Tuesday, December 31, 2002

NOTICE: I accidentaly deleted all the mail in the mike@burnlab.net account from the past week, much of which I haven't had a chance to reply to. If you sent anything to this address recently, please re-send it. Jeff B, Andy S, and a few others i forget....
My bad. Thanks.

...and a last minute reminder for those in Michigan still looking for something to do tonight: we strongly suggest John Acquaviva, Matt Dear and Paxahau at The Necto in Ann Arbor tonight. Ghoslty, Blackbx, Plus8, Burnlab... can't go wrong.
:)

Happy 2003 to all our beloved readers. For those in the NYC vicinity, a friendly reminder that Olex's Dancing Makes Happy 02 will be the party to beat for the designer/techtrominal crowd, featuring Magda vs. Dinky, Troy Pierce and a special appearance by DJ Traxx. We strongly suggest swinging by Olivia Barry's party in Red Hook beforehand for some neighborhood cheer and more Burnlab programmed audio selections. Drop me an e-mail for directions to the latter and follow the link above for the former.



The Fix is dead, long live The Fix.

Jon Ozias and our friends at Ghostly International kicked off Untitled last week at the Shelter. The free vodka ran out in less than an hour and the door had to be cut off at midnight as hundreds of Detroiters and expats filled the legendary basement club to hear Detroit's next wave craft the future sound of the city. Untitled is poised to make 2003 all about the present and future of electronic music culture, providing Detroit with a weekly dose of fresh talent and good reckless fun not seen since the days of the Bankle parties.

Here are mug shots of six brilliant DJs and one guy badly pretending to know what he's doing. Also be sure to read Robert Gorell's article in the Metro Times with some great quotes from Jon.

On a tangent: there would be more photos, but some wanker lifted my camera at the after-party. How ghetto is that? If anyone tries to sell you a hot Fuji FinePix 6800, give 'em a nice punch in the belly from the Burnlab and a lecture on how to be a decent freakin' human being. I love Detroit, but that crap doesn't happen at parties in Brooklyn.

Monday, December 23, 2002

Sad news for fans of The Clash. Joe Strummer has died of an apparent heart attack.

Sunday, December 22, 2002

I'm off to Detroit today. See all you kids at the UNTITLED preview party on the 26th. Be sure to get there early for free drinks and some Wax Trax! classics.

Friday, December 20, 2002

Rem is online - OMA/AMO has a new web presence that is. It's a really strange site, that it is. First the web browser expands to full screen [I hate that] then you get a pop-up window [I hate that too], then on the Mac here a Flash file downloads to the desktop which then has to be dragged and dropped onto Explorer. The super-tiny text is vector, so you can increase the size of the browser window and the text will enlarge in proportion. [That's kind of neat.] There is a ton of information, but something is missing... no images! It's an architecture site, isn't it? Maybe they're still working on it.
Hmm. I like their buildings.

Where's that Prada site by the way?

In other Koolhaas news, OMA was awarded the contract for the CCTV headquarters in China a few weeks ago. [CCTV is the state-run television network.] Images can be found here and here. Apparently the irregular grid represents stress points on the structure. The engineering studies thus provided an equally functional and graphic theme for the building fa�ade. Nice.

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Re: Don's post on WTC proposals, I concur that Foster and Partners is the best of the lot. Nothing really groundbreaking [for Lord Norman that is], but the most balanced design and most likely to be a wonderful urban space for the long term. And I love the renderings! Though I appreciate much of their work individually, the team responsible the Hollywood Squares plan managed to make a perversely cold formal study out of an extremely emotional site. "Dreadful" is certainly not too strong a word for it. At least we didn't see yet another version of the tremendously insensitive melting towers from Mr. Eisenman. THINK and United Architects also had some strong ideas. Daniel Libeskind's proposal is both emotionally and intellectually stimulating, though I am leery of a deconstructivist vocabulary for the site. Yeah, for me Foster nailed it with dramatic, sustainable structures, great street level presence and a stunning and appropriate memorial. For the most part, a very good day for architecture in New York. Other thoughts?

If the Beck iPod isn't enough, more examples of how confused the world is right now:

Alec Baldwin proposes putting a new Yankee Stadium on the WTC site.
Art student arrested for making people uncomfortable.
Recreational cannibalism in Germany. (As one Computerlove.net reader countered reactions of shock and disgust, "Welcome to Germany, dudes!" Hmm.)

Ah, but there are a few who can save us...

Reverend Yohan brings us holiday cheer with some Chomsky quotes at EvilPupil.com. Before you get down on my man for being all dark and cynical, be sure to read the FAQ section. Enjoy. :)
Just in time to reflect on the state of the world with sharp tongue and sharp suit, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have a new album set for February release and a brand new web site.

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

The City of Detroit is close to making a decision on the future of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. The two parties bidding for the management contract are incumbents Pop Culture Media and a group lead by techno pioneers Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Carl Craig. Due to a financial loss for the city in 2002 [despite attendance over one million], the government is considering skipping a year. Full article in the Freep.

Burnlab is officially in full support of Derrick, Kevin and Carl's team and we encourage city officials to give control of the festival to those responsible for the music which inspired it, and to allow it to take place in 2003. Those who feel the need to write to the city can find contact info here.
Some other relevant links:
DEMF dot com
Metro Times article on 2001 DEMF drama

Monday, December 16, 2002

If you're the lucky high-bidder, you can roll to your next electro event in style on your very own Fischerspooner designed skateboard. The one of a kind deck is available through eBay, and all the proceeds go to the Amnesty International Music for Human Rights fund.

Saturday, December 14, 2002

We apologize for any technical difficulties and hope to correct them soon.

Thursday, December 12, 2002

If you're searching for great [free!] pixel fonts visit our friends at Orgdot. Norway is cold and dark this time of year, so send them some love.

The perfect stocking stuffer this season [there is a lewd joke in there somewhere], order your iRobotnik thong today. "Machine Friendly" professionally silkscreened by BitBoy's army of love robots.

Hot on the heels of their smashing party in November, our good friends at OLEX present Dancing Makes Happy 02 on New Years Eve in Brooklyn. Featured on the turntables are Magda, Dinky, Troy Pierce, Ambassador and Plexus - who can be seen holding a PBR at DMH 01 on the Untitled flyer.

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

More bad music news. Mary Hansen of Stereolab was killed when she was struck by a car while riding her bike. Guess I'll spend this week switching back on to my old stereolab CDs.

just picked up some noteworthy new hip hop______the much anticipated new one from the roots, phrenology, lives up to their reputation of innovation, mixing straight up hip hop and r&b with rock, heavy metal, and even electro (check out the hidden track)_____also, the new one from detroit�s slum village,trinity.although missing cofounder/super producer jay dee (except as producer on a few tracks) and lacking in consistency, the album is still excellent in places (noteably the herbert-sampling "what is this")

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Just in time for the holidays, Karim is unloading some rare prototypes and samples at the NYC HQ this Saturday.

Director and former member of Monty Python, Terry Gilliam spoke at the LAMOCA two weeks ago. Previewed at the event was Lost in La Mancha, a documentary about Gilliam's adaptation of Don Quixote which never happened - despite some ten years preparation, three attempted starts and over $32M in the bank. The film, starring Jean Rochefort, Johnny Depp and a troop of life-size marionettes was literally halted by floods and disease. The documentary about the "un-making" of Don Quixote hits theaters on January 31st.

Among the half dozen projects currently on Gilliam's desk are Brothers Grimm (scheduled to start shooting in the spring for MGM) and a film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Good Omens.

Saturday, December 07, 2002



Form:uLA | Dimension Laboratories
Wow. The essence of "Cyberpunk" has never been defined by architecture quite so explicitly. This brings me back to the days of rummaging through scrap yards for parts to build scratch models of parasitic structures for John Bell's design theory class after watching Brazil like three times in a row. Only Form:uLA does it better than I ever imagined. Plus they can draw like Jay Shuster. [Okay, almost... but better than most for sure.]

Friday, December 06, 2002



We are teaming up with Blackbx and Ghostly the night after Christmas at The Shelter. This is a free preview of an as yet untitled event series. The talent consists entirely of fast rising young stars including Tadd Mullinix, Derek Plaslaiko, Matthew Dear, Mike Servito and Magda. Come early for free drinkies and listen to Jon O and I pretend to deejay in the backroom. Info here. [+ don't forget the Victoria Dark event tomorrow night!]

What good are designers anyway? Pair Affinnova with n_Gen Design Engine and you have the best thing since PageMaker 1.0 turned every wanker with a Mac Classic into a graphic designer overnight. n_Gen is actually a very innovative piece of software... a bit too much effort went into this for it to simply be the elaborate joke it looks like. n-Gen works like this: users select a style ["California Noir�" = David Carson, "Urbivore�" = Peter Saville, etc.], then plug in their own title and text, then the software apparently churns through some algorithms and pumps out a unique graphic layout. The end product is blatantly a stylistic rip-off, but a unique design nonetheless. The best part is that its free! I just downloaded a copy for the Lab, and will be futzing around with it tonight. Could lop hours or days off the design process for club flyers... or even annual reports! ;)
Ughh. So, is design dead?

Really, go download yourself a copy and we'll do a little reader/conspirator n_Gen gallery right here. The good folks at Move Design who created this thing have quite a sense of humor about it. Here is a description of the Urbivore� design module: "Feel the angst and decay of the city in the comfort of your own studio, with Urbivore�. Sophisticated, cosmopolitan and spare, four out of five professional designers agree, it's the most faithful reproduction of minimalist - post - apocalyptic - grit - chic available."

Thursday, December 05, 2002

this is the antethisis of design vision, not to mention just plain EVIL. (unless you yearn to be replaced by a focus-group based form generator)

Wednesday, December 04, 2002

Nice post Olivia! There's so much cool damn stuff going on in Detroit this month. Follow the link in the previous post to see Jeff performing a digitally hot-rodded table saw at the 2000 Detroit Electronic Music Festival, and read the rest of the article this statement was taken from: "I spent a great deal of time attached to a portable cassette recorder used for diary purposes attempting to capture conversations, experiences, numerous moments of my life. My early obsession with recording grew out of a fear of losing that time that was passing. Reflecting on my recorded life ultimately was very beneficial. Reinterpreting the fragmented perception of my everyday revealed things, things that are a foundation for my recent sound-based work."

Speaking of the DEMF, Pop Culture Media's three year contract is expired and the festival rights are currently in the hands of city council to bestow on the best team for 2003. There is the potential for Detroit's biggest annual event to simultaneously return to its grass-roots energy and be transformed into a world class cultural festival on par with SONAR in Barcelona... or even bigger and better. Right now we wait and see.

Tuesday, December 03, 2002



Ghostly International's next event, Victoria Dark happens this Saturday at the legendary Shelter, under St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. Performing are Ghostly artists Matthew Dear, Kill Memory Crash [live] and Tad Mullinix, plus the talented and charming Mike Servito and a handful of special guests including Bpitch Control's Kero. All for a mere ten bucks.

UPDATE: Sam Valenti IV graced the cover of the Metro Times this past week. Read the rather detailed article about the history and future of the music industry phenomenon known as Ghostly International here.

Still no word on exactly why Control IV was prematurely shut down last Wednesday night, but you can read Rich's statement on m-nus.com. There is also a four and a half hour video stream of the evening available. Not quite like being there... Skip ahead to about 4:00 to see Sven Vaeth working up to an epic frenzy just before the cops bust in.

Dublin, by the way, was a much needed change of pace and scenery. The Irish know how to live. Imagination's Guinness museum is an outstanding example of good experience design, complete with smell-o-vision and a very swanky circular glass lounge on top of the old brewery. Thanks to Jon O and Caitlin Doyle for all the good tips. No Bono sightings, but U2 is pretty inescapable in Temple Bar pubs. We did see Sinead hanging out in a gallery.

Sunday, December 01, 2002

Having recently become a satisfied member of the Apple iPod family of owners, I�m now on the quest for the perfect accessories for my 20gb baby. Some items of note fellow iPodders may be interested in: Colette of Paris sells the limited edition Dior Homme case designed by Hedi Slimane (Hedi's iPod playlist includes: '80s hits from The Smiths, Blondie and The Clash.) While DVForge has created their stunning DVBase for desktop exhibitionists.

Thursday, November 28, 2002

Control IV busted. Time to move to a real city so we can have some fun.

Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Great big thanks to Fontmonster.com and Binah.org [viva Chicas Latinas] for linking up Burnlab. Fontmonster is a great resource in tasty bitmap crispness, and Biah is a Costa Rican based site with some great content, run by - from what I gather - a group of very talented Latin chica designers. It was more than flattering to see Burnlab listed between John Maeda and GMUNK. Wish I could read Spanish...

Israel posted this piece of Flash anime over on ARCHINECT, and I still can't figure out if it's for real or not... superbly twisted: Show You, Show Me.

There is a simple web page for The Necto's New Years Eve party up here and the final print graphics are here. Perhaps proof that sick minds think alike, or maybe bubbles<>records are the hot thing in the collective unconscious, Tom M�ller just did a drop-dead gorgeous job for Addiction, with some nicely animated bubbles. He and Ash Wood have also just launched Popbot World. Mr. M�ller is just too good for his own good ;)

Shannon and I are off to Dublin for the holiday, so I will be off-line until next week. [I trust the conspirators to hold down the fort.] Happy Turkey Day to all!

Monday, November 25, 2002

The top 20 Computer.Love poster contest finalists are up here. Apparently the other editors didn't disagree with all of my selections ;) Here were my top five picks:
one two three four five

In the 'thought you had seen it all' category: Eminem's family home is for sale on eBay. Bidding is at over $11 million so far. What would someone with that kind of money do with a dump in Warren? Please don't say museum... The official site is too funny. Here is an excerpt: "Two lower bedrooms, with energy-efficient fluorescent lighting and period suspended ceilings." Sweet.

Minus Records just received a really nice, tight re-design by the talented Craig Kroeger - best known as Milwaukee's god of pixel fonts. The all new Minus site features a wealth of media and information, including some super-rare videos. Check Craig's other work at miniml.com, and see Rich tonight at Filter 14 in NYC, and Wednesday at City Club in Detroit for Control IV.

Saturday, November 23, 2002

Rumor has it that both Magda and I are playing records at the Shelter in Detroit on December 26th. You saw '8 Mile', right? You know all about the Shelter then. (Oh, and that's right, I don't know how to DJ.)

Friday, November 22, 2002

John Balousek reports on some great stuff going on around his current home town of Tokyo:



The Electraglide festival at Makuhari Messe [where the Tokyo Motor Show is held] happens Friday, Dec. 13th and features Kraftwerk and Squarepusher. Kraftwerk and Squarepusher! Egh, Sasha is there too... You know what we think of trance around here.

I've been asking for years why Kraftwerk has never played the D.E.M.F., and apparently the reason is $100,000. Fair enough.

Also in the neighborhood, the RESFEST hits Harajuku this weekend, and there is an M.C. Escher exhibit wrapping up at the Bunkamura Museum in Shibuya.

Back in Brooklyn, our good friends at OLEX are throwing a loft party this Saturday with a very impressive DJ line-up. Info here.

[Swiped from NewsToday.com] This is way below our normal standards... well... here: Laptops dangerous to pee-pee.

Thursday, November 21, 2002

Liz is moderating a panel discussion on Detroit music this Saturday as part of the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit's LINK series. [Info below and more on Audio Interference.]

Re:sounding Detroit: a comparative presentation and discussion of music created in the Motor City
Participants: Lars Bjorn, Ben Edmonds & Dan Sicko; Moderated by Liz Copeland
Saturday, November 23rd, 3-5 pm
Bernath Auditorium inside the David Adamany Undergraduate Library on the campus of Wayne State University
Free and open to the public

For those who may not be familiar, CAID is a big deal and a great thing for Detroit and the greater art community. The recently reborn non-profit is dedicated to promoting and providing a support network for artists working in various media - from sculpture to music to film. Watch for exciting things from this group, led by Detroit Contemporary founder and Detroit Artists Market director Aaron Timlin and a visionary board of directors which includes Ersatz founder Adam Lee Miller, Pilot Pictures' Riva Sayegh and of course, our own Andy and Liz among other community leaders.

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Great big thanks to everyone who made it out for the Engram/Core77 OffSite last night. Over 300 people attended, which is about twice comfortable capacity at Galapagos! Everyone seemed to have great time though. Photos to come.

I was digging around on Core77 and found the great website of Portland based industrial design consultants Fuse. (Not to be confused with SF based design powerhouse Fuse Project.)

More on MoSex: SHoP didn't actually design the Museum of Sex, though they do have an interesting proposal at their site. A firm called Cleanroom is credited. Cleanroom did design a really interesting facade treatment, which should be a cool landmark on 5th Ave, when completed. The interior unfortunately just smacks of being thrown together and the exhibits are an injustice to the content. There are discussions on the design here and here.

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

Brian Kritzman and I went to The Changing of the Avant-Garde exhibit at the MoMAQns on Saturday - which is to die for. I fell in love with drawing all over again. The on-line exhibit is stunning as well: the handiwork of For Office Use Only. The Drawing Now exhibit is also brilliant, and the 'greatest hits' from the MoMA's permanent collection just floored me. I'd seen all the pieces before, but never have been in a room of such an intense concentration of pivotal work. Wow. Great new building as well. This was a real treat after being swindled out of $17 each for admission to the recently opened and much hyped Museum of Sex. This is hands down the WORST museum I've ever been to. Junk exhibit design, junk floorplan, junk craftsmanship, junk lighting, junk, junk, junk. I think I actually heard that it cost about two dollars per square foot to build, and I think they were ripped off. The staff was nice enough I suppose, and the content was what it was. I guess its impressive to build a space with nothing but a stack of drywall, a Sawzall, chewing gum, and some left over latex paint. It seems like they're trying to make some money fast and close up in a few months. Maybe its business as elaborate performance art? Even so... junk. MoMA... rocks.

See all you NYC kids at Galapagos tonight!

Its time for me to start pitching ideas for Urb Magazine's Next 100 issue. Anyone have some ideas? Electronic artist who are just on the cusp of breaking though? Don't worry too much about if they're too old or too obscure. Throw me an e-mail with names (and maybe a url if its convenient) and i'll figure if its do-able. send 'em joshua_glazer@hotmail.com

Thanks for the input.

Saturday, November 16, 2002



Motor is gone. Sardine Bar is gone. What to do in Detroit on New Years Eve? Above is a sneak peek at the flyer for the NYE party at The Necto in Ann Arbor Michigan: featuring John Acquaviva, Matthew Dear and Paxahau. Stay tuned right here for more info in the coming week.

Friday, November 15, 2002

Thinkblank is sponsoring their Secret Santa gift giving program again this holiday season. All you need to participate is an Amazon wishlist. You tell Santa a little about yourself and then on December the 10th you find out who you're buying a present for. Check it out here.

Thursday, November 14, 2002

I started two discussion threads to generate data for the previously mentioned IDSA conference. Please feel free to add your opinions, as the more responses the more dynamic the final visualization will be. Also, this is not restricted to industrial designers or designers at all. Design by democracy!
IDSA survey thread at Archinect | IDSA survey thread at Core77
Thanks in advance

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

Recent additions to the library...

I think it's apparent to most readers just how much I adore the work of Elizabeth Diller and Ric Scofidio. I'm also a huge freak about the aesthetics of science and documentation, and study of the creative process [hence an obsession with artists like Candy Jernigan, Marcel Duchamp and Joseph Cornell.] For those who may not have picked it up yet, Diller+Scofidio's latest publication, Blur: The Making of Nothing just collapses my world. It is one of the most exhaustive documentations of design process ever put to print. Weighing in as a hefty little brick of a book [something Koolhaas surely approves of], Blur follows the story of their "non-building" created for the 2002 Swiss National Expo from the initial invitation through the physical realization. It collects faxes, e-mail correspondences, thumbnail sketches, meeting notes, newspaper clippings, hundreds of never before published drawings, photos and test results. This compendium of raw data is organized and presented chronologically with little editorial filtering. Every idea, ego clash, stumbling block and solution is presented as it happened - often with letterheads, e-mail addresses and the like intact. As extraordinary as Blur [the building] is, Blur [the book] is a remarkable work of art and science in its own right.

Another great book about documentation I recently picked up is Mapping: An Illustrated Guide to Graphic Navigational Systems, edited by Roger Fawcett-Tang for RotoVision Publishing. Mapping provides up-to-the-minute examples of information design and cartography for print, web and physical environments. Some featured designers include Imagination, Sagmeister, Attik and Lust. The editorial content is straight forward and insightful, and the selected projects are strictly content driven, yet show a broad range of highly creative communication techniques.

I'm honored to announce that Engram Design has recently been appointed Graphics Chair for the 2003 IDSA National Conference in New York City. This is a pro-bono project of a scale I have yet to fully comprehend, but am excited to be working with heavy hitters Smart Design, Ecco Design, and our good friends at Core77. To prepare for this project I'm currently re-reading Invisible Cities and Delirious New York. I'm also preparing a survey which will possibly determine some of the content of the print collateral, web site and on-site multimedia. More info soon.


COMPUTER.LOVE poster contest update

The deadline has ended and all 350+ submissions are available for viewing at COMPUTER.LOVE.net The editors now begin the process of selecting the top 20 finalists, which will be narrowed down to three designs. These will be produced and distributed to the media and leaders in the design world to celebrate COMPUTER.LOVE's anniversary and kick off version two this winter.

Monday, November 11, 2002

Sometimes you fall for the hype. Sometimes you don't.
I'm totally feeling the new (first?) UK hip-hop sensations, The Streets. Despite the name, it's a one man project by Mike Skinner, whose debut album Original Pirate Material, is a fantastic mix of garage/two-step beats and ultra-laddish British rapping about smoking spliffs and taking mushrooms and raving til dawn. Its enough to make you jealous, thinking about how the cultural cross-over of dance/indie/hip-hop is so prevailant in the UK. Just to give you an idea how British this is, Skinner peppers every track with the word "Geezer", the same way US rappers gotta pack "N***er" into every verse. It's total -flavor of the month-, but if nothing else, "It's Too Late, is definately the pop song most likely to get stuck in your head for a week or two.

And speaking of hip-hop hype...
I gotta say how dissapointed I was with 8 Mile. And for all the reasons you wouldn't expect. In its effort to be a serious film, showing Eminem as a break-though talent, the movie honestly could have used some more Hollywoodization because it is BORING. Eminem doesn't sing one friggin' song. Imagine Purple Rain without any of the music scenes. Pretty lame huh? The Detroit aspect is nice, although the suspension of disbelief gets tested when you see the kids park their cars in the Michigan Theater, then walking on over to the Chin Tiki. As if those two places are right next to each other (As If both those places weren't chained shut). And it turns out the "Shelter" is actually a facade that they built amongst some taller buildings down around Griswold area. Its surreal. You know its not the Shelter, but there is a side-alley scene just like the one next to St. Andrews. So actually, the film might be worth it to natives just for the Bizarro Detroit effect. But overall, 8 Mile isn't anywhere near Oscar quality. And its far too flat for mindless pop-movie appeal.

Saturday, November 09, 2002

Apparently this week's theme is infrastructure, urban ruins and trains. Sorry for the late posting of this, but for those who can make it, well worth checking out:

Ars Subterranea: An Exhibit on Underground New York

Ars Subterranea celebrates its inaugural event - an art exhibit about subterranean New York - by taking its audience underground. Literally.
�� �
Sunday, November 10, 2002, 12 to 4 PM in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel

Corner of Court St/Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn
Meet at the clock of the Independence Bank
$10, $8 for senior citizens/students with ID

The exhibit features photos, videos, a sound installation and a site-specific performance piece relating to the history and topography of subterranean New York. This is the first art presentation about this city's underground that is held in an actual underground location.

Contributing artists include:

Photos by Margaret Morton, Julia Solis, Joseph Anastasio, Chris Beauchamp, Christos Pathiakis, and others

Sound installation by Hans-Christoph Steiner
� �
Videos by Bryan Papciak and Jeff Sias
� �
� and a special performance by Sxip Shirey at 3 PM

The setting for this exhibit is the historic Atlantic Avenue tunnel, the world's first train tunnel built below a city street. The event is organized in cooperation with the tunnel's proprietor, Bob Diamond, and the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association.

Please be aware that the tunnel can only be entered via a short ladder inside a manhole and that you may want to dress accordingly. We will assist anyone who may require help.
--

For those who may not be familiar, the Atlantic Avenue tunnel was literally lost and forgotten for 140 years. [Somewhat like the old flushing tunnel for the nearby Gowanus Canal which was recently reopened, bringing marine life back to the industrial heart of Brooklyn.] Through personal research, Bob Diamond pinpointed the only existing egress to the 2000' tunnel in the 1980s and has become its caretaker. Mr. Diamond also operates the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association and continues to work toward restoring trolley service [right through my neighborhood] along New York harbor between Red Hook and Brooklyn Heights.

Friday, November 08, 2002

anyone living in new york and interested in jazz should check out the mingus big band at the time cafe in the east village. this 14-piece band is dedicated to playing the work of jazz giant charles mingus, the late bassist, pianist and composer of the 50�s 60�s and 70�s whose turbulent group-improvisational compositions differed greatly from those of his solo-oriented contemporaries. i had a chance to see them last night at la palau de la musica (a concert hall in the "modernista" style typified by antoni gaudi) as part of the barcelona jazz festival. if you�re not so interested in jazz but like music, check it out anyway. you�ll probably be surprised

Thursday, November 07, 2002

Next Thursday Kaiju Big Battle returns to Manhattan for a night of mayhem at the Roxy, with special guest DJs Nikki-Z and Justine D. "Kaiju Big Battle is a modern conflict of epic proportions." If grown men wrestling in foam rubber monster suits LIVE is your thing, don't miss this.

Israel's mother will be proud: here are photos of a garden installation he just completed at the Greystone mansion in Beverly Hills. I've also been encouraged to check out the Blue Diamond 68 exhibit at the Artisits Space in SoHo, featuring some work Mr. Kandarian did while with George Yu Architects. Organized by Michael Speaks and Neil Denari, the exhibition "explores the frameworks of time and scale in contemporary design practice [and] rethinks conventions." Any excuse to go to SoHo is a good excuse to go play at the Apple store and slide down 'the wave' at Prada on a potato sack.

I came across two great portfolio sites yesterday >>
From Core77: Brian Michael Gossett, a.k.a. Gray Matter Dsgn.
From Archinect: Josh Ashcroft, a.k.a. Surphasia/Psycho-Mullet.

Wednesday, November 06, 2002

Apple announces new PowerBooks today which are both less expensive and much better equipped than expected: 1GHz G4, 64MB video card and the first slot loading DVD-writer. (New iBooks too.)

i had basically given up on looking for decent dj mix cd's when one caught my eye by being culled from a night in nitsa in barcelona.. globalunderground's james lavelle:barcelona is a heavy, brooding but very danceable 2 cd set from the mo' wax founder and UNKLE co-founder. the first (and more interesting) cd is mostly breakbeat -dubby,electro,tribal- while the second is mostly house -deep,techy,electro...not an easy one to describe (which is good) and a surprise from a label known more in the past for its deep, trancey house compilations. highly recommended for anyone who likes their dancefloor to surprise a bit more than it does

Tuesday, November 05, 2002

Levi's RED has the latest Donald Graham photos online, which are also appearing in this month's PAPER magazine, including Ladytron, Princess Superstar and the girls from W.I.T.

Our friend Jared in London sends along two great links on modern ruins:

Aptly titled, Modern-Ruins.com showcases the photography of Phillip Buehler, who has been documenting 20th century ruins such as Cape Canaveral, Coney Island and ARMAC ("the airplane graveyard") for decades. The 360� QTVR images are stunning.

An old favorite, Lowell Boileau's The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit remains an essential living document of the city. I've spent hours here exploring the city I thought I knew - always finding new bits of information or hidden architectural gems.

Jared also encourages us to check out the work of science fiction author Steve Aylett. The comprehensive world of the Accomplice series is documented here. The artifacts section is rather interesting, with references to Max Ernst and automata masters the Brothers Quay.

And a big welcome to our newest conspirator Marcus, who represents the great state of Missouri and consistently provides some of the wittiest commentary on the ARCHINECT forums. Check out some of his work here. This is a guy who designed an architectural device for having conversations with aliens. Right on.

Sunday, November 03, 2002

Saturday, November 02, 2002

Speaking of NYC trains, Friends of the High Line is a community group dedicated to the preservation and transformation of the unused elevated freight track running though Chelsea. Check out their well designed and informative web site.



NYCsubway.org is an unbelievably comprehensive resource for all things related to the largest subway system in the world. There are thousands of photos, diagrams and maps covering everything from construction techniques to car rosters to maintenance facilities and scrap yards. The collection of construction documents for the 1939 World's Fair Railroad is a fine example of the beauty of the internet as an information resource.

Friday, November 01, 2002

Geek speak:
I've been hanging on to a trusty G3 500/20 PowerBook for exactly two years now, in anticipation of purchasing a new Titanium model this fall. This was hinging on wide speculation that Apple's pro laptops would sport a 1GHz G4, a faster system bus, a 64MB graphics card and possibly DVD-R/W. The latest reports in the rumor mill point to 867 and 933 MHz models with none of the other improvements [motherboard speed my biggest chagrin.] Hm. We might wait and see if Apple rolls out the almost mythical 64-bit G5 models at MacWorld Expo in January. Or not. In any case, if you're thinking about a new PowerBook, wait at least until November 6th!

There's also this thing, which appears to be magazine ad paste-up for a new device. No telling if it's just a fake or not, but certainly interesting - considering that Microsoft is supposed to release its Tablet PC on November 7th. [update]: The above 7.4" PowerBook 'thing' is a indeed a Japan-market only Sony Vaio U1 with an Apple logo PhotoShopped on and the keyboard lopped off. Someone's wishful thinking.

The beautiful new-to-the-US-market Sony Vaio W-series still looks really good as a digital home entertainment center. Check out the nice Flash piece for it: styled, designed and directed by our own BitBoy.

Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Why wait for the government to implant you with a tracking device: "Get chipped!" Is this some sick Orwellian practical joke? Uh-uh. Verichip is FDA approved and the Chip-mobile is coming to your town. Hide the children. Surprisingly, John Ashcroft isn't even behind this one... though I'm sure it gives him a big ol' grin.

I'm just recovering from San Francisco's first electroclash event, and while I've been to more electronic music event's than I care (or am able) to remember, few enjoyed the fun atmosphere and great energy of this weekend. I've posted lots of snapshots at iRobotnik, just be warned there's about 1MB of photos, so be patient.

Monday, October 28, 2002

Sometimes the truth is so funny it's not so funny: switch.com/pissed

Sunday, October 27, 2002

BURNLAB.RADIO update
We are getting close to developing an appropriate format for streaming audio. if anyone has been following recent news about copyright law, you are aware this is not a good time to start up a web radio station... or any radio station for that matter. Nonetheless, Burnlab is committed to promoting artists we admire - working in all media - and providing our users a resource to learn about and experience the best and most innovative work being created today. BURNLAB.RADIO will help establish this site as a finger on the pulse of the underground, and [thanks to our diverse and talented editorial staff] provide educated insights on the material we cover. The hope is that by exposing people to certain music, they will be inclined to purchase something they would not have known about otherwise. In that respect, we find it foolish that any record label would take issue with this broadcast. We do plan to honor the request of any copyright holders to remove specific material.

We have ruled out Live365 and other third party broadcast services. Streaming media will come directly from our server. It will most likely not be a SHOUTcast station. The reason for this is that radio content will be a feature of the "Burnlab package" as explained above, and is not intended as a stand-alone radio station. The station(s) will be programmed by a team of editors around the world, and feature new music, rare selections and historically significant favorites. I am still very interested to hear what specific features people would like see. Mail here.

On the subject, I'm using the alpha version of WINAMP Mac right now, and loving the sound quality and functionality. Highly recommended media player. Also, do check out Epitonic Radio. It allows you to create dynamic playlists from different genres and features a selection of new music I'm frankly envious of. Epitonic also offers quality editorial content and MP3 downloads.



Finally, a reminder to all that this Wednesday is Devil's Night. Our associates at Ghostly International and DJ Hell himself descend on Brooklyn to the delight of electropunks and art school freaks.

Saturday, October 26, 2002

Last night at Paxahau's Tinnitus event, I had my head completely twisted around by some fantastic techno. It was three live PAs of funky, compelling and really really original ssslllooowwww-techno. First was a live PA by Swiss producer Luciano. Heavily delayed dub style pianos over really slick mid-era Speedy J-esq beats. You can get the almost full effect by checking out his not-so-live CD 'Live @ Weetamix. That was followed by a less compelling set by current bleep-bleep golden boy Akufen. Although the set was average, it would be wrong of me to not mention his incredible remix of Cabaret Voltaire's classic "Nag Nag Nag coming out this month on Novamute. The night ended with a set by Perlon artist Dandy Jack who was joined by Luciano in what became a three hour tour-de-force of dueling laptops. I'll let everyone know when Paxahua post the archives from this amazing night.

just back from a whirlwind u.s. trip...cool to see fellow editors tony, olivia and mike in brooklyn and catch a beer (or 10) in buttermilk......as i told mike, a nice new engram tshirt is being proudly worn thru the streets of barcelona. biggest design-related surprise of my trip was the quality of some of the restaurants and bars in las vegas...unfortunately i wasn�t able to find any good links but the mandalay bay resort has a couple of spots sporting over-the-top design worthy of a batman movie.............................................next weekend is the annual artfutura festival in barcelona, which features the best of computer generated art from the past year, with highlights including the "kinetic light sculptures" of paul friedlander and radical software group�s carnivore project,based on software with the same name used by the fbi to monitor internet activity.sounds interesting (i had to say that or else i might be on some fbi blacklist)...........................................guilty pleasure alert (don�t read more if that leadup worries you)...if the coming of crisp fall nights makes you feel like reminiscing about unrequited highschool love while wandering the leaf strewn parks, buy the new coldplay... just don�t admit it to anyone

Friday, October 25, 2002



Lifted from Core77: Superfuture city style guide. Also see the gorgeous new Sony Vaio W Series. Now available in the US. If it only came with a decent OS...

Lifted from Computerlove: We Come in Peace... nice! And check out the great work and clever interface of Emil Olsson's portfolio, Selected.Work.

Thursday, October 24, 2002

Smooth move Microsoft.

Our friends at Red Antenna are celebrating the release of their forthcoming compilation, "The New Electric Policy 2" this Friday [Oct. 25], 9pm at Subtonic: 107 Norfolk, Lower East Side NYC.
Festivities include live performances from Karl Zeiss and Variable-X, plus visual art from the Red Antenna agitprop department and Polar Bear Club resident guru, Giles Hendrix.

Also Friday night, the visionary and multitalented Carl Craig DJs at the legendary club Zouk in Singapore.

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Just in: Fischerspooner are to perform at Irving Plaza on November 19th with very special guest DJ Hell. There will be a 9pm and a Midnight show, and those on the mailing list can purchase tickets in advance. We of course encourage all of you to go to the Midnight show, so you can make our much hyped lecture-slash-party at Galapagos Art Space beforehand. We have not confirmed if this is instead of or in addition to the rumored FS performance on Halloween night. (Perhaps Karl can lend some insight?)

Rich and Sven's new mix CD is released next week. Pre-order directly from Mute.

Tuesday, October 22, 2002



One of the many projects in varying states of completion here at the Lab is a web site for The Fix [see events, left.] Here is a preview of a new feature: Fix Sketchbook documents many of my scribbles for the club flyers and identity of the ongoing electro party, presented as a 57 inch wide JPEG file. + We've archived all the flyers in one place for your viewing pleasure: Fix Flyer Gallery

Sunday, October 20, 2002

We're seriously investigating BURNLAB.RADIO [a.k.a. streaming music programmed by your favorite B-lab conspirators.] I'm leaning toward going with Live365, but would like any input from our readers on personal experience with different streaming media hosts. Of course we'd like to keep costs to a minimum, but only want to do it if will be a valuable feature for our users. Insight and comments much appreciated.

I got a little preview of Computerlove V2, and I have to say it will be the best and most dynamic resource on the internet for visual design. Can't say more or they'll kill me, but be prepared to be impressed... sometime before end of the year.

Got Berlin on your mind, Mr. Clark? ;) Marius should be moved there soon. Definitely looking forward to having a Burnlab representative based in the world capitol of underground culture.

Daniel Miller (of Mute Records, Depeche Mode fame) has a radio show, the "Miller Hour". Check it out in RealAudio at Radio Eins in Berlin.

London's Trash parties have a number of great DJ sets available online for your listening pleasure in Real Audio format. Unlike the club itself, dress code is not enforced.



I'm nearly finished with the design for Memory Systems' soon to be released full length CD. Above is a little sneak peek at the artwork.

See our friend Oliver's web design portfolio at OLEX. Clean, beautiful Austrian design straight from Brooklyn.



This past Friday marked the final installment of Magda's weekly DJ residency at Openair in NYC. She'll be playing a handful of one-off events [including *cough* the Core77 Offsite November 19th] before jetting off on tour with the Plastik one. Pictured here at Lit, Odell Nails tries to sell Magda on the virtues of a rather nasty beverage called Sparks, which is a caffeinated, orange flavored malt liquor. With the Openair residency over, expect the NYC kids to be spending a lot more time at Lit on Friday nights. (Sparks will definitely not be part of the regualr routine though.)

Some recent content updates at the comprehensive website of French techno genius and super nice guy Laurent Garnier. Laurent will make a rare stop in Detroit on November 30th at the Johanson Gallery in Eastern Market.

Friday, October 18, 2002

News from Paul at Archinect: The six finalists in the Pentagon memorial competition have been announced.

I swiped this gem from old Burnlab favorite Justin on the NTB board yesterday: art or business?

Thursday, October 17, 2002

Since I'm now officially writing for three different design news sites [the one you're looking at + Core77 and Computerlove], it may take some adjustment to figure out what information to post where. Since Burnlab is home base, you can generally expect longer, more detailed rants here... for better or worse. Anyway, below are some highlights from the Things That Think consortium at the M.I.T. Media Lab earlier this week. Thanks to Jaron Rothkop I got to meet innumerable creative geniuses and got to play with some technology that will literally change the way we live. So where to start?

Perhaps not the most significant to mankind's progress, but very ingenious is the newest version of DJ I-Robot. This machine is basically the opposite of Final Scratch, playing real records on custom built computer controlled turntables. My favorite feature is the ability to program rhythms through scratching with the software interface... like an analog sampler of sorts. With the capability to 'fast forward' at up to 800 RPM, it must destroy records and needles at an impressive rate.

Of great interest to designers is a project by Aesthetics and Computation Group research assistant Simon Greenwold, first debuted about a year ago. Installation allows the user to draw objects in three dimensional space, and then pick up the screen and walk around the object as if it is physically in the room. The implications are staggering. As Simon says [no pun intended], "The fundamental idea is that once a work object is contextualized in space it has shared platform for simultaneous manipulation." Meaning that multiple users can access and manipulate information: be it an architectural design, large system engineering, a product or abstract information.

Speaking of manipulating information in physical space, Hiroshi Ishii's Tangible Media Group is dedicated to exploring language in its purest sense and developing better was to mediate information. Illuminating Clay is an interface that "allows users to explore and analyze free form spatial models. Three-dimensional geometry is captured in real time using a laser scanner. From this information simulations such as shadow casting, land erosion, visibility and travelling time are calculated. Finally, the results are projected back onto the clay model." Astoundingly elegant is the ongoing "Bottles" project. Custom glass bottles of different shape and size give out specific frequencies when uncorked, and can be assigned different types of audible information. This bottles can be assigned anything from musical instruments, to metaphorical information related to data interpreted from a web browser. The bottles can even be assigned voices and carry on a conversation.

Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Back from a quick visit to NYC, including stops at the excellent Buttermilk and Gel and Weave, to see good news for Detroit-area tourism: Instead of settling for the nice yet incomplete glimpse of auto production provided by displays at the Detroit Historical Museum and others, Ford Motor Co.'s Rouge plant plans to resume tours soon. Although they won't likely include time on a catwalk over steel that is being rolled, as described here, it likely will be well worth a detour. Now if only The Detroit Salt Co. would reopen the salt mines below the city for tours.


We are proud to announce two new official Associates:

Computerlove.net is probably the best daily resource for visual design on the internet. I'm honored an excited to be joining their very talented news crew.

More than just a record label, Ghostly International is dedicated to providing the very best quality in music, live events and visuals. Look for co-sponsored events very soon.

The thing I love most about both our new associates is they both maintain an outstanding level of quality, yet a very friendly feel and dedication to emerging talent. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Speaking of Ghostly... see you on Devil's Night.

One more note: remember to tune in to Liz's show on WDETfm online tonight from midnight to 5am E.S.T. for her Focus:Electronic program.

Monday, October 14, 2002

Further evidence of how deeply the roots of minimal techno are tangled with industrial and EBM: Here is what our friend Zip was doing prior to founding the Perlon label.

Sunday, October 13, 2002



News from our friends in Singapore: The giant spiney metal clad eggs which have been rising on Marina Bay, also known as The Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, opened this past weekend. The Esplanade is a state of the art entertainment and performing arts center which will house concerts, opera, performance art, dance, theatre, outdoor activities, shopping, and a high tech complex of restaurants. Designed by Michael Wilford & Partners and DP Architects, it is part of Singapore's strategy to establish itself as the cultural center of Southeast Asia.

Friday, October 11, 2002

That's just swell. On the same day Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize for devoting decades of his life to the peaceful resolution of international conflicts, the US Senate grants President Bush broad power to attack Iraq because...uh... oh, that's right... because of a personal vendetta between world leaders, control of a natural resource we should have phased out decades ago and war is just good fun [and a heck of a lot easier than fixing the economy.] On a related topic, US military personnel and high ranking officials are granted immunity from the potential of war crimes tribunals at the Hague. God forbid our leaders be burdened with the nagging threat of taking responsibility for their actions. This looks like the first phase of adopting President Bush's U.S. Does Whatever It Wants resolution.

Nice one, Chad! If I weren't going to Boston on Monday I'd be so there.

This is not brand new, but if anyone hasn't seen Jack Black doppelganger TransFatty's twisted little piece of pop culture candy, enjoy Archie and Edith in the 5th Dimension.

Thursday, October 10, 2002

For those in LA this fall, our own Israel Kandarian has work featured at the upcoming SCI-Arc exhibit 30/30 Vision: Thirty Thesis Drawings from the First Thirty Years. The exhibit runs October 15 - November 4.

Not to be difficult Michael, but doesn't Brian Izard's design look a whole lot like the BMW 7 series? =P

Fans of things dark and tonal should check out the new Amon Tobin album Out From Out Where. Everything from blip-hop to proto-industrial to cinematic hellraiser styles. And the cover art by Openmind (1/3 of Ninja Tune group DJ Food) actually brings a new look to that most overused of techno visuals, the Gundam.

Wednesday, October 09, 2002

Political satirist and hero of the people, Michael Moore's new film Bowling For Columbine opens in select theaters this Friday. Unanimous winner of the Cannes Special Jury Prize, the film takes aim at the NRA: featuring interviews with Marilyn Manson, South Park creator Matt Stone, and NRA president Charlton Heston. Moore decided to make the film after giving up on the notion of becoming NRA president himself, in order to "return the organization to its roots [teaching the responsibility of firearms] instead of what it is now - a front for a right-wing agenda."

Speaking of car design, check out the portfolio section at Car Design News. Interestingly enough, the student portfolios are generally better than the pros. Some outstanding ones are Jinwon Kim of Art Center Pasadena, Brian Izard of College for Creative Studies Detroit, and Jose Vicente Remon Honrubia of the Royal College of Art London.

In reference to the Sept. 30th post about the NY Times article Stylish Fleet, a very good source informs me that Frank O. Gehry is no fan [to say the least] of the BMW 7 series' awkward styling or the current direction of BMW styling in general. My faith in master Gehry's aesthetics are restored.

Tuesday, October 08, 2002

Oz Dean informs us that the third edition of Design for Chunks is now online. Getting airsick has never been so fashionable.

Our man in Tokyo, John Balousek sends news of three great design events going on this week:

Tokyo Designers Block 10 | 10 - 14
Tokyo Design Week 10 | 10 - 14
Swedish Style 2002 Tokyo 10 | 5 - 15

Monday, October 07, 2002

Thanks to Chad for the Voice's Best of NYC link.
Congrats to our good friend Magda for the titile
"Best New New York DJ Imported From Detroit".
At least the room-mate gets a mention. :)

Also, big congrats to Andy and the other Hungry Wives for "Best Song Dissing New York's Club Scene", It's Over.

Speaking of, the Electroclash festival is this week. Go see the Wives, Tommie Sunshine, 2 Many DJs, Felix the Housecat and a slew of other great acts at Webster Hall Wednesday night.

Wow, Olivia... the photos remind me that I need to take out the tight vinyl pants and burn them once and for all ;) Good song picks there, though Goth sites really need to put a stop to the black/purple combo. I'm tempted to register www.full-on-blade-runner.com just to have a Cyberpunk music portal free of clich�s and a strict ban on guitar solos, bad poetry and excessive use of vague pagan symbols. Put it on the stack of things to do...

Okay, speaking of internet radio, Burnlab Radio is definitely an idea I've been kicking around for the next overhaul of this site. In the meantime, BitBoy's 80's Cafe does a nice job with Lab favorites from New Order to Nitzer Ebb, plus some rare gems. You can also listen to Liz Copeland live at WDET online from midnight to 5am every Sunday through Thursday nights [or Monday through Friday, depending on how you look at it.] At this very moment [1:11am E.S.T.] Liz is doing an album spotlight on the new Swayzak release.

I'm brainstorming on ways to improve Burnlab for the next relaese and any suggestions from readers or conspirators are much welcome. Send me an e-mail. There is still the notion of a one-off Burnlab magazine/book, but that's in line behind 50 other pipe dreams under pursuit currently.

Design for Freedom has a new online zine called SCOUTT which is pretty darn cool. Check out the interview with Tom M�ller.

Friday, October 04, 2002



Flyer #3 for The Fix, the only ongoing electro night in the Motor City. The heavily modified image is based on a Polaroid by previously mentioned make-up artist St�phane Marais... a "ready made" I found in the pages of Vogue. For those in Detroit, we're not going to tell you to choose between The Fix and Pop Artificielle tonight... go to both!

Wednesday, October 02, 2002


Photography, make-up, fashion, music and toilets:

Those familiar with St�phane Marais' cutting edge make-up artistry will be pleased to know that he recently opened a boutique / studio in Paris, as featured by FRAME Magazine. Also check out his book of Polaroids, Beauty Flash.

Andy Salzer, one half of the team behind the Yoko Devereaux clothing line, is also a founder of the Brooklyn-based new wave band The Hungry Wives. Check out the Wives' site for audio samples. I'm quite fond of the tracks "There's Something Wrong With Tim" and "The Splits".

Betty Cobb photographs some of my favorite 'alternative' icons, including Peter Murphy, Nivek Ogre, Nicole Blackman, and our friend and supporter Jared of Chemlab. Her superb portrait work can be seen regularly in the industrial/goth/electronica zine Outburn, who have finally gotten on the wagon with an in-depth article on Fischerspooner this month. Outburn has become an essential institution in its own right through a history of outstanding interviews with the likes of Blixa Bargeld of Einst�rzende Neubauten and Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode and Recoil, not to mention those listed above.

Speaking of Herr Bargeld [who apparently had some witty critique of our own Liz Copeland's German language skills recently], check out his ongoing "Serialbathroomdummyrun" photography project at Blixa-Bargeld.com. Blixa has been meticulously documenting the bathrooms of every hotel room he has stayed in since 1990.

Re: Agenda Suicide
Yep... if you click on "previous version" to the left, there is a Lab Report post from April 10th. There was some hullabaloo about this, as MK12 Studios [who created the video for The Faint] was experiencing server crashes due to high traffic. Burnlab hosted two video clips for a few days, but Saddle Creek kindly asked us to remove them, apparently unaware that every single graphic designer and electro fan in the world was trying to download the video right from MK12. Still one of my all time favorite animated music videos... and a great song!

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

If you haven't seen Paul Drohan's graphic design work at D5ive, do yourself a favor and spend some time there. Fun interface and a 'dirty science' aesthetic I love. Also of note is his Weapons of Mass Destruction piece for the Design for Freedom project. Nice.



I realised a 10 year old dream this weekend: 12 hooks, 60 minutes, 4 meters above the ground. I've been wanting to do a body suspension ever since the first time I read about it, and thanks to the Oslo Suspension Festival I finally got the chance. The pain was perfectly bearable, letting go of control was harder. I heartily recommend it if you want to see how far your body can go. Go on, learn to fly.

Nice post on Ricardo Scofido and Elizabeth Diller's fine example of Swedish design wizardry. For those interested in more (pre-General Motors) Saab heritage, check out the online Saab Museum. It features the history of the 95 and 96 line, and (in this humble contributor's opinion) one of the most beautiful sports car designs in history, Sixten Sason's 94 (also known as the Sonet 1).

Monday, September 30, 2002

Word on the street is NYC freaks can expect performances form DJ Hell and Fischerspooner on Devil's Night and Halloween, respectively. That's all we can say right now.

I know and adore the Neil Denari illustration Chad refers to well, which I believe is the Museum of the Twentieth Century. It's especially beautiful in person for its tactile quality and the fact that it was rendered in pen and ink... none of this sissy computer modeling! [More built work please.]



New York Times Magazine: Stylish Fleet. See what some of the world's most influential designers are driving. Ricardo Scofido and Elizabeth Diller trot around Manhattan in the 1969 Saab 96 pictured above [and look darn cool doing so.] Frank Gehry, on the other hand, drives a 2002 BMW 7 series [not shown in the on-line edition.] Hmm... a technological marvel it may be, but the 7 is no better aesthetically than a Pontiac Aztec, in this humble critic's opinion. I've publicly called it's heinously proportioned styling "an embarrassment to all of Germany." Cheers to Ron Arad for his swanky Nissan bread truck, and Karl Lagerfeld... he's so in his own world, us mortals can't even begin to comprehend. Both Don Downie and Jon Ozias were sporting GM vans long before the beloved little freak even got the idea in his head though.

Friday, September 27, 2002

Odell Nails sends us this news: On the far end of the musical spectrum from... well, just about everything, Tesco presents the God Blast America festival at North Six in Williamsburg Brooklyn this weekend [September 27, 28 and 29th.] "An industrial, noise, power electronics, and martial music event unprecedented on American soil." This is not your dancefloor friendly synth based industrial, ala Front 242 and Nine Inch Nails, but rather the noisy, brutal, sometimes downright evil, and sometimes surprisingly beautiful variety that fans of NON , Merzbow and the film Tetsuo: The Ironman would appreciate. Some of the ideas and imagery presented in association with the God Blast America festival can easily be taken as offensive to say the least, and I personally question their taste in this department. Tesco however points out that industrial music is often misinterpreted for using controversial and extreme imagery, while the true intent is to reflect [NOT promote] the often violent state of the world around us. See and hear for yourself.

Our friends at Ghoslty International have won the coveted title of "Best Indie Label" in the Metro Times' Best of Detroit. Way to go! It was a big year for Ghoslty, but beating out collaborators Ersatz Audio was quite an accomplishment, not to mention Planet E, Transmat, and the dozens of fantastic labels based in the Motor City.

Thursday, September 26, 2002

World Trade Center site update:
The RFQ closed only 10 days ago and the LMDC has chosen six design teams to develop masterplan concepts for lower Manhattan. Names of particular note on the list: former Cranbrook architecture chair, philosopher, musician, artist and registered architect Daniel Libeskind, and father of UK high-tech, creator of the Hong Kong Bank headquarters [one of my all time favorite buildings] Lord Norman Foster. Names I'm not quite as excited about seeing are third down on the list. There are a total of 27 firms represented, including several lesser known architects, which is very commendable. Look for results of this study by year's end and a final land use plan by spring of 2003.

Re: Denari - So Chad [to all our LA conspirators actually], what do you think of LA Eyeworks in the flesh?

Don Downie was raving about the film Downtown 81 [about the Lower East Side scene in 1981 and starring a 19 year old Jean Michel Basquiat] when it was discovered and re-released in Manhattan theaters last year. Thanks to the forums at ARCHINECT, I came across this website toady, which provides tons of info on the film. It was supposedly released on DVD in September by Zeitgeist Films. This should be of particular interest to anyone interested in the current electro and post punk scene. [*update]: Tracked it down at DVD Empire.



It's been a while since I've visited the web site of Jones, Partners; Architects, and maybe I forgot why Wes Jones is one of my all time heroes. [I know... it's bad to have "heroes".] A few minutes with his satirical and philosophical rantings and over-the-top industrial, yet beautifully detailed and proportioned work will re-instill one's faith in the potential for inventiveness and humor in design. How many high profile architects put quotes on their website like "Some projects just don't go ahead, but that's no reason to cry. Instead why not step back and make a super-bitchin' computer model, and then render the fuck out of it." Then there's the whole thing with aliens visiting Corbu....

There is a new issue of This is a Magazine. This is good.

Some new activity at Computerlove and a poster contest.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

[edited]: Dan Selzer just informed me that Wednesdays at Spa are cancelled. He was supposed to DJ with Jack Dangers tomorrow too! Oh well. On a side note, Dan is releasing some re-mastered material from NYC no-wave legends Theoretical Girls on his own label, Acute Records, October 15th.

As promised, I haven't put up any Factory Records related posts in a while. Now then... the crew at Record Camp presents 'The Hacienda' Wednesdays at the swanky East Village bar Spa. As the name indicates, expect Factory era and influenced music all evening. This Wednesday features the legendary Dan Selzer as guest DJ.

*notes on the above links: Record Camp may have the LARGEST single page website I have ever seen. And do give Dan a visit and pick his vast knowledge of early electronic and post punk music.

Hands down the best CD I've bought in many weeks: "Row" by Thomas Brinkmann: the maddest scientist of minimal techno [read razor blade vinyl edits and multi-arm turntables.]

"Thomas Brinkmann has hit us with an essential compilation that features new, reworked and unreleased material from Maxernst's vinyl back catalog. Deep, crunchy, minimalism at its most brilliant. Highly recommended." - Other Music

Also, following up on Jaron's mention of German film Das Experiment. I was lucky enough to see it during the SF German Film festival at the Castro Theater about 8 months ago. While not a documentary by any stretch of the imagination (in fact, Philip G. Zimbardo who led the original Stanford Prison Experiment was in attendance and available for Q&A after the movie, and vehemently attacked the movie for it's sensationalist portrayal of his experiment), it's a real nail-biting thriller if you like that sort of thing. Worth 2 hours of your life.


More from the San Francisco scene, if you haven�t already, you should check out live electrofunk duo Cybrid. As explained on their website, Cybrid are exploring the interface between man/machine improvised live electronic performance, noise manipulation, feedback loops, melodic content, and funky electro beats. They�ve done some wicked-good performances, and are always a blast to see live. You can check out some streaming performances of their live shows here.


Also, a follow up to my earlier post on Emperor Norton artist, Mount Sims. After thoroughly listening to their new album, Ultra Sex I�m convinced it's goooood. As one person put it, imagine the sexual aggressiveness of early Prince backed up, not by The Revolution, but by 8-bit Nintendos instead. Or perhaps Green Velvet with the techno turned down and the funk pitched up. Erotic and robotic, UltraSex is a rough-around-the-edges, sweet-in-the-middle and funky-through-and-through kind of album. Worth checking out.

Quick thanks to Red Antenna and SYTNH for linking us up!

Saturday, September 21, 2002

Since it's Fashion Week here in NYC, here are a couple things to check out:

The Dior Homme site can be aggravatingly slow, but just relax and enjoy the beauty - which seems more focused on architecture than clothes. The navigation is true to brand: mysterious, gothic, ultra-minimal and black, black, black. Also, in this week's Time Out New York magazine, our friends Kurt [rock god] and Krisana [Poisoned Cat] are featured in the fall fashion guide in the aptly titled "Your Trends and Neighbors" section. Both were sharp on the runway at the Bitter End show Tuesday.

Friday, September 20, 2002

Photos from Wednesday night at Luxx.
[There is also a not-so-high-res 1 min. video clip of Legowelt's live set.]



And do check out the beautiful, official new Legowelt video by LOBO.
Ahh, the Alps...

Thursday, September 19, 2002

The horrifying Stanford Prison Experiment is the influence of the new German film Das Experiment". A BBC version of The Experiment was halted, like the original study, in order to safeguard the welfare of the participants.

Just for the record: Burnlab loves Den Haag. Their "Dirty Brown World Tour" isn't exactly "full-on Blade Runner", but it certainly rocks our world. Since we've been blabbing about this for two weeks, we owe you some photos from the Brooklyn engagement at Luxx featuring Memory Systems... who were amazing. Look for those later this afternoon, hopefully.

I had a chance to talk with Brian Jackson [the Y chromosome half of Memory Systems.] Turns out Brian is not only a fellow suburban Detroit native, but was also born in that influential year of 1972. Chances are we crossed paths at some point during high school... likely at 4th and Main. Freaky small world this is, and it always comes back to Detroit, doesn't it?



Again, big thanks to BitBoy for the tip!

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

*from Detroit:
The Detroit Artsits Market Biennial opened this past Friday. The show features work from nine emerging and established Detroit-area visual, sound and performance artists. DAM executive director Aaron Timlin speaks about it in Sunday's Free Press.

Our own Liz Copeland returns to Buddha Lounge with Clark Warner to play their latest favorite records at Pop Artificelle III, Friday, October 4th. Do go see Liz's nicely re-designed website by Chad Warner.

*from LA:
Paul Petrunia announced today that "core-programming genius" Jessey Cinis will be his first ever partner at ARCHINECT. Paul and Jessy will begin working on a from-scratch re-design of the top online publication, resource, and community for architecture worldwide. Suggestions for the new site are encouraged: write to paul@archinect.com

*from London:
Jared Louche reminds us that this is his last week as guest host/DJ on Total Rock [3-6pm GMT, 11am-1pm EST]. Friday's in studio guests are Sulpher, who make "full-tilt machine rock" with heavy synths and chainsaw guitars in the spirit of Chemlab and NIN. "[Friday's] show will be electronic and off the map, so come and join us and blow a fuse! -Jar3d"

Maybe it's futile to try and predict trends, but I've been saying this for a while, and based on the fact that you could barely tell the difference between the hipster crowd at the MF party Labor Day weekend in NYC and a regular night at Albion|Batcave, it's only a matter of time before the techno/electro and industrial/goth worlds collide once again. [Scientists say the universe has stopped expanding and is actually now contracting.] It's still going to take electro getting darker and 'punker' yet, and industrial distancing itself from heavy metal and embracing it's cyberpunk roots. I could be way off-base... this is coming from a guy with an asymmetrical haircut who wears a black tie, black shirt, black pants, and combat boots almost every day... Well, we'll see how dark and dirty things get at Luxx tonight. I'm hoping for full-on Blade Runner :)

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

As you'll notice below, Burnlab welcomes our newest conspirator, our old friend Marius Watz, a.k.a. Amoeba, a.k.a. Marius at Play.

For some Swedish weirdness, check out Pluxemburg, home of the label Pluxemburg and the fabulous Stockholm band Pluxus. In addition to great content, it has to be one of the best label / band presentation sites out there. Complete with de rigeur MP3s, videos and blah blah. Design and code by Burnfield.

Spike Jonze has directed a new advert for furniture giant IKEA, part of their new campaign from ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The campaign payoff is "Unb�ring", a new manifesto from IKEA about good design for cheap prices. Quote: "Making something beautiful that costs $2,000 is boring. Making something beautiful that costs $2 is a revolution."

Too good to be true? Probably, considering IKEA's tradition of ripping off leading designs and reproducing them cheaply. A revolution? I think not.

Decisions, decisions...
Far too much going on Wednesday night in NYC:

1) Wire at Irving Plaza.
2) Ladytron at Lit.
3) Memory Systems + the Bunker tour at Luxx.

Staying true the new, look for me at Luxx.

Sunday, September 15, 2002



To The Bitter End: Six emerging clothing designers from Brooklyn to stage a group show on September 17th. Here's the press release in its entirety:

"This is not the usual group show.

On the eve of Fashion Week, six independent, yet like-minded designers from Brooklyn will present their collections with a common thread and theme; decay. In a world where mass production flourishes these designers fearlessly confront past ideals of beauty and craftsmanship with a vision of the future. In the spirit of collaboration, the designers have enlisted the aid of visual artists English Kills and musical artists Mike Skinner & Hungry Wives to create a multimedia experience, promising to be above and beyond the standard fashion week fare.

Date: September 17th, 2002, doors at 8PM, show begins at 9PM
Location: The Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts, 172 Norfolk (b/w Houston & Stanton - Lower East Side)

For more information or tickets, please mail tothebitterend@earthlink.net or call 718 643 1083

Featuring:

Yoko Devereaux: Conceptual men�s line sold at Isa and Selvedge. Seen in Nylon, WWD, Sleazenation & Interview.

David Henry Brown: Concept couture for men sold at Isa and in Japan. Seen in Jane, Vice and Paper.

Sarah Spratt: New generation of couture for women sold at No. 436. Seen in Time Out NY, URB and WWD.

H. Fredriksson: Specialty women's clothing and accessories sold at No. 436 and Flirt.

Claudia Brown: Specialty t-shirts (for women) and housewares (for Yoko Devereaux) sold at Nikki B. Seen in Nylon.

Poisoned Cat: Conceptual lifestyle presentation
With Special Performances:
Emerging electronic band Hungry Wives
DJ - Troy Pierce (top electro dj)*
Prelude by producer and composer Mike Skinner (Soviet/Miracle of 86)
Visual elements are being created for the entire event by English Kills"

*nice qualifier ;)