An extraordinary collaboration connecting the dark, intense music and visual work of Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack with the thought-provoking vision of documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis, this site-specific event integrates music, film, politics, and elements of illusion in a hallucinatory ride through the dreams and hidden realities of our strange, anxious age.

Created by a visionary team of artists and designers that also includes Massive Attack, Punchdrunk director Felix Barrett (Sleep No More), radical set designer Es Devlin (stage and costume designer for everyone from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Kanye West and Jay-Z), and the innovative art and design practice United Visual Artists (whose commissions for venues such as the Tate Modern and the Serpentine Gallery intersect sculpture, architecture, live performance, and digital installation), this groundbreaking production includes performances by Massive Attack and places the audience at the center of arresting stories of politics and power over the past 30 years.

The Park Avenue Armory's 2013 season also includes Karlheinz Stockhausen & Kathinka Pasveer's OKTOPHONIE (March 20 - 27, tickets); the previously-mentioned The Life and Death of Marina Abramović starring Antony and Willem Dafoe (December 12 to 21); and visual artist Paul McCarthy's WS installation (June 19 - Aug 4).

by Bill Pearis

The 85th Academy Awards happened last night (and a little bit into today) with Argo nabbing three Oscars, including Best Picture. Adele and her producer/songwriting partner Paul Epworth accepted the Best Original Song Oscar for "Skyfall" right after the singer performed the song onstage. Kind of weird to see Epworth, who 10 years ago fronted highly-politicized postpunk band Lomax, onstage in a tux. The other music-related award went to Rodriguez documentary Searching for Sugarman. Too bad the couldn't have gotten him to perform as well. He'll be performing in NYC in April for two shows -- both of which are sold out.

In other news, Best Live Action Short went to Curfew which was written and directed by its star, Shawn Christensen, who some of you may remember as frontman of early-'00s band stellastarr* (who haven't officially broken up but are on indefinite hiatus).

There were plenty of other musical performances, though, as last night's ceremony was a themed celebration of "music in films" and featured more singing and dancing than we've gotten in a few years. The highlight for me was certainly the tribute to Bond themes, culminating in Shirley Bassey belting out "Goldfinger" and showing she's still got an amazing set of pipes at age 76. If you missed the very long telecast (over four hours) hosted by Seth McFarlane, the whole thing is streaming at Hulu.

As mentioned a while back, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's musical, Here Lies Love, about onetime Phillipines First Lady and notorious shoe-lover Imelda Marcos, is part of The Public Theatre's 2013 season, playing April 2 - May 5, 2013. To get tickets, you have to have a Joe's Pub account (it's free to sign up) and some shows are sold out (and they don't make it easy to tell which ones are, you have to click around) but there are still tickets available. You can also just call the box office at  212-967-7555.

A video of Byrne talking about Here Lies Love below...

Continue reading "David Byrne & Fatboy Slims' 'Here Lies Love' tickets on sale"

Marina Abramović has earned international renown and acclaim for the boldness and startling originality of her work. But when the self-proclaimed "grandmother of performance art" decided to put her life story on stage, Abramović opted to hand the reigns to another visionary avant-gardist, director Robert Wilson. The remarkable result, The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, features Abramović in dual roles--as herself and her mother--and Willem Dafoe as the narrator, with original music composed and performed by Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons. [Luminato]

A short clip of Antony singing in The Life And Death of Marina Abramović and a list of all showtimes at the Armory below...

Continue reading "'The Life and Death of Marina Abramović,' starring Antony and Willem Dafoe, making US premiere at Park Avenue Armory"

by Bill Pearis

In 2004, Shane Carruth wowed Sundance Film Festival audiences with his heady time travel flick Primer, which he made with no prior filmmaking experience and shot (on film!) for a budget of around $7000. Carruth is finally back with its follow-up, Upstream Color, which premiered at this year's Sundance and The AV Club's Sam Adams called "one of the most transcendent experiences of my moviegoing life." Upstream Color will play NYC's New Directors/New Films Festival in March and the film opens theatrically at the IFC Center on April 5. The DVD and Bluray will be out soon after, May 7. You can watch the gorgeous, non-spoilery trailer below.

Like Primer, Carruth did almost everything on Upstream Color himself, including the soundtrack which was released today digitally and on vinyl. Ethereal and somber, Carruth's score definitely comes from the Eno, Vangelis and early John Carpenter school and, while I haven't seen the film yet, it's a lovely listen on its own. You can stream the whole thing below.

Shane was also nice enough to answer a few questions about his Upstream Color score and you can read that below.

Continue reading "an interview with Shane Carruth, filmmaker behind 'Upstream Color' and its score (stream it)"

"Filmmaker Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman have worked together on a number of films. But the pair will collaborate on a live performance for the first time in October.

Elfman, who wrote the soundtrack to The Simpsons, has worked with Burton for more than 25 years on films such as Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the recent 3D film version of Alice in Wonderland. On October 7, Elfman will sing in public for the first time in 18 years, accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra, to perform some of the songs from the films." [Telegraph]

We showed you the teaser of Al Pacino as Phil Spector in David Mamet's upcoming HBO film. Now there's a full trailer for the movie that will premiere on the premium cable channel on March 24. Watch it below.

Continue reading "watch the trailer for HBO's Phil Spector film starring Al Pacino"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Lycaon Pictus - "I Give You A Rose" (MP3)

Back in the '90s/early '00s, an art punk band by the name of Challenge of the Future existed in NYC, and upon their breakup in 2001, guitarist Nick Zinner went on to focus entirely on his other band, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (maybe you've heard of them), and two other members, Aaron Diskin and Simon Marcus, formed Lycaon Pictus. (Aaron also plays in Klezmer punk band Golem.) Lycaon Pictus released three full lengths since forming, and after having taken a four year break, they're set to return this year with their fourth album. A title and release date are still TBA, but the band have revealed their first new single, "I Give You A Rose," a cut indebted to the manic art punk of Pere Ubu and the repetitive layering of David Bowie's "Heroes." You can download that song above or download it below.

The band also appear live as themselves performing that song in the new Austin Chick-written/directed film Girls Against Boys (starring Danielle Panabaker, Nicole LaLiberte, and more). That film is in theaters now and you can see it in NYC at Quad Cinema. Trailer video below.

Meanwhile, the other post-CotF project, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, have a new album coming out this year too.

Video and song stream below...

Continue reading "Lycaon Pictus planning new album (download a track), appear in 'Girls Against Boys' film (which is in theaters now)"

Helen Mirren & Al Pacino

HBO is releasing a Phil Spector movie on March 24th, starring Al Pacino, as you can tell in the video below...

Continue reading "HBO releases video tease of Al Pacino as Phil Spector"

Atlas Sound at Crossing Brooklyn Ferry 2012 (more by David Andrako)

Deerhunter/Atlas Sound frontman Bradford Cox is subject of the new documentary by Grant Singer, who is known for directing music videos for DIIV, Gambles, and Sky Ferreira. The documentary is titled Youth Museum and it will focus on the everyday life of Bradford Cox. You can watch its trailer below.

The film makes its premiere in NYC on February 3 at MoMA PS1 at 4 PM as part of the museum's Sunday Sessions. After the screening, Bradford Cox himself will perform a live, improvised set. Tickets for that are on sale now. Once the film makes its premiere, it will be available to stream at Riot of Perfume, who commissioned the film.

Bradford will return to NYC when Deerhunter plays Governors Ball in June.

Trailer video below...

Continue reading "Bradford Cox performing after documentary about him premieres at MoMA PS1 (watch the trailer)"