[this link is dedicated to SV4...]
Sugar Frosted Cereal Museum on Flickr

Jackson Publick, co-creator of The Venture Bros, just announced in his live journal that Season 2 is slated to be released on DVD April 17, 2007!

Not only is there a montage in episode 1 set against "Everybody's Free" by Aquagen (one of the best worst hip-house tracks ever), but in the last episode there's an animated Kung Fu fight between David Bowie and Iggy Pop on top of a jet fighter in flight.

Also of note (if you're really really goth), you might recognize the other co-creator Doc Hammer as Eric Hammer formally of the lush 90's synth band Mors Syphilitica.

This Friday: Guggenheim Art After Dark with DJs Telefon Tel Aviv and Dethlab.

Flavorpill says:
After a November hiatus, First Fridays returns to the Guggenheim with digital wunderkinder Telefon Tel Aviv. Powell Ohio's Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper orchestrate a lush score from microbeats, twinkling synths, swelling strings, and the occasional soulful vocal sample that distinguishes their halcyon electronica from glitch-happy IDM. Detroit duo Dethlab put a devilish spin on docile electro tunes with Belgian EBM, French cyberpunk, and the occasional industrial tweak for good measure. While the Midwestern maestros slave over keyboards and mixers, partygoers can tour the museum's Lucio Fontana: Venice/New York exhibition, a comprehensive presentation of the artist's textured works on canvas and sheet metals.

Real Detroit Weekly says:
Congratulations to Dethlab (Michael Doyle and Bethany Shorb) as they have stepped into an art and music nerd's dream: performing at the prestigious Guggenheim Museum in fabulous New York City, opening for Chicago's IDM masterminds Telefon Tel Aviv. "Playing records is not art, but one of many components we use to communicate an idea," Michael said. "We approach it from a totally different angle than most - we deal with themes rather than genres, and put an emphasis on the performance aspect. I think the curators understand and appreciate that. We certainly weren't invited because we're good technical DJs! As visual artists who like to explore all sorts of mediums, there is no greater honor or more humbling venue to be asked to perform." Now what's it gonna take to get this painting by Ron Zakrin on the walls?

Hope to see all our NYC friends there!

Though not new its news to me: the Pope wears Prada. Im not sure if I find that funny or completely disgusting.

On my travels thru myspace i found an a good one, Robert Gomez. Gomez, recent-ish-ly signed to Bella Union, offers some amazingly crafted, brooding, slightly tex-mex flavoured songwriting which remind a bit in tone and execution Lisa Germano´s gorgeous album "Slide"...

Hats and classics by Joel-Peter Witkin for the NY Times

Keepin' in evil: Parisian masters of doom disco Black Strobe have launched a new podcast site featuring exclusive mixes by Ivan Smagghe and Arnaud Rebotini, as well as a new version of their single Shining Bright Star for download.

No plans for Thanksgiving Eve? Not feeling like hanging out with a bunch of shiny-shirt douchebags and coked-up skanks at some huge club, risk driving home while the city's finest are on red alert - as if they get commission on DUI's, only to feel like total hell at the biggest family get-together of the year tomorrow? We feel you. Here are a few more low key options in Detroit:

Tamion 12 Inch mastermind and former third head of ADULT. Sam Consiglio is exhibiting new visual work at Motor City Brewing Works. Every Wednesday artist, curator (and my former high school newspaper co-editor) Graem Whyte presents the work of area artists. Sam says, "this show should be of particular interest to fans of: Art, Movies, Music, Theater, Dance, Danzig, Cher, Magic, Muscles, Macho Mints, House, Home Furnishings and Decor, Pictures, Rock-Paper-Scissors, Girls that are Boys and Vise Versa." Well, if that dont' say it...

Afterwards, enjoy some nail-biting tournament bowling at America's oldest active bowling center. We'll be cheering on both the Wayne State University Art and Art History Department and "The Gawth Kids" (not only an apt description but the official name of their team. They happen to be in third place. Who ever said that pasty, gloomy, too-smart-for-their-own-good kids would never be good at sports?)

If that's not enough excitement for you, head over to OSLO for Ass Falcon - the sushi lounge's bi-weekly art opening, featuring the photography of Justin Ames. Our good friends Matt Abbott of CPM, David Blunk of the Undercover Eskimo Collective and Imperial Empire will be "throwing down the wax," as they say. (I don't know who actually says that... somebody... I guess.)

Happy Turkey Day!

Huge congrats to my partner in crime, Bethany Shorb a.k.a. Toybreaker, who's fashion label Cyberoptix has been cited by more than a dozen uber-hip web zines in recent weeks, including Fabulist, Indie Obsession, Bold Swaths, EveryoneForver and NOTCOT, as well as print magazines such as Adorn, and subject of a feature interview in Murketing.



Bethany styled, photographed, and designed much of the garments featured on the cover of this week's Real Detroit and the corresponding fashion spread/photo essay - a dark and whimsical narrative titled "The Big Hunt".

Cyberoptix apparel can be found at a number of boutiques and museum stores around the country, including Sarah Vidosh's brand new store SPY, in the former Zoot's space in Detroit's University/Cultural District. The SPY grand opening is this Saturday from 7pm to midnight. Click here for details.



The current issue of Real Detroit hit news stands today.
No models were hurt (badly) in the process.

Good point, Allen.

For the record, Tenacious D is neither good or funny.
If you want clever, ironic party music listen to Andrew WK or Electric Six.
Tenacious D is just plain stupid.

(I even left the link off so you don't get mad at me for wasting your time.)

Our good friend Greg Baise has a brand new show on Viva Radio. La Vie C'est Chouette is "an hour of miscellaneous/oddball artifacts, dollar bin dynamite, closet synthpunks, overseas bedroom prog, and twisted candyshop pop."

The program airs every Tuesday from noon to 1pm... which means I'm two hours late posting this, but you can listen to the archive any old time your heart desires.

I bought the brand new sunn O))) vs. Boris album last week, and it's really beautiful. Not exactly the word one would expect to use describing a collaboration between two monstrously heavy metal bands, but indeed the one most apt.

As described by Warpmart: This collaboration between Southern Lord's doom masters, is everything that it promises to be, as Sunn 0))) and Boris conceptualize, write and record together. 'Altar' picks up on the best aspects of both bands and pushes them forward over a series of varied tracks, ranging from the stormy instrumental workout of opener 'Etna', to beautiful, even romantic stuff like the 'Sinking Belle' featuring Boris' female singer Takeshi's delicate, spiritual vocals. Throughout the album, the group employ more electronics, more treatments and a more diverse range of atmospheres to present their vision, and it really works. The standout for me personally is 'Akuma No Kuma', which sounds like Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man should have sounded, as Joe Preston's voice gets vocodered over banks of vintage electronics and bass. It's a killer track, sounding like the futuristic musical equivalent of Mobeius' science-fiction comic that coined the term 'Heavy Metal', psychedelic iron machines tripping through torn metal landscapes. As ever with Southern Lord's output the sleeve is absolutely immaculate, stunningly beautiful, with a full colour book style CD case.



Back in June sunn O))) collaborated with visual artist Banks Violette, who cast Sunn's entire stage set in salt. The band then played live in the basement of the gallery on duplicate gear, hidden from view. More on the installation/performance here, and check Stephen O'Malley's blog here for the latest sunn O))) news and views.

Colonel Sanders Face Seen From Space

It took a team of nearly 50 designers, engineers, architects and other professionals working nearly three months to conceive, create and execute building the world's largest logo. The logo consists of 65,000, one-foot by one-foot painted tile pieces that were assembled like a humongous jigsaw puzzle. It took six days on site to construct the logo, during which time the logo design pieces were kept hidden from airplanes flying overhead.

KFC video: here
related: Mike Meyers

after buying the latest Method Man album i was hesitant to buy another lifeless, mediocre hip hop album, and especially hesitant to buy the latest from The Roots despite good reviews. I couldn´t handle another painful frat-hop offering like their last, The Tipping Point. But Game Theory is probably the best most concise Roots album yet.

Owen Ashworth's cat Rufus is safe at home. Read.

Master animator and surrealist Jan Svankmajer's latest work Lunacy with Guy Maddin and Isabella Rossellini's new short film My Dad is 100 Years Old at the Detroit Film Theatre tonight and Saturday at 9:30pm.

The latest provocation from surrealist master Jan Svankmajer (LITTLE OTIK) is loosely based on two short stories by Edgar Allan Poe and inspired by the works of the Marquis de Sade. In nineteenth-century France (albeit one full of deliberate anachronisms) a young man, Jean Berlot, is plagued by nightmares in which he is dragged off to a madhouse. On the journey back from his mother's funeral he is invited by a Marquis he meets at lunch to spend the night in his castle. There Berlot witnesses a blasphemous orgy and a 'therapeutic' funeral. Berlot tries to flee but the Marquis insists on helping him conquer his fears and takes his guest to a surrealistic lunatic asylum where the patients have complete freedom and the staff are locked up behind bars. Described by Svankmajer himself in a prologue to the film as a "philosophical horror film," LUNACY combines live action and stop-motion, sex and violence, grand guignol terror and gallows humor, and a lot of animated meat.

if heaven has a ghetto this gift has surely fallen from it:

The New Dance Show (including an ad for Watts Club Mozambique and various appearances by The Count)

Speaking of toys...Dunny Rabbit.

if this isnt a sign of how sick and twisted and sad our society is getting i dont know what is. OJ, you are truely a wretched bastard.

my fantasy of the possibility of seeing "2"-era Led Zeppelin sort of has come true: Wolfmother

I have an excessively long list of "autumn bands", but there is none so perfect for crunchy leaves and hot cocoa (and swirly goth dancing) as The Cranes.

This coming Monday at London's legendary TRASH CLUB, Farris Rotter of The Horrors shares the turntables with residents Erol Alkan, Rory Phillips & The Lovely Jonjo. I'd count on hearing some Birthday Party, Jesus and Mary Chain, Wire, Gun Club... in other words: teh awesome.

Coney Island developer to architect: I don't know... just make it crazy! Holographic mermaids, tattooed pachyderms, jack-o-lantern bikinis... hell, throw Batman in there. Crazy! (Not authentic crazy like old Coney Island though... 'friendly crazy.')

Ugh.

Prada Firewood.

If you haven't purchased Mahogany's new album Connectivity! yet, what the heck are you waiting for?

Elements of Lush, Belle and Sebastian, New Order, and the Cocteau Twins are certainly present, but Connectivity! stands on its own as one of the very finest pieces of work produced by anybody, anywhere, in any year. (Having exceptional artwork and Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie co-produce your album doesn't hurt either...)

XEROX is a new monthly night of electro, cold wave, new romantic, synthpop, minimal elektronik, et al. in Toronto. The brain-child musical super-genius Jason Amm a.k.a. Solvent, the night features Solvent and Will Munroe behind the turntables, and is the successor to Munroe's infamous Peroxide electro/disco/wave parties, which took place at Kensington's Club 56 from 2002-2004.

Expect everything from favorites to rarities, new to old, over a generous range of genres, but don't expect any of it to get lost in the mix. In addition to a vocal disdain for the all-too-often narrowness of "DJ culture", Amm is a fellow hopeless romantic for when "DJs mixed everything, and people danced to everything."

The next edition of XEROX is December 1st at The Beaver: 1192 Queen Street West, recently named best lounge by NOW Magazine.

I'm a huge Boys Next Door fan but was unaware that sweet little teenage Nick Cave and the lads made a music video! I'm still dumbfounded by the very high production quality of the early recordings. How many high school bands sound this good? Anyway, here's the video:



Also (after very, very, very painful editing) I compressed my favorite X songs to fit on a single CD last night for Toybreaker. It was somewhat satisfying that twentyfive of the best songs ever written fit on one disc - the longest being 4:47 and averaging 2:51 - still quite excessive for punk, or any other genre IMO.

If you like Kompakt records played properly [run through an array of super-nasty distortion pedals] check out Justice. As I've said before, minimal compositions work best with maximal sounds, and these Frogs serve up a carefully composed platter of sonic razor blades, broken glass, burnt motor oil and tainted blood. Delicious!

Seasonal Affective Disorder? Case of the Mondays?
Take 500mg of X and wash down with black coffee:

The Wooster Collective is cuarating an installation of sorts at 11 Spring Street - inviting more than twenty artists from around the world to cover the inside and outside of the building between now and the end of the year. Some great photos and more linkage at Gothamist.

Reminder for Detroiters that our friend Walter Wasacz of Paris '68 is DJing at the Majestic Cafe every Saturday.

New poster by Michael Segal.

Rob, of course I know Kenny-Boy "died" - simply having fun fanning the conspiracy flames with a copy-cat scenario for Dick. I doubt seriously any one of them will ever stand trial (even to me a civil case in a German court is very very shaky,) but could see years and years of charges being filed in various courts in various countries which will potentially keep them busy with lawyers or at least severely restrict their ability to travel. After repairing the nation, the most important thing is how this period in history will be recorded and seen by future generations. Nixon's going to look like a saint.

As much as I'd love for your prediction to come true 100% (esp. the President Clark part), there's just one little hitch in the dream: Kenneth Lay died in July of heart failure. So unless it's Zombie Kenneth that's having cocktails, I'm afraid the dream is over.

Also, this case will go nowhere in the International Crminal Court, as the US is protected under what's known as Article 98 agreements. The US has made several deals with other countries providing immunity and prohibiting the surrender of government and military officials to the ICC. However, there ARE countries Rummy COULD travel to which don't acknowledge article 98, but the US is cutting funding at a drastic rate to these places in retribution (see: the majority of South America and a generous portion of Africa).

The Democrats should pay no mind to this, nor try and bring up impeachment proceedings or any other nonsense other than to get this jackass and his thugs out of office and this country back on track. They should also start planning a strategy around their nominee for 2008. Somewhere in a Washington, puppetmaster Karl Rove is already planning his attack to not only take back Congress (which shouldn't be too hard to do if Democrats screw up), but keep his party in the Oval Office for another 4-8 yrs.

But then again, even Freman Hendrix hates me now so what do I know?



To keep this post on the art side of things, here's a quick snapshot of the ICC. Apparently this is only the temporary building and the permanent one should be up and going by 2009.

Justice is off to a quicker start than I had expected: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse

Would the Bush administration have been so concerned about war crimes charges - enough to try and rewrite the Geneva Convetions - if they weren't knowingly violating international law? I don't know if Don, Dick and George will ever end up in jail, but this should be the start of the rest of their lives sucking. Perhaps they should consult O.J.

Oh, and my predictions on how the tribunals will shake down:
Rumsfeld- suicide
Bush - pardoned by president Wesley Clark just before sentencing - has complete breakdown and is checked into a mental hospital
Cheney - dies of a heart attack awaiting trial (a.k.a. drinking cocktails in South America with Ken Lay)

You read it here first.

Nick Cave's newest project, Grinderman is "foul-mouthed, noisy, hairy, and damn well old enough to know better." Featuring Bad Seeds Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos, Grinderman is at the same time tautly minimal and raucously nasty. Listen to their first single at MySpace.

Tom Roche - Convergence, Tokyo Japan, 2005; Truss Cafe Chair designed by Scott Klinker.

Context Furniture and aedis design make party tonight, November 9th, at 8pm. Preview the latest in contemporary furniture and digital photography. Food, cocktails and music will also be in attendance.

aedis design, 808 South Old Woodward, Birmingham, MI.

1982 Maxell advert featuring Peter Murphy.

Also see Murphy with TV On The Radio and Trent Reznor performing Pere Ubu's Final Solution [thanks JonO] and his totally '80s video for the song.

Just in case this blog is your primary source for world news:
The Associated Press confirms Webb victory in Virginia, giving Democrats a complete sweep of both houses of congress. Sen. George Allen has not conceded, but is 7200 votes behind Webb with all votes tabulated in this last state on the line.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Bush said, "It was a thumping... It's clear the Democrat Party had a good night."

Finally, perhaps, he's starting to act with the humility of a president who lost the popular vote six years ago, only to be appointed to office by a court without the patience or stomach for due process (and maybe realizing that if those voices in his head are indeed God himself, the almighty has been just fucking with him all along...)

So distant seem the days of no war, of no fear, when prosperity was a real potential for all, when religious extremists were a fringe element rather than the ruling class, when all the world loved and admired America, when the president was getting blow-jobs... the seemingly endless glory of the 1990s under a charismatic Rhodes Scholar. We have so much work ahead to dig ourselves out and return to those standards, but at least now there is hope. Hope is something the Bush administration has stripped from the American psyche, and that is their biggest crime. I'm proud to be an American again. We should all be proud.

News flash: Mac users are liberals.

Duh!

The other election results are in, and the incumbent terminology wins at Gawker.

(I totally support the winner, but would suggest "ass-clown" as VP.)

Full. Sweep.

Technically Virginia is still up in the air, but with 99.something of the votes counted, Democrat Jim Webb is leading Republican incumbent George "Macaca" Allen by twice the margin Montana was won by.

If you haven't been glued to the news, the Democrats are projected to take a majority of seats in the Senate, confirmed a decisive majority in the House, and now have a nearly 3 to 2 majority in state governor seats.

And like a cherry on top, just moments ago Donald Rumsfeld stepped down as defense secretary.

"You've just resigned as Secretary of Defense. Now what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to my war crimes tribunal!"

Well, one can dream...

Ballardian interviews Geoff Manaugh

Over the course of the interview, Simon Sellars and I talk about J.G. Ballard's novels, from Concrete Island to Super-Cannes, The Drowned World to Crash - not to mention High-Rise - and we get there via a look at corporate office parks, Richard Meier, science fiction, Le Corbusier, the Paris riots, Archigram, Norman Foster, Sigmund Freud, sexual deviance, Daniel Craig, gated communities, the Taliban, Victor Gruen, future flooded Londons in the era of nonlinear climate change, Steven Spielberg, sports-car dealerships, Margaret Thatcher's son, public surveillance, Rem Koolhaas... etc.
[from BLDGBLOG]

A great read.

If anyone is interested, I've uploaded and organized all my photos from CMJ and excursions from New York last week:

Halloween on the Hudson
We spent Devil's Night in my favorite Hudson Valley town Cold Spring, and Halloween afternoon at the Sleepy Hollow cemetery. Stumbling across Russel Wright's home and studio was major treat - only an hour outside of NYC.

The Knife at Webster Hall
Sorry these are pretty blurry - long shutter speeds and light shows don't always play nice. See review three posts down, and video clip seven posts down.

The Horrors and Office at Harmony Palace
Two of my favorite bands and Peter Hook DJing at a Chinese restaurant... NME knows how to throw a party! We were so close to the stage that Faris stood on Toybreaker's shoulder while singing at one point. Knowing they were playing last, Office played an extra-super-rocked-up set. Office also signed a record deal last week. Dreams do come true at CMJ. See Horrors video clip from this show seven posts down, and more photos from Toybreaker here.

The Horrors at Galapagos Art Space
Even better two nights later. I think they were more comfortable, because Faris was jumping all over - as in leaping from the stage to the bar, then off the bar into the crowd. If you know Galapagos, the stage and the bar are not that close together and are both very high. The lads are all super tall though... even without the hair and the heels.

Falling Water
Added an extra day to the trip to tour FLW's masterwork on the way back to Detroit. I should have done this while in design school, but better late than never. No number of photographs come close to experiencing the place in person.

Not only does it look like The Whitney will be building a new gallery space at the base of the High Line, but will be retaining architect Renzo Piano for the new building. Piano's design to expand the museum's Upper East Side digs have been all but scrapped due in large part to zoning and legal battles.

When asked about the new site in the Meatpacking District, Piano replied "I like that place, including the meat smell! It's full of energy."

Read the whole story here, including an interview with Piano.

+ more reason Renzo Piano is possibly the best architect in the world today: "I'm not able to make a scheme unless I am passionate about it, romantic about the scheme in some way... It's not about money, it's about energy and dreams and passion."

An adventurous reader broke into the Beijing Olympic Stadium construction site to snap some pics of Herzog & de Meuron's "bird's nest" at night. View the photos at Archinect.

The building looks even more creepy and beautiful in real life than the creepy and beautiful renderings.

Pitchfork reviews The Knife's first ever US performance, and takes the words right out of my mouth:

"So we're confronted with the reality of one of the best albums of the year, by one of Pitchfork's favorite bands, delivered using tropes that send the authenticity police into fits of rage: lip-synching, silly dancing, cool light show, superclub dance beats. Does that mean the Knife's performance was insincere, or lightweight, or somehow less worthy than that of a band sweating through a set, pounding on their own instruments and pouring their hearts out on the mic? Fuck no. Does it mean that we need to alter our antiquated notions of "worthiness" and "realness" in pop music performance? Fuck yes."

The Knife performance was as much theatre as concert. No one really knows if they were playing anything "live" on stage, but it doesn't matter because they put on an amazing show, and a show is ultimately what I want to see. Unfortunately too few electronic musicians even consider the performance element of a live show. There is nothing more lame than watching a guy in a t-shirt hunched over a laptop playing everything "live". What is the point? Movement, visuals, silly costumes, etc. become more imperative when the music is coming from machines. The very nature of the machines provide an amazing opportunity for artists to be more creative, to add whole new layers of experience for the audience, and to re-examine what a live show can be. It was refreshing and exciting to see The Knife understand this and take it to a level that borders on performance art... performance art that rocks.

Welcome to Seussville + Seuss Taxidermy.

This morning's moment of zen: Peter Lorre soundbank.

Speaking of, we've become very fascinated with cellular memory... perhaps more on the subject later in the week.

Has anyone else noticed that Patrick Wolf is like one of the only people out there doing it right?


Srsly, between him and the Horrors, I'm moving to London.
London's sort of got their Ess together.

Exclusive Burnlab video:
The Knife live at Webster Hall
The Horrors live at Harmony Palace
(The sound clips a bit, but you get the idea.)

A nice video about MOCAD courtesy of Model D.