Saturday, October 10, 2020

Around the Tubes: October 9, 2020

 

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Greta Van Fleet, Benee, Evie Irie, Gotts Street Park, Bob Marley, Driving While Black, The Circus, Shut Up and Dribbleand Americanan Selfie.

Greta Van Fleet releases its first new song in more than a year, “My Way, Soon” (Lava/Republic Records.)  The song is a liberating and jubilant track that celebrates and reflects the band’s personal transformation over the past three years.  Also released is the track’s companion music video, which was shot, edited, and directed by the band.  Go HERE to check out “My Way, Soon."

New Zealand’s platinum sensation BENEE unveils the official video for her latest single “Snail” today—watch it HERE!  For the visual, BENEE and director Anita Fontaine deliver a lush and larger-than-life fantasy befitting of the track. In the colorful clip, BENEE wakes up to feed her giant snail roommates and slides around their slime trails before heading to work in her secret elf lab. Soon, she’s cycling out of her home—a concrete replica of her own head—out into a storm. After being struck by lightning, our heroine turns into an elf and cruises through a mushroom wonderland under the glow of an aurora borealis-style blanket of colors across the sky. Reflective of her personality, it pops off as her biggest and boldest video to date.

Following her highly anticipated project, The Optimist EP, Sydney-born singer/songwriter Evie Irie releases the official music video “Carry Your Heart” today.  Watch the “Carry Your Heart” official music video   HERE  Listen to The Optimist EP HERE  The “Carry Your Heart” official music video transcends viewer to passenger of Evie’s cross-continental adventures and infectious energy. Billboard sums up “Carry Your Heart” best, “Within the same minute on the gentle pop track, the singer-songwriter’s voice can sound like it’s about to shatter into pieces, and then summons a towering confidence.”

Today Leeds based four piece Gotts Street Park have shared new track "Everything" (via Blue Flowers) that features soulful vocalist Rosie Lowe. Listen and watch it's beautiful accompanying video HERE.  Recorded during lockdown, "Everything" showcases the distinctively rich, sultry vocals of Rosie Lowe, on an atmospheric and canyon-deep groove. "Everything" is taken from Gotts Street Park’s upcoming second EP, Volume Two, which is due for release on November 27, 2020. Volume Two features an impressive array of material and stellar collaborations including Pip Millett, Flikka, Zilo and Grand Pax. The video features two dancers twisting and folding into each other, as they navigate the magnitude of new love.

UMe and Tuff Gong announce three new and exclusive limited-edition collector series coming later this year.  On December 11, twelve limited-edition Bob Marley vinyl LP's, each numbered and pressed exclusively at the legendary Tuff Gong International headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, will be available, featuring nine original studio albums and two original live albums, plus the world's best-selling reggae albumLegendall including a highly-desirable Tuff Gong stamp. Additionally, Catch A Fire, originally recorded by The Wailers in Jamaica and eventually released with overdubs and a mix overseen by Island founder Chris Blackwell at the label's London headquarters, will be available in its original Jamaica-recorded version, with two extra tracks from the sessions and some tracks with longer fades. Produced entirely by Bob Marley & the Wailers and mixed by longtime Marley associate Errol Brown, this Jamaican version will be on vinyl for the first time.  The limited-edition albums were pressed at Tuff Gong's newly refurbished vinyl pressing plant, which re-opened in summer 2020 and will have an annual capacity of 250,000 units. Each album was mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters in Los Angeles.  To view the full list of the limited-edition Jamaican LPs, click HERE To listen or purchase, click HERE.

DRIVING WHILE BLACK: RACE, SPACE AND MOBILITY IN AMERICA – a ground-breaking, two-hour documentary film by acclaimed historian Dr. Gretchen Sorin and Emmy–winning director Ric Burns – will air on PBS this Tuesday, October 13, 2020 at 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). Watch the trailer now here.  Chronicling the riveting history and personal experiences – at once liberating and challenging, harrowing and inspiring, deeply revealing and profoundly transforming  –  of African Americans on the road from the advent of the automobile through the seismic changes of the 1960s and beyond – DRIVING WHILE BLACK explores the deep background of a recent phrase rooted in realities that have been an indelible part of the African American experience for hundreds of years – told in large part through the stories of the men, women and children who lived through it.

THE CIRCUS: INSIDE THE CRAZIEST POLITICAL CAMPAIGN ON EARTH continues its fifth season this Sunday as President Trump's recovery from Covid-19 sidelines him during a key stretch of the 2020 race. Hosts John Heilemann, Alex Wagner and Mark McKinnon, along with guest contributor Jennifer Palmieri, unpack another unprecedented week of news, including the vice presidential debate, unanswered questions about the President's condition and an ongoing health crisis at the White House. For a preview, go to: https://youtu.be/sl4fb2AdQbA.

SHOWTIME Sports has announced a short feature series from the makers of SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE, the 2018 Showtime Sports Documentary Films series from executive producers LeBron James and Maverick Carter of The SpringHill Company and Emmy Award® winning director Gotham Chopra of Religion of Sports. The new, six-part series features bonus footage and never-before-seen elements from the original series, which spotlights the changing role of basketball and its athletes in advancing social justice and civil rights. Each five-to-seven-minute short, voiced by journalist Jemele Hill, will be released on the SHOWTIME Basketball YouTube Channel and air interstitially on SHOWTIME over the next two weeks.

 Showtime Documentary Films announced today it will premiere acclaimed filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi’s new film AMERICAN SELFIE: ONE NATION SHOOTS ITSELon Friday, October 23 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. A visceral cross-country journey during one of the most tumultuous years in history and chilling in its foreshadowing, the feature documentary fearlessly enters the heart of a nation and reflects back urgent, and at times, uncomfortable, truths. SHOWTIME has also released the trailer and poster art for the film, which is executive produced by Sheila Nevins for MTV Documentary Films. The announcement was made by Vinnie Malhotra, Executive Vice President, Nonfiction Programming, Showtime Networks Inc.   To watch and share the trailer, visit: https://youtu.be/kzthKcXwH-0.

Sunday, October 04, 2020

57 Channels and Only This is On: September 4, 2020

 
 
Lovecraft Country:  Was that supposed to be a Quantum Leap homage because that was the vibe I got.  Otherwise, it was the least interesting episode which just left me hoping someone would finally get around to a Quantum Leap reboot.
 
Fargo:  I left the first episode thinking that Chris Rock, the morticians, and the crazy nurse were in cahoots to kill the head of the Italian mob.  But in the second it looked like the crazy nurse was… just crazy.  Plus Chris probably would want him around since he agreed to give him the slaughterhouse that the brother does not seem interested in letting go now.  Plus that is the Fargo way, a comical series of errors are set off by an unforeseen act.  Though I am still predicting that Chris is the father of the little girl.
You can download Fargo on iTunes.
 
Raised by Wolves:  Um, so creepy android lady gave birth to a flying snake baby through her mouth (I guess that answer the question did they give android genitalia, granted, Father looking like a Ken Doll in his skin tight suit kind of already answered that).  Um, okay.  Interesting way to end the season.