Flying Lotus – Putty Boy Strut – new video

Here’s the latest Cyriak directed video for Flying Lotus‘s Putty Boy Strut – enjoy:

How goood is that?

FlyLo‘s new album Until The Quiet Comes is out on 1st October.

Watch Bon Iver play live at Radio City Music Hall, New York

Three nights ago Bon Iver played NYC’s Radio City Music Hall. A video of the whole concert is now streaming on YouTube – but it’s only available to view for the next two days – so watch it while you can:

Definitely worth watching if the latest Bon Iver news is anything to go by too. Just last night Justin Vernon appeared on Minnesota Public Radio station 89.3 The Current‘s ‘The Local Show’, and when questioned about the future of Bon Iver, Vernon told them, “I look at it like a faucet. I have to turn it off and walk away from it because so much of how that music comes together is subconscious or discovering.

“There’s so much attention on the band, it can be distracting at times. I really feel the need to walk away from it while I still care about it. And then if I come back to it – if at all – I’ll feel better about it and be renewed or something to do that.”

Get it while you can then…

New Discovery – Dominic Lord

Here’s a new (ish) tune from Harlem rapper/musician Dominic Lord. This is a remix of Pierce, which was released last June, featuring (one half of Virginian duo Clipse) Pusha T and samples Grimes‘ Vowels = Space and Time – check it out below:

Former A$AP mobber, Lord is a sprightly 19 years old and the tune above sounds like the bastard offspring of Shabazz Palaces, Tricky and Frank Ocean – no mean feat.

Unsurprisingly he’s attracting lots of major label interest too, including Geffen, Warner Bros and Def Jam.

Lord has just released his Fashion Show EP – download it below (or just have a listen):

Superman’s let himself go…

Too much kryptonite can do this to a man…

Diplo and Jahan Lennon – About That Life – new video

Not sure about some of the lyrics on this one but the gentle psychedelic production is niiiiice.

Here’s Diplo‘s new single with Jahan Lennon, About That Life – check out the video below:

Tame Impala – Elephant – new video

Tame Impala‘s second studio album album Lonerism is out on the 8th October 9 via Modular. Here’s the new video for latest single Elephant – enjoy:

Stephen King’s ‘The Shining’ sequel ‘Doctor Sleep’ due out September 2013

Stephen King‘s The Shining is by far and away the best horror novel I’ve ever read and Stanley Kubrick‘s 1980 film adaptation (even if King himself wasn’t a fan) is not only my favourite horror movie of all time, it’s also one of my favourite movies ever full stop.

So, today’s news that King has written a sequel to his much loved masterpiece, is an absolute joy.

The novel will follow the story of Danny Torrance, the young boy from The Shining who has paranormal gifts – but is set many years after the first novel.

The synopsis for the new book is as follows:

“On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and 12 year old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.”

Sounds awesome doesn’t it?

We’ve got a year to wait until it’s published (on 24th September 2013) but fans are already buzzing about the news – and of course, already wondering whether a film version will follow at some point.

Fans of all things King, may have already heard a sneak preview of the book on an audio edition of King‘s The Wind Through the Keyhole. A bonus disc was included with the 9 CD boxset containing the prologue to Doctor Sleep.

King also spoke about his decision to write a sequel during an Sunday Times magazine interview with fellow writer Neil Gaiman, published back in April. He told Gaiman, “I did it because it was such a cheesed-off thing to do. To say you were going back to the book that was really popular and write the sequel.

“People read it as kids; then as adults they might read the sequel and think, this isn’t as good. The challenge is, maybe it can be as good – or different. It gives you something to push up against. [And] I wanted to see what would happen to Danny Torrence when he grew up. I knew that he would be a drunk because his father was a drunk. I thought, okay, I’ll start with Danny Torrence at age forty. He is going to be one of those people who says ‘I am never going to be like my father. Then you wake up at 37 or 38 and you’re a drunk.

“Then I thought, what kind of a life does that person like that have? He’ll do a bunch of low-bottom jobs, he’ll get canned, and now, I really want him to be in a hospice worker because he has the shining and he can help people get across as they die. They call him Dr Sleep, and they know to call for him when the cat goes into their room and sits on their bed. This was writing about the guy who rides the bus, and he’s eating in a McDonalds, or on a special night out maybe Red Lobster. We are not talking about a guy who goes to [the upscale restaurant] Sardi’s.”

Most fans expected the book to be released in January next year but King decided to hold off handing the ‘finished’ manuscript to his publishers, opting instead to give the novel a bit more “time to breath”. There’s also the publication of another King novel called Joyland, due in June 2013, which has more than likely delayed Doctor Sleep‘s publication too.

Can’t wait – roll on next September…..

The return of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

The hiatus is well and truly over!!

The first studio album from The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in over 8 years was released today. Meat and Bone is self-produced by Spencer and is out now on Bronze Rat Records – you can buy it here:

Check out latest video/single, Black Mold below – it’s a corker:

Cate Le Bon channels mid-nineties Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci

I miss mid-90’s Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. They skirted delightfully close to whimsy, but never too close. They were magical without being fey. Psychedelic without being indulgent. And cheeky without being annoying. They tightrope walked across numerous pitfalls but elegantly kept their balance.

So, I was overjoyed tonight when I heard a new tune from fellow Welsh songstress, Cate Le Bon today. It’s called What Is Worse and it’s a beautiful Gorky’s-esque stumble-ballad. I love it – check it out yourself below:

Semi-Mentor Gruff Rhys describes Le Bon thusly, “Bobbie Gentry and Nico fight over a Casio keyboard; melody wins!” – nice.

I really liked Cate Le Bon’s Cyrk when it was released back in April but I’ve not heard her follow up (5 track) EP Cyrk 2 yet (it’s just been released I think) – that’s going to change pretty sharpish.

New Chris Rock stand-up tour in 2013?

It’s been 3 or 4 years since Chris Rock last did a stand-up tour and if recent comments are anything to go by he’s itching to get back on stage.

Over in the US, Rock has recently been on the promo trail for his latest film, 2 Days In New York (written, directed and also starring Julie Delphy) and he’s been dropping plenty of hints that 2013 will see him return to stand-up.

He misses cursing for starters, “it would be kind of nice to get up there and curse up a storm” he told CBS This Morning last month, before celebrating the freedom stand -up allows him as a comedian (“If I do it right I feel like I can do pretty much anything”) and calling stand-up “a beautiful art form” and, “the purest art form”.

Plus the usually reliable IMDB hasn’t got lined up for Chris in 2013 – spurious I know but bear with me I just sense it’s all brewing, and if he’s not toured (or at least announced a tour) by this time next year you can troll me silly.

It’s clear Rock knows where his strengths lie. Sure, he’s a good comic actor and films like CB4, Nurse Betty and Death at a Funeral are good chucklesome fun, but his stand-up is a mind-blowing barrage of hilarity from start to finish. He’s like the bastard child of Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks – stand up comedy doesn’t get much better.

Chris Rock! The stand-up world needs you back – sort it – you know it makes sense.