I've got two shows coming up this weekend. Here's the info:

** FLOOR **
Saturday April 2nd, 12-4pm (note: afternoon)
The Rocket Cat Cafe
2001 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA
with:
William Fields
Abe Dolinger
RDK
My Evil Twin

** MACRO MONDAYS **
Monday April 4th, 8-11pm
4W5 Cafe
4 West 5th St Wilmington, DE
with:
William Fields
Generic Man

I'm pretty sure both shows are free. I hope to see you there!

I was just invited to play at "Floor", a new music series at the Rocket Cat Cafe in Philly. It's a Saturday afternoon brunch kinda thing from 11:30am-3pm on April 2nd. I'll be taking turns at 15 minute sets with Abe Dolinger, RDK, and "My Evil Twin". Then at the end we do a freeform jam for an hour. Sounds like fun. The address is 2001 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA.

I updated the live page with all my upcoming shows for quick reference.

I saw Mariana Sadovska perform in Philly on Sunday. Stunningly beautiful and powerful. This woman is a force of nature. I was awed.

Plus, we drank a shot of vodka with her. She toasted to Hunter and I during the performance. (She was explaining to the audience how Ukrainians really know how to drink.) It was great.

Oh yeah, and here's an interview with her (real audio).

Yes, MP has a weblog. For those who know, this is a significant development.

Also, here is the musical taste of MP in terms of 90+ categories.

I've got a few things lined up for spring so far:

April 4th - Live at 4W5 Cafe - Wilmington, DE
May 6th - Live at South Paw - Brooklyn, NY
May 9th - DJ set at 4W5 Cafe - Wilmington, DE

Also, I have a full length album in the final stages of mastering. Rumor has it that gl0tch will be doing the cover art. More soon...

UPDATE: Here's the info on the Brooklyn show: Chaise Two Release Party. I'll be opening up for Hearts of Darknesses and Secret Frequency Crew from Schematic. Nice.

KiloWatts is a guy who recently moved to Philly and is playing at Hologram tonight. From the clips on his site, it sounds like he fits in nicely with the Team Techno DelawaretronicaTM aesthetic. Nice melodic stuff. (His side project KiloWatts and Vanek sounds pretty sweet too.)

Also, don't miss the new Chronkite release on Urban Sprawl: Chronkitis.

Oh yeah, and if you ever get a chance to see The Bad Plus live, do not pass it up. These guys are insanely good. Anyone who likes fun, tricky, fast, complex, dynamic, melodic (and often beautiful) music will love these guys.

We went and saw The Gates in central park this weekend. It was a neat thing to experience. It seemed to pull you along, compelling you to keep walking and walking.

My wife Hunter was almost a scam victim: Nigerian Overpayment Scam. They send you a check for more than it should be and then ask for you to send the difference back. Then the check bounces because it was fake. (It clears initially because it is a cashier's check.) Be aware.

Back from Germany. Recovering from jet lag.

I finally sat down and figured out a simple way to have comments on the sidebar links. The comments aren't tied to a specific entry. It's just one general comments page for all of them. Better than nothing, I suppose.

I just found out that I'll be playing at tonight's Hologram in Philly. Twine ended up cancelling at the last minute and I volunteered to fill in. Wee!

The Tsunami benefit was a good time. Thanks to those who came out. Bruce shot some video, so hopefully that'll be available soon.

UPDATE: I just found out we raised over 1 thousand dollars!

Here's the details on the show that Profolyx and I will playing this Friday:

Tsunami Relief Indonesia
Friday January 28th from 6-9pm
Episcopal Church of Snts Andrew and Matthew
8th and Shipley St - Wilmington, DE (directions)
FREE ADMISSION

There will also be a bake sale, silent auction, and other performances including: classical piano, singer/song writers, slam poets, latin jazz guitar, and gospel bluegrass music (?).

Attention west coasters! Cerebral's playing a show with edIT of Planet-Mu next week in Phoenix, AZ! Congrats Matt!

The Philadelphia-based g25 productions have just revamped their website. Looks like they have an Eight Frozen Modules release coming soon. Sweet.

I just got me a cute little Eurorack UB802 because my old mixer crapped out. Why don't mixers ever come with power switches?!

Anyway, speaking of Euros, I will be travelling to Germany in February. Any generous European readers out there who'd like to hook me up with a show somewhere? :) Or just an interesting place to come stay and visit? Drop me a note.

Best music video ever. Thanks Bruce!

Looks like I'll be playing a tsunami benefit concert in Wilmington, DE on Jan 28th. More details soon. They're still looking for artists to perform and donate works for a silent auction. Drop me an email if you're interested: bill dot teamtechno dot com.

This Saturday in Philly: HOLI-BREAK-FEST

Too much of a good thing

I'm finding that the "digital photo effect" is starting to make its way into my music and video experiences as well. What's the DPE? My ability to produce and acquire has far outstripped my ability to consume. Produce from my own digital camera. Acquire from friends, family, Flickr, etc. This has a couple of ramifications:

1. I feel behind all the time.
2. Because there is so much to consume, I don't enjoy each individual photo as much as I did when they were physical prints. I click through fast.
3. Because of 1 and 2, sometimes I don't even bother.

Matt has asked for my feedback on his recent correspondence with the scientist Aubrey de Grey.

First of all, perhaps it's just a matter of wording, but I disagree with the idea that aging is something that you can "cure". A cure implies a disease. Aging is not a disease. It is an integral part of life. It is the passing of time. Even if this technology comes to be, those who use it will still AGE, and they will still DIE, their bodies simply won't degenerate over time.

One factor that was left unmentioned is that of wealth. These treatments and technologies will surely be expensive. And what happens when only the wealthy can afford them? Money makes money over time, and as those who can afford the treatments live longer and longer, the separation between rich and poor will widen dramatically. (This is the reason for the estate tax, so that extreme wealth doesn't accumulate within families over generations.)

Should it be stopped? This is a moot point, because if it is possible, it will happen. There is no stopping the development of technology, whether we like it or not. If there is a desire for something (and there is a HUGE desire for this), and there are the means to make it happen, it WILL happen somewhere. Ban it in one country, it will happen in another.

In the end, I don't believe that living longer (and even being healthy all the time) will necessarily improve the QUALITY of people's lives. It will always take a certain wisdom to live a happy and fulfilling life, regardless of its duration or material prosperity.

Some beautiful new paintings up at gl0tch central. Reminds me of a digital glitchy pointilist-period Chuck Close.

Bruce aka Chronkite has posted a new EP on his site. Nice stuff. Reminds me a bit of Four Tet or Daedelus.

In the works...

- Two new tracks (at least).
- A new live set (now with granular technology!)
- A score for my friend Mark's video: unlike.
- An ambient album for my friend Ben's microlabel: Gears of Sand.

I think I'm getting old. I couldn't deal with Society Cleaners last night. I like it when there is some amount of structure or pattern to the music... when the sounds have some relation to one another. Or are the patterns just too complex for me to pick up on? I don't know... To be fair, maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance. I ducked out after about 15 minutes.

It reminds me of something I read in the book Improvising Jazz by Jerry Coker (here he is quoting Richmond Browne):

"The listener is constantly making predictions; actual infintesimal predictions as to whether the next event will be a repetition of something, or something different. The player is constantly either confirming or denying these predictions in the listener's mind. As nearly as we can tell (Kraehenbuehl at Yale and I) the listener must come out right about 50% of the time -- if he is too successful in the prediction, he will be bored; if he is too unsuccessful, he will give up and call the music 'disorganized.' Thus if the player starts a repetitive pattern, the listener's attention drops away as soon as he has successfully predicted that it is going to continue. Then, if the thing keeps going, the attention curve comes back up, and the listener becomes interested in just how long the pattern is going to continue. Similarly, if the player never repeats anything, no matter how tremendous an imagination he has, the listener will decide that the game is not worth playing, that he is not going to be able to make any predictions right, and also stops listening. Too much difference is sameness: boring. Too much sameness is boring -- but also different once in a while."

This week in Philly:

Thursday:
Philadelphia Laptop Battle 3 - I'll be there rooting for Vostek.

Saturday:
FM at The Khyber with End, Society Cleaners, Black Market, Mad EP, and Gtori.

You should really go download the new Nintariman Web Cassingle right now. Very very impressive stuff. The first track is a hip-hopped out remix of a new Team Techno track, the second is a beautiful short melodic piece, and the third is that fun super-detailed booty shaking track he's been playing at his recent shows. Yay!