It’s the last day of August, meaning summer is almost over. It was a bit quiet on Bleaq last month. For the first time I had a small summer hiatus, posting just two instead on three posts a week. It’s been nice for me to have a small break, but I have to admit I’m excited to go back to the regular three posts a week! Here’s a small round-up of what happened on the blog and internet this month, hope you enjoy!
This month on Bleaq
- Bleak portraits of architecture and landscapes by Mark Thompson
- Eerie crochet animal skeletons by Caitlin T. McCormack
- Dark, rich in contrast drawings by Sail (Uselessarm)
- Creative, whimsical (self-) portraits by Alex Stoddard
- Strong, supernatural warriors drawn by Chelsea Brown
- Fantastic visions of the future painted by David Natale
- Isolated portraits of abandoned houses by Ben Marcin
- Mysterious, haunting photography by Rebecca Cairns
- Post-apocalyptic animal portraits painted by Martin Wittfooth
Since Twitter made it possible to show images in a timeline I feel like I’m much more drawn to the platform than I was before. I’ve started experimenting with sharing more than just the blog’s updates and so far it has been going really well. If you’re not already following Bleaq on Twitter I’d love for you to join! If you have suggestions for artists, websites or articles you think I might like make sure to let me know!
Survey results
I was flabbergasted by the response on the survey! A big thanks to all of you who took the time to answer my questions and say kind things about Bleaq: it means a lot to me! I loved reading how you feel about Bleaq. Some answers were quite unexpected but all were insightful! I’m looking forward to improve the site with your input, I’ll start making small changes this Fall. ‘The Book of Skulls’ was won by Ivonne, who seems to enjoy it a lot :)
Bleaq + BELOW giveaway
Last month I organized the first ever Bleaq giveaway, together with BELOW. The prints are now on its way to the lucky winner! A big thanks to all of you who entered to win, hopefully I’ll be able to plan more giveaways for you in the future.
Lovely links
- I’ve been blown away by Showtime’s Penny Dreadful: what a fantastic series! I watched it twice already, and am super anxious for the second season. Basically it’s about a group of supernatural hunters in Victorian London: need I say more? Check out this fun read on the (beautiful!) costumes or the super funny image recaps on TV.com (warning: spoilers!).
- A lot of you will be able to relate to this: 10 things people who wear all black are tired of hearing
- This made me laugh: Metal singers eating Hot Dogs
- For my fellow Game of Thrones fans who need their fix of Westeros every now and then: check out this amazing Westeros transfer map.
- Love this: artist Isaac Cordal leaves miniature cement skeletons on the streets of Mexico.
- The wonderful Krist Mort released a photo-book this month called ‘Inlumaeh’. If you’re into dark ambient you’ll be excited to hear she teamed up with artist Lamia Vox for the soundtrack! You can buy the book here at Cyclic Law.
- If these were real I’d adopt one!
- The Obscure Hollow is a fantastic blog on haunted, macabre and dark film decor.
- I want to visit this giant Kaleidoscope, it must be a fantastic experience!
Favorite tunes
One thing I learned from the survey is that you’d love to read about music. I love music, so I’m excited to hear you enjoy that too! I’ll try my best to share music that fit Bleaq’s aesthetics, I mean, guess you’re not that excited to hear me talking about why I think Just Timberlake is awesome… ;) I’m trying out a music feature in this round-up: a small selection of music I enjoyed this month.
Mr. Kitty released a new album! I spend the whole summer last year listening to ‘Life’, and this year his new album ‘Time’ has been my soundtrack. Recommended if you enjoy synthpop.
Speaking of new albums: there’s a new Empyrium! If you like the band you’re probably just as excited as I am, a new album by the guys is quite rare. The album is called ‘The Turn of the Tides’ and is magical. It’s hard to describe the genre, but check it out if you like atmospherical folk/doom music.
My latest discovery is Trepaneringsritualen. Last.FM tags the band as ‘black noise’ or ‘death industrial’ and I think those are quite fitting descriptions. Sound-wise the new album ‘Perfection & Permanence’ reminds me a bit of the unique (and beloved) Galakthorrö-sound, but it’s slightly more noisy. Recommended if you’re into really, really dark music. Oh and play loud!
That’s it for this month! Curious to hear of you like the ‘Favorite tunes’ section: what have you been listening to this month? Hope you all have a lovely weekend, and see you next week with three articles instead of two. Yay! :)
trepaneringsritualen are awesome – thanks for the great discovery! my favorite song so far is alone/a/cross/abyss.