Model D Talks to Adriel Fantastique

From: Modle D Media
Writen By: Walter Wasacz

If someone had to thread through the Detroit underground dance party scene, from its renegade beginnings in dusty warehouses and decomposed factories to coffeehouse chill to superclub swank (Packard Plant to Zoot's to Motor, all in the span of a few years in the 1990s), the guy doing the weaving would be Adriel Thornton.

No relic of a bygone era, the ageless promoter (perpetually 30 years old and looking it, if not younger) has never stopped pushing the beauty of the beat-driven moment in a city where techno was born out of passion and was built to last out of desire. Adriel Thornton is better known now as Adriel Fantastique, a perfect new monicker for new millennium dance culture, which has morphed into an anything goes, multiple-genre, cross-generational, racially-blended, polysexual lifestyle.

Walter Wasacz of the Metro Times interviews Adriel about his life and times within the Detroit party scene. Read the entire interview here. Also, visit Adriel's Fresh Corp. website for information regarding up coming events and news.

Keith Kemp - Angel Remix - Planet E

San Fransisco resident and ex-Detroiter, Keith Kemp, has remained diligent in his new west coast home. Kemp has been turning out remix after remix for labels such as Ferris Park, More or Less, and our very own Blank Artists. His current work for Carl Craig's Planet E label continues to exemplify his pristine production quality as well as his ability to rock the dance floor and, years of mastering his unique blend of techno and house allows Kemp to remain perched above many of today's electronic dance music producers. We have such an affinity for the Kempster's work that it's almost inconceivable to think that music isn't his nine to five . Even recent Blank Artists guest and radio show host, Tim Sweeney agrees. Listen and purchase at Turntable Lab.

Detroit's Economic Potential

From: Model D Media
Written By: Malinda Jensen

When you look at the data that really count for certain kinds of business investments, Detroit more than holds its own with comparable cities. That was the conclusion recently reached by fDi Magazine, a London publication of the Financial Times.

fDi studied data from more than 400 cities, categorized them by population, and ranked them on seven scales relating to business. Detroit ranked fourth among large, North American cities for its potential for international investment. The city ranked tenth overall among large cities (between 500,000 and 1 million in population) as a City of the Future. It ranked third in the group for its infrastructure – largely based on the strength of its airport and other transportation facilities. Detroit also tied for third with Jacksonville, Florida for growth from companies within the knowledge-based sector. It also scored well for the relatively low cost of office and commercial space downtown.

At DEGC we have also focused on Detroit's and the region's competitive advantages, and it's always pleasing to find a highly-regarded international organization agrees. It underscores the way we have targeted certain industries – including transportation and high-technology or research-based sectors – for investments here.

Among the criteria fDi looked at were the number of global companies based in Detroit and the number of foreign direct investments in high tech service and manufacturing industries. Details of the report can be found here.

Black Moth Super Rainbow @ The Magic Stick

Black Moth Super Rainbow is an American experimental band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their music contains elements of psychedelia, folk, electronica, and pop. Their distinctive sound is characterized by analog electronic instruments including the vocoder, Rhodes piano, and Novatron. A Graveface insert included inside the album Dandelion Gum describes them as such: "Deep in the woods of western Pennsylvania vocoders hum amongst the flowers and synths bubble under the leaf-strewn ground while flutes whistle in the wind and beats bounce to the soft drizzle of a warm acid rain. As the sun peeks out from between the clouds, the organic aural concoction of Black Moth Super Rainbow starts to glisten above the trees." This night will make fun, so do your self a favor and buy a ticket.

Tuesday, June 30th 2009
4140 Woodward Ave
Detroit, MI 48201-2027
Starts @ 8pm, $10 - All Ages

Ray Kurzwiel - Transcendent Man

Probably a little late in posting this, but I'm kind of curious after the King of Pop, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed Macmahon abruptly died, all within about 48 hours of each other. Does this signal an end to American mainstream pop culture and a re-emergence of the Medieval times or maybe the transistion within the next stage of human evolution? At least it's something to juggle around in the vast space within your cranium.

Get acquainted with your alien friends.

Saturday Night Main Event

Featuring a complete transformed art space.
a collaborative event with artwork by:
dave cole
gwen mckay
alicia biundo
mike reid
kristine taylor
paul biundo
john leonard

with performances by
metria
jstat
split horizon
deadlines
k.attic

Izzy's raw art gallery
2572 Michigan Ave.
Saturday June 27, starts at 10
Free

Gay Marvine Mixes

Gay Marvine is a creepy, campy, and a shadowy hedonist of the highest degree. Maybe he's a gay vampire or something. Gay Marvine's years of experience in the most underground of night clubs and the seediest of continental bath houses makes him the most qualified editor/rearranger, and these two news mixes prove how stellar the Gay can be. Be prepared for the weird! Oh, and Gay did this super badass re-edit. Check it out.

Rock Mix
Disco-Funk Mix

League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots @ MOCAD

League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots is a Brooklyn-based group of artists and technologists who create robotic musical instruments. Founded in 2000 by musician and engineer Eric Singer, LEMUR creates exotic, sculptural musical instruments which integrate robotic technology. LEMUR's philosophy is to build robots that are new types of musical instruments, as opposed to animatronic robots that play existing instruments.

LEMUR's growing ensemble includes over 50 robotic instruments. GuitarBot, an electric stringed instrument, is comprised of several independently controllable stringed units which can pick and slide extremely rapidly. ModBots are a large collection of modular percussion robots in a variety of styles and functions, including beaters, singing bells and shakers. The Ill-Tempered Clangier is a robotic xylophone-like tubular bell instrument which clangs percussive melodies on forty-four tuned metal pipes. ForestBot is comprised of a forest of egg-shaped rattles sprouting from long rods that quiver and sway over onlookers. TibetBot is designed around three Tibetan singing bowls struck by robotic arms to produce a range of timbres.

LEMUR is supported in part by generous grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Greenwall Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Experimental Television Center and Materials for the Arts. LEMUR is also supported by Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center.

The League of Electronic Musical Robots will be performing this Friday in Detroit at the MOCAD. An art Installation will occur between 8pm and 12am, with LEMUR performances at 8:45pm and 10:30pm. For more information, visit www.lemurbots.org.

Erika.net - A Freeform Internet Radio Station

Erika.net is an online radio station based out of Detroit, that broadcasts a 56k mp3 stream. The show's primary operator, Erika Sherman, hand-picks music and organizes it freeform style: all types of music at all times of the day. The goal of Erika.net is to bring you music you can't hear on other radio stations, presented in a unique style. You can listen using the following links below or by browsing erika.net in the 'eclectic' section of iTunes radio. The playlist is online twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week at the website for all you die-hard trainspotters.

- Listen in My MP3 Player
(Winamp, iTunes, WMP, ETC...)
- Listen in Real Player
- Listen in Live365 PLayer

Cory Doctorow - Futuristic Tales of Here and Now

From: Comic Mix
Written By: Glenn Hauman

Anyone who knows Cory would dispute the first bit, but consider: he gives away all of his writing to readers for free. If you want to read his website at boingboing, by all means; if you want to download his novels, go to Cory's website and do so, he encourages it and wants you to spread the word. And he expects that he will make money doing this, that his stuff is so good that people will send him money in one way or another. So he either is very arrogant about the quality of his work-- or he knows something about the workings of the world that you don't. Which makes him, if not very smart, then certainly a born science fiction writer. And since he does make money doing this, he's certainly not dumb.

IDW has begun to adapt his shorter fiction pieces into comic book form, starting with 2004's "Anda's Game". You can read the story (for free, of course) here, so the question is: does it work in comics? It certainly does. Esteve Polls's art reminds me of the work of various Filipino horror comics artists of the 70's, and Dara Naraghi does a solid condensation and adaptation of Cory's story. Give this book a shot-- the stories are done in one issue, and it's worth the time.

The Bunker Podcast 56: Secrets By Vacuum

The only thing separating Matt Abbott (aka Vacuum) from your run-of-the-mill, drug addled, lowlife, redneck, hoodrat motherfucker is that he is the owner of a laptop computer and a stellar record collection. With these two resources, a good ear, and a brain wired for weird, Vacuum turns out quirky, funky, techno and house jams, as well as disco re-edits.

This recent set was recorded live at Kiss & Tell (The Bunker's first podcast recording for their excellent sister party) at Rose Live Music on May 16, 2009, under his sleazy pseudonym of Secrets. Amongst the disco classics in this set are a ton of his own edits. Subscribe and Listen. For more information regarding Bunker events and podcasts, visit www.beyondbooking.com.

Bangkok Four Seasons Hotel - Now Shipping

That's right folks, the 12" version of Bangkok Four Seasons Hotel is now shipping. International orders please email info [at] blankartists [.] com for accurate shipping estimates. Remember all records are stuffed with a unique passcode, allowing you one free digital copy of the vinyl at 320k resolution mp3 with the exception of Tokyo Claska Hotel which is vinyl exclusive.

Listen to samples and order yours today by visiting the following link:
Jared Wilson - BLNK-15

Kelvin Brown - Celestial Blues Vol. 2

Manchester's Kelvin Brown is an exceptional DJ with premium taste buds; an ex resident at the now closed Electric Chair, a Plastic People regular and occasional spinner at Horse Meat Disco, he includes having spun live on Gilles Peterson's 'Worldwide' show amongst his many achievements. Kelvin's passion for music is apparent in everything he does, his sets are adventurous, eclectic, impossibly well programed and mixed with precision, you'll hear anything from Jazz to Disco to Afro, Techno, Folk, Hip Hop, Dub Step, House, Broken Beats, Detroit sounds and Reggae. Quality is what binds them, quality and his insightful understanding of a connective tissue that runs through generations of Black & Black influenced music.

Download
Tracklist
1. Yaw ‘Where Would You Be’
2. Billy Paul ‘East’
3. Kuniyuki ‘All These Things’ -Theo Parrish Dub mix
4. Atlantic Starr ‘When Love Calls’
5. Sisters of Mercy ‘Phantom’
6. Gil Scott Heron ‘Angola Louisiana’
7. The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination ‘Amalinja’
8. Silver Apples ‘Lovefingers’
9. Romanthony ‘The Wanderer’
10. Shackleton ‘Death is not Final’
11. BT Express ‘Peace Pipe’
12. Pharoah Sanders ‘You've got to Have Freedom’ –Live in LA
13. Erykah Dabu –Dialogue originally from ‘Network’
14. Herbie Hancock ‘Nobu’
15. Can ‘Future Days’ –Carl Craig mix
16. Shut Up and Dance ‘Epileptic’ –Martyn remix
17. TRG ‘Generation’ –Breakage remix
18. Wiley ‘Sorry, Sorry, Pardon What?’
19. Jackie Mitto ‘Wall Street’
20. Johnny Osbourne ‘No Sound Like We’ –Version
21. Sly and the Family Stone ‘Thankful and Faithful’
22. Gas Lamp Killer ‘Kobwebs’

Craig Sopo - ASDR - LESS/004

Baltimore electronic label and monthly, More Or Less, has released another jam for all you techno enthusiasts. The tempered drum structure early on quickly becomes enveloped by a multitude of lush synths. The clicks, pops, and secret subliminal message makes this a must have.

With releases on Ferris Park, Beretta Music, Blank Artists , and D Records, as well as remix duties on Planet E, Keith Kemp knows how to work a dance floor with his seasonal dj career and catalog of releases. The Detroit native, now residing in San Fransisco, shows a bit of that west coast flavor with his coastal mix. An elusive synth dances around a driving bassline which mutates into a track that demands you put your head in the speaker. We suggest you set your clocks three hours back for this one.

For more information regarding up coming releases and events, please visit www.bmore-electro.com

Daedelus & Ghislain Poirier @ The Magic Stick

"Alfred Darlington aka Daedelus is an experimental music producer based out of Los Angeles, California. Daedelus pioneered using the Monome in conjunction with Max/MSP for live performances. He is a part of the groups Adventure Time and The Long Lost. He is currently signed to the Ninja Tune label but has released material with a number of labels, including: Plug Research, Mush, Laboratory Instinct, Eastern Developments, Phthalo, Merck, Big Dada, Soul Jazz, Distill, Hefty, Bit Of Heaven, Temporary Whatever, Stones Throw, Alpha Pup, Eat Concrete and Warp. He is also a founding DJ at the internet radio station Dublab."


"Ghislain Poirier is a DJ/producer from Montreal working under the Ninja Tune, Chocolate Industries, Rebondir, Shockout, Musique Large, Intr_version and 12k record labels. His work mainly consists of original instrumental mixes and mixes featuring Montreal hip hop MCs including Omnikrom, Face-T and Séba. He also has collaborated with Beans, TTC, Lotek HiFi and Nik Myo. He is noted for popular remixes of tracks of rock and hip hop artists such as Les Georges Leningrad, Clipse, Editors, Bonde Do Role, Kid Sister, Pierre Lapointe, Champion and Lady Sovereign. He is also the founder of highly successful parties in Montreal dubbed Bounce Le Gros ("bounce, big guy"), where hip-hop, dub and baile funk collide."

FREE PRE-PARTY STARTS @ 2PM ON THE ROOFTOP ALLEY DECK
Selectors:
Drew Pompa (blank artists)
Aran Daniels (proper|modulation)
TRS (proper|modulation)
k.attic (randomreason)

Sunday, June 14th
The Magic Stick
4120 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI 48201
$10 Pre-sales
$12 @ The Door
Starts @ 8pm

Warp Records Univeils 20th Anniversary Box Set

From: Fact Magazine

Warp Records have published the first pictures and content description of their forthcoming Warp20 deluxe box set, which will be released in September as part of the label's 20th anniversary celebrations.

The package features new songs, older previously unreleased material from the likes of Autechre and Broadcast, "personal favorites" selected by co-founder Steve Beckett and the top ten tracks voted for by Warp fans at Warp20.net. It also includes a book showcasing the label's design history, plus an exclusive hour-long mix and a vinyl set of locked-groove loops.

The box is available to pre-order now at bleep.com, and will be shipped to arrive by September 25, 2009. There will apparently be only one pressing, and the only way to guarantee ownership is to order before July 5. The full breakdown of the box's contents - which includes five vinyl 10"s - is below. Read more about the box set contents.

Aran Daniels Mix

Aran Daniels get's around, and not like a Albanian hooker sold within the Egyptian sex trade. Instead, this dude is somewhat of a draconian denizen in the office of special plans headed by our patriotic American government's CIA division. He's garnered the respect of both friends and enemies around the globe and has a handful of pseudonyms to prove it. In Baghdad, they call him Aran the Harun. Or perhaps you'd rather refer to him as Grandpa Joe, or even Lank the Tank - a title handed down by Ireland's Minister of Booze (Aran once consumed more alcohol than both the Russian and Polish Prime Ministers, combined). Seriously, even when Aran's blacked out, he can still defuse a SED, solve the diplomatic crisis in Ingushetia, and even have time to James Bond it with your mother.

Yeah yeah..... all these accolades are fine and dandy, but what's really amazing is that Aran's a bad ass dj. He's learned through experience the skill to manipulate hordes of people through tonal commands and this recent mix set proves his uncanny abilities. So instead of trying to track Aran down on espionage charges and shooting cannons at his face, your time would be best spent submitting to the reigns of his power. Oh, and this is the first mix Aran has made available in 4 years, specially encoded with uranium enrichment. Enjoy!

Download
Tracklist:
01 Pantha Du Prince - Saturn Strobe
02 Josh Cummings - Morning Birds
03 Motorcitysoul - Solar Basic
04 Clé - Dune
05 Scott Grooves - Coco Brown
06 Luomo - Tessio (Stimming rmx)
07 Henry & Denis - Catabolism (Efdemin rmx)
08 Butch - Nomad (Mihalis Safris rmx)
09 Shed - That Beats Everything!
10 Marek Bois - Dapss (Marcel Knopf rmx)
11 Prosumer & Murat Tepeli - Cathedral
12 Touane - Tolousian Duck
13 Maetrik - Polygon (Christian Quast rmx)
14 Scuba - From Within
15 Sebastien Bouchet - Tuning
16 Ben Klock - Grab Me
17 H.O.S.H. - Supersick Bowl
18 Tobias, Jones, Unger - Beginning Of The End (Tigerskin rmx)
19 SCSI-9 - Dubstack
20 Sten - Way To The Stars

Resident Advisor Movement Review

Sometimes it can take eons for Movement festival reviews to surface on the web. It can take even painstakingly longer for festival sets to be uploaded and distributed, but we've learned from experience to disregard this mysteriously infinite timeline. After investigating the many media sources that cover movement festival news, we were hardly surprised to see Resident Advisor, once again, ahead of the pack. RA recently published their overall assessment of festival performers and the ensuing after-hours madness. After browsing the field of events, we became immediately overjoyed that RA included us in their review. And although, we have little to complain about, we are more than flattered with Duke Shin's upbeat assessment. Read the entire review.

Deastro - Moondagger

From: Ghostly

When Randolph Chabot, the 22-year-old auteur behind Deastro, is asked about the title of his new album, he recounts a dream about a prince, a kingdom, an evil King of Darkness, and a search for the mythical “Moondagger,” the bearer of which wields ultimate power. While Moondagger, Deastro’s astonishing new album, does contain traces of that dream—in all of its bittersweet, fantasy-novel glory—the record itself is infinitely more down-to-earth, containing the sort of unrelentingly earnest, inspirational pop music that could only come from a kid weaned on fiction but living desperately, joyously in the here-and-now.

Moondagger expands upon the positive electro-pop of Keepers—Deastro’s home-recorded opus from 2008—with the addition of a full band. Thankfully, the mercurial, prolific Chabot still seems blissfully unaware of his music’s genreless-ness. Thick, atmospheric production obscures bright, starry-eyed melodies; ecstatic synth squiggles dance around new-wave beats on songs about Nordics, toxic crusaders, and geometric shapes; arrangement ideas bounce off one another within ambitious song structures that swerve left, then right, then left again.

And yet underneath all of their seeming irreverence, Deastro’s songs are breathtakingly down-to-earth—melodic slices of synth-led experimental pop whose energy builds with each iteration of the chorus, hitting emotional peak after emotional peak until they collapse in a heap. The album-opening “Biophelia” can barely contain its heart-in-throat urgency, Chabot’s rapid-fire delivery slicing through layers of shoegaze-y ambience; in “Vermillion Plaza,” plucky synth arpeggios ricochet off cavernous echo-chamber walls while Chabot pleads for human contact, asking “would you be my son, ‘cause of all of mine have died?”

Right now, Ghostly International is offering an limited run (only 1,000 copies) of the Gatefold LP Pre-order that features the full Moondagger tracklist on 180 gram vinyl. Included in this package is a CD copy of Moondagger and the digital download files. Order your copy today.

Kyle Hall Mix

Detroit deep house dj and producer, Kyle Hall, is one those few performers who offers both technical skills and unparalleled energy when behind the decks. This dude gets so effin live, the Detroit Police Department are liable to get a noise complaint!..... true story and a hell of a good time.

Since becoming involved in djing and music production, Hall has been taken under the wings of few honorable mentors, including Mike Huckaby and Omar-S. His knowledge has emanated from his love of Detroit house music via deep house purveyors Moodymann, Rick Wilhite, and Rick Wade, all who have carved their own unique blend of jazz, funk, and soul-laden grooves. Over the past 8 years, Kyle has been carefully studying those professors of music and is now carrying the torch for Detroit's new generation of house producers. Kyle recently compiled a mix for Fact Magazine and it's an incredible house mix featuring Hall's own productions and material recorded for his Wild Oats labels alongside tracks from the likes of Kai Alce and Substance.

Download
1. Ratio - Centralized (Substance Rework) [Central]
2. Stephen Brown - Sustain [Affected Music]
3. Duplex - Vivid Array [Frantic Flowers]
4. Mr.V - Circle Track [Sole Channel]
5. Brown Study - Cereal Numbing [Unknown]
6. Murr - Watching You [Public Transit]
7. Omar-S - Strider's World [FXHE]
8. Filsonik - LuvHolik [Unknown]
9. Mike Clark - Natalie Lacosta [White Label]
10. Omar-S - Oasis #11 [FXHE]
11. Ibex - Bok Choy [Planet E]
12. DJ Rhythm - Rhythms Groove [Unknown]
13. Kai Alce - M-7 [Mahogani Music]
14. 3 chairs - Misty City [Three Chairs]
15. Lazy Fat People - Pixel Girl [PlanetE]
16. The Rurals - Sorry [Peng]
17. Kyle Hall - I <3 Dr. Girlfriend [Wild Oats]
18. Andres - A3 Untitled (from Andres II) [White label]

Peril Elle @ Movement Festival 2009

Last weekend's Movement Festival was impressive all around, from the the talent on the lineup to the overall stage production. Festival goers who were lucky enough to catch the end performances from Saturday's Red Bull Music Stage, received a pleasant surprise during Exchange Bureau's set, as they offered a special appearance by E.Spleece and Peril Elle. Peril Elle, who is arguably Canada's new queen of soul, has a sampler E.P. dropping on Blank Artists this summer, with a full length due out later in the year.