BURNLAB Lab Report

40

2012-01-03T21:50:00.003-05:00

There's a rumor going around that Dethlab [T0ybreaker, David Blunk II and myself] are opening for Black Asteroid on the eve of my birthday in Boston.

Burnlab.net is now on Google+

2011-12-15T21:55:00.002-05:00

A brief reminder that this blog is still alive and kicking over on Google+.

Here's to an iconoclast who made the world more extraordinary.

2011-10-05T22:12:00.002-04:00

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Moving Day

2011-08-13T12:51:00.002-04:00

Since spring of 2000, Burnlab.net has been everything from a platform for experimentation, a place to showcase work of friends and artists I admire, a travel log and notebook, and in 2002 became a full-fledged group blog often updated several times a day by myself and a diverse group of conspirators with unique perspectives and weird and wonderful things to share.

As you've noticed over the past two or three years, updates have been thin here. I mainly attribute it to being spread out over a range social media platforms that provide more instant (albeit more ephemeral) publishing options.

In an effort to consolidate various outlets, my Google+ feed had become the official successor to this blog you're reading now. Google+ combines the instant publishing ease and community benefits of social networks with the ability to do the more thoughtful long-form writing and formatting Blogger is well suited for. Since Blogger is also owned by Google, I hope the two will be integrated at a future date.

We're still unpacking and painting the walls, and might even still put some special posts up here, but head on over to the new digs for all future Burnlab bloggery.

Thanks for eleven great years, and here's to eleven more.
-Mike

Maker Faire Detroit: Interview with Bethany Shorb of Cyberoptix Tie Lab

2011-07-27T21:05:00.004-04:00

MAKE magazine interviews the most bad-ass entrepreneur [also, my fiancé and muse] in the city of the future.

This is my my new favorite band.

2011-06-23T21:39:00.001-04:00

I need to be less lazy and blog more. Here's a recent tweet.

2011-06-23T21:35:00.001-04:00

Believing Democrats and Republicans represent poles of political thought is like McDonald's & Burger King representing the spectrum of food.

Brainwashed.com 2010 Readers Poll + my top five singles of 2010

2011-01-02T23:37:00.012-05:00

I didn't know they were missing, but I think I found my bat wings this year, based on the music here.

The venerable Brainwashed.com has pretty much the choice list of awesome musick in 2010. If you're into this sort of thing. Lots [lots!] of the usual suspects, but also a ton of names I'm now anxious to check out: Brainwashed.com 2010 Readers Poll

The legendary Legendary Pink Dots seemed to come out of nowhere with perhaps their best album in a decade. [Not "nowhere" exactly, as they've been continually making music for thirty years now.] Russian Roulette is as captivating and brilliantly constructed as the best of anything you've heard all year:

Very nice to see one of the most exciting new artists, Zola Jesus take three of the top five single spots. Night wasn't one, but it's on my top five:

ZOLA JESUS "NIGHT" MUSIC VIDEO from FUTURE PRIMITIVE FILMS on Vimeo.

I didn't see one of my other favorites of 2010, Matthew Dear's Black City or the murderously great single You Put a Smell on Me make the Brainwashed readership crossover, but it was right near the top my list, so here it is:

Yet another track on my personal top five that didn't make the cut [probably because it just came out] is Ms. Lauren Flax & Lauren Dillard's first single from their CREEP project, Days. Here's a great clip of our friend Thalia Marvos talking to Warren Fischer about the video for The Creators Project:

Last but certainly not least, Marc Houle put out a wicked album in 2010 that inspired the neologism/my current made-up genre of choice "warlockhaüs". Fair to say that I haven't been thrilled with Minus' direction over the past few years, but they've been blowing my mind lately and I'm loving it. Sweet might be my favorite track of the year:

Happy 2011 everyone!

I told a nice man named Josh in New Orleans I would blog more this year. We'll see how it goes.

Werner Herzog turns "Twas The Night Before Christmas" into a tale of existential terror

2010-12-25T01:40:00.000-05:00

Via teh awesome io9:

The Journeyman Project

2010-12-22T20:55:00.004-05:00

Dirty Jobs photographer and cameraman Troy Paff's The Journeyman Project is a beautifully documented survey of the tradespeople and DIYers of the new century.

"In the five years since Dirty Jobs‘ premiere, its small crew has experienced an unprecedented number of vocations. With nearly 300 jobs and 50 states under their belt, Dirty Jobs has investigated – and celebrated – those occupations which, while often unsavory, keep the country running. A common thread which runs through these occupations is a particular character required to do them. It is a fundamental commitment to do a job and do it well, where glamour takes a back seat to service, and where pride in a job done well is its own reward. It is this sense of character that Troy will explore, shining a light on the individual behind the job, and expressing the personality and the motivations of the worker.

"The route Troy takes will be an evolving one directed by the subjects of the project. Some of the subjects Troy knows, or has wanted to meet. While many of the Dirty Jobs alumni will be revisited, referrals from this ‘family’ will further lead him to individuals who exemplify that same through-line of character: the tradesmen and skilled labor who are driven to succeed in spite of the challenges of their vocations and the hardships of the economy, if not because of them.

"The Journeyman Project shall be a celebration of the individual, and over time and the course of a growing compendium of subjects, it will express the collective character of the skilled worker in contemporary America. In an environment where ‘The American Dream’ has been outmoded, themes to explore include the trending decline of the trades and the growing demand for skilled workers, the loss of manufacturing and the effect of trade agreements with Asia and Central America, the decline of infrastructure, high unemployment rates, the housing and mortgage crisis, continued war and national security, ecological catastrophes, and just what ‘recovery’ means in the 21st century."

I love this for a lot of reasons. One of them is the project's focus on truly 21st Century lifestyles. Another is Paff's "celebration of the individual," because we aren't a "we" in the abstract, but a collection of heroes - every last one of us, in our own unique way - who make the choice to work together for greater things. And, of course, because our dear friend Jeff Sturges and our very own Bethany Shorb are featured!

update: It was just pointed out that our pal & MAKE editor Gareth Branwyn posted about The Journeyman Project this afternoon: clickity-click!

The Blast Shack

2010-12-22T19:24:00.005-05:00

If you read only one essay on Wikileaks, Cablegate, Private Bradley Manning, Mr. Assange and cypherpunk culture, this is the most erudite and eloquent I think you'll find: "The Blast Shack" by Bruce Sterling.

I'd quote a couple paragraphs here, but you should just read it straight through. It would be like disrupting a meal - a meal filled with melancholy, humor and enlightenment. [I don't think it's quite as melancholy as Bruce says it is. Then again, "optimistic" is one of the two words in my current made-up political alignment.]

If you do read two articles on the subject, perhaps the second best I've seen is this morning's piece by Zeynep Tufekci in The Atlantic: "Wikileaks Exposes Internet's Dissent Tax, not Nerd Supremacy".

Oh, and a Canadian poet prophetically explains exactly why an Australian hacker would target the USA [spoiler alert: optimism.]

You might think an industrial cover of a Fleetwood Mac song wouldn't be awesome...

2010-11-22T20:12:00.002-05:00

But you'd be mistaken!

Our newest synth couple BFFs, //TENSE//:

//TENSE// The Chain from tommy boy on Vimeo.

Also see:

//TENSE// - Turn It Off from tommy boy on Vimeo.

Paper Cuts

2010-11-04T14:13:00.001-04:00

Paper Cuts from Michigan Daily on Vimeo.

A short video showcasing the work and process of paper engineer and U of M lecturer [and Cranbrook grad and totally awesome guy] Matt Shlian.

2010-11-03T20:31:00.006-04:00

Sorry I've been neglecting this blog. Big thanks to our editors who've kept it alive.

I missed posting major Burnlab news like the Detroit Lives premiere [starring T0ybreaker], updates about our hackerspace OmniCorpDetroit and our Satanic techno arm Dethlab opening for Gary freaking Numan last week [and Nitzer freaking Ebb in November!]

Thinking about switching over to Tumblr. Thoughts on that, loyal readers and contributors?

Red Tide

2010-11-03T20:26:00.001-04:00

Don't worry. This won't change anything. We all voted for a Muslim Socialist Antichrist just 2 years ago and effectively got George Bush III. Elections are overrated. It assumes millionaire sociopaths will solve your problems. If you want to make a difference, start a community workshop, an ethical business, teach. Ignore authority & don't wait for a savior. You are the one you've been waiting for.

VITALIC San Francisco

2010-10-02T19:57:00.005-04:00

A few shots from VITALIC in San Francsico. His set included wo enormous LED walls mounted behind mirrored panels, with everything choreographed to his mindblowing music performed live. Hit the Flickr link for a few videos.

2010-09-15T21:18:00.003-04:00

Early 20th century gags from 1929:

Are you an aficionado of various post-Victorian but definitely Vaudevillian pranks and other such contrivance? Look no further. Yes. I certainly would like to peruse this most bully catalog reproduction of vintage parlour tricks:

http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/demoulin/

Aaron Draplin in Detroit Thursday

2010-08-25T09:46:00.003-04:00

AIGA Detroit and Team Detroit Present: Tall Tales From a Large Man

Born in Traverse City, Michigan, Aaron Draplin is the sole proprietor of Draplin Design Company and created Field Notes Brand. Located in the mighty Pacific Northwest, the freedom fighters of the Draplin Design Co. proudly roll up their sleeves on a handful of projects related to the Print, Identity, Web, Illustration and Gocco Muscle categories.

Hunkered down in his “36th year” the DDC has shipped the goods for Coal Headwear, Union Binding Company, Snowboard Magazine, Grenade Gloves, Gnu Snowboards, Ride Snowboards, Forum Snowboards, Giro Helmets, Richmond Fontaine, Chunklet Magazine, Exit Real World, Timberline, Snowboarder Magazine, Wired Magazine, Chuck Prophet, Nike, Cobra Dogs, Uncle Buck, and the Obama Administration.

Draplin promises to tell his story, show some work, talk some smack, and hawk a mountain of merch. Gonna’ be fun as hell. Be there, or be added to his ever-growing shit list. In Gary we Trust.

Thursday, August 26, 2010 — August 26, 2010 7:00pm - 8:30pm 1515 Broadway
1515 Broadway
Detroit, Michigan

*Less than 20 tickets left!

America Is F*cked.......(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.

Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks

2010-08-24T22:19:00.003-04:00

For those of us who dare to imagine a stateless, completely free and transparent future for humanity, that rejects vain attempts by both Bush and Obama to restore the neoliberal glory days of the 1990s [which were in retrospect perhaps morally worse than 1950s nostalgia & Reaganomics combined,] your new charismatic civil libertarian posterboy doesn't make soap. Our 21st Century Tyler Durden is a hacker and talks to TED: TED Talks: Julian Assange

Malaria!

2010-08-24T10:50:00.003-04:00

Malaria! - Geld/Money [1983]

Speaking of the great Gudrun Gut, see this new Quietus interview, Women At Work: Greie Gut Fraktion Interviewed

Detroit Lives trailer

2010-08-24T10:34:00.006-04:00

VBS.TV and Palladium Boots presents Detroit Lives

Once the fourth-largest metropolis in America—some have called it the Death of the American Dream. Today, the young people of the Motor City are making it their own DIY paradise where rules are second to passion and creativity. They are creating the new Detroit on their own terms, against real adversity. We put our boots on and went exploring.

The full VBS.TV documentary debuts on August 30th. Look for lots of familiar faces!

2010-08-23T21:10:00.002-04:00

I have a man crush on Julian Assange. There, I said it.
He is to civil libertarians what Palin is to inbreds.

Thanks, BP

2010-07-26T08:44:00.001-04:00

Click.

"yeah thats not what I was looking for at all."

2010-07-14T21:36:00.000-04:00

Just read this.

DieHard Battery vs. Gary Numan

2010-07-13T11:16:00.001-04:00

AW350M3N355.

[Via Boing Boing]

DeLorean Hovercraft

2010-07-01T11:53:00.002-04:00

This is easily the best thing I've seen all day.

From Jalopnik:

Matthew Riese, a 26-year-old grad student, is hand-building what every kid in 1985 desperately wanted — a hovering DeLorean just like in the movie Back to the Future. Now he needs your help...

Now that there is a how a pitch video is done.

Be a micro venture capitalist and donate on Kickstarter to make Riese's dream a reality.

We demand absolute liberation from Newton's gravitational mania

2010-06-28T14:21:00.004-04:00

Today's dose of Blixa comes in the form of a satirical manifesto to end all manifestos.

Einstürzende Neubauten - Was Ist Ist [live at Palast der Republik, 2004]

Guerilla Marketing Goes Prehistoric

2010-06-28T10:33:00.002-04:00

More advertising should be this clever, humorous and downright weird. A German ad agency planted items such as fake dinosaur legs and saber tooth fillets in grocery stores to promote Bosch refrigerators.

I could totally go for a fresh mammoth steak.

Atrocity Exhibition 2010

2010-06-26T18:54:00.008-04:00

A Taiwanese news network has created video game style 3D animations of current events ranging from Tiger Woods' SUV crash to the Leno/Conan debacle. The latest one - graphically depicting Al Gore's alleged sexual assault of a Portland masseuse - takes it to a new level. Far more of a car wreck you can't look away from than some golfer smashing his Cadillac while fleeing from his enraged wife.

Watch below for the visual metaphor involving a poodle.

A couple things come to mind.

First: imagine your most embarrassing moment. Now imagine that interpreted by someone you've never met half way around the world and rendered in glossy 3D animation. Is it accurate? Doesn't matter. It's out there. All over the world.

Second thought is: if some contemporary artist had done this before a tabloid news program did, they'd be bigger than ol' Damien Hirst right now. Could you imagine? Huge! Imagine digital reenactments of fictional scandals involving historical figures. Lincoln is never going to live down that blowjob he gave Hitler.

[via io9]

Interpol's brand new video is top-notch surreal ritualistic science fetish Prada-goth

2010-06-23T10:47:00.005-04:00

Directed by Charlie White - with a splash of Matthew Barney and a dash of Steven Klein.

update: embedded video fixed

Reed Ghazala, the father of circuit bending

2010-06-18T10:02:00.002-04:00

Via the always excellent Wire to the Ear

Give the man an ashtray.

2010-06-17T14:40:00.001-04:00

If I could be 10% as cool as Alexander Robotnick when I'm 60...

Born Free

2010-04-26T17:47:00.002-04:00

Yowza.
The new M.I.A video directed by Romain Gavras looks and sounds like something Atari Teenage Riot might do. It's a powerful [and explicitly violent] piece of politically-charged art. I don't see stuff like this from mainstream artists much, if ever. If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to be sitting down.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

Philip.K. Dick: A Day in the Afterlife

2010-04-14T16:13:00.005-04:00

Here's an extraordinary documentary about PKD from the BBC program Arena, originally broadcast on 9th April 1994. You'll spot cameo "endorsements" by Terry Gilliam and Elvis Costello in this first of six parts below:

Watch all six parts of Philip.K. Dick: A Day in the Afterlife here.

[Thanks to our dearest at Ghostly International for the link!]

Xeno & Oaklander

2010-04-13T14:40:00.002-04:00

Cold waves, warm hearts: Brooklyn's Xeno & Oaklander on Weird Records.

Xeno & Oaklander - Rendez-Vous d'Or [2010]

Xeno & Oaklander - Sentinelle [2009]

Sustainability is the New American Dream

2010-04-02T19:16:00.006-04:00

Ogilvy & Mather - one of the biggest ad agencies on the planet - totally gets the state of the world. Their 2010 Post-Recession Consumer Study has me cheering from my rented patio furniture.

An excerpt:

MARKETERS NOT CONNECTING WITH TODAY’S CONSUMER
RESEARCH REVEALS EMERGENCE OF RADICAL NEW INDIVIDUALISM
Sustainability is the New American Dream

CHICAGO, IL, March 15, 2010 – Today’s consumer is emerging from the recession with a radically new definition of the American Dream and a renewed sense in their own resourcefulness and priorities according to a just released quantitative study of 1200 consumers and qualitative research with nearly 700, conducted by Ogilvy & Mather Chicago in partnership with leading consumer insight company Communispace.

New View of the American Dream

Among the study’s key findings is that “having it all” is an unrealistic goal with 75% of those surveyed saying they would rather get out of the rat race than climb the corporate ladder – and instead, 76% said they would rather spend more time with family than make more money. Moreover, Americans are showing disenchantment with the pursuit of money with 75% again saying they would trade job security over a job that offered an opportunity for raises.

“The most surprising thing about our study was how much consumers were saying what they would NOT do for money, even when money worries are high on the list,” explained Graceann Bennett, Managing Partner and Director of Strategic Planning at Ogilvy & Mather Chicago. “Prioritizing your life based on money is seen as a sure way to be disappointed since the pursuit of money is often reliant on factors outside of consumers’ control. They have gone down this road before and are saying that they are not necessarily happier or better off as a result.”

In fact, the recession has revealed important new consumer priorities with quality of life and peace of mind at the top and a focus on living life in a more sustainable way both from an environmental and financial point of view.

“Sustainability” takes on a new Meaning

According to Manila Austin Ph.D., Communispace’s Director of Research, “Consumers didn’t fully understand the idea of sustainability until they found themselves living unsustainable lives – working too hard, carrying too much debt, and not living or planning for the long term. Now consumers are re-imagining their lives for a sustainable future for themselves and their families.”...

Related: Bruce Sterling's brilliant contemporary I Ching, the Viridian Design Movement

Crossing the Kcymaerxthaere, Eames Demetrios' parallel universe

2010-04-02T17:04:00.003-04:00

The American Airlines in-flight magazine has an extensive travel feature on the fictional[?] world created by geographer-at-large, steward of a design legacy, multi-media artist and all-around inspirational weirdo-supreme and great guy Eames Demetrios.

Crossing the Kcymaerxthaere
An excerpt:

Exploring the Kcymaerxthaere requires a hearty imagination because Demetrios’ fictional universe is based on the theory that we can change how we perceive our visual environment, or as Henry David Thoreau said, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” With a bit of mental flexing, these stories — accessible online, at individual physical sites, at Demetrios’ Kcymaerxthaere lectures and in two travel guides — are not just amusing but also interesting, with inventive characters like time-slipping Grwosts and seven-legged Gnaciens, deer-resembling creatures that have highly nutritious prime-numbered legs but poisonous (and ultimately deadly) nonprime ones. Similar to our linear world, the Kcymaerxthaere is separated into continent-like shapes called rezhns that are then divided into distrykts and gwomes, or nation-footprints. Each gwome has its own texture flag, a unique cultural symbol that Demetrios often displays at gallery shows. All of the Kcymaerxthaere’s plaques and stories relate in a larger context but not necessarily to all the others.

The son of sculptors Lucia Eames and Aristides Demetrios, Eames Demetrios was born and raised in San Francisco. At an early age he developed an interest in film (a passion shared with his grandfather Charles) and later, while volunteering at the city’s Steinhart Aquarium in Golden Gate Park, he became interested in biology. However, when Demetrios graduated from Harvard in 1984, it was with a BA in general studies — a “rare” degree, he says laughingly, received as a direct result of being thrown out of both the school’s film and biology departments. A year later, Demetrios moved to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking and has since made dozens of pictures, including The Giving, an award-winning black-and-white film about a computer programmer who reprograms ATMs to give back to the homeless. Today, Demetrios runs the monthly movie website DasFilmFest.com and is director of the Eames Office, which celebrates and preserves his grandparents’ legacy. He resides in linear Greater Mar Vista, Calif., with his wife and two sons, but spends a quarter to a third of each year on the road, during which time he researches new Kcymaerxthaere sites, installs plaques and spreads the word of his fictional universe.

Once I learned about Demetrios’ Kcymaerxthaere project, it took me a few hours to realize that it would be nearly impossible to visit every point of intersection in the linear world. In addition to a truckload of time and travel funds, sturdy walking shoes and a rock-solid GPS system, I’d also need a scuba-diving license, since a plaque detailing the Unsoiling of Rockall lies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, “about an hour’s steaming from Oban,” states my Kcymaerxthaere guidebook. In fact, not even Demetrios has visited every point of -intersection, instead opting to study photographs and satellite images for possible installation sites. “It’s sort of deliberate,” he says, “so I’m not just telling stories that bounce off local history.” He’s also careful not to assign physical depictions to his characters and cultures; instead, he allows imagination free rein — one reason the Kcymaerxthaere especially resonates with children.

Previously on Burnlab: alternate realities, mythology of the Eamespunk meme and more

Orwell's 1984: the BBC teleplay

2010-04-02T15:52:00.002-04:00

Until yesterday, I didn't know that the BBC produced a live teleplay of George Orwell's iconic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four starring a young Peter Cushing in 1954. They sure did.

1984 was made for the then astronomical figure of £3,249. Nigel Kneale (Quatermass, The Year of the Sex Olympics) wrote the script and Peter Cushing headed the cast. Director Rudolph Cartier even stretched to commissioning an original score, which was conducted during the live transmission.

The live performance on Sunday 12 December 1954 scored the highest ratings since The Coronation. Critics were excited at seeing what the new medium was capable of, calling it "a landmark in the at-present short history of television drama" but furious watchdogs campaigned for the planned second performance a few days later to be cancelled. The BBC's Head of Drama Michael Barry refused to concede, and that second live performance was recorded.

Watching 1984 today one cannot help but marvel at the ingenuity of the production. Actors move through 22 sets while the cameras perform a high-speed waltz around the studio to capture the full horror of Orwell's dystopia; filmed sequences are played while sets, cameras and actors are repositioned.

It is interesting that while television makers today, standing on giants' shoulders, can achieve so much with so little effort, there has been a desire in recent years to recapture some of the strange magic that live television offers.

Watch the entire program on the George Orwell Youtube channel. [Embedding disabled. I will never understand why people check that box.]

Do watch it. The production is incredible - especially considering it was performed live! I have to think this teleplay had an impact on Terry Gilliam while making his own dystopian magnum opus Brazil.

Hacking Metro Detroit

2010-04-02T13:08:00.005-04:00

Metromode has a great feature on Detroit makers this week, Hacking Metro Detroit by Michelle Martinez
Some excerpts below:

Nick Britsky is inspecting a rough spot on the tire well of a cupcake-shaped car, hoisted wrapper-side up onto a worktable. The accordion-shaped spray-painted steel was cut by hand, and a few jagged edges still need to be filed down.

Britsky is converting the one-man car into something that could roam indoors. "I'd like to make a fleet of them," Britsky says. "Maybe four or eight."

Britsky is a member of i3Detroit, a group-operated hackerspace, recently moved to Ferndale from Royal Oak. Above Britsky is another member project -- a hand-carved wooden canoe hanging from the ceiling; beside him are two motorized 'bots that resemble small moon cars, and in the corner is a stack of arcade game parts that look like they could be used as spares for Centipede or Donkey Kong. One room over, an antiquey-looking player piano that plays music it downloads and prints from the Internet is pushed against the wall.

It's all the work of i3 members, affectionately called "hackers." Far from gangly cyber-punks hacking their way into your credit card information, hackerspaces are about like-minded tinkerers, crafters, artists, and self-titled geeks gathering to work individually or collectively on projects. One such example is i3Detroit's mentoring of Clawson and Oak Park High School students in robotics, with the moon cars the result of the venture.

And they're not alone. Worldwide, there are nearly 350 self-described hackerspaces, with more than 150 in the U.S., including a handful in Michigan, according to hackerspaces.org.

"There's a lot of interesting stuff happening," says Dale Dougherty, publisher and editor of MAKE Magazine, which showcases DIY projects and their makers. "There's always been a group of enthusiasts who love to play with technology, are curious and want to learn ... but the power today from the Internet is that it can connect people to each other more easily to share ideas and projects."

Got hack?

In Metro Detroit, the idea is taking hold. i3Detroit got its start from meetings at an area coffee shop last April, moved into a sparse Royal Oak loft in September and by the following April landed in an 8,000-square-foot former industrial space in Ferndale. Ann Arbor-based hackerspace All Hands Active was started last September, and another yet-to-be-named group is growing in Detroit's Eastern Market --the brainchild of former New York City Resistor member Jeff Sturges and Detroit- based artist Bethany Shorb (founder of Cyberoptix).

"As soon as we talk to one, they have other people we should talk to. It's really organic," Shorb says.

MAKE Magazine's July 31 - August 1 Maker Faire, the tech-boosted Woodstock for the DIY and hacker set is in Detroit this year, appropriately taking place at The Henry Ford.

"The plan this year was to have it in New York," Dougherty explains. "We're still going to do that, but we thought that this was a place where this could really matter. ... This is a region with a lot of people who make things, are inventive and creative. There's a lot going on [in Detroit] -- a strong crafting community, emerging hackerspaces like i3Detroit and several other initiatives. We're trying to connect people together."

Hacking for the greater good

Infusing hackerspaces in Metro Detroit is the earnest belief in the power of collective brainstorming. If one could be used to build cupcake cars, vinyl cows with space helmets, and pirate ships (an upcoming i3Detroit project), the thinking goes, it can also be a space to engage entrenched societal problems.

New York City transplant Jeff Sturges is working to build a Detroit-based fab lab. It's an idea inspired from the work he did with a Sustainable South Bronx and MIT program aimed at teaching "digital fabrication" to solve community problems.

"Once I got involved in the FabLab and hackerspace, I thought it would be awesome for Detroit. I've had that dream since 2004," he says. Sturges studied architecture from 2003 to 2005 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art before going back to New York.

Outside of Detroit, efforts are underway to make brainstorming big problems a global hacker endeavor. Eric Michaud, founder of Chicago's Pumping Station: One and a serial hackerspace developer, says that a monthly global hackathon has started to gain followers, and is working its way towards engaging "bigger, grander goals and projects."

"What I'd love to see is what if we work on a project for 24 hours? For one week?" he poses. "Grab this collective expertise and let's give them a goal: Something that can eradicate malaria, for example, cheaply. ... We got to the moon with that kind of focus; a lot of technology came out of that."

The Revolution Party, circa [Mondo] 2000

2010-04-01T19:42:00.002-04:00

As a former art school student with Skinny Puppy and H.R. Giger inspired paintings on his biker leather, a Leebinator haircut, 1950s style eyeglasses and always smelled like a welding shop when going into the local bookstore to pour over the latest issue of Mondo 2000 and as an adult desperately searching for a political identity which combines both the ideals of absolute freedom and individual exceptionalism of Libertarians and Objectivists with traditional Liberal and Humanist values of social responsibility, equality and compassion, I'm totally embarrassed that I was not familiar with Mondo 2000 publisher R.U. Sirius' political party and run for president in 2000.

I've got nothing to add to this:

THE REVOLUTION PARTY OVERVIEW

No, the Revolution party is not a bunch of wild-eyed insurrectionists hell-bent on the violent overthrow of an oppressive regime.

As founder R.U. Sirius explains it, "The Revolution is a new political party that aims to be the voice of the non-voter, the alienated, the visionaries, the rabble, and the Internet. Combining left and libertarian politics with a kind of post-political futurism and the love of a good laugh, The Revolution¨ intends to bring all the subcultural tribes together to wrest control of worldwide political systems from the drug warriors, the cultural ayatollahs, and the various corporate mega-destructo gangs, ranging from the military-industrial complex to the HMOs ad infinitum."

OFFICIAL PLATFORM STATEMENT FROM THE OFFICIAL WEB PAGE

15 POINT PARTY PLATFORM FOR NATIONAL POLITICS

"NOTE: All of these platform points are stated simply in three-or-less sentences. The reality is far more complex. Each one of these will be detailed, one by one, in the months to come.

1. We will repeal five times as many laws as we pass. We need to simplify and clarify the rules of the game. We will do a better job of enforcing and obeying a few reasonable rules than thousands upon thousands of incomprehensible statutes.

2. End all corporate welfare. Let allegedly-free enterprise stand on its own two feet.

3. No Federal Personal Income Taxes for individuals with incomes of less than $100,000. Encourage states and counties to also end taxation of middle-class and poor individuals. Institute a flat tax on income over $100,000.

4. Legalize most pleasure drugs, prostitution, and gambling. Institute a 'sin tax,' taxing these activities at 100% to make up for some of the funds lost as the result of #3. Use part of this tax income to make counseling and rehabilitation easily available in all locales.

5. Close down the prison/industrial complex. Pardon all prisoners who are in for non-violent crimes involving sums involving $25,000 or less, provided they have no known history of violent activities. Pardon all prisoners listed with Amnesty International.

6. Defend civil liberties. For the first time in recent memory, let's have a federal government that respects The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. Let's have the ACLU and the EFF and other pro-rights organizations inside the federal government.

7. Stop policing the world. Become just another member of the UN, with responsibilities equivalent to our numbers. Reduce the Pentagon's budget by at least 50%.
8. Close down the National Security State. Since the end of World War II, representative democracy has been hostage to the National Security State. Release all secret documents (excluding only those recent ones that present a very clear and present danger), fire the CIA, and reform the federal intelligence apparatus.

9. Put environmental concerns before profits and jobs. On the other hand, put scientific consensus and reason ahead of emotion-based environmentalism. Protect the environment while limiting Orwellian bureaucratic absurdities.

10. Open federally-funded birth control clinics all across the country, guaranteeing women in every locale reasonable access to her legal right to abortion and other forms of birth control.

11. Allow 'autonomous zones.' Offer ways in which localities and even households can -- with a very few limits -- opt out of the system.

12. Re-establish social services at pre-Reagan levels, for starters. Study the possibility of a 'workfare' state that would create an ultimately self-sustaining 'generic' maintenance economy that would involve those who don't receive income independently, or through employment, in the production, distribution, and receivership of life's essentials. Ultimately, an advanced high tech society will need to end the employment/make money ethic entirely or risk a total psychotic break from the social/environmental pollution wreaked by billions of desperate people on a hustle.

13. Study the possibility of restructuring the economic/money system toward making money consistent with actual value in an age where money-as-information is excessively abstracted from the creation of real wealth and unfairly favors those who know how to manipulate it. Also, question the oligarchic power of those who control the money system, such as the Federal Reserve, the IMF, and the World Bank, reforming or possibly eliminating those organizations.

14. Fund a 'Manhattan Project Toward Utopia.' Finance and encourage altruistic scientific and technological projects geared towards breakthroughs that can diminish or eliminate scarcity, disease, and other forms of suffering that most people would prefer not to experience. Establish a principal of universal access to the products of such breakthroughs.

15. Victory Over Horseshit! The political process in America is hostage to certain obvious absurdities that are an embarrassment before the civilized world: like the continuing embargo against Cuba (and particularly the Helms/Burton bill), the excessive numbers of state executions, our refusal to sign the land mine treaty, the opposition to policies like needle exchange that are geared towards slowing down a plague, refusal of funding for international birth control, ad infinitum. Let's have a national government that calls ridiculous horseshit what it is."
R.U. Sirius/The Revolution

There's a book too, titled The Revolution: Quotations from Revolution Party Chairman R.U. Sirius, if you can find it.

Neill Blomkamp on the science of extraterrestrials and evolution

2010-03-20T13:24:00.001-04:00

[thanks Douglas!]

Imagining a World Without Money

2010-03-16T15:03:00.006-04:00

[Not as hippieish as it sounds. Has more to do with robots.]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Time Magazine's recently published The Dropout Economy is a stunningly accurate picture of where middle class America's mindset is headed. People on the ground are suffering because the old systems don't work anymore. It's frustrating to see so many resources - physical, financial and intellectual - being used to keep crooked, antediluvian institutions on life-support in a vain attempt to hold on to an unsustainable and idealized image of late 20th Century "prosperity".

This conservative way of thinking and fear of real change prevents us from putting resources into energetic and relevant new ideas and enterprises, and worst of all, stagnates evolution toward a more civilized and sustainable society.

While trying to imagine how a stateless, jobless, decentralized society might actually thrive (rather than turn into primitive feudal suburban favelas - at least hopefully with Philippe Starck-designed wind turbines,) I came across this video on Rob Walker's excellent Unconsumption blog:

So how the heck have I never heard of Jacque Fresco? It's kinda out there, but this is the kind of big picture thinking we ought to be putting our energy into. This is all classic technocracy futurist utopia stuff, but it is refreshing and quite timely to think about.

The Venus Project blog

Connected

2010-03-08T13:27:00.002-05:00

I've been curiously following the making of Danish sci-fi short Connected for some months. The wonderful little morally-loaded dystopian film is now complete and available on the official site to view. Definitely watch full-screen with the sound up, as suggested.

Set in the distant future, Connected is a story about survival and greed with a post apocalyptic wasteland as its backdrop. Survivors of an unknown disaster shuffle through a desolate landscape, as it quickly becomes clear that not everybody has the strength to survive.

Shot in deserted Faxe Kalkbrud, Denmark, and directed by Jens Raunkjær Christensen and Jonas Drotner Mouritsen, Connected is a unique short film, a sci-fi western with a tiny budget, but huge ambitions. A relatively small, but very enthusiastic and talented crew helped bring this bleak vision of the future to the screen. The film is produced with support from The Film Workshop / The Danish Film Institute.

High quality live Skinny Puppy video from 1986 surfaces

2010-03-02T19:11:00.005-05:00

Our friend Greg [one of the super-humans we're fortunate enough to breathe the same air with... dude works at NASA JPL and "was there" well before James Murphy] sent this video our way last night.

Swiss dark electronic music community & magazine Sanctuary has an exceptionally high quality [by VHS standards of the time] recording of Skinny Puppy performing at Dolce Vita Club in Lausanne, Switzerland Halloween night 1986.

So far they've uploaded the clip of "Assimilate" below, and just a couple days ago, this clip of "Smothered Hope".

I don't know how many times I watched this today. Not only is it the best quality recording of an old Puppy show I've seen, Ogre's movements are possessed and his genius for theatricality really shines through - especially around the seven minute mark...

Skinny Puppy - Assimilate [live in Switzerland, 10/31/1986]

Tears in Rain (in LEGO)

2010-03-02T11:29:00.002-05:00

Blade Runner - Tears in Rain (in LEGO) from Zach Macias on Vimeo.

[via the always awesome Awl]

Still my favorite LEGO movie remake: Silence of the Lambs: the musical [NSFW, I suppose.]

TuneGlue

2010-03-02T01:46:00.003-05:00

While there are plenty of music maps out there, TuneGlue takes the idea to the next level by using Amazon and LastFM data wrapped up in a gorgeous, simple UI to allow for nearly endless exploration of musical relationships.

Tour des Convoyeurs

2010-03-01T23:25:00.002-05:00

Some beautiful industrial architecture projection mapping at MUTEK 10, by the talented folks at AntiVJ. More on the project here.

AntiVJ - MUTEK 2009 from AntiVJ / Joanie on Vimeo.

Think you've got signal to noise problems?

2010-03-01T21:37:00.004-05:00

This clip by Masters of Architecture candidate Keiichi Matsuda in Nic Clear's Unit 15 at the Bartlett School of Architecture is like wandering the Gibraltar Trade Center on bathtub psychedelics.

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

[thanks Andrew Sliwinski]

aswefall, fun is dead

2010-02-27T20:12:00.004-05:00

I'm really looking forward to aswefall fun is dead being released on isolering/module this March. Beautiful, precise and cold, it should be just the ambient/cold wave/electro/minimal/electronica fix I need.

In the meantime, I'll continue enjoying the brilliant new album by Kasper Bjørke, Standing on top of Utopia. Efficient Machine has been on repeat nearly constantly since acquiring it here at Bitboy HQ South.

The Creatures - Exterminating Angel, live

2010-02-22T18:56:00.003-05:00

Not the best quality clip, but incredible live performance here of one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite [sadly, former] couples in music.

Nuit Blanche

2010-02-16T15:08:00.000-05:00

Love.

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Jarvis Cocker covers Eye of The Tiger

2010-01-27T18:36:00.000-05:00

Wow.

Musings on nanotech Japanese gummy candy, Karl Lagerfeld's robot body, etc.

2010-01-23T16:48:00.007-05:00

Don't know if it's the combination of a rare good night's sleep, a proper diet of coffee, deep-dish pizza and vitamin supplements, the end of Mercury Retrograde or what, but the grey blob in my skull is spitting things out in overdrive today. Not in any productive way, mind you, but entertaining to myself nonetheless.

Some things I've uttered in 140 characters or less this afternoon:

Edible nanotech Japanese gummy candies respond to different food pairings & placement on the body by changing color, flavor, temp & rhythm

Shaped like tiny Zaha Hadid models. Molecules reconfigure into different bots based on chemical input. Will revolutionize cuisine & sex toys

#randomsaturdaymorningideas

I love Lagerfeld's tall shirt collars, but starting to think they just function to cover the seam between his head & replacement body.

Why isn't there a Karl Lagerfeld PEZ dispenser? Seriously.

[Of course the Lagerfeld PEZ dispenser would cost $100K & spit out little Chanel embossed blocks of cocaine, packaged in gold leaf.]

[Zeitgeist alert] Kenyan Sci-Fi Short Pumzi Hits Sundance With Dystopia http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/01/pumzi/

[Bank of Zimbabwe's font is very heavy metal.] RT @benhammersley One hundred trillllllllion dollars. http://twitpic.com/zebi2

Now I'm thinking Lagerfeld probably has a closet full of pre-dressed replacement bodies with various super powers for different tasks.

The necks are fitted with contact rings and a threaded hub, like a steering column.

We saw Lagerfeld in Paris once. Looked up to see what was blocking the sun - a GOLD Hummer with Kaiser Karl in the passenger seat. F'realz.

My mistake. Karl's H2 was platinum, not gold. Those heinous wheels are unforgettable: http://tinyurl.com/ydo8ncd [Still love him anyway.]

The fingerless gloves? Same deal as the collar. His real fingertips screw on to the robot. The tech isn't there to replicate fingerprints.

Listening to Fever Ray cover one of my favorite Nick Cave songs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBDZfzNM7Ew

FAC251: THE FACTORY

2010-01-23T16:37:00.001-05:00

20 years since the birth of Madchester, the building that started it all and ultimately destroyed it all....

FAC251: Head office of Factory Communications... Built by Tony Wilson, designed by Ben Kelly & Peter Saville, paid for by NewOrder and broken by the Happy Mondays returns on Friday February 05, 2010.

More info here.

Finches

2010-01-21T19:08:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's been over a month since I last posted here and there's a ton of important and awesome stuff backlogged in the queue. [Been participating in more than documenting the Zeitgeist of late - which is good, I think.] For now, please enjoy this:

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at The Barbican, London

Trained as a musician and composer, French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates works by drawing on the rhythms of daily life to produce sound in unexpected ways. His installation for The Curve will take the form of a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other instruments and objects. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.

Subjectified

2009-12-10T16:37:00.002-05:00

"I did this for the children of the world."

More amazing design humor.
Wow.

Subjectified from Matt Ganucheau on Vimeo.

Thanks Stewart Smith

Neutra Face

2009-12-02T18:10:00.001-05:00

Tristan Bynum, Jason Kinney, Forrest Martin and Mark Searcy bring sexy back to design nerdery in this brilliant Lady GaGa parody.

Aire: The Second Fourfold Root exhibition/performance tonight

2009-11-14T14:57:00.003-05:00

The Detroit/Brooklyn art cabal gathers for an evening of living fashion installations and music tonight.

NEW YORK -- Devotion Gallery is pleased to present "Aire: The Second Fourfold Root", a live exhibition of dark fashion works taking place on November 14, as part of "The Fourfold Roots of Everything".

Since 800 B.C., philosophers sought to identify a single arche, from which all substances are formed. Empedocles was the first to propose a set of archai, which he referred to as "the fourfold roots of everything". These four roots became the four classical elements of Greek philosophy and the reigning dogma until recent centuries. Empedocles argued that these four elements drove the cycle of life and the changing seasons -- water initiates spring and becomes air, air initiates summer and becomes fire, fire initiates Autumn and becomes earth, earth initiates winter and becomes water -- and, thereby, united birth and death into one continuous process.

This second "Fourfold Roots of Everything" event will focus on the second fourfold root, air. Plato regarded air as an intermediate element marked by its mobility, lightness, and ability to penetrate. "Aire: The Second Fourfold Root" explores this penetration/protection dichotomy in full detail, most notably with Cyberoptix Spring Collection "Atmospheric/Pressures". This collection is constructed from surplus military balloons and tatted lace doilies, seemingly disparate materials that stem from the same Victorian-to-Cold-War time period, when they had a shared utilitarian purpose of protection and have, since then, been fetishized.

Rubber has traditionally been used as protective clothing: From rain boots to gas masks, hazmat suits to condoms, it is meant to repel fluids and prove impermeable to corrosives and viral agents. Rubber latex gas balloons have been used throughout military history -- for scientific observation, meteorology, espionage, distribution of propaganda, and transportation of munitions -- all with the purpose of protecting territory while at war. During the height of World War II, the use of military balloons was extended beyond simple reconnaissance missions to a form of tactical offensive: The Japanese sent over nine thousand Fu-Go balloon-bombs into the eastbound polar jetstream, one of the few attacks to ever penetrate the mainland United States.

Fetishists currently use rubber latex in a prophylactic manner, not only to protect and repel, but to transform the wearer into another persona through formation of a second skin. Despite its extensive use as a fetishized fashion object, it has yet to be used in couture in any manner other than echoing the hyper-sexualized second skin aesthetic. Cyberoptix's Bethany Shorb departs from recreating a caricature of this second skin and, instead, isolates the body from the viewer through voluminous gather, ruffles, and masses of goffered rubber fabric repurposed from vintage military balloons. Color, weight, and texture of the latex also play an important role in distancing "Atmospheric/Pressures" from fetish-wear: Mottled shades of ebony and coffee couple with its natural amber color to belie its B.D.S.M. heritage.

Shorb complements the hand-fabricated and -repurposed rubber fabrics, both visually and conceptually, with several forms of modified lace and tatted doilies. In addition to their decorative purpose, lace items were used in a protective manner: A Victorian and Mid-Century home staple, doilies and lace runners isolated fine furniture surfaces from hot cookware, and fabric upholstery from hair- and skin-borne emollients. In Elizabethan times, interchangeable ruffled collars protected garments from food spills and human sweat. "Atmospheric/Pressures" references this penetration/protection dichotomy of lace through restrictive pilot caps, exaggerated dunce caps, veils and other traditional religious head coverings, thereby allowing the underlying untouchable surface to show through.

Shorb's exclusive use and repurposing of these vintage and deadstock materials (and subsequent hand-dying, painting, and screen-printing), combine to envelope the conceptual exploration of penetration and protection in a unified romantic aesthetic. Echoing the dark and Victorian elements of "Atmospheric/Pressures", will be fashion installations by local celebrities Bird Ov Prey (Karbine), Mercantile (Kill Devil Hill), Sinner/Saint (Anthony Malat), and the very elusive VDK.

"Aire: The Second Fourfold Root" will take place at 319 Scholes Street in Brooklyn at 10:00 p.m. on November 14, 2009. This event will include dramatic live performances -- by Brooklyn-based Black Swan, Baltimore-based Death Domain, Detroit-based DethLab, and local hero Violec (Ryan Brogan, Subtrak) -- and interstitial deejay sets by Cowboy Mark and Ghostly's Mike Servito. Admission will be $10 for non-members, and free for members. (Visit http://AreYouDevoted.com for membership information.)
Contact Marie at Press@AreYouDevoted.com for further information and press materials.

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ABOUT THE FOURFOLD ROOTS OF EVERYTHING
http://AreYouDevoted.com

"Pherepaphe: The Fourfold Roots Of Everything" opened at Devotion Gallery on All Hallows Eve, October 31, 2009.

The name "Pherepaphe" alludes to Plato's recontextualization of the Greek goddess Persephone as "wise for seeing that all things in the world are in motion" and who, furthermore, is a part of that dynamic quality. Traditionally, Persephone is known as both the Queen of the Underworld and the Goddess of Fertility. These seemingly disparate titles collide each year on All Hallows Eve, a ghoulish day that also marks the harvest and descent into winter. Persephone's conflicting roles point to the cycle of life and ultimately explain the changing seasons, a process Empedocles referred to as "the fourfold roots of everything".

"Pherepaphe: The Fourfold Roots Of Everything" visually resolves the contradictory elements of Persephone, through her recasting as Pherepaphe and the primordial of the fourfold roots. It makes the necessary visual references to the dark and the sacred, but also to the organic and the dynamic, the "in-motion" quality that Plato referred to in his renaming of the dark goddess. This group exhibition includes in-gallery work by Arnold Steiner, Bethany Shorb, Carrie Villines, Dan Tesene, Elisabeth Timpone, Jeffers Egan, Keep Adding, and Sougwen Chung. A living installation of dark fashion works in November will further underscore the dynamic and emphemeral qualities of Pherepaphe.

"Pherepaphe: The Fourfold Roots Of Everything" will remain on display until December 14, 2009. Devotion Gallery is located at 54 Maujer Street (near the corner of Maujer and Lorimer Streets) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

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ABOUT BIRD OV PREY
http://BirdOvPrey.com

As a practitioner of obsessive ornamentation, Jorden Haley's work encompasses a variety of disciplines, including traditional mixed media, digital media, fashion and jewelry design, graphic design and photography. His work is inspired by the juxtaposition of machinery with the organics of nature, the pristine chaos of the digital world, esoteric occult symbolism, antiquated typographic systems, and bog bodies.

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ABOUT CYBEROPTIX
http://Cyberoptix.com

Schooled in both sculpture and photography, Shorb creates elaborate prop, costume, and set constructions that blur the line between editorial fashion photography and performance art documentation. Model, wardrobe, and set each retain the same visual and emotional weight: A hyper-saturated amalgamation exploring the interstitial space between alluring and repulsive, hedonism and restraint, seductive speed of the expressway and still finality of Last Rights.

Bethany Shorb was born in 1976. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture, with an elective in Photography, from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her works have been widely published in the United States and abroad. As founder of Cyberoptix, she has designed high-tech couture for SIGGRAPH and costumes for screen and stage alike (including Skinny Puppy's 2004 world tour), as featured in FiberArts and Industrial Nation. Her current neckwear line has graced the throats of Motor's Bryan Black and actor/director Crispin Glover, and was featured in the New York Times Magazine, BPM, Nylon, Antenna, Wired Blog, and the Martha Stewart Show.

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ABOUT B.S. MERCANTILE
http://KillDevilHillBrooklyn.blogspot.com

Mercantile is a collaboration between Mary Beatrice Brockman and Mark Christopher Straiton.

Mary Beatrice Brockman attended The School Of Visual Arts to study sculpture. After leaving, she focused her fine-art skills on restoration, and eventually settled on pattern-making and handmade wallpapers. Brockman meshes the absurdly real with decorative qualities,Â using overheard stories (such as "The Whale Found with a Bomb in its Belly") as a point of departure.

Mark Christopher Straiton is wild at heart and a jack of almost all trades. He is best-known as co-owner of Kill Devil Hill, a widely-lauded antique shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

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ABOUT SINNER/SAINT
http://Sinner-Saint.com

Born in mid-seventies Baltimore, Anthony Malat grew up on the road. Touring extensively with his post-punk hardcore band Universal Order of Armageddon (and later the art punk outfits Love Life and The Bellmer Dolls), he became well-practiced in the obsolete arts of backyard auto repair, hand-poke tattooing, and non-denominational marriage officiation.

His line has taken on many forms over the past few years but one thing has remained unchanged: He works alone, using outdated machines and methods, and has used his lack of formal training to his advantage by inventing unorthodox but practical techniques, giving his work special and unique details.

Sinner/Saint suits have gained an international reputation for being the most unique custom designs available today. Malat's clients include Jon Spencer, Jim Thirlwell (Foetus), Benjy Ferree, as well as members of The National, Interpol, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, the New York Dolls, The Hold Steady, Barenaked Ladies, and even N'Sync!

Sinner/Saint and Malat himself have both been press darlings, with full articles or editorial pieces appearing in GQ, Rolling Stone, Spin, Nylon, Black Book, V, Ha'Ir (Tel Aviv), Soma, Swindle, and countless others. He has sold limited-run ready-to-wear collections in New York City, Chicago, and Tokyo.

Sinner/Saint will be introducing a new subdivision that will be available off-the-rack at limited locations and online, as well as jewelry and accessories in association with the partners of the mentor group VDK. In his limited spare time, Malat continues his musical career with the Bellmer Dolls, and makes furniture and sculpture from reclaimed building materials, as well as restoring Victorian-era homes in the borough of Brooklyn, New York.

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ABOUT VDK

VDK is a collaboration between Anthony Malat and Jorden Haley. The VDK is not what you think it is.

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ABOUT BLACK SWAN
http://000000swan.com

Obsessed with electronics, feathers, Native American art, pagan ritual, fetish, punk rock, and tribal percussion, Black Swan is the brainchild of Phoenix Perry and Margaret Schedel. Connoisseurs of the romantic and ethereal, they create high-impact, hard-to-predict events beyond the realm of normal expectations. Their music is reminiscent of electronica and punk, steam boats and theremins, and breaking glass. All costumes are handmade and designed around the art of Phoenix Perry.

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ABOUT COWBOY MARK
http://myspace.com/CowboyMark808

Mark Christopher Straiton is wild at heart and a jack of almost all trades. He is best-known as co-owner of Kill Devil Hill (a widely-lauded antique shop in Greenpoint) but perhaps better-so as a deejay: He has played some of the most hallowed halls of clubland and some of the darkest basements throughout the United States. Playing dance music of the ages, he is generally thought-of as a rock-a-billy deejay or a techno deejay, but he also plays everything in between.

"The single best deejay in NYC" - Jayson Diamond
"Radical Riot Raver" - Emme Evard
"Mark is techno's Sid Vicious" - Sal P. (Liquid Liquid)

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ABOUT DEATH DOMAIN
http://myspace.com/DeathDomainMotif

Starting as a solo project of the frontman of acclaimed synthpunk band SIDS, Death Domain is an all-analog, minimal electronic act based in Baltimore. As is clearly referenced by the name "Death Domain" (a term referring to biological molecules involved in the regulation of cell death), the man behind Death Domain bridges the gap between his two main passions in life (i.e., science and music) in order to mold a unique sound. Â Death Domain has released multiple cassettes with future releases on 7", 10", and 12" formats."

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ABOUT DETHLAB
http://myspace.com/TeamDethlab

With the Dethlab project, Shorb and Doyle seek to define "the new black" by connecting the dots between trends in music, fashion, design and culture: Mashing Ballardian reality with a romance for the glory days of postpunk and the cyberpunk future promised by Blade Runner. Like a modern day McLaren and Westwood, Doyle and Shorb are obsessive consumers, creators, and curators of all things dark, innovative, and beautiful -- often with tongue firmly in-cheek.

In addition to deejaying and event production, they are currently recording original music, have facilitated happenings such as Alice In Wonderland themed tea parties and period costumed croquet socials in abandoned factories, and have used nearly as much fake blood as Gwar. Shorb has performed her own circuit-bent instruments around the country as Toybreaker, and as a member of seminal noise band God and His Bitches. Both have collaborated closely with indie-electronic label Ghostly International on package design and merchandise development, and share the notion of "one foot in the gallery, one in the club." The "Machines That Feel" series is the best example to date of their combined interests in art, music and social-commentary.

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ABOUT MIKE SERVITO
http://ghostly.com/artists/Mike-Servito

Mike Servito is a deejay's deejay, a lifelong music fanatic with a truly unique ability to move a dance floor. Fearless in his seamless transitions from one style to another, Servito has an unpredictability and a deep trust in his music knowledge that has garnered him a cult following and made him an in-demand deejay the world over. Although Servito is a NYC transplant, his deejay style is unmistakably Detroit. Inspired by Detroit radio of the 80s and local deejays in the 90s, Servito came of age in a flourishing electronic music scene, making his debut in 1995 and immediately gaining the attention and respect of his peers and local techno heroes. After a brief hiatus, Servito was lured back into the game through the vigorous encouragement of his close friend Magda, and returned to the deejay realm in 2002. Servito redefined himself, finding inspiration in the new generation of electronic-music producers and deejays.

Mike Servito was among the original "Untitled" residents, whose ranks include Matthew Dear, Derek Plaslaiko, Tadd Mullinix, and Ryan Elliott. He has played multiple Detroit Electronic Music Festivals and has held court with some of the best talent in the world, including artists from heavyweight labels such as Bpitch Control, Perlon, Minus, Kompakt, and DFA, as well as hometown legends Transmat, Planet E, UR, and Spectral Sound. In 2008, Servito became the newest addition to Ghostly's deejay roster, and has happily returned to deejaying and traveling the world playing his favorite music.

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ABOUT VIOLEC
http://myspace.com/RyanBrogan

Ryan Brogan, the mastermind behind the Brooklyn-based imprint known as Subtrak, came to New York via Detroit, where he began his foray into electronic music nearly a decade ago. As a deejay, he has shared the booth with everyone from Daniel Bell, Misstress Barbara, Kevin Saunderson, and Juan Atkins, to Troy Pierce, Omar S., and Guido Schneider. As a producer, he has released electro under the alias AudioRiot and minimal techno as The Pale (with long time collaborator Christian Bloch, Denmark's infamous techno guru). He currently has several EPs under his belt, a recent full length album (Toybox) released under his own name, and various side projects (such as the insanely popular mash-up project "Trademark Technique").

Brogan hasn't surfaced to perform since the release party for "Toybox" on July 4th, 2009. In response to a special request from Cyberoptix's Bethany Shorb, Ryan has agreed to debut his intense new live Breakbeat/Dubstep project VIOLEC. (Think Bassnectar meets Soulwax!)

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ABOUT DEVOTION GALLERY
http://AreYouDevoted.com

Devotion is a new gallery, where space exists as a cross-section of the world at-large. This Williamsburg-based location combines science, art, sound, data, and complexity to reveal our existence as part of an integral whole. Devotion Gallery is located at 54 Maujer Street (near the corner of Maujer and Lorimer Streets) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

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ABOUT 319 SCHOLES
http://319scholes.org

319 Scholes is a new architectural space in the industrial heart of Bushwick committed to the increasing use of trans-disciplinary approaches in order to achieve artistic communication.

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CONTACT: Marie at Press@AreYouDevoted.com
R.S.V.P.: Press@AreYouDevoted.com
RELEASE: http://AreYouDevoted.com/dev-TheSecondFourfoldRoot.pdf
WEBSITE: http://events.AreYouDevoted.com

Puppy

2009-11-11T20:43:00.003-05:00

Dusting off my combat boots for Skinny Puppy tonight in Detroit.
Wait... who am I kidding? They've never collected dust.

Skinny Puppy - Smothered Hope [1984]

RE.TREAT by Úna Burke

2009-11-11T14:25:00.004-05:00

London College of Fashion MA student Úna Burke has crafted this extraordinary collection wearable sculptures.

From the artist:

This is a conceptual collection of wearable art pieces, depicting a series of eight human gestures associated with the cause, the physical and psychological effect and the healing stages of human trauma. Sculptural forms are created around the shape of the contorted female body. A number of pieces are reminiscent of prosthetics and medical braces. This signifies the potential for healing within the boundaries of something which inhibits the body.

Carcass-like in form, each piece is hand crafted from vegetable tanned leather, resulting in a colour indicative of human flesh. They have been produced to be viewed as contemplation artefacts observed in the environment of the gallery and they can be used as fashion accessories when broken down into sections, such as arm pieces, leg pieces, head or neck pieces and shoulder pieces. They could be combined with other garments in flowing fabrics which would create beautiful contrasts with the structured forms of these pieces.

References to medical braces and fetish wear are clearly present, but the intricate layering of the leather bands also makes me think of mummification, segmented crustacean shells and particularly Samurai armor. Whatever images and narratives they may inspire, the concept and execution are both breathtaking.

[via Haute Macabre]

Syntaks

2009-11-09T11:42:00.003-05:00

Syntaks - "Twentytwohundred" Video from Ghostly International on Vimeo.

Ghostly International's latest signing Syntaks - Danish visual artist/designer Jakob Skott and vocalist Anna Cecilia - have just released the synesthesia-inducing album Ylajali and the lush music video above for our favorite Ann Arbor/NYC/LA-based label.

The richly layered waves of organic and processed sound and phantasmal voices make me want to compare Syntaks to Scott Cortez and Melissa Arpin-Duimstra's work as Lovesliescrushing, or a number of acts on 4AD. But Syntaks bring a presence all their own to the shoegazey dream pop party, and make some of the finest, most captivating autumn music you'll find anywhere.

From Ghostly:

Syntaks take their cues from the ambient experiments of Brian Eno and Popol Vuh, the film scores of Ennio Morricone and John Carpenter, and the tonal depth of ‘90s shoegaze bands and early 4AD records. Each sound—from the tinkling of a piano to the snap of a snare drum—has been electronically treated, conjuring an air of unreality that belies the music’s organic construction. Syntaks’ newest record on Ghostly International, 2009’s Ylajali, is a romantic fever dream, a post-rock paean to the transportative, transformative power of sound. Syntaks wraps the couple up like a shroud, absorbing their identities in the pursuit of a heart-stoppingly beautiful vision.

In Ylajali’s beautifully scorched sonic landscape, acres of drones run beneath Anna Cecilia’s wordless sighs; beats crunch like autumn leaves while synthesizers swell, flourish, and disappear. Songs either tramp through hazy forests until they fade into the dark (the Boards of Canada-esque “Love Camp 23”), or stack tone upon tone like translucent building blocks, building to forceful, near-operatic crescendos (the epic “She Moves in Colors”). Syntaks’ Jakob Skott is a drummer by trade, and his percussion—both live and programmed, but always lent an otherworldly sheen—plays the sinister counterpoint to Cecelia’s tender melodies. “The Shape of Things to Come” typifies Syntaks’ dreamlike musical logic, drifting through fields of placid melody until sheets of guitar noise, metallic snares, and choir-like vocals rush in. Once the storm passes, all that’s left is the sun, glinting through the mist.

Nice Collective Time Machine

2009-11-07T18:48:00.003-05:00

For their Fall 2009 runway debut entitled Time Machine, San Francisco's Nice Collective plunged into the murky dreamscapes of H. G. Wells, Chris Marker and Terry Gillian-offering a distopic, but euphoric vision of blurred timelines and epochs. Time Machine presents the full realization of the brand's ethos, which is less about clothes than the creation of a full immersive experience. The specially designed runway/installation was the joint collaboration of Nice Collective and friends, who labored with a full team for over three months on the complex schematics. Assembled from hand picked materials (including a salvaged turn of the century carriage, aged steel, antique leather and burnt wood), the resulting environment provided a timely homage to the fashion spectacles of the early nineties.

Sesame Street at 40

2009-11-04T15:28:00.002-05:00

Happy 40th, you old bird. And thanks for the synesthesia and ordinal linguistic personification!

[Is it any wonder?]

Ghost Riders

2009-10-19T13:43:00.001-04:00

Some photos and clips of The Horrors live Detroit last week:

The lads from Central Saint Martins have traded in their ghoulsih growls and stomping garage beats for swirling melodies and sweet arpeggiations. Well... mostly. Their live sound is still massive, but more of a smoldering, just-barely-controlled detonation than explosive bolts of plasma and sonic sex. This isn't to say ears weren't shattered and souls destroyed. Oh they were.

Sea Within a Sea clip

Ghost Rider [Suicide cover] clip

Full Flickr set here.

Future Fashion

2009-10-19T00:33:00.004-04:00

Fashion predictions for the year 2000 in the 1930s
[clip via Benson, via T0ybreaker]

Fantastic film reel above. They nailed it with at least one prediction.
I wonder if many at the time would have imagined something like Gareth Pugh's "dark euphoria."
Actually... probably yes! He's like an anachronism from the golden age of science fiction:

Merlin Mann on Time and Attention (Getting Things Done)

2009-10-16T10:37:00.003-04:00

Continuing on the subjects of creativity and working methods, here's a talk Merlin Mann gave at Google last year.
(Great to listen to in the background while you're getting things done.)

Work smarter, not harder.

2009-10-15T19:25:00.012-04:00

Rarely do I ever re-post an entire article, but I've been preaching this method to mostly deaf ears much of my professional career. So glad Fast Company published this piece.

The workforce is full of what I call "inefficient martyrs": people who believe that putting in long hours, sucking up to people they know are unqualified to be in management, and sacrificing their personal lives is somehow equal or superior to accomplishing something significant with smarter methods and less effort. Good planning, time management, allowing yourself pleasure, traveling frequently, daydreaming, actively making time and effort to expose one's self to different cultures and radical ideas... just taking time to experience things outside of "work" which make one a more insightful, productive and valuable contributor to the workplace [and ultimately society] has all been demonized by American corporate culture as lazy and flaky. These "lazy and flaky" afflictions on corporate America are the ones who innovate, become successful entrepreneurs, speak at TED conferences, and generally make the world a better place. The inefficient martyrs will rise like stars within their companies, be paid too much to leave, contribute nothing of value to society and continue to hate their lives - while livin' The American Dream.

Fast Company | Design & Innovation | Hard Work's Overrated, Maybe Detrimental.

A co-founder of Flickr argues that hard work often doesn't amount to much--and neuroscience offers some backing for the claim.

Caterina Fake, who, with her husband Stewart Butterfield, founded Flickr, knows a thing or two about bliztkreig work schedules. But she points out that late nights are seldom very useful in the grand scheme of things. Hard work? Overrated:

When we were building Flickr, we worked very hard. We worked all waking hours, we didn't stop. My Hunch cofounder Chris Dixon and I were talking about how hard we worked on our first startups, his being Site Advisor, acquired by McAfee--14-18 hours a day. We agreed that a lot of what we then considered "working hard" was actually "freaking out". Freaking out included panicking, working on things just to be working on something, not knowing what we were doing, fearing failure, worrying about things we needn't have worried about, thinking about fund raising rather than product building, building too many features, getting distracted by competitors, being at the office since just being there seemed productive even if it wasn't--and other time-consuming activities. This time around we have eliminated a lot of freaking out time. We seem to be working less hard this time, even making it home in time for dinner.

Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on. Paying attention to what is going on in the world. Seeing patterns. Seeing things as they are rather than how you want them to be. Being able to read what people want. Putting yourself in the right place where information is flowing freely and interesting new juxtapositions can be seen. But you can save yourself a lot of time by working on the right thing. Working hard, even, if that's what you like to do.

That raises the question: How do you set aside the mind space to see patterns, make connections, and read what people want? How do you find the right thing to work on?

Fake points to the salient example of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA. They spent a lot of time lollygagging and goofing off, going to parties and bullshitting over coffee.

That might seem like a historical footnote, but our everyday experience vindicates it. After all, have you ever had a great idea at your desk? But how often does that bulb go off in the shower, or in bed?

Modern neuroscience actually vindicates this apparently lackadaisical approach. It turns out that the best way to find breakthrough ideas might be to avoid working hard. As the Wall Street Journal reported this summer:

By most measures, we spend about a third of our time daydreaming, yet our brain is unusually active during these seemingly idle moments. Left to its own devices, our brain activates several areas associated with complex problem solving, which researchers had previously assumed were dormant during daydreams. Moreover, it appears to be the only time these areas work in unison.

"People assumed that when your mind wandered it was empty," says cognitive neuroscientist Kalina Christoff at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who reported the findings last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As measured by brain activity, however, "mind wandering is a much more active state than we ever imagined, much more active than during reasoning with a complex problem."

She suspects that the flypaper of an unfocused mind may trap new ideas and unexpected associations more effectively than methodical reasoning. That may create the mental framework for new ideas. "You can see regions of these networks becoming active just prior to people arriving at an insight," she says.

The researchers found support for the idea that blinding insights favor a prepared mind--that is, you've got to really internalize the problem at hand if you're to find any sort of solution. (More more on that, check out this article from last year in the New Yorker, by Jonah Lehrer.) But to actually bring those insights to life, you've got to step back. (See why graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister advocates taking time off.)

But if the daydreaming hypothesis is right--and it seems hard to deny--more hours at your desk are actually counterproductive. You'd do better by setting aside lots of playtime, to let your mind wander. Only then will you stumble your way onto what's important.

Modern office design is actually converging upon this idea, without any prodding from neuroscience--for example, Facebook's new offices seem to be organized more around living rooms and DJ booths than cubicles. Elsewhere in office design, conference rooms are quickly being crowded out by lounge spaces. In other words, the very types of places that Watson and Crick found so useful.

Boba Fett + Front 242

2009-10-15T11:02:00.003-04:00

[If you're reading this blog, no explanation required.]

The Large Hadron Collider is being sabotaged from the future?

2009-10-14T00:04:00.003-04:00

“For those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present and future is only an illusion.” -Albert Einstein

This is equally insane and awesome.

Basically, two very credible scientists came up with a theory that perhaps the Large Hadron Collider's string of misfortunes is no accident, but a deliberate result of a future event to prevent observation of the Higgs boson - an as yet unverified elementary particle. Nuts? People have believed in crazier things.

New York Times: The Collider, the Particle and a Theory About Fate

Then it will be time to test one of the most bizarre and revolutionary theories in science. I’m not talking about extra dimensions of space-time, dark matter or even black holes that eat the Earth. No, I’m talking about the notion that the troubled collider is being sabotaged by its own future. A pair of otherwise distinguished physicists have suggested that the hypothesized Higgs boson, which physicists hope to produce with the collider, might be so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

Holger Bech Nielsen, of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, and Masao Ninomiya of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics in Kyoto, Japan, put this idea forward in a series of papers with titles like “Test of Effect From Future in Large Hadron Collider: a Proposal” and “Search for Future Influence From LHC,” posted on the physics Web site arXiv.org in the last year and a half.

According to the so-called Standard Model that rules almost all physics, the Higgs is responsible for imbuing other elementary particles with mass.

“It must be our prediction that all Higgs producing machines shall have bad luck,” Dr. Nielsen said in an e-mail message. In an unpublished essay, Dr. Nielson said of the theory, “Well, one could even almost say that we have a model for God.” It is their guess, he went on, “that He rather hates Higgs particles, and attempts to avoid them.”

This malign influence from the future, they argue, could explain why the United States Superconducting Supercollider, also designed to find the Higgs, was canceled in 1993 after billions of dollars had already been spent, an event so unlikely that Dr. Nielsen calls it an “anti-miracle.”

Read on.

Ripley and Mad Max making out to Vangelis = awesome.

2009-10-13T18:17:00.003-04:00

Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson in Peter Weir's brilliant film The Year of Living Dangerously

Death By Ackermann

2009-10-12T20:17:00.004-04:00

The third post in our unofficial creative minds series, A.V. Club New York examines the wiring of one Mr. Oliver Ackermann - Rhode Island School of Design grad and former toy designer, founder of Brooklyn-based effects pedal factory/recording studio/live-work-performance space/"DIY empire" Death By Audio and frontman of plasma-hot band A Place To Bury Strangers:

Oliver Ackermann is trying, and failing, to describe the sound of his effects pedals. He builds them all from the ground up—designing the circuits; attaching the transistors, capacitors, and resistors; and drilling and silk-screening the metal cases—so it comes as something of a surprise that he has trouble finding the right words. "You could almost describe these sounds," he says, but then stops himself. Ackermann is enthusiastic, manic, and charming; his mouth remains locked in a permanent smile. He starts again: "I guess it's about making something that I think sounds badass."

"Badass" is an apt description for Death By Audio, Ackermann's DIY empire, which occupies two adjacent lofts in Southside Williamsburg. One of them houses a concert space, which showcases acts that occupy the interstitial spaces between rock, noise, and sound-art, while a nearby loft houses a recording studio, a rehearsal space (for Ackermann's band, A Place To Bury Strangers), a room for silk-screening and painting, an electronics assembly room, and a wood and metal shop. It's the pedal business, though, that keeps Death By Audio humming—not to mention ringing, shrieking, and twisting into and out of eardrums in basements and garages across the country...

Read on.

The Horrors tonight in Detroit

2009-10-12T11:34:00.002-04:00

Friendly reminder, one of my favorite bands in the world The Horrors are playing at The Magic Stick tonight.
[Yeah, it's Monday. Go!]

The Horrors Who Can Say [2009]

The Horrors Sea Within A Sea [2009]

Joshua Eustis interview

2009-10-12T00:05:00.003-04:00

Finally getting around to posting this fantastic interview with Josh from Telefon Tel Aviv for Ellen Allien's BPitch Control label. This is kind of a follow-up to last week's Bill Viola post. Like Viola, Josh articulates the details of his creative process in a manner that is both thoughtful and straightforward. Plus, not only does the guy have without question the best album of 2009, he has a great punk ethic and sleeps with staff paper next to his bed to write down song ideas from dreams...

SKETCH3D on Core77

2009-10-07T13:32:00.003-04:00

Core77 has a nice write-up on o2's SKETCH3D at Gizmodo Gallery, including a clip of yours truly giving a demo.

+ If you haven't checked it out yet, o2 has a brand new website. Erick Carlson, Mike Miller and the whole team busted serious ass to get it up in time for GizGallery. The new site has more and bigger images, is much easier to navigate and update, and no more Flash!

Bright Nights in Brooklyn

2009-10-07T12:20:00.004-04:00

If you're in NYC, do go see Bright Nights presented by Random Number tonight on the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage in DUMBO.

Bright Nights is a curated program of digital artwork that celebrates the projected image, draws attention to the iconic architecture of the Manhattan Bridge, and electrifies the arts friendly DUMBO neighborhood. The program will be projected onto the Anchorage, to coincide with the 100th birthday of the bridge and the 10th annual Walk21 conference in October 2009.

Four internationally renowned Brooklyn-based artists created new works that interpret the unique physical, spatial, and historical components of the bridge. The artists were chosen for their ability to energize a public space, in celebration of the major thoroughfare’s 100th birthday.

Artists include Motomichi Nakamura, Burak Arikan, Lee Wells and our very own Marius Watz.

Wednesday, Oct. 7th | 7PM - 10PM
Manhattan Bridge Anchorage, Front & Adams Street side in DUMBO, Brooklyn

Marius Watz, "Bridge Hypothesis" from Random Number on Vimeo.

Motomichi Nakamura, "Steel Monster" from Random Number on Vimeo.

More sketches and video clips of Marius' project Bridge Hypothesis on Flickr.

Dark Ass Bats tonight

2009-10-07T09:37:00.002-04:00

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's time again for Dark Ass Bats. Now that's it's cold out, we're moving downstairs from the Alley Deck to the new performance space in the Majestic Cafe. Come on out and get your weird on.

Wednesday, October 7th
Resident DJs Dethlab & Glühüfr + special guests Ataxia live
Majestic Cafe
4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit MI
10PM | free!

Alexander McQueen live

2009-10-06T14:33:00.003-04:00

SHOWstudio is producing a live webcast for Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2010 collection in Paris. This is like a MacWorld keynote for Prada-Goths. Tune in here.

+ Watch a collection of past show highlights below:

Alexander McQueen: Iconic Moments from Jean Hürxkens on Vimeo.

Bill Viola's creative mind

2009-10-05T13:36:00.009-04:00

I've been aesthetically captured by Bill Viola's video art since first seeing it in person at Cranbrook in the '90s, but have recently developed an entirely new appreciation after listening to him speak about it. He has a lucidity about his own process few visual artists can express with words. There are few things I enjoy more than learning about an artist's creative process - not just the technical how, but the why, the motivations and all the steps in between. That's why the clips below are such a treat.

"The Passage", 1987 - Flickr photo by 17 SIP

I got on a renewed Viola kick over the weekend, when Adam Greenfield posted a couple long photos of rather sublime just noticeable difference street ads for H&M in Helsinki. These immediately made me think of the jnd master. This also got me thinking about Nine Inch Nails' '00 Fragility tour - with backing films that looked heavily influenced by Viola's work. Being such a fan of both, I was surprised to learn Viola had actually created said films for Trent Reznor.

In the two clips here, Viola articulates both the creative motivations and technical processes in the making of the Nine Inch Nails media:

Bill Viola about his work for Nine Inch Nails Part 1: La Mer

Bill Viola about his work for Nine Inch Nails Part 2: The Great Below + The Mark Has Been Made

For a deeper look into Viola's mind, also see this DesignBoom interview from 2007. An excerpt below about twilight, thresholds and "moments of instability" [subjects very near and dear to our mission at Burnlab]:

FACT mix 88 by Traxx

2009-10-02T22:37:00.005-04:00

Traxx has a brand new mix for FACT Magazine has been warping my mind all day. Check it out.

FACT’s latest exclusive mix comes from the man with the best real name in dance music, Melvin Oliphant III. You probably known him as DJ Traxx.

Traxx is one of the strongest adherents to, and evolvers of, the Chicago house sound. This month he releases a blinding new album, Faith, for his own Chi-town-based Nation label, which shows just how distinctive he's grown as an artist while keeping the original box jam aesthetic alive. His career really kicked off in 2001; over the years he's worked under his given name as well as Traxx, Mysterio and XX Art, and he's recorded for International Deejay Gigolo an Crème Organization, collaborating with people like Green Velvet, Jamal Moss, DJ Hell and Legowelt - and building up a sizeable cult following along the way. Tad Mullinix, better known as Dabrye and James T. Cotton, offers this ringing endorsement:

"Traxx is possibly my favorite DJ in the world. And while many DJs can't successfully execute their ideals in their own productions, his music is exactly the kind of amazing stuff that he would spin. His overwhelming passion for great music comes through in his production. The pinnacle of his art, whether he is DJing or producing, is his ability to seize the moment and make crucial changes only when they are necessary. His art is not just a 'back to basics' approach, but a refinement of styles that have been abandoned for music with slick transitions and needless ornamentation. This is Jakbeat in its rawest form."

FACT Mix 88, which Traxx put together exclusively for us using only vinyl, is a fine illustration of Traxx's musical animus. As well as a liberal supply of jacking acid house, techno and electro, there are also gripping diversions into EBM, industrial and synth-pop; tellingly he opens the mix with Chris & Cosey's recent remix of Excepter. The resulting mix is heavy, loud, intense and riotously entertaining; it will stir even the most jaded house fan.

Be sure to listen to some of the other FACT mixes, including a truly superb one from Andrew Weatherall a couple weeks ago.

"Super Majority"

2009-10-01T11:35:00.001-04:00

Jon Stewart nailed it last night.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Democratic Super Majority

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Ron Paul Interview

Ron Zakrin, Solvent and Black Devil Disco Club tonight in Detroit

2009-09-26T14:26:00.004-04:00

Ron Zakin solo art show at 323 East with DJs Dethlab, BMG of Ectomorph and Ian Ammons
Saturday 9.26.09 | 6PM-12AM | 323 East Fourth Street, Royal Oak, MI

Random Reason presents Solvent and JDSY live at the Old Miami
Saturday 9.26.09 | 10PM-2AM | $5 | 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit, MI

Macho City presents Black Devil Disco Club with DJs Mike Trombley and Scott Zacharias at the Magic Stick
Saturday 9.26.09 | 9PM-3AM | $15 | 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI

Detroit Rock City

2009-09-25T21:15:00.003-04:00

KISS is playing at Cobo Arena this weekend in Detroit.
Destroyer was the first record I ever bought. I was four years old.
Liked the cover. Bought most books & LPs since on the same premise. It [design] really works.

KISS - Detroit Rock City [1976]

The Cars + Andy Warhol

2009-09-25T16:52:00.004-04:00

I vaguely recall seeing this on USA Up All Night in the mid '80s.
It's not "good", but it's still amazing!
Also, slightly NSFW due to lots of hipster French kissing and some stop motion nipple action...

The Cars - Hello Again [Extended Uncensored Andy Warhol Version, 1984]

I remember the same year listening to a radio interview while delivering newspapers on my bicycle. The DJ from the local rock station WRIF asked Ric Ocasek if The Cars were "new-wave or rock." Ocasek replied, "We're new-rock."

Gizmodo Gallery '09

2009-09-24T14:56:00.010-04:00

Gizmodo's second annual geekfest/gadget exhibition in up now through Sunday in New York City. o2 Creative Solutions was invited to create two interactive installations: one for the Ghostly Discovery App which syncs the mood-based interface to a lighting system, and a new version of SKETCH3D which is now milled out of tank grade aluminum [seriously] and through the magic of accelerometers, allows the user to rotate their drawing in 3D space and shake to clear just like an analog Etch-a-Sketch. It's been a great honor and opportunity to take part in Giz Gallery this year, and we met some truly awesome people this week.

Here's Bre Prettis demoing the MakerBot playing Daft Punk:

Here's ArcAttack playing the Doctor Who theme and Imperial March with Tesla coils and robotic drums:

+ some photos from installation and the opening party:

More photos and video clips here.
Info on o2's work at the gallery here.
Full info on Giz Gallery '09 here.

New A Place to Bury Strangers video + LP

2009-09-24T14:24:00.003-04:00

Oh, hells yeah...

A Place to Bury Strangers - In Your Heart [2009]

The loudest band in New York's second LP Exploding Head will be released on Mute October 6th.

Daft Punk, Gary Numan, Sold!

2009-09-17T17:58:00.000-04:00

DJ Hero - Daft Punk Trailer
by Activision

Atompunks unite

2009-09-10T11:24:00.005-04:00

If I weren't so freaking busy, I'd be in the Netherlands right now. GOGBOT Festival 2009 officially starts tonight. The theme of this year's gathering of socially and aesthetically curious artists and thinkers is Atompunk - drawing inspiration form the period framed by the cold war.

GOGBOT 2009 takes place September 10-13 at ten venues in the center of Enschede, NL (about an hour and a half east of Amsterdam and Utrecht.) The festival program was developed over the past ten months by the good people of PLANETART with shared ideas and images from the global community via the Atompunk mailing list.

Tonight's opening ceremony features a presentation by guest of honor Bruce Sterling and a live performance by Alec Empire. Read Bruce's introduction to Atompunk here.

Telefon Tel Aviv North American Tour

2009-09-08T19:27:00.002-04:00

Telefon Tel Aviv kicks off their North American [and possibly last] tour TONIGHT at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Go to their MySpace page for details, and enjoy the brand new video for "Helen of Troy" below:

Helen of Troy from joshua eustis on Vimeo.

Scribe Mundo de Papel

2009-09-08T12:00:00.003-04:00

SCRIBE MUNDO DE PAPEL from ladies on Vimeo.

[via Spatial Robots]

Final Solution

2009-08-28T11:05:00.003-04:00

photo by EquinnoxX

Download nyctaper's recording of NIN's last [New York] show "ever" Nine Inch Nails: August 26, 2009 Terminal 5

[thanks Greg!]

S2DIO Night: Angel Fever

2009-08-26T12:36:00.002-04:00

This past weekend's Detroit By Design S2DIO Night at the Bankle Building was a blast. Big hat tip to John Ryan and Rich Rice for organizing it! Some pics below:

Architecture isn't about bricks, it's about people. Sometimes naked ones.

2009-08-26T12:28:00.002-04:00

This is brilliant.

New York Post: High Line is a Lust Cause

"Note to parents strolling the High Line: Don't let your kids look up.

The Meatpacking District's newly opened, much-touted urban park along an elevated, former railroad trestle has unwittingly turned into a peep show near The Standard hotel, as randy hotel guests perform sex acts in front of floor-to-ceiling hotel windows."

[via Archinect]

Goudron live + teh arts at S2DIO NIGHT: ANGEL FEVER Saturday

2009-08-21T13:21:00.006-04:00

Ms. T0ybreaker and I are excited to be DJing w/ DB2 as Dethlab and showing photo and design work at this month's special edition of S2DIO NIGHT: ANGEL FEVER, curated by John Ryan.

Saturday, August 22
Detroit By Design S2DIO NIGHT: ANGEL FEVER
Bankle Building, 2944 Woodward Avenue, Detroit MI
9PM | $5 donation | please use rear entrance

Music:
Goudron (live)-Ron Zakrin [Ersatz Audio, I.T.]
Dethlab
Carlos Souffront
dR. disKo DUST [John Ryan]
Dean Syst3m

Artwork:
Peter DeAngelo
Michael Doyle
Bethany Shorb
Amber Locke
video art projections by Demonbabies
atmosphere & video shoot: Isaac R.

A couple previews:

photo by Bethany Shorb [more here]

illustrations by Michael Doyle

"Moar fog, plz."

2009-08-20T09:58:00.005-04:00

[Adam and Nicola are the best.]
Photos and video clips of ADULT. live in Detroit this past Saturday:

Much more here.

Also, go to nicolakuperus.com for info on her first book of photography, First Edition - spanning 11 years of work.

Woodward Dream Cruise '09

2009-08-17T19:24:00.003-04:00

Some photo highlights from this past weekend's Motor City gearfest:

SCINTILLATION by Xavier Chassaing

2009-08-13T14:42:00.002-04:00

The camera work, the projection mapping, the music... everything.
Wonderful little film here.

SCINTILLATION from Xavier Chassaing on Vimeo.

via Coilhouse

Speaking of Coilhouse, issue 03 arrived yesterday and it's fantastic. Big congrats to Nadya and the team!

"Charlie Rose" by Samuel Beckett

2009-08-12T16:54:00.001-04:00

ROFL

via Bezoar

Musick in Detroit tonight, tomorrow & the night after that

2009-08-05T13:55:00.006-04:00

8.5.09

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means Dark Ass Bats!, our residency at the Magic Stick Alley Deck with GLÜHUFR + special very guests Replicas performing live at 11PM.

8.6.09

ADULT.

Thursday night ADULT. makes a rare DJ appearance at The Study [above Ronin] in Royal Oak. More info here.

8.7.09

"Have you got any yak?" Mr. No and Bryan Black photographed at the Packard plant by Bethany Shorb, 2007

And this Friday, Burnlab's evil[er] twin organization Dethlab is thrilled to present MOTOR live at The Works Detroit.

Read Walter Wasacz's excellent fortnightly electronic music column The Subterraneans: The pious beat | And the gods shtupped... including the following bit about Death Rave Detroit:

... Of course, no juxtaposition of Greek and/or Roman gods with electronic dance music fun can exclude Detroit. We’ve turned the local rave prototype into a global institution that begat the annual Movement festival. Finally on firm ground, thanks to Paxahau’s promotional hustle now combined with creative leadership by the incomparable Carl Craig, we feel good about the future as we look forward to May 2010. But, damn, what do we do in the interim? Plenty, actually. Take your pick between weeklies and monthlies programmed by FreshCorp, Proper | Modulation, Macho City, Hot Pot and Sin-de-kat, among others. But for local hardcore slaves, one upcoming event stands out above all — the return of the Franco-American electro-metalists named Motor, fresh off a European tour with Depeche Mode.

Comprised of native Minnesotan Bryan Black and Parisian Mr. No, Motor released the full-lengths Klunk and Unhuman on Mute before signing with T. Raumschmiere’s Berlin-based Shitkatapult label for the newly-issued Metal Machine. The music is hard, heavy and now muscular enough to fill an entire stadium with evil rhythmic tremors. Resident Advisor calls some of the new material "almost like KISS gone rave," which might be slightly over the top. But just slightly. We recommend you download "Schism" or "Death Rave" onto your iPhone, put on your headphones and jump up and down on your bed for hours on end. Or better yet, experience it live this Friday at the Works.

Motor comes to town courtesy of Dethlab, Detroit’s original gods and goddesses of the dark electro arts. Michael Doyle, Bethany Shorb and David Blunk ll, who joined the team last year, have built their own distinct scene through selective programming and execution, welcoming Fixmer/McCarthy, Solvent, Lowfish and noise-pop crossover artists like 800Beloved, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Spectral Mornings into their seditionist fold. Come early; contort yourself until late. Very late. The show is at 10 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7; $10 for 18 and over. The Works is located at 1846 Michigan Ave., Detroit.

1983: It was a very dark good year

2009-08-05T12:38:00.002-04:00

Three films that still haunt me - and were clearly formative aesthetic experiences:

The Hunger

The Keep

Krull