so, hence the lack of visual art creation.

My myspace music page (see title) is getting a lot of traffic, though. All the recent music I made up at the Kestenbaum's is up there. I personally hate myspace, but the music part of it is kind of cool. Lots of crazy stuff on there.

So I urge you to check it out if you want to see why I've been neglecting this blog so much as of late.

NOTE: I will have all his stuff, art and music, up on my eventual website, but myspace and blogspot will have to do for now.

sam

2009-04-19T05:47:00.000-07:00

a get- together

2009-04-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

some of dog man sam's friends

ink cartoons

2009-04-17T06:45:00.001-07:00

Hi all. So Dog Man Sam made this mixtape. He is a crazy rapper who used to be an intergalactic explorer but a radioactive dust cloud turned him into a dogman.

Yeah.. so this is really me. Big surprise I know! I just had all of these songs I made with Blue Cowboy, and so I figured I'd do something with them. I'm a rap superstar!

Kind of ridiculous, I know.

myspace.com/dogmansam

Dog Man Sam

2009-04-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

myspace.com/dogmansam

I found this guy on myspace. He's a rapping dog man or something...

check it out

my friends video

2009-04-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPpUiUc9rfE

this is my friend sam performing at his college. I hope this link just works, but if not, there's the address. This is the other member of my band PAUGUS, performing in his band called STIMULUS...? I dunno, but it sure is goofy.

way to go, mr. kestenbaum

Boston ComiCon

2009-04-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

I went to the Boston ComiCon today, which was.. interesting. Luckily I had a buddy to brave the storm with me (thanks Lenny!). The comic con basically involved a large carpeted area with lots of hallways, lots of vendors, and lots of comics and merchandise. At first I wasn't that into it, but then I started roaming around and checking out the booths, and I started having a good time. There was just so much nerdy stuff to look at!

So, after perusing through some silver age relics under the gazes of pompous dork- hipsters, I went to go look at some of the featured artists. This was both good and VERY bad. I mean, I don't even want to go into it. However, I met some really cool, talented people. I just wish I had met Mike Allred, creator of the amazing MADMAN comics. I went to sat hi to him and probably make a fool out of myself as well, but he was being interviewed by some stupid podcast guy. DAMN IT! Then I came back later, and he was gone.

I'm glad I went anyway. I plan to visit many more ComiCons. Hopefully I'll get to the New York one next.

I'll have some actual art up soon

Sam

The Maine Trip

2009-03-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Maine trip was good. I got a lot of songs done that I'm quite happy with. The only place I can really showcase them right now is myspace (myspace.com/actionfigureman), but hopefully work on my website will start soon, and then I'll have all my stuff up there. So yeah it was a good trip, even though maine is really desolate right now, it was kind of a good environment for recording. Thanks to the Kestenbaums for letting me use their music room, and for the food, and the coffee.

I think I'm gonna send demos out to record labels kinda soon, I mean, it's worth a shot.

So for now if you like what you hear and you have a myspace account, friend me!

I'm looking for work, and hoping it gets warm fast.

Sam

New Songs

2009-03-24T10:04:00.001-07:00

I got some new songs uploaded to my myspace music page. If interested in giving them a listen, here's the link:

myspace.com/actionfigureman

up to maine

2009-03-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

okay, so I'm going up to Maine for a few days to record an album. My friends have this big music room they are gonna let me go crazy in for a few days, which is awesome. So up to Maine I go to be a musical hermit for a little bit. I'll post some of the results from this excursion up on this blog when I have some songs finished. I'm hoping that I'll get some good songs out of the next few days.

I guess I got a little carried away about "Watchmen", but it just pisses me off so much when a movie is so blatantly manufactured, especially when it's based off of material that I respect.

Sam

New Painting #4

2009-03-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

Girly Ghost

Acrylic On Canvas

(thanks to the lovely Kate for holding up the paintings)

New Painting #3

2009-03-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on Canvas

new painting #2

2009-03-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

acrylic on canvas