Superbrothers well-honed micropixel mechanics seem like a perfectly refreshing fit for pocket-sized, cinematic interaction and gaming. Sword and Sworcery, “a brave experiment in i/o cinema for apple’s touchtronic machinery“ is a testament to that notion. From the look and sound of things, Jim Guthrie’s audio and Capy’s “engineering + miracles” seal what looks to be a stunning, fun and epic explorational experience.

More S: S&S videos here.

via: s:s&s ep / superbrothers / jim guthrie / capy

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Chris Cunningham’s 1999 Playstation® advert mentioned in the previous post. More to follow.

+ Dazed and Confused foldout
+ Ricchezza Mentale

_// Chris Cunningham / orange /

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I was riding hopeful shotgun with a poster on The Stranger’s site who believes it’s the return of Aphex Twin. He cites the unpredictability of each Aphex release, similarly named track titles (see Drukqs) and the haunting visuals that suggest a signature Chris Cunningham collab, but I don’t know… While the palette and distortion are familiar devices found in Cunningham’s previous work (strikingly similar to his PS1 spot, I would add), there’s just not enough audial/visual void in the darkness to sell me completely on either. Even the titles could go either way having since been alphanumerically deciphered as the simultaneously suggestive and cryptic:

Prelude 699130082.451322 EDUCATIONAL
I AM 699321018
ITS ME 723378
MANDRAGORA 1110
OFFICINARUM 56155
WELCOME-HOME 3383

Curious and curiouser — Who/Whatever iamamiwhoami turns out to be, both the visuals and music are as intriguing as the mystery surrounding them, and fully worth a few minutes of attention as the reveal unfolds.

Even if does turn out to be Xtina.

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A lot has changed in the year or so since the original version of this post*. The Silver Jews played their final show underground (literally) and Berman vs. Berman began with the opening statement, “Now that the Joos are over I can tell you my gravest secret. Worse than suicide, worse than crack addiction.”

The thing about long nights with demons to fight, is that the struggle alone tends to result in that which gets you (and sometimes others) through them — and it will take far worse to tarnish the trail of shining crumbs that Berman and the Silver Jews left behind.

*Apparently, the link expired too. Thanks Chris.

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David Berman is a young Virginian poet with a sly, intense regard for the past. He comes on like a prankster, restocking the imperial orations of Wallace Stevens and the byzantine monologues of John Ashberry with the pop-cultural bric-a-brac of a new generation: ‘I am not a cub scout seduced by Iron Maiden’s mirror worlds.’ But his words have an easy, eloquent gait; each line needs to be a line. The landscapes are crisply American, and history, especially Southern history casts a shadow. A poem about the death of Lincoln ends, ‘The assassin was in mid-air / when the stagehands wheeled out clouds.’ —The New Yorker, Oct 4, 1999

David Berman’s Actual Air is one of the most coveted books on my shelf.

I originally picked it up because the cover design reminded me of Henry Miller’s The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (which coincidentally has some beautiful display errors going on at Google). It was the first collection of poems that deeply inspired and moved me since scouring Powells Books for every original printing of Richard Brautigan’s writings I could find and devour. I’ve bought dozens of copies of Actual Air for friends and family and plan to do so until one or the other runs out.

After posting about Open Field from the new Silver Jews release, Look Out Mountain, Look Out Sea, I dug through backups in search of the only two recordings of Berman reading I was aware of. I ended up finding them at The Corduroy Suit, along with a newfound recording from an Impossible Shapes show (Live at 2nd Story). Either this is it, or I’m not looking in the right place. If anyone out there is aware of more, please (please) let me know.

In the meantime, enjoy Idle Hour, an all too brief collection of readings by David Berman and another bundled repackaging following in the same vein as my previous two (here and here). This time with the jacket shot by Bobbi Fabian instead of my own.

David Berman: Idle Hour (3.4mb, mp3.zip, MF)

via: The Corduroy Suit (Actual Air/Biblio/Interviews) / Open City / Drag City / More Interviews: 01/02/03/04 / Silver Jews / Silver Jew trailer / Bobbi Fabian Photography

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Just when I was digging out the draft, rootstrata thankfully beat me to the post with a 14+ minute version of the Eliane Radigue minidoc I had a 3 minute trailer of.

Eliane Radigue has composed electronic music since the sixties. She is the only French woman composer of her generation who can be considered to be a pioneer of this genre, and of minimal music as well.

Her music is a slow flux of dense sounds subject to imperceptible mutations. A timeless architecture of deep vibrations speaking not to the intellect or to hearing, but to the entire body. A music which is unsettling if one submerges oneself in it. A music that possesses the monumental subtlety of the movement of oceans. —IMA

Like the work of Eliane Radigue, the efforts of rootstrata and their blog are well worth deeper investigation.

via » Eliane Radigue (FE) / rootstrata / IMA

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Seeming to circumnavigate the unintentional “humor” of preceeding skateploitation flicks like Thrashin’ and Gleaming the Cube, Machotaildrop looks like the hydrocephallic bastard-child of a Spike/Wes Anderson/Animal Chin ménage à trois.

Found via Jenk’s site, and I quote “THIS looks sooooo epic.”

via: bendpress / machotaildrop

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Colour of Music by George Benson, via Colt+Rane.

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The thread of glacial field recordings continues from the Eldfjall recordings of Jacob Kirkegard, to temporally manipulated Ekstroem Ice Shelf byChristian Müller, Vera Schlindwein, Alfons Eckstaller and Heinrich Miller, to Katie Paterson’s 2007 work, Langjökull, Snæfellsjökull, Solheimajökull.

As if capturing the audial linguistics of frozen water wasn’t intriguing enough, Katie pressed her own Icelandic glacier recordings into the frozen meltwater from which they came, creating Langjökull, Snæfellsjökull and Solheimajökull — three records she then played on three turntables until they melted.

The records were played once and now exist as three dvds. The turntables begin playing together, and for the first ten minutes as the needles trace their way around, the sounds from each glacier merge in and out with the sounds the ice itself creates. The needle catches on the last loop, and the records play for nearly two hours, until completely melted.

You can listen to an excerpt from Langjökull here.

via: today and tomorrow / i’m revolting / wunderkammer / katie paterson

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Thanksgiving Re-up 2009 (via08):

Hope is the result of staring deep into the eyes of despair.

Gus Van Sant’s 1991 Short Film, Thanksgiving Prayer.
Written and performed by William S. Burroughs.

via: WFMU
see also: UBU: WSB Films

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The Morning News has a well put together photo essay by Paul Virilio surrounding the impact and meaning of these structures from past to present, solidity to decay.

Approximately 1,500 bunkers were built during World War II along the French shores to forestall an Allied landing—“the Atlantic Wall.” Decommissioned after the Allied invasion of Normandy, this elaborate defense system now lies abandoned. At the age of 25, Paul Virilio stumbled upon these relics with his camera and began a study that would continue for 30 years. His 1975 book, Bunker Archeology, has recently been translated into English and reprinted by Princeton Architectural Press: an inquiry of war and its structures and a personal memoir of exploration, merging technical analysis with philosophical questioning.
—Paul Virilio / The Morning News

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