Jaron Lanier was one of the first to predict the impact the World Wide Web would have on our culture.

In his new book,

You Are Not A Gadget

, he attacks the technology’s effects on the dwindling middle class aesthetic, the loss of privacy, and the rise of computer algorithms, mobs, hacking and other attacks on confidential information.

Lanier will be reading from the book and offering a question and answer period after, as part of City Lights Authors series. Tuesday, Feb. 16, 7 PM, City Lights Bookstore. All ages, no $.

Alice Russell / Pot of Gold Remixes / Six Degrees

Alice Russell has made a name for herself in the new(ish) UK soul scene, based on the beautiful strength of her versatile voice and singing style. You’ve probably heard her as a guest on tracks by Massive Attack, Nostalgia 77, The Roots, Quantic Soul Orchestra, Mr. Scruff and De La Soul, or perhaps on her solo releases on Tru Thoughts. Produced by Tru Thought’s TM Juke, this 2 volume set of remixes, is hefty to say the least and is a real pot of gold for any fans of turntable soul. All tracks have been worked over by the leading producers, artists and DJs of today - DJ Vadim, Mr. Scruff, Emika, Llorca J-Boogie. You really can’t go wrong with powerful combinations like these, which makes it hard to play favorites with individual tracks. All are good, but Ermika’s version of “Hurry On Now” brings us to a minimal house groove, with samples and loops floating in your head like good ideas, and LJM’s version of “Lights Went Out” takes the original from a sweet jazzy track to an abstractly chopped and looped album highlight.

Vol 1
2. Got the Hunger (DJ Vadim remix)
7. Hurry On Now (Emika remix)
8. Lights Went Out (LJM Remix) - great looped, sparse composition and El Perro Del Mar sounding vocals

Vol 2
1. Two Steps (Shawn Lee’s 7 Inches of Soul Remix)
4. Universe (Dusty Remix)

Super Adventure Club/ Untz / Freshmaker Records

Super Adventure Club has a unique blend of funk, syths, dance beats, and an impeccable sense of humor. Though there are only two members in the band, these spazzes have somehow managed to create the sound of a full band without any loops or backing tracks. But don’t let their wit fool you, 1/2 of this band, Michael Winger, has worked with the Kronos Quartet, the Shins, The Pretenders, Regina Spektor and Feist as a producer and engineer. The other half of the band, Jake Wood, is a freelance drummer, writer and teacher and brings his own talents to the album. They’re the resident band at Hotel Utah for February, playing every Saturday night.

Tracks:
1. Love Without Adventure
2. Untz Untz Untz (you can really hear the sense of humor on this one)
6. Former Ladies of the Cold War

For Fans of: Greenskeepers, Talking Heads

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS / I Wanna Go Home CD / 1234Go Records / 2010

It’s always good to hear female singers with balls, and the vocals here have that in spades, though often tempered by unexpected sweetness and sporadic soul. The sound is raw and overdriven throughout, giving it a SONICS raunchiness that never gets old.

SOUNDS LIKE:
DETROIT COBRAS, BLONDIE, SHANGRA-LAs

SUGGESTED TRACKS:
1 “Troublemaker” (girl-group garage better than BLONDIE)
3 “You Can Come Over” (equal parts sweet and raunchy)
7 “Shuffle With The Clams” (a BOWWOWWOW primal feel)

CUTE LEPERS / Smart Accessories CD / 1234Go Records / 2010

Remember the DICKIES first two records? This CD will bring you back to them in a major way, and that for me is a great thing. Simple yet elegant, and great mid-tempo punk throughout!

SOUNDS LIKE:
DICKIES, ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT, VIBRATORS

SUGGESTED TRACKS:
1 “Some Hits Hurt” (packs a potent punch in 1:43)
4 “You Don’t Have To Belong To The Religious Right” (a catchy ballad!)
13 “Fall To Pieces” (kinda like the VAPORS)

CRUSH / The Red Pill CD / Fog City Records / 2009

Industrial dance music isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, but here it is done just about as well as anyone. For those who like to get their Goth on in a major label kind of way.

SOUNDS LIKE:
NINE INCH NAILS, DEPECHE MODE, MINISTRY

SUGGESTED TRACKS:
2 “Dirty” (like early DEPECHE MODE)
4 “Everything I Say Is A Lie” (whispered lyrics belie serious anger)
5 “Sacred” (almost an ALICE IN CHAINS groove)

Station Top Ten Albums:
1. Terror X Crew / Essete Imar / FM Records
2. Trainwreck Riders / The Perch / Alive Records
3. Dead to Me / African Elephants / Fat Wreck Chords
4. Sparklehorse & Danger Mouse / Dark Night of the Soul / unreleased
5. V/A / Gozalo! Vol. 3 / Vampisoul
6. Blakroc / Blakroc / V2 UK/Zoom
7. Vampire Weekend / Contra / XL
8. TAWk / Pisces /
9. Vows / Everything Forevermore / Self Released
10. My Morning Jacket / Z / ATO Records

Rock/Pop/Indie:
1. Trainwreck Riders / The Perch / Alive Records
2. Vampire Weekend / Contra / XL
3. Vows / Everything Forevermore / self released
4. My Morning Jacket / Z / ATO Records
5. Devendra Banhart / Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon / XL
6. Jay Reatard / Watch Me Fall / Matador
7. Sweetpad / Sweetpad / Unreleased
8. Shalants / Passage Through the Wilderness / American Dust
9. D.R.I. / Dealing with It /
10. Blitzen Trapper / Wild Mountain Nation / LidKerCow

Punk / Ska
1. Dead to Me / African Elephants / Fat Wreck Chords
2. Banda Newsense / Demo / Independent
3. Jay Reatard / Blood Visions / In the Red
4. La Plebe / Hasta La Muerte / Red Scare
5. Calabrese / The traveling Vampire Show / Spookshow Records
6. La Plebe / Entre Cerveza, Ritmo y Emocion / Red Scare
7. Jokes for Feelings / Demo / unreleased
8. The Reatards / Teenage Hate / Goner Records
9. He Who Cannot Be Named / Sunday School Massacre
10. The Hooks / 10,000 Feet / The Hooks

Hip Hop / Soul / R&B
1. Terror X Crew / Essete Imar / FM Records
2. Sparklehorse & Danger Mouse / Dark Night of the Soul / unreleased
3. Blakroc / Blakroc / V2 UK/Zoom
4. TaWK / Pisces /
5. Gucci Mane / Diplo Presents: Free Gucci (Best of the Cold War Mixtapes) /
6. Sadahzina / Sadahzina with B.D. Foxmore
7. Artemis/Efthimis / O Dialehtos Tis Arnisis Ki O Akrivogios Tis Pistis / Heaven
8. Percy Sledge / The Best of Percy Sledge / Vanilla OMP
9. Quasimoto / The Unseen / Stones Throw Records
10. Alice Russell / Pot of Gold Remixes / Six Degrees Records

RPM
1. Dance Disorder / Zusammen / BPitch Control
2. Shlohmo / Shlohmosun Delux / FoF Music
3. Blockhead / The Music Scene / Ninjatune
4. Sarah Goldfarb & JHK / Heartbeat City
5. South Rakkas Crew / The Stimulus Package
6. Four Tet / Love Cry / Domino
7. Nosaj Thing / Drift / Alpha Pup
8. Pawel / Pawel / Dial
9. Birds and Batteries / Up to No Good / Eightmaps
10. Tycho / Coastal Brake Single / Ghostly International

International / World
1. V/A / Gozalo! Vol. 3 / Vampisoul
2. V/A / A Orillas del Magdalena / Discos Fuentes/Domino
3. Balkan Beat Box / Balkan Beat Box / JDub Records
4. Very Be Careful / Salad Buey / Treasure Bottle
5. Ali Primera / La Guerra de Petroleo
6. V/A / Panama! 2 / Soundway Records
7. Kumbia Queers / Cumbia Nena!
8. Los Saicos / Wild Teen Punk from Peru / Electro Harmonix
9. Gal Costa / Agua Viva / Universal Brazil
10. Mexican Institute of Sound / Soy Sauce / Nacional Records

Folk
1. Antarctia / Never Survive / Never Survive EP
2. T.H.C. (The Human Condition) / Live at the Balboa Theater
3. Bob Dylan / John Wesley Harding / Live
4. David Olney / Illegal Cargo
5. Kastoria / Hellenic Old Sounds

Jazz/Blues/Roots
1. V/A / The Real Kansas City Of The ’20s, ’30s & ’40s /
2. Virginia Liston / Virginia Liston Vol. 1 (1923-1924) / Document Records
3. V/A / The Blues Brothers Soundtrack / Atlantic
4. Blue Valentine / Tom Waits / Rhino/Electra
5. Tune-Yards / Bird Brains / Marriage Records

And just for fun times with numbers, Jay Reatard is the #1 played artist, Styx is #2, Alice Cooper, La Plebe and Balkan Beat Box tied for the #3 played artist spot, but Alice Cooper and Styx do not appear on the top ten album charts!

The medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday retracted a controversial 1998 paper that linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism.

The study subsequently had been discredited, and last week, the lead author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was found to have acted unethically in conducting the research.

The General Medical Council, which oversees doctors in Britain, said that “there was a biased selection of patients in The Lancet paper” and that his “conduct in this regard was dishonest and irresponsible.”

Babies who died from sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, show lower amounts of the brain chemical serotonin, says a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Levels of serotonin, which regulate a baby’s sleep, heart rate and breathing, were 26 percent lower in the brainstems of babies who died of SIDS than in those of babies who died of other causes, the study says.

Researchers believe a low level of serotonin may be the “fundamental abnormality” in babies who die from SIDS. In the brainstem, serotonin acts as an alarm system, waking up a baby when breathing is disrupted. Babies without it can be unaware that they are not breathing enough oxygen, causing them to die in their sleep, according to the study.