"This is Romeo Foxtrot. Shall we Dance?" Killer Drones to get sound system. Many different broadcasts were tried, including the celebrated “Wandering Soul."
posted by wallstreet1929 on Aug 12, 2009 - 6 comments

A sanitized look at the use of UAVs 1.9 miles above Sadr City, Iraq. [print version] [more inside]
posted by odinsdream on Nov 9, 2008 - 36 comments

"I can name that tune in 300 yards ..." Not for much longer, though. Honda prepared for an upcoming commercial by cutting grooves in a road in Lancaster, California. These grooves, if driven over at just the right speed and in just the right car (one guess!) should play something resembling the William Tell Overture. But once filming was done (and I'm sure the commerical will be as impeccably produced and successful as Honda's other ads), locals and tourists were left with the driver's equivalent of that huge floor keyboard in Big, with some drivers lining up to play over and over again. Result? The city will pave over the road today. But hey, we'll always have Anyang. And Japan (previously). And Denmark.
posted by maudlin on Sep 23, 2008 - 29 comments

Connecticut's Have a Nice Life is responsible for one of the year's most acclaimed, highly conceptual albums this year, Deathconsciousness. The two discs (entitled The Plow That Broke The Plains and The Future, respectively) feature music spanning over five years of collaboration between the two artists, and are accompanied by a 75-page booklet on medieval Italian heretics in lieu of liner notes. Combining elements of shoegaze, new wave, ambient drone, post-rock, experimental industrial, avant-garde dark metal, and electronic music, and citing references such as My Bloody Valentine and Joy Division to their credit, the original and only pressings sold out within hours. Full stream of all 85 minutes available here. Direct mp3 samples here and here. [more inside]
posted by Christ, what an asshole on Jun 28, 2008 - 34 comments

The U.S. Military's Assassination Problem: "Software like 'Bugsplat' is supposed to keep decapitation attacks precise. So why do we keep blowing up Iraqi wedding parties?" [more inside]
posted by homunculus on Mar 17, 2008 - 34 comments

Bring earplugs: MBV are back in town. After fifteen years of near-inactivity, My Bloody Valentine have announced three reunion shows to take place next summer in England and Scotland. Previous MBV on the Blue
posted by porn in the woods on Nov 15, 2007 - 35 comments

The Velvet Underground you never got to hear. Born from the same experimental influences and art-pop sensibilities as VU, but based in 60s counter-cultural Sweden, and rife with name changes galore, Pärson Sound aka International Harvester aka Harvester aka Träd, Gräs och Stenar (Trees, Grass and Stones) brought the heavy, heavy drone sound as far back as 1967 and are still active today. [more inside]
posted by stinkycheese on Sep 19, 2007 - 14 comments

When was the last time you listened to a hurdy gurdy? No, I mean really listened to a hurdy gurdy? No, I don't mean the The Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan. I mean a real hurdy gurdy. That is to say, an actual hurdy gurdy. Oh, and by the way, the French call it a Vielle à roue. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Aug 19, 2007 - 53 comments

Growing.
posted by hama7 on Jul 7, 2007 - 26 comments

Move over, crazy-pilotless-drone-guy. Alec Baldwin busts out the brass balls on his 11-year old daughter.
posted by phaedon on Apr 19, 2007 - 158 comments

SUNN O))).
posted by hama7 on Nov 19, 2006 - 108 comments

[nytimesfilter] Why is the New York Times obsessed with doom metal? For a newspaper that gives perfunctory (at best) coverage to non-classical, non-top-40 music, the publication of two articles about one marginal subgenre of indie rock seems incredibly conspiratorial.
posted by stemlot on May 29, 2006 - 55 comments

Everything you always wanted to know about drone but were afraid to ask. Written by Ron Scheppa of textura fame. (A shorter version of this article can be found in the current issue of Grooves Magazine.)
posted by soundofsuburbia on Feb 10, 2005 - 5 comments

''It's possible,'' Lt. Col. David Branham of the Air Force says, ''that in our lifetime we will be able to run a conflict without ever leaving the United States.'' On the end of the most remote-controlled war yet, this article in the NYtimes discusses a not-too-distant future in which missile-toting unmanned helicopters and hummingbird-sized surveillance planes can swarm upon any target at the control of war planners deep beneath Tampa, Florida.
posted by 4easypayments on Apr 18, 2003 - 36 comments

Remember that whole drone "cover-up"? Here's the plane. The prototype of Iraq's smoking gun WMD threat. Constructed of balsa wood and duct tape, it says Allahu Akbar (God is great) on the side. And, well, they were probably half right. While it's not really a gun, it probably does smoke -- it uses lawn-mower-style two-stroke engines. Washington Post story here.
posted by condour75 on Mar 13, 2003 - 38 comments

US drone lost over Iraq - It seems it's only a matter of time before they shoot down a piloted plane (even if by accident). What are we still trying to accomplish over there and what would the reaction be if they succeed?
posted by revbrian on Aug 27, 2001 - 15 comments