FYI: my @earthlink.net e-mail account, which has served strictly as a spam collector the past year or so will no longer be active starting next week... and I rarely check it anyway. Please use mike at burnlab dot net for all official correspondence and scheming. T'anks!

Speaking of UNTITLED, this Saturday night is the big fashion show, plus you can view the flyer for the very special evening of Feb. 7th with Jake Fairley, PAN/TONE and City People Music here. Atmosphere provided by Atmosphere. "Sex, drugs, money, power." (isn't that a Lard song?)

If you don't already have it in your hands, here is the Leave Luck to Heaven artwork. (And give me a better rating, please. 62.5%, wtf?)

Big ups to Untitled, which will be listed in Rolling Stone as one of the best parties in America.

had a chance to see scott herren- aka prefuse73 aka savath & savalas- dj last saturday´s opening of new restaurant/bar, CLASE, in the barcelonian neighborhood of gracia...afterword i had a listen to the new savath & savalas release apropa´t (see joshua´s interview in the latest URB). my vote is still out on the album itself, but big credit for putting out such an acoustic album (and getting warp to release it) after making such a mark in the experimental/electronica world

It should be duly noted that while Doyle isn't a cocksucker,Telefon Tel Aviv not only have a brilliant new album out today but they've revamped their website as well. Check out the listening station for a bunch of unreleased goodies, featuring selections from the new album Map of What Is Effortless.

Burnlab: Where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came.

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Detroit:
Stylus is this friday 1/30 at Buddah Lounge

Not that Untitled needs plugs, but the Thinkbox crew from Windsor will perform live sets in the back room this Saturday 1/31

Next Friday 2/6 at the University of Michigan Media Union Atmosphere will present Monolake, with special guests Kero performing live visuals and Christopher McNamara and Steve Roy (of Thinkbox) performing a live audio/visual set.

and...
Saturday 2/7: Something DetroitLuv calls Mutek Detroit: Quadratic feauturing Akufen (my favoirite perfrmance at Sonar2003), Monolake, Deadbeat, Clark Warner, Ryan Elliot and Kero. You might want to get tickets now.

All new sites for ADULT. and Ersatz Audio now live.

I'd actually prefer to see these guys spend the rest of their lives in a small cage together, but the option is not such a bad idea either.

Worst Cars Of All Time (Thanks to Shaggy at Core77)

Here's a great Readers Digest guide to the candidates from the BBC. (Thanks to Lyn!)

My favorite part, regarding the prez: "Is expected to base his re-election bid on his national security and economic track records. "

Hmm. Let us translate: A constant state of war and fear, 3000 civilians murdered (in the US alone) and the economy turned form historic prosperity to complete shambles since taking office. Now that's a winning formula! Jackass.

Great selection of crisp new pixel fonts from Ultrafonts.

Allen, that Sub Pop list is so good, it deserves to be reproduced in full for those too lazy to follow the link:

An incomprehensive list of rock & roll dos & don'ts. Comply.

The Dean's List:

1.) Record Covers: No old '50s picture of some unexplained dude on it. This is a cop out & an admittal that you just couldn't think of anything else to do. Hire a professional or even leave it blank.

2.) No self-titled records unless it is your first record. Don't be a fag. You blew your chance.

3.) Titles with conflicting terms such as Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere, Building Something Out of Nothing, Ancient Melodies of the Future, etc. are not intriguing, beguiling or amusing. They are dumb.

4.) Use extreme caution if you put "Rock & Roll" in the title of a song. It better rock and I mean really rock. If it is a ballad you should get an immediate ass kicking.

5.) Any record that runs over the 45 minute mark is now considered a double record and must be judged by double record criteria. You are making a statement by doing this. Does your record slip neatly between Tommy, Exile On Main Street, The White Album, etc.? No, I didn't think so. Edit it. You too boring.

6.) Please issue your LP in a gatefold sleeve!! Just make sure you make damn good use of the space. A gatefold sleeve is no place for minimalism there, Franz.

7.) Dancing or hand gesturing while holding a guitar but not playing it is cause for automatic ejection from the club. Don't get mad at security! Mr. No No Hand did it to his damn self.

8.) If you wanna name your band something that will be mispronounced by everyone, don't get all pissy-pants about it when they do. Even your band thinks this is lame.

9.) CD booklets are CD booklets. They do not belong in an LP. I would like to encourage you to dispose of these if you find them & immediately call the label for your LP insert that must certainly have been omitted. Obviously nobody would do such a lame thing as to put a 5" x 5" piece of "art work" in a 12" x 12" package. I need to smoke.

10.) 10"s are bad for much the same reason. Also they look like toy LPs, they don't file correctly & basically are just plain ol' full of much suck.

11.) It is never appropriate to title your record with a bunch of words that have no association to each other & do not make a complete phrase or sentence or what have you. Happy Cry Funny Gift is not an album title. You will be mentally filed under Suck Lame Do Not Buy Beat Up. Get your scrabble board out of the practice space, turdball.

12.) Ryan Adams & company have had the audacity to try to circumvent album length requirements as specified in rule 5 by releasing multiple albums at the same time. I call you out, Hee Haw. You have only released a double album in two separate packages. Not only is your album too long it is now waaayyy too expensive.

13.) Aren't the album covers & t-shirts of animals way played out by now? Why was this ever cool? When will it ever stop? While visiting a local shop recently I noticed that of the 20 or so new releases, a half dozen of the covers had pictures of animals on them. I spit on you & your lemur. Stop it.

Jimmy E at APT tonight. 419 W. 13th, NYC.
No Cover and free drinks from 9 to 10. (Except for Jimmy of course.)

Paul Petrunia [of Archinect and Extra Medium] is launching a group of interactive, up to the minute city-guide sites. First up: Events in LA dot com.

Marius, were you going to mention that Evolutionzone received a swank redesign?

Shrinking cities - a new project and competition for those of you who think about designing cities. And this week in Berlin: Transmediale, new media hipster fest and electronic music nerd-a-thon. More laptops than you can eat.

Losing my religion?

Or maybe just the pic of the week

From the Media Whore files: Johnny Rotten does Reality TV

Burnlab: better to burn out than to rust

REVIEW 03 has been updated with more lists and images.
(Still accepting lists from conspirators.)

Art Center Design Conference: Stories From the Source, March 18-21, featuring an incredible list of speakers, including designers Hella Jongerius, Thom Mayne and Eiko Ishioka, as well as prominent scientists and researchers.

[Re: last post] There are plenty of NYork Burnlabbers more patient than I (and Kevin, and Magda, and Rich, and Troy, and Oliver, etc., etc.) who deserve praise for not scooting off to more manageable and some may say trendy locales. (Though I think those who actually live in Berlin and Detroit find that assessment amusing at best.)



Three good friends of ours who have dug in for the long haul are Devan Simunovich, Nika Offenbac and Phoenix Perry. C-TRL labs is a new agency which brings together three great talents and long-time collaborators in the field of experimental film, live video manipulation and installation art. Be sure to check out their recent live video deconstruction for Richie Hawtin and Ellen Allien in SF last October, including the clinically cool piece STEREO/OP in the works section. Unlike a lot of the "pixel vomit" that passes for live video, C-TRL works with primarily original footage on homemade software and hardware to generate their uniquely "broken" quality.

NYC People (are there any left?)- Free drinks and jungle, compliments of my bosses. I think there's some fashion mixed in there as well.

"Punishment/Reward."

I've been slacking on posts due to a lot of drama around moving, not the least of which involves the ongoing catch-22 situation with the NY DMV and my car insurance. As reward for getting my shit together and playing by the ever-changing tangled web of rules, New York just might let go, after threatening to keep me hostage for another 90 days. The relocation to Detroit is now officially titled "Operation Escape From New York".

As much as Mutiny in Heaven captures the state of my nerves (and patience with the greatest city on earth... so hard to choose just one quote from that song!), The Cars' Tonight She Comes has been the number one aural muscle relaxer this week. Highly recommended listening if you haven't pulled it out in a while and need a lift.

Okay, now that I've vented a fair portion of my personal drama, I'll get back to posting some relevant stuff later tonight. Cheers.

Burnlab: Where the weak are beaten down and pushed into the cracks in the pavement, then pissed on by vagrants. Oh, wait, that's New York City... the city I love... most of the time. (TM)

The Generation of Electronics with a Soul. And from CES, some geek tech: a device that let's you kiss your land line goodbye.

i'm sure there's somewhere doing this in nyc too, but being based on this side of the atlantic i first caught wind of ipod battles through the london-based nowax...macs still rule the roost

CBS has refused to run the winning 'bushin30seconds.org' ad during the superbowl. Bastards.

A factor not to be underestimated come November: Wes is a total "hottie". You know... for an older guy. Mrs. Dolye thinks so too.

A message from Dan Selzer:

Yeah, I haven't DJ'd in a few days, can you believe it? How have you been able to have any fun? Don't answer that. Firstly, in non-Crazy Rhythms new, I just want to mention that the Acute release of the essential Metal Urbain, Anarchy in Paris! is out now. If you like drum machines, punk guitars, synthesizers, angry french people, the stooges, and people screaming Fascistei! at you, I highly recommend it. Hell, if you like punk, post-punk, rock and roll, rock or roll, industrial, noise, electro, or screaming french people, really, it's highly recommended.

Thazright. Here's a link.

More than meets the eye.
(Again, props to Core77.)

New work form prolific cyberpunk architects Form:uLA.

Architectural conversions which are Not Fooling Anybody. (Link swiped from our good friends at Core77.)

Guerilla art, visual deconstruction and physical disinformation design from Tenzin Wangchuk. Awesome.

Nice little video clip of Jimmy Edgar live at the Burnlab crack den, Detroit: here.

Punk out, mofos.
Lil' reminder: tonight is Michael T.'s Double Fisted Birthday Bash at 13 (35 East 13th St., NYC) and tomorrow night Seattle's uber-stylish The Fitness grace Piano's (158 Ludlow, NYC.)

What is it, my birthday? Oh... yes it is.

i don't know if this is for real, but if it is i want one, if only to have princess leiah's "help me, obi-wan, you're my only hope" message coming from my coffee table at parties

Awesomeness.

DJ Hell in LA
If you're in LA, don't miss this rare opportunity to check out this first ever and one night only event to see Berlin's DJ Hell with a live performance by Mount Sims - a real bargain for only $10 cover:

Sunday, January 18th
Doors @ 10 pm
EL CID
4212 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

Doesn't Dick Gephardt look like the kind of guy who used to give guys like Howard Dean swirlies? Maybe that's why he's so pissed off Dean is kicking his ass right now. Who would you rather hang out with? Seriously!

That's all.

Also, please mind your grammar

hey, for any berliners, this is an email from boris hoppek, grafitti artist/graphic designer who floats between berlin and barcelona (check him out in berlin or at least on his website...if not you´ll see him somewhere else and feel bad you didn´t check him out earlier):

>i am in berlin. try to meet me at bread and butter berlin,
>kinzo-club or berlin mitte, from 13th to 19th of january.
>and see a few fotos what i did the last holy days -
>www.borishoppek.de/malen/galerie/neues1/neues1.html

>INDIAN ARTSTORMv2.0 party
>presenting ROJO.mais. in BERLIN

>16.01.2004
>20.00h with reservation / 23.00h free entrance without reservation

>KINZO CLUB
>Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 13
>10178 Berlin- Mitte
>Deustchland

>guest sound artists
>Biggerval dj
>Conchita Martinez dj
>Sosa dj
>Henrik Deroux dj
>.G + Omar K. live
>Glaznost live
>Shudo live

>guest motiongraphics artists
>Boris Hoppek live
>Glaznost live
>Actop live
>ROJO.esee. various artists dvd

RADIO.BURNLAB is being reinvented as we speak, by the generous efforts of Mr. Rob Theakston. Listen to the first installment of the new format, compiled by Rob and Andy Kellman:

> PART ONE
Bark Psychosis - Miss Abuse
Junior Boys - Under the Sun
Talking Heads - Houses in Motion
Ryuichi Sakamoto w/ David Sylvian - Bamboo Houses
Insides - Distractions
Arthur Russell - Losing My Taste for the Nightlife

> PART TWO
B 52S - Mesopotamia
Numbers - Intercom [Stalker Mix]
TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun
Perspects - They Keep Dancing
Oxtongue - Delight
Stars as Eyes - Settled

Streaming awesome: Trash Radio from the Trash Club, London.
This is Dorkwave, UK style! (click on 'music')

Trash Radio 18 features a very drunk interview with ADULT. and a live set.
Definitely worth checking out. :)


Awesome interview with Jimmy-Ex on Play Louder.

Burnlab: 'Inner-city' like Rochester Hills.(TM)

Javlog: politics, ecology, equity, urbanism, urbanity, curiosity, etc. from our friend and Archinect corespondent Javier Arbona.

Not only do I share a birthday with Martin Luther King Jr., but also our favorite motherfucker Michael T. Join the queen of New York's post-punk underbelly this Thursday, January 15th for his "Double-Fisted Birthday Bash" at Bar 13. Open bar until midnight and all the gender-bending over-the-top rock'n'roll madness you've come to know and love.
"C'mon down on Thursday and witness Michael T. as he tries to halt the aging process by pickling hermself with booze, drugs, and sex! He's got one heel in the grave and the other on a little plastic baggie in the bathroom stall! Keep this thing out past 6am and watch it go from glamourous night creature to a roller-wearing, flip-flop-chasing, welfare-waiting tragic mess!"
Classic. More info at Broadcast NYC.

Burnlab: I just want you to know that we can still be friends.(TM)

Be amazed at the beauty that is the new 2004 Hardac yearbook. Especially this little piece.

just returned to barcelona...just wanted to say that my stay in the u.s. of a. was excellent...good to see that jon o and the detroit crew are keeping it going- the untitled anniversary was amazing...the residents deserve the hype (and happen to be seriously down to earth fellas as well)...and speaking of deserving the hype, ghostly/spectral/matthew/tadd/sam et al do....i had no idea of what was actually going on but as a detroit native i can say that the mix of detroit techno/electrifying mojo/hiphopness/city gritty that these boys work does my heart good. can´t wait for my next visit (in the meantime, barcelona is ready to explode, so come one come all...)

Burnlab: Where the editors are so hardcore they vacation in Detroit.(TM)

Ghostly International dot com has been updated for the new year, including all new Artistry, Visual and Culture sections. Be sure to check out the thoughtfully assembled Media of Desire lists from SV4 and crew. Oh, and thanks to Sam for the frighteningly accurate casting of the Encyclopedia Brittanica Kid ("...an insufferable pain-in-the-ass dork.") to play me in the upcoming Ghostly Movie. The full cast list can be found in our Review 03 section at left.

The first batch of lists from our editors and celebrity guests are up in the new REVIEW 03 section. Go check it out.

I think we already covered the iPod battery thing. Great movie either way. Steve Portigal provides some follow-up links on the Core77 Clogger.

Good people behaving badly.
Just in: photos from NYE in NYC and new events announced from our good friends at Penetr8.

Aibo goes to war?
According to this site, the US Army is working on an Aibo-like robotic soldier dog designed to help carry some of the up to 100 pounds of gear that today's soldiers are issued.

UPDATE: Just a quick post script to Senator McFancy's earlier post: I just got off the phone with God, and (s)he said (it was an snarky, ambiguous voice similar to Bea Arthur's) that Burnlab is the official web site of the great gig in the sky.

Burnlab: Where god goes for teh awesome.(TM)

Skip Friday's NIAS charity ball and head to the Detroit Artist's Market annual Design Show, featuring it's own black tie preview with music by Liz Copeland. Sadly, I will miss it to be in Vegas at the international CES, lusting after this year's coming electro-gadgets.

Things to do in Houston besides planning an escape route: Mathew Ritchie at the CAM, Francious Menils' Byzantine Chapel, and an obligatory visit to the Rothko Chapel

Described by one discriminating listener as "hooky, unapologetic and unquestionably fun electropop", "straight-up irony-laden electroclash" and "as fresh and punky and you'll find anywhere..", Seattle's "The Fitness" is finally headed east to play several NYC/Brooklyn venues:

- Pianos on Friday January 16th
- The Hook on Saturday January 17th
- The Pussycat Lounge on Sunday January 18th
- Lit on Monday January 19th

And while Macheads everywhere are anxiously awaiting the next amazingly great thing to be announced at tomorrow's Macworld Expo, Griffin technologies has announced interesting new gadgets, the iTalk and the SightLight. I'm sure by this time tomorrow my wallet will be considerably lighter than it is now.