On Monday- Sep 9th, after a 1.5 year absence, I'm finally making my way back to NYC for 36 hours of pure mayhem. The main purpose of this trip is to see Derek Plaslaiko play the 2 Year Anniversary Party of Tronic Treatment, but I'm also hoping to make it out to Tony's bar- perhaps in the early evening. All burnlabers should really try make it out. Derek is an amazing DJ, and there are two wicked 'suprise' DJs on the bill as well.

After much delay, the Purgatory Department is back online [see left]. I ditched the notion of re-designing the whole section because... well, that just wasn't going to happen in any reasonable timeframe, and the current architecture works pretty well. I will be going through and updating some files and adding new documentation of old projects. For example, I'm looking at two VHS tapes of "Hamletmachine" footage which needs to be transferred to digital video and edited. Some day soon.

I spent yesterday up at the MIT Media Lab with Jaron Rothkop talking to researchers about everything from mass customization and rapid manufacturing in architecture, to wireless switches and instruments for automobile interiors to stereo video. I hope to sort through all this info and document it as something concise for a more traditional medium - such as print.

More on the new Einst�rzende Neubauten internet project: In the sponsor-exclusive video section are rare and splendid video streams of set designer Erich Wonda's theatrical piece "Das Auge des Taifuns" ["The Eye of the Typhoon"]. This legendary performance took place on a rolling stage on the Ringstrasse in Vienna in 1992, and was to some extent Neubauten's Guernica. The "stage" looked something like a cross between a B-52 cockpit and the nearby rooftop office designed by Coop Himmelblau, and [from the liner notes of Strategies Against Architecture III] "incorporated elements such as artificial snowstorms and huskies on conveyor belts."

Sometimes the obvious needs to be stated:
Never ever eat Indian food from a gas station.

"Peter Greenaway's 'The Tulse Luper Suitcase' is encyclopedic in its scope and will result in four two-hour feature films, a book, 52 TV programs and several CD-ROMs. It concerns the life of one man - Tulse Luper, a writer and project-maker, caught up in a life of prisons all over the world. The story covers some sixty years of the Twentieth Century from 1928, with the discovery of Uranium, up to 1989 and the break of the Berlin Wall at the end of the Cold War."

A few years ago I was very excited about this massive multimedia project, but after the official website seemed to fall out of maintenance some time back, it was assumed the project had collapsed under its own scope and was placed on the shelf. Just today I received an e-mail form an associate of Mr. Greenaway's with news that the project is still active and a book has just been released. "Tulse Luper in Turin" is a collection of drawings and paintings by Greenaway, as well as an unpublished screenplay. The website for the book has all the info you need on this installment of the very mysterious project about a very mysterious character.

This inspired some further digging, and after a long drought of information, there is now a lot of buzz about the project again. Two good places to look are Kasander Films, and this very informative fan site. Shooting of the first of now three films: THE MOAB STORY, started on the 12th of June 2002 in Barcelona. All three films are scheduled for festival releases during 2003.

That Paxahau event certainly made me homesick for the Motor City, however, this weekend NYC is full of great events...

Mr. Steve Bug, Ben Sims and the lovely Magda will be playing that clicky Techno aboard a boat on the Hudson this Sunday 8|25, compliments of Tronic Treatment. The ship boards at 7pm from Peir 40 at W. Houston and the West Side Highway. Mike and Troy provide after-party beats at Remote Lounge on Bowery.




"Picture Red Hook" is an ambitious multimedia site specific performance right here in our sleepy industrial neighborhood. [See Olivia's post from Tuesday.] It was created by choreographer Joanna Haigood, video artist Mary Ellen Strom, composer Lauren Weinger, lighting designer Jack Carpenter and set designer Wayne Campbell. Performed by the Zaccho Dance Theatre and produced by Dancing In The Streets, "Picture Red Hook" brings all these elements together on the side of the massive old Red Hook grain terminal. There's one more performance tonight at 9pm. I've gone to see it the past two nights, and it's well worth trudging out here for you Manhattanites and Willimasburgers. For those who live a bit further afield, we've documented the performance at Burnlab with photos and two short video clips.


Of course you know that Einst�rzende Neubauten is to music what Heiner M�ller was to theatre and Marcel Duchamp was to art. [Okay, that would actually be John Cage, but Blixa and co. are worthy successors.] Since they set the precedence for composing music with power tools and garage crafted devices which would make any mad scientist envious more than twenty years ago, the boys from Berlin are now redefining the way music is produced and distributed. Their next album will be created without the support of a record company, but with the support of the fans. A nominal sponsorships fee gains you behind the scenes access to the production process, exclusive downloads, and the album itself [when finished.] On Neubauten's brand new website, you can purchase the back-catalog in digital format, directly from the artists. These aren't radically new ideas, but to see a group this established simultaneously go back to indie ethics and embrace/exploit technology so comprehensively is pretty darn cool. We'll see if the Backstreet Boys and the like follow suit and ditch the support of record companies entirely.

News from the spirit world: Being friends with a liqour rep is a mixed blessing indeed. Cathryn Davis, who helped make Bombay Saphire the official beverage of industrial design, is now promoting a new super-premium vodka from Estonia called T�RI. Set to launch on September 1 with the support of *Surface magazine, T�RI features a gorgeously designed bottle and tastes splendid... for vodka. Tip top shelf stuff. Start asking for it now at your local watering hole.

To follow up Michael and Israel, I don't love the Happy Mondays, but for some reason the first Black Grape album is terrific. As for the film, I definately like New Order better, but how many legendary New Order stories do you know. Rave, drugs and the Mondays make for better cinema.

And as for you big city folks who think you have the market cornerd on good night out ,Detroit has some shit going on this weekend.

Friday, Paxahau is bringing Steve Bug to Time Square along with Matthew Dear, Clark Warner and Rob Theakston. Bug just did a track with Richie Hawtin on M-nus and I just heard the promo of Dear's new record for Plus 8. Great clicky-dubby-tech-house.

Saturday, my man Traxx from Chicago is playing a party at the old Submerge building. If you've never heard Traxx, I really can't even describe the insane way he plays electro, new wave, Chicago acid and techno. Every mix sounds like its about to fall off the tracks, but he keeps the beat rock solid.

And Sunday, 3rd Street Saloon has Miliwaukee hardcore, courtesy of Dan Doormouse.

One final note. Go immediately to the store and buy Mali Music!
Imagine the Buena Vista Social Club, only with Ry Cooder replaced by Damon Albarn and Cuba replaced by Mali. Seriously cool, beautiful, experimental and profound.

As anticipated, the LMDC issued an RFQ for "innovative design" for the World Trade Center site yesterday morning. This is a major step in the right direction for lower Manhattan. Engram's work on this matter [mentioned last week] is moving along, and we'll publish the results when the time is appropriate.

As Paul Petrunia pointed out, a few minutes at CNN's reader gallery will prove the true value of architects in society. Ouch. In all fairness, though the designs have something to be desired, there is a lot of value in many of the written intentions.

Speaking of our commercial division, the free shirt offer is still on [see post from last Wednesday.] The black-on-black Braille design is a big hit so far. For those who've already inquired, the t-shirts will ship as soon as the mailing labels come in from Klever :)

I'm heading up to Cambridge next week to check out some of the advanced research projects at the MIT Media Lab . Our own Jaron Rothkop [on behalf of Lear Corp. ] is working with the teams there on a number of projects, including a prototype vehicle for the US Postal Service and a concept car designed by a certain well known Canadian architect. Jaron's own in-dash coffeemaker design was quashed, but it should feature a plethora of dramatic innovations.

And, yeh... I second Israel's assessment of the Happy Mondays. As many of our editors will concur, growing up in Detroit it was baffling to see what the Brits called "Rave" and "Acid" circa 1991.

Condolences to everyone in New York who didn't go hear Carl Craig on Thursday night. Brilliant as ever, Carl [in an "Acquaviva-style maneuver"] played a special version of the Talking Heads' Once In a Lifetime for the NYC crowd. Nice.

A short break from the Techno for news from my favorite indie-rock band: LA's UNIVAC has finally landed prestigious gigs at Spaceland [Silver Lake] Tuesday August 20 and The Knitting Factory [Hollywood] Tuesday September 10. They will also appear on FM KXLU 88.9 on Monday 9/9 [time TBD] and are set to release their 2nd EP on Thursday October 10 at 56 [I don't know where 56 is... some help from the LA Lab please.] UNIVAC percussionist Dave Lentz's former band American Mars continues to get praise from the music press and appears at Detroit's Magic Stick on Friday September 6, and the Magic Bag [not to be confused with the Magic Stick, but also on Woodward Avenue, only eight miles north or so... that's a whole lot of magic for a band that writes moody songs about a gloomy city] Friday September 13.

Detroit Burnlab-

My girlfriend Doris is having her going away party (she's off to for example grad schoolin rural Illinois) this Saturday Aug. 17

Music by- Myself, Rob Theakston and Mike Fotais

You are all more than welcome to attend.

Forans Irish Pub 612 Woodward (3 blks N. of Jefferson)

NYC event reminder: Carl Craig at Club Shelter Thursday, August 15. [Tomorrow is also the deadline for tax extensions, for all you fellow procrastinators.] Shelter is at 20 W. 39th St., between 5th and 6th Ave's. For those who experienced the last fiasco at Shelter, Carl promises this one is for real :)

Burnlab 3.1 just went live - with a handful of tweaks, updates and enhancements. Note the new EVENTS section at left. Also of note (only for those who REALLY care), the logo is now set in Autoscape by LINETO, as opposed to Andale Mono, as it has been since the late 90s.

News from our sister organization, ENGRAM_design: we have several new projects in the works related to the World Trade Center, which will be released to the public toward the end of this week. We also just received the t-shirts from the printer, and they are really cool... if I do say so myself. We're feeling especially generous and will ship a free shirt to anybody who wants one for a limited time. Just send your mailing address and shirt size to info@engramdesign.com. We only ask that you wear it with pride and not use it to buff the car.

Last post from me about Factory Records for a while... I swear: Peter Saville interview from the AIGA and ID Magazine.
More here and here.

A favorite excerpt about the difference between making work and going to work. (Maybe this is why I will never have an office job again... )

Q: "Presumably the company found your notorious habits - the late starts, non-arrivals, and all-nighters - pretty baffling. "

Saville: "It baffled Pentagram when I was there, it baffles me actually, and of course in America, with the American work ethic, it's just unheard of. I have a real problem with going to work for the sake of going to work. When I have to produce something, I do it. When I don't have to work to realize, I'm looking for what to do. In a way, I work all the time, but I've never disciplined myself or been in a situation that disciplined me into going into an office at 9.30 in the morning and staying there until six o'clock and then going home."

Here is the flyer I designed for Jon O's aforementioned "The Fix" night > Fridays at Lush in Hamtrack/DTW. Detroit finally gets an Electro night to call home.

So, we went to the premiere of 24 Hour Party People in New York. It's a great film overall, but as with any movie about music, there will be be some complaints. Mine? Not enough time spent on things I really care about [what's it like inside Ian Curtis' head] and too much time on things I couldn't really care less about [Happy Mondays... though the pigeon scene is genius.] And almost no New Order, except a small segment about Blue Monday. It was especially nice though to see Peter Saville represented: the brilliant and brilliantly unpunctual Factory Records graphic designer. For the unfortunate souls who don't live in New York or the UK, you'll have to wait a few weeks to see it for yourself. Worth the six quid, mate.

keeping on the music-related tip, a recommendation to all open ears: 2manydj's -a 45 minute mix of tracks that should under normal circumstances be at best unmixed and at worst wiped from music history entirely, i.e. the opening mix of emerson, lake and palmer's version of peter gunn into basement jaxx, or better yet the stooges into salt 'n pepa. anybody for some dolly parten?..there are some great moments though, believe me. a plus to those (like mike) who love their electro and are from detroit, is the inclusion of adult and the detroit grand pubahs....simple but beautiful touch is the cd: it looks like a blank cd written on with a felt tip

Guess I've been doing a lousy job keeping on top of things this week, as Israel posted this on ARCHINECT first: Friday night our friends at Ersatz Audio present MISERY LOVES COMPANY [live] at the Detroit Contemporary. Performances include live sets from Lowfish, Solvent, Tamion 12 Inch and Gourdon, with turntable operation by Adam Lee Miller and Chris McCullen.

On the subject of No-Wave/Generic, our own Jon Ozias kicks off a new night called THE FIX next Friday, August 16th at Lush in Hamtramck Michigan. Also, last weekend I had the pleasure of driving around Reuben Wu of Ladytron, who was in New York promoting their new album due out in September. It's bloody nice work. Reuben recently quit his day job as an industrial designer to pursue the band full time. Maybe there's hope for us all yet...

In anticipation of the 24 Hour Party People premiere on FRIDAY >edited: that's 8/9 in the US, not 9/8...<, I've been brushing up on and dusting off all the old Factory stuff. [Thanks again to Josh for the heads-up.] An under-appreciated gem of a band is Scotland's The Wake. Formed in 1981, The Wake struck a serene balance between Joy Division's raw articulation and New Order's sometimes antiseptic minimalism. Truly great musicians and song writers in their own right, The Wake featured a young Bobby Gillespie [Primal Scream] on bass for the pivotal mini-LP Harmony.

And thanks to BitBoy for sharing PLEIX with us... that's sick and wonderful stuff :)

PLEIX is a virtual community of digital artists worth checking out. Of particular fascination is their tounge-in-cheek advertisments for "Beauty Kit", (plastic surgery kits intended for young girls), they're both horrifying and brilliant.

NYC artist-photographer-designer-poet Jordan Crane has updated his site for the summer.

So beautiful and real.