Video – Courtney Barnett : Kim’s Caravan
Courtney Barnett has released the devastatingly beautiful and poignant video for “Kim’s Caravan” from the debut album Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, an album which recently debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard album sales charts. “Kim’s Caravan” will be released as a special Record Store Day 12″ and is paired with a gorgeous and intimate recording of John Cale’s “Close Watch” as the B-Side.
Indie Artists Commissioned to Create Murals Inspired by Video Game
For the uninitiated, the launch of a highly-anticipated video game can be, in many ways, similar to a movie premiere. Parties are thrown, members of the press are called over, and in some cases, murals are painted.
This was the case when Ubisoft launched “Far Cry 4” in November of last year, and the game developer, showing a great interest in street art, not just commissioned artists to create two murals inspired by the game for its launch, but also threw a street art gallery event to allow fans to interact with the independent artists who created the in-game murals. The street art gallery event gave attendees the chance to experience the game firsthand, as well as watch artists create three in-game murals and win prizes.
Ubisoft also commissioned artists David Loran, Nick Sweetman, Bruno Smoky, Shalak Attack, and Jeff Blackburn to create two large murals inspired by the game, and according to The Canadian Press, while the artists braved the cold weather to pull off the project, it also helped them get a feel for the game. ““Far Cry 4,” due out Nov. 18, is set in the fictional Himalayan region of Kyrat. And the artists must have felt they were right there on the weekend, braving chilly two-degree conditions while creating their art in a downtown Toronto parking lot,” writes Neil Davidson.
“Far Cry 4” received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics when it was released, as it follows the current trend of video games now incorporating more than one genre into their gameplay. Similar to how Spin Genie has incorporated action-adventure elements into the slot genre, “Far Cry 4” created an open-world adventure that allowed gamers to experience a new, vastly interactive world every time they entered the game. In the game, players are able to encounter various wildlife from the Himalayan landscape, as well as explore villages and settlements to immerse themselves in the culture of the fictional country the game takes place in. These served largely as the inspiration for the mural.
David Loran has had experience creating murals of all sizes, both indoors and outdoors. The elephant mural he created for Ubisoft took him 6-8 hours, as he rendered it digitally before starting work with his spray-paint cans. “The difficult part was doing this dust powder effect, kinda like in the game,” Loran says of the experience. “Apparently, in “Far Cry 4”, a lot of the characters turn into powder, and it’s like a whole new thing, like a look that their game has.”
The rest of the mural took much faster to complete because it had multiple artists working on it at once. Shalak Attack has posted a video of the creation of the mural:
Help LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy make the NYC subway into a symphony
New York, I love you, but your subway sounds are bringing me down…
LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy wants to soundtrack New York City’s subway system. Sign the petition & let’s make this happen New York!: http://www.subwaysymphony.org/
Video – Caveman : In the City
Watch Caveman’s horrifying new video for “In the City” starring Julia Stiles. A tourist couple visits New York City for the first time. They soon discover that underneath the surface of the playground of the city, lies a world of darkness and horror.
Album release – Braids : Flourish
After 18 months of touring in support of Native Speaker, along with the departure of a band member, Braids secluded themselves in their Montreal studio for a year of writing and recording. While Native Speaker was written in an organic and live environment, the group sought to explore a more introspective and electronic approach to songwriting. Sonically, the songs from these sessions are delicate and tight, yet thoughtfully open up to the rich lushness reminiscent of their older material. Lyrically they are honest and vulnerable, demonstrating the group’s emotional growth and maturity since their last record.
Album release – Volcano Choir – Repave
After releasing two singles, a stunning video, and a behind the scenes Making of the Album mini-documentary, you can finally hear the whole new record Repave from Volcano Choir. Visit NPR now and hear for yourself.
New Track – Vaccines : Melody Calling
The Vaccines have released a new track in anticipation of their upcoming North American tour dates. “Melody Calling” was recorded in March at Eldorado Studios with producers John Hill (Rihanna, MIA, Santigold) and Rich Costey (Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys); the band debuted “Melody Calling” on their recent U.K. Arena tour which included shows at London’s O2 Arena & Leeds Millennium Square.
Video – Blue Hawaii : Try To Be
Blue Hawaii, Arbutus Records and many of their Montreal counter-parts all began with the same breath in early 2010. To date they’ve released an 8 song EP: in May of that year, Blooming Summer (Arbutus Records 2010) was recorded following the pair’s travels in Central America. It frames a time of warmth and novelty, featuring dense female harmonies, tape saturated synths, guitars and drum machines. Eventually Ra– returned to her role in BRAIDS, touring constantly, while Ag–moved to Europe, treading deeper into dance music, electronics, and production.
The duo notice that throughout the changing social and personal landscape which is one’s twenties, these divided notions and people somehow stay together. Even the name Blue Hawaii suggests a kind of melancholic, jaded paradise, but a paradise afterall. It is because – or perhaps in spite of – these disjointed intersections that the record is called Untogether.
MARCH MUSIC HYPE: DOWNLOAD 50 [ + ] KILLER TUNES – FREE!
Update your iPod playlist this month for free, with over 50, sh!t hot, new – indie, electronic and hip-hop – tunes! We did the work for you. All of the freshest, most recent MP3 downloads on discosalt.com can be found below, in one clean, easy to grab list.
Just RIGHT CLICK on a track and SAVE LINK AS MP3 to your computer.
**Lazy-Man fix: Hit play on our MUSIC PLAYER here.
Check back at the end of next month for an all new buffet of ear candy. Enjoy!
Air France : It Feels Good To Be Around You (Memory Tapes Version)
A$AP Rocky : Pretty Flacko (prod. SpaceGhostPurrp)
Clams_Casino:_22 (Moon_and_Stars_Remix)
Crystal_Castles:_Suffocation_(HEALTH_Remix)
Elite Gymnastics : h e r e , i n h e a v e n 4 & 5 (CFCF remix)
Howler -Back of your neck (radio edit)
La Sera : Please Be My Third Eye
Lightouts: All I Want/ Heroes (LCD Soundsystem-David Bowie Cover)
Metronomy: The Bay (Erol Atkins Remix)
Neon_Indian:_Hex_Girlfriend_(Twin_Shadow_Remix)
Nicolas Jaar : With Just One Glance (feat. Scout LaRue)
Pictureplane : Real Is A Feeling (Grimes Remix)
Stalley: Hammers_and_Vogues (ft_Currensy)
Sun Kill Moon: Sunshine_in_Chicago
Titus_Andronics: Upon_Viewing_Oregons_Landscape_With_the_Flood_of_Detritus
MP3- DANNY BROWN: GROWN UP
Detroit’s Danny Brown has another track to share – “Grown Up” – reminiscent of throwback radio-edits from the early nineties.
NEW BRETON RELEASE: OTHER PEOPLE’S PROBLEMS
Subversive art collective Breton are about to release their Album “Other People’s Problems” in the next week and along with that they have a small tour lined up in the UK.
As a bunch of film-makers who turned musicians in order to soundtrack their visual work, who emerged from the south London squat party scene and named themselves after the father of surrealism Andre Breton, their approach to creating this album was never going to be predictable. Nor is the end result.
The album’s 11 tracks were fashioned from a field recording. Breton mastermind Roman Rappak obsessively records anything that attracts his attention – a building being demolished, a chance conversation, keys opening doors, the hypnotic motion of a New York subway car – and around these incidental sounds songs are created and a story is formed. His process of Automatic writing gives the songs their randomness and complex, dark layers of twisted beauty. Each listen divulges a little more – be it footsteps on a deserted hospital corridor, the ramblings of a beat poet on acid or the songs of prayer in a Belgian mosque.
It’s about randomness rather than traditional structure. Liberating the songs to take on a life of their own – Breton’s musical interpretation of the surrealist game “The Exquisite Corpse”. “Other People’s Problems’” seditious sound was formulated at the band’s creative HQ The Lab, a disused bank in Kennington, south London. It’s here that this outfit live, rehearse, and make their music. It’s also where they create their films, videos and remixes with meticulous attention to detail under their cinematic wing BretonLABS.
The band then took their album from the dingy grey urban surrounds of the Lab and relocated to Iceland for a week to record it at Sigur Ros’ studio in Reykjavik, which added yet another dimension to its sound. The final task was the addition of brass and strings. Breton sent some basic parts to German composer and personal hero Hauschka in Berlin, who recorded them with an orchestra of violinists, cellists and trumpet players to create an incredible piece of music worthy of a film score. He sent back the parts to Breton who then chopped up and sampled them into select album tracks – so the classical was redefined. And with that the album finally reached the end of its own game of “The Exquisite Corpse”.
CHAIRLIFT’S CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-ADVENTURE VIDEO: MET BEFORE
Chairlift’s new video concept for “Met Before” is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, where you use your keys to chose the storyline. Directed by Jordan Fish, the interactive video will be different each time you watch, while the accompanying song, will be the same. You’ll start out in a university lecture hall, and you might end up making out with Amber Schaefer from Starfawn.
Win a Skatedeck inspired by Tristan Patterson’s documentary Dragonslayer
SNAGFILMS is giving away a free Addikt Skatedeck, plus an assortment of Skate DVD’s for the itunes launch of DRAGONSLAYER.
1 X Addikt Skateboard deck inspired by the legend of “The Gonz” graphic
3 X Action-packed street/bowl skateboarding DVD featuring Skreech and other insane skaters
Dragonslayer is available for download here. Check it out!
Here is how to win:
Real Simple.
Like us on Facebook.
Share this post – on our wall – with your friends.
Winners from this pool will be selected at random – and contacted on April 16th.
NEW VIDEO FROM TEARIST: UNARMED
Watch the new video from Tearist for the single “Unarmed” directed by Sean Stout.
Over the last two years Tearist has become one of the most notorious and vital bands in the new underground pulsing through Los Angeles. Building on songs driven by intense vocals and synths, the duo’s performances are known for being deeply physical and direct events. Yasmine Kittles sings from the depths of her body/soul and moves in a near-transfixed state, using scrap metals to scrape rhythm from the ground beneath her. All the while, as if telepathically linked, William Strangeland uses sputtering, cracked synthesizers to create shimmering melodic lines along rumbling interlocked beats and rhythms. Their songs flow and surge, building thick layers of analog sound and noise, often leaving wrecked PA’s in their wake.
OTHER LIVES: LIVE AT BOWERY BALLROOM 2.17
Other Lives were at the Bowery Ballroom on Friday night as part of their first major venue headlining tour. Coming off of their tour with Bon Iver, Other Lives will be beginning a ten day stint supporting Radiohead. A big step for any young band, but to kick off Radiohead’s first US tour since 2008, it will be huge. The exposure that they’ll get out of this tour will be incredible and it couldn’t happen to a more talented group of musicians.
I last caught Other Lives at Mercury Lounge back in June (Review), but the professionalism at the Bowery showed a definite level of maturity.
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[photos: Cory Greenwell]
STREAM SLEIGH BELLS: REIGN OF TERROR
With just a week left before Sleigh Bells release their sophomore album, Reign of Terror (out February 21), the duo is streaming the new record in its entirety on NYTimes.com.
As an added bonus, Sleigh Bells will livestream their NYC show on The Bowery Presents Live Youtube Channel this Friday, February 17th at 10 p.m. EST . The Bowery Presents features groundbreaking must-see live music and the latest in emerging music and culture. TBPLive features live-streaming shows and intimate performances from industry leaders and the next big things in music. Subscribe today and don’t miss this.
BAND RADAR: HOWLER
Based in Minneapolis, Howler are Jordan Gatesmith (vocals / guitar), Ian Nygaard (guitar), France Camp (bass), Max Petrek (keyboard) and Brent Mayes (drums). The five-piece have released their debut album, America Give Up via Rough Trade Records on MP3 & LP and will be supporting The Vaccines’ full UK tour later this year.
The debut EP ‘This One’s Different’ is also available now.
NEW VIDEO FROM THE SHINS: SEPTEMBER
After five years off the scene, The Shins have returned with a new, word-heavy video for “September,” inspired by Jacob Escobedo’s artwork for the album. The single will be released on the B-side to their upcoming Simple Song 7-inch, leading up to the release of their upcoming full length, Port of Morrow, [out March 20]. Now, the only question is whether or not this song will change Natalie Portman’s life.
NEW VIDEO FROM AU PALAIS: TENDER MERCY
Watch the official video from Toronto bred- now London based Au Palais from their debut Tender Mercy EP, released by The Sounds Of Sweet Nothing. The video, created by Istoica: Mary Gerretsen, James Cooper & Liam Cushing, features brother and sister duo Elise and David Commathe running chilly through a snow covered forest and along Toronto’s waterfront.
You can stream their album HERE