Record Store Day has made the third Saturday in April an audiophile holiday for five years now, and they will continue that streak on April 20, 2013 with exclusive releases from At the Drive-In, The Flaming Lips, Hüsker Dü, Buddy Guy, David Bowie, Best Coast, Mad Season, Paul Weller, and more.
Drummer, chef, and Roots rocker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has announced a new drum kit, produced in partnership with Ludwig, called Breakbeats. The kit is easily broken down and moved, designed for the drummer who might not have a lot of space to practice or perform.
Ashmedi, the front-man for long-running “Mesopotamian black metal” group Melechesh, has teamed up with Fernandes Guitars to release a signature 12-string model, the Vortex Scimitar. Produced in a V shape, the Vortex is aimed at the extreme metal crowd, and, according to Ashmedi, “the octave sounds are subtle and great when playing power chords, single notes, and fast riffing.” Check out the specs and a few images below.
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Born in Moscow, NYC-based painter and illustrator Dimitri Drjuchin creates bright, mystical eye candy that reads like a riddle. You may recognize his surrealist work from gig posters for comics Marc Maron, Jim Gaffigan, Eugene Mirman, and Hannibal Buress — or, more recently, you might have spotted his mind-bending cover for Fear Fun, the debut album from Father John Misty.
Announced for the big NAMM trade show, prog-metal instrumental outfit Scale the Summit has partnered with Strandberg Guitarworks to release the Boden CL7, an instrument based on guitarist Chris Letchford’s specifications, and bassist Mark Michell has released an instructional book for right-hand bassists.
Converge: All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph, 10/9/12)
Vocalist Jacob Bannon, frontman of Converge, balances a career of music, fine art, and business. His raw vocals belie a depth, beyond the bleeding paint and canvas of tattoos, explored in the short documentary “Rungs in a Ladder.”
A twelve-minute meditation on life, meaning, and intention, “Rungs in a Ladder” is an eloquent creative manifesto — the musings of someone fighting insecurity, staying active, and dealing with being out in the open when he really just wanted to “be a bass player or a drummer…to be completely anonymous.”
Check out “Rungs in a Ladder,” directed by Ian McFarland.
Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have always used music effectively in their films, with 2000’s Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? arguably responsible for a resurgence of interest in bluegrass. It’s unsurprising then, that for their next film, Inside Llewyn Davis, they’ve chosen to chronicle the life of fictional singer-songwriter, Llewyn Davis, loosely based on Dave Van Ronk.
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Editor’s note: Since this interview was conducted, IFC canceled Bunk.
Kurt Braunohler looks like the enthusiastic dad next door teetering on the edge of sanity. And it’s all intentional — he wants to creep you out. His is the deranged humor reminiscent of long-time comedy partner Kristen Schaal, and in a blink, normalcy segues to unhinged comic surprises.
This summer, Braunohler launched an anti-game show on IFC called Bunk, where fellow comedians compete in inane challenges to win…nothing, essentially. But with categories such as “Shame That Puppy,” “Lie to a Child,” “Dong Swap,” and “Who Can Slap Gabe the Hardest?” you’ll wish that you could compete for an alien probing too.
Whether you’re camping or just on a long drive, charging your gadgets if you don’t have the proper equipment can be a pain in the ass. Having to buy a car charger in an emergency, your laptop dying in the middle of an important E-mail — these are things to be avoided, which is why the introduction of Goal Zero’s Yeti 150 Solar Generator is excellent.
Cornell University, and particularly the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s Macaulay Library, has reached a milestone. The entirety of its audio library, more than 7,513 hours and 150,000 samples, has been digitized and placed online, creating a heaven of natural noises for naturalists and found-sound aficionados alike.