Unnatural History, Installation view from left: Michael Yaniro, Jana Flynn, Zach Ziemann
Unnatural History is the latest group show at the artist space Live with Animals, featuring Jana Flynn, Hilary Pecis, Ego Sensation, Michael Yaniro and Zach Ziemann. Loosely tied together as an investigation of man’s tension with nature, the works range from painting, drawing, photo collage, sculpture, performance and video. What is most impressive, however, is the show’s craftsmanship. Moving from the heavy illustrative, psychedelic renderings that have been so pervasive in recent years, the bulk of the work plays with abstraction, form and sometimes the figurative.
Easily the standouts of the show are Jana Flynn, Zach Ziemann and Michael Yaniro. Jana Flynn’s work combines craft, pattern and abstraction in sculpture and mixed-media incarnations. Highly environmental, the meditative, repetitive process translates into colorful, delicate sublime pieces. Touching on the lithe structures of Flynn, Ziemann uses watercolor to depict ‚”zen-like” architectural landscapes. Michael Yaniro’s large-scale drawings appropriate images from architecture, maps, religious symbols, but mostly from medical illustrations; while their meanings remain secretive, they often reduce the body to a piece of information within the total composition.
Unnatural History’s closing party occurs on February 8th. Live with Animals is located at 210 Kent Ave.

Installation view: Zach Ziemann

Installation view: Michael Yaniro

The Hard Nips are new all-girl Japanese rock band. Tuesday is their first show. Head down to Death by Audio to check out the mayhem.

If you like adventurous music or want to try something a little different, you’re in luck. This Saturday proves to be a great night for experimental music. Conveniently, it’s all taking place in the L.E.S.
Early on at Club Midway will be the Psychic Ills record release party–pretty great if you haven’t checked it out yet. The opener Axolotl is definitely one to watch, having recently completed European tours with Kemialliset Ystavat, Mouthus and Animal Collective.

If you are still up for partying later in the night, check out the warm jams of Ducktails complimented by the more abstract and groove-laden vibes of Men and Women at the Cake Shop.

AC, 2006 @ Bowery, C/O Jason Bergman
We all think very highly of Animal Collective–they’re true musical pioneers. I was fortunate to attend the show last night, but I caught wind of a Craigslist scam charging people $100 a piece for false tickets. It’s unfortunate that this happened. If you are looking for the person to blame, I believe someone at Brooklyn Vegan has the scoop on the jerk.
Whoever you are, I hope you have a great day.

When I think of Vice’s Blank Issue, I …
A. Want to make a comment on their blog and tell them what I think
B. Use it to plot revenge on my ex on the internerd
C. Rush write away, make a profile, forget about it until February 14th. Then, I finish it and collect the glory and the money!
D. All of the above in order of emotion

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Last Month, the Journal of Popular Noise released its Winter/Fall edition for 2008, featuring Pwrfl Power, Linda & Ron’s Dad and Climax Golden Twins. Equal parts periodical, record and art d’objet, the Journal of Popular Noise is an intelligent take on music as a historical document–especially as music’s physicality and aesthetic appears to be fading.
Byron Kalet, JPN’s founder and editor, was kind enough to answer a few questions about the history of the publication, and its plans for expansion in the future.
What’s the mission of popular noise?
First and foremost, I wanted to challenge the conventions of how recorded sound is produced and consumed. When I started the JPN in 2007 things were really starting to come to a head with big labels freaking out about digital distribution. I thought that in light of those changes we needed to take a step back and really think about why someone would still want to buy a physical version of a record. I drew a lot of inspiration from magazines, because at that point they were looking a lot stronger than CD sales, but of course now things are a bit different. So we might make some changes to accommodate that, I think its important not to get stuck in the conventions of ‘how things are done.’

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John Roberts is my second favorite DJ, my first being the Pantha Du Prince. They both coincidentally happen to be on the best microhouse label Dial records–although John is a transplant New Yorker living in Berlin. Tonight you get to experience him with another fellow Berliner and Berghain (this place rules) resident DJ Marcel Dettman at Public Assembly.
I know it’s cold but you won’t regret it.

ITP’s program is increasingly putting out some of the best thinkers in everything that touches technology. As part of the program, students can take a course called New Interfaces for Musical Expression, dedicated to moving digital music beyond mouse and keyboards.
Today, there will be an exhibition/performance at Exit Art of the tools students have created throughout the course of the class. Highlights include: autonomous solar-powered robots, augmented flutist, plate-spinning sampler, and sing-along animatronics.

Jenn2.0 Trailer from Rob Lewis on Vimeo.
Above you will find the trailer to some show (wonder which network is picking this up) that stars a social media consultant who is too busy living her internet life to make connections in her real life happen. I know we all use Facebook, blogs and Twitter to meet peeps, but who wants to sit through a show watching some self-indulgent person live out their anti-social fantasies stalking friends of friends? Epic fail.
Hat Tip: @DanGould

The way I think of Craft Hacker is Ghada Amer + Computer programmer = Awesome. If you feel the same way, then you should check out this panel tonight.