chome foiled lambskin leather and striped faux furVery soon the studio will be a total vomit of ridiculous materials only a raved out Tim Burton could love, and I can't wait!
This faux fur is so convincingly soft, the beloved canine almost made off with the swatch last night. Not sure exactly how much liberty of deatail I can speak of on this project, but the final product will be on TV in Janurary...
Bodyslam!!!
SMRT SQUID, black on charcoalSquidBrain!(We've actually been told this is a cuttlefish...but still, how cute are tentacular brains?)
$30, poly-blend
$40, white ink on 100% black silk
People who don't like ties must be getting REALLY sick of reading this. Something else soon...I promise. :)
ExLibris Tie - new printsFor those who will be around this wekend, DethLab is proud to be playing at the
In Perpetual Motion and New Detroit Radio Summer Sizzle Party - it's totally FREE and we're on from 12-3, Saturday Sept. 2.
"Features include two days and nights of music from DJs of every influence, a dance floor with light show, movies and video games on the big screens after dark, snacks, beverages, coolers full of ice to keep everything cold and blazing grills to keep everything else hot and more as we think of it! We will be providing basics like corn on the cob, hot dogs, burgers, buns, condiments, ice for coolers, charcoal, propane, plates, service, water..."
Close out Summer proper and have a tasty meatstick with DethLab. :)
Digitalis - Order here!This has to be my favorite so far, if I don't say so myself... ;)Busy day in the TieLab today - spent some time down at the
Pure Detroit Design Lab as well, they have an opening tonight for featured designer
Anastasia Chatzka for 8-11pm.
Kill Memory Crash and Dietrich Schoeneman (of Prototype 909) tonight at the Works!
Initiate work hard, play hard....
Dear sweet little drum machine,
I have to apologize to you for abandoning you for so long. Even though you've been in my peripheral possession over the past six years, I never really "got" you, you eluded me and I always wished you were more of a bass synth...I don't think In drum beats so much, I never really found them all that interesting. So I let you run here or there at your whim, but I think it is time for us to get reacquainted.
Something has changed and I feel differently. Somehow you make sense to me now. You are making far thicker, dirtier sounds than I ever really thought possible and once all those annoying little shooshy "natural" cymbal sounds are eradicated from your memory, you are such a beautiful creature. You and your friend Metal Zone make such wonderful friends. Please stay together for a long time. I love you.
Love,
Bethany
I haven't had a very good day. This has made it a lot better.
Paint it Black:
Goth is so hot right now. No shit?
photo: Bethany ShorbCongratulations to
Sass for a nice little writeup in this week's
Real Detroit Weekly:
Influenced by a "love for music, pop culture and queer culture," and fed up with the lack of nightlife catering to the gay community, two veterans of Detroit's music and DJ scene began Sass, a monthly Saturday night dance party at Oslo. Mike Servito (Blackbx, Burnlab, Dorkwave) and Nathan Rapport (Lucid Records, Record Time) are hosts Coitus Interruptus — they pulled the title from a Fad Gadget song and a Madonna quote from the Truth Or Dare documentary... More at the link at the top.
It is Sass'
Sleaze Edition this Saturday August 26, at Oslo:
[ See huge ]Yes kids, it's just glitter.
Sparkly.
This has to be one of the most patently offensive things I have ever read:
Forbes.com: Don't Marry Career Women.* "Studies show that professional women are more likely to cheat, get divorced and have unhappy husbands. Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career.
(AHEM, READ: BRAIN!) For our purposes, a 'career girl' has a university-level (or higher) education, works more than 35 hours a week outside the home and makes more than $30,000 a year."
WTF.I can't belive major publishers actually print this horseshit. Isn't there more to life than having some useless trophy bitch and a few crotchdroppings?
*NOTE: Forbes has since removed the slideshow (which was even worse than the original article) after quite a backlash from The Internets. I've already butted heads with people over this and honestly, keep it coming, I don't give a flying shit, I will never change my position on this. I will stomp up and down about the issue of traditional gender roles more than just about any issue on the block. I am not a feminist either, by any stretch of the imagination, I just refuse to live up to any ideals of what I should do careerwise or in my homelife stictly based upon my anatomy or the presupposition that I should drop snivelling brats by a certain age out of said anatomy.
Still, I'll probably spawn before I ever bake.
Lots to report here and not enough time to do it.
First off, this weekend was 800 Beloved's show at the stick with Office, I won't even bother to mention the other two bands as I just want the 110 minutes or so of my life back that I wasted by having to sit through them. ZZZZZZ! Anyway, 800 and Office rocked, if they are playing anywhere near you, drop whatever you are doing and go see them, just bring something to knit (or quite a fair amount of cash for the bar) if some crap classic rock band get shoved bewtixt them.
Friday night was spent in the screenprinting sweatshop, hand printing limited edition serigraphed CASSINGLES, (yes, kids, cassingles...tapes...ROCK!) and silkscreened tshirts.
Cassingle jackets
Tshirts everywhere
Tshirts detailYou can buy them here at
800 Beloved's MySpace. They're totally a deal.
Shirt graphic and cassingle graphic by Mike Doyle, printing by me. (There's something to this brains/brawn combo.) Heh. I taught Sean to print cassingles. He's really anal and makes quite a good printer. I'd hire him as slave labor any time.
It was an excellent day in the studio, I don't think I've ever had so many people in there all at once, it was a rather warm and fuzzy feeling, especially after the mountains of mussels, pomme frites and amazing Belgian beer at the
Cadieux Cafe after breaking for some very necessary dinner. I can't emphasize how awesome Cadieux is, for $15, you get the most massive mountain of well prepared mussels...this hole in the wall is hands down better than the fanciest places I've ever been.
Saturday was
Dorkwave vs. The Cavity Creeps, where the 800 shirts were also lovingly modeled:
I have more Dorkwave pictures, but they're completely underwhelming. Thank you to the Dorkwave boys for inviting me to play a few records this time. It was REALLY fun...playlist soon. :) Closing out the night with The Pet Shop Boys'
It's a Sin was definitely a gay old time. ;)
Work hard, play hard...
(back to work)
Over the next few months I'll be working on a huge commission for wrestling superstar
Johnny Nitro. Someday I'll tell my 4th grade wrestling story. Maybe not. We'll see. Nedless to day, there is going to be a massive faux fur coat in my studio's near future. I'm pretty effing excited.
Screw (you)!What a perfect way to elegantly tell someone off! Or, for those a little less entertained by blatant crudeness, this tie makes a wonderful gift for that special woodworker or handyman/woman in your life.
Bad puns are awesome. Actual size of screw is 8.25." (That's pretty darned screwed.)
$30, poly-blend
$40, white ink on 100% black silk
Order here
SNAKES ON A MUTHAF*KIN' TIE!
white on 100% black silk
white on 100% black silk, detail
burgundy | charcoal | light oliveI'm absolutely thrilled with the white on black, thus far I've had issues with getting water based white (i.e. reasonably non-toxic leaving some of my sad remaining DNA intact) to behave as desired on dark colors. Ya learn something new everyday!
Snakes snakes snakes on ties!
(The previously seen snakes were all photoshoppery...the screen was finished today, these are the real hissin' deal!)
This is where I lament about my life being sooooooo terrible that I have to do all these photoshoots of my handsome friends that double as product shots for the ties. Life is really terrible, I can't stand it. Poor, poor me!
HeartAttack Tie in black on burgundy.
Yes, horrible. Oh the punishment. I need more victims. I think I'll make Mike suffer this weekend. Muahahaha!
Thanks to
Murketing.com for conducting
a most excellent and thoughtful interview about the
Cyberoptix TieLab!
I worked all day yesterday on a few new designs and some new screens to burn, pretty excited about that. The ol' toybreaker blog has been a bit quiet due to my beloved ibook being persnickety with the internets. Even after installing a brand new airport extreme card, the wireless signal is still terribly, terribly non-existant at home, while the partner in crime has 8million bars of pure digital love. Befuddled crap! Ah well...back to the aforementioned new stuff:
These are super limited edition, WWII officer inspired ties. A new, olive drab poly-blend necktie is adorned with an authentic, reclaimed 1940's wool felt officer's jacket emblem or patch. The tie on the right is a seargent chevron, and the left with the gold stripes indicates six years overseas. More will become available as I painstakingly remove them from their parent jackets. $45.
Order!
Snakes on a Tie!"We got motherf*ing snakes on the motherf*ing tie!"
Sit Back. Relax. Enjoy the fright.
Snake is adapted from a 17th century engraving. Hiss.
$30 poly blend. $40, 100% black silk.
Available now for pre-order, will be shipping approx. 8/18.
New from the Cyberoptix
TieLab.
Since the state of the world right now is too depressing to even think about, it's time to share some nonsensical frivolity: Mike and I went to Ikea the other night. It was my first trip to Ikea ever. We ate Swedish meatballs and they were very good. I aslo bought a bunch of wooden hangars and they are nice. The end.
Meanwhile I am having palpitations over not being able to travel with my hair products.
And btw,
mixing all of these alleged dangerous, incendiary chemicals in a crowded space prior to any screening is real f*%&%$ing smart. Genius!
flyer by Bethany ShorbFriday, 8.11.2006 FAMILY welcomes special gues Matthew Dear.
along with your residents, Carlos Souffront, Patrick Russell, Mathew Boynton, Brian Gillespie
10pm 18+ $5 before 2am / $10 after
brought to you by FreshCorp the 2nd Friday of every month @ The Works, 1846 Michigan Ave. Detroit
I heart making the rave flyers!
Senator Joe Lieberman is a lowly ratfink weenis of the worst kind and I could not, in principle be happier about his loss to Millionaire Cableguy Lamont in the Connecticut Democratic Primary. How this turdface could actually call himself a Democrat is beyond me; he is a Bush ass-kissing, war-mongering tool of the highest order who not only ranted up and down on the immorality of his fellow party member's pole smoking incident in the oval office years ago (who the f cares, shouldn't El Prez have a little fun?), but he was also one of the first to lobby for bringing in the courts on the Terry Schiavo case. The only thing of use he has ever done is voted to protect choice and was in favor of stem cell research and funding.
Unfortunately he really brings new meaning to the words "assclown," "sore loser" and "hypocrite", since he is
vowing to run as an independent and completely undermine the party he has allied himself with for the past eighteen years. Throughout Bush's "presidency" he's gone on and on and on how we have to respect him because he "won" but now he himself loses by 4% and due to Connecticut's completely retarded election laws, he's going to try and run as an independent and royally destroy and divide the Democratic bid and probably get a Republican in there as a result, which makes perfect sense as he's nothing but a Bush puppet anyway.
/rant from Connecticutite ex-pat.
Surrender the Booty!
Yep, I think it is indeed being surrendured.Anyway,
July Dorkwave photos are now up. No art to be seen there, but more hot, sweaty, blurry drunk people than any human should really need. Better late than never, I have a crap ton of backlogged photos to put up, more swaety Detroit parties to come.
Posty McPostalot today...
I usually don't give away in-process details, but this one I was really happy with at each stage of development. The task at hand was to mediate between the concept of the night and not appear *just* patently offensive, while still properly addressing the
Sass "Sleaze Edition" theme - tougue-in-cheekily referencing late 70's disco, clubs, sleaze, Studio 54, excess, cocaine, more sleaze, glitz...and moustaches.
Cutting up piles of iridescent glitter on the back of the toilet had to be an entertaining sight...I know I sure was laughing my ass off while doing it!
Original image:
Horizontal view manipulated to appear less like a home bathroom, and more like a dark sleazy club:
Final collaged image with other ridiculous on-theme illustrations, hopefully making it appear less about the implied substance.
In my photo work (especially with the meat) I've been drawn to making an image of something that looks really delicate, beautiful or sensual at first glance, but when you get up close, you realize it is something pretty foul - raw tripe rather than lace, for example. I wanted to play with a similar idea here, but instead have it on first glance be potentially quite offensive and scandalous - and when you really look at it, it is something silly and benign - glitter. (But still a symbol of the disco era.)
Perhaps that is over-analyzing a club flyer job, but I just can't stand taking on more work where I don't get to think...working on these kinds of jobs is a pleasure.
Note, we do not endorse or condone aforementioned implied nose-powdering, this is just art.
A few more shots from today's drive around Detroit:
Denture Work of the Future!
(Yeah, I'll make sure I run right on over there when I lose my present set of chompers.) Maybe if they got the lettering a little more properly aligned I might buy it's "Future" claims.
This just seems so tropical at first glance...like Guadaloupe or Barbados...ah well, they're just ghetto palms...and then there's that barbed wire....and the church is abandoned.
Yet another hot, humid August afternoon was the perfect time for an impromptu visit to one of Detroit's many urban prairies.
Much of the area (Gratiot and Chene/Mr. Elliot/McDougal) is a perfect location for some photo shoots I have in mind, but unfortunately it really pushes even my boundaries for safety, which is saying quite a lot.
I didn't see any pheasants this time, but while documenting some escaped garden sweat peas and hibiscus, a john accompanied by an unleashed pit bull, holding his prostitute by the hair and scruff of her neck darted out of the bushes. Even though they were only yards away, I've found that pretending you are not there is generally the best response. It worked well the majority of the time, as I was only offered Detroit's finest pharmaceuticals two separate times.
More photos later tonight.
I just finished a better, edited gallery for MOTOR images:
looky here, i.e. no annoying little squares to click. May take a second to load...
If anyone else has any good/incriminating shots, please hit me up!
The first Sex & Sedition, Friday August 26, 2005This last installment of Sex & Sedition officially marked our one year anniversary of throwing dark and debaucherous parties at Oslo under the moniker of
DethLab. One can definitely say that time does indeed fly when you're having fun, so much so that you...well...forget to ceremoniously mark said passing of time. (DethLab
NOT ceremoniously doing something?!?!)
If it is any consolation, according to the photo, I think we both wore the same damn thing Friday night as we did for the very first one. By accident of course. It kind of works like that.
So...much stays the same (militaresque uniform fetish wha?? and we still can't mix worth a shit...) and quite a fair amount certainly does evolve, all in all it has been an incredible year. We're looking very forward to spending a lot of time in the studio (both art and music) as a way to punctuate the Summer of Diligence (as opposed to last year's Summer of Party.)
Up next: Taxidermy 2.0, Falconry, Metalzone and Casiotone, Lowfish and the Guggenheim!
All photos by Mike Doyle + Bethany Shorb - most of the good ones by Mike because I was busy doing sound.
[Full set
here - warning, 126 photos, we both have "overshooting disease."]
MOTOR live at Oslo - a few reviews:
...Motor gave Oslo a proper fucking last night. The perfect antidote for the crappy minimal thats been circulating lately.
- motor f'n rocked...
- still blown away by motor...
- Definitely a great way to kick off the weekend, and an awesome warmup for Prototype!
- I don't remember the last time I had that much fun at Oslo.Hands down, one of the best live performances I've ever had the pleasure of attending. Not only were they some of the coolest and most fun people to work with, they were the epitome of professional, prepared and disgustingly technically adept. For those wondering who is going to to be "The Next Hot Shit", there is a lot of red black and white stripes involved. (And yes, the Electro-Industrial Stryper quips were a-flyin'!)
Thanks to everyone who came out, the sound was perfect, the crowd was perfect and the New Dance Show moves that broke out around 11:30pm really took the cake. Also, huge thanks to Ryan Elliott and BMG of Ectomorph for playing exceptional tracks - Brendan one upped us by powers of thousands with the evil. And thanks again to Mike McAdow for the visual assistance!
Mr. No and I had an impromptu golf-ball-sized wasabi eating contest. I think it was a draw but that about sums up the night.
MOTOR will be
supporting Nitzer Ebb on tour next month, and we can't wait to go meet them in Chicago on Sept. 16th for more hijinks shennanigans. :)
I am damn near phobic of traditional craft fairs as it was something I grew up with and could never escape. I cut my sculpting teeth on two foot wheat-paste-stiffened, gold spray-painted Christmas angels. For serious. Did you know that finely spun fiberglass makes the best angel hair? It does. And it fucking itches too.
Throughout my entire childhood, from July to December there was never an unoccupied flat surface in our house, if I never see another piece of felt, glitter
1 or metallic thread everything will be ok. Just the sight of a scrap of one of those materials is enough to initiate convulsions. I can make a mean white felt snowman and blow the entire contents of a raw egg out from two tiny holes at each end
2. Such talent, don't you all envy me?
This Saturday morning I may look my phobia straight into the eyes and maybe even flick a wad of post-rave Oslo eye sleep into it. From 11am - 8pm is the
Detroit Urban Craft Fair at the Majestic Theatre. I even thought about participating, but in light of our recent events schedule (and especially with
MOTOR being the night before) I thought it would be downright idiotic and impossible. Cue the unexpected that I actually have
a metric crapton of ties completed and ready to be sold...curses...but still, after a guaranteed 5am minimun night, hawking my wares the next day...not such a good idea.
Anyway, being an attendee at something for once actually sounds quite attractive.
1. See forthcoming SASS flyer for breaking of said glitter ordinance.
2. Get your mind out of the gutter.
3. Psssst! Buy my ties.
Some great press for the upcoming
MOTOR show this Friday night:
The South End
Motor cruises into town
Jean Johnson
A&E EditorLondon-based electro-punk group Motor’s first release, “Klunk,” hit shelves Tuesday. And they’ll be hitting up the Motor City’s Oslo Friday, August 4, when ongoing events “Vault” and “Sex & Sedition” cross-breed into one debaucherous affair - “Blood and Oil.”
Detroit is one of only four stops for the group, which consists of Bryan Black and Mr. No, before they tour with Kraftwerk and Nitzer Ebb. But Motor has worked with other notable artists. The duo created remixes for Depeche Mode, Marilyn Manson, Felix da House Cat, Throbbing Gristle, T. Raumschmiere and Peaches. The two used to be a part of the group Xlover.
Their new name isn’t homage to Detroit, though. “When we were making the music, it was machine like,” Black said. “It chugged along like a motor relentlessly.”
What’s Motor’s sound? “It’s pretty abrasive, yet strangely compelling,” Black said. “We don’t try to deafen the audience. It’s crafty, but not over the top.”
“It’s difficult to classify them as ‘techno,’” said Micheal Doyle – Burnlab’s director and who, with Bethany Shorb, makes up Dethlab, who will also be playing the show. “Because there are a lot of pop elements to their song structures, and they’re not some faceless producers hunched behind laptops.”
Motor’s live set is comprised of Black on keyboards, Mr. No on drums, and Hugo Menendez, XLover member, on keys and effects. The three all contribute to the show’s vocals.
“Motor is like a punk band that makes club music,” Doyle said. “Only the club they make music for is some seedy after-hours in a spaceport in a lawless corner of the galaxy.”
Although Black never mentioned Jabba the Hut’s lair, he agreed on the punk tip.
“We are doing something different by putting punk back into techno music,” Black said. “The albums title “‘Klunk’ is meant to describe the sound when metal hits metal.”
“Klunk” is a hybrid of minimal techno, acid house, gnarz and punk. The drums have a definite punk influence and sometimes gets a little housey, especially when the occasional high-hat is thrown into the mix. The textures on the mid and high registers are crisp, glitchy, distorted and occasionally hypnotic – adding to the album’s complexity.
Most of the tracks are instrumentals, however some include vocals. And with vocals ranging from naughty whispers to screams, these hooks balance on complicated textures, but also show the duo preventing pigeon holing with their diverse tracks.
“It’s one of my favorite records of the year so far,” said Doyle. “The craftsmanship, the song writing, the palette of sounds ... all wrapped up in a strong visual package, with a punk rock attitude and great sense of humor.”
Regarding his previous experience with Detroit, Black said, “It was a bit of a ghost town. I’m looking forward to seeing it again, though.”
But Motor and Deathlab aren’t the only cool cats playing the shindig.
“The pairing of artists between Ghostly and Dethlab for this night couldn’t have been better,” Doyle said. “We’re very excited to see Brian Aneurysm, and love his work for Spectral (Sound). He’s one of the more aggressive sounding artists on the label.
“Ryan Elliott is one of our favorite DJs anywhere, and is very adept at making the right selections for any given environment. Ryan has already told me he is excited to play some harder sounding records that he doesn’t usually have the opportunity to play. I think he’s going to blow people’s heads off.”
Oslo is located at 1456 Woodward Ave., Detroit. The show starts at 10 p.m., and is 18 and up. Cover is $10. [
See PDF of article ]
MOTOR in this week's Metro Times:Friday, August 4th at Oslo: Few electronic groups of late have pushed the pedal as hard and fast as Motor, a duo made up of Bryan Black and Olivier Grasset. Since 2003, the London-based pair has released original material, done blue-chip remixes - including tracks by Depeche Mode, Throbbing Gristle, Marilyn Manson and T. Raumschmiere - and launched such side projects as XLover, Drugbeat and the Sick. Their newly released full-length, Klunk, is being hailed as a high-speed industrial techno vs. acid electro-house masterpiece. Some of the world's darkest and loudest club spaces have been playing the single, "Black Powder," for months. (An aside to Prince fans: When back home in Minneapolis, Bryan Black did sound design for the tiny dancer at Paisley Park studios.) Motor roars into the Motor City this Friday. Also appearing: Austrian-cum-Texan Brian Aneurysm. The show is a special combo edition of Vault and Sex & Sedition, and features DJ support from Ghostly's Ryan Elliott and Dethlab DJs. At Oslo, 1456 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-963-0300; $10.
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See big ]
Art After Dark
First Fridays at the Guggenheim
December 1: Telefon Tel Aviv + Dethlab9pm - 1am
5th Ave. at 89th St.
$20 cash only at the door
FREE for Guggenheim Members!
Sponsored by the Village Voice. Djs curated by
Flavorpill.
