Poll

Who out there would be interested in an electro-punk cover of Radio Free Europe?

[I'm on a totally inexplicable early R.E.M. kick this week and was thinking something along the lines of Bombardier meets GD Luxxe... kicked up several notches of course. Bethany and I have been just dying to record some music for months, but haven't had any time.]

Thinking out loud here... in an ideal world I'd like to have Sean Lynch on guitar, Jack Vulpine on bass, production by Doc and engineering by Josh Eustis. Vocals are a tough call. I think Bethany or I could pull it off with enough effects, but Lynchy, Nicola, Jared Louche, Adam Killing... heck, Dirk Ivens or Ian Clark [who's currently my favorite vocalist in any genre - that video's not the best example, but it's too awesome not to link] would be pretty bloody amazing.

[Stand by for next musical whim.]

New Moz Video

Brilliant and biting as ever.


Morrissey - All You Need Is Me [2008]

+ Moz fan art:

Movement '08 Recap Part 2: ShadesVision/SKETCH3D

A couple weeks before the festival, Dr. Bill at Shades Optical asked o2 about doing something unique for them at the DEMF this year. During the course of brainstorming we landed on anaglyphic stereoscopy as a theme, and the tag-line "ShadesVision" - based on the notion of "seeing the world differently." Being the obsessive perfectionists and gluttons for punishment art we are, what began as a simple window graphic quickly evolved into a multi-part multimedia installation which was executed in about a week's time.


Michael Haener during install



The first component was a fifty foot stereoscopic banner we designed and installed in the wooded VIP area at Hart Plaza. Stretched between the trees, the banner was comprised of various Detroit landmarks [photographed in stereo of course] with a vibrating red line weaving through all the images, representing the thread of the city's creative energy. A pair of custom designed 3D glasses were included in all the artist, VIP and press kits, as well as distributed in person during the festival.


SKETCH3D screen grab during development


SKETCH3D control box


SKETCH3D control box


SKETCH3D display


Christopher Bissonnette running the system through the paces

The second element was a new software application developed by one of our newest team members, Andrew Sliwinski, called SKETCH3D. This basically works just like an Etch-a-Sketch, but with a third knob for the Z axis. In addition to the software, SKETCH3D included a custom control box and surround for a 60" plasma screen. This was by far the biggest hit. Every time I walked into the artists' lounge, someone was wearing the 3D glasses [and a huge smile] as they played with it. I think it was just right balance between gadget nerdery and intuitive playfulness.





The third element was an 8' x 8' graphic in the lower bowl area of the plaza, which explained the other installations and included some stereoscopic imagery not on the banner.

More info can be found at the project website and more photos on my Flickr page.

Movement '08 Recap Part 1: Too Far Gone... No Way Back

We've now had a full week to recover from another DEMF here in Detroit. This was the busiest and the best festival yet for me personally, [even more so than two years ago] mostly due to being involved in two very intensive and exciting projects. I'll write about the other project in the next post.

Bethany and I teamed up with our good friends at Interdimensional Transmissions to throw an event at the new Cyberoptix studio last Saturday. We had been planning to bring Motor back to Detroit, and I.T. was planning a follow-up to their legendary series of Cannonball events and last December's No Way Back. I think it was around February we all decided to pool our efforts and make it one massive twelve hour party with two distinct personalities, and by the end of April we had what I think is the most killer line-up I've ever seen on one flyer.


Bryan Black of Motor at Too Far Gone... No Way Back


Adam Lee Miller and Ian Clark at Too Far Gone... No Way Back


Toybreaker and Nicola Kuperus at Too Far Gone... No Way Back


Bryan, BMG and Adam at Too Far Gone... No Way Back

I don't think last Saturday could have gone much better. With everything we do [I think I can speak for both Dethlab and I.T. here,] we first and foremost want people to have a great time, but we also have an agenda. In this case, it was showing people that electronic music isn't about club culture and all its superficial trappings. We wanted to show that the cold, mechanical soul of underground electronic music is alive and well, and as feisty, rebellious and D.I.Y. as ever. I think every aspect of the party and everyone involved - especially the DJs - communicated that, and the positive response was absolutely overwhelming. It was an honor to be a part of this and to work with so many great friends. I've lost track of how many times I've heard it was the "party of the weekend" or "best party in years," from both people I respect and admire, and total strangers. Huge thanks to everyone!



I feel like a douche going on about an event I helped throw, so here are some of the comments from various message boards:

"Best, most intense, evil music I heard all weekend (all year?) by a long shot. Carlos Souffont, Patrick Russell, and especially Mike Servito were fucking amazing. I think Derek played a little at the end, but I was gone. The vibe and location were superb... it was a dark sweaty loft party as opposed to stale club bullshit."
-Spinoza

"I made my way to the location for No Way Back. I'll be honest, this was just plain out one of the best fucking parties I've ever been too in my life. It was held in a loft just outside of downtown and to get there, you basically had to know where it was. No signs on the door advertising it, just an address with the instructions, "Enter and park in the back of the building." From Gratiot Ave., you wouldn't see a thing. Behind the building cars were lined up all over the place. Headed up the stairs, made my way into the loft, and it was just perfect. Absolutely none of the bullshit I've come to hate about the club scene. No dress codes, no VIP sections or lines, no horrendous music, and everybody who was there wasn't interested in being seen or being a fashion plate or seeing how fucked up they could get. Sound was perfect, and the only "lightshow" they had was a single strobelight. And the music was beautiful..."
-Electro Soundwave

"It was a GREAT party. I found the music to be just the dark and evil that is so missing from many other electronic music events. It was just what this somewhat deranged doctor [of internet message board journalism] needed."
-Stormy

"Now THAT was a party! Patrick Russell straight up brought the heat last night. That was one of the better sets I've heard in a long, long time. Actually, that was one of the best parties I've been to in a long time."
-Craig Gonzalez

"I came in from Philly. This party was great. Came to see Adult. and was pleased by Dethlab and all. I blew off my web-ordered Hawtin ticket and my friends were all pouty. Waaaa. They regretted it after long lines and lots of positive chatter the next day. If Philly partied like that... the cops would have been kicking us in the neck long before sunrise. Thx for showing me the dark side of electro that I was hoping to find in Motown. I knew it was there. Rust belt industrial is going strong. Best thing I saw all weekend by far. I'm kind of fascinated by your town right now... hope to get back soon."
-Donkeybasketball

"HOLY SHIT what a GREAT party!!!!! Mike, Bethany, Brendan, etc. GREAT FUCKING JOB!!!! Wow. STILL recovering. Btw, new rule: When Interdimensional Transmissions and Dethlab throw a party.......GO!!!! No excuses, just GO!!!!"
-Stos

Mazda's Nagare Design Language

There's a good article over at Car Body Design on Mazda's bold new design language.

“We wanted to create cars that had a ‘snapshot feeling’ of this natural motion,” explains Laurens van den Acker. “We realised that the automotive industry is one of the few industries that hadn’t yet captured these amazing natural textures from the landscape. Architecture, fashion and product design have all looked at these landscape elements. There was a great opportunity for us to interpret this for Mazda design.”

“Our new surface language is car-centric,” adds Franz von Holzhausen. “After studying the architectural approach, which tends to be strictly rigid, and the organic approach, which is highly fluid, we created Nagare to straddle those two disciplines. It is fluid, graceful, and dynamic. But the message it registers on the beholder is flow-motion.”

From here Mazda’s designers began to explore the possibility of textured surfacing on cars: as if the cars’ surfaces had been naturally sculptured by air or water. Mazda’s design team began by developing a surface language to visually describe their Flow philosophy. Like the natural elements that had inspired them the team wanted to communicate the sheer raw power of Mazda motion even when their cars were still, as van den Acker explains:

“It was in making the transition from observing motion in nature as an expression of energy to applying it to a manmade object such as a car that we discovered what a thoroughly exciting and logical creative approach the design concept represented. This revelation allowed us to proceed to create one dramatic and unique design after another.”



Conventional automotive design dictates that the panels of car bodies are comprised of smooth, clean and clear surfaces. Yet Flow is like a ripple or a wave effect across the surface of the metal.

“The surface language of Nagare goes against conventional design thinking of clean, uncomplicated surfaces,” explains Franz von Holzhausen. “This is what we are all taught at college so it goes against the grain.

“We are breaking the golden rule of design – which is to simplify,” explains Laurens van den Acker. “Everybody will tell you to remove lines until you have no more left to remove. We are adding lines, which is kind of counter intuitive, but if we do it well it looks natural and creates beauty.”

Previously on Burnlab: Crossed Folds and Maximum Joy

Robert Broner

[Sorry for no posts from me in over a week. I promise to catch up on the blogging in the next few days.]


"Turret II": intaglio print, 1971
Collection of Museum of Modern Art, New York

I recently came across this fantastic interview with artist Robert Broner.

Broner was born on the east side of Detroit, on the same street I lived on when I was little. The interview is a fascinating window on life and making art in Detroit during the early and mid-20th century.

Trunk show at Naka in Ferndale

See new work from:
Cyberoptix TieLab & their new BSD luxe-line
Phantom Limb: The Stuff You're Missing

+ food! drink!
+ brand new designs!
+ door prizes and discounts!
+ friends are welcome.

Naka is located at 9 Mile and Woodward
171 W. 9 Mile, Ferndale, MI.
Thursday, May 29 from 6:00pm - 9:00pm.
248.582.9113

See more at Toybreaker blog.

nospectacle live at demf

nospectacle, an electronic music/video group made up of sound/film producer Chris McNamara (Thinkbox), and Jennifer A. Paull and Walter Wasacz of Paris '68 DJs, will open the VitaminWater Main Stage Saturday, May 24 at 2008's Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival. The live audio/visual-DJ hybridized performance is 2-4 p.m. and is directly followed by the highly anticipated Detroit debut of Deepchord presents Echospace. nospectacle was founded in Detroit in 2008 and debuted in March at the Cranbrook Art Museum during the exhibition, Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future. Drones, dubs, subsonic bass immersion and video projections all come alive in nospectacle's dream machine discotheque.

We're throwing a party this Saturday with some friends. You should come.

Saturday, 5.24.08

TOO FAR GONE [presented by Dethab]
9PM-12AM: Adult. + Perspects + Cowboy Mark + Dethlab [mega-tag-team DJ set]
12AM-1AM: MOTOR [DJ set]

NO WAY BACK [presented by Interdimensional Transmissions]
1AM-9AM: Derek Plaslaiko, Mike Servito, BMG of Ectomorph, Patrick Russell and Carlos Souffront

The Atlas Building at 1440 Gratiot, Detroit MI
[park and enter at the rear of the building]
9PM-9AM | 21+ | $10 Intredimesional Membership

This is the official unofficial DEMF anti-afterparty.

Set design by Infinite Dimensions.
Master carpentry by Ersatz Adam.
Ninja services by Ninja Owen.
Charm and wit by notary public David Blunk II.

Catching up with Pruned

Alexander Trevi's landscape architecture journal Pruned has had a plethora of fascinating posts over the past few weeks. As is so often the case, the truth is stranger than fiction. A few highlights below:

London as Venice

Heavy Load-Exerting Concrete Body and Other Structural Near-Analogues

A Little Columbarium Forest in the Arctic

The Machinic Landscape of Tulips

Matt Blake

Detroit artist Matt Blake passed away this past Friday of a heart attack. [I just learned of this about an hour ago, so I'm still rather rattled and shocked.]

Matt was an extraordinarily tallented young artist and a much loved and highly active member of the community. To describe him in the most basic terms: I don't think I've ever seen Matt without a smile on his face.

Matt was a member of the Propeller Collective, which put Detroit on the international design and art world map in the early 1990s by leading the resurgence of craftsmanship and metaphor in industrial design.

There will be a memorial at 4PM on Thursday, May 15 at the Piquette Model T Complex (3rd floor), 461 Piquette Ave. (betw. Brush & John R)

On Wednesday, May 14, an exhibition of Matt's artwork will be on display from 7 p.m. to midnight at the Motor City Brewing Works (470 W. Canfield St., Detroit)

Metro Times arts editor Rebecca Mazzei has an article here: Detroit Loses a Great

Detroit News article here: Detroit artist Matt Blake remembered





This is not okay.

X

X is performing this Thursday at the Majestic Theater in Detroit.

I wore out my Ain't Love Grand cassette in high school, but never had the chance to see them in '80s. We'll expect to see anyone worth their sideburns and combat boots at the show.


X - Nausea [from The Decline of Western Civilization, 1981]


X - Johnny Hit And Run Paulene [from The Decline of Western Civilization, 1981]


X - Burning House of Love [1984]

The Long Now Foundation Mechanicrawl

One of my favorite organizations, The Long Now Foundation presents Mechanicrawl July 12th, 02008.


"Spend a summer day exploring the mechanical marvels along San Francisco's North Shore! See giant running steam engines, turn of the century automata, mechanical computers, an 8 foot high mechanical planetarium and more..."

[via Bruce Sterling / previously on Burnlab: Mad About Orreries]

East Coast Recap

Ms. Toybreaker and and I are [reluctantly] back in Detroit from a four and a half day jaunt around the east coast - playing records and visiting family, friends and museums.

Wednesday night's edition of Kiss & Tell was a total blast. [For Detroiters' reference, Kiss & Tell is more or less to Bunker what Les Infants Terribles was to Untitled.] Huge thanks to Seze for inviting us to play records, and huge thanks to Bryan Black for being an integral part of the chaos and totally shaming us with an amazing set. It was great to see Gorrell, Sneak, Plaslaiko, Brian Jackson, Pheonix Perry, Atomly, Bryan Kasenic, Cowboy Mark, Lisa Hsu, Lauren Hill, Mike Schroff, and so many of our good friends there. Official photos from the night can be found here.

Thursday we took advantage of the Megalopolis' excellent rail system and headed down to Philadelphia. Nor'easter-be-damned, we had a spectacular meal at Amada Thursday night, followed by cheesesteaks at Pat's and visits to the Mütter Museum and Philadelphia Museum of Art on Friday.

This was my 2nd and [incredibly] Bethany's first time at the Mütter. [19th century vitrines full of human skulls, surgical instruments and wax models of medical anomalies never ever get tired.] This was the first time for both of seeing the Duchamp collection, including The Large Glass and Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas at the Philly museum of art. Wow. I can die now. I remember when I was eight or so [I was really into Dali and Magritte and Escher at the time - I think surrealism appeals to most young boys in the same way sci-fi does] my dad told me how Duchamp's last work took 20 years to complete, and compared it to one of those big sugar easter eggs you peek into to view a diorama. He didn't think that conversation through too hard ahead of time, because when I asked what the diorama was, he uncomfortably skirted the question. Even at 36, I felt dirty looking at it in person - which is impressive after almost three decades of anticipation! [If I believed in an afterlife, the very first person I'd like to meet is Marcel Duchamp. I'm not terribly good at chess, but still... I'd like to think we could have a good conversation about subversion.]

High Line Progress

Curbed has a photo gallery and update on everyone's favorite park in the sky. Phase 1 is looking good, and just about ready for soil and landscaping. There are also some interesting new views of the Standard Hotel NY, which is also coming along nicely.

Curbed promises three High Line updates with galleries today, so check back soon.

Lush Louis Vuitton Visuals

This 2008 LV clip has it all. Rich, layered, mise en scene, photographed by (a Doyle no less) Wong Kar-wai collaborator Christopher Doyle. The dramatic tones and melodies of Oscar-winner, Gustavo Santaolalla (soundtrack composer of films like "Babel"). All directed by French commercial auteur, Bruno Aveillan (Thermasilk, Nintendo, Lexus). It's a gorgeous commercial, even if you can't really see the clothes.

[ via The Playlist ]

More info soon...

Detroit: 5/24/08

Mount Fear: crime statistics visualized as sculpture

Here's one for all my fellow documentation, cartography and data visualization fetishists:

The terrain of Mount Fear is generated by data sets relating to the frequency and position of urban crimes. Precise statistics are provided by the police. Each individual incident adds to the height of the model, forming a mountainous terrain.

All Mount Fear models are built on the same principals. The imaginative fantasy space seemingly proposed by the sculpture is subverted by the hard facts and logic of the criteria that shape it. The object does not describe an ideal other-worldly space separated from lived reality, but conversely describes in relentless detail the actuality of life on the city streets.


Mount Fear East London by Abigail Reynolds


Mount Fear Eindhoven by Abigail Reynolds

[via Information Aesthetics]

Kahn/Esherick House follow-up

Eames has posted another batch of photos from the Louis Kahn designed Margaret Esherick House.



Two unique details illustrated here are how the chimney is set away from the house, behind a huge plane of glass, and how the ceilings are often lower than the tops of the windows - both tricking the eye in a way that blurs interior and exterior space.


In both contrast and harmony with Kahn's seemingly formal rigidity, the very organic kitchen was created by Margaret's sculptor uncle Wharton Esherick. [I love the carved run-off channels in the countertop above. It makes me think of the sink in Bill Massie's Big Belt House.]

Quote of the day

"The revolution of will be art directed."