Written, directed by and starring Penelope Cruz – L’Agent by Agent Provocateur – AW14 2014 Campaign Video. This should spice up your Friday! Definitely NSFW!
This could be Agent Provocateur’s raciest video yet. Penelope Cruz drives a Cadillac full of models into the desert. The women pile out of the car, strip off – revealing the wonderful lingerie collection – and start doing their sexy dance…A young man (played by top model Jon Kortajarena), lost in the desert and desperate for water spies the group of women from afar and can’t believe what he is seeing. It’s a mirage of course – poor guy! But no more spoilers, watch the video and see for yourself how good it is! Agent Provocateur tag the video with this description: “The lost explorer’s sparkling mirage of everything he’d ever dreamt of – and more.”
The collection is wonderful – featuring bright, bold colours and prints from neon orange to peacock green. The choreography is by celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson and music from OPTIMIST by Eduardo Cruz.
In an interview in the Daily Mail Penelope Cruz said:”Monica and I are really happy with our Autumn Winter 2014 collection, it’s really vibrant. So I felt it was really important to create a very sensual film that could also tell a little story, like the first one I did. I got the idea for the film while I was listening to the track from Optimist, “Single Dutch”, by Eduardo Cruz. His music always inspires me so much. Collaborating with Tracy on the choreography was the perfect fit and brought a great dynamic to the set.”
In theatres this weekend is the insane disaster film Into the Storm. This is ‘Twister’ on steroids. The special effects are flawless – you’ll be on the edge of your seat.
The action takes place in a fictional town in the Midwest and we see the storm through the eyes of a group of storm chasers.
Without looking at details like the plot and the characters this film delivers some pretty scary visuals for our climate change era. If you want to see insanely large tornadoes and devastation on a massive scale the film delivers. The Forbes review put it very succinctly “Into the Storm gives you plenty of rock-solid disaster porn.”
The character and narrative have been torn apart by most reviewers as a kind of mush that just doesn’t work. But honestly, who cares about details of the plot when all you want to see is the big show? Special effects have come a long way since the release of ‘Twister’ 18 years ago and disaster-junkies will leave the theatre on a high. Even those who are not that into the disaster thrill cannot fail to be affected by the awesomeness of the storm.
Everyone on screen is busy filming everyone else – this is a “found footage” movie – which sometimes gets a bit extreme. Disaster strikes under the watchful lens of someone’s mobile phone which is in the process of shooting someone else shooting someone else.
Directed by Steven Quale, an experienced disaster movie maker – Titanic and Avatar – this is technically an incredible achievement. Its authentic and delivers some really frightening moments, without dragging along – it clocks in at just under 90 minutes.
No one goes to a movie like this for the elegant dialogue and fine acting – it’s a roller coaster ride! Hold on!
Australian singer-songwriter, Sia Furler, claimed the Nº1 spot on the US album charts with her sixth studio album, “1000 Forms of Fear”, on the back of the success of her hit single “Chandelier”. After having spent time hiding away from the spotlight, writing hits for other artists, such as “Pretty Hurts” for Beyoncé, “Diamonds” for Rihanna and David Guetta’s “Titanium”, Sia has returned to the mic to record an album full of songs she simply could not let go of. The result – a pouring out of emotional maturity, honesty, vulnerability, humanity, creativity, all hidden beneath the layers of smart, consistent and powerful pop music.
“1000 Forms of Fear is pop music turned into pain, instead of vice versa, like we’re used to.” – Consequence of Sound.
Indeed, Sia uses every stunning and gripping element of pop to communicate her story, writing intimate songs mostly about pain and “delivering [that] great pain with even greater triumph” through her beautiful and athletic vocal cartwheels, melodic diversity and deep lyrical content.
Sia deals with matters of love and pain as well as matters of life and death, allowing herself to dabble into an array of songs, from power-ballads to pop-classics to rock-opera anthems, that give the album an overall sense of completeness and accomplishment.
Sia’s hit single and album-opening track, “Chandelier” beautifies the diary of an alcoholic, revealing every process of the desperate cycle, with its heedless highs and its despairing lows, through a triumphal pop production and a mind-blowing vocal performance. Indeed, “Chandelier” is the Rihanna song that had too much of Sia in it to become another “Diamonds.” – Consequence of Sound. The song’s music video, featuring an amazing performance by 11-year old Maddie Ziegler, victoriously colours the song in beauty, elegance, dynamism, energy and spirit.
“Big Girls Cry” is one of the most vulnerable and gorgeous songs on the album. It conveys the emotional journey into heartache, it’s “agony”, and the fear of loneliness. Sia’s vocals are coloured with pain and perfectly convey the lyrics “big girls cry when their hearts are breaking.”
While “Burn The Pages” contains all the qualities of an anthem and tells the story of a broken girl having to let go, “Eye of the Needle” is a stunning piano ballad about not wanting to let go. The chorus sings: “And you’re locked inside my heart/ And your melody’s an art/ And I won’t let the terror in, I’m stealing time/ Through the eye of the needle.” Sia’s versatile voice is glorified as she belts elastic vocals that oscillate between rock and opera.
“Hostage” lightens the mood set up by the album’s opening four tracks and turns the beat up a notch. The song sounds like an early Kings of Leon-meets-Amy Winehouse-meets-Gwen Steffani toe-tapping and upbeat pop track. Yet Sia brings everything back down again in “Straight for the Knife”, a hazy and atmospheric grand ballad that dips into the world of Lana Del Rey. Full of hurt, this song is about being tormented by a lover who knows your weaknesses and uses them to cut deep beneath the layers and inflict maximum pain. Here, Sia’s presence and wandering vocals are timeless yet ephemeral at once.
Despite all the pain caused by another, “Fair Game” looks into love’s mind games and Sia admits she doesn’t play fair either in her stinging piano and drum-heavy track, which is followed by the synth-pop Diplo-produced track, “Elastic Heart”, which features in the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” soundtrack (read our blog here) and conveys all the bravery, strength and fearlessness embodied by Katniss Everdeen. The soundtrack reached Nº5 on the Billboard 200.
While “Free The Animal” is an electric pop track that attempts to break the dualities of love/hate and love/death, the cinematic and defiant track “Fire Meet Gasoline”, uses the song’s title as a metaphor to convey the connection and passion that can exist between two people and the pain that one endures when “the fire dies”. Sia admits, “Darkened skies/ Hot ash… Only smoke is left… Certain death.”
While the cutting-edge and hazy track “Cellophane” makes a direct reference to mental instability, helplessness and the need for love as Sia piercingly sings the lyrics “I’d have fallen through the cracks without your love tonight… while I fall apart you’ll hide my pills again”, the album’s closing track “Dressed In Black” is about Sia defeating the feeling of loneliness, as a new-found-love brings her back to life. She sings: “I was dressed in black… You took my hand in yours/ You started breaking down my walls/ And you covered my heart in kisses.”
Apart from love’s unfair game, part of the pain Sia transmits comes from her experience with fame and the consequences that come with it. The world now knows that Sia is a “reluctant star” that hides her face from the public eye and rebels against the general concept of fame. Her record deal specifies nominal promotion.
Still, “1000 Forms of Fear” debuted at Nº1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 52,000 copies in the album’s first week of release. Kitty Empire (The Guardian) writes “1000 Forms of Fear” is “probably her best, the result of years of refining her art (yes, writing pop smashes is an art) and of feeling wretched and unloved despite all her success.”
Sia is, no doubt, a master songwriter and vocal brilliance – it’s clear to most that it’s Sia’s time to “shine bright like a diamond”.
To learn more about Sia, listen to her sincere and outspoken interview with Howard Stern:
Congratulations to Sia who just got married this past weekend to her boyfriend Erik Anders Lang. They tied the knot in Sia’s home town – Palm Springs, California
Don’t have Creation 5? Download it from the App Store!
Have a problem with your body image? Meghan Trainor’s debut single “All About That Bass” should help. Tons of airplay and a general buzz about the track have sent it straight to the top of the iTunes charts and to Nº8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The pastel-pink, adorable video stars Meghan and a sassy troupe of dancers who have no problem flaunting “all the right junk in all the right places.” Also featuring in this clip is Vine superstar Sione Maraschino – watch the video and you’ll see that he can shake his booty just as well as the ladies!
Meghan Trainor is a singer-songwriter from Nashville and this debut single is bringing her into the realm of pop star. The positive message behind the song is so needed these days: It doesn’t matter what your body type is, as long as you know how to work what you’ve got. “I’m here to tell you that every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top!”. The song is very retro, R&B with a Motown blend.
Meghan, in a interview with Billboard magazine, said that she wrote the song for herself: “I wrote it for me, as well, because I’ve struggled with [body image] since I was very young. And, my best friend is a beautiful goddess, but she’ll pick on herself in the mirror. “My forehead’s too big,” or, “My shoulders go out too far …” So, if other girls can relate to the song, it makes me feel even better. It’s unreal that I’m kind of helping people.”
“I saw a feature on The Ellen DeGeneres Show about that model who was Photoshopped to have extra-long arms. I was like, this is getting out of control. Someone needs to say something! So, when I got my record deal, and with this song, I was like, perfect, I have the opportunity to say something to the world. I’ll take it. This is the best message I could say.”
All About That Bass debuts at No. 13 on Streaming Songs with 4.2 million plays (up 141 percent) and posts the biggest jump of the week on the radio-based Pop Songs chart (37-23, up 77% in plays). Meghan has seen a 68 percent rise in new Twitter followers last week alone and a 433% gain in Twitter mentions! She’s hot!
Meghan has been writing songs since she was 11 years old. She released her debut album in 2011 – “I’ll Sing With You”, but it wasn’t till this year that she found fame. L.A. Reid heard Trainor’s demo of “All About That Bass” and immediately signed her to Epic Records.
Get ready for the last ride! The Expendables 3 hits theatres this month and although most critics have torn it apart calling it a ‘geri-action’ adventure with a threadbare plot, if it’s action you want – you’ve got it!
The reviews haven’t been great – Rotten Tomatoes have given it a miserable 33% and IMDB slightly better at 6.4 out of 10.
Digital Spy: “If it wasn’t for a nostalgic affection for the cast and their previous endeavours, The Expendables 3 would be borderline unreleasable. The big name involvement ensures that the movie is watchable, but the underdeveloped script and unconvincing direction do them a great disservice.”
Hollywood Reporter: “With no higher purpose than generating cash and allowing for a few shared laughs among old buddies on repetitive assignments to take out tyrannical despots and nefarious arms dealers, the Expendables lack the dimensionality of enduring screen characters, despite the iconic roles many of these actors have played in other films.”
Whatever the reviews say, as Stallone says “Let’s do what we do”. This movie is mindless entertainment – and that is said with the greatest respect, because mindless entertainment is great fun! The action starts really early and never stops, the explosions are awesome and it has everything a good action movie should have.
Actually, it’s closer to a show that a movie – it feels like the lads are back together for one last run, to show us that they’ve still got it. And they’ve still got it! They might be geriatric, as many are saying, but there are teenagers who don’t look as good as this bunch.
There is also talk of a spin off – The Expendabelles – which is due to start shooting early next year. Speaking at the premiere in central London on Monday producer Avi Lerner explained: “We are writing the final lines of the script, we’ve got lots of ideas about who is going to be in it. We’re going to do it at the beginning of next year, that’s all I can say about this movie right now.”
The Expendables 3 hits theatres in the US on August 15.
TheScript honor everyday Superheroes in their new music video shot in Alexandra, Johannesburg. A Heartwarming song with an equally inspiring video.
Superheroes is the first single from their upcoming album No Sound Without Silence. Directed by Vaughan Arnell, the video celebrates the everyday heroes of the city and in particular a father on his workday.
The lyrics are beautiful: “When you’ve been fighting for it all your life / You’ve been struggling to make things right / That’s how a superhero learns to fly / Every day, every hour Turn the pain into power.”
Superheroes is a song full of hope and was one of the first tracks to be written for the new album – inspired by the highs the band experienced as they came off stage at the end of one of their sold out stadium shows in the US.
No Sound Without Silence, the bands fourth studio album, is actually the sound of the Script firing on all cylinders. It was written whilst the band were touring in 2013 – they used a specially built mobile recording studio. The tour lasted 11 months and they played to sold out audiences in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia – including two special shows at the O2 in London. As soon as thy finished touring they took a couple of weeks off and then hit the studios again in London and Dublin to finish the work.
The Script have achieved a huge amount of success globally, selling more than 20 million records – all three of their albums have gone multi-platinum worldwide. They have done particularly well in the US where they have sold over one million albums and have 5 platinum singles.
No Sound Without Silence is a phrase derived from an idea put forward by the band, lead vocalist Danny O’Donoghue said “The time we’ve been away touring, we’ve had time to contemplate about what we want to say to the (music) industry. There is no sound without silence. You can’t have anything good to say if you don’t think about it first”.
No Sound Without Silence will be released on September 12 in Ireland and September 15 in the UK by Columbia Records.
Ed Sheeran has released a new video for Don’t which features a seriously flexible dancer who pop locks his way from rags to riches in Los Angeles.
Following Ed’s video for ‘Sing’ he only makes two small cameo appearances in this video. The dancer wakes up in the ghetto and slowly makes his way into better and better homes, changing his clothes as he goes. He finally ends up in a beautiful LA mansion, gets suited and booted and then shows off some serious matrix-like dance moves.
The song might be inspired by a break-up but the music video, directed by Emil Nava, is quite inspirational. In an article by Rolling Stone Ed explains that the song is about a real-life romance with another singer who slept with one of Sheeran’s close friends while they were staying in the same hotel. And it definitely was not about Taylor Swift, contrary to internet rumours. “It’s 100 percent not about Taylor,” he said. “Taylor’s one of these people that if you piss her off and she writes a song about you, it’s not good news for you. I’ve never dated Taylor. I’ve dated a few singers, though.”
Don’t is the second single from Ed’s hugely popular second album X which has now been at Nº1 on the UK charts for six weeks – it’s the biggest selling album of the year in the UK.
The ‘Don’t’ EP is slated for release on August 24, and it includes a Rick Ross remix of the track as well as ‘Be My Husband (live at Glastonbury)’ plus ‘Everything You Are’.
Lana Del Rey takes on the role of a bride in her ethereal Ultraviolence video. Only problem is, where is the groom?
In line with Lana’s recent videos, this video is set in early 60’s Americana and the footage is grainy with washed out colours, which certainly gives it the ‘home video’ vibe. In fact, the whole video was shot on an iPhone. It’s a very dreamy visual and goes so well with the music.
The whole video sees Lana in a low-cut wedding dress walking slowly through a forest (was she inspired by the Kardashian-West wedding?) en route to an altar. And even though no one is there when Lana finally arrives, the video still manages to be hopelessly romantic – despite lyrics like “He hit me and it felt like a kiss.”
Lana explained her reasons for singing lines like this in her Rolling Stone cover story. “I’m very selfish. I make everything for me, kind of. I mean, every little thing, down to the guitar and the drums. It’s just for me…”
Lana is the only person to feature in the video though you do see a man’s hand – possibly the Director’s, Francesco Carrozzini.
Ultraviolence is the title track from Lana’s third studio album, released on June 13, 2014 by Interscope and Polydor Records. The album debuted at Nº1 in twelve countries and saw first-week sales of 880,000 copies. Sales now exceed one million worldwide.
Lollapalooza kicked off the August festival season by setting the bar high! Over the course of three days, Chicago’s Grant Park saw 300,000 festivalgoers and 130 artists attend the festival madness, and included headlining performances from Eminem, Skrillex, Calvin Harris and Outkast.
But it’s not over yet! Boom Festival opened its gates only a couple of hours ago and thousands of international ravers are currently making their way over for a week of magical extravaganzas.
In the pipeline are festivals in Sweden, Canada, Hungary, and in several cities across the UK and the US. Year in and year out, we are spoilt with choice when it comes to music festivals.
Boom Festival
August 04 – 11, 2014 Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal
“Boom is not only a festival, it’s a state of mind. Inspired by the principles of Oneness, Peace, Creativity, Sustainability, Transcendence, Alternative Culture, Active Participation, Evolution and Love, it is a space where people from all over the world can converge to experience an alternative reality.” – Boom Festival.
Held biannually just off the border of Spain, in Portugal, Boom Festival is a bohemian mishmash of art, music, culture and spirituality, where every festival goer is a VIP; there are no echelons, no VIP areas, no special treatments.
Boom Festival first began in 1997, where people from all over the world would flock over to Portugal for a weeklong festival of psychedelic music, including trance, chill-out, alternative and all other sorts of electric styles. Art and performance are also a big attraction, with circus, street theatre, jugglers, fire shows, film screenings, and a variety of sculptures scattered across the grounds.
Boom Festival also focuses its sustainable spirit, art and culture, and energy to create a transformational experience for those who seek one. Free spirits are encouraged to communicate without words in order to eliminate all social and cultural norms that influence our daily lives.
The festival also provides a Healing Area, in which group workshops, sound journeys, mediation and therapy take place, and where love, compassion, wisdom, beauty, patience, acceptance, forgiveness and kindness are practiced.
Boom also has an Environmental Program and has been recognised with the Outstanding Greener Festival Award. It strongly focuses on clean energy, encourages participants to recycle and uses biodegradable products.
Boom Festival starts today (August 4). If this bohemian experience speaks to the inner you, check out the website and book your tickets for Boom Festival 2016!
Seen as the “Swedish Woodstock” or the Glastonbury of the 21st Century, Way Out West has become one of the most popular cultural festivals in Europe, centred on music, film, art and a carbon-free footprint. The Swedish festival first began in 2006, after Sony, Spotify and Stockhold-based music producer Luger teamed up to host Way Out West.
With a healthy and eco-friendly mind-set, where alcohol and drugs are trumped by dancing, where camping and crowd-surfing aren’t permitted, where all food served in the park is vegetarian, and where all plates and cutlery are biodegradable and all festival merchandise are made from organic materials, it’s no wonder Way Out West has won several awards, including MTV’s O Award for Most Innovative Festival.
During the daytime, there is a selection of 50 different musical acts on three different stages, food stalls, a merchandise market and street art installations. The park itself has a zoo, a couple of lakes, and both playing and picnic fields.
At nightfall, Way Out West transforms itself into Stay Out West. Venues, pubs, clubs, museums and churches all around the city open their doors to host a diversity of events, with international acts as well as local acts providing entertainment until the early hours of dawn.
Film and talks are also a big part of the experience. Music videos screenings and documentaries are played in theatres across the city, while art, advertising and journalism talks are held in auditoriums.
The musical roster is an impressive one and has seen the likes of Prince, Florence and The Machine, Sigur Rós, Public Enemy and Manu Chao bless the stage. This year’s line-up is of no disappointment either – acts such as Outkast, Clean Bandit, Jamie XX, Queens of The Stone Age, Icona Pop and Little Dragon are to perform (to list a just few!).
Apparently at Shambhala, “DJ’s play in the heart of the forest out of burnt-out, old grown cedar tree stumps while surrounded on all sides by fire-breathers, hula dancers, fairies, furries, and various creatures of night.” – 300fest.
Every year, the Bundschuh family open the gates to their 500-acre Salmo River Ranch, to host the largest EDM festival in Western Canada. Shambhala Festival, first created by the Bundschuh kids in 1998, with two stages and 500 attendees, now has six stages and over 10,000 attendees. With 200 shambassadors (volunteers) and no corporate sponsorship, this extended family affair, filled with team spirit and a feel-good, cosy, home-y vibe, has achieved more than any working ranch, with cows, horses, pigs, chickens, and miniature donkeys, would have expected.
More than just an EDM rave, Shambhala has art installations, painted murals, yoga platforms, meditation bays, craft workshops, ethical fair trade vendors, hip-hop and beatboxing acts.
Sziget festival has been described as “an electronically amplified, warped amusement park.” Held on the island of Óbudai-Sziget, in the heart of Budapest, Sziget has become one of the most popular European festivals, and has recently received the merit of “Europe’s Best Major Festival” for its 24h jumble of music, art, food, performance and regional culture. There’s also a luminarium!
The festival has been deemed the Eastern European Burning Man (see below), but its array of musical experiences sets it apart from any other festival. The musical diversity showcased at Sziget certainly has something for everyone.
Plus, the city of Budapest is itself a huge attraction. You’d be crazy not to escape from the island madness for a day and discover one of the only cities left in Europe that has a raw vibe to it.
This year’s line-up includes Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Skrillex, Bastille, Imagine Dragons, The Kooks, Stromae, London Grammar and so many more.
August 22 – 24, 2014 Daresbury Estate, United Kingdom
Creamfields, one of the largest electronic dance music festivals in Britain featuring live acts and DJ’s, has set off a dozen other Creamfield festivals around the world. The 3-day event, held on August bank holiday weekend in Daresbury, expects 200 artists to fill 11 stages during the course of the weekend. Party people are looking forward to huge LED screens, VIP lounges, cocktail bars, fairground rides, and silent discos, to top off their rave experience that includes a cocktail of genres such as drum ‘n’ bass, techno, dubstep, electronica and deep, hard, tribal, funky and indie house.
Creamfields was spawned by the success of Liverpool’s nightclub, Cream. The success of Cream’s weekly music night that showcases international DJ’s led to Cream hosting a night in Amnesia, the award-winning and world famous nightclub in Ibiza. Cream then launched itself into the festival market in 1998. Creamfields has since expanded its reach and has organised festivals in Dublin, Buenos Aires, Andalucía, and more.
Creamfields has one of the most vibrant summer music festival vibes around. This year’s line-up is yet again unbelievable.
For a last minute chance to see Avicii, Deadmau5, Armin Van Buuren, Steve Angelo, Eric Prydz, Maya Jane Cole, Skream, Pete Tong, Joris Voorn and so many others, all in one place, check out the website!
Notting Hill Carnival
August 24 – 25, 2014 London, United Kingdom
“A battle of the bands makes for some frenetic and full-contact dancing. The costumes are as beautiful as the copious amounts of bare flesh, with silver-sequined G-strings shaking to the sound of samba.” – 300fest.
Recognised as one of the largest street festivals in the world, Notting Hill Carnival uses music and dance as a means to interconnect cultures. The festival was first set up to celebrate diversity and shake off racial tensions.
Before Notting Hill became a “poshemian” (boho and posh) district around the 1980s, it was a run-down neighbourhood home to West Indian immigrants. In January 1959, following the 1958 Notting Hill race riots in which a mob of 300 plus working-class whites attacked West Indian immigrants in their Notting Hill homes, an immigrant from Trinidad decided to throw a carnival in St. Pancras Town Hall in a celebration to repair cultural differences and celebrate heterogeneity. Since, it has escalated to the Jamaican hippie-inspired festival that it is today and brings in at least £100 million a year.
With its mixture of scenes, from family-friendly events to parades with costumes that take on a sexy twist on “Adult Day”, with a mixture of floats ranging from masquerade to steel drums to calypso and SOCA, the musical clashes end up sounding like a mashup of calypso vs. drum ‘n’ bass and dancehall vs. disco.
There’s also a bunch of street vendors along the route, selling jerk chicken and other typical Caribbean dishes in between the music and dancing.
August 25 – September 1, 2014 Black Rock Desert, Nevada, United States
The Burning Man Project takes place in the middle of the Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, USA. For 7 days, Black Rock City is a place of community, art, self-expression and self-reliance, where the people are guided by ten principles that echo the cultural spirit of the event: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, immediacy.
It is a place built by the participants from scratch and where everything is set on fire at the end, to leave without a trace. The burning of the large wooden effigy (the burning man) ritually takes place on the Saturday night. Within the city are innovative sculptures, installations, performances, theme camps, art cars, and all-flower costumes. The temperature drops below 0 degrees C at night and soars to 45 degrees C during the day.
“The Picnic is, in short, a picnic, a feast for the intellect, aesthetic and all the senses via its music, art and narrative.” – 300fest.
Electric Picnic is a quirky and weird boutique festival held in the green Irish countryside.
Aside from its eclectic line-up that includes Foals, Paolo Nutini, Chic ft. Nile Rodgers, Lilly Allen, Flume, Clean Bandit, James Vincent McMorrow, SBTRKT, London Grammar, Metronomy… It has a Body & Soul stage made from fallen trees, a collection of creative art installations, with trails that meander “under circus top tents, through fairy-tale forests and past psychedelic installations”. It also has a Trailer Park, in which you may find a jumble of painting, graffiti, installations, electronica, performance art, public theatre, restaurants, mini music venues, carnivals, and a bunch of caravans.
What’s more, there is a Comedy Tent that showcases great Irish comedy, which is considered one of the most important events of the Picnic and is an integral part of the whole Electric Picnic experience. There is also a Spoken Word area that seeks to carry on the Irish storytelling tradition, with talks that range from love to loss to TED-style talks, on subjects ranging from pop culture to academia. Plus, there is an area dedicated to oral performance in Gaelic.
August 29 – 31, 2014 Randall’s Island Park, NYC, United States
Electric Zoo Festival, held annually over Labour Day weekend, is an electric music festival that gathers top international DJ’s and live acts on New York City’s Randall Island. Since it first began in 2009, the festival has received International Dance Music Award nominations for Best Music Event in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. In 2013, Electric Zoo announced that it would expand and launch the first edition of Electric Zoo in Mexico City in May 2014.
Due to a tragic incident at last year’s festival, where two members of the Electric Zoo family were lost to a drug overdose, Electric Zoo has released a statement that reads: “Our hearts are heavy, by our resolve is firm. Drugs have no place in this celebration.” This year, festival goers are expected to come together and enjoy the music, while they dance without Molly.
This year’s line-up includes David Guetta, Nicky Romero, Dubfire, Jamie XX, Laidback Luke, Sub Focus, Kaskade, Chase & Status, Netsky, and the list goes on!
August 30 – September 01, 2014 Seattle, Washington, United States
Bumbershoot is not just a festival, it’s many festivals in one, over the course of three days. Bumbershoot is a music festival, as well as a comedy, literature, theatre, film, visual arts, history, pop culture festival… with some much more to offer than the latter.
With it’s amazing line-up, over 100 film screenings, mini intimate venues, artisan chocolate markets and, believe it or not, scheduled zombie walks, Bumbershoot sounds like a place full of fun!
It’s also family-friendly, with free access passes for kids and a Youngershoot within the festival confines, where kids can act, paint, sing dance, and basically have as much fun as their parents, if not more!
The mysterious LA-based producer & vocalist Zhu now has his first UK Top 10 – new in a Nº3 this week – with ‘Faded’. The black-and-white, arty music video is a racy romp through the Paris club scene, filmed in the Montemarte districts’ subterranean Social Club.
This is Zhu’s first music video and the world still doesn’t seem to know who he really is. He doesn’t appear in the video (although we’re not sure of this either) but the video does take the viewer on a rather dreamy journey. It seems that being a mystery producer is very ‘de moda’ these days. Everyone’s doing it. Look at Daft Punk or Deadmau5 with his huge mouse head hiding his identity or Jai Paul and Burial who won’t even play live.
Last year Zhu had a twitter, Facebook and last.fm page and then they all mysteriously disappeared, being replaced by new accounts that are empty. I guess ‘Watch this Space’ is the only advice!
Zhu released an EP ‘Nightway’ in April this year, he is now zooming up the charts and we still have no portraits, no live performances, just his distinctive logo and a music video for Faded. The website zhumusic.com doesn’t give anything away either – there is just a soundcloud player and an email sign up.
Apparently his name is Steven Zhu and in his one sole interview with Triple J he mentioned he might be visiting Australia for a live show. “We’ll be over there, I can’t say when, but we will be over there this year at some point,” he said. “I’m very excited; it’s kind of another home (away) from home because you guys were the first to embrace it.”
He also said in the interview that this might be his last interview as he does prefer to keep a low profile, both on and off the stage. When asked whether he would reveal himself during the show, he had this to say: “Whether it’s anonymous or not anonymous, we’re going to definitely bring a great experience,” he said. “Whatever complements the music, you know people definitely see fog in this music and see smoke. We’ll definitely be aware to make sure every sense is getting touched during the show.”
