We’re already on the record as Nneka fans (she caught our collective eye as one of the top ten acts from this year’s SXSW festival), and now the Nigerian-born singer is taking her continent-crossing, genre-bending act to the road with an opening slot on Nas and Damian Marley’s Distant Relatives tour. In this exclusive video feature, we see snippets of Nneka’s past road diaries both funny and sweet, from goofing off with her bandmates to suffering the slings and arrows of a boyfriend-less Valentine’s Day. After the jump, view Nneka’s exclusive tour diaries and check out the upcoming tour dates to see when she brings her multi-culti musical melange to your town.
Read More »
Todd Selby is to domicile photography as the iPhone is to cellular technology: he’s managed to democratize envy of cool things, and put a sheen on something that could otherwise come off commonplace. He’s shot gorgeous, otherworldly homes from Brooklyn to Tokyo, though it’s the detail shots that keep us coming back for more: prosthetic legs, backstage passes, Welch’s grape juice bottles, Marilyn Monroe’s prescription sleeping pills. We corresponded with Selby on the occasion of his first book, published through Abrams; click through for preview shots from The Selby Is In Your Place, plus an exclusive illustrated interview à la the man himself.
Bonus: We’re giving away three copies of the book to lucky readers. Keep reading to find out how to snag one. Last day to submit a comment is Tuesday, March 30. We’ll be asking winners for photo evidence to post on the blog, so keep those descriptions accurate! CONTEST CLOSED. Winner will be announced Monday, April 5.
Read More »
The British wing of last decade’s post-punk revival can be whittled down into two camps. On one side, you have the Bloc Parties and Maximo Parks: Indie pop-rockers who cleverly disguise themselves with Gang of Four’s pointy guitar sounds and Joy Division beats, but without the challenging diversity of the original post-punk era. These New Puritans fall into that other, much smaller, camp: They answer their ancestors’ call to innovate and refuse to be lumped in with the revival set. On Hidden
, the band transcends the “post” tag by throwing out the Mark E. Smith-isms that dominated their 2008 debut, Beat Pyramid
, and embracing everything from booming dancehall beats, Japanese Taiko drums and movie sound effects to Steve Reich minimalism, Benjamin Britten operas, English Renaissance composers, and even a children’s choir.
Put it all together and you have something that can only be described as Peter and the Wolf at the apocalypse. It’s also one of the year’s finest (and strangest) releases. With eyebrows raised in awe, we asked band mastermind Jack Barnett to dissect for us the numerous elements and influences that combined to create Hidden.
Read More »
You may think you know Rogue Wave inside and out, but nothing will prepare even the most attentive fan for the band’s new album, Permalight (Brushfire), out today. As the album’s title suggests, it’s by far the poppiest, sunniest, most upbeat release of Zach Rogue’s career. This is, perhaps, a counterintuitive choice for a musician who, for over two years, has been working with a numb right hand, the result of a spinal cord injury.
To accompany the album’s release, Rogue Wave has created 30-second mini-films for each track on the record. After the jump, cross the Golden Gate Bridge with the band in the exclusive premiere of the video for “You Have Boarded,” and check out the full set of videos at Brushfire’s YouTube page.
Read More »
The Unsound Festival New York kicked off Thursday and will continue to dominate a variety of venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn through Valentine’s Day. This stateside version of the renowned Polish event seeks to move beyond the bounds of techno, drum ‘n bass, and house, to expose an electronic music world that’s more than computer-generated beats for dark, strobe-lit rooms.
The festival has brought together a global community of DJs, producers, promoters, composers, and music collectives to present an adventurous program of panels, film screenings, multimedia performances, and, of course, plenty of good parties. The lengthy list of artists scheduled to appear includes Carl Craig, Moritz von Oswald, nsi., Lillevan, and others, many of whom are making their US debuts.
In the spirit of Unsound’s devotion to talent and creativity, we asked eight of the festival’s most innovative artists the question: “What do you envision as the future of electronic music?” Check out their inspiring responses after the jump.
Read More »
South California rockers Cold War Kids are set to tour this winter in support of their recently released Behave Yourself EP, an up-tempo, psychedelic, raw, and sexy follow-up to their second album, Loyalty to Loyalty. Everyone knows their hooks are masterpieces, but not everyone knows that CWK bassist Matt Maust is an accomplished visual artist as well. Flavorpill’s Shana Nys Dambrot caught up with him on the eve of the Behave Yourself tour to talk, art, music, touring — and how these diverse areas of his life inform one another.
Read More »
View the slideshow now>>
[Editor's note: We're reposting this feature from last year due to popular demand and the fact that we're wondering if most of you got to see it the first time around. Enjoy!]
On a recent holiday shopping trip uptown, in order to escape the hordes cascading down 5th Avenue, I ducked into one of New York’s contemporary art museums. While sauntering through the maze of galleries I came upon a certain photograph that gave me pause. I studied the slap-dash camera angle and the basic lighting, and thought to myself: “Really? This is what it takes? I can do that!”
And then it hit me like a bolt of lightning: Not only can I do that, I will do that, and then I will pawn off the results on all of my unsuspecting relatives. Why give a Richard Avedon poster, when I can make an original Adda Birnir knock-off? Thus I enlisted the help of my trusty co-conspirator Tom Starkweather and together we picked five masters of photography (Cindy Sherman, Steve McCurry, Philip Lorca Dicorcia, Richard Avedon, and Ryan McGinley) whose work we felt was just begging to be re-created.
Detailed instructions and the results, after the jump.
Read More »
Along with creating music together for more than fifteen years with The Bad Seeds, Grinderman, and The Dirty Three, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have collaborated on soundtracks for films like The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. On January 12, 2010 the pair will release their soundtrack to The Road, John Hillcoat’s post-apocalyptic family drama based on Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. It opens in theaters tomorrow.
Read More »
Jonathan Evison‘s irresistible debut tale of step-sibling obsession, All About Lulu, tap-danced between humor and melancholy whilst exploring family function and dysfunction from a fresh vantage point. The author’s much anticipated sophomore book, West of Here, is due out next fall. From his home base on Bainbridge Island, Washington, Evison — who’s one of the bloggers behind Three Guys One Book — caught up with Flavorpill via e-mail to share some early poetry, his ideal time travel destination, and a packing list for the next book tour.
Read More »
Recently, when a friend mentioned that her boyfriend was going through a David Bowie phase, we had to laugh. You, see we went through a Bowie phase of our own, beginning sometime in high school. Ten years later, while we no longer solely date guys who wear makeup or pore over the collected works of Nietzsche, that “phase” shows no sign of subsiding. Such is the nature of Bowie fandom.
Marc Spitz, author of the new biography Bowie, knows this first-hand. Scattered throughout his absorbing, thorough and exuberant book are instances from his own life as a Bowie fanatic: for example, the moment when a college-aged Spitz bragged to his extended family that he’d kissed a man. In writing the book, he wanted his admiration of Bowie to be clear. “I think all these British [biographers] really pretend they’re not a fan, but they would shit their pants if they got to have a beer with him,” he says. “I just wanted to throw it out there that I would shit my pants if I got to have a beer with him.
Of course, there are hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same way. And perhaps that helps to explain why Bowie has had such a massive influence on pop culture. After the jump, we talk with Spitz about the erstwhile Ziggy Stardust’s lasting impact within the musical realm and beyond.
Read More »
