Wednesday, 18 May 2011

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Ubudoll @ VPRO

Can anyone help me with this?

There is a link at the Pere Ubu web site that used to link to an Ubudoll (David Thomas & Jackie Leven) gig that was recorded for VPRO in The Netherlands.

Unfortunately it has disappeared since I last listened to it (probably a couple of years ago now)

Unfortunately my Dutch isn't good enough to navigate around the site...

If anyone can find it there or indeed if they have a copy of it I would be really grateful if they could get in touch.

Bedankt/

PS: I believe there might also have been a recording made of a gig in Leiden. I do have the Paris gig recording.

Origins of UbuDoll

Using night lights to measure economic growth

(Image: Xi Chen)

When you're rich, you turn on the lights.
It might seem a crude observation at face value, but researchers have discovered that a brightly lit country at night can help indicate how wealthy it really is.
Using familiar birds-eye satellite images of cities at night, researchers from Yale and Quinnipiac Universities in the US analysed US Department of Defense imagery from 1992 until 2008.
The team divided the world up into cells and measured each cell's "luminosity" - how bright each cell was. Even this process was mired in technical difficulties as obstacles such as automatic correction for glare, cloud cover and distortions caused by water vapour have to be removed. A figure was attributed to the brightness of each country's grid cells and these figures were combined and then aggregated over a year to give an annual luminosity value.
Official GDP figures from the World Bank were matched with each year to see if there was any correlation. A series of statistical calculations were then run to see whether an increase in light over time matched an increase in economic output - where it was known.
The results were far from conclusive. What the team found was that the figures were close but not quite precise enough to be useful for large, wealthy countries such as the US or Australia. This was because the margin of error in analysing the luminosity value was far larger than that in the official GDP figures.
However they found that when they turned their gaze on poorer and developing nations the match between actual economic output and night time luminosity provided rather more insight. In some countries like Cambodia, Somalia or North Korea - where there is very little economic data and there hadn't been a recent population census - analysis of the cells helped trace how well a nation was faring.
And in some areas, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo, the luminosity counts helped track the country's economic health over time, where it had been difficult to do so before because of instability or violence.
The research is not the first to assume that lights at night are analogous with prosperity but is the first to look at compare actual economic figures with luminosity in this way.

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1017031108
Niall Firth @'New Scientist'

First Listen: Boris - 'Attention Please'

You can't really accuse Boris of slowing down. The Japanese heavy music trio hasn't released a proper "rock" album since 2008's Smile, but in the interim put out a split 10" with the pop-metal band Torche, a collaborative EP with The Cult's Ian Astbury and an excellent series of seven-inch singles called Japanese Heavy Rock Hits. But still, rabid Boris fans (and they are the collector types, mind you) have been waiting for something more substantial. Attention Please is just one of four — four! — Boris albums coming out this spring. Its release coincides with that of Heavy Rocks (not to be confused with the 2002 album of the same name) and two Japanese-only titles: another collaboration with noise master Merzbow called Klatter, as well as New Album, which frustratingly mixes tracks from Attention Please and the new Heavy Rocks with other material. Completists, the ball's in your court.
Attention Please, out May 24, is not only the best of this new Boris batch, but also a far-ranging leap forward for a band that felt stuck on Smile. Anchored by lead guitarist Wata, Attention Please is the first Boris album to exclusively feature her intimate vocals. After her scant but enjoyable vocal contributions on 2006's Rainbow, the focus is welcome.
The great thing about Boris has always been its noncommittal attitude toward style. On one album, the band will serve up mammoth-sized drone; on another, soft electro-pop with sky-pealing guitar solos. On Attention Please, style runs the gamut from one song to the next, but the album never loses momentum. Songs like "Hope," "Les Paul Custom '86" and "Spoon" belong to a lost 4AD record, conjuring images of surfing the Aurora Borealis in a Camaro, denim-jacket collars flipped way up. It's shoegaze for moody skate punks. Featuring Wata's most alluring croon, "Party Boy" is a minimal four-on-the-floor dance romper for glam-metal geeks with teased hair. And "Tokyo Wonder Land" is a song that could have only come from Boris; it's got a head-bobbing lullaby groove on a Casio beat throttled by Wata's ceiling-ripping guitar solos. Despite Boris' wide sonic interests, everything comes together coherently on Attention Please, the band's best record since Pink.
Lars Gotrich @'npr'

Hear 'Attention Please' In Its Entirety

High Tech Soul – The Creation Of Techno Music (Documentary - 2009)

'High Tech Soul' is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its birthplace. From the race riots of 1967 to the underground party scene of the late 1980s, Detroit’s economic downturn didn’t stop the invention of a new kind of music that brought international attention to its producers and their hometown.
Featuring in-depth interviews with many of the world’s best exponents of the artform, High Tech Soul focuses on the creators of the genre — Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson — and looks at the relationships and personal struggles behind the music. Artists like Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills,

Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes and a host of others explain why techno, with its abrasive tones and resonating basslines, could not have come from anywhere but Detroit.
With classic anthems such as Rhythim Is Rhythim’s “Strings of Life” and Inner City’s “Good Life,” High Tech Soul celebrates the pioneers, the promoters and the city that spawned a global phenomenon.

The film features: Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Eddie (Flashin) Fowlkes, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, John Acquaviva, Carl Cox, Carl Craig, Blake Baxter, Stacey Pullen, Thomas Barnett, Matthew Dear, Anthony “Shake” Shakir, Keith Tucker, Delano Smith, Mike Archer, Derrick Thompson, Mike Clark, Alan Oldham, Laura Gavoor, Himawari, Scan 7, Kenny Larkin, Stacey “Hotwax” Hale, Claus Bachor, Electrifying Mojo, Niko Marks, Barbara Deyo, Dan Sordyl, Sam Valenti, Ron Murphy, George Baker, and Kwame Kilpatrick.
The film’s soundtrack includes: Aux 88, Cybotron, Inner City, Juan Atkins, Mayday, Model 500, Plastikman, Rhythim Is Rhythim, and more.

via

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

Spielberg's Adventures of...

Via

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."

HA!

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(Thanx son#1!)

Sources: Raiders knew Osama mission a one-shot deal

Into space, outta sight

Via

Israel admits it covertly canceled residency status of 140,000 Palestinians

Firas_Atraqchi Firas Al-Atraqchi
Mass grave found in Falluja, #Iraq - 28 bodies contained within US-made body bags, Iraqi authorities say. Gee, wonder who killed 'em.