As the saying goes, you should never judge a book by it's cover and I continually find that it's true. That the things you see everyday often hold the more intriguing discoveries in life. Those objects, buildings, and elements you never think twice about because they're just part of the background are usually things worth digging into. Admittedly this project is a regular study of this, shining a light on common objects because they happen to have a sticker on them. But even I get surprised by the stickers I find and the stories behind them, especially on ones that I see everywhere. This diamond sticker is quite possibly one of the most prolific ones around the city. I'm fairly certain that this reflective image has caught my attention in every neighborhood I've wandered so far in my search. Although there is the chance that I only think this because I see it almost every day getting off at my bus stop in the evening. Either way this shiny diamond is a regular sight in my day and does typically catch my eye. On the other hand, it's blended so much into my background that I really wasn't expecting much from it when I started to research it. I assumed it was just a simple design to put an artist's name out there. I mean there really isn't much to gleam from it when initially seen, just a clean traditional diamond shape with a reflective surface to let it stand out. Technically I wasn't wrong, it is the logo of a local band but their esthetic isn't as simple as it seems. If you look to the right of the sticker you'll see a small line of text, which when magnified on my computer, reads thebeautyslap.com. Heading to their website I found another rather simple design, giving you a photo of the band and links to their social media outlets. It also describes the band as a party-brass-thunder-funk, which made zero sense to me but I continued down the rabbit hole. Beauty Slap in the end is a Pittsburgh band that combines the traditional big sound of a brass quartet with techno. Admittedly a tad weird to read or digest, but once you hear it it makes complete sense. Their clean designs and seemingly simple esthetics hide their complicated sound, causing you to have to really dig in to fully get what you're hearing. They've definitely come up with a fairly unique sound and one that Pittsburgh seems to really enjoy. This year they played not only at small venues around the city but also the Thrival Festival and Light Up Night. In the end they are a bit of a diamond in the rough and something I'll have to keep an eye out for in the future.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
Categories |