New Thinkbox release starring my damn self and partner in crime Donn Stroud. It's a thorough study on sleep deprivation and guitars. It's mp3 only right now, but we're putting together a CD filled with remixes, videos and other assorted goodies. This has been another self-promotion. Thank you for listening.

Chad, I find that site so annoying I almost deleted your post... but the writing is, like, totally deck - no matter how misinformed Ms. Plumley may be.

You've seen DJ I Robot from the bowels of the MIT Media Lab. Please meet Scratch Robot, a machine which converts e-mail messages to sound by mechanically scratching on a turntable. Scratch Robot was created by Stijin Slabbinck of Belgian firm Spess, who is also responsible for a variety of interesting robots, including the mechanisms in Green Velvet's La La Land video.

[Thanks to Lynnel Herrera from Karim Rashid Design for the link]

The all new Plastikman dot com went live today.

If you're reading this site, you already have a ticket to hell. Find out where you fall. (Ring six: City of Dis for me!)

While we're at it, this one is getting long in the tooth, but I'm still scoring around 80%. Damn.

Oh, and I read that 100,000 people showed up to a Dave Matthews concert in Central Park last week. Who the hell is this Dave Matthews? New York loses 100,000 cool points.

An apt tribute to the late Robert Palmer, check out the new 'Keep on Waiting' video from DJ Hell's upcoming album 'NY Muscle' (Real Video required). This link is to the original German page, and this link is to the google translated English version.

A government recognized authority or not, Liz Copeland just won Burnlab an extra 50 cool points for referencing Spoonie Gee.

Freak, freak, y'all.

From the Cool Cities Initiative link below: Granholm asked 30 of the mayors to name one person from their local group to sit on a statewide "Cool City" advisory panel.

So, Liz, this makes you the foremost authority on cool in Detroit, right? I'll bring my wardrobe and record collection over for a critique next time I'm in town.
;)

One of the greatest men of our time, George Plimpton, passed away today at the youthful age of 76. It's a devistating, unexpected loss to the literary and journalism worlds. Quite simply, they just don't make people like him anymore.

If the Lincoln Navigator isn't tawdry enough, Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs has worked with Ford Motor Company to developed a new bling package for the garish SUV. "We saw there was a void in the marketplace for a high-end luxury, custom-edition vehicle that reflected style, class and luxury." Right... Read about it at Protein OS.

Our very own robot boy is back in SF after a summer of galavanting around the globe. Check out all the photographic evidence at iRobotnik.

Oh, and people have been flooding me with suggestions for good robot music in LA since my post this morning. Thank you much. This Sunday should be a proper LA freak-show gas, with an all theremin night featuring Project: Pimento, Seksu Roba and Charlie Lester.

Just touched down in LA, which has a good indie rock scene, but aside from The Echo, I find to be pretty dismal for electronic music (unless you like epic trance, 'progressive house' or whatever the hell they call it - insert choking sounds here.) XLR8R magazine saves the day with their LA issue, just in time. For a bit of the hardcore, I may have to check out my Friendsters the Mash Up crew this weekend.

Speaking of hard beats, I failed to mention that I caught a brilliant live show by Detroit's best and longest standing industrial/experimental duo DeLien last week - featuring our old Inter Animi conspirator Pete Greko. DeLien owns.

Detroit artist Tyree Guyton is at it again. Not with polka dots, but this time with pennies . Also in the news (although a bit older), Michigan's governor makes a complete jackass of herself high fiving Detroit mayor Tupac Kilpatrick and doing a press conference trying to "hip up michigan" while wearing shades. I'm sending resumes to several NYC employers as of press time.

Photo strips from the past two weekends at Untitled now online:

9|20: Carnage is the New Black

9|13: Rise of the Drunken Robots

Untitled will be closed this Saturday so everyone in Detroit can go to the Paxahau 5 year anniversary/Kompakt party.

Burnlab says Jimmy Edgar is the coolest. Look for his Warp debut EP Access Rhythm and LP Bounce, Make, Model, "as soon as TDR finishes [the] artwork." Also watch for fellow Detroit heartbreaker/knob tweaker Matthew Dear's brilliant new LP Leave Luck to Heaven as soon as I finish the artwork. We can't wait for both these guys to visit New York soon.

Speaking of Warp, check out the brand new LFO site and twisted video for the crunch-o-tabulous single Freak.

Fun new broadcast promos for VH1 by Mike and Mike with audio by Mike.

Burnlab's number one sponsored weekly night of mayhem has been named Best Club Night in the Metro Times' annual Best of Detroit poll. We could have told you that, but its nice to get some affirmation. ;)

"Less than a year into bringing frothy sleaze back to the dance floor, the Saturday club dubbed Untitled has already been responsible for public spankings, vodka squirt-gun fights, a Miss Untitled pageant, three wonderfully unnecessary subgenres (sasspunk, jungleclash and dorkwave), flash-mob-style after-parties (BYO at the drive-in until 4 a.m., Jell-O wrestling, etc.) and plenty of assorted monkeyshines. Oh, and the music�s great too. Consider your liver pickled, Jack."
-Metro Times

[Pictured above, left to right: Myself performing a dorkwave trainwreck on the mixer, Untitled mastermind and Burnlab charter conspirator Jon O, Mistress Delia, Burnlab conspirators/dorkwave minions Allen Goodman and Mike Servito spreading the love at the 'Rise of the Drunken Robots' event last weekend.]

Remember, Kill Memory Crash live at Untitled tonight.
Carnage is the new black.

Yet another article extoling Apple's in-house product designer, Jonathan Ive and his role in resurrecting Apple from its ashes in 1997.

By the good graces of my current employer, my Detroit detail has been extended into next week. This means another Saturday of robo-debauchery at UNTITLED. Very special guests Kill Memory Crash perform live this time around, bringing Chicago Industrial into the 21st century for all the freaks, geeks and fashion victims. Also, this from Jon O:

in keeping with the theme and aesthetics of kill memory crash, it has been decided (by those who decide such things) that this week's new chic will be inspired by car wrecks.
makeup based on bruises.
scents of gasoline and burnt hair.
torns clothes and stains of blood.
deconstructivism becomes destructivism.
carnage is the new black.

Performing in addition to KMC this Saturday are Derek Plaslaiko, Mike Servito, Ryan Elliot and Terry Dwyer. Immediately following will be UNTITLED's 2nd outlaw afterparty at the Ford-Wyoming drive-in. BYOL.

For those back in New York this Saturday, don't miss the 2nd installment of CONDITION, featuring Brian Jackson, Bad Bunny, and Dirty, plus live video by our good friends Phoenix and C-TRL. CONDITION takes place every month at Boogaloo - the most dangerous lounge in Williamsburg, 168 Marcy Ave.

Arrrrr! September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Huge thank you to everyone who came down to UNTITLED this Saturday and making it yet another legendary night in Detroit. It's so good to have a home base in the D. Tadd Mullinix and Matt Dear were more brilliant than ever (if that's even possible), and the ever expanding Dorkwave crew had the kids snaking, pogoing, spreading butter and falling over speakers all night. Extra special thanks to Sarah for making the super-limited edition Dorkwave t-shirts! If you're curious what was played, or wondering what Dorkwave is all about, here's my set list from Saturday:

Ellen Allien: Trash Scapes
Cabaret Voltaire: I Want You
The Normal: Warm Leatherette
Tuxedomoon: No Tears
Tones On Tail: Go!
Swayzak: I Dance Alone
T. Raumschmiere: The Game is Not Over
Charles Manier: At the Bottle
Book of Love: Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls
Blur: Girls and Boys
Pulp: Disco 2000
The Cars: Just What I Needed
Revolting Cocks: Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?

The Galactica, September issue on line.

Johnny Cash: 1932-2003
Take a moment and watch the video for Hurt.

just back from the first day of the fashion show series i wrote about (CIRCUIT). as one would expect there were very attractive girls aplenty, all of whom seemed to be all over the very much less attractive fey designer types (as one would also expect)...on the upside the burnlab.net press pass did get me into the shows in front of hundreds of people so there is some justice in the world...photos to come

Baths return to Bath, as a lovely and reserved 21st century spa designed by UK high-tech icon Nicholas Grimshaw.

While not exactly the most uplifting thing in the world, my good friends over at Blank00 have compiled a small list of records that were released on that infamous day two years ago today.

I happy to announce that I've been hired as the new Associate Editor for Urb Magazine. I'll be moving to Los Angeles at the end of October.

I've never been to La and only know about 3 people there- so anyone with friends, associates, whatever should let me know about them. My main priority is finding a place to live, so again- anyone with any suggestions please hit me up.

ok listen up...i left detroit after spending the first 22 years of my life there with the idea of never going back, so you guys seriously have to stop making it sound so cool or you�ll force me to reassess all that i�ve thought to be true for the last 6 years...well, but...wait, if it has to be that way, i guess i could get used to it, maybe...i guess i could even like it...damn

New Plastikman vid.
We should all enjoy it while
it's still up online.

UNTITLED presents: Rise of the Drunken Robots
Saturday, Sept. 13

How often do you get to dance to Adam Ant, Ellen Allien and the Revolting Cocks in Detroit? Come get your robot on this Saturday at the night which doesn't know the meaning of "too far."

the front room:
Tadd Mullinix
Matthew Dear
Only top shelf quality from the dynamic duo.

the back room:
Mike Servito
Robert Chavez Gorell
Allen Goodman
Michael Doyle (12:30-2am)
Dorkwave returneth for an electrostatic glamdustrial
postpunk rock and roll extravaganza.

Made by freaks, for freaks.

UNTITLED
Be legendary.�
This and every Saturday at The Shelter
231 E. Congress, Detroit
Brought to you by Blackbx and Ghostly International
(with some murky associations to Burnlab, Klever, Paxahau and Vice.)

Greetings form Detroit. My posts will be sporadic at best over the next ten days or so, but you're in good hands. For those on the east coast of the midwest, Matt Dear is performing along with Carlos Souffront and Keith Kemp at Jimmy Edgar's new night: "Weekly Agenda" at Panacea tonight. I love Detroit so much.

The Wave administers the Voight-Kampff test to San Francisco's mayoral candidates

Speaking of second issues, don't miss out on This is a Magazine's Compendium #2, Fashion=Fiction. 192 pages of amazing artwork and more. You can order yours online here.

i didn�t manage any for SONAR, but lo and behold, my functions as a BURNLAB editor have helped me receive accreditation for CIRCUIT 8, the current addition of a semi-annual series of catwalks that happen in and around barcelona the coming 11-13 september...this started several years ago as an almost student level answer to the bigger catwalks that happen the same weekend but has quickly built itself up to be a close second, all the more fashionable for the underdog status.

Getting a little ahead of ourselves with a new splash page before the main page has been re-designed... oh well. Hold on. The photos are from a recent trip to Philly. One is the Mrs. and her cool boots, and the other is the PSFS Building - the first international style skyscraper in North America, completed in 1932.

Hey, thanks to Binary Junk for the link-up! (Do I know you?)

When is a blob more than a Maya rendering?

As Bucky Fuller once said, "When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."

The problem with a lot of 'blobitechture' is that, despite being interesting from an academic and process standpoint, more often than not the resulting forms neither solve problems or are beautiful. Here are two examples of 'blobby' structures that buck(y) the trend: drop dead gorgeous and functional.



Looking something like bird's nest or a giant blood cell strapped to the earth with a complex network of rope, Herzog+DeMueron's competition entry for the Beijing Olympic Stadium was selected by an evaluation panel this May. Check out high-res drawings of all the "superexcellent schemes" here.

(un)Plug is a tower to be built in the La Defense area of Paris. It was designed by Fran�ois Roche and commissioned by the research department of the French Public Electricity Company, to develop a building that takes maximum advantage of solar energy. In his projects, Fran�ois Roche attempts to refrain from radically modifying the territory, seeking a form of dialogue with it. He is currently undertaking a critical experiment with new warping technologies to prompt architectural "scenarios" of cartographic distorsion, substitution, and genetic territorial mutations. See and read more about Roche's work here.

[Thanks to Paul Hemsworth for the links.]

best quote found on the web this week, compliments of that nasty bugger Dong-

"You smug Apple fucks may continue to peddle that All The Expense of Capitalism, All the Choice Of Communisim vibe you've got going, it seems to work for you."

A little reminder about the party New York has been bracing itself for. A large portion of the Burnlab editorial staff will be present, bringing a bit of Detroit craziness [Rob Theakston] and demostrating the drunken robot dance for the souls who have yet to experience [be horrified by] it.

THURS SEPT 4
MICROMINI (presented by Remote on DVD)

AKUFEN (Force Inc./Musique Risqu�e) LIVE
The one who splintered your radio into a thousand beautiful hiccups, and shook your booty. Akufen is in town to promote the launch of his new label, Musique Risqu�e. He'll be playing new material live, making his only NY appearance.

Vince Lemieux (Musique Risqu�e) Montreal
A fixture on the influential Montreal mini-tek and microhouse scene, Lemieux has brought a crucial sophistication to his new partnership with Akufen in Musique Risqu�e. Expect new tracks brought home from his recent excursion in Germany.

Heartthrob LIVE
His recent tracks have made quite an impression. Though they're as yet unreleased, Richie Hawtin and Magda have made them staples of recent sets. A live MPC and laptop set should introduce New Yorkers nicely to Hearthrob.

Kevin McHugh (Micromini)
Organized the Brooklyn Anchorage series for Creative Time, as well as more recent events such as "The Silent Project" and "We Sold Our Souls for Minimal Techno." A Final Scratch set of rare or new material...

at FILTER 14 432 West 14th St.
10pm - 4am

This will mark the launch of Remote on DVD, everyone who attends will get a free DVD with videos by Fat Truckers, Plastikman, Data 80, Capt. Comatose, 8-bit Construction Set, The Pattern, Interpol, The Liars and more...

$5 adv/ $7 at door (tix @ Other Music)

"12k founder Taylor Deupree launches a new label called Happy, focusing on the eclectic sounds of alternative pop music coming out of Japan."

This is going to rock. More details and mp3s on the new site .