Justice – Audio, Video, Disco [Album Review]

Anyone who is a fan of dance music definitely knows who Justice is. Even those with only just a passing interest in dance music will still likely know who Justice is. I definitely fall into the former, and hold Justice’s Cross album in especially high esteem. So when it was announced earlier this year that the duo’s sophomore album would finally be released this fall, I was filled with dread as much as I was filled with excitement. Then in late October, after five long years following the release of the acclaimed Cross, it finally happened: Justice released its follow-up, Audio, Video, Disco.

Justice. Photo provided courtesy of Vice Music.

Cross consisted of tracks like “D.A.N.C.E.”, which had major crossover appeal. The album was also full of hard rhythms, with lots of bass distorted at almost every turn on tracks like “Phantom,” “Stress” and “Waters of Nazareth.” As Justice started to drift into the EDM background after extensive touring in support of the album, the popularity of the electronic-French-House genre that Justice helped to reinvigorate was at a high point with dance music fans. The hard beats and basslines that Justice helped to usher into electronic music’s current state has already begun to give way to even harder beats and basslines by their contemporaries. The popularity of U.K.-bass and dub-step in Europe has now taken over North America, morphing itself into a genre that is largely popular for  its hard and grinding beats that wobble and boom. The influence of dance music is even reaching Top 40 radio stations here in the States. The landscape of dance music has definitely changed in five years, and after listening to Audio, Video, Disco, it is apparent that Justice did not want to make another album exactly like Cross.

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ARTSEEKR Events November 1 – November 7, 2011

Urbanized, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, November 4-10. You have probably seen (or at least heard about) Helvetica, a popular documentary by Gary Hustwit about typography and its relationship to how we see things. Now, the YBCA will be screening Urbanized, Hustwit’s new movie which focuses primarily on urban design. You can check the detailed schedule of screenings here.

Exchange and Evolution: Worldwide Video Long Beach 1974-1999 at the Long Beach Museum of Art [Review]

This fall and winter, the museum world in Southern California will be dominated by Pacific Standard Time–a gargantuan initiative by the Getty meant to celebrate the postwar art of the region. Not long ago I headed down south to check it out. My first stop was the Long Beach Museum of Art, which decided to approach the theme quite unconventionally. “Exchange and Evolution” explores not Californian art, but the history of the museum as a hub for video practitioners from all over the world.

Long Beach Oil Rig Island

Photo by donielle, CC BY-SA 2.0

ArtSeekr: Events October 18 – October 24, 2011

San Francisco has a fair amount of great art events (screenings, performances, lectures, exhibition openings, etc.) happening every week, so we decided to start this wonderful listing column. We at eventseekr blog monitor lots and lots of art venues, but something might still fall through the cracks – so if you know of any cool and under-publicized (or non-publicized) happenings, TELL US!!!

6^th ATA Film & Video Festival, Artists’ Television Access, October 19-23. The ATA is a nonprofit space in the Mission dedicated to promoting exploratory film and video (or, as they say now, time-based work). Their annual festival will start with a reception on October 19th. The next two days will feature shorts’ programs zeroing in on the intriguing topics like “the physical and emotional landscapes of our world” and “the archetypal Davids and Goliaths in our experiences” (doesn’t THAT look curious?) There will also be a Super8 workshop on October 23^rd, as well as a surveillance-based installation by Sam Manera during the whole month.