[LISTEN] PURE X Release Gem From Forthcoming Album

Pure X (formerly Pure Ecstasy) is the latest incarnation of a long-standing collaboration between Austin, Texas musicians and long-term friends Nate Grace, Jesse Jenkins and Austin Youngblood. Acéphale is to release their debut album, Pleasure, out July 5th in the US and worldwide August 22nd.  Looseness was a key concept for Pure X in recording Pleasure, and all songs were recorded live without overdubbing.  The aspiration was to capture songs in their purest form, mistakes and all, as they were being written.  Chasing a vibe in the studio allowed the songs to form themselves; structure and formula lost their rigidity as the songwriting process became more about meditative evolution than meticulous intent. www.acephalerecords.com 

LISTEN: PURE X - TWISTED MIRROR

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David Bowie, Artist

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This summer, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York presents David Bowie, Artist, a multi-platform retrospective re-framing Bowie’s daring, multi-discipline career as that of an artist working primarily in performance. From his roots in such performance-based practices as cabaret, mime, and avant-garde theater, to Ziggy Stardust, his revolutionary tour that synthesized theater, music, and contemporary art into a rock spectacle, as well as his innovative video collaborations, and his work in cinema and theater, David Bowie, Artist presents Bowie as one of the most iconoclastic cultural producers of the 20th century. On view until July 15th - www.mademuseum.org

Paul McCartney to Re-Release Two Eponymous Solo Albums

Paul McCartney is planning to reissue his solo debut, 1970’s McCartney, as well as 1980’s McCartney II in remastered, deluxe editions with extra tracks. McCartney is the first solo album by Paul McCartney. The album was performed the entirely by Paul McCartney himself, except for some backing vocals from his first wife, Linda McCartney. McCartney stated that he played "bass, drums, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, piano, Mellotron, organ, toy xylophone, and bow and arrow on the album. McCartney is quite possibly an one of his most underrated masterpieces. McCartney II is considered one of the earliest examples of electronic music and is a complete departure for Paul McCartney who by this time had broken up with two bands, The Beatles and Wings. The albums will be available starting June 13 and were remastered at Abbey Road Studios by the same team that worked on 2009’s Beatles reissues.

Check out Dev Hynes's New Musical Endeavor, "Blood Orange"

Dev Hynes is an international man of mystery as well as the busiest musician on the planet. As if his extensive work as Lightspeed Champion and with Test Icicles or co-writing with Theophilus London and Solange Knowles or a note-for-note cover of Todd Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star album weren't enough, Hynes is launching a new project: Blood Orange. To begin, Blood Orange is releasing a brand new 7" single, "Dinner" b/w "Bad Girls" on April 26th. Both tracks were recorded with and co-produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear for release on his Terrible Records label. Blood Orange finds Hynes delving deeper into the fringes of '80s American musical culture, crossing elements of melancholy synthetic pop balladry with a twangy noir, composing songs exploring the harsh realities of romantic pursuits: longing, suspicion, jealousy, self-doubt and loneliness, to name but a few. This release will be followed by a full-length album which was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Ariel Reichstaid (Cass McCombs/Glasser) and will be released in the late summer on Domino.

Mick Jagger: Young in the 60s

Mick Jagger, 1966. Photograph by Gered Mankowitz

Portraits of Mick Jagger taken in the 1960s will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London from 3 May until 27 November 2011. Documenting the singer’s early rise to become one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the era, the display will coincide with the publication of Mick Jagger: The Photobook by Thames & Hudson.  www.mickjagger.com

My Blue Love: Edith Piaf's Love Letters to Louis Gérardin

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"My blue love, our first separation ... darling, I think I can say that never has a man taken me as much, and I believe I'm making love for the first time." Edith Piaf's "blue love" was a 13-time French speed racing champion bicyclist named Louis Gérardin. The letters were written in 1951 and 1952 during a feaverish, little known, love affair – shortly after her true love, the boxer Marcel Cerdan, died tragically in a plane crash. The letters are intimate, full of sexual ravings and pleas for Gérardin to leave his wife. Before Gérardin could leave his wife Piaf had already married another man. In 2009, 54 of the letters were sold at Christies in Paris for 59,000 euros.  The letters will now will be published in the book entitled My Blue Love – out on April 30 in France.

Watch the Music Video for Teams vs. Star Slinger "Close to Me"

Knoxville, Tennessee's Teams and UK's Star Slinger have released a collaborative LP on the Mexican Summer label. The album with its all its delightful crackle includes "six blog-rockin’, booty-shakin’ rippers, culled from vinyl-sourced samples of R&B and modern soul classics and reworked, twerked, and shimmied into the matrix of hip hop rhythms, sunshine, and classy, electro-clipped states of mind." A new music video, directed by Jordan Kim, for the track "Close to Me" is brilliant.

www.mexicansummer.com

Ones to Watch: Trevor Powers of Youth Lagoon

Meet Trevor Powers, a 22 year old singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from from Boise, Idaho.  His voice and lyrics speak for itself in decibles beyond the music.  There is a certain trouble in this young man's heart that he seems to be working out with his music, and through the reverberating echoes of his voice his songs scratch on the very frosted windows of all the unanswerable questions of the universe - all with a raw, lo-fi romanticism. In that frailty and rawness Powers kind of reminds me of the romantic poet John Keats, and Power's first album a sort of post-modern, 21st century Ode to Solitude. Powers' debut album, The Year of Hibernation, is expected to drop May 11th on Juno Beach Records. The album is comprised of eight beautiful, nostalgic and angst laden arrangements.  

Forget Coachella, We're Going to the Austin Psych Fest

The Black Angels 

Austin, Texas has long been considered the counterculture capital of the American Southwest and the primary birthplace of the psychadelic rock movement, and this year’s Austin Psych Fest, which takes place from April 29th-May 1st at the Seaholm Power Plant in downtown Austin, will be the fourth annual synaesthetic three-day tribute to that title, showcasing and celebrating innovative visual art and experimental psych-rock from across the country.

Curated by the Reverberation Appreciation society and Austin-based band The Black Angels, this year’s music lineup includes The Black Angels, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Prefuse 73, Atlas Sound, Crystal Stilts, Dirty Beaches, Crocodiles, Tobacco, The Growlers, Black Ryder, Indian Jewelry, Beach Fossils, Pete International Airport and ZaZa, among many others.

This past December, Alta Real Pictures released Oswald James’ documentary of last year’s Psych Fest, which features performances from The Raveonettes, Spindrift, Pink Mountaintops, Warpaint and others. Watch the trailer below for an idea of the festival’s ambiance.

Full reportage on Psych Fest 2011 to come.

For tickets, full lineup and more information, visit www.austinpsychfest.com

Text by Annabel Graham Photo by Alexandra Valenti

[Cinema] Let There Be Rock

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A little over a month of rock n' roll films? Starting April 29 at the Queensland Cinémathèque in Australia, 'Let There Be Rock' brings together a wide range of documentaries and feature films capturing the rebellious spirit of rock music culture. The program features intimate portraits of bands and musicians, showcasing their magnetic stage presence and musical talents, as well as the fans, collaborations and locations that surround them.

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Wild experiments with rock operas and musicals illustrate the blending of rock music and cinema into a unique film genre. Concert films and live recordings capture bands in full flight and the transformation of stage performances into visceral experiences. Iconic music events caught on film also chronicle rare pieces of music history and their ensuring influence on new generations of music fans. http://qag.qld.gov.au/cinematheque

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[Music] Back to the Halcyon Days, of Punk

The Jeff & Jane Hudson story goes back to halcyon days of Punk and New Wave with The Rentals, who released two singles of lo-fi DiY Art Punk in between '77 and '80. In 1981, they started performing as a duo and began releasing post-nuclear electronic pop songs under their own names. 1981 saw the release of the "World Trade" EP as well as the "No Clubs" 7", followed in '82 by "Attack Under Attack" which featured the first appearance of "Los Alamos," which would reappear on their debut LP. The duo reached their pinnacle with 1983's seminal "Flesh." Perhaps one of the United States biggest achievements in the entire "synth" movement of the era. Completely self produced by the band, the record has since been oft-cited as a groundbreaking and pivotal LP of the post-punk era, who's original copies are now heavily coveted by collectors. This is the first time since the original issue that "Flesh" is reappearing on the vinyl format as a co-release with Dark Entries record. This edition features remastering culled from the original master tapes and expanded with an extra LP of singles and EP material. It's also the first wide-scale digital and CD release these recordings have yet to see. Due out this April. www.officialjeffandjane.com

Jeff/Jane Hudon -  Los Alamos

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