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Film Review – DECONSTRUCTING DAD: Documentary on Raymond Scott

July 28, 2012 in Movies / Television, Music, Reviews, Technology, With Video

Deconstructing Dad is a peculiar film.  A documentary about jazz composer-turned-electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott made by his son, Stan Warnow, the film was produced to fulfill a dual purpose: To introduce new audiences to Scott’s work, and also as a way for Warnow to rediscover his connection to his distant, reclusive father.  As such, the film is pulled in these two different, although not necessarily exclusive, directions throughout.  In essence, the film both benefits and suffers from the familial relationship between its creator and subject.

The film opens with a montage of photographs of Raymond Scott’s life and career, accompanied by Warnow’s narration.  The director explains how his father, born Harry Warnow in then- East New York, got his first breaks as a music composer, formed the Raymond Scott Quintette, and quickly gained a national audience with his recordings.  Commentators, including music buffs; former business associates; and Scott’s first wife, Pearl, describe Scott’s early successes; along with his idiosyncrasies, which were manifested in his music, as well as his personal life.  (At one point, his wife describes Scott leaving his own wedding reception in order to continue tinkering with electronics.) Read the rest of this entry →

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THINK DIFFERENT: Bribing the Gay Out of Your Kids with Technology

June 13, 2012 in Global Destruction, PSA, Technology, The Web

“Hey!  Whose cock do I have to suck around here to finally get my hands on one of these new Macbook Pros?!“  According to the implications in a recent Los Angeles area Craigslist ad, the answer to that question for one Culver City teenager is that it doesn’t really matter; anyone will do.

While bouncing around on the internet today, I came across the screenshot of a Craigslist advertisement, in which the poster claims to be selling his son’s Macbook Pro computer, just so that he could take the money and turn around to buy him the latest model.  In a preemptive response to all those whom he anticipated might feel the need to email him and accuse him of spoiling his child, he made sure to clarify 100% what the real deal backstory behind his intentions were.  He knows how people on the internet can be and there’s something that, above all else, he wanted to be sure to try and make perfectly straight: his son.  Read the rest of this entry →

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2PAC Resurrected!… in Holographic form to Perform at COACHELLA

April 16, 2012 in Music, Technology, With Video

When the Coachella 2012 lineup was announced, I couldn’t deny that I was impressed.  With such a solid collection of artists, I was even considering trying to make it down this year.  Adding a second weekend with the exact same lineup seemed confusing and, in all honesty, a stretch.  How much was that gonna cost them?  What artists are going to be willing to kick it in the general area for another week just to perform to a second crowd of people that will likely already know what to expect?  Radiohead was smart and booked a couple of Mexico City dates during the week to continue on their tour with Other Lives.  The festival did manage to reel in the big names that the kids these days seem to love and plenty of them: The Black Keys, The Shins, Bon Iver, M83, etc.  Most of those bands are or will be on tour, regardless, and the rest of them slowly popped up on the bill of various other festivals – Bon Iver, The Shins, Beirut, Santigold, Wild Flag, Childish Gambino, Beats Antique, The Head and the Heart, tUnE-yArDs, St. Vincent, and Feist will all be at the Sasquatch! Festival this year.  After the reality that I was going to stay home with my lady and my infant child became more and more of a reality and the initial hype wore off, there were only a few acts that I was really disappointed about missing by not attending Coachella; most of which weren’t getting very high billing.  Death Grips and Company flow were at the top of the acts that I personally have been wishing would make their way up here to the Pacific North West, but haven’t shown any plan to fulfill that dream.  fIREHOSE subsequently posted their full tour and already came through here last week.  Amon Tobin would appear with his ridiculously amazing and mindblowing ISAM tour, which is still going strong, and, although it’s definitely worth witnessing again, I already caught it last year.  I would have checked out the Mazzy Star and Cat Power sets, but it’s not like I’m gonna slit my throat over missing them.  The only real big name act that I was disappointed about not seeing was Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg together.  It turns out that I had good reason for such disappointment, as their set included a hologram of a resurrected and rapping Tupac Shakur; a visual effect that easily rivaled that of Tobin’s groundbreaking live show. Read the rest of this entry →

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THOUGHT PROCESSES: Drag City sells Masaki Batoh’s Brain Pulse Music Machines

April 4, 2012 in Global Destruction, Music, Notes From Japan, Technology, With Video


Kyoto-born vocalist/guitarist, Masaki Batoh first gained prominence after forming the experimental Japanese group GHOST at a Tokyo university back in 1984.  The psychedelic outfit, which rarely ever retained a consistent lineup, didn’t begin releasing it’s first recorded material until the very early 1990s, but they have a reported history as nomads, roaming around Tokyo, inhabiting such environments as the ruins of ancient temples and abandoned subway stations (no doubt an inspiration for Akron/Family’s last full length).  Outside of the group, Batoh has continued his experimentation through solo releases and collaborations with acts like, former Galaxie 500 members, Damon and Naomi, as well as Swedish multi-instrumentalist, Helena Espvall of Philadelphia band, Espers.  GHOST‘s roots are deeply steeped in improvisation and, in 2006, they played and recorded their first 100% improvisational release, Overture, to a crowd that was locked in complete darkness with them at a converted warehouse in Yokahama Bay, called Nippon Yusen Soko, and not permitted to exit until the performance had completely finished.  Always pushing forward, embracing new inspirations, and consistently experimenting, Batoh even invented a device called the “springer” which “contains metal springs, a resonance box, plasma ball (light) and rotating machine to create a heavy yet theremin-like sound” – featured on the GHOST album, In Stormy Nights (Drag City, 2007).

For his most recent solo effort, Brain Pulse Music, Masaki created a completely new device which allows him to harness the power of human brain waves and transfer them into sound.  It is arguably, his most ambitious project yet.  Sound fascinating?  Well, Drag City records is now releasing these machines to the public.  This means that, if you have the loot, you’ll be able to strap one of these newfangled contraptions to your own dome and, while looking like Uncle Rico mid-time travel, you can explore whatever sonic mess you’re able to juice out of your own fucked up subconscious. Read the rest of this entry →

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GRAPHIC IMAGERY – MUSIONS Mindblowing Interactive Holographic Technology

April 22, 2011 in Global Destruction, Music, Technology, With Video

A couple of months ago I upgraded my cell phone to an “Android” device.  My motivation for choosing the particular model that I did was solely for its name, ‘Optimus’, which for me is a reference to Transformers leader, Optimus Prime.  I don’t really use the blue-tooth capabilities but the way people walk around with that bug in their ear reminds me of the technology portrayed in the old school Star Trek episodes.  If those little things that go in your ear went on your chest instead, it would be just like a communicator used by the crew.  In fact, the technology of my phone is better than that of Captain Kirk’s outdated flip-phone, especially if I were to duct tape a Tazer to my cellular device.  In this age of technology, life is imitating art more and more and what we once thought could only exist in worlds of Science Fiction is rapidly becoming a reality that we take for granted.  Some of you may scoff at this notion and point out that there are no flying cars, faster-than-light travel, or hover boards, but people are working on it.  What we do have is cars that parallel park themselves, bionic limbs, and, as we have seen recently, holographic technology that would put R2D2 to shame. Read the rest of this entry →

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The Story Behind PHISH’s Festival 8 “BOREALIS” (lighted sky sculpture)

October 30, 2010 in art, Music, Technology, With Video

Last year, the Vermont 4-piece, PHISH triumphantly returned to the stage with a full tour, culminating in a 3-day extravaganza over Halloween weekend, entitled FESTIVAL 8.  The event was held at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Ca, where the band played 8 total sets; including one acoustic set and one which featured them covering the Rolling Stones masterpiece Exile on Main St in its entirety, with the assistance of the remarkable Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.  It was an impressive weekend overall, but one thing that really stood out was a lighted sculpture that took flight and boggled the minds of many of us that were in attendance.  Being the inquisitive and science/astronomy/technology obsessed little gent that he is, our writer ONSEN took it upon himself to track down the creators of the structure and compile the intriguing and fascinating piece that we have presented below for you. Since it was originally written, the 3-dimensional FESTIVAL 8 film was released in theaters, offering many of you who weren’t in attendance at the actual festival to have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the crazy lighted device in action.  For whatever the reason (timing, sloth, misguidance, etc) this article never made it onto the site until now.  Tomorrow night, PHISH will be unveiling and performing another cover of another artists’ legendary work, in their typical Halloween tradition.  This time their performance will be held at the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall in NJ.  For everyone that’s there, we say, “have a great time, set something on fire for us, and don’t steal anybody else’s shit“.  Posting this article the day before Halloween may mean that we have waited and pushed this topic out right at the very last possible moments of relevance, but I hope that you will feel about it as I do.  This is an interesting piece, presented in a concise, informative, and entertaining fashion by a friend of ours who put in a lot of extra work to bring some fascinating information to light, and it still reads as such.  To you, I say thanks for reading it.  To ONSEN, I say, thanks for writing it.  And to everyone… sorry it took so long.

-DEAD C

{simply click on them to enlarge any of the images below & view at full size}
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