BOWIE BLACK STAR

A new album is coming in January from David Bowie! The project was announced in Dec with this first single and video for the title track, Black Star. The record will be available in a variety of formats with bonus lithographs. More info at David's site here. Enjoy!

 

WES ANDERSON X-MEN

Patrick Willems recently completed a wonderful parody short that pays homage to Wes Anderson. Based on the premise of what an X-Men film would look like under Anderson's direction, Willems managed to capture much of the auteur's artistic stamp and movie conventions. Check it out below. Enjoy!

MARC GABBANA

Concept artist Marc Gabbana (Star Wars I-II, Matrix II-III, War of the Worlds) did an interesting interview with Entertainment Designer today about working in the Film and Advertising industries. What do artists need to make it professionally? How can artists promote and target their work to clients? How did his iterations of Star Wars sets inspire George Lucas to write a new sequence? Check out Marc's many helpful tips here.

RALPH MCQUARRIE TRIBUTE

Art Pioneers celebrates the great Ralph McQuarrie with this 5-part Tribute to a Master documentary. McQuarrie is best remembered for his inspired concept art for the Star Wars universe. Keep your eye out for interesting and warm reflections from George Lucas, Marc Gabbana, Doug Chiang, Steve Sansweet, Lorne Peterson, Dennis Muren, and others. Enjoy!

FEDERICO FELLINI

Happy Birthday to Federico Fellini! Born on this day in 1920, Fellini transitioned through the Italian Neo-Realism movement to revolutionize cinema by freely weaving memory, dream, and fantasy into film narrative. Essential works: La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, Amarcord. Below: the director on the set of 8 1/2 (1963). Images by photographer Tazio Secchiaroli. 

HAYAO MIYAZAKI

Happy Birthday to Hayao Miyazaki. Born on this day in 1941, Miyazaki has become one of the most respected artists in Japan. The film director and comic creator has an unparalleled gift at writing strong female characters and his ability to weave magic realism (and often environmentalism) into deep coming-of-age stories has made him the most beloved storyteller around the world. Suggested viewing: My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howls Moving Castle. Collage below: key female characters from Miyazaki's most celebrated projects. Learn more: Studio Ghibli Museum, Starting Point, Turning Point, author page. Enjoy!

DEVO FILM AT NOISE POP SF

The Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco has just announced an exciting lineup of movies that include Hardcore Devo Live, a new concert/documentary film about the band's early work. Band founder/songwriter Gerald Casale will at the event for Q&A. Screening is 7PM on Feb 20th at the Roxie Theater. Additional screenings in LA and Minneapolis. Press release: "DEVO was among the most thought-provoking bands to emerge in the aftermath of punk, but before hits like “Whip It,” DEVO worked in the basements and garages of Akron, Ohio, to make raw, unfiltered music that the group called “Hardcore DEVO.” In the summer of 2014, DEVO did 10 shows performing these seminal pre-fame songs, created between 1974 and 1977 and rarely played since then. Shot at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California, this exciting concert film captures these groundbreaking artists performing the songs that started it all, interwoven with interviews revealing the history of the band." A number of interesting movies join Devo on the bill, including Stop Making Sense, Metropolis (with live score), Spike Jonze skate films, and The 78 Project. Noise Pop features some incredible artists this year. See site for details. Watch a clip of Hardcore Devo Live on Vimeo here. Devo website here.

CLIVE BELL ON BIWA

Composer/writer Clive Bell contributed an interesting piece in The Wire recently that explores the biwa (medieval Japanese lute) and its role in avant-garde pieces by Toru Takemitsu and in the epic (and tragic!) songs of the Heike. I first heard the biwa in High School, when a teacher gave me Kabuki and Other Traditional Music by the Ensemble Nipponia (Nonesuch 1980). I then became fascinated by Takemitsu's scores for classic films like Kwaidan and Seppuku. There is an urgency and depth in biwa music that seems to echo that human experience of grief, when the throat closes up in gaps of silence and parcels out our urgent sounds in passionate spurts. More below.

Bell's article touches on an interesting note that the biwa performer, as a conduit for the epic, does not only address the living audience, but the dead as well. He quotes a Dubin student of biwa, Thomas Charles Marshall, who explains the music's haunting function: "The tradition of the lament in Japan, as I’ve come to perceive it, is a kind of requiem to appease spirits. So the Heike biwa is all about telling the story to quieten spirits that had died in a very difficult manner. Biwa hoshi [players], many of them blind, were described as living on the border line between life and death. Traditionally people who couldn’t see were regarded as dwelling between the land of the living and the land of the dead. So there’s this idea of the biwa being able to communicate with both worlds.” Read more at The Wire here. Below: The first biwa piece I heard as a young student, The Death of Atsumori, performed masterfully by Ayako Handa. Learn more: Guide to Toru Takemitsu at The Guardian, Clive Bell, Japan Society UK, Japan Society US, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel (shakuhachi), Music in Japan (Bonnie Wade), Composing Japanese Musical Modernity (Bonnie Wade), Japanese Music and Musical Instruments (William Malm).