From the Harder Better Faster Stronger 2008 (Alive Club Mixes) comes this wicked little Daft Punk mashup:

Daft Punk - Touch It Technologic (Alive Club Mix)

HOT HOT HOT!!! This new video RULEZ! I like this version better than anything I’ve ever heard by either artist individually. It takes the amazing energy of Daft Punk’s electronica and the hard-hitting vocals and images of Kanye West. What would it take to get these guys to form a supergroup and put out whole albums of this stuff? ([More →])

In my double-life as a jet-setting music enthusiast, I would definitely be in London (again, London… sigh.) on 6 and 7 and 9 September to enjoy two different audio-visual sensory-immersive events at the ICA. The three events feature music by Mathew Herbert, The Chemical Brothers, Battles, Plaid and many more electricians, while the visual includes works by Joji Koyama, Max Hattler, United Visual Artists, Flat Nose George plus many others. ([More →])

Fader Mag has a fantastic feature today about Daft Punk. Partly because their tour starts in L.A. tonight, partly because they just effing RULE and partly because the Punks let the peeps from Fader try on their new and improved robot helmets. How cool is that? If you haven’t seen the new helmets, check this: ([More →])

Daft Punk’s robot saga Electroma will finally show in North America! The movie first screened at the Cannes Film Festival an entire year ago, and I’ve been stoked to see it since! The plot revolves around two androids on their quest to become human. The entire film was shot in a mere 11 days, mostly in Independence California.

Here is a few minutes from the reel, with music by Todd Rundgren:

Actually none of the music in the movie is by Daft Punk themselves, the duo have their hands full with directing and acting!

Electroma Cast:

Peter Hurteau as Hero #1
Michael Reich as Hero #2
Ritche Lago Bautista as Robot Groomsman
Daniel Doble as Robot Pastor
Athena Stamos as Robot Waitress

Here is one of the trailers for the film:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/dzN6eFPx-B4]

According to pitchf*#k, Daft Punk and Vice Records have announced N.American screenings:

Electroma Screenings

06-14 Toronto, Ontario - Xpace
06-28 Calgary, Alberta - Stride Gallery
06-29 Los Angeles, CA - New Beverly Cinema
07-28 Miami, FL - Studio A
09-08 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Festival
09-09 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Festival

Go GO Robot Rock!

LINKS

Daft Punk website
Wiki has ALL the info on the film’s plot [SPOILER WARNING!]
Daft Punk music$pace

One of my favorite design communities - Threadless - busted out this week with new contests and new releases as part of their Wear I $pent My Summer Vacation Sale. By the end of the weekend, someone is going to win an ipod and digital camera, and everyone will find great designs by so many fabulous artists- on smooth american apparel shirts for as low as $10! Ten frickin US dollars! And they will be releasing another new design everyday until June 3rd.

I’m particularly fond of this one that I bought on sight (I’m actually wearing it as I write this):

Aww YEAH! Iz gonna be a Beat Street Beat Down!!

That’s not all… By coincidence, I submitted a slogan for a tshirt idea this week. It’s a sweet little philosophical one-liner that I have used for years in conjunction with my solo music project. If you want to make a dedicated music journalist super happy, vote to get it printed as a tshirt. Check-check-check it out y’all:

Robots don’t leave fingerprints

Click the slogan there to vote!

You need to sign in or sign up for a Threadless account, but go ahead, you’ll need one to order anyhow. If you get a chance to tell them who referred you, my Threadless name is robotanist . For those not familiar with the Threadless community, they RULE! Check out the next contest coming up - they are seeking Tshirt design submissions inspired by “awkward love” in celebration of the quirky romance comedy Eagle vs. Shark… The regular contests are located behind the big red heart at the top of the page. If you don’t see it, hover over “Participate” and you will see the heart to the right.So go ahead, find something cool to wear to the show next weekend, and enter to win some cool prizes! Thanks for your support! If I win this slogan contest, I will have some credit to spend on Tshirts, which means HearingTest will definitely be having a contest with Tshirt prizes!!
Enjoy your Threadless Summer Vacation!

Mighty Robot Lives Again! Well, on DVD anyway. Contact Records announced its first DVD release, and it exhumes the archives of the once mighty underground venue in NYC. Up until its much grieved demise in 2005, Mighty Robot hosted shows by our fave NYC bands - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars, TV on the Radio, Les Savy Fav, and the Anchorage-Alaska-fronted, SF-based Coachwhips. While you can still catch these bands on stage today, you can no longer catch the Mighty Robot anywhere other than fading memories and this jam packed DVD.

MIGHTY ROBOT “Sleep When You Are Dead” DVD Tracklist:

Mighty Robot:

Junk Yard Show 2004:
01 Sightings
02 Liars
03 Lightning Bolt

Junk Yard Show 2005:
04 Hospitals
05 Ex Models
06 Oneida

Last Two Days Show 2005:

07 Fireball
08 Jah Division
09 Oakley Hall
10 Tallboys
11 Coachwhips

Mighty Robot Visual Work:
12 “Every Bite Tastes Like More” (music by Mighty Robot AV Squad)
13 “Funny I Don’t Feel Like a Shit Head” (music by Ex Models)
14 “Sleep When You Are Dead”

Technorati Tags: Liars, YYY, LSF, TVotR, music, DVD, rock, news, NYC, guitar, robot

In other virtual news, Electronic Arts has just sold the movie rights for The Sims to 20th Century Fox.

ok ok ok ok, wait one second. The Sims is a super fun game (I especially like making the bathroom unreasonably small and watching the wifey grumble!) and Second Life looks scarily fun too, but a movie about simulated life? Oh, right, all movies are about simulated life. Carry on then.

According to Reuters:

“The Sims has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it’s like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it,” the Hollywood industry paper quoted Rod Humble, head of The Sims Studio at EA, as saying.

Speaking of unlimited power, The Sims is one of the best selling computer games of all time with 85 million copies sold in 7 years, plus multiple franchises and expansions. 20th Century Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s global vertically integrated media company, News Corp. You may recall that EA joined forces with Nettwerk Publishing in early April. If not, feel free to jump over to an earlier post about that.

thats more like it!!

Technorati Tags: news, virtual, reality, Sims, Fox, Murdoch, movie

First there were live concerts, then radio broadcasts of live concerts. Next there were TV broadcasts of live concerts, and then there were recordings of live concerts. With the widespread use of internet, came streaming concerts online, now with streaming video as well. Now, all of that has reached the next step. Virtual world Second Life is getting more and more “live” concerts. Suzanne Vega, Duran Duran and Ben Folds have all played in avatar form in Second Life, with views of the “real” concert playing on the big screen over the stage. Now with so many different channels for experiencing a live performance, an online viewer can choose between which cameras to view the action from. One could switch between close up cameras on stage, middle row shots, full stadium shots, as well as viewing the virtual avatars, or all cameras at once. Better yet, it could be seamlessly integrated into one experience, melding the virtual and the real together into one. A great example of this was reported today from Denver, Colorado where ManiaTV was holding a concert in a previously abandoned warehouse. According to yahoo news:

those watching the Internet stream on ManiaTV saw the event not only from the perspective of multiple camera angles, but also from the point of view of a special Second Life “cam” that spliced in shots of the different bands’ avatars performing in the virtual world. Meanwhile, those in Second Life watching the avatars perform were also viewing video of the real thing streamed from a large screen behind the virtual “stage.” And those in the studios watching it live could also see what was happening in both, on about 25 TV monitors set up throughout the space.

In an industry that is crying over drops in cd sales and the internet takeover, this could be the next big music product. Read the report on yahoo news for more details.

BBC news has also been dipping its toes into the Second Life. Last year BBC Breakfast conducted its first interview in Second Life.

U2 in Second Life Concert:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/Mro9Qzv--k8]

If you like virtual reality gigs, definitely check out Wired Mag’s “Second Life Rocks (Literally)” guide to gigs…

Technorati Tags: music, Second Life, virtual, reality, news, internet, concert
ManiaTV

I am a sucker for all things Hawkwind, especially when it involves Michael Moorcock and Lemmy (yes, Motorhead Lemmy. is there any other?). I am a big fan of Tarantism, and I used to be a sucker for the Utah Saints in 1992, so this is some pretty groovy news to get all in one basket…. Hawkwind has been slowly trickling out the word on another Hawkfest in the UK (Donington Park, Nr Derby, Derbyshire). Their murdoch$pace blog started off with only vague offerings, such as:

children’s area with rides, workshops (a jazz workshop run by Ken Colyer’s Legacy New Orleans Jazz band, hopefully forming a band of children to play on the stage with the Ken Colyer legacy band later in the day, a drum workshop, a rock music workshop, circus skills workshop etc etc), interesting stalls, fairies and plenty of food and drink outlets..(We will be keeping bar prices down to normal bar prices and will offer a wide range of real ales, beers, lagers, organic wines, organic juices, fizzy drinks and cocktails)

It sounded too much like a Ren Faire until they started announcing bands. As of today, the lineup includes, but is hardly limited to:

Hawkwind
Tarantism
Utah Saints
AOS3
Omnia Opera
Ken Colyer’s Legacy New Orleans Jazz Band
Kid Ego
Rhythm of Blues
Skyclad
Spacehead
Technicians of Spaceship Hawkwind
Gin Goblins
Coyote Wrecks (Paddy Stratton)
Ruby Red Lips
Modal Logic
Nanobots
Vasquez
Giant Root Attack
Illusion Overtone (Rock school)
Sleepy Head (Rock school)
Prime Sinister
Psonikadia

omj, omj, omj Tarantism!!!! getting my passport out, now….

This year’s HawkFest is called - 3 Days of Quark Strangeness And Charm in commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the album Quark Strangeness and Charm.

Anyhow, for full details, including the wedding ceremony for Dave Brock and Kris Tait, click over to these sites:

LINKS

official Hawkwind space where they are streaming a kick azz “Silver Machine”….
HawkFest Info Website
Ticket Info, Directions, And Map
HawkFest 2007
Hawkwind Website

If you are a BIG Hawkwind fan (who isn’t?) then you might be interested in the “private” show they will be playing in East Devon area on the 14th of July, or the “visas-pending” show in Bethlehem, PA in the US at the Nearfest on June 23rd. Both of those shows can be found on the band’s official music space.

FULL HAWKWIND TOUR DATES AT THIS TIME:

Jun 16 Hawkfest Donington Park Farm House Nr Derby
Jun 23 Nearfest Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Jul 14 Private Concert Southwest
Dec 13 Holmfirth Holmforth, Midlands
Dec 14 Manchester Manchester, Northwest
Dec 15 Exeter Exeter, Southwest

this is just GRAND even if it’s silly: Robots playing “Spirit Of The Age”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pimCdIwMPw]

Technorati Tags: music, festival, news, Hawkwind, rock, techno, UK, Moorcock, Motorhead

The new trailer for the upcoming TRANSFORMERS movie was released today…. Dang, this movie looks sweeet! I could literally watch this over and over again, especially with my booming speakers turned up, so those “thuds” are THUDMBPFBbbs!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/iw4Z434i9V0]

You may notice that Optimus Prime sounds very OG. Well, that’s because he is still voiced by Peter Cullen, the original OP.

Here is the previous trailer with a “featurette”.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/LlxNUpPH9Ag]

If you are truly die-hard, but can’t find your cassette of the original soundtrack, you could pop over to Brooklyn Vegan to dl the “1986 Transformers Movie Theme Song” by Lion….

You can buy the original soundtrack on CD, or upgrade to the new TRANSFORMERS movie soundtrack which will be released on May 29th.

Tracklist For 1992 Movie Soundtrack

1. Touch - Stan Bush
2. Instruments of Destruction - N.R.G.
3. Death of Optimus Prime - Vince DiCola
4. Dare - Stan Bush
5. Nothin’s Gonna Stand in Our Way - Spectre General
6. Transformers (Theme) - Lion
7. Escape - Vince DiCola
8. Hunger - Spectre General
9. Autobot/Decepticon Battle - Vince DiCola
10. Dare to Be Stupid - Weird Al Yankovic

The TRANSFORMERS game also rules. Even just as dramatic background noise!