Saturday, November 29, 2003



Listen to samples from the two new Solvent EPs, designed by your's truly and art directed by SV4, with a nod to maestro Saville. (Plus a behind the scenes look at the design process, courtesy of Will.)

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

Matt Dear's Leave Luck to Heaven receives four stars from Rolling Stone. Sometimes the mainstream media knows what they're talking about. There's even a very nice comment about the artwork from a reader. Woohoo! Truly one of the very best releases of the year in any genre, watch for it in finer record stores on Tuesday.

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Miltos Manetas was an artist with a big mouth, a brassy pair, and ambition any true New York artist has to admire. Is he really dead? Not likely, but write him a poem anyway.

Let Jared Klett's wit be a lesson to us all: Geek (dash) Boy dot com

Best fan site ever: Fuck you Casey Spooner dot com

Quick note to our editors - so that posts open in a new window instead of the Lab Report frame, please include this bit of code in your HTML tag: target="_blank" You can go back into "Manage Posts" and correct this. Please do actually.

Looking forward to seeing the entire NYC team at the Kompakt show at APT tonight. (No mesh shirts, please.)

And, BitBoy - sorry I missed your 8-bit Schmode post earlier. I should have assumed! Seriously, someone should book The Fitness out here or in Detroit. I'd love to see them live!

Not only have I heard the aforementioned 8-bit Depeche Mode Megamix (scroll down at iRobotnik), but it inspired me to seek out some 8-bit sounds of my own, I found Midi for the Masses packed with DM midi files which have somehow managed to load themselves my Sony T616 mobile. I suppose I get some sense of twisted satisfaction from the strange looks I get when answering the phone to the haunting polyphonic sounds of Pimpf or Shake the Disease. And speaking of The Fitness, they�re currently trying to bring their own catchy electropunk sounds to the masses. If you�ve got a venue, and you�re interested in booking them to play, drop me an e-mail � I�ll put you in touch with their people.

this thursday i�ll be accompanying friend/designer/artist markus haub in a night of music vs art...markus taking on the art side with more of his mixed media work (photoshopped images printed then manually manipulated) while i�ll be handling the music side with a ableton live set of my own new material...apologize to keep posting things happening in barcelona but hopefully there are a few of you out there (somewhere!) that can make it.

8pm til? at LIVING, c/ capellans, 9, bcn

Global Feast: Detroit: Thanksgiving Eve @ tangent gallery. Kevin Saunderson, Carl Craig, David Alvarado, DJ Nova, more. Not to be missed.

Just when I was ready to give up on this filthy- festering-firey hell-hole that is So-Cal, two words made me feel a lot better...

Mutek Tijuana

Chad, you in?


Also- what's this I hear about Bloomberg wanting to make NYC a 2am bar town? If that happens, then where will us west coast fools go for the occasional all-night shennanigans- Detroit?


Musicwise, much love right now for...

Dani Siciliano (this is the single, but the whole album drops in Jan)
Michael Mayer- Fabric 13 (better than the last mix, still not sure if its better than Immer)
VA- Gigolo 7 (Yeah- I was almost sick of them too. But listen to the Terranova freakout. Gaaaahd!!!!)

Monday, November 24, 2003



RADIO.BURNLAB has been updated with a handful of new links. We are proud to be the exclusive online source for Ryan Elliot's new mix Us and Them. In limited CDR circulation until now, this has been called the "definitive minimal techno mix of the year" by people who's opinions make a difference. Check it out. (Unless you're a nitwit from Wesleyan University - see posts below.)

"Now you're playing with power."

8-bit maestro Bitshifter will be playing all the gameboys his thumbs can master at The Psychasthenia Society @ Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg tonight. $5 / doors at 7:30pm

Transmode Virus is kicking my ass right now.

Speaking of 8-bit music, check out the amazing Depeche Mode Megamix (BitBoy - this is for you!) from Nullsleep.

Big thanks to Lynnel Herrera

I thought Seattle's The Fitness were a bit 'rough around the edges' when BitBoy dropped them on me a few weeks back, but it turns out I can't get their hooky, unapologetic and unquestionably fun electropop out of my head. Check out some of the sweet morsels at their home page. Chauffeur is straigh-up irony-laden electroclash (and absolutely infectious,) while Phone Sex is as fresh and punky and you'll find anywhere... reminds me of the Dead Milkmen and the Cure's Boys Don't Cry LP for some reason...

Sunday, November 23, 2003

I wish there were a better term for "shout out"... maybe a simple "hi" will do.

Say hi to our busy friend F.J. Desanto, who Brian and I ran into briefly at the Telefon Tel Aviv show last week. FJ is frontman for the industrial band The Aggression, dark synthpop project Hypefactor, programmer/cowriter of the new Chemlab LP, and an administrator at the Hydrogen Bar.

Virginia Tech's X Cluster went operational recently, becoming the third ranking supercomputer in the world. Built from 1100 dual 2Ghz 64-bit Apple G5 workstations, the VT cluster is measured at 10.28 trillion calculations per second - which, in lay terms, is pretty darn fast. Here are two photos of the project team ordering the G5s. So, do you just log on to the Apple Store with your American Express card and type 1100 in the qty. box?

Saturday, November 22, 2003

inventor of a programming langauge or serial killer?

Friday, November 21, 2003

excellent flyer mike...after spending the last six summers on topless beaches in spain the idea of not sweating the beauty of the human form seems something more people should come to grips with



Next weekend is the Untitled Thanksgiving Spectacular, with resident brilliance from Tadd, Derek, Servito and very special guest Scott Sterling... and perhaps the most controversial flyer since Sarah Klever's Paris Hilton is Burning design.

Look good.
Taste good.
It's good to be Untitled.

hitech lowtech clock....if you have some time check out the page i found it on- yugop....looking around more i found the remedi project, more interactive animations (go to zach lieberman�s gesture machines series...simple but very cool)

Thursday, November 20, 2003

State of the nation, courtesy of Warp.

computational design and new media from Daniel Shiffman

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

WTC memorial design finalists announced.

last year at this time i was embarassed to recommend coldplay�s latest as my preferred fall/nostalgia album (in accordance with those who spent many an adolescent hour weeping over unrequited love with the smiths). this year i am a bit less embarassed to to recommend elbow�s "cast of thousands" as my choice for accompaniment while walking evening wintery streets weeping love lost...

Our friends are all busy busy this week. Jimmy Edgar updates his site with thirtytwo secrets. ooh.

Oh, and the Telefon Tel Aviv show tonight Rob mentioned starts at 9pm. See ya there.

All those living in NYC would be well served to get themselves to this show tonight.


TELEFON TEL AVIV -- Live
@ The Coral Room.
512 West 29th Street

Free Show! Open Bar!

OPEN BAR. And one of the finest live sets of the year. You can't lose.

one of the most intriguing offerings i�ve received recently: the "la monga" party, where "in a reverse of darwinian theory" a woman will be converted into an ape...hmmmm. (sorry it�s all in spanish, but i think you get the idea)

what brand are you

Magda has a new web site. Check it out. Finally we can keep track of all her antics around Europe, in lovely 8 pt. bitmap type.



I recently designed a desktop for the soon to launch official Chemlab site Hydrogen Bar dot com. You can download it right here, in three different screen sizes. It's sort of a remix of the original artwork for Oxidizer. While the Hydrogen Bar staff gets all the pieces in order, enjoy the discussion lounge and short clips from the upcoming LP.



Rockstar for a day: Monday night was the much ballyhooed NYC stop on the United Tour, headlined by Pigface. After I was dragged on stage to share the microphone with Jared Louche on the Reznor penned anthem Suck (seriously!), three busloads of punks ended up at New York's most dungeon-like bar, Lit. Martin Atkins and Curse Mackey DJ-ed upstairs, while Carlos from Interpol spun classic Lit postpunk in the basement. Nice. Here are a few pics.

Sunday, November 16, 2003

Opening Dec. 11: D Troit, the inaugural show at Gigantic ArtSpace, 59 Franklin St., New York, NY. "D Troit examines the city of Detroit and its specific socio-political conditions that have given rise to new forms of cultural and artistic production. ... This exhibition is not a comprehensive show representing the city of Detroit, but a sampling of the diverse body of visual culture and music in the city." For more details, read the full press release.

The NYC contingent will have to share their thoughts for those who can't make the trip.

Friday, November 14, 2003

[Regarding the previous post] Damn, Kevin - that's scary!
Better than horoscopes for sure. Hilarious.

You are The Faith! You are so underrated it's sad. You are shy but hold a lot of anger and power inside of you. You may seem kind of snotty but it's mainly misunderstanding. Also you are highly self-involved in the projects you undertake, you are a go-to person. Don't worry, everyone will come to their senses and start paying attention to your awesome talent in no time.

...change one answer about clothing (couldn't decide between all black all the time or button up shirt - because both are true), and...

You are Minor Threat! You are intelligent, energitic and DIY embodied. You don't take any crap from anybody, but are willing to accept anyone in the underground. You love to exchange new ideas and are well respected in the scene. People like you because you started it all, you are passionate and you are great at what you do.

Just the right pick-me-up after spending SEVEN hours in Detroit Metro Airport today... er, I mean "The Edward H. McNamara Northwest International Gateway". Whatever. I love that there are a dozen newsstands in the terminal. I hate that the edgiest design magazine to be found is Metropolitan Home. Seriously!

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Karl and Marius return to Lab Report active duty on the same day? Yay!

For those tracking my location with push-pins on one of those big wall size world maps, I'll be back in New York City on Friday... maybe even for a whole week! The extra-extra-extended stay in Detroit has been a blast for sure, but I do admit I cried myself to sleep last night for missing the Raumschmiere/Ellen Allien show back east. Before this starts to read like a personal blog, on with the news:

Textfield Magazine #2 now on select newsstands.
The Galactica November issue online.
Nice work and sweet little site from intoto.
Maharam textiles: great stuff. Be sure to view Hella Jongerius' Repeat family under 'featured textiles'.


Just launched a new site - check out Unlekker.net. The name "Unlekker" is a play on the word "lekker" from German and Scandinavian languages, meaning lovely or fabulous. Unlekker is, well, not.

Detroiter Todd Osborn takes on The Bug in a good old fashioned ragga soundclash for a Peel Session. Under the alias Soundmurderer, Osborn has recorded several 12's for his own Rewind-Records imprint and also records for Spectral/Ghostly under his own name. Unquestionably, Osborn wins this battle hands down.

just got this sent from the sonar mailing list. cool to have detroit on my doorstep for once

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Kevin's post led me to check up on Legodeath, now the more generic Blockdeath to avoid overzealous lawyers, which led me to WeAreRobots, which led me to select 'Robokopf' from the lineup, which led to much snickering.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

You've always wanted to...

That settles it then. In addition to being the international newswire for freaks, unwitting hipsters and metrosexuals, Burnlab is now the unofficial Ellen Allien fan club. Someone has to do it.

Speaking of Ms. Allien, Bitboy has photos from last Friday's show in SF with Rich.

...And speaking of photos, I've been terribly delinquent in uploading evidence from the past few weeks. I hope to remedy this soon.

Monday, November 10, 2003

Daniel Miller Happy Hour on Radio Eins: November edition.

Friday, November 07, 2003

Bendywood.

Tell it to the hand.

Yes, you are surrounded by idiots.

Thursday, November 06, 2003

Pigface hit the road today. A few dates our readers may want to know: the industrial supergroup (that has outlived most regular groups) rolls into Detroit's St. Andrew's Hall next Tuesday 11/11, New York City 11/17, Hollywood 12/03, San Fran 12/06, and homecoming at The Metro in Chicago on Saturday 12/13. In typical fashion, there will be as many as 14 artists from different bands involved at any given point along the tour. Holding down the key positions will be Martin Atkins (PiL, Killing Joke, Ministry, etc., etc.), En Esch (KMFDM), Charles Levi (My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult) and our good friend Jared Louche (Chemlab, H3LLB3NT). Jared will be hocking super-limited-edition Chemlab EPs and reissues of the the legendary "Fuck Art, Let's Kill" t-shirts.

After getting good and bruised at the Pigface show in Detroit next Tuesday, slide into some Germanic minimalist funk down the street for part four(??) of Magdapalooza. Paxahau welcomes Magda back again - this time its a FREE show at swankyish nightclub Panacea.

"If Magda were a drug, I'd take her every day."
- Matthew Dear, 2003


Amen.
Consider Wednesday ruined.

This Saturday is the opening reception for the Actual Size Biennial at the Detroit Contemporary.

The Actual Size Biennial, in its fourth run, returns to its original size from the fall of 1999 when detroit contemporary hosted 4.25" by 5.5" Actual Size. Again, each participating artist was individually invited to create one work for this exhibition in any medium; any approach, maintaining the size restriction of 4.25" x 5.5". A personalized note mailed from a distant land filled with brief allusions to adventures and new experiences? Perhaps, but these are stories exclusively to and from Detroit. detroit contemporary's largest exhibit to date, with nearly 250 intimate works, small enough to fit in your back pocket, this exhibition once again demands recognition of the diversity and wealth of creative talent in our urban community. All works will be exhibited within the walls of detroit contemporary.

This six-week art exhibition runs from Saturday, November 8th through Sunday, December 21, 2003 with an opening reception to meet the artists on Saturday, November 8th, from 6pm to 10pm. detroit contemporary's galleries are open Thursday through Saturday 12pm-6pm and Sundays 12pm-5pm. Please take note of this change in hours. detroit contemporary is located in the Woodbridge Historic District at 5141 Rosa Parks Blvd. This is two blocks north of Warren Avenue, two blocks south of the I94 expressway, and three blocks west of Trumbull. You may contact detroit contemporary by phone at 313.898.4ART or via electronic mail at info@detroitcontemporary.com. detroit contemporary's web site is www.detroitcontemporary.com. This event is free and open to the public. Free on the street parking available.


I just found out thirty minutes ago that I'm on the roster of participating artists (due to some drunken promise/proposal made many months ago, I guess). Never fear, the gears are spinning. Also showing work are Burnlabers Andy Malone, Jaron Rothkop and Sherry Gaines, and Detroit area artists from all walks and disciplines, such as Maxwell Davis, Ron Zakrin, Kate Silvio, Mark Arminski and Herb Babcock.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Winther's Wonderworld

Stick some Tom on your chest.