The Playlist: Creative Director Jon Setzen
Jon Setzen spends his days (and often nights) working as Creative Director at Something Massive a digital strategy agency in Venice, California. He’s new to LA, having just moved here after a decade of living and working in Brooklyn, NY. He’s best known for the hundreds of rock posters he’s made over the years and his work has been shown in NYC, LA, Japan, Denmark and the UK. He’s had the pleasure of working with the likes of Yahoo!, Target, Alicia Keys, Sony Pictures, 826LA, MOMA and countless world-renowned photographers. He runs the Los Angeles branch of Creative Mornings. He’ll never turn off a Smiths song, never turn down a good taco and daydreams about Narragansett, Rhode Island. He lives in Silverlake with his wife, son and Siamese cat.
What do you listen to while you work? It really depends on the day, the time and the situation. It’s generally a mix of old, new and rediscoveries. There is a calming reassurance in listening to something you know by heart. So, for me that could be Hefner, Pastels, Rolling Stones, Velvet Underground, Galaxie 500 etc. Most of the time, I either close my eyes and pick something out of my iTunes library or keep playing the same stuff I am currently loving. Lately, it’s been a lot of Craft Spells, The Clash, Suede, Neil Young, Mingus, Generationals, Luna, Sonny & The Sunsets and Lou Reed.
How do you listen? At home I have a Numark PT-01 (portable turntable) which is plugged into a pair of old Sony speakers. I have it setup on the other side of my studio so it forces me to get up and stretch my legs every time I have to turn the record over. It’s a pretty analog setup really. I try to only play LPs and 7”s since I never ever get to listen to all that old vinyl anywhere but in that studio. Lots of old Modern Jazz Quartet, Aretha Franklin, Spaceman 3, Housemartins, Wedding Present, Orb, Nick Cave, Stan Getz, Stereolab and The Band as of late. At work, I share an office with two other people. Our company is growing like mad so we’re currently all in pretty tight quarters. My two office-mates (who are great and very busy) tend to be on a lot of calls. I generally use a $30 pair of Logitech skype headphones since I tend to need to be on skype a lot. It’s easy to toggle back and forth. I also have JBL creature speakers hooked up to my Mac Pro 8-Core which I use from time to time.