Negativland

"PIECE A PIE? PIECE A PIE BUD?"
"No!"

In their words:

Seelard Records 021 (not a Negativland release)

Negativmailorderland has discovered what can only be described as the ultimate "reissue" of the music that made Negativland so (in)famous: the two track EP originally released by SST Records featuring cover versions of a Very Famous Irish Rock Band's hit song. If you've gotten this far you undoubtedly know what we're talking about so we won't bore you with the details...

Several "bootleg" versions of our banned EP have appeared over the past decade, including some forgeries that are so well-designed that it's hard to tell them apart from the original (see our discography for details), but none of them have come even close to encapsulating the bloody history of that old release as this brand-new CD on the suspicious "Seelard Records" label. We don't even know where this "label" is located, but we were so impressed with their efforts that we've decided to distribute a bunch of copies of it ourselves.

THESE GUYS ARE FROM ENGLAND AND WHO GIVES A SHIT is an album-length collection of just about every darn gasp uttered by Negativland which relates to the notorious and banned EP, from early run-thrus of the material (taped from our weekly radio show, OVER THE EDGE), to live versions both pre-lawsuit and post, and to the actual single itself. We are amazed at the extremely high-fidelity and professional presentation of this material, which even includes the only top-notch recordings available from our "Music For Lawyers" tour of 1993 (several lawsuit-related compositions which never saw the light of day on any other "legitimate" Negativland album).
Complete track listing:

1. OVER THE EDGE 12/31/89 (excerpts) 7:59
2. Long Distance Dedication #1 (live) 6:19
3. 1991 A Cappella Mix - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 7:15
4. Special Edit Radio Mix - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 5:47
5. Long Distance Dedication #2 (live) 7:03
6. Copying is a Criminal Act (live) 5:07
7. Wake Up America (live) 4:03
8. The Black Lady of Espionage (live) 5:00
9. Deliberate Sabotage (live) 2:59
10. A Cappella Version - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (live) 7:16
11. Edited Special Edit Radio Mix - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (may actually be played on the radio!!) 5:42

We are convinced that this overly attentive-to-detail release will EXHAUST your interest in this subject FOREVER and provide the Negativ-fan with legally impossible entertainment at the same time.

But I also couldn't imagine a group like Negativland coming out of, say, Canada. [Laughs.]

Um, John Oswald?

(I know, I know -- he was talking about Negativland, the "band", specifically and how they operated over the years, and not talking about classic found-sound artists in general, but those three words above came immediately to mind after that final line.)

Consolidated Works, Seattle (Fri 3/10, Sat 3/11) along with the Negativlandland art exhibit that debuted in NYC last year.

Capitol Theater, Olympia (Sun 3/12)

"It's All In Your Head" is the show.. same one as the ones in Ontario and the Bay Area last year.

Expect a more Over The Edge-y type thing and don't expect greatest hits although Richard Lyons and David Wills will likely be in attendance, so who knows what will happen.

I'll be at the Friday show fer sure.

Is Negativlandland the art exhibit then? I got confused when I saw a link to that on the site because it looked like something that had already taken place.

(Assuming I don't have other work priorities) I'm probably skipping Spank Rock Sat. night to see/hear this again...

The small David Wills installation in the back was like crumbs in front of a hungry man. My favourite part of the wall of written Wills-isms was "One thing that is very important is that you burp your Tupperware".

It did go on a bit too long I think, 3 hours, but I was also just very tired after a long workweek. Yeah I considered going again tonight too, but I've already got other plans.

Another thing is that I actually got lost on the way there and ended up stopping right in front of a church a couple of blocks away that had physical features of both Christianity and those funny shaped things you see on the top of mosques. Very odd.

You can! This show was the debut of the "Hey, we have 'It's All In Your Head' for sale at the merch booth" show... they're selling the limited edition double-CDs for $12 each I believe. I picked one up last night. You can also order them only via negativland.com, and those are the ONLY two ways you can get this. I picked one up, but -- after seeing this show -- will probably actually listen to it a week later, just because, well, my brain is already saturated with It's All In Your Head as it is. :D

That was the first song I ever heard of New Order ever when I knew I had fallen in love with New Order.

if it's the track I'm thinking of (simple 2/4 plonky stomp), that's a sample of the first track on Moebius & Renziehausen's Ersatz

"Pump gag"

http://blogs.citypages.com/ctg/2006/05/art_party_negat.asp

Negativland is doing their "It's All In Your Head FM" tour near me next month...anyone know anything about it?

I've seen it an it's freaking great. It will make you think, (especially if you are an atheist like me). You must go. Negativland are very dear to my heart, though I only really think about them intensely about once a year.

I've heard that Mark Hosler from Negativland will do a lecture at the ZXZW festival in Holland. Which already has a killer line-up.
www.zxzw.nl

Bimble, I'm impressed.

Spoke one of the organizers. There will also the premiere of a new Neagtivland film.

I'll unite with you, reatard. Any idea what the show will be like? I'm guessing that the shows will have a similar style to the 2005 <i>It's All in Your Head FM</i> shows, but different content, right? I listen to that live release more than almost any other live release from the last five years.

Color me excited.

Saw Hosler give his lecture last night at the Knox Museum of Art. Then everybody went to Senor Taco with him. Then bowling!

I'm envious!

Wish I had pics.

Between the return of U2 and this it's like it's their time all over again.

I filed a police report today (minor thing--car got rifled through, nothing taken it seems). The officer handed me the report number and his name etc. on a piece of paper, at the bottom of which is printed "©2001 TEN-8, INC." Naturally it made me want to hear A Big 10-8 Place. Man I love this thing (every couple of years anyway).

"The door opens automatically, and the first thing you see is the orange
carpet inside 180...and you'll see the dog juice, the horrible dog juice..."

which album/video has the Weatherman's story about fixing the playboy channel in Rossmoor?

The half-hour of sound manipulation they did at La Luz is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN1z58l88dU

i have the guns cd single which has 2 versions which are good but i wish they would come out with a greatest cd collection.

still absolute solid gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHY9iSdoqK4

do u know how many time zones there are in the soviet union

ELEVEN

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

guns

Negativland have posted on Facebook that Ian Allen, a key early member who had to leave the band in the late eighties due to continuing health issues, has passed on after complications from surgery. Very sad news to hear -- he introduced the original group to Don Joyce, was a key force behind the design and concept of A Big 10-8 Place, pushed for the tape loop approach and more.

Direct link on FB

https://www.facebook.com/Negativlandland/timeline/story?ut=43&wstart=0&wend=1422777599&hash=-8355825573272387065&pagefilter=3

Aw, jeez. RIP.

this does not seem like a band that would use Facebook.

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.

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".

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

on tour as well!

I missed their dc area show but heard good things about it.

Upcoming PNW tour has the documentary supporting at all shows.

Saw the film, live Q & A, and live show combo platter a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. Don't miss it. Allow a lot of time to peruse the extensive merch too.

I haven't seen the doc yet so this clip might be in it.

The actual copy of Negativland's U2 that started the whole thing was sold at an Athens record store. Hosler later surmised that possibly someone connected to R.E.M. was the one who ratted them out to U2 or Island Records and at this 2004 Duke Law conference, he confronts REM manager Bertis Downs about it and Downs admits it.

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

seeing them tonight!

Snitchy Happy People

sheesh, I totally missed that frogbs posted the clip earlier

saw them in Vancouver last night, film plus show. mind-blowing! dragged along two people who'd never heard of them and they were converted to the beauty