On Friday, Depeche Mode streamed their new single ‘Soothe My Soul’ ahead of their SXSW appearance later on that day. The track is from their upcoming record ‘Delta Machine’ which will be released on 25th March. If you missed the stream of the song it seems you will not be able to hear the song now until the release of the album as the song has been taken down from YouTube due to copyright.
The Strokes reveal new video for ‘All The Time’, the video which dropped on Friday features archive footage of the band throughout the years of their career. This includes clips from behind the scenes of their music videos and festival performances and backstage footage. ‘All The Time’ is the first official single to be taken from the bands soon to be released album ‘Comedown Machine’ which will hits stores and the internet on March 25th.
James Blake streamed non-album track ‘And Holy Ghosts’ last week, in a way to keep fans happy but also build up excitement for his new album ‘Overgrown’ which will be released on April 8th. It’s a wonderful ambient track and I really like it, it’s quite simple sounding but there are clear layers of sounds throughout. I’ve never really listened to James Blake before but I really like this track and I’ll definitely be checking out more of his stuff. You can listen to the track below:
BBC One are set to broadcast the Beyonce documentary on 28th March which will feature behind the scenes footage from performances and Beyonce’s life with her pregnancy and birth of her first child. After most people being forced to watch it via YouTube as it had not been broadcast yet in the UK there is now an official date for people to sit and watch the documentary the way it was meant to be watched instead of via a grainy internet connection. There has been a lot of talk about the Beyonce documentary with a lot of people that have watched it saying it is quite boring and disappointing but I think I’m still going to watch it as I haven’t had chance yet. Will you be watching it or have you already seen it and what was your opinion?
SXSW premiered the screening of the Broadway version of American Idiot this week and Green Day were there to introduce the film. The documentary tells the story of the Broadway musical of the band’s brilliant 2004 album ‘American Idiot’. The band’s documentary which is set to be released later on this year ‘Cuatro!’, following on from the triology of albums from the band released over the past few months entitled ‘Uno!’, ‘Dos!’ and ‘Tre!’, was also screened that night straight after ‘Broadway Idiot’. ‘Cuatro!’ features footage from the recording of those three albums as well as footage from the small club shows the band played last year.
This year’s Secret 7″ campaign will feature artwork contributed by names such as Gilbert & George and Ai Weiwei. The charity takes 7 tracks by 7 artists and presses 100 of each song. The whole point of the campaign is to combine music and art and the artists will design a one-off sleeve inspired by the song. However, you buy the single without knowing who created the sleeve or what song you have paid for. The sleeves will be shown at London’s Downstairs at Mother gallery on 13th and 14th April before being sold for Record Store Day on 20th April. This year’s tracks are a good mixed bag: Elton John’s ‘Bennie & The Jets’, Haim’s ‘Better Off’, Jessie Ware’s ‘Still Love Me’, Laura Marling ‘The Beast’, ‘The Don’ by Nas, ‘Rider On The Wheel’ by Nick Drake and Public Enemy’s ‘Harder Than You Think’. The records will be priced at £40 each and all proceeds will go to Art Against Knives who fund projects of creativity across London. It seems like a really good idea combining art and music to get people to really appreciate album sleeves again and collecting limited edition vinyl whilst also giving money to charity and supporting a great cause. To find out more about the campaign then click here.
Finally as I’m from Sheffield I thought I would add in a little Sheffield and music based story that I found online that caught my eye. The iconic club The Leadmill [if you’ve never been you are missing out big time] is looking at opening venues abroad. They are planning on taking the brand’s identity to places such as Brazil and China and closer to home London. The Leadmill is a massive brand not just in Sheffield these days as it is so well known from Sheffield bands such as Arctic Monkeys and Pulp having played there but it has a reputation for being a brilliant live venue that always puts on the best acts of tomorrow before you know who they are. I’ve been to so many gigs there and it really is the best venue out all the venues I have ever been to. The clubs nights are so good and cheap and they now also put on comedy nights which are constantly selling out. It’s a club that throughout the hard times at the moment is surviving and going from strength to strength and talk like this of expanding only confirms how well they are doing. If they do expand that would be amazing for the brand but as long as my beloved Leadmill stays in Sheffield that is the main thing for me. To read more on the story click here.
Credits
– Depeche Mode picture.
– The Strokes picture.
– Green Day pictures.
– Secret 7″ logo.– Leadmill picture.
Mixtape Couture 