frequency, amplitude: rez-like rhythm/remix games
Cyberpunk died with Johnny Mnemonic, the Krokers said in 1995, Robert Longo killed it - and with that came the slow dissipation of wireframes and vast electronic non-spaces of either consensual hallucination or psychedelia. Tetsuya Mizuguchi had it on PS2 and he brought it back for the 360 XBLA, leaving splinters of rumours about a Rez sequel and leaving us waiting empty-handed. If you still own your PS2, dust it off and google up a store where they still sell Frequency and Amplitude - developed by Harmonix in 2001 and 2003, respectively.
It's all about evoking the mindless speed limit breaking into an octogonal tunnel with sides connected to tracks, each of them containing notes you have to hit in order to keep the music flowing. It's basically a game-induced remix tool, containing songs by The Crystal Method, Curve, Orbit, Roni Size, Juno Reactor, Meat Beat Manifesto and a lot more in Frequency and the same diverse repertoire comes up in the sequel with Garbage, Herbie Hancock, Styles of Beyond or even Pink. My only heartbreak is that it's only for the Playstation - and PC's never really gotten far with similar music/rhythm games apart from Audiosurf.
louis vuitton + takashi murakami qr code
The first stylish QR code I've seen - done by Tokyo creative agency SET, promoting the joint projects of Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami. Although Jean Snow sez it works, I didn't manage to actually decode that - can you? (via dvice)
the sensoring manifesto
If we do not progress beyond the stage of gadgets, we will become increasingly detached as we attempt to follow an insurmountable amount of information. By acquiring information as sensory input instead of a disruptive gadget, the natural senses are strengthened. The capacity of the brain can be increased, new senses added, and old senses enhanced. It has already been found that additional streams of information can be parallel processed by the brain, the user only aware of the information, not the delivery system. Not only is this possible, but it is happening right now. (Grant Meacham, The Sensoring Manifesto)
condition: human
In the near future, man has begun to address the economic and environmental issues plaguing the early 21st century. Rapid technological advancements have changed life dramatically, especially the creation of advanced humanoid robots who have begun to play an integral part in everyday life. Takumi Kenji, the reclusive CEO of Kenji Electronics, and father of all things A.I. has announced the first ever 'companion' bots. A model of humanoid whose interactive capabilities are remarkably natural. As robots continue to evolve their place amongst us must evolve as well. And as it does society carries the responsibility of answering the moral questions that come.
Episode 1 and 2 are available on Vimeo and YouTube as I'm writing, check up on any info on the series on Facebook and MySpace.
silver bionic grace
A moment of awe. Robotic penguins shown at Hannover-Messe this year, using a new flexible glass fibre flapper technique, being able to move like their living counterparts - with the addition of being able to move backwards as well. The real beauty, it's more like the helium-filled animals floating and moving around each other with visible grace. If you remember the Jones, the cypherpunk dolphin from Johnny Mnemonic - how about this as a casemod for your box and router in one package of silver curves?
love is exploration, love is shaders (love is noise)
I wrote almost a year ago about Eskil Steenberg's (not so) massively multiplayer game LOVE - working with the procedural generation approach, gently sloshing your retina with visuals you're not exactly used to in video games. It's indie, it's been done by one guy. And Kotaku's out with a demonstration video.
the fall of anti-establishment: jg ballard dies aged 78
Author of Crash, Vermillion Sands and other avantgarde SF works of the new millennium, James Graham Ballard died yesterday, 19th April, 2009, at the age of 78, after a long battle with cancer. Guardian has a longer retrospective on him. (via renegade futurist)
gathering, breakpoint: kilobytes and neon grids well spent
Younglings, prepare for massif breakdown. Two of the major demoscene events, Gathering and Breakpoint have announced their winners and I'm posting you only two of the many that's really worth checking out. ASD is back with another supreme demo this year with a terrific amount of blue wireframe and statik black (ranked 1st in the Windows demo category at Gathering 2009), whereas RGBA/TBC proves that you can add almost four minutes of gliding camera on photorealistic landscapes synced to music into nothing more than 4 kilobytes of code. Grand Theft Auto IV on dual-layer DVDs? Rockstar, eat your heart out. (ASD - Rupture at pouet.net, RGBA/TBC - Elevated at pouet.net)
juno reactor: "i wanted to be like yello"
All of us who grew up with MTV and the techno era of the nineties have a few strands of Ben Watkins in our DNA. We spent an hour on the phone with one of the forefathers of all that's goa and psy with the saw leads and the bubbling basslines and the samples that cut knowledge in our forebrains and we know - he loves working with new people, he thinks dubstep is the new shit and he's just a master chef... or so he says.
(Originally published in THE DOSE #2, 2007.)
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alec empire: "music videos don't matter anymore"
We hooked up with Alec Empire not too long after Election Day. The mastermind behind Atari Teenage Riot and now his new project, The Hellish Vortex redbulled into a chilly evening and talked about his apparent optimism into 2009, his movie projects, how MySpace fame can turn into a worst nightmare and also, what you need to tweak to acquire the urban stage legend we call "riot frequency". All this in the bowels of a Ukrainian stone-carrier ship turned into a venue on the Danube.
(Photos by Akos Stiller.)
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aural lsd, junior bondage: best iphone apps round-up, part 2
We're spending less time with Left 4 Dead and Mirror's Edge (prepare for parkour goodness soon!), yet increasingly more with all the iPhone games that started trickling in the App Store since January - lots of neon geometry, intriguing gameplay, good design and some more procrastination extraordinaire. From aural LSD to Van Helsing Crimsonland, junior bondage and beatbox tutorials, it's all here.
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allosphere: a gigantic solution of data visu (joann kuchera-morin, ted talks)
Electrons dance and they are music. Tissues form landscapes. Greg EganAllosphere< was presented at TED, the thinktank spawning pool. I spend a moment of awe with the electron flow, a moment of certainty it is not only soundform that thoughts resonate with, it is visu as well. (allosphere)
from edge to finger fu: best iphone apps round-up, part 1
Cyberpunk or not, The Dose HQ is all about 80s vectors revisited (think Darwinia!), abstract geometrical forms and intense finger-flicking action, when it comes to handheld games. Until the i-platforms receive their well-deserved share of Flash, here's a brief rundown of all the apps - mostly games - we came to love in the past few months. They sometimes look like Rez, cover you like Music for Airports and they often frustrate you into an inhuman piece of shrieking Neanderthal who's been just defied by the complexity of a cube. Grab some demonic wisdom here!
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fetish, industrial and cyberpunk tweeters
MySpace without cleavages, Facebook without apps, last.fm without networking. This is how you'd look at Twitter if you'd live in a tunnel with acute hard-on syndrome for eyecandy, ADHD and honest love for click frenzy. That's alright, some of us still do. We'd take a different approach, though, and follow the footsteps of Violet Blue who made a wonderful job drawing up a master list of sex tweeters - we'd do the same for industrial, gothic, fetish, steampunk and cyberpunk, perhaps alternative. Let us know if we're missing someone!
Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls
Amelia Arsenic of Angelspit
Björk
Chris Cornell
Das Bunker (the venue)
Dillinger Escape Plan
Dir en Grey
DJ Xian
Dresden Dolls
EBM Radio
Ego Likeness
Erasure
Experiment Haywire
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
The Horrorist (Oliver Chesler)
I:Scintilla
kiEw
Liam Howlett (of The Prodigy)
MERA LUNA FESTIVAL
Mr. Joe Black
Muse
Sigur Rós
The Birthday Massacre
The Genitorturers
The Last Dance
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails
Tyske Ludder
Zoog of Angelspit
[fetish and model photography]
Adrianne Anderson
Alecia Anathema
Amelia G
Ancilla Tilia
Angela Ryan
Apnea
Athena Fatale
Bianca Beauchamp
Captive Culture
Chad Michael Ward
Christine Kessler
Courtney Crave
Darenzia
Deanna Deadly
Dita Von Teese
Donna Ricci
Emily Marilyn
Evelyn Rose
Fetish Jade
Ivy Blue
January Seraph
Josie Nutter
Kumi
Lenora Claire
Lexie Molotoff
Lexmachine
Libby Bulloff
Lithium Picnic
Miss Amarantha
Miss Duveaux
Natalie Addams
Nicotine
Noir Halo
Ropemarks
Rope Marks Muse
Rubberdoll
Rubber Dollemma
Saryn Christina
Satine Phoenix
Steve Diet Goedde
Sofia Valentine
Twisted Mermaid
Ugly Shyla
[they write, draw and design, gloriously]
Aunia Kahn
Ben Templesmith
Billy Antiseptic (of Antiseptic Fashion)
Bizarre magazine
Bruce Sterling
Coilhouse (the magazine)
Cory Doctorow
Douglas Rushkoff
Ectomo (the site)
Ego Assassin (they make printed latex clothing)
Haute Macabre (the site)
Iron Fist Clothing
Jhonen Vasquez
John Perry Barlow
Mer of Coilhouse
Molly Crabapple
Nadya Lev of Coilhouse
Neil Gaiman
Richard Kadrey
Side-Line (the site)
Stephen Levy
Tank Girl
Warren Ellis
Zoetica Ebb of Coilhouse
[list last updated: 2009 apr 23, photo is used by kind permission of @dawe_)
headscan: "cyberpunk was not a revolution"
Headscan has always been a definitve milestone in intelligent dance electro, industrial techno, cyberpunk, call it what you will, in a pantheon of names like Haujobb, Clock DVA or Forma Tadre. Cool, blue and sombre across the soundscape of the real, they slapped Gibson and Sterling into the mix of hyperclear electronics under the TV skies of Canada. Taking a break, they shared their opinions on cyberpunk, bizarro, techno-fetishism, Dune and many more.
(Originally published in THE DOSE #2, 2006.)
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kenji siratori: japanese cyberpunk institution
Kenji Siratori: acclaimed Japanese cyberpunk artist, bizarro idol, brain sex toy for linguists and rebels alike. Released nine books, over forty discs and worked with names like Portion Control, Bahntier, Pride and Fall, Prometheus Burning and Hypnoskull. According to some, he's not even alive. Yet, he talked to us about the Japanese cyberpunk scene. Be advised. He has FUCKNAMLOAD. (Originally published in THE DOSE #2.)
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twitter locates in shibuya, the net as a tokyo subway map
The idea itself is nothing new to data visu big bwai. Rip this idea thoughtfully: photoshop-crop out all the details and make a subway flowchart for your personal life or your searchwords and pin them on the subway system for your country, may just mash it up. Ideal for printing, Flickr has it 6740 x4768, do something similar for your sites. Zoomarama has a zoomable flash version. (via gizmodo)
the merge is in progress
oh hai. the merge is very much in progress. i have the grid now, i know what to store on planetdamage and what extra do i need to do to get it done. it is merely time now and pressing lots of buttons. given the fact that i have managed to blown my 190g to pieces, it is hard. pondering to get another display and fix the old one to establish a bi-screen HQ. as i see lots of lots of good content, i just think i'll start uploading them here and then you'll see how the design changes with the content. when the design is ready and the new planetdamage stands, original content will flourish.
tron and street fighter inspires futuristic fighter short movie turbo
The short film Turbo doesn't just capture how we imagine playing video games in 10-20 years. It's a piece that could only look this good through modern, inexpensive movie making technologies.
Shot on a Red camera for a USC graduate thesis, Turbo may look more than a little teen melodrama in this trailer (yes, someone's head actually goes through a crane game), but it's also got special effects that appear to rival any 2D-inspired fighter movie we've seen to date.. (via gizmodo)
etienne de crécy, transmusicales and the square cube model test
I'm not much for the French house scene myself, but what Etienne de Crécy does with his Square Cube performance gear is awesome to look at. Doesn't exactly kill Headscan on stage, though. (via digitaldj.jp)
noriko yamaguchi の [携帯GIRL]
Full immerson body suits, you say? After generations of suits that looked like half a ton of cables so thick that could even give a hard-on to a veteran sailor, up-and-coming Kobe artist Noriko Yamaguchi is back (was back in 2008) with a new approach: cell phone keypads, wires and a pair of headphones. During the performances of her project Keitai Girl a phone number was linked to her suit / visitors could dial up the suit and talk to her. All this with Butoh makeup and being a "walkting and talking cellular device". But in all honesty - aren't we already are? (brief parapara video featuring Keitai Girl)
The art world in Japan has already recognized Yamaguchi as an up-and-coming talent: in 2004, she was selected by famed photographer Hosoe Eikoh as a recipient of the Panel of Judges Award at the 21st-Century Asia Design Competition award held by the Kyoto University of Art and Design and again by Morimura Yasumasa as a winner of a young artists’ competition hosted by the Osaka Contemporary Art Center, as said by Eric C. Shiner.
