Lost AT E Minor

Buddha Machine 2

Buddhist temples all over China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong sell or give away small plastic boxes that play a loop of prayer and chanting. A few years ago, Chinese electronic act FM3 hacked into some of these boxes and programmed their own music into them. The band had their own Buddha Machines manufactured in a wide range of colors, and people went nuts over them. Now, the Beijing-based duo is back with Buddha Machine 2.0 with all new music. As with the first box, the haunting, meditative tracks on the new machine play in a constant loop when it is switched on. Users can adjust the volume, bend the pitch of the music, and plug in headphones. The new machines come in new colors — burgundy, grey, brown, and even a limited edition one made out of real Pu’er tea.

Hanggai

Beijing-based band Hanggai write original songs in the traditional folk styles of their Mongolian ancestors — throat-singing, horsehair fiddles, lutes — spearheading an Asian version of the old-time revival. Though it’s only through the digital age that the rest of the world can access this beautiful music, it makes you want to slow down and reflect on what we’ve lost as a species. This stuff makes every flavor of the month indie band seem vapid and meaningless.

Ambroise Tézenas’s Beijing: Theatre of the People

Right now, the 2008 Beijing Olympics are cleaning up the mess left behind from the millions of people that passed through their city. Their forty billion dollar sporting event has come to a close and fans from around the world will take away memories of an interesting city that opened up to the world like it has never done before. One person in particular, who used China as a backdrop for his phenomenal photography project, was a French photographer by the name of Ambroise Tézenas. Read more

Urs Fischer’s installations

New York and Zurich-based artist Urs Fischer’s entropic sculptures and installations blows apart people’s expectations of what to expect at a gallery. Last year’s installation, You, at Gavin Brown was a 38-foot-by-30-foot crater dug into the gallery floor. His huge, ambitious works seem frantic and impulsive despite the immense planning and meticulous execution they often require. His mockery of physics, and the enormous scale and shock-and-awe quality of his work suggest the god-like potency of an artist, at least within a gallery space. Read more

Paper Water Bottle

Design company BrandImage has just come out with their line of paper water bottles made out of renewable resources. The bottles themselves are recyclable, and while not as reusable as a plastic bottle, can still be reused a few times. These are cool designs, even if they still pander to our on-the-go, single-serving, throw-away culture. Their environmental friendliness is also dubious, considering most people will still choose to throw these things in the trash rather than taking the time to find a recycling bin.

Faith No More reunion

Very few band reunions get me excited, but I’ve consistently loved Faith No More since I was 13. I loved their pre-Mike Patton era, I loved King for a Day, and I even loved their track with Boo Yah Tribe on the Judgment Night soundtrack. Kerrang recently hinted that a FNM reformation is in the works for ‘09, and though bassist Billy Gould has emphatically denied the rumors, the general consensus is that the reunion is on.