🎵 IT026: 65 Degrees
✏️ Ry Macarayan
🗓 04.03.19

Ry is a designer and illustrator from Hawaii, currently based in Minneapolis.

Aloha Ry! Can you tell us a little bit about your tape and your song selections?

The songs I chose are usually the first ones I go to when the weather is finally nice out. It’s a mix of some cheery pop-punk and some chiller tracks.  When I think about the music I want to listen to once it’s spring, it’s usually poppy and fun; stuff I want to listen to with my car windows cracked down or when I go on the first long walk of the season.

What are your fave album covers, records with a great music and artwork combo, or musical projects with a visual component?

I wanted to capture that feeling of the first few days of spring when the air is crisp and any ice or snow on the ground is beginning to melt.  Winters are so long up here in Minnesota that the moment you can wear sneakers again or just a denim jacket definitely warrants a walk around the city with your earbuds in.

I’m a really big fan of Bomb the Music Industry! and Jeff Rosenstock, and love that every cover is entirely DIY’d by Jeff or the band. They use a lot of hand stencilling or collaged elements and most of the photography are of friends or taken while on tour. It reminds me of making mix CDs in high school and creating my own covers just for fun.

What did you listen to growing up?

The early 2000s was definitely when I was starting to have a music taste of my own, so of course I listened to a lot of pop-punk and alternative indie stuff from the decade. So like Fall Out Boy and Motion City Soundtrack for sure, but also LCD Soundsystem, Modest Mouse, Bloc Party, and The Strokes definitely give me bouts of nostalgia.

What’s happening in your creative world at the moment?

I’ll have a new print at a local show here in Minneapolis called Printerstellar run by the folks at Burlesque Design which will be pretty fun!  Otherwise, outside of general freelance projects here and there, I work on print and pattern for kids clothing at Target, so you can probably find a graphic tee I’ve worked on at your local store, haha (are there Targets in the UK????)

Where to find Ry: