Negativland

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.

The Over the Edge archive at archive.org is overwhelming; I guess they're working directly with Joyce's assistants to eventually host every single OTE episode. Looks like they're up to 1,300 archived so far. Incredibly helpful for browsing individual series or time periods (finally having some metadata and show descriptions for all of these is amazing). Strongly recommended stuff – jaw-dropping run of great work, esp. given each episode is 3+ hrs long.

looking up Negativland stuff on YouTube I got directed to this video, where Hosler talks about the U2 lawsuit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2h1TOfeVFA

it's interesting because, during the lecture, he questions who in Athens Georgia it was who even brought the record to U2's attention, and realizes it must have had something to do with REM, particularly their manager who happens to be IN THE CROWD

the part where Casey Kasem goes "This is American Top 40, right here on the radio station you grew up with, Music 103 OH FUCK" is still incredibly funny

also reveals how they got the Casey Kasem samples in the first place: some fan gave them a tape after one of their shows

Mark is a real charming, entertaining guy IRL ... really easy to talk to. There was a slightly awkward incident in the past couple years, where one of the new members of the band was mislabeled as Mark Hosler in the caption of a promo photo on the website of a venue they were performing at ... however, they do look a bit alike.

hahaha they do

also thanks sleeve for posting this -- re: Rather Ripped records featuring pics of lil Hosler

https://devorahostrov.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-story-of-rather-ripped-records.html

i found a test pressing of 'escape from noise' in a fleamarket here last week. never owned a copy before and it's got the big thick booklet too, super happy with my find!

Good find! Did it come with the 'Car Bomb' bumper sticker? I'm pretty sure the dude in the record shop I bought it in swiped my one. I've never fully got over it.

Alas no!

I believe I might have a spare sticker ... also I think you can buy the sticker for like $3 from their mail order site? ... mail order moved from Contra Costa County to NC in the past couple years so there may have been changes.

back in the day I had that sticker on my Subaru, doesn't seem like such a good idea these days tho

thanks for sticker heads up. 35 years on it shall be mine!

x post

probably not such a good idea having it on yr car in this era, but i don't drive so shall stick it elsewhere.

Stoked for this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM20UEek7IY

the video projections were a nice addition to the performance ... though at various points the music felt a bit anemic in comparison. It's nice to see Mark still going though. A friend told me, "they should just retire already," but sometimes there are still things you want to say/do even if you're old? There were some great parts in the set (not counting the joys of the Weatherman at the end, which was like, the "playing the hits" encore), but other parts where I was like, "uhhhhh idk what you're trying to say here? I kinda get it, but that's maybe not what I would see as the most salient aspect of what I think you are trying to say?" ... there were also a few samples that I felt like didn't really "work" for me, but they were used frequently so I felt like they were "supposed to work" but maybe it's just me. The audience seemed happy, which was nice.

the video projections were a nice addition to the performance ... though at various points the music felt a bit anemic in comparison. It's nice to see Mark still going though. A friend told me, "they should just retire already,"

― sarahell

seriously, at this point they're just cashing in, who's gonna pay $300 a ticket for a seat in the nosebleeds

the show I saw in Eugene last year was great, fwiw (I do think the live video element added something)

seriously, at this point they're just cashing in, who's gonna pay $300 a ticket for a seat in the nosebleeds

Huh? Negativland is a $22.50 ticket here at LA Arts&Archive.

/sarcasm

(I assume)

Then I can't wait until Negativland goes back to basics on their next album.

aren't they playing some spot with numbers in the name that is kinda DIY and very much not up to code and probably shouldn't be promoting shows as much as they do if they don't want to get busted, though maybe LA is nicer about that shit than some cities?

not to be a dick about it, just like, if they get busted, and you know the people running it (because it looks like they are cool), give them my contact info lol.

/sarcasm

(I assume)

― sleeve

yeah just like. sure. negativland are going to "retire" on the massive income from their phenomenally successful recording career. because "retire" is what people do, not "get too sick to work and die".