Negativland

http://boingboing.net/2015/01/21/r-i-p-negativlands-ian-alle.html

Very, very sad news to hear -- Negativland reports that Don Joyce aka Crosley Bendix and many more, and the host of "Over the Edge," has passed on. A tremendous loss.

https://www.facebook.com/Negativlandland/posts/1098963353464741

When he and Negativland discovered their mutual love for “found” sounds, an intensely collaborative creative partnership was cemented. It continued non-stop for the ensuing decades, with Don endlessly scanning the airwaves of radio and television, along with his massive LP collection, for new material, day by day, week by week. There was often a TV and a radio on in his room simultaneously, cassette recorders always at the ready. And as an extremely shy and often quite reclusive person, radio was a perfect medium for Don. He could reach thousands of people each week without having to deal with very many actual humans, just as he preferred it. Creating art was not only Don’s full-time pursuit, it was literally his life’s work. He had made it clear to the group as recently as a few weeks ago that he was happy and satisfied with what he had been able to achieve in his life, and were he not able to continue to work, his life would feel as good as over.
Don Joyce’s singular editing style was laced with profundity and silliness in equal measure. His work was that of a dada humanist, able to wring unforgettable sentiments and statements out of material which originally spoke something entirely different. Hugely inspired by both the droll radio of Bob and Ray and the reckless free-form of the Firesign Theatre, he created a wicked language of repurposed purple prose which has inspired legions of other collage artists over the past three decades. He was the father of the form. One need only to listen to his work on “Time Zones” (on the Escape from Noise album) or “Piece of Pie” (in the No Business CD/book) to immediately tune into his unique wavelength.

Fuck.

RIP. "It's All In Your Head FM" was one of my highlights from the first Big Ears.

Had a chance to talk a bit about him:

http://blog.sfgate.com/loaded/2015/07/23/don-joyce-radio-maverick-and-member-of-negativland-dies-at-71/

good post ned

https://kpfa.org/ midnight pacific tonight - over the edge

sorry for yr loss, MP

on my drive home from work this evening I saw a man who looked a lot like Don standing on the corner of Grand & Broadway, and I got sad.

Thanks Jon, much appreciated. Awfully kind of the band to share that out on FB.

A tribute:

https://kpfa.org/episode/the-hear-and-now-july-23-2015/

Tempted to smoke a cigarette in honor of Don.

I think I'd like to have a cigarette now. Where are my cigarettes, David?
They're on top of the refrigerator.
David, I'd like to know what you did with my cigarettes.
They're under the house.
My cigarettes are missing, David. I'd like to smoke. What did you do with them?
They're in the toad cage.
David, I'd like to have a cigarette right now but I can't find the package. I put them on the table and they're not there. Did you take them?
I think we may have left them up at Grandma's house.
My mother doesn't smoke, David. What did you do with my cigarettes?
I told you, they're on top of the refrigerator.
I looked on top of the refrigerator. They aren't there. will you please tell me what you did with my cigarettes?
Maybe you left them in the car.
I haven't been in the car all day. You must have put them somewhere and I can't find them. You better tell me now or I'm going to really get mad.
Oh yeah, I think I know where they are. They're in back of the TV set, where all the parakeet feathers are.
As you're cleaning the orange carpet, there'll be a voice that says: FETCH MY CIGARETTES.
Another voice will say: THEY'RE ON TOP OF THE REFRIGERATOR.
And then of course you've forgotten completely about the green slime.

http://www.negativland.com/ote/?p=2592

And now praise in turn for MP's own words and remembrances:

https://www.facebook.com/Negativlandland/posts/1103166776377732:0

That's ridiculous. It's not even funny.

Darn it. Richard Lyons has passed.

https://www.facebook.com/Negativlandland/photos/a.165153833512369.41221.131759750185111/1275537205807354/?type=3

damn.

it's not even funny.

cancer. Ugh. Only 57

:( RIP

booo

first time I saw them live was on this tour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_BfZFX5-eY

fucking hell

holy shit this and prince? i was just listening to Dispepsi last week

http://boingboing.net/2016/10/17/negativlands-next-album-come.html

Well, ok then.

should I go see Mark Hosler solo?

snuggles

eh?

30th anniversary of Helter Stupid this year. One of the all-time "you could never get away with that today" stories. Imagine some metal band trying to piggyback on a school shooting by claiming the killer was an obsessed fan of theirs.

I could see the edgelords trying.

should I go see Mark Hosler solo?

I saw Hosler solo on Halloween (with The Weatherman opening!) - was way more groove-based, at times leaning dubward, than I would have expected. Very few vocal samples, and no explicit cultural-critical aspects at all.

xpost - singing Ned's post to the tune of Take The Skinheads Bowling

Helter Stupid is great, supreme entertainment.

new album out yesterday, it seems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObUIDD_ALo0&fbclid=IwAR3Pf_8dSECBp9xLqFh9B_cMN5JH4kgu6ELHVQpASAsBv-1hbLoLEUfFYTE

let's try again

https://tinyurl.com/y496r7bl

album stream

https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/negativland-share-latest-album

Nice, thanks! I think they’re playing a brief residency at Cafe Oto over the next few days. Might try to make it...

This is great, thanks for the heads up. The videos are excellent (More Data, Destroying Anything) too.

I guess they've been workshopping some of this material for a while? I've been out of the loop since Free or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf_i-iiUcRE

Oh cool, there's a nice video recording of a 2000 date in full on the Archive

The new album The World Will Decide is the best thing they've done since Helter Stupid. The stronger theming definitely helps.

The mirror image sequel to last year’s *True False*, *The World Will Decide* turns the focus away from our very human inability to accurately define reality, and towards the technologies attempting to do a better job at it. But if sorting true from false seemed like a full time job back when all we had to keep track of was our own minds, life alongside the machines built to connect us only seems to multiply the uncertainties.

Performance by Negativland + SUE-C • Tuesday, March 23rd at 9:30pm EST:
Part of the 59th Ann Arbor Film Festival. Free and open to the public.
https://www.aafilmfest.org/​

Live collage cinema and live collage sound! Legendary sound collage group Negativland teams up with legendary live cinema artist SUE-C to bring you a streaming audiovisual performance about our nervous systems, our realities, and the evolving forms of media and technology that inevitably insert themselves between them. Original music, found sounds, uniquely organic visuals, manipulated media, Boopers, and a few surprises are normal to come to your attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKI5BYfrKyw

Great. thanks!
I covered 180 d’ Gs to the FUTURE! for the long-gone, Whiney-edited Paper Thin Walls, also had a lively phone cnversation w Hosler, lall of that archived here:

https://papercomet.blogspot.com/2020/01/negativland-reviewinterview_19.html

A year or two later, I pitched Thingmotactic: https://papercomet.blogspot.com/2020/10/negativland-pitch-see-prev.html

Thought True False was uneven, mainly wordwise, but some amazing sounds---will have to check the 2020, din't know about that!

Hosler is a very lively conversationalist!

Yeah, and I wish I could have used more of what he was saying, but he was great with what we had room for, coming across at all times as the real deal. Negativland is a way of life.

wow @ their last two albums. True False is great, World Will Decide is maybe even greater. not bad from a band I thought was done for!!

Agreed! Some of their best work yet!

yep they are great, also great live. if you get a chance to see them, go.

I love their website FAQ: "didn't like half of you die a few years ago?"

I thought Dave Wills ("The Weatherman") died a few years back, so I was thrilled to hear his voice on the second track. He's one of those guys who could make me laugh just reading the newspaper.

when I saw them he made a special live video appearance for the encore!

i didn't realize until recently that former member chris grigg was the guy behind the general midi -> YM2612 GEMS composition system for the sega genesis!

I had absolutely no idea this band was still around.