Monday, February 23, 2009

Ooooo....

Well... you see... this video really gets me hot and bothered. You really should watch it. Oh, it's a good song too.



In case you are wondering, no there is no unedited version. According to David himself:

Earlier in the week I posted an “Uncensored version” of the BPA video. It was a joke; I made a version where it’s the BPA video and then cuts to gay porn the second the black bars are supposed to pop up. It was very funny and brilliantly witty, a “Goatse-meets-Rickroll” - but not enough people got the joke and/or were offended. So I took it down, and then said “email me to see the video.” I got about 40 emails; and sent them all the joke link. Biting satire.
THERE IS NO UNCENSORED VERSION - it wouldn’t make any sense! Plus we promised the actors (contractually!) we would never release it. So stop asking for it, pervos!


Ah the power of suggestion.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

©Murakashi

So I got this sweet book in the mail back around the time for christmas called ©Murakashi (thank's Larry!). Normally I'm not one for reading most anything about art since I just flip through it like a picture book. Not this time...


Nothing I say about this guy, Takashi Murakami, will really do him justice, so perhaps a bit of bits of info rather: this guy developed the concept of Superflat: taking what is referred to as high art (i.e. shit that sells for unnecessary amounts of money) and juxtaposing/converting/normalizing it with low art (i.e. heavily commercialized symbols like brand logos). In his case, this mostly is with regard to Japanese culture but then you get things like this



where he combines manga and the LVMH brand. Back in ~2004, when this design was exhibited, your favourite handbag mfgr Louis Vuitton was on site selling these things in the museum for $10k. Not too far away, a knockoff peddler in a parking lot was selling a similar tchotchky for $10 (Murakashi-sponsored though).

He's compared to Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons over and over again with the concept of pop art, but in this case he takes it further in terms of blurring lines as it seems his entire goal is to equalize the expensive and the cheap. Now, I'm only referring to the concept and design of the two. The actual reason why there is a difference, physically, is the handiwork into it. Conceptual normalization is still conceptual. For example, he's got a company named Kaikai Kiki which sells his designs en masse. Some of these are get sold at the thousand-dollar marks but they also put out $3.50 Cracker Jack-style trinkets that get sold at 7-11's. The higher-dollar (and therefore higher art obviously) are actually recreations of Takashi's designs done by art interns etc. A la footnote from ©Murakashi p.129:

Generally speaking, each painting is based on a handmade sketch by Murakami, which is then developed into a schematic digital rendering with the help of tehcnical assistants in his Japanese studio... The paintings are then executed... by highly trained studio assistants, who deviate as little as possible from the original concept rendering. Finally, Murakami inspects each painting to make sure that it meets his artistic standards (however ineffably defined), and substandard works are corrected or repainted entirely... Here it should be noted that the rejection or correction of indivitdual works has come to play an important part in the mythology of Murakami's practice: Whether or not an outsider would be able to grasp a work's deficiencies, the pretense of final quality control functions as a kind of guarantee of the painting's "authenticity" as an expression of the master's vision...
This practice mimics the standards advertised by the makers of high-end luxury goods who often boast of rejecting raw materials or finished products that are insufficient in quality to bear the brand's name.


Here are some more examples of his work:

Inochi Which reminds me of the video for Silent Shout.


Milk Natural public reaction to this one.


I open wide my eyes but I see no scenery. I fix my gaze upon my heart.
Reminds of the Young/Old woman optical illusion.

Again, thanks Larry for getting me this book.

P.S. Geez, how long does it take to publish a post around here? This one's been on the backburner for 2 months now.

Monday, February 9, 2009

NI's Maschine Maschine Maschine



Normally I get these emails from NI (Native Instruments: the guys who make Traktor) as well as NI (National Instruments: the guys who make Labview), neither of which I really care reading about. However, today I see that Native came out with this thing called Maschine (German for... you guessed it). Now I already have a drum machine, keyboard, MIDI controller, sequencing program, etc, why do I want this thing?

I don't know, probably because this thing is cool.

I already see two features I really like: an Undo button and the fact that when you record, a given sample hit doesn't have to fall exactly into a 1/16th note time rounded up or down when you record on the fly which is a big gripe of mine of the Electribe. Now I just need to try it out and wait a year for the price to fall. ($650!)

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Saturdancing



I got this email last week from this NY promotions group finger on the pulse and included was this mix. I think it's alright and it's mostly stuff I've been listening to as of late. Think more intense electro dance with mild crossover into megaclub sound. Heavy on the pianoforte. Have at it.

DJ Never Forget - Pretty Good Tunes For a Saturday

Tracklist
Intro
Jokers Of The Scene- Baggy Bottom Boys (JOTS Remix)
La Roux - Quicksand (Beni Remix)
Math Head- Turn The Music Up (AC Slater Remix)
Lemoch, DJ Deibys - Mad Piano (Original Mix)
DJ Mehdi - Pocket Piano (Joakim Remix)
Sidechains - Dance While You Can
The Drill ft. Firetruck Antartica - Piano Mano (Club Mix)
Kidda - Under The Sun (Herve Remix)
Adele - Hometown Glory (Axwell Remix)
Niyi - Ameilia

Ok, well I alluded it to it up there but I'm now of the opinion that bangers and this sort of electro style is now mainstream. Hearing those Designer Drugs mixes (below), some of this mix, and the fact that the Darkwave Disco DJ's play at Vision every so often makes it less appealing than it has been for the most part due to it's non-exclusivity at Sonotheque. I don't know if I enjoy the more downtempo (not downtempo like deep house, just chiller) stuff because I'm getting older and I'm growing out of it, or if it's a been there done that deal. I need a neuer tanz-musik for my 20-etwas crowd. Let's see what Friday has in store.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Takes time

My laptop has been utterly, terribly fickle and as a result I have been deprived of tune-listenage. But I have this Canadian friend (now pen pal) in and around Victoria who just dumped a bunch of good tunes on me a pair of weeks ago that I finally got around to listening (on one of my roommate's computers.) Not bad. I still haven't gotten through all of it since I can't get a decent hour to myself at a decent hour. Here are some highlights so far:

Fur Bearing Animals - Space Shuttle Worn Machine (website)

Chad Van Gaalen - Molten Light
Video (creeptastic!):


More later, hopefully sooner.