Watch the Video for "Piano Etude No.2" by Philip Glass Reworked by AVR In Collaboration with Mugler

music written by Philip Glass & reworked by AVR
recorded, produced & mixed by AVR
additional production by Fergus Frost
recorded drums: Luca Marini
performed drums: Hanno Stick
Director & Editor: Alex de Brabant
DOP: Kevin Klein
VFX: Felix Geen
Mastering: Felix Davis
Atmos Mastering: Mike Hillier @mikehillier
Colorist: Alaa Abdullatif
Rotoscope: Rohaman Sabbi
AC: Michael Herbers
Assistants: Raphael Fischer-Dieskau, Leander Rau, Mitch Speed 
Styling: Nicole Walker
Wardrobe: Mugler
Titles & Logo Design: Fabian Maier-Bode
Logo Animation: Chernoff Faces
Special thanks to: Musicboard Berlin and Gema

AVR’s music is about collective transcendence and experiences that remind us of our shared humanity. The multi-gentre producer, composer and performer who studied jazz and classical piano since the age of nine had some rework ideas about the Philip Glass piece “Piano Etude No.2” for a while. To have it released on Glass’ label now is something she didn’t dare to dream of.

The most famous of his piano works has a big dynamic range, from introverted and serene to powerful and ecstatic — framed by the Glass meditation-like minimalism. the pieces’ emotional state Anna von Raison describes as her favorite in music: neither sad nor happy but instead on a meta-level, looking at things through the lens of freedom.

AVR’s recording starts with Glass’ original piano melody performed solely by her voice, as the song starts to build, the piano enters and once the full chords come together, her rework begins. She extends the composition with a high-energy drum solo part, played by Luca Marini (performed by Hanno STick). Later a choir enters with a legato arena chant melody to settle for the finale the way it all began: in the intimate sung version of the main theme.

Wolfgang Tillmans Releases Single and Music Video For The Track 'We Are Not Going Back'

“I made this song holding on to a hopeful spirit in alarming times, when in many countries around the globe civil rights, women’s right and LGBTQ+ rights are being challenged and increasingly overturned. Some paint a rosy picture of the past whilst forgetting that many people simply were not free, and inequalities were rampant. When I thought about those views of the past, the chorus including ‘no turning back the clocks’ came to me, thinking in solidarity; ‘We can’t possibly want to return to those times, however nostalgic we might feel about parts of them.’” Wolfgang Tillmans

Focusing on LGBTQ+ rights and driven by a desire to explore and to expose, Tillmans’ latest song finds hopeful defiance in the face of uncertain, menacing futures. One can hear his voice wavering ever so slightly as he admonishes the listener (and perhaps himself) to “just hold on, just be strong, just be strong”. His delicate singing of this simple line shows his own unwillingness to dispense absolute instructions absolutely. The song’s title – which he repeats throughout the infectious chorus, along with the line “no turning back the clocks” – becomes less a declaration of fact than a declaration of resistance, a clarion call during a moment when so many clocks are being turned back. The single release is accompanied by a video directed by Tillmans using 80 year old film footage by his grandfather Karl R. Tillmans. An avid amateur cinematographer, it filmed in New York 1939 and Western Germany 1949.

Read Our Interview of Experimental Catalan Musician Marina Herlop

 
 

Catalan musician Marina Herlop’s fourth album Nekkuja starts with a bang. On its opening track “Busa,” deep synths pierce through a bouquet of harp strings, choral arrangements and giggling voices. “I always want to include this surprise factor,” she says. “It’s like when you go on a trip, you always need something unexpected to happen, you need to go on a little adventure.” When speaking of the record, Marina often invokes metaphors, comparing the process of making music to architecture, gardening or even playing video games. While her melodies are mysterious and playful, combining elements of devotional and folk music with contemporary electronics, her lyrics are nonsensical, a deliberate choice to allow for the music to speak for itself (Nekkuja is a word she made up). “I don't want to talk about my life, I want to make music that feels aesthetically interesting,” she says. The artist, who counts Björk among her fans, is nonchalant about her recent success. “I know that this has come and this might go at some point, because people might get tired of it or because there's another project that feels hotter at the moment. But the effort I’ve put into music, that growth, never goes away.” We spoke to Marina Herlop about the spiritual nature of creating art, music as a refuge, and trusting her instincts. Read more.

Read Our Interview of Anarchist Sound System a.k.a. Lou Desamaison-Cognet of Golpe Civil

In an exclusive interview and photoshoot for Autre, Anarchist Sound System a.k.a. Lou Desamaison-Cognet, musician and founder of Golpe Civil, unveils the complexities of modern society, critiquing a world immersed in electroslavery. Lou a.k.a. Loucifer shares insights into his own psyche as well as inspirations for his collective: from his collection of Nietzsche texts and the occult, to the visceral impact of recent love, loss, and sobriety. Read more.

Park Nights Return @ Serpentine Galleries In London, Featuring Live Music, Performance, Dance, and Poetry

Serpentine was thrilled to announce it’s returned of Park Nights this August. Its experimental, interdisciplinary, live programme sited within the annual architectural commission, the 22nd Serpentine Pavilion designed by Lina Ghotmeh.

Bringing together multi-disciplinary artists, and featuring rave music, performance installations, poetry and dance, the exciting live programme invites audiences to engage, reflect, and connect. Park Nights runs from August to October, featuring The Living and the Dead Ensemble; Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro; Bambii and Christelle Oyiri.

Catch it’s final evening on October 8th, where Christelle Oyiri/CRYSTALLMESS will present a live iteration of her upcoming record with invited collaborators and musical guests.

The events will run through early October at Serpentine Galleries, Kensington Gardens, London.

Watch The Music Video For Eddie Chacon's New Single "Sundown"

Today, Eddie Chacon presents his new single/video, “Sundown,” from his forthcoming record Sundown, out March 31st via Stones Throw. The “Sundown” video, which documents the process of recording the album, was shot at 64 Sound Studios in Northeast LA by Brandon Bloom. Appearing in the video is John Carroll Kirby — who produced, co-wrote, and played keys on Sundown — as well as Logan Hone (flute and saxophones), Elizabeth Lea (trombone), Will Logan (drums), and David Leach (percussion). Following a string of previously shared singles — “Holy Hell,” “Step By Step” and “Comes And Goes” — “Sundown” is a song about “being humbled by how little time we have on this earth.” Only now, Chacon says, at his age (59) does he have the life experience and quiet confidence to sing about such a subject.

Pussy Riot Presents Putin's Ashes @ Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Los Angeles

photographs by Morgan Rindengan

On January 27, Pussy Riot brought its radical performance art to Jeffrey Deitch's Los Angeles gallery, inviting everyone to join their protest against the authoritarian leader of Russia who started the biggest war in Europe since World War II. This was the first presentation of Pussy Riot’s political performance art at a gallery in Los Angeles.

Putin's Ashes was initiated in August 2022 when Pussy Riot burned a 10 x 10 foot portrait of the Russian president, performed rituals, and cast spells aimed to chase Putin away. Twelve women participated in the performance. In order to join, women were required to experience acute hatred and resentment toward the Russian president. Most of the participants were either Ukrainian, Belarusian or Russian.

Pussy Riot's founding member Nadya Tolokonnikova bottled the ashes of the burnt portrait and incorporated them into her objects that were being presented alongside her short art film, Putin's Ashes, directed, edited, and scored by Tolokonnikova.

"While working with artifacts, bottling ashes and manufacturing the faux furry frames for the bottles, I used skills that I learned in the sweatshops of my penal colony. I was forced to sew police and army uniforms in a Russian jail. I turned what I learned in my labor camp against those who locked me up. Putin is a danger to the whole world and he has to be stopped immediately," says Tolokonnikova.

In 2012, Tolokonnikova was sentenced to two years imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance. She went through a hunger strike protesting savage prison conditions and ended up being sent far away to a Siberian penal colony, where she managed to maintain her artistic activity and with her prison punk band made toured around Siberian labor camps. Tolokonnikova published a book Read and riot: Pussy Riot's guide to activism in 2018.

Pussy Riot stands for gender fluidity, inclusivity, matriarchy, love, laughter, decentralization, anarchy and anti-authoritarianism.

 
 

Ještěd Tower: Krista Papista with Isotta Acquati & Hakan Solak

photography by Isotta Acquati
concept by
Krista Papista
styling by
Hakan Solak
photography assistance by
Maria Larrea
styling assistance by
Aleix Llussà Lòpez
set design by
Jillian Van Koutrik
light design by
Ashley Young
hair by
Dushan Petrovich
makeup by
Lee Hyangsoon
produced by Grace Farson
location assistance by
Tatiana Bastos
graded by Carlos Vasquez
starring Krista Papista,
Débora Fernandes and Eliza Chojnacka

Débora is wearing blazer and shoes by Comme des Costumes, stockings by Falke, earrings by Uncommon Matters, and brooch by Hugo Kreit
gloves: stylist’s own

Krista is wearing dress by Lou de Bétoly, faux fur coat by Comme des Costumes, fishnet, stockings and socks by Falke.
shoes and necklace: Krista’s own

Eliza is wearing vintage Mugler by Nightboutique Berlin, heels by Comme des Costumes, rings and earrings by Alan Crocetti. gloves: stylist’s own

Krista is wearing dress by Lou de Bètoly, faux fur coat by Comme des Costumes, fishnet, stockings and socks by Falke.
shoes and necklace: Krista’s own

Krista is wearing dress by Jean Paul Gaultier x Lotta, Volkova by Nightboutique, coat by A Better Mistake, and shoes by Buffalo

headpiece by Bjoern van der Berg at Nightboutique Berlin

Krista is wearing dress by Jean Paul Gaultier x Lotta. Volkova by Nightboutique, and coat by A Better Mistake

Eliza is wearing tank top by Axel Arigato.
Krista is wearing net tights and socks by Falke.
jewelry: Krista’s own

 

Watch the Music Video Premiere of "Light Sleepers" the New Track by Soft Cell

Soft Cell is back together for the first time in decades with a new music video shot & directed by Charlie Ann Max, starring Violet Chachki who portrays a young Marc Almond. This soft focus, erotic ode to gender bending romance and sexual freedom is a cinematic dream sequence of curling smoke, blue light, leather, and glitter. “Light Sleepers” is a celebration of the light that comes from within and the unique shadows we cast with our ever-changing forms, the shapes that define us as individuals.

BFRND Releases Soundtrack To Balenciaga's Summer 2023 Collection

This week, BFRND released Elephant, Balenciaga’s Summer 2023 original soundtrack in collaboration With German rapper UFO361 and producer SONUS030. The inspiration for the soundtrack comes from the idea of having to fight to be who you are and the trio wanted to produce music that gives strength to their audience, something that you can listen to while walking in the street with the feeling of being indestructible, that nothing in this world can stop you from being who you are. The expression “The elephant in the room” is a metaphorical idiom for an important or enormous topic, question or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about, but no one mentions or wants to discuss because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable and is personally, socially, or politically embarrassing, controversial, inflammatory, or dangerous. The term is often used to describe an issue that involves a social taboo, which generates disagreement, such as race, religion, politics or sexuality. It is applicable when a subject is emotionally charged; and the people who might have spoken up decide that it is probably best avoided. The artwork for this LP has been fully generated with Dall-e 2, a text-to-image artificial Intelligence developed by Open AI. Streaming everywhere now.

Watch The Premiere Of "LOOK AT YOU" By Leo Luchini

Songwriting meets character development in a thrilling double music video about afterlife, injury, existentialism, and spaces of limbo (Sartre's No Exit). This black comedy-esque performance by auteur Leo Luchini features his new song "LOOK AT YOU" in a larger-than-life cinematic vision shot on a rainy Berlin day with a vintage Jaguar as a symbol of post-mortem motion. His new oeuvre is styled to match the dense clash of distorted metal guitar and slick trap syncopation: a filmic fantasy where deathly spectres are counterbalanced with the vastness of an angelic infinite afterlife. Son of a film director, this is Leo's third self-produced/co-directed music video for himself after his acclaimed video for "Bubblegum Creep", which launched his career and established his visionary scope.

As a music programmer of Berlin arts venue Trauma Bar und Kino, Luchini is a very active member of the underground music and performing arts communities. His infamous studio C-BLOCK has seen an array of visiting artists from Ms Boogie, Klein, Chico Sonido, Paris Aden, Moesha 13, Julianna Huxtable and Abyss X. Luchini's remix for trip-hop legend Tricky's recent album Lonely Guest came out this past June.

Director + Editor: Alexis Rummler with help of Nicolo Comotti, Miri Fenske and Charlambos Vlachodimos
Cinematography: Jan Fecke
Gaffer: Dominik Böhm
Electrician: Gonzalo Artabe with help of Philip Deutenbach and Nikita Fedosik
MUA: Ellen Eilzer + Sarah Hirth
Studio Light Engineer: Periklis Lazarou [fluxgeist]
Title Font Designer: Florencia Amodio
Colorgrade: Jonas Niemann
Camera gear and lenses: Steinmann Vintage @steinmann_vintage
Producer: Leo Luchini
Co-Producer: Jan Fecke

Featuring: Angel as Bystander, Erik as Thug Spectre 1, Dragos as Thug Spectre 2, Chris as Backseat Spectre 1, Davide as Backseat Spectre 2.

Watch the Premiere of "Ashes In the Water" by Julius Smack Out Now On Leaving Records

“Ashes In the Water” is a song from Julius Smack’s latest EP, Serenity, out now on Leaving Records. It is a track about grief and omnipresent life in both the waking and dreaming worlds. The lyrics emerged from the summer of 2020, when the artist was quarantining on a lake, following the death of his uncle after a fast decline from alcoholism. One afternoon, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer at the water’s edge, he recalls a dream in which a man, in a plaid shirt in a motel room, sliced himself open with an axe. Then his skeleton walked out of his body.

The video was made in collaboration with Smack’s dear friend Emily Lucid, on the roof of the now-defunct performance space PAM in Highland Park where the artist regularly hosted performances before the pandemic.

Watch Sofie Royer's New Video For "Feeling Bad Forsyth Street" From Her Forthcoming Album Harlequin

Sofie Royer’s new album Harlequin (available September 23 on Stones Throw) showcases the Viennese—and former-Los Angeleno—musician’s passion for her native city’s opera and ballet traditions as well as the baroque lyricism of cabaret, medieval performances and the court jester. Blended with nostalgia for early aughts reality television and American mall punk subculture, Harlequin presents a montage of peculiar characters, vernacular settings and mysterious chronologies that are as theatrical as they are musical.

“Feeling Bad Forsyth Street” shares a glimpse into a brief period in New York City where she was “trapped after trying to pay off a personal debt accrued at the racing track.” Sofie sets the scene: “I’ve lost my appetite I’ve messed up again, messed up big time and I don’t know how I’ve ended up in this state again but all I know is buckle up chin up tough it out because it’s me against me against the rest of the world baby.” The song is also accompanied by a video created by Sofie and cult filmmaker Eugene Kotylarenko (Spree, Wobble Palace), and stars actors Vishvam Velandy and Peter Vack, Curtis and KJ from the Ion Pack, model Dagsen Love and many others.

William Basinski Live @ The Barbican In London

text by Lara Monro
photographs by Jose Ramon Caamano

On Thursday 9th of June in London, Baba Yaga's Hut showcased the American avante-garde composer William Basinski at The Barbican. Known for his obsession with reel-to-reel tape decks, loops and delay, Basinski has released a multitude of ambient and experimental works to great acclaim since the late ‘90s.  

Taking centre stage in a sparkly suit jacket and shoes, with hair tied back and framed by aviators, Basinski readied himself for a solo performance of his 2020 album Lamentations. Ambient waves of sound washed over the listening audience. The piece evoked tension and sorrow through drones, orchestral symphonies and the voice of a female operatic. William became an extension of his equipment with robotic glitchy movements - a welcomed addition to his overall performance.

The lighting show intensified the beautifully harrowing atmosphere - bright whites progressed to deep reds as the sounds unravelled. Unfortunately, a percentage of the audience felt the need to capture the performance, but didn’t think to turn off the flash of their camera phones, or worse didn’t care. The momentary brightness set against the darkly atmospheric room, for want of a better phrase, ruined the vibe.

Lamentations was captured and constructed from tape loops of Basinski’s archives dating back to 1979. There is no clear beginning or end, almost as if suspended in a deprivation tank. Those who attended having never listened to Lamentations or knowing the concept behind it may have been sitting in their seats perplexed and uncomfortable. It felt like the kind of performance piece that left half the crowd in awe and the other half wondering whether they could get the last hour of their lives back. 

Robert Ames conduscts the London Contemporary Orchestra under blue and green lighting.

The second performance was an orchestral arrangement of Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops 1.1 and 3 by the London Contemporary Orchestra, conducted by Robert Ames. The Disintegration Loops was born from disintegrating tape loops as they passed over a tape head – the unexpected result of transferring early recordings to a digital format. The orchestra played with dexterity and softness, using subtle nuances of slowing tempo and quietening sound, reflecting the inevitability of decay. The minimal use of individual instruments left a lot of space for the music to breathe. Impeccable timing was needed from all musicians to ensure the loops had cohesion. The performance was melancholic - again I felt it might have split the audience, either submitting the viewer into a dreamy trance state or a deep slumber. 

It’s not out of the ordinary to overlook the complexity of Basinski’s music. But, thanks to the sonic brilliance of The Barbican Hall, the sound was effortlessly projected alongside the classy and conceptual lighting, all of which elevated the performance pieces. 


Special thanks to Marlon Clark for his contribution to the piece.

Spotlights shine from behind Basinski into the crowd in the dark auditorium in front of him.

Fucklore: Read Our Interview Of Krista Papista

Top: Dolce & Gabbana (Nightboutique Berlin), Fishnet, stockings and socks: Falke, Boots: Abra

Sonnenallee” is one of the thirteen tracks in Fucklore, Krista Papista’s new album to be released on July 22, 2022. Its material is the sonic environment of a place at a particular moment: A street in Berlin (Sonnenallee avenue) that is the heart of the city’s Middle Eastern community that beats to the sound of dabke music blasted from cars after the Ramadan. Krista Papista lives nearby. She composed the song in response to the street’s soundscape, using fm and analogue synthesizers, asking her friend Kiki Moorse, one of the founding members of Chicks on Speed, to write the lyrics. In the album, the song is part of a musical and conceptual re-interpretation of notions of the folklore. It is also indicative of how the artist works: in relation to places and in defiance of the mainstream, queering traditions and customs, which she seeks to re-invent often in a collaborative spirit. Of “Sonnenallee,” Krista Papista says that it functions as a shit-show that mixes Middle Eastern and Greek music (sirtaki most prominently) with contemporary electronic rabbit holes. I relate to what she means, when I play the album in my car driving in Nicosia (Cyprus), testing the way her songs perforate the soundscape of her city of origin. The intentional disharmonic blend of sounds and musical references is dizzying, built on tensions between known folk tunes and the electronic. As for the lyrics, they oscillate between the poetic, the absurd and the sexually explicit, sometimes functioning as reflections on our current moment of (political, financial, cultural, and environmental) collapse, melding the personal with the political. In the album’s track list, a song on five hours of period cramps follows a song on the murders of migrant women by an army officer in Cyprus. Their story is most hauntingly evoked in the album’s cover that pictures the dark red waters of a dam that punctuates the landscape like a gigantic open wound. With this in mind, Fucklore is not just an attempt to re-imagine the possibilities of folk music. It is also a protest against tactics of oppression, discrimination and marginalisation that is carried out with forthrightness, unapologetic self-determination and a dildo between the legs. Read more.

Embodied Resonance: Read Our Interview Of Pop Sensation Mandy Harris Williams

 
 

Mandy Harris Williams is a renaissance woman working across more media than one could reasonably hyphenate. On social media, in her monthly #brownupyourfeed radio hour on NTS, and with her myriad published essays, she challenges us to consider critical theories on race, gender, sexuality, and above all, privilege. She dares us to meet the most divisive aspects of our charged political culture with a caring ethic that prioritizes those most deprived of our love and compassion. Offline, her DJ sets are like a blast of Naloxone to the automatic nervous system with the power to reanimate the rhythm in even the shyest of wallflowers. After studying the history of the African diaspora at Harvard and receiving a masters of urban education at Loyola Marymount, Harris spent seven years as an educator in low-income communities. From there, she expanded her educational modalities to include a conceptual art practice, musical production informed by years of vocal training, and a lecture format of her own dialectic design. These “edutainment” experiences are one part college seminar, one part church sermon, and one part late-night talk show with a heavy dose of consensual roasting. It’s a Friar’s Club for an intellectual, intersectional, and internet-savvy generation. These performances draw us in with their vibey bass lines and hooks before they throw us under the quietly segregated bus that we’re still struggling to rectify. Mandy and I sat by the fire one lovely winter night in Los Angeles to talk about the contours of fascism, algorithmic injustice, her latest film for the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, and her upcoming residency at MoMa PS1.Read more.

Watch The Premiere Of "Suffer" By Patriarchy With Photographs By Torbjørn Rødland

Los Angeles’s most prolific vamp is at it again with a new music video from her band Patriarchy’s track “Suffer” starring the band’s front-middle-and-back woman Actually Huizenga, AJ English, and Shane McKenzie, with cinematography by Michael Romero-de Leon. “Suffer” is the second single from the upcoming album The Unself, slated for release in June through the label Dero Arcade. You can stream and download the track on Bandcamp. Norwegian photographer Torbjørn Rødland photographed Huizenga and English in dialogue with the video. The result is published here exclusively. See his forthcoming solo exhibition, Pain in the Shell, opening March 26 @ David Kordansky Gallery.

 
A shot of a model crouching with her head back and mouth open which reveals sharp vampire fangs. The model is wearing low rise-jeans with denim straps that holster around her waist ( By HardeMan).

Jeans by HardeMan

 
A model holding down another model with a knife in her hand as she shoves him down. The model on the floor is shirtless and grips at the other model who is mostly unshown, except for her leather jacket and part of her upper body.

Watch The Music Video For "Don't Look" By Benny Sings Out Now Via Stonesthrow

“Don’t Look” is produced by Kenny Beats and Cory Henry, from Benny Sings’ latest album, Beat Tape II. Made in collaboration with the historic Bob Baker Marionette Theater, the puppets and props were made entirely from scratch to bring Ryu Okubo's cover art illustration to life. You can find Beat Tape II on vinyl, Apple music, Spotify, and Bandcamp.

Alex Evans - Director and Editor
Kevin Beltz - Lead Puppet Builder, Puppeteer
Thom Fountain - Puppeteer Consultant
Ilana Marks - Puppeteer, Puppet Fabrication
Jamin Orrall - Puppeteer, Puppet Fabrication
Karina De La Cruz - Puppeteer
Julian Small Calvillo - Puppet Fabrication
Paula Higgins - Puppet Fabrication
Caden Healander - Best Run Boy

Watch The Premiere Of "Lazy Bones" By Yoshi Sherma Out Now Via BabyRace Records

Yoshi Sherma is an enigma. Born in a tube yet spends most of his time in the Valve. His debut record Live From the Valve is a visceral mix of lumpy, chunky dance tracks, created in his rat infested, flood prone basement. It’s simply a gift whether you like it or not. Live From The Valve is available on cassette and across the streaming universe via Babyrace Records. Eat it up here.

Unique To The Unison: Read Our Interview Of Taboo Founder Kenny Eshinlokun

 

Photograph by Agustín Farías

 

In the fall of 2020, Kenny Eshinlokun launched her creative agency, Taboo, to create world class projects that transcend audiences and industry borders. After working for a decade in the marketing and music industries, she saw the need for artists to build meaningful, long-term partnerships with brands that truly care about their creative endeavors. Through Taboo, she has built a global cohort of creatives and brands that are committed to giving back to their communities and building relationships that are rooted in genuinely shared visions. Autre caught up with the Eshinlokun to talk about the inspiration for starting her own agency, the meaning of true allyship, and the future of Taboo. Read more.