The tsunami disaster in asia has now claimed an incomprehensible 114,000 lives.

Our friend Cameron at Architecture for Humanity has launched a reconstruction appeal in tandem with WorldChanging.org.

On December 26th, a series of earthquakes occurred in the area of the western coast of Northern Sumatra, Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands. The two strongest earthquakes had the magnitude of 8.9 and 7.3. The earthquakes caused tsunamis impacting nine countries in the region leaving more than 100,000+ dead and a further 1M forced from their homes. Over 10 countries are affected as far away as Somalia and Kenya with Aceh province in Indonesia and Sri Lanka said to be worst hit.

In response Architecture for Humanity and Worldchanging.com launched a reconstruction appeal. We set an intial target for rebuilding of $15,000 (enough to build a dozen homes, 2 schools or one mobile medical clinic). As of 11pm on December 29th we have reached $14,300 from 220 donors.

This fund is specifically to deal with rebuilding issues and we are speaking with local partners in the region which are focusing on the reconstruction process. Much like our previous response in Bam, Iran and Grenada, we work with groups who employ local labor and utilize construction techniques. By working those affected this keeps funds within the community and creates micro-economies for those trying to get out of this disaster. We have found this to be the most cost-effective way of rebuilding.

We are currently assembling local-based design and construction teams to work with carefully vetted relief groups. We are also refining a set of criteria for design/build work that will include employing local labor and construction techniques as well as economic and environmental sustainability.

As with all our disaster relief operations we are committed to zero overhead/admin. costs (everyone is donating their services and time and AFH is covering admin. costs) and directing 100% of funds towards the appeal.

Thursday, 12.30.04 will the the very last night for the Detroit Art Space. Send off this legendary and beloved venue in style with:

Misty
Tamion 12 Inch
Awesome Color

"Come out and rock."

10pm
101 E. Baltimore
313.664.0445

don't panic

In case you've numbed out on world news, Iraq continues to be a huge fucking mess with no end in sight. The current civilian body count is somewhere between 15,000 and 17,000. The current US military death toll is 1,299. War is fun, eh?

New treats for the eyes and ears from the other Untitled.

+ more eye and brain candy from Cozytone #10.

Mr. Joshua Glazer gave me a very nice Christmas gift last night in the form of a test printing of next month's URB Magazine. Dorkwave's 15 minutes are upon us apparently. Not only does Interpol's Carlos Dengler grace the cover and a lovely seven page spread, (and one of the snapshots from October's Dorkpol event accompanies Scott Sterling's bon mot diatribe about the death and resurrection of dance music - including an uber-flattering nod to our dorky shenanigans on page 23) Dorkwave is cited in the 5th Annual MASSV Contributor's Poll as "favorite new trend". Hot damn! And to think we just started doing this to entertain ourselves... We certainly know better than to let it get to our heads though. (There are also very nice mentions of Ghostly International and the club Oslo in Detroit.) In the mean time, here's a excerpt from the Carlos interview:

Scott Sterling: I heard a lot about the DJ gig you played recently in Detroit with the Dorkwave crew.

Carlos D: That was one of the most fun gigs I've done so far. That party was so fucking ghetto I can't even tell you. People were spilling beer on my records and the mixer, they were skipping the records by jumping up and down because the platform wasn't properly supporting the turntables. In fact, at one point some dude ruined one of my most prized 12-inches, which was "White Horse" by Laid Back, by accidentally spilling candle wax on it. The record started skipping as it was playing, and I was like, "What the fuck?" because I always keep it in such good condition. Then I looked and there were hardened puddles of wax that the needle was jumping over. I just said to myself, "This is why I took this fucking gig and why I've been telling my DJ booking agent to get me a gig in Detroit." I was dying to spin there and I love that city, that vibe - the whole fucked-up, ghetto-y, down-home it's all a party and who gives a shit anyway attitude. That's why that party was fun. I'm always going to be into the hot, sweaty, sloppy shit - always.

[It does actually take a ton of planning to facilitate just the right ambiance of chaos.]

The rest of the interview is brilliant, but it would take me all afternoon to transcribe the whole thing. Watch for the January/February issue of URB on newsstands soon.

14 minutes to go.

...and we still owe Carlos a copy of White Horse.

Chad Kern...I will be in Portland 12/28 and 12/29. I would love to see you. I have no way of getting in touch with you. Please advise.

Candycane wishes and sugarplum kisses from Ghostly, Blackbx and Burnlab... tonight.

Although there were some *ahem* different perspectives about artwork, Apples and Synthesizers is certainly one of my favorite albums of 2004, and quite possibly one of the best electro albums ever produced. If you're STILL looking for that perfect Christmas gift for the special robot in your life, you really can't go wrong here. Jason Amm delivers a full hour of analog bliss and pop brilliance on this LP. Along with instant Solvent classics like My Radio and For You, Think Like Us is the best Skinny Puppy song Skinny Puppy never made... and extremely popular with both Dorkwave and our German friends Alter Ego.

Started this post Thursdy, but my Red Van pulled up before I could finish and had to get to the airport.

So yeah, submited my first ever ballot to the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Awards. Actually starting to feel like maybe this life style of trying to push good music on others is working a tiny bit. I'd love to share my votes with y'all, but I think it'll have to wait until the BIG awards - that's Burnlab Best of '04 - come on up.

And everyone should vote for the Plug Awards

And speaking of career opportunities, got i nice xmas present in the form of a promotion at ye old URB mag on thursday. So look for me with an extra self-satisfied smirk out in Detroit this holiday season.

This really makes me miss Brooklyn.

Much love to Voltage.

Merry Christmas to all.



Scared of Santa

[via DataWhat?]


Hope to see all of the Detroit ex-pat gang at Oslo this Sunday night for the UNTITLED anniversary party. Especially these kids:




...and everyone, as you digest your roast beast and Who-hash this weekend, please think hard and send along your lists for Review 04 to mike@burnlab.net, along with your personal info as you'd like it published.

cheers

LCD Soundsystem player

hotness.

LCD Soundsystem and DFA honcho James Murphy graces the cover of January's edition of The Wire. Go here for the complete interview.

Also see this Pitchfork article about the upcoming LCD Soundsystem full length from earlier in the year. If you just can't wait (and don't work for, say, All Music Guide or a public radio station,) Pure Groove has a few double vinyl promos in stock.

What's in your iPod today?

After a grueling 90+ minute commute, I loaded up the following (along with a giant cup of green tea) to calm my nerves:

taylor deupree- live at tonic (sub rosa)
oren ambarchi- grapes from the estate (touch UK)
jan jelinek- loop finding jazz records (~scape)
pole- 1 (kiff sm)
max richter- blue notebooks (fat cat)
flashpapr-flashpapr (ypsilanti)

Slsk, purchase or listen if you can. All are highly suggested for bleak winter days.

Chris, be happy you're not here. We're under a blanket of snow and the wind is blowing very harsh drifts at the moment.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled misery.

love the l.i.t photos...but i admit confusion in that, while staying in lovely barcelona over xmas for the first time, i feel strangely depressed to not be able to hang out in detroit. what is happening??!!! could it be that the detroit contingent of burnlab is actually achieving a new and better detroit?! (stay tuned to this webpage for developments).

The Bambi might be a bit much for the Saab to tow. Don't worry though, there's always the Saab Toppola.

From Mr. Paul Martin: the extraordinary electronic art of Jim Campbell. The Memory Works are especially elegant.

From our good friend Chad in Portland: Jesus was more goth than you - the proof.

Man, I am so going to hell.

Photos are now online from Saturday's edition of Les Infants Terribles. Huge thanks to Liz and Clark, to Tom, Nicole and the crew at Corktown Tavern, and to Rudy and Allen for getting everything set up early for the first time ever. (And an extra thanks to Allen for the all dorkwave anthem tag-team set early in the evening.) Amazingly enough, nothing got broken this time. Speaking of, where was Sam Consiglio?

Canadians are so great it's hard to pick a favorite, but this week Marc Houle is the best, for a lot of reasons. Buy his new record on Minus so he can afford the airfare to New York (and tunnel fare to Detroit) more often.

While perusing Fortune Magazine's product design awards, I totally fell for the Airstream Bambi. How cute is that? If the Saab can tow it, that solves my housing dilemma... and oh so minimalist.

Chris Daniels' new title is officially "Classics Editor".

(and thank you.)

as usual i find my comments being more in the ancient history side than in the newest-of-the-new category, but i finally watched donnie darko and, more than anything, was amazed that it didnt garner more praise. its mix of "american beauty" suburban criticism with a nightmarish vision altogether new and challenging -yet beautiful- was possibly too refined and scandal-free to the "scream"-loving audiences it may have attracted.

and, more importantly, i wish the best for our illustrious burnlab founder in his new and difficult designs on life. lovely solutions and beautiful designs might make us all happy but what mike has gone through brings life, in its heartbreaks and confusion, to the uncomfortably but beautifully tenuous position it battles to enjoy.

Lots of hot news at Cranbrookdesign.com, including an article on The Interventionists exhibit at Mass MoCA in PAGE Magazine, Cranbrook 3D-design artist in residence Scott Klinker's Spaceframe Building Toy named one of the top products of the year by Fortune Magazine, and a construction update on the Royal Ontario Museum by Studio Lebiskind.

As mentioned previously, I give the other editors here at the Lab a lot of grief for Blogging under the influence, so I may delete this later under wiser circumstances. If you're looking for design links, skip along to the next post please.

I spent several hours on the phone tonight with one of the finest friends anyone could hope to have, the always wonderful Professor Theakston, my number one partner in schemes Jon Ozias, and the lady who's been keeping me sane the past several weeks. I don't want to turn this into some kind of Live Journal type post, but if anyone cares, I feel obliged to list the reasons I may have been cryptic or symbolic and manic with posting over that past five or six weeks.

1) Getting divorced always sucks, but it's as amicable as possible, and I'm totally excited that Mrs. D will be able to make her mark on the world in her own way. Shannon is a truly amazing person who gets all my love and support in all her ventures.

2) Having to move right now is a particular pain in the ass (and completely unrelated to item one,) but definitely in the best interest of everyone. Ferndale, here I come... if all goes as planned.

3) Anyone who has been involved in the Detroit Auto Show knows this is the crunch time, plus I've taken on additional make or break responsibilities in my career. Work is at the most intense point its been in recent memory - which I'm doing my best to focus on in context of everything else. The opportunities to work with people such Emin and Ivana at Clear Magazine and Beverly Tang are nothing short of extraordinary.

4) I know I've developed a reputation as a bit of an instigator of people behaving in an overly revelrous manner, which is a responsibility I vow to stick to as cofounder of Dorkwave, but have pulled back from in a significant way as far as direct participation. Time to grow up (the other 30 days of each month at least...)

5) Something about being emotionally open.

6) I'm currently co-curating one of the most exciting art exhibits Detroit has seen in some time with Burnlab and CAID conspirator Andy Malone. 'The Other Auto Show' will be opening in tandem with the NAIAS, and will feature the broadest spectrum of Detroit artists possibly ever seen, including Brian Kritzman, Tyree Guyton, Mark Dancey, Ron Zakrin and many more well established and up-and-coming artists interpreting automobile culture in the Motor City. The exhibit open January 15 (my birthday)... stay tuned for details.

7) Connecting with the second great love of my life, after knowing her for twelve years, is simultaneously totally unexpected, strange, and as perfect and wonderful as could be imagined.

Back your normally scheduled program.

cheers

a few Heatherwick links:
Icon Magazine
Please Keep Off the Glass
Folding Bridge
B of the Bang

Fire destroys B-52's 'Love Shack'

(Like five people in the world will get the reference, but this is ironic beyond expression.)

i was in london last week and was made aware of a sculpture, by thomas heatherwick, that graces the foyer of the wellcome trust headquarters on euston st. i couldnt find a website with pictures but the sculpture is derived from a form originally achieved by pouring molten metal into a block of ice. the figure was then digitally scanned, blown up, and represented through glass beads suspended by cables...and all of this in a 6-story space

just listening to pj harvey as i write this..."rid of me" is so fucking intense it should have had suge knight begging to sign pj as a backup singer for tupac. if she would´ve commited suicide she might have gotten the respect and credit she deserves as being as good a rock songwriter as kurt cobain, albeit with less self pity...no disrespect to nirvana but pj had at least as much angst and talent and she was and is a "she"...is there a precedent for that? should the first female rock artist with the balls of kurt cobain be relegated to second tier status?? listen to "rub ´til it bleeds" (start at 3:25 for full impact) on "rid of me" and tell me that that song isn´t at least, if not more, ballsy than any song ever written by nirvana...led zeppelin would´ve shit their pants hearing a girl fuck rock n roll this extreme

The excellent NYC electro blog Voltage presents their download of the week
Afrika Bambaataa with Gary Numan: "Metal"

The best electroclash took '80s styles - like new wave and electrofunk - and mixed them up in ways that no one thought of doing back in the '80s. This track is a literal embodiment of that principle: the godfather of hip-hop meets the original new wave humanoid. The quote from "Heart of Glass" is cute but gratuitous; the clunky rap by MC Chatterbox should have been cut. Otherwise, Numan's quavering robotics and Bambaataa's beats (more solid than ever) have been welded together almost seamlessly.

Totally agreed. Brilliant at moments and uncomfortably cheesy at others.

[Thanks Maxx, er, I mean Maximus.]

This is quite possibly the worst thing ever.

"Big thanks" to Enrique at Paper Bag for sharing the pain. Any more crap like that in my inbox and we're boycotting Toronto! ;)

Here is an interview with our other favorite musical couple from Detroit that I rediscovered while perusing the archives. This was done in 1999, and still rings quite relevant. If you're feeling really nostalgic, scroll down for my amusing review of the first Electroclash Festival, posted Oct. 15 | 01 and see Don Downie's review of the Disco Nouveau party that really blew everything up for Blackbx, Ghostly International and the Detroit electro scene we feel really fortunate to be part of in our own weird capacity.

On the subject of vintage Burnlab, its unfortunate Engram never really took off as intended, after coming extremely close to several large projects that included a biotechnology learning center in Singapore, and the interior of the Surface Hotel, that recently opened as the Hotel on Rivington. (It's hard to compete with Zaha Hadid and Marcel Wanders.) As I've discovered though, unexpected opportunities can eclipse even the most brilliant plans.

Our old friend Thomas Trimble of American Mars informs us of the 3rd Annual Detroit Sounds and Spirits Holiday Spectacular. The line-up is an amazing assortment of beloved acquaintances and some of the hottest of the hot from Detroit's rock'n'roll scene.
The particulars:

What: Holiday Spectacular - great bands, a good cause (COTS), and lots of comic idiocy
When: Thursday, December 23 at 8pm
Where: The Magic Stick
Who: The Dirtbombs, The Paybacks, Brendan Benson, Outrageous Cherry, Rosie Thomas, The Volebeats, The Sirens, The Fondas, Pas/Cal, The Hentchmen, Waxwings, The Come Ons, Blanche, Thunderbirds Are Now!, The Holy Fire, His Name Is Alive, Saturday Looks Good to Me, Jawbone, and American Mars.
How Much: $15, 18+

If you prefer bleeps over guitars, don't forget that this Friday night is Ghostly International Presents... at Oslo with your handsome host Ryan Elliot and very special guest Mr. John Selway. Brought to you by Ghostly and Soft Curls.



...if you like bleeps AND guitars, don't forget about the most overcooked party in town this Saturday, where we straddle the line between dance music academia and total chaos with Detroit's favorite DJ couple, while scenes collide in a haze of art school hipsters and analog synthesizers. Truly a night of Shakespearean proportions and extraordinary music that promises to both inform and delight. And its free!

I know I give our editors a lot of grief for blogging drunk, but it's good stuff when Core77 co-founder Eric Ludlum does it... click.

Marius - that's been posted here before, but certainly worthy of another look. So cyberpunk it makes me want to get that bar code tattoo I've been talking about for years...

Oh, and I forgot my cell phone again this morning.
Desk line if you need me: 248.276.7954

Stunning pictures of Tokyo's water routing system, more alien than Alien, more concrete than Toyo Ito, more cyberpunk than... er... nevermind.

and topping my list this year



2 track 12" EP, 13 mins duration, 124-154 bpm.
Written & Produced by Richard D. James.
Black 12" vinyl disc with two centre labels.
180g Audiophile Vinyl Pressing.
Packaged in custom binder with pockets to hold several editions from the "Analord" series.

https://www.rephlex.com/analord10.php

FOX Blocker: I finally know what to get the whole family for christmas.

[thanks to Steve at Core77]

And for the front lawn, should I put in a nice carp pond or have Herzog design a museum for my private collection?

Our exhibitions are proof of the autonomy of art, of its creative strength and its ability to show us the world in a way we would never have imagined possible. The Goetz Collection feels duty bound to plead for the openness of our perceptions and the constant correction of our thoughts and views through contemporary art.

The current set of video installations from Doug Aitken are stunning. The Goetz collection is open daily by appointment, but I found standing out front and pleading to be equally effective.

This Saturday.



(Can you believe only a month has passed? I can't.)

For shoegazers who may not know yet, Swervedriver dot com has posted the band's four albums in the form of high quality live recordings to download for free. Golden.

Thanks to both Professor Theakston and David DeRoches for the info. (Also, David is seeking an original copy of Raise. Contact him through the Effigy Studios link above if you have one you can part with.)

The kooky Anti-Drum Machine guy was out again all day on Sunday in front of Amoeba records on Sunset in LA. He's the leader of the "Society for the Rehumanization of American Music". He was a nice enough guy, he even let me take his picture with my phone (which baffled him), even after showing him my bagful of synthetic delights. If you've got something to say about his anti-rhythm box position, he invites you to contact him directly at (323) 732-6160. He has no e-mail.

You Are Beautiful is a simple, powerful statement which is incorporated into the over absorption of mass media and lifestyles that are wrapped in consumer culture.

http://you-are-beautiful.com

Burnlab Review 04 Call For Submissions

It's that time of year again to start thinking about the very best of the past 12 months. Review 03 is one of our most popular features, and we'd like to continue the tradition. This time I'm inviting not only the fine editorial staff here at the Lab and a select few guest taste-makers, but am opening it up to all regular Burnlab readers. You're the ones on the edge of the new and purveyors of the inspiring, and we'd love to have your art, design, music and culture best of lists for 2004. Think hard and pass them along with your personal information to mike@burnlab.net

Strange Request. I am trying to find someone to give a few (5 or so) basic lessons in Photoshop to my Dad for Christmas. He is pretty knowledgable on the computer and a quick learner. It need only be the basics. Cropping, Color Correction, Working with Scanned Images, Simple Layering, etc. I would prefer to pay someone who could use some extra cash rather than send him to a continuing education or far too complex college level course. If anyone knows of anyone who may be interested please get in touch with me. My Dad, for those who don't know him, is a lovely gent who lives in Berkley and is a Dentist. Please help if you can. Sourcing gifts like this from Brooklyn is a pain.

i am interested to see what tim burton does with wonka after finally making another good movie with "big fish". i am personally a bit tired of johnny depp and i think ewan mcgregor was what made the last movie different. but ultimately, can anyone actually imagine a new version beating the tripped-out wickedness of the original? heres to trying

and another notch on my nostalgia belt, the punk/rock/funk of girls against boys, with, for me their best album, cerca 1994, "cruise yourself" on touch and go. i looked them up on amazon and their "if you like..." recommendations included iggy pop, ac/dc, broken social scene, and mark lanegan. not to say that amazon is the end all and be all but those are some pretty fucking impressive and divergent groups to be compared to.

i have finally decided to leave the pop/downtempo/lounge band misnoma that i´ve been with on and off for 4 years to follow other avenues, but anyone open to well-produced downtempo pop check out the website. before i decided to leave we just finished an ep, "club 13". 3 songs that range from chillout to triphop, with me on beats and effects

now on to quinqui....

Our friends at Paper Bag Records in Toronto send this [not so] little video to cheer up your afternoon: click

Wonka trailer!

PTW Architects' design for the National Swimming Center in Beijing, known as The Watercube, is one of the most extraordinary buildings I've seen in a long time - even more so than the elegant olympic stadium by Herzog + DeMeuron (pictured top.)

"It appears random and playful like a natural system, yet is mathematically very rigorous and repetitious. The transparency of water, with the mystery of the bubble system, engages those both inside and out of the structure to consider their own experiences with water", said PTW Director Andrew Frost.

The building's skin, made from an innovative and lightweight transparent 'teflon', abbreviated as etfe, has been designed to react specifically to lighting and projection - and particularly the advanced systems which will become available in the coming four years - to create a stunning visual and sensory experience that will also be shared by millions of television viewers around the world. this state-of-the-art material provides a cost effective cladding solution for modern architecture, enabling a wide range of applications where traditional materials, such as glass, may not be possible.


More images at Archinect.

Hot off our good friend Benny's Mac for your pleasure, the December edition of The Galactica is now online. The best issue yet for this always inspiring web-zine. Full of shoegazey rock, erotica and artwork that touches Burnlab's sensitive side. (Chris Daniels, you will love this.) There is substance in Los Angeles.

On a completely unrelated and unusually personal note, I feel obliged to inform anyone who knows us but hasn't heard in person yet that Mrs. D and I are parting ways in a completely amicable manner. If you do know us and require details, you know how to contact me.

Unfortunately I will not be in Lost Angeles this coming week, due to the unpredictable nature of the exhibit design industry. I also just found out that I have to move by January 31, due to a scuffle with my micro-managing landlord over (of all things) frequency of picking up dog poop. I was under the (apparently false) assumption that once a day was acceptable. Perhaps if my dogs were as anal retentive as my landlord, there wouldn't be an issue. Fucking great.

sorry to continue on my nostalgia trip but i´ve been listening to my first love, cocteau twins. besides being one of the best, most unsung groups of the 80´s they, in my opinion, started the dreampop/shoegazer movement that spawned such greats as ride, curve, lush, verve, and ultimately my bloody valentine. for the uninitiated check out (if you can find it) the minimal/dub ep, "otherness", that was remixed by mark clifford of seefeel fame, or go way back and check out "pink opaque", "garlands", or more recently "blue bell knoll" or "heaven or las vegas". liz fraser, one of the most original vocalists in recent years, was said to have sung in basically gibberish until the last few discs...ella and sarah vaughn would´ve been proud

and, who remembers space rock darlings jessamine? still amazing...check out their second "the long arm of coincidence". i promise to stop the nostalgia soon

In the City of Angels, when it rains it pours (figuatively and literally). And it'll be pouring this Saturday...



8pm: The Lab 101



12am: Dorkpol west-coast style



2am: Dearswak (ok- not really a good name) with an extra helping of Detroit expate on the line-up.


And of course our fearless leader will be making a guest appearance.

Kid Robot and Visionaire have teamed up to produce Issue 44: Toys featuring 10 original Visionaire toys customized by 10 fashion designers. Contributing designers include Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Donatella Versace, Hedi Slimane, Miuccia Prada, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Louis Dumas for Hermes, Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana, and Viktor & Rolf. The issue is released as two sets of five toys; each set contains photos of all 10 characters in an accordion-fold catalog along with a set of accesories including a toy cell phone, martini glass, and camera that the characters can hold.

This sounds more interesting than it is: the 100 oldest registered domain names

um...

This seems so long ago, I almost forgot about it. (Hmm... I still play most of those records.)

If it's not obvious, Googling yourself is a major indicator of procrastination.

it may have something to do with me earlier seeing (in the movie theater) the shockingly bad "national treasure" with nicholas cage, but i just finished watching "the chronicles of riddick" on dvd with (yes!) vin diesel. and, i have to say i thought latter was surprisingly good. with a comicbook/achyles/gladiator-type hero, very original set design (falling somewhere between ancient greek ("troy"), otherworldly ("dune"), and ("star wars") science fiction) and a plotline sufficiently-enough entertaining, i think it may have gotten attention if someone like ridley scott would have directed it. at the very least an entertaining and well-crafted movie from an unexpected source

oh and allen, i seriously feel your pain as well my son. i have trouble admitting this but i am posting this on my old g3 because my g4 is in the shop, awaiting its fait after i dumped a half can of beer into it. i too backed up nothing, including a handfull of new tracks that would have shaken the music world (i think that is true although if i never get anything back from my harddrive the world might never know). stay strong, stay *****

EVERY day is Cher day.

Allen - sorry about the PowerBook. I know the pain, but please fix the HTML in your post!

As far as "share day" goes... don't tempt me. Call me later though. (That goes for everyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about yet.)

Reline updates with a big tease for the Reline2 DVD (which, by the way, is going to be sick.)

Breathing Chaos at Telic

Breathing Chaos is a new installation work by media artist Sachiko Kodama. A small, black mountain at the center of the gallery grows organically in the glow of many small candles. The heat of the surrounding candles let the mountain move as if it were a living thing, as if it were breathing, shining there in the light. This strange pointed mountain is however, made up of competely inorganic matter; it is a fluid formed by ferro magnetic micro-powder dissolved in a solvent; and it is designed to transform, creating a very sensitive chaos.

[thanks Nix!]

Harvard's 2004 Ig Nobel award winners. Top honor in medicine goes to Wayne State co-authored research paper "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide". Top honor in engineering goes to the man who patented the comb-over.

Goudron is the best. Ron, seriously, when are you getting your gear fixed?

Currently loving the art of Aaron Kraten.

On the subject of beauty and machines:

Our very own Marius Watz presents System_C for the Electrohype Biennial.



System_C is a time-based drawing machine, a self-organizing software system for the creation of rule-based images. Several autonomous agents move over a surface, making marks as they move, seen by visitors to the Electrohype exhibition as a realtime two-screen projection.

Some physicists define glass not as a solid but rather as a slow-moving liquid, so viscous that we cannot observe its movement. System_C draws its images slowly enough to be perceived as nearly static, yet is in reality in a process of slow development. In all, over 360 images will be produced during the 8 weeks Electrohype is running.

The drawing process is modelled on a simple kinetic system. Each agent has a speed and direction that both smoothly change for every step. When the speed or rate of rotation exceeds the minimum or maximum constraints, they start reversing so that their values tend toward the other extreme, causing a subtle oscillation between values over time. Different values for the constraints result in visually different but recognizably related images.

Each image takes an hour to complete. Once an image is done, the surface is cleared, the drawing system is set to a randomized initial state and the drawing process starts over. The images that are created are saved and uploaded to the web every few minutes so that online users can observe the most recent activity. All completed images are saved with a time stamp indicating the time of their creation. An archive documents the whole period of the exhibition.

There is a god.

Nice work.

We all saw it coming, but I never thought it would be this bad: Voltage reports dance-rock jumps the shark.

....mainstream trance type Paul Van Dyk admitted being blown away by the decidedly un-trance like new style of fellow superstar DJ Sasha.

"It wasn't anything like the sort of sound I'd seen him spin the last time I'd caught one of his sets," said Van Dyk (writing in his latest column in Mixmag). "He was kind of playing rock music but it was actually really cool."

:P

The silver lining is less shitty trance I guess.

Get it while its relevant.

(Thanks to the Metro Times for the choice pick by the way!)

The Unofficial Coachella 2005 Line-Up

April 30
David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay, PJ Harvey, Interpol, The Faint, Franz Ferdinand, Polyphonic Spree, Boards of Canada, TV On the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Squarepusher, Clinic, French Kicks, Secret Machines, Phoenix, Beep Beep, Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Death From Above 1979, and The Helio Sequence

May 1
R.E.M., Tears For Fears, Wilco, Bright Eyes, Jimmy Eat World, Mos Def, Badly Drawn Boy, The Streets, Cake, The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, Rilo Kiley, Radio 4, Doves, Iron and Wine, The Arcade Fire, and Moving Units


On Monday, I happen to meet with both the Coachella promoters and Tom Windish. Lemme just say- buy your tickets, book your hotels, or just start walking.

The cure for the LA lameness blues.

Football and architecture, Swiss style.

[via Archinect]

sorry to be only posting about old albums recently but fall has made me a bit nostaligic. just listening to dean wareham and his post-galaxy 500 band luna, who are reportedly calling it quits after 7 albums. "pup tent" and "penthouse" are my favorites...a beautiful mix of pop and post-velvet underground rock

iPod U2 vs. Negativland Special Edition

In 1991, the experimental sound collage band Negativland released a single called "U2", which extensively sampled both U2's hit single "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and colorful studio recordings of Top 40 disc jockey Casey Kasem. This offbeat recording would have languished in obscurity if weren't for Island Records, U2's record label, which decided to sue Negativland and their independent label SST Records for deceptive packaging and copyright infringement. After a protracted legal battle, Negativland's legal funds were exhausted and they settled out of court. Today, it is illegal to produce the "U2" single in the United States. (U2, on the other hand, would go on to use unauthorized samples of appropriated satellite video in their Zoo TV tour.)

Now you can commemorate this ignoble episode in intellectual property history with iPod U2 vs. Negativland Special Edition. From its packaging to its pre-installed content, this unauthorized iPod modification is an artful mash-up of the forces of corporate megarock and obscure experimental music, and a provocative symbol of the ongoing struggle between those who would confine culture and those who would free it.

Hotness!

[many thanks to Eric at Core77]

i might have mentioned him before but one of the greatest jazz men was rahsaan roland kirk, blinded at age two, a man who later had a dream about playing three saxophones at the same time (which he did) and went on to play 40 instruments and perfected circular breathing, a technique which allowed him virtually unlimited solo time due to not having to take a breath...a true genius

another genius, al green, is actually criminally website-free on a google search. most know him for his "let´s stay together" track from tarantino´s "pulp fiction" but his music and voice cover much more territory than soul ballads. check out his "al green greatest hits" on the right stuff records. proof that they don´t make vocalists like they used to

DJ Hell presents Bavarian Gigalo Night at Die Registratur. I'm going just to find out if umpah and lederhosen are involved.

ph3ar t3h cub3

Lagerfeld is the man.

Don't try to compete. Just stand back and let him happen.

Just when I didn't think I could love Vice Magazine any more...

Fellow purveyors of the finest in art, design and music Atmosphere have just done an extensive and quite handsome site redesign. Check out all the goodies.

Oh my.

Until the official illustrated compendium is complete, here are some more good tips. Also see Robot Dancing for Commies and, well, there's this.