Month: July 2009
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Merce Cunningham 1919-2009
Merce Cunningham passed away yesterday at the age of 90. Cunningham was an American choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avante-guard for more than 50 years. In 2003, Radiohead and Sigur Rós collaborated with him on his Split Sides project. Both bands played for about 20 minutes while the dancers, who had not heard the music beforehand, danced. Here’s a review of the show if you’re interested.
The band posted on Dead Air Space today with their memories:
We are very sad to hear about Merce Cunningham’s death yesterday, aged ninety.
Merce invited us to take part in his Split Sides project, in October 2003. It was a collaboration of music and dance, but one where each of the elements – set, costume, choreography and music – were randomly combined, to create a performance around chance. He was very kind and hospitable, and invited us around to his apartment the night before the show. He showed us his computer program which generated random sequences of gesture and movement for wire-framed mannequins, like Kraftwerk’s Robots. He also showed us, the next night, that discipline and focus can create the space for an unexpected moment, when something new can suddenly exist: such a contrast to the scripted world of rock.
This is a followup to the story we told you about earlier this week about Thom Yorke contributing to the Twilight Saga: New Moon movie. In an interview with HitFix.com at Comic-Con, director Chris Weitz again said that Thom will be contributing to the soundtrack, this time adding that it will be a brand new track. Weitz also said that he will be listening to Thom’s track today (July 24) and “unless it’s sounds of him belching, I think I’ll put it in.”
Bon Iver was also mentioned as contributing a new track.
To read the full article, head on over to HitFix.com.
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For Orchestra! does Reckoner
This is pretty cool. For Orchestra! has put together a beautiful rendition of Radiohead’s “Reckoner” which you should check out. Walt Ribeiro, the mastermind behind this, explains how he chose “Reckoner” as his latest orchestra piece:
When I choose a song, I understand that I’ll be spending alot of time with it. There are times when I dislike a song I’m arranging but have to live with it, or eventually get sick of it. Luckily, Radiohead ‘Reckoner’ grew on me pretty strongly. After a few days I began looping it for hours while I was walking somewhere or was waiting at the train station. I started depicting the lyrical meaning of the song and really getting involved in their song structure and repertoire.
Here it is!
In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, movie director Chris Weitz spilled the beans about the new Twilight sequel, New Moon. Weitz mentions that Thom Yorke is “interested” in contributing to the movie’s soundtrack.
Speaking about the music in New Moon, Weitz revealed that requests have flooded in from bands who want to contribute to the soundtrack; after all, the first Twilight film helped launch alt-rock band Paramore into the pop culture stratosphere. In talks to appear on the soundtrack are none other than Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Kings of Leon.
“Fortunately, I’m not at the stage where I have to turn anybody down yet, because everything is still kind of up in the air,” Weitz shared, “but I am surprised at some of the bands that have said they’re interested. It’s kind of great. The criterion will still always be what’s right for the movie at that given moment, but Thom Yorke is interested; we might, if we’re very lucky, get Kings of Leon to do something… it’s exciting to be able to have access to this kind of talent.”
The L.A. Times also has an interview with Weitz and had this to say:
Driving home from a day of post-production, Weitz says he understands what’s at stake. There are 450 visual effects shots to complete, in addition to the score and the movie’s soundtrack, which he says will feature songs from Radiohead, Muse and Band of Skulls, among others. But the sequences he’s readying for the event — one, an action scene that will feature some of those effects, the other, a love scene sure to elicit hysteria from the crowd — will be done in time.
Obviously this is a rumor and until it is confirmed officially by the band, we’ll treat it as one. We’re a bit skeptical…
Read the full Rotten Tomatoes interview here and the L.A. Times interview here.
Photo by kenigma
Thom Yorke played a solo set today at the Latitude Festival in the UK. Among a mixture of songs from Radiohead and The Eraser, Thom did debut a new song called “The Present Tense.” Another new song called “Give Up Ghost” was on the setlist but never played.
Thom did treat everyone to two fan favorites, “True Love Waits” and “Follow Me Around”. Neither song has been recorded and released on a studio album.
Full setlist:
01 The Eraser
02 Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
03 Atoms For Peace
04 Harrowdown Hill
05 Follow Me Around
06 Everything In Its Right Place
07 The Present Tense
08 Cymbal Rush
09 Black Swan
10 Videotape
Encore:
11 There There
12 True Love Waits
For your video viewing pleasure:
“The Present Tense”
“True Love Waits”
“Cymbal Rush”
“Black Swan”
[UPDATED] Replaced “The Present Tense” video with a better quality one. (thanks Tim)