*UPDATE* There is a city hall meeting on Thursday in Chicago to propose landmarking a certain part of Milwaukee Avenue. Details are here.

**UPDATE** I have taken pictures of the interior so people can see what a jewel this building really is. It’s not “falling apart” or decaying due to lack of maintenance.

A few months ago the building where my office is was bought, but they assured us it would remain an office building. Then last week I noticed a zoning-change notice over the door, saying they wanted 8 floors of residential plus commercial, and parking for 250 cars. Uh oh. Then I see this article in the Chicago Journal: ‘Mega project’ set for Tower:Eight-story mixed-use condo would replace three historic buildings.

Yep, more condos.

The final nail in the coffin can be surmised from this insightful bit of investigative journalism:

Norris and others are concerned that Matlak will try to push the project through without community review before his term ends on May 21. The contact name on the public notice sends neighbors to Frederick E. Agustin, an attorney for the Law Offices of Samuel V.P. Banks. Banks is the nephew of 36th Ward Alderman James Banks, who serves as head of the City Zoning Committee.

And the local-hangout Filter and neighbor Swank Frank are getting kicked out so a Bank of America can move in:

http://www.chicagoist.com/archives/2007/03/24/wicker_park_getting_another_place_to_hold_all_our_money.php.

Looks like Wicker Park is about to become Lincoln Park 2. Great.

(PS: The photo is based on this hilarious photo)

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Here’s a recording of my set at Celebrity in March. It’s split into three parts to make the download less taxing. This is the first part.

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Here’s an up-tempo mix I did earlier this year. It’s pretty representative of one of my live 4/4 DJ sets.

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Machinedrum will school you in partying like you’re in a Brooklyn art loft

“Which is better, New York or Chicago?” This innocent little question explodes a heated debate between fans of either city. Chicago has less-expensive housing, but New York has a superior public transit system. New York has a phenomenal restaurant scene, but Chicago smells better in the summer. Chicago has Ramp Chicago for quality electronic music nights and New York has Machinedrum’s Cassette feÌ‚tes—all-night art / film/ dance parties featuring a who’s-who of contemporary electronic music and indie hip-hop. When Machinedrum takes over the PA at Sonotheque, you’ll get to experience a taste of Brooklyn in the swanky sonic environment of Sonotheque here in Chicago–and you just might just feel the urge to take your shirt off.

It’s easy to see why Travis Stewart’s Machinedrum project has been compared to artists like Prefuse 73, Autechre, and Funkstorung. Take Autechre’s algorithmic glitch, combine it with Prefuse 73’s micro-sampled hip-hoppery, toss in Funkstorung’s genre-crossing prolific remix power, then add the melodic sensibility of Plaid and you can start to imagine his sound. As one of the first artists on the much-lauded (but now defunct) stateside IDM label Merck Records, he sold out albums, raised the label’s popular consciousness, and garnered critical acclaim. Look for two upcoming releases on the Normrex label this year.

And he knows what it takes to make a party go off. Along with two-time DMC World Champion DJ IE.merg he released a ground-breaking battle record for turntablists. Taking his music to the next level, Travis also organizes monthly Brooklyn-based dance parties featuring art openings, live painting, and film screenings under the Cassette banner. Past performers include Jimmy Edgar, Praveen, Telefon Tel Aviv and more.

Make sure you get to Sonotheque early enough to catch local talent Justin McGrath—a one-time producer of dense, emotional IDM who’s switched lanes and now cranks out noisy, analog synth-based dance tracks while still maintaining his characteristic sweeping melodic lines and dense orchestration. Don’t think it can be done? Justin will prove you wrong. And Machinedrum will keep the party going, bringing the sounds of a Brooklyn art loft to one of the best-sounding clubs in Chicago.
Ramp Chicago Flyer Image

* Tuesday, May 8th at Sonotheque
* 1444 W. Chicago Ave.
* $5
* 21+
* 9pm to 2am

Glitch-hop / IDM sensation Machinedrum stops in from Brooklyn to share his sound with Chicago at Sonotheque. Local musician Justin McGrath opens with gritty electro party beats and residents Emulsion and Liz Revision DJ ambient, glitchy techno, electro, and IDM.

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1. Cylob: “Cut the Midrange Drop the Bass.” Cut the Midrange, Drop the Bass [Rephlex]
2. Bitshifter: “Particle Charge.” Information Chase. [8bitpeoples]
3. Lusine: “Slur” Serial Hodgepodge. [Ghostly International]

4. Ellen Allien: “Teif in Mir.” Stadtkind [BPitchcontrol]

5. Wighnomy Bros. + Robag Wruhme: “Bodyrock.” Schaffelfieber 2

6. Isolee: “Rockers.” Western Shore [Playhouse]

7. Sutekh: Untitled (Track 4 ). Incest: Live Force, Inc.
8. Farben: “Beautone” Beautone [Klang]

9. Justus Kohncke: “Homogen” Homogen [Kompakt]
10. Akufen: “My Way” My Way [Force Inc, / EFA]
11. Dettinger: Untitled (A1). Blond. [Kompakt]
12. Jimmy Edgar: “Morris Nightengale Theme” Access Rhthym. [Warp]

13. Lusine: “Make it Easy” Podgelism. [Ghostly International]

14. Copacabannark: “Garden Parade.” To Beach or Not to Beach [Perlon]
15. Uusitalo: “Dutchwallpaper” Vapaa Muurari Live

16. Cabanne: “Le Crapin” Le Crapin & La Sooket [Telegraph]
17. Porter Ricks: “Nautical Dub” BioKinetics [Chain Reaction]
18. Andreas Tilliander: “Hevin Sheilds” Elit []

[Mille Plateaux]
19. Lucien-n-Luciano: “Madre Mother & Mere” Blind Behaviour [Peacefrog]
20. Brothomstrain vs Blamstates: “Envelope Diving” Brothomstrain vs Blamstates [Merck]
21. Proem: “Three Days Before I Move” Among Others [n5MD]

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f • bx • rd [fuh bux erd] -adjective:

My old host, eBoundHost got hax0rd and the fx0rs erased all my databases for all my sites. Supposedly the host does weekly backups, but they only had backups from a month ago, but it was corrupt. The best version they could find was from February. So all my posts since the day after my birthday are gone forever, not to mention all the other sites I had built since then (houseofpenis.com, frequencity.net, modsquare.com, subvariant.com).

I got an account over at mediatemple.com on a recommendation from a friend. Apparently they have a distributed server arrangement that allows sites to withstand the digg / slashdot / fark / boing-boing effect without going down. From TechCrunch:

Customer sites are not hosted on a single (dedicated, shared or virtual) machine. Instead, they are managed by hundreds of clustered servers, and Media Temple monitors the health of the entire grid as well as individual sites. If a site spikes in traffic, performance is unaffected and the site owner will simple be charged for overage on bandwidth and CPU usage. If the grid begins to get stressed, Media Temple simply adds more machines.

Sounds pretty awesome. This time I’ll set up a cron to backup everything and then download it to one of my drives.

The upside is that the whole debacle inspired me to do a line of fbxrd gear over at Fractalspin, including t-shirts and stickers
(The shirts will be great to wear when you have a hangover. Or in my case, when you get all but one of your websites hax0rd into the ground). So that’s something.

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Tuesday 4.10.07
6:30pm - 9pm
RSVP ONLY - email rsvp@rampchicago.com
(open bar 6:30pm - 8:30pm)The night of the next Ramp Chicago we’re doing an info session for the Red Bull Music Academy–where DJ’s and producers who apply and get accepted are flown to a free “school” taught by big name producers. Doc Martin, Alex Smoke, Mira Calix are all past tutors along with just about everyone else you can think of.

VictorGanic (Astralwerks) will be hosting a discussion on the RBMA, Martin Atkins is doing a presentation on the contemporary Chinese music scene, and Liz Revision and Emulsion will be spinning our usual
techno/electro/idm/ambient thing.

Three things to keep in mind about that night:
1) It’s free to attend

2) open bar from 6:30-8:30 and

3) free food! we’ve hooked up the catering so you don’t have to

It is however RSVP ONLY and that club will fill up fast - so email
rsvp@rampchicago.com NOW!

(Stick around for Ramp Chicago with Xyn and Pyxis [Xynthetic, Vancouver BC] and Ianhixxx that night–you’ll be in for a treat!)

The Red Bull Music Academy is an event that travels the world. A yearly celebration of all the journeys and breakthroughs, all the dreams and intricacies that go into the music we love. In between checking gear, chatting on tunes, and spinning in clubs, you’ll get a rare glimpse into local musical hybrids in different countries each year. Believe! And in your free time, you can talk to people from around the world who started revolutions in sound. They’re the people we look up to, and they’re looking to you for a fresh perspective in turn.

The Academy is intended for anyone with a strong yen for music and a desire to be involved in its evolution:
DJ’s, producers, MC’s, singers, dancers, promoters, sound engineers, broadcasters, banjo players…
They’ll all be considered.

Come out and learn about the Red Bull Music Academy, and also hear from our guests:

Martin Atkins (Suicide Girls Columnist/Label owner): Presentation on the Chinese Music Scene

VictorGanic (Astralwerks): This past attendee with discuss his experiences at the Red Bull Music Academy

Emulsion & Liz Revision (Ramp Chicago Residents): Spin techno, electro, IDM, and ambient

Plus a panel discussion on the state of the music industry.

Appetizers and refreshments will be served.

Complimentary RSVP ONLY event with open bar from 6:30 to 8:30pm

RSVP to: rsvp@rampchicago.com

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fbxrd
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“Free music? A record label is giving away all of its releases? And it’s legal to download? Well it can’t be that g—whoah, hold on– this is really excellent stuff here… free you say? C’mon, there’s got to be some catch…”

Nope, there’s no catch, people: quality underground music can be yours for a total cost of zero dollars ($0.00). Witness the power of the Netlabel—the new, super niche-y music distribution platform with an instant delivery, grab-it-while-it’s-fresh aesthetic that’s only possible because of the Internet. While it’s similar to a traditional independent label, the main difference is that a Netlabel has no physical component to any of its releases—everything is digital and free to download. iTunes, eMusic or any other digital download broker is never part of the picture, proving that the power of the Internet, combined with pure DIY spirit can bypass the traditional system of music distribution.

It’s fitting that most Netlabels feature IDM and experimental electronic releases, seeing as the genre is produced on computers likely to be connected to the Internet at some point. The most established Netlabels include Kikapu & Monotonik (IDM), Textone (minimal techno), and 8bitpeoples (8bit / Chiptune). While they oftentimes feature a mixture of higher profile and less-established artists, one thing is consistent: they’re always focused on bringing quality music to a larger audience.

Enter Xynthetic [pronounced “Synthetic”], the Netlabel that’s intent on blowing out your eardrums as well as your musical preconceptions with releases by such talented producers as Mochipet, Phylum Sinter, Mercury Effect, Zainetica, and Ramp Chicago resident, Emulsion.

You owe it to yourself to see and hear the innovators behind Xynthetic in their first Chicago appearance. Josh Garrett (Xyn) a native of Detroit / Ann Arbor has contributed remixes and tracks for labels like Component and en:peg, while Graeme Foote (Pyxis) is a respected Vancouver club DJ. Both are convinced that traditional music distribution channels have failed musicians and believe that a Netlabel that connects the music of talented artists with an appreciative audience will only bring great things. Building upon their eclectic-but-excellent theme, local celebrity selector Ianhixxx will shake the subwoofers and your expectations with his genre-bending forays into electro, Italo, growly techno, acid and IDM.

• Tuesday, April 10th at Sonotheque
• 1444 W. Chicago Ave.
• $5
• 21+
• 9pm to 2am

The Xynthetic Netlabel founders Xyn and Pyxis treat Chicago to the sensibility behind their label—IDM, breakbeat, techno, experimental, acid, and more, but always with an ear towards absolute quality. Local celebrated DJ Ianhixxx supports along with a DJ set from resident Emulsion.

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