The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 6 February

NEW VIDEOS: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS, CLUTCH, AUDREY HORNE, COMANECHI, ADEBISI SHANK
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have unveiled the new video for the second track to be taken from Push The Sky Away, due for release on 18 Feb. The song is called Jubilee Street, and is a real highlight from the band's formidable return, which recently claimed album of the month in our current edition. The video re-teams Cave with director John Hillcoat (The Road, The Proposition) and stars Ray Winstone. "It was a real pleasure hanging around the set and watching Ray do his thing," says Cave. "He is a master. What a great actor. And of course, working with my friend and collaborator John Hillcoat is always a blast."

Maryland classic rock combo Clutch also have a new video this week -- Neil Fallon's heavy rock four-piece have revealed a new clip which shows the lyrics of their song, Earth Rocker, rushing towards the viewer across an animated landscape, which seems to be some kind of strange amalgam of The Grid from Tron and Grateful Dead cover art.



Slightly closer to home, London-based noise-rockers Comanechi (now a three-piece), whose new album You Owe Me Nothing But Love is out, appropriately, on Valentine's Day (14 Feb), have unleashed their video for Dream of Dream, a track blending post-punk and solid garage rock riffs. The video also features a cat, so it's essential viewing. You can read their interview with Andy Brown from Divorce, waaay back (well, 2010), right here.

Finally, disciples of ass-shattering riffage will be pleased to hear that visceral Irish math-rock trio Adebisi Shank will re-enter the studio this year to record the follow-up to their critically acclaimed second album. You can watch a live in-studio video of the band performing an early draft of a new song below, tentatively called Thunder. 

NEW MUSIC: KAVINSKY, SPARROW & THE WORKSHOP, WET NUNS, SASHA GO HARD
More new music coming your way -- in the run-up to the release of his overdue, feverishly-anticipated debut album Outrun, French retro-electro producer Kavinsky has released a remix of the track ProtoVision by Mumbai Science. ProtoVision will be the first single from Outrun and will include further remixes by Boys Noize, Sébastien Tellier, Blood Orange, and STS. You can pre-order the single here, and watch a video for the original track.

Local blog and record label Song, By Toad has an exclusive stream of a new song by Sparrow & The Workshop up on their Soundcloud -- showcasing a less folk-y, more rock-driven sound for the band, it will be the first single from their forthcoming third album, and will be released on 11 March.  

On a more raucous note, Sheffield rockers Wet Nuns -- who are hosting their own Summer festival, Detestival this year -- have put up a stream of Broken Teeth, the title track from their forthcoming EP of the same name, due out 18 Feb. Clocking in at just over two minutes, it's a throbbing, sweaty slab of stoner rock. 

Our final new music recommendation of the day comes from rising-star rapper Sasha Go Hard -- her new mixtape, Round 3, features beats and rhymes from an all-star cast including Diplo, Kreayshawn and LE1F. Check out the Diplo-produced track Damn below, and download the mixtape here. 



FESTIVAL WATCH: READING & LEEDS, GOTTWOOD, BLISSFIELDS, EASTERN ELECTRICS, OPTIMUS PRIMAVERA, ISLE OF WIGHT, SOUNDWAVE
Yet more Summer festival action announced, as further lineup details are revealed for the Big Two of the English rock-centric festivals, the twin freaks that are Reading and Leeds (both 23-25 Aug). Joining previously announced acts, headed up by Eminem, will be Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro, plus System Of A Down, Foals, Fall Out Boy and Jake Bugg. Tickets are available now from the respective sites.

Gottwood (20-23 June) is a boutique festival set amongst the forests of Wales, near Anglesey. Their underground dance music-themed lineup promises an intriguing three days of beats, booze and beautiful scenery, with performances from the likes of Extrawelt, Ben UFO, Marcus Intalex and 2 Bad Mice. Tickets are on sale now. 

Another boutique festival, this one taking place inhampshire, announced its headliners this week - Blissfields (5-7 July) will play host to Mystery Jets and Bastille, plus more to be announced. Tickets are on sale.

Taking place in Knebworth Park, the Eastern Electrics (2-4 Aug) festival has an intriguing lineip of house and techno acts, including Dave Clarke, Josh Wink, Maceo Plex, Masters At Work, Maya Jane Coles, Ralph lawson and Sasha. Tickets are on sale now.

The Isle of Wight Festival (13-16 June) has a long and auspicious pedigree, and this year their main stage will be playing host to The Stone Roses, Bon Jovi, Paul Weller, Bloc Party and The Killers, among others. Their dance tent lineup looks pretty tasty as well, with sets from Jaguar Skills, A-Trak, Derrick Carter, Benga and Youngman, Andy C, Grandmaster Flash, Mosca, Wiley, and Friction. Tickets are now on sale.

Soundwave Croatia (18-22 July) is an absolute monster of a festival, claiming 'Europe's most beautiful festival setting.' With a strong focus on hip-hop, dance and experimental music, this year they'll be welcoming DOOM, Bonobo, Homeboy Sandman, Illum Sphere, Om Unit, Anchorsong and Edinburgh's own hip-hop heroes Capital 1212 to the bill. Tickets are on sale here.

Optimus Primavera (see what they did there?) is the sister-festival of Barcelona's Primavera Sound, which is currentlly winning the 'best lineup' competition for Europe by a very, very long chalk. Optimus Primavera (still funny, will remain funny) takes place in Porto, in Portugal from 30 May to 1 June, and will feature My Bloody Valentine, Blur, Grizzly Bear, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Swans, Deerhunter, Fucked Up, James Blake, Dead Can Dance, Four Tet, Liars, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr., Fuck Buttons, Shellac, Nurse With Wound, Melody's Echo Chamber, Meat Puppets, Glass Candy and more. Get those tickets booked.

SAVE THE SCHOOL OF SCOTTISH STUDIES
The School of Scottish Studies is a vital part of Edinburgh University's intellectual architecture, containing not just the collective and ongoing efforts of its students and staff to engage with Scottish culture and history, but a wealth of resources and archive material absolutely invaluable to cultural and social historians, researchers and writers. It is now reported that the School is facing the threat of a potential "carve up," which would separate the world famous archive collection from its associated libraries and from ongoing teaching and research.

The controversial money-saving schemes proposed by the University are strongly opposed by students and staff alike, who fear that precious opportunities to study valuable historical material will be lost to future generations. There is a discussion of the campaign to oppose the changes here, which describes the decision to downgrade the library collections as "inexplicable." If you want to find out more, the campaigners have offered the following proposition: "All interested people are warmly invited to the steps of 27 George Square on any Friday at 13.00hrs. The campaigners will answers questions, listen to your concerns and entertain you with music, story and dance – the fruits of their studies brought vividly to life in a way that the School’s founding ethnologists, Calum Maclean of Raasay and Hamish Henderson, would surely applaud." To oppose the changes and support the campaign, visit the campaign blog. You can sign the petition today. 

THAT'S NO MOON: FUNDING AN OPEN-SOURCE DEATH STAR
Late last year, our American cousins petitioned President Obama about a burning issue - they wanted him to build a Death Star. Obama said no, proving categorically that he simply does not have the stomach, spleen or balls required to run a pan-galactic evil Empire. So what did the plucky Yankees do? They started a Kickstarter to crowd-fund the project. Their (rather conservative) estimate of the project's final cost is £20 million, which they will spend on "more detailed plans, and enough chicken wire to protect reactor exhaust ports." For just a small £10 donation, your name will be "etched onto the underneath of one of the MSE-6-series repair droids used on the finished station." Pledge now - they've already raised over £50,000, but will need your support to reach their target before the campaign elapses in 53 days. 

TRAILERS: SUPERBOWL CLIPS FROM IRON MAN 3 & STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS
Apparently Americans have a thing called 'Football' where they're encased in thick foam, allowed to use their hands, and each goal is followed by an intricate choreographed dance number. Once a year, they celebrate their bizarre regional variaion of this perfectly normal British sport by bringing the best players together for one of their extended 'matches' in an event they have puzzlingly named 'Superbowl,' despite the fact none of the players have super powers, and it has nothing to do with bowls.

The tradition is for Americans to gather around the television, drink Lite Beer and wait for the dreary sport to end so they can ogle vacuous barely-legal cheerleaders, and watch exclusive previews for the coming Summer's big blockbusters. We've already presented the first-round trailers for Iron Man's third screen outing, and J.J. Abrams follow-up to his super-smart Star Trek reboot, which we still believe should have been titled Not The Wrath Of Khan, or possibly The Wrath of Sherlock. Both films debuted new footage in the Superbowl half-time ads - watch the new clips below.