MCCARTNEY: HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Inspired by his grandkids' passion for video games, Paul McCartney recently collaborated on a new soundtrack to Destiny. The project included a new single called Hope For the Future, which the ex-Beatle recorded at Abbey Road Studios with Giles Martin. The promo video has gathered mixed reactions from fans, but I think it's visually interesting. Paul appears as a holographic image, looking dapper in a slim Nehru jacket. Destiny is a science fiction shooting game, so the pairing with McCartney may seem odd in terms of personal values. But the lyrics really focus on imagery about reaching out to the future, discovery, and bringing light to darkness. It sounds to me like he embraced the hope that embodies space travel- especially for someone who grew up during the space race. As a creative recording project (which he did for free!), Hope For the Future delivers a majestic tune with stunning vocals. I love it! Check it out below and see what you think. The Sci-Fi element reminds me a bit of the robot-like Silly Love Songs sequence in his film, Give My Regards to Broadstreet. Enjoy!

HARDCORE DEVO LIVE

A new film of Devo performing their early material will be screened at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood on January 17th, followed by a discussion with the director, co-producer, and Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, and Bob Mothersbaugh! The movie and soundtrack will see a wide release on Blu-ray/DVD and CD/LP on February 10th. 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." Ticket info here. Blu-ray on Amazon here. Images: Mothersbaugh and Casale in their early hardcore performance-art glory; Blu-ray cover design.

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).