Michael C. Powell, wearer of many hats

Hi, I’m Michael! I often exist under the nom de plume/guerre Kenny Bloggins as a writer, designer, photographer, musician, and otherwise (I hate this term) “creative professional” based in Louisville. I write about music, food, technology, culture, and Internet bullshit. My design and photography tends to stay in those lanes as well. I’ve had my work featured in outlets such as VICE, The Guardian, PASTE Magazine, The Daily Swarm, IMPOSE, and others. I’m a regular contributor to the nationally award-winning alt newsweekly LEO Weekly, deontologically meeting my print media quota, as well as Consequence of Sound and Intel’s tech trends blog iQ. I’ve also served as a regular contributor to Tiny Mix Tapes, Pitchfork’s hypnogogic spinoff (and sadly defunct) Altered Zones, and NYC-based avant garde powerhouse Ad Hoc. I founded tastemaking subculture hub The Decibel Tolls in Chicago in 2008 and ran it for 5 years. It was fun and people liked it.

I’m also co-owner of the boutique creative media firm Vectortone with Zach Hart (founder, We Listen For You) and Mark Evans (Production Simple). Besides booking a variety of venues throughout the city, we live a patchwork existence offering everything from promotion and event programming to branding, graphic design, photography, printing, and front-end web development for a wide array of small business. So for example, you might see me as the guy who builds the website, creates the logo, helps books some great entertainment for the room, designs and prints the posters, and then run things on site. And hey, a few of those aforementioned designs are available for sale in the shop. Check ’em out, they make a great gift!

Outside of work, I bike pretty much everywhere.

Interested in hiring me to do some art? Branding? Copywriting? Or perhaps a news or feature tip? Just wanna say “hey?” Contact me: michael [at] atomicworkshop (dot) net

Atomic Workshop refers to two great artistic inspirations for me – the kitschy moniker of “the atomic age,” the cultural zeitgeist of the Western World in the ’50s and ’60s, and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the team of musicians and engineers responsible for the sci-fi sounds found in myriad television programs and film during this same time. The themes and designs of modernism are timeless, and had a great effect on me growing up as a science fiction fan, staring at the geometric cover art on old Phillip K Dick and Issac Asimov novels. This sort of design provides both a campy visual whimsy and a clean, highly effective communicative quality. Faded photographs, antique Popular Mechanics diagrams, bold high-contrast typeface – this is the design interface I dig the most, and enjoy incorporating whenever appropriate. However, as evidenced in my portfolio, the visual range of my design is eclectic and adaptable.

While my design work receives the officially licensed Atomic Workshop brand, this site also felt like a good home for my freelance writing because, well honestly, there’s a few freelance writers with my namesake and it gets confusing. In fact, when I wrote for Altered Zones in 2010-11, my checks often went to the Pitchfork freelancer Mike Powell since we were at the same publisher and payroll got it twisted. So I needed an anchor, and you’ll find all my work here. Hope you enjoy!