Archive for October, 2008
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
BNF links
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This is a short article that attempts to explain what BNF is, based on message <wkwwagbizn.fsf@ifi.uio.no> posted to comp.text.sgml on 16.Jun.98. Because of this it is a little rough, so if it leaves you with any unanswered questions, email me and I’ll try to explain as best I can.
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ACM has named Peter Naur the winner of the 2005 A. M. Turing Award, in recognition of his pioneering work on defining the Algol 60 programming language, and his contributions to compiler design. Algol 60 is the model for many later programming languages, including those that are indispensable software engineering tools today. The Turing Award, considered the “Nobel Prize of Computing” was first awarded in 1966, and is named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing. It carries a $100,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation.
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A Place to Bury Strangers
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Saturday, 10/25 - Windish CMJ Showcase - Bowery Ballroom
Starts at 9pm
With: A Place to Bury Strangers, Crystal Antlers, Vivian Girls, Marnie Stern
Tags: A Place to Bury Strangers, aptbs, bnf
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Friday, October 17th, 2008
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Among the list of shows that one of us should go see is the Thursday appearance by A Place to Bury Strangers, a Brooklyn power trio that mines the feedback throb of shoegaze bands of yore (My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Mighty Lemon Drops, etc.) to devastating effect. UK fellow travelers Sian Alice Group are in support.
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The biggest draw on CMJ’s closing night will surely be the shoe-gaze blowout at the Bowery Ballroom with a Place to Bury Strangers, Crystal Antlers, Marnie Stern and our beloved Vivian Girls.
Tags: A Place to Bury Strangers, aptbs
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Thursday, October 16th, 2008
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Loud feedback can be really annoying, but not when it comes to A Place To Bury Strangers. This band is so loud that they were described as “the most ear-shatteringly loud garage/shoegaze band you’ll ever hear” by The Washington Post.
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Lights, smoke, sweat and lots and lots of noise by way of Brooklyn power trio A Place to Bury Strangers.
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APTBS has earned their success by being dedicated and loud. Not loud for the sake of being loud as mentioned on their myspace, but the fact that Oliver Ackerman creates the bands’ own effects and sells them to other bands via Death By Audio gives you a hint of their ingenuity. Having been approached by other record labels upon selling a bazillion units of their self-titled release, they opted to stay independent (hooray!). They have toured with NIN, BRMC, and opened for the band cited at the top of this post.
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A Place to Bury Strangers is currently working on their second full-length album. According to Ackermann, there are unofficial plans to finish recording the album some time early next year with a release perhaps as soon as May of 2009. However, he admits that there are no certainties.
Tags: A Place to Bury Strangers, aptbs
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Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
Turing Test News
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A Place to Bury Strangers
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This was, I think, the fourth time I’ve seen APTBS, but it’s still a phenomenal live show with tons of volume, violently mistreated guitars and enough strobes to make you worry about adult-onset epilepsy. The UK’s Sian Alice Group opened and was pretty good for what portion of the show I caught. I can’t really substantiate this very well, but they reminded me a bit of Bardo Pond (which I don’t like very much, but Sian Alice Group was pretty decent).
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Around about that time, the fog machine kicked in spewed into the stuffy air. Had I not been drinking so much, I would have thought this moment was fucking hilarious. I really wanted to like A Place to Bury Strangers. I wanted to be up in the front, inside of the mushroom cloud filled with high frequencies and destroyed guitar strings. But I couldn’t do it. I was coughing too much. This Oliver Ackermann fellow and his Death By Audio guitar pedals were kicking my ass, and instead of laughing, I was cursing this Total Sonic Annihilation moment.
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Brooklyn’s A Place to Bury Strangers have been building a reputation for themselves as one of the loudest bands in existence these days, and their live shows have become fairly legendary in blogland over the past year or so. And speaking of Jesus and Mary Chain– these guys are up to their ears in Psychocandy, but thankfully, that isn’t all their up to. You’ll hear quite a bit of late 80’s Wax Trax in their sound, as well as some later period Primal Scream, which sort of sounds like krautrock gone metal if you haven’t heard it.
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Taco Bell has revived its Feed the Beat contest, a contest that gives 100 bands $500 in Taco Bell bucks and provides for the winning band Taco Bell’s love and promotion (in the form of in-store plays), and among this year’s nominees are A Place to Bury Strangers, Mae Shi, Delta Spirit, and Turbo Fruits, among roughly 87 emo bands that sound like 30 Seconds to Mars off-shoots.
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Taco Bell has revived its Feed the Beat contest, a contest that gives 100 bands $500 in Taco Bell bucks and provides for the winning band Taco Bell’s love and promotion (in the form of in-store plays), and among this year’s nominees are A Place to Bury Strangers, Mae Shi, Delta Spirit, and Turbo Fruits, among roughly 87 emo bands that sound like 30 Seconds to Mars off-shoots.
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This year’s fest promises to be the best yet, with endless amazing acts including Louis XIV, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Team Robespierre, Pat McGee, Noisettes, The Whip, A Place To Bury Strangers, God Forbid, Coheed And Cambria, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Lykke Li, Yo Majesty, Beach House, Cool Kids, Crystal Castles, Del McCoury Band, Deerhoof, Donavon Frankenreiter, Gang Gang Dance, Jay Reatard, Minus The Bear, Roisin Murphy, The Dears, and Darkest Hour, who is headlining The Syndicate Metal Showcase. And that’s just a small sampling.
Tags: A Place to Bury Strangers, ai, aptbs, turing test
Posted in A Place to Bury Strangers, Teaching | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
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An intoxicating tremolo swirl of feedback launched “To Fix The Gash In Your Head” as the song was attacked with a punk like ferocity. The bass and drums are loud but Oliver’s guitar slices through the mix as his vocals are purposely mixed slightly low to force you to concentrate on the lyrics.
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We’ll sure tell you who might: the likes of Robert Pollard’s great new Boston Spaceships, the Mae Shi, A Place to Bury Strangers, the Little Ones, Colour Revolt, Murder by Death, Be Your Own Pet offshoot Turbo Fruits, and pretty much every pop-punk/emo/screamo band ever. Yeah, I bet you dudes want some free Volcano Tacos.
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The often described “loudest band in NY” A Place To Bury Strangers is playing the Loft in the big D tonight. This is probably the last chance to see these guys at a relatively small venue seeing as they just got off a tour with NIN.
Tags: A Place to Bury Strangers, aptbs
Posted in A Place to Bury Strangers | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 10th, 2008
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Taco Bell announced the 100 finalists of its “Feed the Beat” promotion today, including Cobra Starship, A Place to Bury Strangers, Demon Hunter,Underoath, Murder by Death, Thursday, and Shadows Fall.
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Ackermann also showed off his extensive knowledge of noise-sculpting electronics, using both feet nearly as frenetically as his hands in switching between effects, while rocking wah and volume pedals. While volume and looped drones were by far the overwhelming focus of their performance, APTBS also showed an adept talent for fitting in some truly creative melodies behind their wall of noise.
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“I think people get a different idea as to, you know, ‘What is loud?’” says the laid-back, chatty Ackermann by phone. “I mean, we play really loud, with the amps cranked up, but you know, you can go see Bruce Springsteen and he’s probably really crazy loud; he just doesn’t sound loud because he’s playing, like, an acoustic guitar or something
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Better Than: Sitting at home crying because My Bloody Valentine won’t come to Denver.
After last night’s show, it wasn’t so much that my ears hurt or were ringing; it was more like my head was encased in a sine wave-emitting helmet.
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Radio K, the student-run radio station of the University of Minnesota, is currently in the thick of its annual fund drive. But rather than goad Golden Gophers into giving with, like, Ken Burns VHS box sets or something, they’re offering donors a crack at a very cool compilation of live tracks from some top-shelf artists set to tape in the Radio K studios.
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Picture yourself leaning firmly against a cinder-block wall in a damp echo chamber of a basement venue while being enveloped with an onslaught of sound—although it’ll be tough to do that at the American Airlines Center as the band opens up for Nine Inch Nails.
Tags: A Place to Bury Strangers, aptbs
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Thursday, October 9th, 2008
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discussion of pumping lemma. Includes a poem
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There are a few special techniques or effects that can spice up just about any web page. These are the top 20 Ajax effects that every web developer should know. They’re essential parts of any web developer’s toolbox. If you haven’t seen them yet, you no doubt will in your future web development endeavors.
Posted in Teaching | 1 Comment »
TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN’T REST EASY
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN’T REST EASY
1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.
2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They’re whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.
3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.
4. Those who forget history… In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!
5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.
If you agree that we shouldn’t rest easy, please sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office by clicking here:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=31260&id=14523-5268029-fiMrH8x&t=1
Tags: obama, Politics
Posted in Commentary, Politics | No Comments »