Hanni El Khatib: Head in the Dirt (Innovative Leisure, 4/30/13)
Hanni El Khatib wants to live…dangerously. That’s the only explanation for the video for “Family,” the first single from his upcoming, Dan Auerbach-produced album, Head in the Dirt. Featuring sex, violence, booze, reckless motorcycling, BDSM, whitey-tightys, and grindhouse-style visuals, it’s Easy Rider by way of Kill Bill, directed by Nick Walker.
Photographer Miles Aldridge poses women in traditional roles. Secretary, socialite, stay-at-home mom — you’ll see all of these portrayed in his work. But looking deeper you notice that something is deeply, horribly wrong. These women, while engaged in what might be enjoyable activities, all possess the dull stare of living mannequins.
Tool has announced a special-edition reissue of its debut EP, Opiate, for the album’s 21st anniversary on March 26, 2013. Named after the famed Karl Marx quote, the original album was released in 1992 on Zoo Entertainment.
Ill Bill: The Grimy Awards (Uncle Howie / Fat Beats, 2/26/13)
“Paul Baloff”
It’s one thing to say a lot on an album; it’s quite another to actually have something to say. Drawing from artists who are equal parts entertainer and activist, Ill Bill uses his new solo album, The Grimy Awards, as a platform to both tell his story of growing up around drugs and violence in Brooklyn and sound the alarm against blind acquiescence to authority.
The former Non Phixion MC, coming off recent collaborations with La Coka Nostra and Vinnie Paz, teams with a host of collaborators and producers — including Large Professor, Pete Rock, El-P, HR of Bad Brains, and more — to showcase both the scars and the life lessons that come from being a hip-hop heavyweight with nearly three decades in the ring.
David Bowie: The Next Day (Columbia, 3/12/13)
Though the words David Bowie and Tilda Swinton should be enough to get you to click that little “read more” button, the new video for Bowie’s “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” directed by Floria Sigismondi, is a pleasure to watch. Starring the strikingly similar entertainers as a suburban married couple, a bit of David Lynch-esque intrigue is injected when a celebrity pairing shows up in town.
Atoms for Peace: Amok (XL, 2/26/13)
With super-group Atoms for Peace dropping its debut album yesterday, it’s fitting to stop and take a look at the LP’s excellent artwork.
Designed by longtime Radiohead collaborator Stanley Donwood, it shows Los Angeles suffering meteoric doom. And as part of the promotion for the record, XL Recordings commissioned one crazy GIF-iti piece by artist INSA over its Los Angeles office.
