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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some new activity at Computerlove and a poster contest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



Again, big thanks to BitBoy for the tip!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Staying true the new, look for me at Luxx.

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

"This is not the usual group show.

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

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

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

Featuring:

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

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

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

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

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

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

*nice qualifier ;)

Just confirmed: The November Core77 OffSite will be at Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg Brooklyn on Tuesday 11/19/02, 6 - 10pm. Brian Kritzman and myself will give a presentation on design theory, our past and current projects as Engram and a brief history of Burnlab at 7pm. Dave Pinter [the designers' DJ] starts off the event at 6pm, and Magda will be doing a Final Scratch set from roughly 8 - 10pm. [Exact schedule subject to deviation.]
Mark your calendar and book your flights now!

Terrence Parker announced today that he will retire from club DJing in 2003. After 20 years on the decks and spending no less than 45 weekends of any given year on the road, Mr. Parker has decided to dedicate more time to his family, personal growth, and the business side of music. TP began his career in 1982 as hip-hop DJ Mixmaster X, and became perhaps Detroit's most acclaimed house DJ and producer in the late 80s and throughout the 1990s. He continues to operate Intangible Records and the Soundworks label.

Hell, Hell, Hell. Munich's DJ Hell - sharp dressed emperor of the International DJ Gigolos label, who's forward thinking brought us now household names from Miss Kitten and the Hacker to Fischerspooner [and has been subject to endless envious criticism from around the electro world] is set to release a new double mix CD on October 28th. CD1 focuses on house and techno, including tracks from Underground Resistance, Recloose and Metro Area, while CD2 takes a look at the darker, industrial roots of modern electro with cuts from Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Bigod 20, Chris and Cosey and 'teknopunk' Green Velvet. It's like he dropped by when I wasn't home, rifled through my CDs, made a mix... and is now going to sell it back to me.
Freaking genius bastard ;)

Thanks to Dave Pinter the the above news.

Apparently it takes three of us in different parts of the country to sort through the electro-drama and piece together a story: As reported last week, electro auteurs The Hague Underground took a very vocal stance on the commercialization of the genre. In a new effort to bolster the integrity of electro [generic, no-wave, or whatever you like to call it], H.U. label Bunker Records has teamed with Safety in Numbers and champions of subversion and sarcasm Vice Magazine to present the North American leg of their world tour. Okay, actually, it's a whole lot of hype and it doesn't seem like anything has actually changed... other than DJ Hell won't be guestlisting anyone from H.U. anytime soon. In any event, what we do get are a slew of great shows from up-and-coming artists - including [as BitBoy just brought to our attention] Memory Systems in Brooklyn on the 18th, along with Orange Sunshine, LegoWelt, Orgue Electronique and more. The beautiful synth circus hits Detroit on September 14th.

Building on Michael�s electronic music update, denizens of Brooklyn should head out to Club Luxx on Wednesday Sep 18th to enjoy Phoenix and Brian�s (otherwise known as Memory Systems) first performance since moving from SF to NY, it should be a fine show indeed. Also, for the London set, be sure to catch Client tonight as they DJ at Brick Lane's 93 Feet East club. They�ve got an amazing lineup of DJs and bands for the evening including Pole, Echoboy, Komputer, Add N To (X), Chris And Cosey and the infamous Daniel Miller.

Well aware of the date [and staring at lower Manhattan] I sort of wish I had something to say about it, but I think I've said plenty over the past year. When Engram does decide to publish the new memorial designs, the pictures should speak louder than words.

Until then, let's talk about electronic music, shall we?...

The talented and gracious Lauren Weinger sent over three short audio segments from her composition for Picture Red Hook, which have been added to our documentation of the project.

Well, none of the speculated guests made it up to Tronic Treatment on Monday. [Supposedly Rich and Sven were working away in the studio back in Brooklyn.] It was still a very good night: in addition to Derek Plaslaiko, we were treated to DJ sets from Heiko Laux and Perlon's Sammy Dee, and a Live set from Fred Giannelli. Fred, as you know, was one of the first artists to work with +8 [as Spawn, and later as the Kooky Scientist.] Prior to that he was in a very influential and odd 'little' band out of the UK. Yep, that would be Psychic TV. Before that, he was building drum machines at home 'round about the same time Kraftwerk was putting together their little metal boxes and Neubauten were attaching their first pickups to stones and metal plates. Lots of pictures from the night in our newly re-introduced Photographic Evidence section.

This has been out for a few months, but since I mentioned Sven Vaeth, do go check out his video for "Mindgames" at Cocoon.net. [click his section on the main index to get to the video streams.] It's so wonderfully "Sprockets". I watch it over and over for that fresh Teutonic feeling.
No monkey though...

Not to be outdone by the Times, New York Magazine presents seven proposals for lower Manhattan, including work form Wolf Prix, Thomas Mayne and Lebbeus Woods.

New York City is bracing itself for Josh Glazer's next visit tonight. As he mentioned here last week, tonight is the 2nd anniversary party for Tronic Treatment - which has become NYC's number one provider of top-notch Techno events. Derek Plaslaiko is on the bill, as well as a number of surprise guests. We can speculate on who these may be: Currently in town are 'the father', as is his German counterpart, and our bald neighbor is back from a long summer of hard work in Europe. Any combination of the above will prove the measly $5 cover the best value in town.

Even more interesting to New Yorkers, yesterday the NY Times released a conceptual plan for the World Trade Center site and lower Manhattan by architecture critic Herbert Muschamp and his all star design team. Even though I don't love all the ideas [Peter Eisenman's collapsing towers in particular], this a very exciting proposal and well worth a good look.

September seems to be all about the �burn�. After kicking off the month in the Nevada desert with Burning Man, I�m pleased to be back in action at burnlab (which BTW has had so many great postings � it�ll take me days to absorb them all). If you�ve been keeping an eye on the LA electro scene, you�ve undoubtedly noticed �Mount Sims� aka Matt Sims, a known for his great electro performances at �Socket" at a local LA club. He�s now creating his own music, blending punk-soul and electro and a borrowed guitar from his brother (who used to play with Giorgio Moroder) he�s turning out some charged performances. Check out �How We Do� available in MP3 download here.

Be sure not to miss the self-organizing anarchy that is Dally in the Alley this weekend in Detroit's 'not as scary as it used to be' Cass Corridor. Opening set with Liz Copeland, closing set with Derrick May.

Enjoy the beautiful photography and design of David Wang.
[He's looking for work too!]

Composer Lauren Weinger has released a CD entitled "SILO". This "intriguing collection of sonic phenomena" is the soundtrack to the spectacular Picture Red Hook performance we were raving about two weeks ago. SILO is available from Downtown Music Gallery.

Detroit's only regular Electro night, THE FIX has been running for a couple weeks now. Jon Ozias has refined the format and is getting ready for an official kick-off party on Friday September 13th. HERE is the new flyer, plus there are two new desktops [our first new desktops in many months] in Purgatory.

The news keeps rolling in today...
Just got an e-mail from our friend Jared Louche [of Chemlab, h3llb3nt, etc.] who is hosting a web radio program out of London on Total Rock. Uhm... yeah it's a heavy metal station, but expect a lot of twisted "Glamdustrial" antics from the man once called [something along the lines of] "the Iggy Pop of the digital age" to put the earlier mentioned "Electroclash Inc." to shame. ;)
Tune in 3-6pm UK time and 10am-1pm EST, Monday through Friday for the next two weeks. Jared is also looking for a good programmer to work with. If you like Chemlab, live in London, know your way aroud a studio and are interested, I'll pass along the info.

Separating design from styling: The debate about Diller+Scofidio's ICA Boston gets interesting...

To follow up Josh's post, here is an interview with Drexciya [James Stinson] by Derek Beere at FutureBPM.com.

Some strong and refreshingly punk-rock words from The Hague. I wrote a long ramble about the inevitable gentrification of Electro which I decided not to bore you with. What I do wonder is exactly what The Hague Underground is planning to do. Are they simply closing up shop in a petty protest of something we all saw coming years ago, or is there some new musical assault in the works? Electroclash Inc. is nothing to feel threatened about. There will always be an underground - labels like Ersatz will be sure of this. Speaking of, if anyone hasn't read the most recent Adult. interview by six year old Lucas Merrill, it will certainly brighten your day.

This has been an awful week for electro.
Yesterday- Dutch electro/nu-disco master I-f announced the closure of the Hague Underground, including the websites for Bunker Records, Viewlexx, Cr�me Organization, Legowelt, Orgue Electronique, I-F, DJ TLR, Murdercapital, Global Darkness and Hotmix. In the statement posted on each site, they blame the current fashion trend of 'Electroclash' and take a particular shot at Gigolo Records. Its a shame that petty in-fighting must plague what is probably the most exciting music scene to happen in a while. And even more of a shame that it is the people I consider to be the 'best' practicioners of the genre that felt the need to raise such a fuss. Please- everyone lay off the asymetrical haircut (except Doyle- you've been kickin' yours forever)

Worse-
Today it was anounced that James 'Drexciya' Stinson passed away. Techno Tourist has all of the information.

Lots of renderings and background info on Diller+Scofidio's new Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston released today. Yum.

We finally have reliable DSL at the Red Hook Lab. Now what to do with the extra 4 hours added to my day...?

For those of you who appreciated Stalking Detroit and may be in the Ann Arbor area this month, University of Michigan�s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning is hosting an exhibit related to the book: Sept. 4-25 in the Taubman College Gallery, room 2106, Art and Architecture Building.

The crew at Motherfucker put on a fantastic party for all the post-punks, gender-benders and art school kids who stuck around NYC for the holiday weekend up at Club Shelter. The music started with Ministry's "Every Day is Halloween" and closed with Joy Division's "Transmission"... what's not to love? As my friend Kurt best put it, "It's like being in a movie about New York in the early '80s." It was a sad state of affairs though when we could not find a good afterparty at the young hour of 4:30am. The best we could manage was a conference call to Detroit where Jon O and the Motown office were reveling with Magda and the rest of the Brooklyn contingency at Control 3. I briefly considered catching a cab to LaGuardia airport... Control may still be going on even as I write this.

For those holding their breath and saving their nickels, the official US release date for Ladytron's "Light and Magic" LP is September 17. Audio streams, reviews and tour dates at Emperor Norton Records.

Andy Malone will especially appreciate the mechanical sculptures of Arthur Ganson. [Thanks to Eric at Core for pointing this one out.]

Having a hard time drawing the line between cyberpunk and geek? Let us muddy the water some more: The ANIMATRIX, coming to DVD in 2003. Also, shooting of both "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" wrapped up last week. [What is it with everyone shooting multiple movies at the same time?] Thanks to Tom M�ller and Computerlove for the heads-up.

Appletalk: I've been waffling about what to replace my well used and well traveled 2 year old PowerBook with, and just when I had all but decided on this 42 lb. beast, word on the street is the Titanium PowerBook G4 is due for a major refresh in about four weeks time. Speculation includes a speed bump to 1Ghz, RADEON 9000 graphics card [twice as fast as the current card], L3 cache, possibly a 166 Mhz system bus, and just maybe DVD-R/W [a.k.a. Superslim Superdrive.] There's also talk of an even higher resolution display. My only question there is, will it come with a magnifying lens? Maybe that's a feature in OS 10.2.1.... In any case, I'll be first in line for Ti V3.0.