Two very different mixes feature on Solid Steel this week – black channels offer up a whole heap of spooky electronica including new material of their own in a mix called ‘Around You is The Machine’.
Mr Armtone’s ‘Σmotions’ collection goes for the dancefloor and adds a full AV mix to go with his selection
Pretty much the best quality version of the animated intro from the 2 hour + The Grateful Dead Movie from 1977 I can find on the web. It was created by Gary Gutierrez who “had already apprenticed at John Korty’s Mill Valley studio as an animator of children’s films, creating and directing live action and animation for “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company,” before working on the Dead’s animated sequence. He continued working withe band on various projects of theirs, including the surreal title sequence for the CBS revival of “The Twilight Zone” television series (1985), for which (Jerry) Garcia composed the score.” *
* Info from www.nightflight.com
UPDATE: There’s a good minute of the intro in very high quality over on Vimeo on the trailer for the film.
If you haven’t been watching Rick & Morty on Adult Swim then you’re in for a treat and there’s a whole season to wade through before diving into the second. Essentially a riff on the professor and Marty McFly from Back To The Future it’s an animated, NSFW time travel adventure that always goes two steps further than you think it will.
Definitely not child-friendly in parts either and I wish these figures were real. Here’s a favourite clip from season 1 that has nothing to do with the main characters…
and a psychedelic music video from season 2…
…and a Simpsons intro cameo.
The fabulous Jane Weaver has a new digital single out in the form of ‘Mission Desire’, one of my favourite tracks from last year’s album, ‘The Silver Globe’. Check the video for it above too, featuring French cartoon Marie Mathematique which serves as a trailer of sorts to a forthcoming DVD on Finders Keepers. There will be a split 7″ arriving soon shared with another Bird artist: Cardiff’s Tender Prey.
Also just released and already on the turntable is an offshoot recording, ‘Neotantrik Globes’ – teased at the end of ‘The Amber Light’ 2xCD extended album. It’s a 1-sided LP with an ambient collage recorded live late last year by Andy Votel, Suzanne Ciani, Sean Canty and featuring Jane’s vocals and other parts from the record.
Bookmark it should you ever need to politely decline a request for your services when there’s no budget.
Produced by Scofield Editorial, Inc.
Just saw Love & Mercy – utterly fantastic in so many ways. The casting was superb, the music (both real and recreated) was spot on, the attention to detail between the time periods right on the money. It moved me to tears several times and their portrayal of the injustice Brian Wilson suffered without resorting to sensationalism was admirable. A big hand should also go to Atticus Ross for his amazing sound collages that use snippets of Beach Boys songs and studio outtakes to form mood montages throughout the film, let’s hope they get an official release at some point.
Paul Dano as a young Brian – superb, Paul Giamatti‘s Dr Landy was terrific and Jake Abel WAS Mike Love. John Cusack as the older Wilson wasn’t facially convincing but he got the mannerisms down although that half of the film was more about Landy’s battle with Melinda Ledbetter anyway. As a hardcore Beach Boys fan who’s read the books (official or otherwise) and waded through the bootleg sessions, it got the tone pitch perfect.
Just uploaded to the Pillage Roadshow YouTube account – the film of DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist‘s recent ‘Renegades of Rhythm’ tour where they played Afrika Bamabaataa’s records and formed a history of Hip Hop from some of the vinyl it was created from. Not sure if this will ever get a legit release due to all the licensing that would be needed to make it legal so this may be the only way to see it if you weren’t there. It was definitely gig of the year so far when I saw it in January. Thanks to Suki Majhail-McLean for the heads up.
Loving these daily video collages by Black Channels – snippets and studio experiments from their new 10″ on Death Waltz Originals. Order it at Bleep, or Rough Trade (and get a free mix CD).
See more on their Instagram account.
A new The The record is always cause for celebration and the first on vinyl for over 15 years (not counting reissues) is an even bigger one. That this beauty appears on Death Waltz in a leather effect gatefold sleeve with 12×12″ booklet, obi strip, lobby card, coloured and etched vinyl is more than anyone could have hoped for. The icing on the cake for me here is that I introduced Matt Johnson to Spencer from Death Waltz, suggesting that he would be the best man to put his music on vinyl and release it to the world. He’s more than outdone himself and the soundtrack is a perfect fit for DW’s style and ethos. You can order it now from Mondo and listen below.
Preview the whole soundtrack here:
How good is this? Cover version from Moscow band Grant Minasyan – nice one guys 
I love what they’re doing at the Cube Cinema in Bristol, shame I missed this night a couple of months ago.
A Veterans for Peace UK film, directed by Price James, written by Darren Cullen, featuring Matt Berry. A serious message highlighted by a very clever film. Please read the battlefield casualties website.
This is pretty interesting, both visually and musically, ‘Orca’ – the first track from Nicolas Godin‘s debut album ‘Contrepoint’, due for release later this year on Because Music. You may recognise Nicolas as being one half of Air and although I’m never going to like that bitcrushed guitar sound there’s a lot going on here that makes me want to hear more.
Download the single here : http://po.st/OrcaSingle
This is interesting, Blade Runner as you’ve kind of seen it before but not quite. I’m unsure where the Harrison Ford dialogue originates from (I don’t remember that much in the first cut) and if you’re not a fan of the narrated original then stop right here as it drives this cut and glues the shots together. But love it or hate it, it fleshes out the story that we all know in unexpected ways (Deckard‘s broken relationship for instance) but it gives away a little too much and Scott was ultimately right to drop it.
There’s certainly material in here that I’ve not seen before and I’ve seen and read a fair bit about the film, the soundtrack as well, there’s different material in here from that too. A scene with Gaff and Bryant that expands on the former’s role in the film is a revelation and, aside from the odd clumsy cut, it offers an new view on what the film could have been, and it’s full of clichés as a result. A couple of key scenes use dialogue to fill the gaps, the death of Zora and Tyrell are both dealt with in seconds and offer a powerful alternative to the graphic endings they come to in the film, showing via implication rather than as we know them.
The biggest omission is the whole end section with Batty before his big scene and the original ‘happy’ ending gets even more footage which changes the tone. Several lines later omitted possibly play on the ‘is Deckard a Replicant?’ mythos, Rachel proclaiming, “we were made for each other”, which to my mind is a genius line. All in all it’s a fascinating 45 minute look at what could have been and testament to the enduring power of the original that people keep on exploring its hidden depths.
This bit of Star Wars fan fiction is doing the rounds on the web right now and with good cause as it’s visualised and told (wordlessly I might add) beautifully. From a short scene in Return of the Jedi, Daniel Warren Johnson has created an 11 page comic expanding outwards to before and after the event, imagining what led to and ultimately resulted from it.
The scene is the one where an A-Wing pilot, realising he’s hit and little can save him, turns kamikaze and crashes headlong into Darth Vader‘s Super Star Destroyer Executor causing a chain reaction that causes it to crash into the Death Star surface. Warren Johnson says “For some reason, this A wing pilot MOVED me. Everything about this part of Return of the Jedi made me want to DRAW and CREATE. This is a fan fiction comic I made in April, just because I love this scene and I love comics.”
It’s superbly realised and heartbreaking despite the huge rebel victory that resulted as he’s added a human element to the mix. Also check out his sci-fi web comic, Space Mullet, while you’re there.
Another bit of Star Wars fan fiction dealing with alternate viewpoints of the saga’s characters is the Tie Fighter animated short I featured a while back. I just noticed that there’s also a poster and extensive background character notes for the seven minute plus Manga-style film by Paul Johnson what has the Empire as the heroes (they always did have the best designs).
There’s some ridiculously good fan art appearing for Mad Max Fury Road at the moment, now that people have seen the film and got a sense of how it plays out we’re seeing more than a collection of reworked promotion stills. Some are even creating alternate OST covers or DVD/Blu-ray sleeves. A lot of it is in the form of poster art but there’s also concept images and more cartoonish comic book stuff too. A lot of this was found on Deviant Art and I’ve tried to credit all the artists correctly.
(above: by zenithuk, below: sivadigitalart)
(above: andyfairhurst, below: anakin022)
(above: anakin022, below: edwardjmoran)
(above: karcamo / journeyjaag, below: jouste)
(above/below: Greg Semkow – the lower one may not actually be Mad Max fan art but it easily could be)
(above: james bousema, below: gigicave)
(above: eduardo vieira, below: camw1n, bottom: travis-lacey)
The Mad Max love continues with several fascinating articles about the making of different elements of the film. The above clip comes from the VashiVisuals site and concerns the editing and shooting strategies of George Miller.
There’s also a lengthy but fascinating look at the VFX work on the film over at fxguide with lots of before and after shots like the ones above. And if you still can’t get enough there’s an interview with Eric Whipp who colour graded the film here.
I was honoured to play at both the Secret Cantina on Friday and the main site of the Secret Cinema presentation of The Empire Strikes Back yesterday. It opens this week on June 4th, a month after the launch at the Alexandra Palace and the Cantina Bar satellite venue at the weekends. At £75 a head it’s expensive but, having experienced what they’ve done, I can tell you it’s worth every penny and even the hardcore would be hard-pressed to nit-pick. You will never experience The Empire Strikes Back at a cinema like this, ever.
If you’re dithering over getting a ticket then don’t delay as the weekends are nearly all sold out going up to September when it ends its run. And if you’re going and not making an effort with your costume then you’re going to feel pretty under dressed on the day. I’d love to show you some photos of what’s in store but that would spoil it and if you’re going this summer I might just see you there…
By a group called Playback Collective who’ve also done a fun version for Guardians of the Galaxy too
The Mad Max love continues to flow – fan art is cropping up all over the web as well as this tumblr with a playful feminist angle. But the winner of the super fan award goes to LEGO Will for his amazing vehicle creations of the Interceptor, War Rig- inspired ‘The Princess’, Doof Wagon, Gigahorse and more. See many more at his Flickr page here, original link via Kotaku.com
