_______________________________
Data Tragedy Memory of a Broken Dimension
‘The emulator of an obscure computer system propagates across the internet, a signal is established … ‘ — Data Tragedy
_____________________________
the flying O.H.N.O. twins 8-bit evaporation
‘In “8-bit evaporation”, 5,500 tinted ice cubes were used as “pixels” to create the iconic Super Mario Bros cloud. It was then encouraged to melt and was recorded in HD. The resulting video was sped up, compressed, reversed and looped. The soundtrack are two audio files sampled from the original Nintendo video game that were sped up, slowed down and overlaid.’ — tfOHNOt
__________________________
Yuri Suzuki THE SOUND OF EARTH
‘The Sound of the Earth is a content of Yuri Suzuki`s spherical record project, the grooves representing the outlines of the geographic land mass. Each country on the disc is engraved with a different sound, as the needle passes over it plays field recordings collected by Yuri Suzuki from around the world over the course of four years; traditional folk music, national anthems, popular music and spoken word broadcasts.’ — Alice Masters
_____________
Jesse Lucas Dyskograf
‘DYSKOGRAF is a graphic disk reader. Each disc is created by visitors to the installation by way of felt tip pens provided for their use. The mechanism then reads the disk, translating the drawing into a musical sequence. The installation is above all a tool, which allows the creation of musical sequences in an intuitive way. The notion of a loop, closely linked to electronic music, is represented here by the cycle of the disk. The disk passes indefinitely in front of a camera fixed onto an arm. This substitution for the needle converts the drawing into sound by way of a specific application program (software). Through this system, the sequential ordering of music is learnt in a playful way, at the same time creating a unique object, souvenir of the musical composition.’ — JL
_____________________
Lucio Arese/Yu Miyashita Mimic
‘Mimic is an experimental video directed by Lucio Arese with music of Yu Miyashita. An hyperdense block of objects driven by music collides, collapses, spread into random formations and disintegrates at frantic speed. Shot into a cattle market, the film rides the verge between nonsense, random noise and organic, structured audiovisual events, enhancing the plastic clashes of a digital inserted foreground into an old and rusty environment.’ — Lucio Arese
_______
HYBE IRIS
‘IRIS is a unique media canvas with matrix of conventional information display technology – a monochrome LCD. Through the phased opening and closing of circular-segmented black Liquid Crystal, IRIS can create various patterns and control the amount (size) of passing lights. IRIS is an interactive medium for visual simplicity which uses the passage of ambient light, not emission of light itself.’ — HYBE
_______________________________
Julian Oliver levelHead v1.0, 3 cube speed run
‘levelHead is a spatial memory game by Julian Oliver, developed at the end of 2007, beginning 2008. levelHead uses a hand-held solid-plastic cube as its only interface. On-screen it appears each face of the cube contains a little room, each of which are logically connected by doors. In one of these rooms is a character. By tilting the cube the player directs this character from room to room in an effort to find the exit. Some doors lead nowhere and will send the character back to the room they started in, a trick designed to challenge the player’s spatial memory. Which doors belong to which rooms? There are three cubes (levels) in total, each of which are connected by a single door. Players have the goal of moving the character from room to room, cube to cube in an attempt to find the final exit door of all three cubes. If this door is found the character will appear to leave the cube, walk across the table surface and vanish … ‘ — JO
__________
Ruben Dhers playa
’14 acoustic guitars, 31 dc motors, 300 m cable, fabric and computer. Neues Museum Weimar, Alemania, 2012′ — RD
______________
Pianocade Demonstration
‘The Pianocade is a synthesizer designed to sound, look, and feel like vintage arcade games. It’s easy for people who want to dive right in, powerful and feature-rich for people who want to tinker. All of the Pianocade hardware, firmware, and software is open source and designed for easy hackability. If you’re really ambitious, build your own.’ — Pianocade
___________________
Aldo Tambellini BLACKOUT
‘Aldo Tambellini is a pioneer experimental film and video artist. This 1965 film, like an action painting by Franz Kline, is a rising crescendo of abstract images. Rapid cuts of white forms on a black background supplemented by an equally abstract soundtrack give the impression of a bombardment in celestial space or on a battlefield where cannons fire on an unseen enemy in the night.’ — The Tate
________________________
Michael Petermann Blödes Orchester
‘Arranged like a symphony orchestra, approximately 200 antique vacuums, mixers and washers are transformed into musical instruments. They form an ensemble that the conductor, harpsichordist and composer Michael Petermann has now completed after eight years of preparation.’ — weisserrausch.de
____________________
Synchronator 50Hz VARIATIONS
‘The SYNCHRONATOR device enables you to visualize your sounds on each of the primary color channels of the video signal. It adds video sync pulses and color coding signals to your audio, effectively disguising the input as a composite video signal.’ — Synchronator
___________________
The Arcane Kids Zineth Trailer
‘Zineth is a student game made over a few months meant to celebrate speed, movement, and twitter. The free game combines a colourful low polygon world with game elements of Tony Hawks Skateboarding and Prince Of Persia.’ — Prosthetic Knowledge
_______________
Semiconductor Black Rain
‘Black Rain is sourced from images collected by the twin satellite, solar mission, STEREO. Here we see the HI (Heliospheric Imager) visual data as it tracks interplanetary space for solar wind and CME’s (coronal mass ejections) heading towards Earth. Data courtesy of courtesy of the Heliospheric Imager on the NASA STEREO mission. Working with STEREO scientists, Semiconductor collected all the HI image data to date, revealing the journey of the satellites from their initial orientation, to their current tracing of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Solar wind, CME’s, passing planets and comets orbiting the sun can be seen as background stars and the milky way pass by.’ — Semiconductor
*
p.s. Hey. Sucks it had to end. Thanks for first making it and then being there. ** David Ehrenstein, Not a bad bunch at all, nope. Yeah, I’ve been following Sandy as best I can over here sans 24 hour, minutiae seeking, belaboring TV. The Christie thing, yeah. Can’t hurt regardless of whatever his future agenda is. I’m feeling a little more like the big voter flirtation with Romney might be dying out a bit now, but it’s going to be a long week. Fingers, toes, head hairs, and even eyes crossed. I went to the Eagle once, no, twice, I think. Once with Brad Gooch, once with … Charles Ludlam (among others) of all people. Weird that they let me in. ** Oscar B, Hey! I did note a certain absence at that party, but your visit was pretty cool. Oh, the Salon du/de of Chocolat. I totally spaced. Right, I’ll give you guys a call in just a while. ** Scunnard, Nah, I recognized your mug, and you were free to hit the jackpot twice. Thanks for ladling out the awesome praise to the deserving dudes and dudettes. You good? ** xTx, Cool! Thank you for adding your specialness. ** Jesse Bransford, Mr, Bransford! I was so happy to have you in attendance. I’m glad your portion of the extended Big Apple is sans hell. Dude, I want to see you somehow and hear all about your travels, which I was quite perked up about in its Facebook travelogue version. Crazy, awesome! Did you actually manage to get some Halloweening in? ** Cobaltfram, Them was some good eats right there, as cartoon characters based roughly in your portion of the US sometimes say, sort of. As I’ve probably said, I’ve never liked alcohol much, except as a thing to take the edge off whatever drug when needed. Could have been my mom’s lunatical alcoholic phase when I was young. That’s what the therapists used to say. Very nice thinking and writing about the book vis-a-vis imagination thing. You rounded up the whole thing beautifully. I’m off to LA on Saturday morning. Other than the jetlag and the election stress, I’m way excited. So, the excerpt is in the hands of the sales pitcher now? ** Kyler, Hey! Man, it sounds like absolutely insanity in your part of NYC. I keep getting ‘Walking Dead’ flashbacks. I sure hope you’re powered up again — from the outside, I mean, not re: your true power, which is impervious of course — now or later on today or asap. Love from me. ** Trees, Hey, man. Ah, it’s okay. You showed up. That’s plenty. Damn, that punk band party sounds seriously heavenly. DI! Halloween + sailor = all kind of trouble. Theoretically. Did my theory pan out? I’ve been ignoring and writing too. High five. And it sounds like our methodologies are paying us off. Dig. Sweet to see you, T. ** 5STRINGS, Fantasy is everything’s seed. If the fantasy I just had could grow up to be the sentence I’m typing, then you can grow up to be Dio. Weird, I just streamed some tracks from that new remaster of ‘Machine Head’ yesterday to see what it sounded like. It sounded good, or at least Blackmore did. Wowzer on those next few sentences. Thanks re: the party. Oh, a taste of your legendary thing! I’ll get that later, of course. Sweet! Everyone, you want to read a ‘tough-trade and unedited’ taste of the thing that writer/d.l./future Dio 5STRINGS is working on? I think you probably do, so I’m going to help you out by ushering you there. ** Pascal, Hi, man! Ace about the success of the Sonic Youthy reading. I do so want to see the video when it’s proper. Seeing the zine is probably asking too much. Does SY or at least Thurston know about this thing you did? Hugs back. ** Frank Jaffe, Hey Frank! Such great feedback, thank you! Made my morning. What did you end up doing last night? What food was involved? Did it have dye and artificial flavoring in it? I hope so. ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris! Oh, way awesome, you talked to the other partygoers so generously too! Thank you! I loved the video interview at Cutty Spot. It was a beaut and very informational and contextually rich and all of that. No, I hadn’t seen that video before, it’s very cool. Everyone, please follow Chris Dankland’s directive and lead by clicking this and seeing a costume that could have won the DC’s ‘best of’ contest if there had been one, if there wasn’t. Thanks a lot, man. Very happy to see you. ** Steevee, Hey! You’re all right! Yeah, I can’t believe the reports I’m hearing about so-called current life in Lower Manhattan. Really glad you’re safe! ** Misanthrope, I know, we’ve got some fine ladies and gents and, I would imagine, consequent rears coming out our ears around here. So, you were definitely in the cat bird seat. Glad to hear you were just buffeted around a bit. Paris made it through in one piece too, I know you’ll be happy to hear. ** Chris Cochrane, Total insanity. Unbelievable. Really glad you’re all right. That’s just … wow. ** Statictick, Thanks for eking out your part 2 support. It didn’t even feel eked out. I like how oppositional and yet same sounding the words ‘eke’ and ‘eek’ are, don’t you? Sucks that Houdini didn’t check back in from the afterlife like he promised. Other than that, he was a pretty cool guy. ** James, Hi, J. So glad you liked it all so much. How was ‘PA4’. I hear not so good. ‘PA3’ was okay. ** Sypha, Happy day after Halloween! ** Kevin Killian, Kevin! You graced the party, and I am so very chuffed! No prob on the no costume thing. That Giants victory is a precedent-taking, creativity-stifling event if there ever was one, I’m sure. Dang, I would so love to see your thing on the 8th! No, I won’t be able to. I have to do a thing that I have to do in LA that day that I can’t talk about publicly yet but which demands my presence and could impact that fates of countless — well, three — others. Otherwise, I so would be there. But you should come to LA! Come see ‘Them’! Anyway, let me gift those who are fortunate to be in your wonderful vicinity. Everyone, literary true god Kevin Killian is doing something no doubt great in SF in about a week that you should obviously attend barring an emergency. Here he is almost in person to tell you about it. Take it away, Kevin: ‘On the 8th [of November], I’m staging a revival of an old chestnut WET PAINT at SFMOMA to accompany the Jay DeFeo retrospective that opens there this week. I wrote WET PAINT back in the 1990s but hope it wasn’t just beginners luck and that today’s audiences will find something of value in it.’ Be there, Bay Area! Oh, wait, yes, your White Columns show, another thing of which I am so deprived. Hold on again. Everyone, before Kevin dematerializes, and if you’re in the NYC area at large, there’s also this other big Killian nugget for you. Take it away again, Kevin: ‘At White Columns in NYC a show opened Saturday—right before the hurricane, so I don’t even know if it’s still up!—and one of the exhibitions is a group of my photos called “Fetish Photography.” Several of my models are among your distinguished locals, a buzzing hive filled with besutiful specimens at their peak. Wayne Koestenbaum is there also, showing his small paintings, and Nicola Tyson is showing photographs too.’ Actually, here’s a link to the direct info on that show as well as a sample and saucy Killian portrait of writer, former d.l., and Occupy movement hero Stephen Boyer. Check it. Love to you, Kevin! ** Un Cœur Blanc, Hi! A late Happy Halloween to you too! Thank you so much for coming to the party. I didn’t do anything last night either that was in any way different from what I always do, alas. Much love from me. ** Paul Curran, Hi, Mothra! It’s an honor to cyber-meet you. Big fan. ‘More panoramic and grotesque’ … I like the hint that was that phrase. Yeah, the routine is nice, isn’t it? I know, I know. Love to you. ** Rigby, Rigster! My ‘Ween is now complete! My gun is now back in my holster. What’s up? ** Armando, Hey. The awfulness of death and what it takes away is very much in my mind and heart right now too, but … prepare for a Cooperism … I try to remember that every day all kinds of new folks are born who could grow up to do the craziest, best, most genius shit ever. Love to you. ** L@rstonovich, Hi, L! The cool thing about Sloppy Joes is it’s one of those things you can make vegetarian style and it basically tastes and satisfies just as quickly since it’s all about the goop and spices part. We had some cannibal cop talk around here, yes. How did you guess? That was and will remain really something. Jersey got smashed to fuck. Me being me, it was the photos of the decimated pier amusement parks that most got to me. Yeah, Christie, good move, and I’m letting myself not think about his secret careerist strategy, if it exists, which I’m guessing it does, ‘cos it’s all about the here and now. Excited about your draft talk, man. You can bet. Happy morning after! ** Bollo, Hi, J. We didn’t even get fireworks over here. You could have heard a mouse, which, in fact, I did. Later gator. ** Right. I still can’t believe it’s over. Sigh. Anyway, I’ve got a gig for you that’s kind of rangy and full of different kinds of actual fun and adventure, and I hope you’ll give it your shot today. Thank you. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
*
Hi Dennis,
Oh good, yeah I wasn't sure if I'd have to try to lick the back of my hand and try to make a transfer off of someone else's.
Yeah, well the praise was well deserved and it was good to see what people came up with.
Things themselves are actually going well around here, but I have to confess I'm in a bit of a funk from some family type stuff… but maybe it is nothing that looking at some weird audio stuff and technology experiments won't fix? Yourself?
a bunch of kids ringing our doorbell in the middle of cozy afternoon sex with my girl – and keeping on ringing and banging against the door for quite a while as they sensed we were at home – such was my halloween this year. made & ate yummy pumpkin soup after that.
do you know this comic? i'm not really sure what to think of it, but it somehow captures an aspect of berlin hipsterism quite well. and i have to admit the 'death camp for cutie' t-shirt made me laugh out loud.
Woah, Pianocade! And Ruben Dhers playa sounds so dreamy like my bloody valentine or lush for some reason. Hmmm and Lucio Arese/Yu Miyashita Mimic fits very well with some of the ideas I have been working with… hmmm.
happy halloween dennis
It would be weider had they kept you out, Dennis!
Cool stuff today.
Latest FaBlog: Fait Diver – You Can’t Keep Good Zombie Down
Heya D
Saturday, wow, that'll be exciting. I'm nervous about the election too, but I'm pretty sure Obama has it. Everyone needs to vote, but I'm pretty sure he's got it.
This gig is so super cool. I may have to look into it tomorrow; I woke up late today, so I'll probably just play Assassin's Creed 3 with Chad until it's time to go to work.
The excerpt is not in the sales pitcher's hands, unfortunately. My work is still unfolding on that piece. I read through and wrote up about twenty pages last night, and have at least another twenty to read over next time I get to work, and that's while avoiding some of the stuff I wrote months ago and am praying doesn't need rewriting but probably does. I'm doing that thing where I'm getting over the mini-heartbreak that the first draft wasn't a perfect, finished product, and am now trying to distance myself and go at it again. And again. The fear is that there's is some huge, untapped field of material I completely overlooked and will need to write, and then more, and etc. Again, it's why I'm not a big fan of this excerpt business: with a book, I feel I could get a manuscript together and just take a month off and then come back to it fresh-faced. But with this thing, where I'm really trying to keep the ball rolling, it's no such luck.
We'll see. I'm taking it slowly (despite what the above implies) and letting the piece do it's thing.
How about you and your thing?
I totally understand the alcohol thing. I really enjoy wine, actually — another thing I dabble in connoisseurship with, but I'm no Jay McKinnery. I do like it though.
And mixed drinks are always fun. But as far as hard liquor goes, I just don't have the constitution for straight vodka or the like without becoming just falling-down drunk. I had a deep aversion to alcohol beat into me by mom and her dad, both of whom were alcoholics but dried out before I came along. It really took until Chad showed up for me to start drinking at all, though that may just be the age at which he showed up, who knows.
But I feel AC3 calling; the writing's pretty iffy, but the run-climb-explore-murder thing is great. It's one of the few franchises with a vague awareness of how dubious your character's actions and motives are, which I like.
Catch you soon
JF
I just read a news article claiming that the power will be back on in all of lower Manhattan on Saturday. I hope they're right. I'd like someone to independently verify that before I return. There was no word on when Amtrak might start running again.
The weird thing is, I couldn't wait to leave New York, but now I really want to return to some semblance of my normal life there. Some of these reasons are practical: I have prescriptions that will run it in a week, and I don't know how to get them refilled in Connecticut. Also, I need to catch some press screenings and continue writing, or I will be screwed financially. I wish I could relax here, but I'm finding it hard. At the same time, I'mm aware how privileged I am to be able to get out from New York right now.
Henry James
Hey Dennis. You were on our mind all day yesterday. Belated Halloween greetings! Sorry to have been sooo out of touch. After my email was hacked I just haven't gotten it together to reconfigure posting stuff here. Lame excuse, I know. Well now that's fixed. Our Halloween was spent cooking and hanging out…quiet and nice. See you when you come here? I hope so…it's been a long time my friend. Love you. M
d-
halloween here was great. halloween outside… pretty boring. worked in my last minute joe strummer costume (i'll send you a pic when i get it uploaded to facespace). came home. drank whisky and handed out candy to our ONE group of trick-or-treaters. seriously. one fucking group. i mean, it was like 12 kids. but goddamn. in my old neighborhood, the doorbell rang like every ten minutes. but that just gave me and the roomies time to watch treehouse of horror episodes without interruption.
did you cop that new mix?
some cool looking stuff today. i'm always interested in those new instruments, but i have a hard enough time just making the guitar sound good, so i don't try to write songs on other things all that much. the one where you make loops by drawing on a disc looks like a lot of fun.
woke up to 8 missed calls from my mother. with normal parents, this would mean that she was, oh i dunno, worried about me or something. not my mother, though. she just had to blow up my phone all night and morning because she uses my bank account as her personal financial way-station. i love how when i need a favor from her, she'll 'get to it when she can get to it,' but when she needs a favor from me, she pounds down my fucking door at 5 AM on my goddamn day off cuz 'oh, i needed my child support and it's in yr bank account, hahaha.' among other things, she needs to stop drinking. i've quit answering her calls after 7 at night, since she's invariably drunk and incapable of communication. i think i'm going to have to petition for custody of my sister to get this to stop.
i am going to be so happy when next tuesday passes and this stupid fucking election is over. i really have no desire to vote whatsoever, since i don't support/believe in either candidate. but since i'd like to continue to have rights to have sex with whomever i please, get abortions and watch whatever porn i'd like, i suppose i'll vote for obama. i'm still holding out hope for the day when voters here recognise that having religious folks in office is a bad idea. i'm honestly holding out hope that sometime within my lifetime people will recognise the uselessness of governments, churches and police officers, but i don't think people are quite that smart.
ok, it's my day off and i don't feel like doing much. so i'ma go roast this bone and maybe watch moonrise kingdom again. talk soon.
love,
me.
The Last of Mr. Phoenix
Dennis, I forgot to mention it yesterday, but I highly recommend William Bennett's new Cut Hands album (entitled "Black Mamba").
Hey, Dennis, you know we'd be happy to send you the zine! In fact it's practically dropping into a post box as I type.
Meanwhile, yes, we facebooked Sonic Youth to tell them about the reading but they probably get a kergillion messages per nanosecond. Anyway we didn't hear back.
Haven't considered ways of getting in touch with TM although, in that mysterious facebook way, myself and Tommy Peeps have received fb suggestions to friend him (you know those weird 'people you might know' messages that turn up (apparently) out of the blue)(and yup, we're the kind of people who have days which can be termed 'made' after an event like that).
Not sure this comment is quite making sense so I'll stop now. Have a good day tomorrow, man.
I'm with Sypha on this one, the new Cut Hands album is a straight up masterwork.
Julian Oliver, I knew I knew that name from somewhere! I reviewed his show in Dundee for The Skinny back in 2010. I did some digging and it's here.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Got to check out Black Mamba… Saw CH play about a month ago w/ Andy Stott & was mind-meltingly great.
Dennis, That is indeed happy news. I mean, how else am I to ravage the City of Lights if it's already ravaged?
Damn, how do I always end up at Suede video on youtube? Do you think it's me?
Wish me luck for better time management. Speaking of which, I'm going to bed now. I'm hella tired for no reason at all. 😮
Sublime selection – am really enjoying these… the Data Tragedy (great name), Aldo Tambellini (amazing work – never come across it before) and Ruben Dhers (a real crowdpleaser I'd imagine but why not – it's really beautiful) areprobably my favourites so far.
The Halloween party part 2 was great – thanks for letting me shimmy around in my clown costume and for being, as ever, the host with the most!
I spent yesterday evening with another horror movie – Fulci's New York Ripper – very fucked up. And watched 'Bronson' tonight, which was impressive and not what I was expecting at all. My respect and admiration for Winding Refn is growing… I wasn't that taken with Pusher when I saw it a few years ago, but after this and being pretty blown away by Drive I want to go back and look again as i think I must have just been in the wrong mood or somethng.
*I'm worried about running out of prescriptions and not being able to refill them – my doctor's phone is currently dead – but I'm hopeful that the power in Manhattan will be back on Saturday, Amtrak will start running again Saturday night or Sunday, and I'll be able to return to my apartment early next week.
I'd love to hear the Cut Hands album, but my parents' computer doesn't have iTunes installed.
Did you hear about Death Grips getting dropped by Sony? Not exactly a surprise, but I wonder why they got signed in the first place. A label like Sub Pop or Matador would be a much better fit.
Steevee, I hope you're right. Saturday I can deal with. I've got enough food until then. It's such a crazy routine with candles, flashlights, water bottles, and dwindling red wine. Having a blast, but you're right, it is hard to relax. Dennis, you're such a charmer. I knew you'd say something in your ever-so-sweet way. Halloween was so dead around here. No parade, and I went to the worst party ever. Had such a fight today with this mean NYU guard trying to use the computers here. He almost called the police. But one of the cute NYU boys saved the day and escorted me in. All is well as I ready myself to climb my 8 flights with my new toy: a super fab flashlight! The streets are so spooky, I think you'd like it here. XX
Busy day yesterday, so belated comments on the festive party here…
Uruguay and Poland look like fabulous party towns. Great batch of costumes this year, especially James Batley's Jarman-esque piece, Tender Prey, Gary Shipley. Paul Curran, now I can't get that Motsura theme out of my head, thanks. Flit, the new pieces are stunning. David Ehrenstein, woof woof.
Dennis, this gig has my name written all over it. Will definitely be spending quality time with it this weekend. Thanks for suspending your LA-centric baseball perspective, but most of the people I hang with stayed safely away from the Giants parade. Except an old pal working in a clinic downtown who had to treat drunk and fucked up fans all day, poor guy.
Bill