Sunday 27 November 2011

receipts

In between shopping for Christmas presents, I bought a few items. It's not like the postman will be busy this time of year:


Thomas Hardy - The Mayor of Casterbridge, £1.12


Dusty Springfield - Complete A and B Sides 1963-1970 2CD, £4.24


X-Mix 5 DJ Hell Presents Wildstyle CD, £2.43


Fac. Dance - Factory Records: 12" Mixes & Rarities 1980-1987 2LP, £9.24

Saturday 26 November 2011

DC's: There Are Dreams And There Is Acid


I'm very proud to announce that today I guest-host an Acid House Day on Dennis Cooper's blog: LINK

Den Haan @ Zazou 25.11.11

To the Kage nightclub last night to witness the antics of conceptual disco duo Matthew Aldworth and Andy Gardiner aka Den Haan. Proceedings were largely enveloped in a thick cloud of dry ice, but I took a few photos and here they are:


This is what Italo ass looks like




Zazou residents Stefan Blomeier and Il Discotto take command








The delightful Bobby with your correspondent


Assorted Zazouers





Wednesday 23 November 2011

Lost Lake, Chalk Burst @ Generator Projects / The Skinny




My review of the current Generator show has been published in The Skinny: LINK

Monday 21 November 2011

Lost Lake, Chalk Burst @ Generator Projects



At once poetic and arbitrary, Lost Lake, Chalk Burst is named after two colours of Dulux paints. The title would seem to cutely question the gap between art and descriptive words, and language is a recurring theme in the show. Curated in collaboration between four Glasgow-based artists, we get diverse practices that engage us to varying degrees.

The Generator’s first room contains Argot by Laura Smith and Rebecca Wilcox, who present text in the form of digital prints on the wall. This reads as a monologue spoken in abrupt sentences and is displayed next to freestanding steel frames. A similar tableau is installed in the larger room, alongside a video projection of a still life in muted colours. Like the frames stood empty and uninviting, the work here seems to want for content. Rather more diverting is the arrangement next door by Michael Kent, who projects desolate landscapes onto upturned sculptural plinths. Last Days, No More Time, Now or Never does at least bring a certain post-apocalyptic sensibility to the room.

In the show’s most affecting work, the Everly Brothers’ mournful croons drift longingly through the Generator’s galleries. The chorus of All I Have To Do Is Dream plays with just the word ‘Dream’ on a loop, part of Graham Kelly’s video installation Coil, Logo, Song, Spire, Eclipse, Slide. The music cuts to a scene of swimmers spiralling down a water slide, to tourists traipsing around a sunlit tower’s spiral staircase, then on to the lighting of a green mosquito candle that burns in another anti-clockwise spiral. More sightseers look skywards to an undefined spectacle, shielding their eyes from the glare of the sun. Kelly’s work offers itself as “the dissection of processes of production and presentation” but it’s the film’s etherealness that lingers with you, a reverie that echoes with the Everlys’ song.

Friday 18 November 2011

receipts

Got paid and had a birthday, so I bought a few items:


Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama, £14.99


Monica Loughman - The Irish Ballerina, £0.38


Jamie Gillis and Peter Sotos - Pure Filth, £43.73 (release date July 2012 )


Hieroglyphic Being - Le Jardin Des Chemins Bifurquants LP, € 18.16

Thursday 17 November 2011

Goodreads.



So I just opened an account over at Goodreads. As I understand it, this will allow me to create "groups of book suggestions and discussions" and maybe share recommendations with like-minded souls. I've just spent about an hour compiling much of my library on there, and if you'd like to take a gander round my virtual bookshelves then you're welcome to follow this 'ere LINK.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Den Haan @ Zazou, Dundee 25/11/11



Zazou @ Facebook

Zazou are proud to present Den Haan, the conceptual disco duo of Matthew Aldworth and Andy Gardiner, playing an exclusive DJ set of long lost decadent and baroque disco guaranteed to overdrive and ignite the dancefloor...........

Den Haan's music has brought them critical acclaim after releases on labels such as; Dissident, Optimo Music & Supersoul and firm DJ support from the likes of Optimo, Cosmo Vitelli, Headman and Ivan Sm...agghe. They have remixed Hot Chip, Little Boots and Gorillaz among others. Their debut album “Gods from Outer Space” was released on "The Courier Of Death‟ 28/02/11. They have played around Europe including London, Berlin, St Petersburg, Belgium, Barcelona, Paris and The Exit Festival.

£6.00 entry fee
Tickets available from Grouchos, Dundee.

Den Haan @ SoundCloud

Saturday 12 November 2011

memento mori


Jean Seberg, À Bout de Souffle (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)


Extract from Kate Zambreno, Green Girl:

The girl behind the counter takes over from the male makeup artist. He is an artist. He doesn’t handle financial transactions. Earlier, to try to push the expensive makeup brushes on top of the purchase, he said: I am an artist. I must use my tools. You are my canvas. The salesgirl who has played the admiring spectator before now steps in front, clipboard in hand. All cool and business-like. The illusion is gone. They are not your friends. Or, to keep that illusion just a little longer, you know you must buy something. It’s part of the exchange, the ritual. She tallies it up. She barters with you still flush with attention. At home is a full makeup bag. But is there a price for seeing oneself anew in the mirror?

This is for the eyes. This is for the lips. This is for the skin. They haggle over the skin.

The skin is necessary of course. You need the skin. Without one of the tricks in the bag it all falls apart. It is a house of cards, your new identity. The makeup artist miraculously reappears to finish the sale. Look at how lovely you look. Your skin looks so young so dewy so glowing. You are reborn. You are luminous. You are lit from within. You flutter under the male flattery, docile, obedient.

I’ll take it. You say. I’ll take it. I’ll take the eyes, I’ll take the lips, I’ll take the skin. I’ll take it all.

Wrap up my new face and throw it in a bag.

They give you a face to take home, an actual paper face with colored in instructions. These masks like memento mori.

Faces, other faces. I can take mine off and breathe.

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/kzambreno/2011/11/excerpt-from-green-girl/

Friday 4 November 2011

receipts

Bought a few things:


Dennis Cooper - The Marbled Swarm, £5.00


Octave Mirbeau - The Torture Garden, £10.00


DETROIT NEW DANCE SHOW 5xH0URS DVD + Italo DVD, £10.00


Leda – Welcome To Joyland LP, € 15.00

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Sophie Lisa Beresford @ YouTube update

Any seasoned _B_A readers will know all too well that the mighty Sophie Lisa Beresford is among my very favourite contemporary artists. A couple of new clips have been posted to her YouTube channel, and they can be seen below. If you're baffled as to why crochet tutorials and homework tips should be worth watching, then I hope that a read of my Yuck 'n Yum article would explain how her practice is both profound and always utterly consistent.

Crochet Club *1* What You Will Need to Begin Crocheting



This is a list of what you will require to begin Crocheting.

Here is the list in basic terms:

Wool/Yarn (Acrylic) DK (Double Knit), Plain (no fancy bits :) )

Crochet Hook size 4mm (G)

Scissors

and a Cupper! :) :D


stay tuned for 'Crochet Club' - How to Crochet

LOVE

Sophie x x x


Crochet Club *2* how to have your hands when crocheting



In this video we learn how to position our hands when Crocheting;
How to use our hands to control the wool and the hook, and keep a good tension flowing ;)

Easier than it sounds ;)


PTLLS Homework Help no. 1



This video shows where to find the simple criteria needed to pass your PTLLS theory assignments.

Sorry for the poor sound at the beginning, this levels out as the video goes on. If you would like a clearer video please ask. :) :D x x x

SLB @ Workplace Gallery

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Yuck 'n Yum @ Mixcloud / Spring 2010 launch




Ben 'Jack Your Body' Robinson live and direct from Dundee's HMC, back in the heady days of spring 2010.