This Friday our good friends at City People Music present enigmatic electro terrorists Ultradyne at the 2500 Club in Detroit. Also performing will be T. Linder, Andy Hegler, and Matt Abbott + friends on the patio. 18+ | 10pm-2am | 2500 Park at Henry St.

Detroit and Brooklyn and closing yet another trade. This time Brooklyn gets Derek Plaslaiko in exchange for Mrs. Doyle. (I think Detroit's getting the better deal, but I'm biased of course.) To mark the event, there are going to be a series of consecutive parties, starting with a 4 hour DJ set from Derek at the Shelter on Saturday night. In proper Plaslaiko fashion, the celebrating is supposedly planned to run well into Sunday afternoon.
Good god...

Speaking of mayhem, I've finally uploaded photos from the May edition of Les Infants Terribles. Click. (Big thanks to MegB0t for the extra snaps!)

Please take a look at how eclectic the crowd is. These are key ingredients to any good party:
age diversity: good
ethnic diversity: good
sexual orientation: about 50/50
bald guy in black tank top drinking from brown bag: check
guy with glasses and tie drinking from brown bag: check
Rob Theakston: check
guy who brought the brown bag with video camera: check
hot school teacher: check
goth bar tenders: check
indie rockers: plenty
techno kids having fun to music with words: yep
old school candy ravers: check
art school kids: oh yeah
really normal looking people who wandered in and seemed to have a blast: check
coworkers seeing your 'dark side': check
18 year old gigolo with dreads and awesome shirt: check
Roxy Music baseball jersey: check
silver cape: check
vinyl skirt: check
guy wearing babushka: check
young Jackie O with orange hair: check
guy with fuscha wig, green moustache and pirate shirt: check
boy on boy action: check
girl on girl action: check
girl on boy action: check
disco balls smashed: one
amount of glass broken: indeterminable
furniture destroyed: indeterminable
wrestling in broken glass: check
getting yelled at by the bartender for breaking things: check
owner firing the bartender for yelling at people for breaking things: check
three guys wrestling a traffic drum to the ground at 4am: check

Good times.
posted by Michael Doyle

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

The CHOICEST moment of SONAR: 9.30am friday, in taxi heading to after with magda and ricardo villalobos, ricardo using his cellphone to call his liver to see if it could handle more (i think the answer was yes).....and speaking of livers, i´m happy to let you know marius that i was finally able to eat solid food today (60 or so hours later). life´s little pleasures

posted by chris

Who isn't fascinated by the rich texture and history of decaying architecture? Superb photos and related links at Abandoned Places dot com.

posted by Michael Doyle

just signing in to ditto chris on the excellence of 4 days of pure mayhem, and also to say that my favorite show stealer was Canadian turntable kid numero uno, mr. Kid Koala. his mixing of samples from Cure's "Closer" and Tears for Fears' "Shout" with the usual weird scratchy breaks simply tore the place up. the otherwise under-energized hip hop stage was jumping, just a fantastic show.

posted by Marius

sorry it has taken a couple days for a SONAR report but it honestly took that long for me to recover...so, best guess would be that it was an amazing weekend (it was). thanks to my very willing accomplice burnlabber marius watz, we were able to do more than humanly possible over the three days of the festival. other accomplices were sarah and zuzanna, jen and lateef (sp? sorry man), and many more of the detroit/ghostly crew.

a bit more detailed report to come, but the highlight day was definitely friday, kicking off with SONARday and the ghostly showcase of geoff white and dabrye, SONARnight kicking it with monster sets by magda, richie hawtin vs. ricardo villalobos, and finally matthew dear. the night ended for me (but not others) at about noon the next day at an attic apartment overlooking barcelona with the dj skills of magda, richie, ricardo, and michael maier...not too shabby a day

more details and photos to come....

posted by chris

Monday, June 21, 2004

Our friend Kazys was at the launch of SpaceShipOne this morning in the Mojavoe desert and sends you these photos of the historic flight.

posted by Michael Doyle

SAUL BASS
One of the great graphic designers of the 20th century, Saul Bass is the undisputed master of film title design. The haunting elegance of the titles he created for Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder and Stanley Kubrick in the 1950s and 1960s and, later, for Martin Scorsese transformed a banal medium into an art form. Before Bass, titles were simple lists of the cast and crew projected on to cinema curtains which were only drawn when the film began. As this landmark exhibition will show, Saul Bass turned the film title into a visual spectacle. From his stark cut-out's for Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm, and the spiralling circles of Hitchcock's Vertigo, to the frenzied neons of Scorsese's Casino, Saul Bass created some of the most enduring images in design and cinema history.Design Museum London

iPOD your BMW

posted by Chad

Since a small handful of corporations control the mass media, and honestly, we're really just talking to ourselves on the internet, get lo-fi: freeway blogging!

posted by Michael Doyle

Sunday, June 20, 2004

This is a pretty disturbing discussion thread beating up on Skinny Puppy and their fans from an extremist right wing board. I'd advise not reading it if you're in a good mood. Big thanks (I think) to Jared for the link. And here's a really comprehensive interview with Ogre and cEvin that apparently got the rednecks in such a seething fit.

posted by Michael Doyle

The first manned flight of a reusable, privately built spacecraft is scheduled for Monday morning. Developed by Scaled Composites of California, SpaceShipOne is competing with twenty teams from seven countries for the X Prize, a $10 million competition to develop and test the first viable commercial spacecraft. More at CNN and the BBC.

posted by Michael Doyle

Saturday, June 19, 2004

THX 1138 coming to DVD in September.

posted by Michael Doyle

Cozytone is a monthly online album of artwork from leading edge young designers, artists and photographers. Top notch stuff.

posted by Michael Doyle

Friday, June 18, 2004

Important little announcement: Tonight's edition of Les Infants Terribles will be on the third floor of the Broderick Tower, rather than the basement ballroom. The new space was previewed at the Run.Stop.Restore party with Magda and Troy Pierce during the Movement festival, and features many strange nooks and crannies and a definite abandoned building vibe which can only be described as "sketchy awesomeness." Plus, the sound system has been refurbed from the ground up to provide more than ample noise vibration and harshness for all the terrible children.

New favorite quote: Martin Atkins to Boomer Reynolds, "Your friends [Mark Lazar and myself] are crazy!" ...this coming from one of the pivotal players of the original London punk scene and the Chicago industrial scene. Heh heh. Wait 'til Mark and I unleash the live bat pinata! (just kidding... maybe.)

After giving up hope around 11:30pm, I did finally get in to the very sold out Skinny Puppy show in Detroit last night. (I know you were all hanging on bated breath.) HUGE thanks to Katie and Bethany for making it happen, and extra special thanks to Liz and Nix for the valiant effort on behalf of my dumb ass who didn't buy tickets in advance. (Is it weird that all my Puppy contacts are girls?) Anyway, the show was really good - lots of old favorites, including VX Gas Attack, Glass Houses, and of course Testure as an encore.

a few pics:







...and some 12 second video clips of Glass Houses and Tin Omen (The sound is horribly garbled on the clips, but it was super clear in person. You get the idea.)

edit: the above should open in Quicktime. Let me know if therey're not working for you - see Contact section at left. Oh, and hello to everyone wandering over from the Litany boards! Yes, I know the clips are short and the sound is horrible.

posted by Michael Doyle

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Note to designers: please retain a layer of caution when giving feedback.

"I killed her because she reminded me of an old school teacher whom I hated very much."

posted by rob

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

If anyone is still having mushy feelings about Ronald Reagan, Congressman John Dingell puts it all in perspective in a comment posted on Rob's Blog.

posted by Michael Doyle

Our friends at Motor City Rocks have just posted the schedule for the Rock City Festival this weekend. 30 bands. 2 stages. 2 days. Free! See Dave Runk's June 9th post for more details.

posted by Michael Doyle

T. Raumschmiere's label Shitkatapult has spun off a new division called MUSICK. The first 12" release ranges from minimal techno to the coarse gnarzigkeit electropunk we all know and love, featuring T., Elastic Heads (aka Trike, BPitchcontrol), Spectral artist Peter Grummich and Detroit native Jerry Abstrsact. Herr Raumschmiere will be performing at the Sonar festival as part of a Shitkatapult showcase this Friday in Barcelona.

posted by Michael Doyle

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Update: after waiting for a while on 53rd the only thing that occurred was the Beasties doing an accapella while crossing the street to some unheard backing track. Snapped a few pics but nothing eventful. Will have to watch Letterman tonight for it to make sense.

Meantime there is iRAQ.

Beastie Boys are celebrating the release of the '5 boroughs' today with a rumored outside free performance in Midtown NYC at 53rd and Broadway at 5pm. There are also rumors saying they are going to play a short show in each of the 5 boroughs today. Anyone interested in catching this better get there at 4:30 at the latest. More here Thanks Jen @ Gothamist

posted by Dave Pinter

as a sort of kick-off of sonar week, our friends zuzanna and sarah of zuzanium are presenting their collection for the first time in spain tonite june 15th in zentraus club on rambla del raval, with guest dj nigel hayes

posted by chris

Monday, June 14, 2004

Superhuman strength. Coming to an exoskeleton near you.

posted by BitBoy

Here is a choice selection of pics and vids taken with my favorite new toy over Movement and Mutek weekends. I've never fetishized a camera before, in fact, I hate carrying one. But after I saw the Casio belonging to this guy, i just had to have one. Unfortunately, the video of the panel discussion I was part of was inexplicably deleted. But I can assure all my fellow labmates that while i might not have been the smartest guy on a panel that featured fine folks from XLR8R, ZedTV, Capital Magazine, De:BUG and Revue Mouvement, I was certainly the wittiest.

posted by joshua

Here is a clip featuring Jared Louche of Chemlab from Omegaman's upcoming Clubhead record, mentioned earlier. So good. If all goes as planned, Les Infants Terribles will be hosting the record release party a bit later this summer.

That's why its important to read Burnlab daily: you get all the good stuff way before anyone else. :)

posted by Michael Doyle

Sunday, June 13, 2004

I'm working on an album of Burnlab sticker sightings. If you happen to have one or spot one somewhere, please take a click-click and send it along to mike at burnlab dot net. I'll send you something nice in return. Most common sightings seem to be on DJ record cases, synthesizers, and public bathrooms (of course.) Thanks!

posted by Michael Doyle

Puppy Please

So, I put off buying tickets for Thursday's Skinny Puppy show in Detroit. Now of course, it's sold out! I do have friends of friends of friends from Toledo to New York to Miami trying to wrangle something on behalf of my dumb ass, but nothing for sure and any help at all getting at least one these coveted little passes in my hands would be greatly appreciated. :)

Bethany sent me a photo of Ogre from the dress rehearsals last week. Not sure if its okay to post here yet, but the costume she designed for him looks something like a Victorian straight jacket for a cosmonaut. So awesome. I'm going to die if I can't get into this show...

Damage Addict

Friday's Damage Manual show in Chicago was fantastic, plus we got some excellent schwag from the good folks at Invisible. Lazar and I were a bit disappointed we couldn't get a proper pit going during Stateless... seriously, Chicago... there's no chin stroking allowed at punk shows where we come from!


Chris Connelly and Martin Atkins in action


another dive bar toilet tagged

Watch for the Invisible release of Clubhead by Mr. Boomer Omegaman Reynolds - a continuous mix of Pigface classics completely stripped down to byte size loops and reassembled with new drum and synth programming (and even some vocals) by Omegaman himself. Pigface as you've never heard it, guaranteed.

posted by Michael Doyle

Friday, June 11, 2004

Here's one of the 15 films Nike commissioned for it's Art of Speed project. Others can be seen on the Nike/Gawker blog here

posted by Dave Pinter

below is a post from PJay:
(source: rhythmism.com)

OK everybody, heres the dealio.....

Volume offically informed us on Thursday that the their permits to operate the space the night of the 12th have been denied. Prior to this they were highly confident that they would have the paperwork in order to do the 12th.

After exploring several options including the maritime hotel, spirit, and several other venues in manhattan and brooklyn, its been decided by all involved to move the party to the Sullivan Room. Although a few of the other venues seemed very promising, Richie was adamant about using a space that can both go past 4am, and where the volume level would not be restricted.

All Advanced tickets will get priority admission to the Sullivan Room, and anyone wishing a refund of their advanced tickets can get their full ticket price + record store service charge refunded at the door. Tickets can also be refunded at the place of purchase until 6pm wednesday. Any questions specifically regarding ticket refunds should be addressed to ticketrefund@tronictreatment.net.

Additional sound will be added. All artists are confirmed. After 2am we will also open the Lions den, the upstairs of the sullivan room, connected by the stairs at the back of the venue.

Saturday June 12 2004: 8pm - 6am+ 21+
Sullivan Room 218 Sullivan Street btwn bleeker and west 3rd
Richie Hawtin
Matthew Jonson [live]
Magda
Clark Warner
Slacknoise

posted by startupdisko

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Friday night is the mini-dorkwave Chicago invasion: Blackbx/Burnlab/Movement/Minus sound guru Mark Lazar, Boomer (Omegaman) Reynolds and myself are roadtripping to see the postpunk/industrial supergroup Damage Manual at the Bottom Lounge. We hope to see a few familiar freaks while we're there. I will undoubtedly be all giddy and flustered in the presence of Chicago Industrial royalty.

If you're in Detroit Friday night, there are two great shows to check out:

Ghostly International presents Music From the Wires For Ears Vol. IV, featuring Greg Davis and Lusine at the Magic Stick.

Down the street, Oslo will be in the good hands of Italians Marco Passarani, MAT 101, Raiders of the Lost Arp and Detroit's own, the always awesome Adam Lee Miller (of Adult., of course.)

Remember to clear your schedule for next Friday night/Saturday morning, because this guy is going to turn up both the sleaze and the synths for your pleasure.

posted by Michael Doyle

How much bamboo does $60,000 buy?

nARCHITECTS aim to find out with this years PS1 Warm Up installation
Here's a cool photo diary of the fabrication.

posted by Dave Pinter

robodandy
Within the framework of Antwerp World Book Capital, Glamor is Undead (Fleur & Jeroen Olyslaegers) were asked to concoct a project around dandyism. Glamor is Undead came up with Robodandy: an event in which literature, fashion, design, electronic music and performance meet.

For six months, the public can order one Robodandy per Saturday with the Modenatie (Fashion museum), choose a text from a collection of prose and poetry written by dandy-writers from the present and past and a public site in the city centre (from an existing selection). The Robodandies, dressed by Raf Simons, will go to that spot and read the chosen text. Half an hour later, customers can go and view a video recording of their performance .

The city as catwalk, the museum as champagne bar: a spot for listening to the soundscapes of young electronic music artists, and for putting in your own order.A custom-made project for a new Kraftwerk generation, for city strollers or those eager to find out about the literary undercurrent of today.

From May to October 2004, from 1400 to 1800h (and then on Saturday May 29, June 12, July 10, August 21, September 25 and October 23)

Modenatie
Nationalestraat 28
2000 Antwerp
tel. +32-3/470.27.70

ah,to be in europe...

posted by startupdisko

This is an interesting read. If anything because it's a fair and balanced response to the oversaturation of Reganthon '04. Those seeking political asylum should direct their browsers here, but only if you aren't at work..because it's horrifically offensive and crude, but oh so loveable. However, those looking for more heinous crimes committed by the US government should check this one out.

posted by rob

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Bush vs. umbrella: a picture of grace.

[thanks to John Jourden]


Thanks to the Metro Times for the vote of confidence and the love. The Movement editorial is dead-on. Nothing but praise to Derrick May and everyone at Transmat for selflessly dedicating impossible hours and personal finances (in the six-digit range) to make it all happen. However, the poor organization and complete lack of communication prevent the festival from being what it could and should be... from being what Derrick wants it to be: the American equivalent of SONAR. Money or no money, it all comes down to delegation and communication. There are so many talented people in the city (and around the world for that matter) who would give their all for the festival if the process were open and straight-forward. If its for the community, the community should be involved from the start... nothing gets people motivated faster than honesty and a sense of ownership. < /soapbox >

posted by Michael Doyle

The Metro Times' postmortem on the Movement Festival, which proposes giving Burnlab and other members of "Detroit's loose constellation of promoters, supporters and online media" -- as well as Ghostly International and others -- a role in a revitalized festival. It also heaps praise on Blackbx's afterparty efforts, including bringing us Mathew Jonson's live set at The Shelter.

And be sure to check out the Rock City Festival, featuring Brendan Benson, PAS/CAL, Blanche, The Sights and other Detroit favorites. It's free and runs June 19-20 behind the Majestic Theater.

posted by David R.

Germans are so cool.

XTH_berlin and Realities United architecture, design and technology.

posted by Michael Doyle

more here.

posted by Dave Pinter

The trailer for Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11.

posted by Andy Malone

Since its come up more than a few times recently, I'd like to point out that I am not actually the unflappable, unsleeping party robot that I play on TV. That's a character which - as a promoter and general instigator comes out for a few hours about once a week. Six out of seven days I'm actually a responsible adult with a cool job, an awesome wife, two freaky dogs and some rather mundane habits. Hopefully most have gathered the irony of it all through Burnlab over the years, but apparently it needs to be pointed out from time to time.

So on that note, the new issue of the drunken robot's bible, Vice hit the streets recently. Be sure to see the always priceless Fashion Dos and Dont's, the completely ridiculous Vice Guide to Partying and the bitingly accurate article on how to be a DJ.

posted by Michael Doyle

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Atlantis found?

Satellite photographs showing concentric rings and what appear to be the traces of rectangular buildings in a salt marsh on the southern Spanish coast match Plato's description of the lost city. Other factors, such as proximity to the copper-rich Sierra Morena mountains further fit Plato's descriptions. Field research is currently underway to confirm a date range for the site, which rests in Donana national park.

[thanks to Alan Loomis]

posted by Michael Doyle

Dangerous Liaisons at the Met.

Dangerous Liaisons focuses on dress and its aesthetic interplay with art, furniture, and the broader decorative arts between 1750 and 1789. Presented in the dramatic setting of The Wrightsman Galleries, the Museum's French period rooms, the exhibition explores the dressed body's spatial negotiation of the 18th-century interior as a choreography of seduction and erotic play. The coquettish Polonaise dress with its hem raised to reveal the ankle is juxtaposed with a side table that transforms into a dressing table through mechanisms similar to the gown's hidden ties. The arch of the foot introduced by shoes with a Louis-style heel is seen with the scrolling legs of tables and chairs from the period shod in ormolu sabots. Lavish banyans, the "undress" of 18th-century rakes, and fans, an accessory that could be wielded with both decorous and flirtatious intent, are presented as the favored modes of beguilement of the 18th-century man about town and his femme du monde counterpart.

posted by Michael Doyle

In honor of next week's Les Infants Terribles theme night, Chad Clark submits his top 30 S&M songs:

Brian Eno - Baby's On Fire
David Bowie - Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
Bryan Ferry - Slave To Love
Cramps - Dames, Booze, Chains and Boots
Genitorturers - Pleasure In Restraint
John Zorn - Elegant Spanking
My Life With Thrill Kill Kult - Leathersex
Nina Hagen - Revolution Ballroom
Sisters of Mercy - Kiss The Carpet
LondonAfterMidnight - The Bondage Song
Lunachicks - Buttplug
Rammstein - Bück Dich (BendDown)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Melt
Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Pansy Division - James Bondage
Adam & the Ants - Rubber People
AC/DC - Mistress for Christmas
Berlin - Sex (I'm A)
Babes in Toyland - He's My Thing
Dead Can Dance - The Lotus Eaters
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Fetish
Betty Bondage – Lolita
Die Form - Slavesex
Tubes - Don't Touch Me There
TheNormal - Warm Leatherette
Grace Jones - Sex Drive
Sex Pistols - Submission
Gitane Demone - ...For You
Die Ärzte - Sweet Sweet Gwendoline
Bondage Fruit - IV

(Depeche Mode's Master and Servant was apparently too obvious.)

posted by Michael Doyle

Core77 snagged #5 on STEP's top 10 design portal list. Congrats to Stu and Eric, who practically invented the whole notion of design portals way back '95.

This makes 2 out of 10 sites that made the list despite my contributions. :) Honestly though, Computerlove deserves a nod for having the best interface on the whole web.

posted by Michael Doyle

Links links links to keep you busy all afternoon at the recently updated Well Vetted.

posted by Michael Doyle

Archinect ranked #2 web portal by STEP Magazine. Big congrats to Paul Petrunia! K10K took the top prize. (No word on where Burnlab fell in rankings...)

posted by Michael Doyle

Speaking of corrupting classics... click and hold onto your lunch.

posted by Michael Doyle

More Corrupted Classics.

posted by Michael Doyle

Monday, June 07, 2004

From the Milan Furniture Fair - The Benson Collection of Corrupted Classics, which is based on 'reinterpretations' of seminal designs by Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Gerrit Rietveld. Not exactly innovative but foxy...

posted by Chad

posted by Michael Doyle

Add this to your list of summer festivals: Projekttor presents ContactEurope 2004. After great success in Vienna and Milan, this year Berlin will host the vj festival ContactEurope from 1 to 3 of July.

In collaboration with EYE | CON and The University of Weimar, Projekttor will present a wide range of lectures, presentations, workshops, panels and live-performances. The Vjing will take place over three days and nights in the rooms of the former Cafe Moskau, centrally based in Berlin's East, the Karl-Marx-Allee.

Among the 180 artists and performers will be:

Peter Kruder + Fritz Fitzke
Rechenzentrum (live)
Dinky
Funkstorung (live)

posted by Dan Parham

Things I will catch shit about this week:

1) I still get weepy-eyed every single time I listen to Nothing Better.
2) Totally addicted to Hot N Ready.

posted by Michael Doyle

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Your heard it here first (unless your name is Mike Servito or were eavesdropping at the Magas show a couple hours ago):

We're proud to announce the next edition of Les Infants Terribles will feature a rare DJ set by Ian Clark a.k.a. Perspects on Friday, June 18th at The Peacock in Detroit. More details soon.

posted by Michael Doyle

Saturday, June 05, 2004

Hell just got a little more crowded.

To be fair, as twisted as some of his policies were, at least the Gipper truly believed he was doing the right thing for the country... and he wasn't a total wack-job egomaniacal psychopath with the IQ of toast and the people skills of a catfish. Compared to what we have now, Ron was a saint... but that's purely contextual. Really, the qualities that earned Reagan so much respect, such as thoughtfulness, introspection, honesty (well, some of the time), are truly noble, and the complete lack of these qualities in the current regime are what make it so uttelry despicable.

Going behind the backs of the congress and the American people with shady deals while plunging the nation into record deficit to further an ideological battle which was truly pointless, the incredibly flawed trickle down economic scheme which drove a huge wedge between the classes while doing no real good for the nation's finances, and being utterly insensitive to all who didn't follow his moral code are more than enough to mark Reagan's term in office as one of the most embarrassing for the country. But he was charming, and he was intelligent, and he was true to his beliefs.

There. I guess I said some nice things.

He's still going to hell.

Maybe just one of the upper rings. They're saving a special spot for G.W. in the 9th ring. Hitler is waiting for his new cellmate, and he's got a woody just thinking about it. They're going to get along so well.

posted by Michael Doyle

Friday, June 04, 2004

Perfect evening for a drive. Skipped out of the office at the unheard of hour of 6pm and went searching for twisty roads. A brisk lap around Orchard Lake hit the spot. Sunny and 70, windows and sunroof open, electric butt-warmer on low, and nothing but the sound of wind and a big Swedish turbocharger inhaling and exhaling. Nice. (Yeah, I got a new car. Black of course. Pretty excited. Already thinking about some mild modifications though, but will probably refrain form the graphics used on the blue one.) On a side note, I'm looking for a passenger side headlight assembly for the red '89 turbo. Preferably for less than the $250 retail price. :P
Oh, yeah, and a hood too - er, bonnet.

I dug this one up especially for today's Detroit discussion on Archinect: Monorail, wave of the future.

posted by Michael Doyle

As evidence of just how tight the backside code of Archinect V2 is, all the news comments regarding the previous post have been moved to a the public discussion forum with a little click click from Mr. Petrunia. Fancy. Click.

posted by Michael Doyle

I seem to have sparked a pretty interesting discussion on Archinect today with a news post about the redevelopment of Detroit and Governor Granholm's "cool cities" initiative. Read here, and be sure to check the links about Richard Florida's theories on urban development posted by Alan Loomis in the comments section.

posted by Michael Doyle

Thursday, June 03, 2004

It had to happen. Designer trading cards. Cranbrook 3-D Design major Shirley Liao introduced Designstars as "a serious, yet playful look at the commodification of identity," during the 2003 Milan Furniture Fair. A second, sleeker edition made its debut a few weeks ago at the ICFF in New York. Collect them all! You know you want to.

posted by Michael Doyle

What I Like About You.
Lineup for the Detroit Tastefest just announced. Highlights include Electric Six, The Sights, Carl Craig, Ryan Elliot, John Acquaviva, The Romantics(!) and many more.

[Thanks to our friends at Motor City Rocks]

posted by Michael Doyle

Just in: Ryan Elliot's top 10 for May (shouldn't it be June?)
Seek, find, enjoy.
Better yet, go hear Ryan and Matt at Oslo this Friday.

1. Panash/ Jack 2 Jack (Jesper Dahlback Rmx.)/ Turbo
2. Peter Grummich/ What About Love/ Boot
3. Mathew Jonson/ Decompression/ Minus
4. Hakan Lidbo/ Clockwise (Matthew Dear Rmx.)/Shitkatapult
5. G. Avitabile/ Tel Aviv/ Aser EP/ Platzhirsch
6. Matthew Dear/ And In The Night/ Backstroke EP/Spectral
7. Robag Wruhme/ Wuzzelbud KK/ Musik Krause
8. Mathew Jonson/ Ultraviolet Dream/ Decompression EP/Minus
9. Sten/ Frost/ Restless EP/ Sender
10. Ada/ Bum Bum/ Rabimmel Rabammel EP/ Areal

Still Dancing At The AfterParty.......

Turner/ After Work (Roman Flugal Rmx.)/ Ladomat
Peter Grummich/ No Reason/ Searoom EP/ Spectral

- Ryan

posted by Michael Doyle

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

I am so all over that Dirtbombs cover of Lost Love.
I swear I have to get a record player.

posted by Michael Doyle

IDSA Fight Club

posted by Michael Doyle

More new releases of note:

Ersatz Audio and Cass Records present a limited edition and hand-numbered split 7", split between ADULT. and The Dirtbombs. Not only does each band cover one of the other's early songs, but photography and distribution is split between the two. Aptly titled split/split/split, look for it in finer records stores or directly through the two lables on June 15th.

Also hitting the streets on June 15th is the all new G.D. Luxxe LP, Between Zero and Eternity, his first release on Ersatz Audio. Unlike the new Rother album [see previous post], Gerhard Potuznik strays away from his earlier electro-pop work in lieu of a rougher, guitar-oriented sound (still kept in check by the rhythm of machines, of course.) "...this new album abounds with aural altercations and 'effected' affections. Revenge, regret, and corruption." It was not at all what I expected form the man who wrote the dreamy pop classic Quiet Life, but I quite enjoy the new direction.

posted by Michael Doyle

Nu Elektro godfather Anthony Rother's new album Popkiller is decidedly more extroverted and dare I say 'poppy' than his earlier, more purist material - influenced more than a bit by his own Little Computer People project. The vocals are mainly vocoder-free and there's a hint of gnarzy acid sounds throughout. Good things, I think. A perfect companion for that Alter Ego record you just picked up. Availiable stateside from Forced Exposure.

Also just released, DNA on DNA, the essential collection of work from Arto Lindsay's brief-lived but hugely influential No Wave band. This is the first time DNA material has been available on CD. The package includes all of their studio recordings, select live recordings, several unreleased tracks and a 16 page booklet. (I'm kind of surprised Dan wasn't responsible for this.)

posted by Michael Doyle

No rest for the wicked.
Hot off a huge showing at and around the Movement Festival, the Ghostly crew is busy busy the next couple weeks. This Friday, 6/4 Matthew Dear and kindly maniac Ryan Elliot take over our favorite new sushi bar/night club Oslo. Next Monday, 6/7 will be the live NYC debuts for Matthew Dear (singing), Dykehouse (full rock band), and Geoff White's Aeroc project at Joe's Pub. Flyer here. Next Friday, 6/11 is Music From the Wires For the Ears Vol. IV, at the Magic Stick in Detroit with Greg Davis, Lusine and Adam's Castle. Then its back to NYC again for Spectral Sessions at APT with Jeff Samuel, Derek Plaslaiko and Hieroglyphic Being on Tuesday, 6/15.

Speaking on NYC, it was a real treat to hear east coast techno-industrial vanguard and Sonic Groove co-founder Adam X twice this weekend. Pretty much everything was a blur after he dropped the Sisters of Mercy's This Corrosion Sunday night.

In addition to the overwhelming amount of great music over the holiday, the Mrs. and I got a chance to see Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes. Two thumbs up. (But what else would you expect?) All the hype you may have heard about Bill Murray's role is true. Also, try to spot the location shot at Galapagos in Brooklyn - which may throw you because the scene is supposedly in Los Angeles.

posted by Michael Doyle

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