Fuyuki Yamakawa at Big in Japan

Avant-garde khoomei singer and performance/installation artist Fuyuki Yamakawa at the Ksubi X Kirin presented Big In Japan events last month i. Yamakawa's performances use light bulbs, yogic breath, antiquated medical equipment, and modified musical instruments and involvesoutputting bodily functions (like his heartbeat, amplified with an electronic stethoscope) in synch with external sound and light so the space becomes an extension of his body.

[NEXT] Danielle “Danz” Johnson is Computer Magic

Danielle “Danz” Johnson must have been realizing some kind of fantasy by wandering around New York in a spacesuit in the wonderful music video for the track The End of Times, a powerfully poppy single which was released last July on Roundtable Records, out of the UK.  The end of times sure, but not for Computer Magic – I can bet we'll be hearing a lot from this 22 year old DJ and blogger based in Brooklyn, New York.  Computer Magic is currently working on full length album with no set date for release.

The End of Time
Computer Magic

Darkside

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21 year old Nicolas Jaar grew up between Santiago, Chile and New York City, riding the cross currents of musical influences. At 17 Jaar made is debut with his first record on record label Wolf & Lamb, but now runs his own show with a record label called Clown & Sunset. His long, infectious melodies rely on distinctly Jaarian beats that include lots of echoes, sound effects, and strong, haunting, beautiful, multidimensional layers of vocals. Together with guitarist Dave Harrington, Jaar has just released a new EP under the name Darkside.  With hints of Pink Floyd's soaring choruses and interludes, Darkside's new EP is the perfect soundtrack to being buried alive with the girl of your dreams.

DARKSIDE - A3

[audio:http://www.pasunautre.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Nicolas-Jaar-Dave-Harrington-Darkside-A3-Clown-and-Sunset.mp3|titles=Nicolas Jaar & Dave Harrington - Darkside A3 (Clown and Sunset)]

Charlotte Gainsbourg: "Paradisco"

On December 13 (December 5 in France), Because Music/Elektra will release Stage Whispers, a double-LP of live and unreleased material from Charlotte Gainsbourg that follows up October's Terrible Angels teaser EP. Paradisco was written and produced by Beck, and features drum programming from ex-Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti/current the Samps member Cole M.G.N.

Paradisco
Charlotte Gainsbourg


Lover

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This band is going to be enormous. The Echo Vamper is a duo formed by real life couple Iza Mortag Freund, from Denmark, and James Brook, from England, who just released their first EP in October, entitled It's The Echo Vamper, and are already making enormous waves with their unbelievably explosive sound. Above is a video for their track Lover, a single off their current EP. See music video after the jump.

Pain in Heart

Ska pop phenom from Norway, Razika releases a music video for their track Vondt i Hjertet from their acclaimed album Program 91. Razika recently made their debut in the United States with their first show in New York City where the quartet filmed four music videos. Vondt i Hjertet is the video first to be released, directed by Mona Lerche and stars actor Brady Cobert (13, Melancholia) and Stephanie Ellis (Burning Blue, Art Machine) as lovers in embrace tucked away in a car and the band themselves, playing live at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn.

Red Song

Music video track for Red Song from Montreal's Suuns off their new 12" entitled Bambi, out now on Secretly Canadian. Culled from old found tapes and edited together on an old VHS recorder the band bought for $4, the video features lead singer Ben Shemie overlapped with distorted images.

Melody Nelson

Artnet Auctions announces the sale of nine rare and beautiful works by photographer Tony Frank (French, b.1945) to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the legendary album, Histoire de Melody Nelson, by iconic French singer and artist Serge Gainsbourg. This photographic sale includes the memorable album cover, which contributed to Melody Nelson’s stature in French culture, and will only be on artnet Auctions until November 16, 2011.

Mummy, I’m scarrred!

Japan electro-pop sensation Trippple Nippple will perform

Tokyo – Art Gig 2 – with the theme Mummy, I'm Scarrred, by curator Shai Ohayon:  "The ghosts themed art happening will be presented at an abandoned hospital in Hatsudai, Shibuya ward, Tokyo. The hospital, which has been abandoned now for a few years, is still intact with the original furniture, equipment and fixtures and is usually let to film crews to shoot on location. We are intending to use the basement of the hospital which consists of a large furnished room in the center of the basement for performances, while the interconnected rundown rooms and corridors will be used as exhibition spaces. We intend for the exhibition rooms and the corridors to be left pitch-black and visitors will be instructed to bring torches (flashlights) to negotiate through the space. The venue is truly creepy and surreal. We aim to present some 15 local and international artists along with music and performance art pieces and transform the entire venue into an improvised art gallery. Artworks will include pieces of many disciplines and site-specific installations, using the walls, the hospital beds, old equipment, decaying tatami rooms, old kitchen and morgue. Artists are asked to present works that reflect their practice and that deals directly with their notion or understanding of the theme. Attendance to the event is free-of-charge to the public and visitors will be encouraged to explore the space, engage with the artworks and to enjoy the array of performances that will be featured as part of the event. As we did in the last event, we will have at the end of the night also a raffle with gifts from a variety of art and culture related organisations and businesses. In addition, with the proximity of the event to Halloween we will also host a costume competition in collaboration with Impossible Project." On view this Sunday, October 30.  www.artgigtokyo.com

Rock n' Roll Photography

Rock & Roll music provided the soundtrack to American culture and shifting social dynamics in the late 20th century. While the genre has undergone many shifts since its origination mid-century, Rock & Roll and its outgrowths have continued to define and shape the social relations and culture of future generations.  Drawn from the largest private collection of photographs of rock musicians in the United States, Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography now on view at the Currin Museum of Art in New Hampshire, captures the intimate relationship between photographer and musician. Featuring 175 photographs—many rarely seen by the public—this exhibition provides a portal into the musical and cultural history of Rock & Roll, from its development in the 1950s to its influence on the sounds and styles of future generations. Photographs will be on view of artists as disparate as Kurt Cobain to Chet Baker. Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography will be on view until January 7, 2012. 

[BOOKS] WHITE RIOT

White Riot: Punk Rock And The Politics Of Race, a new anthology edited by NYU professor Stephen Duncombe and New School Ph.D. student and Maximumrocknroll writer Maxwell Tremblay, intersperses essays with primary documents like zines, interviews, song lyrics, and letters to tell the complicated story of punk rock and its relationship with race over the decades. Through the words of Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Patti Smith, Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, The Clash, Black Flag, and Tasha Fierce, the story moves from punk’s early articulation of whiteness in the U.S. and U.K. to Afro-Punk and faraway shores where punk has morphed into new, culture-specific forms. You can purchase the book here.