most captivating ever

Looking at the Jan. - May period again ... It must be the always less captivating and 'refined' FBook 'User experience' that kept me away from blogging any more often in the last couple years. But was not inclined to always 'work it', connect it, grow it.
More inclined to just ... write.

Left wrist healed - completely ? - after last Oct. quick slip and fall retreating from Mam Tor in the thunderstorm in a hurry. Luggage wheels wore out, thrown out - and not yet replaced. Oyster Card, assorted Swiss Francs, Norweg / Swede / Denmark Kroner and Euro's in plastic baggies pushed further back on shelf.
ZWEIKOMMASIEBEN #6 came in the mail the other day ( Interviews ; Actress, Raime & Black rain, DJ Kaos )- another result of time spent during next to last show in Lucerne w Remo & Sam. Their Ltd Ed. 10" was another fine upshot.

Ike Yard's reissue of the Factory LP on Desire came out well, the remix Ep #1 (Regis / Monoton) collab w BEB super.
We agreed to have "Elysians" appear on Electric Voice Comp. "Shiva Virus" is now going to be "Inside The Volcano" where it sounds quite fine. Look for the Swedish Comp., they did a fine job wid it. W remix Ep #2 about to be released v soon, 10 basic tracks for a whole new album recorded and in middle distance 1981's "Night After Night" EP comes around for reissue & remixing ...

o13's first album "Time wave zero" came out on Desire and has begun getting proper reviews. No, it is not as willfully dark edged as say, Black rain or same fields as say , Ike Yard but o13 was not designed to be those things. Does contain 'Lead' bass, guitars,'songs', 'vocals', 'albums', a'70's' ref. here and there. o13 played the (DJ) Mark Kamins Memorial April 17 where we saw 'Everybody'that came out for the 'party of the last 10 years' Walter pulled - and pulled so more to get together.
Strafe rocked it well.

Black rain's Euro & UK tour Oct. - Nov. was important in that it was the first time I did shows myself - and they did not 'fail'. The collab w Kotra went v well again @ UNSOUND.
3 x over 10 dates found myself distracted / snapped out of perf focus by audience members talking loud enough to follow the conversation clearly onstage. Sorry to Pan Records Bill K in Berlin as after second time focus lost and audience warned, I just stopped, leaving him to scramble into his own DJ set.
But the Bunker show April 5 blew things out a bit more. After trying a few ideas and w no Br members around to join /rejoin i say "Let there be distortion bass" on some pieces. Much more fun for me too.
10 new cuts getting ready for the new Br album for BEB - 'post'post'industrial territory, biomimics, metamorphs and replicant - like humanoids, vocaloids and constructs.
Meanwhile out of our past, Black rain Mach 1 ( 1989 -93 ) & 2 ('94 -'98 ) will appear on vinyl w Desire coming up later in year.
Black rain out West w/ Cut Hands June ? TBA

As on previous 2 tours, stayed around longer to do some recording w Julian Jockel (TBA Mea Kusma) and Michael & Bernardo from Different Fountains. 2011 saw recording w Julian in Eupen after o13 show there ( courtesy Mea Kusma ). Now, best of both sessions will become the "Phantom Minds" Ep by JBLA to be released also by Desire ,w plan for remix Ep w L.I.E.S DJ's to follow ... Ron and Svengalighost attended the IY show in Paris and regaled us w tales of what's up in Belleville that inspired one of the cuts w vocals.
NY Club Diaries 1978 -89 needs Kickstarter vid,
Book 2 underway.
Dev App underway.
Looking at next place to live / work ? underway as the Euro tour did not turn up the one outstanding local.
Many great people and locations tho' thank you

o13 is present day "Time wave zero" summer of the dragonfly scapes,witchfires. This second album we are currently writing projects forward post Sandy "Hello America", the first city to go dry out West, love and death in LA time space and sand. ( Mark C / Kent H /SA )

Black rain post punk, post industrial , biological since 1989. After doing "Now, I'm Just a Number" in 1996 the track "Corpocyte: Yokoso betaMoloid" w was next to be recorded. The new album continues the flow of individuals exploring the emerging Corporacy blurring, redefining nation states companies. Nanomaterials science, artificial life ; Fabricants, replicants & new people watering holes, protoplasm, tribal gatherings, nodes.

Coming - o13, Dominatrix, Death Comet Crew, Phantom Minds, SA ++

2013 Jan.20
Since the Ike Yard & Black rain tour Sept. 19 - Nov.19 so much has gone on , everything has been reassesed, and much rearranged. From Ike Yard's new album, o13, Black rain and Dominatrix and DCC rereleases plus. Some meta shape of things music - wise took form Ike Yard new album. Songs titles, lyrics are usually concerning the present moment's happening world. With forays into 20th century art of Hans Bellmer ("Milles Filles" ), Gustav Moreau and German Expressionists - Transcendent states as in say Paroxysm, Beyondersay and Ikimono Gattari - physical phenomenon; Ikimono Gattari's cold night out in the country, interiors silky elusive "Ghost skin", "Slaves Of Janet" interverse voyeurism . - IY recent travel reflection. The sound, by now more complex throw of dice across scapes of doubled beats - Tripled in the strange case of "Beyondersay", 4-6 synths & granular soft synths with kyboards, sound designs, intros and outros.

Coming. Black rain, o13, Dominatrix, Death Comet Crew, Phantom Minds ( J Julian & SA ) & other updates

One week after UNSOUND

We had those warm days and then it cooled again,
and by this weekend the trees have filled in now they toss and blow in the sun.
Last week was UNSOUND; press, one more sweep through programming on the 7 pieces for 4/21's LAB , rehearsed w Dmytro at my place, worked out track order, loaded into taxi out to Issue Project Room ...
Fri saw Demdike Stare, Laurel Halo @ Bunker @ Warsaw
Sat. Black rain's LAB w Kotra was quite good.Looking forward to listening to rehearsal & live set recordings.
Sun. 1PM talk w Dave Tompkins went quick. Also caught Lustmord on Trinity project to be streamed on The Wire mag site ?.

o13 has a piece in the new "BAM 150 " docu by Michael Sladek, attended the screening last night , impressive history , impressive work overall and the piece of music they used by us worked well in the scene about when BAM had to find and choose the next head after Harvey.
o13 also has been finalizing our first album w help from Paul Geluso.

And this week DCC was listening to a rare old live track from 1984.
Live at Danceteria w Phase Two on the mic introducing 'the Death Star'and beyond.
The next weeks we have cont. work w o13, w Ike Yard for new album and everything else...
Coming:
Diaries 1980 -1990
Ike Yard Factory lp reissue w Desire Records. Tapes transfered +
Ike Yard Complete Control Stockholm comp. w unreleased trk from Nord
Dominatrix Comp.
Dominatrix has offers of shows ,but has to find the right Dominatrix
If you know someone exceptional, esp. candidates in NYC drop a line

Super powers a plus...

And so the search is on for the new Dominatrix women for the new records , super powers a plus

Black rain preparing for first show since 1996 LES w Shin, Satoru Ito & The Rammellzee
4/21 Issue Project Room UNSOUND Fest. Lab Kotra & Black rain 5:30 PM, free w RSVP
London, Europe & US dates to follow ( Oct. - Nov. LDN, Berlin Black Magick & Centrum sonic lecture, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Amsterdam + tbc ) Aug. NYC tba

Ike Yard remix & reissue Factory America 1982 LP on Desire Records; Coming ...
We have been finalizing remixers for the 6 pieces from the album
IY will be doing remixes as well, we were never happy with the mix,
the group will follow up the March 3 show w one in July tbc +
over to Europe in Sept. (9/22 Brussels Fantastique Nights ,Ldn, Manc, Paris Tbc )

o13 mastering first lp "Time wave zero" now,
"Lost Pavillion" on Opilec Records label Comp. + EP coming over summer

Dominatrix complete reissue coming on the new Streetwise, 45' w DJ Red Alert's Scratch mix coming first
Unreleased tracks, cover versions Dom ( Dominique Davalos & me ) used to perform live & coproduced w Steve Breck ( early Kurtis Blow, Fat Boys ). Liner notes w Dave Tompkins

The groups from the 80's are all working on things
the groups from the '90's - one 'group' really, Black rain - is back out on BEB in Feb.
we expect to do more shows this year then last, 2013 - 2014 as well
A series of new projects comes to the front,
in addition to renewed releasing from Rec - REC 004 Black rain early years 1989 -'93
thrashing stages across LES, working up demos for Johnny Mnemonic Killing floor scene '90,
editing together our little video clip for Pepe Moreno's "Hellcab" CD ROM and more

After years of a slower pre prod work and development, now organizing for production of Diaries 1978-1990 E Book, paperback & Ltd Ed hardcover copy edition & iteration of this multilevel project.
With everything else that's going on, we need help focusing resources on it to make it happen sooner than later, and to that end we now prepare the Kickstarter campaign.
Much music, many stories over all those nights we were in the clubs, hybrid cultural explosions
expressed far and wide beyond the original artists and musicians involved.
Dave Tompkins and i will be doing a talk the day after Black rain's Lab , 4/22 at 1 PM @ Goethe's Wyoming Bldg., E 3rd St. Please check UNSOUND site for exact address ...

what we are most excited about is the new music IY, Dom, Black rain & o13 are making,
new soundtrack works based on plans for Helix Cities across Tokyo Bay,
initial'Sci fi Cities' series in Europe Nov. w Neuromancer cont.+ Blade Runner 2 scenes
the upcoming album we have been developing; poly soundscapes, songs, new beat vibrations variations from Hong Kong to Himalayas, NY-London-Berlin-Tokyo-Kyoto and back again to NY
+ most exciting are the unexpected new things that keep happening

Let the music play

1980 -1990 Diaries update

After I got up here to New York City, i began keeping diaries. I was going out a lot and the clubs were hot . Come home from work, take a nap for awhile, get up and eat, go out to the clubs until late

Soon after Mudd Club opened I was there as usual and soon met one Martin Fischer just in from W Berlin. We formed the Futants soon therafter ...

We have gone through them and selected some choice chapters from 1980 -1990 for the first volume :
Punk,post punk, no wave, new wave, electronic & electro pop, funk, hiphop, riphop, freestyle, electro, techno ... End of Max's Kansas City -to the Mudd Club downtown on White St.- and over to Tier 5 and maybe back again to Mudd. Pyramid club . Negril . Save The Robots Ike Yard Crepescule 1981 , Factory Records America 1982 ,shows with New Order & Section 25 Danceteria nights, rooftop parties W Berlin 1893 , Tokyo, Osaka & Hong Kong 1987 The Fun Gallery. Area . World's End . Big Art Cyberpunk ops Mind Children and Voodooists The malling of subculture

Post - stasis

It was fun attending Simon Reynolds talk about "Retromania" down at Unsound Lounge the other week.
While I haven't read all of it, the book's implications are worth considering.
We have been engaged enjoying the accelerated 'unearthing' and retrying of old genres, esp. from late 1990's into 2000.
We can remember before then there was never much prospect or any dream that say, Ike Yard would be rereleased.
Ike had made it's music, had dozens, maybe hundreds of listeners in it's time.
Once IY got onto the Gomma "Anti NY" compilation- along with Death Comet Crew , things did pick up.
Dominatrix melodies had been recreated by Puff Daddy and compiled on Tommy Boy's "Perfect Beats" and Weatherall's Nuphonic "Nine O'Clock Drop", sampled but unlicensed by Carl Cox ( "Tonight" F.A.C.T comp.).
It has been reused many times and forms so I was not too surprised when I heard "Dominatrix" by DJ Hell while shopping in the record shop that used to be on North side of 14th St.
The guy working at the store told me i should be grateful Hell sampled my record.
More people looking through the web finding trace of more underknown , certain unknown music = the next waves of rereleases across recombinating spectrums of music
As everyone today deals with information and data, data deals with them.
And as every specific style or sound from a past music decades on instant access, some are bound to be obvious about how they use it.
What i picked up on from Simon's talk were some larger issues about 'What good is the past ?" and "If putting everything into the blender and spitting out unchanged bits of the past is what we have now, where does this lead ?".

Currently in the US we have not only a country of 'Haves' and 'Have not's',
but increasingly a society of "Know something's" and "Know nothing's".
Civil Wars, separation of Church & State, attempts at redefining evolution, distrust of trended into active fighting of science -
all part of the low level war and burn among citizens, idea groups, Ngo's and politicorps.
Some people don't want to know or face reality.
The country is a street lab deep in some future shock and also partially third wave.
Every country, nation state, person is in the situation to some degree.
Who and what is 'Constructive' or 'Destructive' in our world as we survive tectonic shifts and financial crash and crunch to come ?
The waves of change come and they pass on to the next, next thing.
We enjoy a sound, a group or music secret that only you and maybe some friends know about, see music delivery formats go out of production and brought back decades after.
That information you decide to hold onto, project yourself onto or against and carry with holds value one can continue sifting, sleeping on it and synthesizing.

Building on unfolding events including ' Revolution' protests in Iran, across the 'Arab Spring' and within the past 2 months - Occupy Wall Street here synthesized free running discontent, societal threads, trend to update protest as can be done by a global horizontal free flowing org. They may not really need to sleep in the cold in Zucotti Park anymore. Too easy a target for the Right. NYPD w Sonic cannons.

Especially during and after economic collapse, cultures change. Music changes.
There is always a new underground, seething enough and bursting out sparks that just sometimes flame.

SA