ok...i am currently living quite far away so i am going to throw out some shit and see who bites...

warning: purposefully agitating comments to follow:

first, to continue the "my bloody valentine" debate, i would venture that the closest anyone has come to continuing their legacy can be found on the last track ("hawk") of the latest broadcast album. kevin shields has lost the plot (to use my anglophile vocab procured from not knowing enough americans in barcelona) and should be reprimanded/flogged for following up some of the the last millenium´s most influential music with material so damn, well...uninfluential

second, i bought and have given several listens to the latest squarepusher album. my general thoughts have been: "great! a bunch of intellectual masturbation!!!!! very well done for a guy who spends far too much time alone in his bedroom!" ok...respect for cool new sounds, but what´s the point when outkast do cool new sounds that make you dance rather than make want to rock back and forth in a corner while foaming at the mouth?? (note:i have made the aforequoted quotes overly-opinionated in order to provoke...i know this)

Apologies to Liz and Clark for not showing at STYLUS last night. I got up late from a nap following a 28 hour day at the office, then Dr. Theakston and I were honing our dorkwave skills with underage prodigy Dr. Goodman to the tune of MGD (in cans of course) and the upcoming Tamion 12 Inch LP. So brilliant. Best album of the year so far. Really. The CD/LP hits the streets in May. Get a sneak peek with the super-limited and hand numbered ADULT./Tamion split 7", and be sure to pick up the new Goudron Civil Symmetry EP on April 6th - from our lovely friends at Ersatz Audio. Civil Symmetry is limited to 1,000 copies and the sleeve features hand block printed artwork by dorkwave champion Goudron [a.k.a. Ron Zakrin] himself. "Everything more weird."



Next Saturday at UNTITLED will be a total Burnlab Jew-style dork-out with guest DJs Allen Goodamn, Robert Gorrell and a very special apppearance by Josh Glazer. This promises to be be the best/most wrong passover pre-party you'll find anywhere.

just in: SONAR 2004 advanced programming...damn it looks like a good one. detroit is seriously representing (matthew dear, dabrye, geoff white, richie hawtin-vs-villalobos!, jeff mills) plus too many others to name (prefuse 73, fortet, madlib, matthew herbert, dani siciliano, so solid crew, danger mouse...)

hey, what are you doing still sitting there? get your ass moving and book the trip...

You can trip on my synthesizer.
I just found out that our night is going up against Electric Six at The Majestic on April 16th. Although we discourage missing a moment of madness that is Les Infants Terribles, if you would really rather see the dance commanders live than Adam and Nicola playing records alongside all your favorite [Motown-based] Burnlab dorks, then at least stumble down Woodward Avenue to The Peacock afterwards. We'll be going plenty late and will be more than plenty trashed by then. Allen Goodman may perform a couple karaoke renditions of Electric Six songs - which I guarantee is more entertaining than the real thing. Plus, whatever the boys from Berkley have planned, our go-go dancers will be way hotter. (Chew on the absurdity of that whole notion for a moment, please. True though.)

These tools take all the excitement out of late nights at art school wood shops.

It's 10:30pm and I'm still at work with no going home any time soon. A fine welcome back to the world of working stiffs. Good thing there's Trash Radio to keep me company.

Coffee and Cigarettes:
"Now this is my kind of movie!"

(Link and quote swiped from Tom.)

Leave it to Virgin Atlantic and the Netherlands to innovate the urinoir. Virgin's new Airways Clubhouse at New York's JFK features urinals shaped like a woman's mouth.

Called Kisses, the urinals were designed by Bathroom Mania!'s female designer Meike van Schijndel. Chalk another one up to Porno Chic.

maybe a small thing, but it did me heart good to see a leading local barcelona webpage, le cool hype up geoff white and ghostly in their weekly recommendations with the appearance geoff made last saturday (which was amazing). those ghostly boys are indeed becoming international

Just to tie things in nicely, AICN has an awesome review of the Jesus Beatdown/Dawn of the Dead spring smashup.

Culled from Arcpaper.com? Are you sure?

Reminder: Ghoslty International would love to see all our New York friends tonight for the Spectral Session event at APT. This should end all complaints about how dead the electronic music scene is in New York... for a few glorious hours at least.

Tribute to Jonathan Ive

Oh- and thanks for the kind words Allen. Wasn't sure if that issue hit the streets yet. Or maybe just the subscriptions went out. Dayum this mag is cheap. No wonder I can't get a raise.

Man- that MBV article really gets me. What a bunch of f**king asses, the UK press. Its all the worse because they straight up lied about it being the first interview. Check the lovely Filter Magazine for an interview with Kevin Shields from last Fall. Beware- he actually talks about music (gasp!)

Achtung Detroiters and those looking for somewhere to vacation in April:
Burnlab and Blackbx are ecstatic to announce Les Infants Terribles 2, Friday April 16th at The Peacock: featuring very very special guests Nicola Kuperus + Adam Lee Miller (ADULT./Ersatz Audio) DJ set, + Will Calcutt (Hardac/Ghostly), + Team Dorkwave + The Dorkwave go-go dancers! More sleazy synths, more sound, more eyeliner, more drunk, more broken glass, more furry gloves, more awesome. More info to come at dorkwave.com.

Unfortunately Karl Zeiss (Red Antenna/Burnlab) will not be gracing us at Les Infants and UNTITLED on the 16th and 17th (respectively) of April - as reported on Ghostly.com - due to schedule conflicts. We look forward to the international men of mystery coming to Detroit very soon though.

Kevin - six weeks in Berlin, and this is what you have to contribute?? Heh!
(Do I owe you sketches, or do you owe me specs? I think you owe me specs.)

Heard part of the Hornette Coleman show on DAT last night from someone who was there. Sounded beautiful, but that's not the point of my post. The point of my post is that I am moving to Dearborn today, and all of you need to stop by for a visit so I can make you pancakes. Don't you like pancakes?

in regards to the kevin shields interview, i think "loveless" is one of the top albums of the 90´s, but kevin shields is not the second coming (remember the stones roses´2nd??) listen to the tracks from ¨lost in translation¨and you will hear a man out of his league....long live my bloody valentine but the little that has come after pales in comparison to the full band in its prime

Head is finally clearing from weekend spent in Berlin. Can't report much since a certain publication is paying me to report for them- but I can tell confirm that all new Minus records are the jam.

Unfortunately- the travelocity caused me to miss Dani Siciliano last night. But don't sleep on her album. It sounds obvious, but a slightly more girlie Herbert record sums it up nicely.

Definately heading out tonight to hit the Rephlex Records show at Echo, and also Luomo at Lightspace. To bad both of these shows represent the end of both tours, so recommendations to more Eastern time zones seem pointless. Still. I'm certain all my friends to the right have already sorted it out.

I can hype Blonde Redhead, who are just starting their tour- and releasing their first album for 4AD (finally, something new and good on 4AD). The twins might be getting grey - which should make us all feel old - but BR sounds as beguiling as ever.

And as long as I'm hyping (and typing), I might as well give the hard sell on the new issues of URB, if only because I'm particularly proud of them. Issue 115 is on the street for another week and features a wicked 'Producer Special' with Todd Osborn (sorry about the misspelled name Todd!!!), David Sitek and Ellen Allien. Issue 116 come out next week- with the best friggen band on the planet, TV on the Radio on the cover, plus our Next 100 list (Red Antenna whut!!!) And look out come Movement weekend for issue 118 and the ultimate in Berlinian techno madness. Not half as good as being there, but gonna get as close as I can.

/end of pitch- back to your regular scheduled noodlings/

Ghoslty International at SXSW this Saturday.
Big big show. Check it out:



Also, Ghostly would love to see all our New York friends Tuesday night at the first of three Spectral Session events at APT, featuring an astounding lineup of talent including James Cotton (a.k.a. Dabrye, Tadd Mullinix) Hieroglyphic Being, Matthew Dear, Ryan Elliot, Osborne, Derek Plaslaiko and SV4 himself. More fun than NYC has seen in a long, long time. (And look for your face on the flyer - it's probably there.)
side A / side B

(Allen- there are thousands of CDs back at the Brooklyn lab still waiting to be burned to the Dorkwave mainframe, including Squarepusher and yes even more Haujobb - before Daniel got all "trancedustrial" and shit, of course. You'll see April 16th.)

mike, thanks for the heads-up on my weird punctuation probs... they seem to be a new thing, not just a result of future U.S. sanctions on spain if they pull out of iraq

my listening recommendation for chilly evening walks in the park: the new air, "talkie walkie"..gorgeous melodies mixed with just-so off beat sounds and vocals...an amazing mix of the popiness of their first and the quirkiness of their second

Tom and Ash have relaunched Plan B Science. Check.

(Chris - FYI, your Spanish keyboard is looking buggy buggy on this side of the pond... and you don't own any Squarepusher records?!?!)

i don´t own a single album by the dude, but the press release/email i just received from warp about squarepusher´s latest has me intrigued...it has chris cunningham and outkast´s andre 3000 -among others- giving it rave reviews. not a bad cross section.

if there are (hopefully?¿?) any readers living in barcelona who have found their way into burnlab-dom, geoff white is headlining this saturday at the newly adventurous (formerly strictly hard techo) cube club in barcelona on calle paralelo...whether he plays a set of here-to-for championed house or of his new instrumental hip hop remains to be seen (and heard)

Polygraph

Sadly, there were no winners of the Robot Race.

Google Plex: mysterious patterns from deep space or just pretty cool d&b with live drums? You decide.

Outside In international poster exhibit explores the theme of "place" and the role of the outsider, and is organized and curated by Maya Drozdz, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. Nick Kothari of [FLAK] is organizing and promoting the Detroit opening of this touring exhibit, including several Cranbrook alumni. The opening reception will begin at 7pm, with music by local bands Ethos [indie pop] and Kalkaska [experimental rock], plus DJ/Laptop Music by Mesu Kasumai and Stereotype, starting at 9pm.
opening Friday, April 16th
Red Door Gallery
7500 Oakland Street
Detroit, MI, USA
on view through April 30th by appointment
phone: 248.207.6207
(Check out the superb artist samples through the link above.)

Quick thanks to everyone who supported the opening of Les Infants Terribles this past Friday. Already well on its way to debauchery of legendary proportion, expect even more sound, more madness, more debuts of new tracks by Detroit's best and brightest electro artists, more pink furry coats, and more drunken robot dancing into the wee hours of the morning. Extra big thanks to Ron Zakrin, who now has a Dorkwave lifetime membership, Mark Lazzar for technical and personal support, to Matthew Dear and Derek Plaslaiko for filling in for obliterated residents, and huge thanks to Gabe of The Peacock for letting us trash his bar and inviting us back! Details for the April edition coming soon.

This couldn't be more perfect for tonight:
What goth band are you?

You're Bauhaus, the grandfather's of goth. You probably don't call yourself a goth...but that just makes you cooler. Nice boots, by the way.

Big freakin' surprise.

Freaks come out at night:
Burnlab's first official monthly club night Les Infants Terribles was kindly mentioned in the Metro Times on Wednesday, and we're geeked (in every sense of the word) about it. We have Ron Zakrin making his debut DJ appearance, team Dorkwave out in force, and we actually just found out that the owner of The Peacock (our lovely venue) used to be roommates with Michael Alig in the day! How awesome is that? I think that instantly gives us more cred than Nag Nag Nag - kidding! - we absolutely adore them. Really, this night is more about reinventing the energy specific to Detroit at places like Club Hell, AFB, The Shelter and City Club (back when you went to hear the newest Wax Trax! 12"s)... all with the modern weirdness and dark sense of humor Ersatz Audio embodies so perfectly. So, please come on down and drown in the seedy fun that is Les Infants Terribles, 10pm, March 12th at the all new Peacock at Woodward and Grand Circus Park. Plus, there's a good chance this will go "late". We're not enforcing a dress code, but fake fur, fake blood, latex, Italian suits, panda costumes, etc. are encouraged. Did I mention it's free?

Dave Blood will be dearly missed by all of us who grew up with the music of the Dead Milkmen - easily the most influential punk band for me personally.

Salon.com has just broken a major story detailing how the Pentagon created a special office to manipulate intelligence data on Iraq and WMDs. It's written by Karen Kwiatkowski, a military officer who watched this unit at work, telling us the inside story in her own words.

a couple things...

firstly, miami was just mentioned, which makes me think that it´s about time to start mentioning SONAR. this year will, i´m sure, feature detroit-native/regulars richie hawtin and jeff mills. BUT this year will also feature, according to sam, a ghostly international showcase. if these factors aren´t enough, barcelona gets cooler and cooler every day. by june it will undoubtably be the coolest it has ever been. so, message in a nutshell: get your collective asses busy talking to your bosses/looking for flights/selling your bodies for extra cash- whatever´s necessary. i now make the offer to give up as much of my paltry floorspace as possible to those who can´t manage a hostal/cardboard box...it´s worth it, i swear. if anyone comes and says they had a shit time i´ll name my first child burnlab daniels....(that´s off the record, by the way)

secondly, my band misnoma is finally finishing up a homemade debut cd which will feature the excellent photography of sandra myhrberg, swedish by birth, new yorker for 6 (?) years, and now resident of barcelona...excellent work (too good for us, but i won´t complain)

Subway systems of the world, compared at the same scale.
[jacked from Archinect]

if we, the former (present?) nerds of the world, ever had a leader:

just bought the retrospective dvd of michel gondry, most known for his lego video for detroit´s own the white stripes (who i still, despite being from detroit, think are vastly overrated) as well as videos for daft punk, bjork, and kilie minogue (?). the videos on the dvd are great but the interviews with michel show where his true skewed brilliance lies...mike, would you agree that he is a general in the dorkwave army??

Mute Mute Mute

Tribute albums are rarely good, but we're holding great expectations for Mutant TG, featuring such favorites as Carl Craig and Motor remaking classic Throbbing Gristle tracks. US street date is April 6 / March 29th in the UK.

Mute Records celebrates its 25th anniversary at the Triptych Festival, April 28th-30th across three cities in Scotland. Artists include Wire, T Raumschmiere, The Liars and more.

The March edition of the Daniel Miller Happy Hour went online today.

This Wednesday, March 10th the incomprehensibly charming and brilliantly disturbed paranaturalist Reverend Dr. John E.L. Tenney presents an evening of "fact-filled entertainment" with "musical accompaniment by members of awesome Detroit bands." John will be discussing ghosts, UFOs, conspiracy theories... the usual stuff. The Magic Stick, $5, 18+, doors open at 9pm.

Ultimate artpunk weirdos The Liars kick off a North American tour next week. Tour dates here. See you freaks at the Magic Stick on March 19th.

Here's another great Locust video. Man, I'd love to get these guys to play at Les Infants... for like ten minutes.

From the bleeding ear department:

Rumor is Skinny Puppy has asked Lightning Bolt and The Locust to open for a major tour starting in June. Check out the incredible Locust video here. The new Puppy album (featuring newest band member Otto Von Schirach) is reportedly done and mastered, but no street date as of yet.

Take some time to browse Wayne State University's Virtual Motor City project, launched this week by the school's library system and the Walter P. Reuther Library. The searchable catalog contains nearly 15,000 images from the Detroit News Collection's more than 800,000 negatives, which are held at the Reuther Library and date from the late 19th century.

Les Infants Terribles update: We're pleased to announce multifaceted artist Ron Zakrin, [a.k.a. Goudron] will be our special guest this month. We're really excited to have Ron making his DJ debut with us. No idea what he may pull, but we know it will be the awesome you're looking for.

The awesome NYC arts organization Creative Time is throwing a Burlesque Bash Benefit Thursday, March 18th. Lots of info here.


Astute reader Brian Sniokaitis sent us the following info on some great upcoming events in the Detroit area:

Defining Detroit: Urban Sprawl and Regional Justice
Free presentation at Marygrove College
Thursday, March 18, 7:30 p.m.
Marygrove College, Alumnae Hall, 8425 West McNichols Road, Detroit, MI 48221


Fluxus in Detroit - Alison Knowles and In-Flux

Alison Knowles is one of the founders of the Fluxus movement, creating performances and installations throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia from the 1960s to the present. She has been an important contributor to the development of intermedia, performance art, and experimental books. Knowles will install her paper musical instruments. Her performance will involve her work with ordinary objects and contain elements generated in a workshop with students.

In exhibition in a separate space in the gallery, In Flux will present artists from the Detroit region working in the Fluxus spirit. The participating artists are Jef Bourgeau, Rose E. Desloover, Phaedra Robinson, and Brian Schorn. DeSloover's work involves interactions of common objects with the observer. Robinson works with visualized sound and surreal transformations of the commonplace. Bourgeau and Schorn incorporate sound video and technology in their works.

Contact: Nelson Smith, (313) 927-1370 or Rose E. DeSloover, (313) 927-1336

Through March 28
Margrove College, 8425 W. McNichols, Detroit, 48221
The Gallery at Margrove College is located in the Liberal Arts Building, on the
fourth floor, via the center elevator.

Thanks Brian!

re: last post, perhaps Halcyon will re-open down in Red Hook. Speaking of, I'll be in NYC the next 30 hours or so, and will be offline until Thursday in 3, 2, 1...

More proof that California the place ya'll oughta be.

Dorks, Untitled and unCAGEd

Burnlab and Blackbx are proud to present the launch of Les Infants Terribles Friday, March 12th at the all new Peacock Lounge in the basement of the Broderick Tower at Grand Circus Park and Woodward Ave. (The building with the stupid whale mural.) Les Infants is the bastard child of Untitled and this very web community. An evening of postpunk, sleazy synthesizers, strong drinks and general weirdness provided by Rob Theakston, Jon Ozias, myself and infamous guest DJs every month, including Ersatz Audio artists. The culmination of almost every bad idea we've ever had, expect all the sass, bad behavior and quality control that made Untitled one of the most talked about club nights in the country, the seedy vibe of New York City's rock scene, the total dorkiness of three bloggers badly mixing Big Black and The Cars, and a true Motor City freakshow of a crowd. Best of all, its absolutely free.

To kick things off early, there will be a special Dorkwave set in the back bar at Untitled this Saturday night (code named "Jumping the Shark"), in addition to Poker Flat/Trapez/Spectral recording artist Jeff Samuel guest DJing in the front room at The Shelter. The drill.

Most unfortunately the Les Infants Terribles kick-off is the same night as unCAGEd: the exploration of non-intention, a multi-media event presented by [this other organization I'm proud to be involved in] The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit. unCAGEd is a night of art, music, dance and spontaneity, honoring the week-long residency of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, with whom John Cage famously collaborated. The event features a varied group of Detroit and Ann Arbor-based exploratory artists, musicians and performers working/playing in the Cage frame of chance. After choosing 10 artists, the curators of this event paired them up into collaborative teams of two, literally picking names out of a hat. Set into motion by a Cageian preset of "the exploration of non-intention," each pair acts out their interpretations, and the possibilities of mixed-medium collaboration are endless, reflecting the pure energy felt in Cunningham's guided improvisation. 10pm Friday, March 12, 2004, Dance Gallery Studio, 815 Wildt St., Ann Arbor.

thanks derek for the head´s up on "grey tuesday". i finally got a copy of and listened to danger mouse´s "the grey album" (see derek´s post from last tuesday) and it deserves to be a landmark in terms of musical content, context, and history...any of you who are curious but haven´t downloaded it do it!! there are probably still servers you can get it from

I have been informed by Timothy Price that I need to tell everyone in the world that Plastikman.com has been updated. End of line.

Brand spanking new edition of TRASH Radio.
Dorkwave, UK style.

Go to Rob's Blog to get the scoop and download the much buzzed Clone A project by Todd Osborne.

Following a brilliant gnarzy release on Novamute last year as Motor, Bryan Black is back with the long awaited new Haloblack album, Throb. The dirty synths and infectious funk of Feel prove industrial music is not only alive and kicking, but ready to take you down on the floor. [Not a minute too soon either, after the genre being diluted by all the crapy 'shorts-rock' and 'trancedustrial' *cringe* that's come out in the last eight years or so.]