I cannot leave Bell Labs without mentioning one more device which I saw there, and which haunts me, as it haunts everyone, who has ever seen it in action. It is the Ultimate Machine --the end of the line. Beyond it there is nothing. It sits on Calude Shannon's desk driving people mad, nothing could look simpler. It is merely a small wooden casket the size and shape of a cigar box, with a single switch on one face. When you flip the switch there is an angry, purposeful, buzzing. The lid slowly rises and from beneath it emerges a hand. The hand reaches down, turns the switch off, and retreats into the box. With the finality of a closing coffin, the lid snaps shut, the buzzing creases and peace reigns once more. The psychological effect, if you do not know what to expect, is devastating. There is something unspeakably sinister about a machine that does nothing --absolutely nothing-- except switch itself off. Distinguished scientists and engineers have taken days to get over it, some have retired to professions which still have a future, such as basket weaving, beekeeping, truffle hunting or water diving.
Surplus and crisis, then, are two sides of the same coin. The problems arising from overaccumulation --what makes surplus crisis-- are not only economic, but also political, and therefore social. The idling of workers, the development of far-flung (labor or commodity) markets, and the immobilization of capital in devalued land are problems that require political organization --such as state building or subaltern activism-- to solve. Political organizing produces new social relations that can, if reproducible, form the basis of new social order.
Straddling the threshold between studio performance and digital technique; the NYC artist applies "fake jazz" principles to synthpop. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2024
Composer, producer, and Folly Group co-leader Laggard salutes early industrial and grime through a hard-hitting, club-focused side project. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2024
UK percussionist and producer Tom Buford contrasts minimalist electronic experiments with vast soundscapes shaped by classical and jazz. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2024
Smooth, sophisticated pop with neoclassical flourishes from the Berlin-based duo of Fabian Till and Birk Buttcherey. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2024
Adopting an optimistic, genre-fluid mindset atypical to most contemporary punk rock, the Aussies rage against the machine with glee. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2024