The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 18 February

CURIOSITY ROVER: "MARS, I AM ON YOU"
The Curiosity Rover has been having a rare old time on Mars -- ingesting samples from the planet's surface, beaming back incredible 360-degree panoramic shots, and generally trundling around the empty (as far as we know) planet like an intergalactic beachcomber, noticing shiny stuff. The world has been keeping a keen eye on the rover's progress, and the latest sensational image to be beamed back from the red planet is a fantastic 'selfie' in the classic college-girl, Facebook profile shot style. It has all the hallmarks -- a high angle is used so that Curiosity looks nice and slim, and the rover even has one mechanical arm raised, perhaps in an attempt to throw a NASA gang-sign. Look at the picture in all its hi-res glory here.

FESTIVAL WATCH: FRIGHTENED RABBIT, MODEST MOUSE & YEAH YEAH YEAHS FOR T
Scotland's biggest festival, T in the Park, announced the bulk of its 2013 bill's remainder today. Following previous news of Kraftwerk's addition to the lineup, this latest wave sees Richie Hawtin joining the bill alongside a whole host of old favourites and new faces for the event's 20th year, from relative indie veterans Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Modest Mouse, through to the likes of Frightened Rabbit, British Sea Power, Villagers, Joy Orbison and CHVRCHES. The full bill is here, with tickets now on sale.

ALEX MATSSON & ZEBRA KATZ @ GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL
As Glasgow Film Festival continues, our dedicated reporters and reviewers are bringing you all the latest from the premieres, events and lectures taking place at the Glasgow Film Theatre and venues around the city. You can read our latest reviews and features in The CineSkinny, which you will find at all GFF venues. One event we're particularly looking forward to is the Red Bull Catwalk Studios screening of the new collaborative work from fashion designer Alex Matsson and New York artist and rapper Zebra Katz. The duo have produced an original film and soundtrack, screening at SWG3 on 23 Feb. "Music and fashion have always been closely related and this project explores and nurtures that relationship," says Matsson. "I'm a huge fan of Zebra Katz’ work so it will be really fun to create a body of work together that you can not only see, but hear and feel." This and other fashion-related events in GFF are previewed here by our Fashion Editor. Here's a track from Zebra Katz.

NEW MUSIC: SPARROW & THE WORKSHOP, FOUR TET & ROCKETNUMBERNINE, GHOSTFACE KILLAH, HUDSON MOHAWKE X DISCLOSURE & ALUNAGEORGE
Glasgow-based trio Sparrow & The Workshop have long been firm favourites round these parts -- we first interviewed the band in 2009; we featured them in an exclusive live session at T-in-the-Park 2010; their 2011 album Spitting Daggers received a glowing review back in 2011; and now we're getting excited about the release of their just-announced new album Murderopolis, due in May. It's being released by Song, By Toad and can be pre-ordered now. The Song, By Toad site itself describes the forthcoming effort as musically more "aggressive" and "fierce" than previous outings. We've played you the new track Shock Shock before, but here it is again!

Following the news that Four Tet's Rounds will be getting a re-release this year, the producer has unveiled the fuits of a new project with London's RocketNumberNine. The collaboration is set for release imminently on 12" vinyl, backed with another track, titled Metropolis.

Ask any fan who their favourite Wu-Tang Clan member is and you'll get a different answer -- for some people it's the gravel-lunged voice of Method Man that does it, for others it's the poetic wisdom of GZA, or the tightly-laced production of RZA. But the most frequently namechecked has always been Ghostface Killah -- his tales of high-stakes crime, glamorous gangsters and Clarks Wallabies have been among the most consistently brilliant of any Wu-affiliate. Now Ghostface, aka Tony Starks, is back with a new album produced by Adrian Younge, a crime and horror-themed concept album titled Twelve Reasons To Die. Thematically and sonically, it sounds like a return to the effortlessly cool, funk and soundtrack-influenced sounds of his seminal debut, Ironman. The first track, The Rise of the Ghostface Killah, is available as a free download from Pitchfork.

Hudson Mohawke can do no wrong at the moment -- from the rise-and-rise of TNGHT, to his recent Valentine's Day mixtape, the young producer from Glasgow is kicking ass and taking names. For his latest trick, he's remixed a collaboration between post-dubstep duo Disclosure and alt.R'n'B stars Alunageorge. It's an awesome track, bubbling synths riding a low-slung hip-hop beat and a sugary vocal hook.

NEW VIDEOS: EMPTY MANSIONS, P.O.S.
Side-project or supergroup? Empty Mansions are a little bit of both. Formed by Sam Fogarino of Interpol, alongside Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard / Tomahawk) and Brandon Curtis (Secret Machines), they have a new album -- snakes / vultures / sulfate -- out on 2 April. The first cut from the album, That Man, grumbles along in a darkly attractive Nick Cave / Tom Waits fashion -- check out the video below.

Released back in October, we were pretty impressed with We Don't Even Live Here, the fourth album from rapper P.O.S., formerly a member of Doomtree. The standout cut when we reviewed the album was the anti-capitalist banger Fuck Your Stuff, but another strong track from the album is the track which gives the album it's name Weird Friends (We Don't Even Live Here). The rapper has now unveilied the video for that track, and it plays like an updated version of the classic video for The Prodigy's No Good (Start The Dance). Check it out below.

THE EDINBURGH LECTURES 2013: SCOTLAND, NATURALLY!
Each year, The Edinburgh Lectures brings together a programme of speakers from across the artistic, academic and cultural spectrum to shed light on a range of topics, themed around a specific strand. This year's strand is about the beauty of Scotland, celebrating the rich natural heritage of the country. The lecture series begins on 27 Feb - full details of speakers, lecture times and topics to be covered are available here. Keep up to date with forthcoming events on the Edinburgh Lectures Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter.

ARGO: THE TRUE STORY
Ben Affleck's magnificent, Oscar-nominated thriller Argo tells the story of the 1979 Tehran hostage crisis through the eyes of Tony Mendez, the CIA agent who successfully extracted Canadian diplomats from Iran by posing as a film crew location scouting for a Star Wars-inspired science fiction film. Now, the real-life Mendez has spoken to news organisation NPR about the events depicted in the film, and how they differed from real life. "As we went up the ramp to the aircraft, Bob Anders [one of the hostages - Ed.] nudged me and said, 'You guys think of everything,'" says Mendez. "He pointed at the nose of the Swiss aircraft, and there, lettered across the nose, was the word Aargau — close enough to the good ship Argo. And we always look for the omen in these operations. There's some sign that tells you this is going to work. And that was the omen." Read the full article here.

HASHTAG GENRES: DON'T CALL IT #CLOUDRAP
Red Bull Music Academy's excellent and informative series of mini-documentaries about emergent musical subgenres on the internet continues with a look at the Cloud Rap phenomenon. Featuring interviews with SpaceGhostPurrp, Flatbush Zombies and Piff Gang, it traces a movement where rapping about selling drugs has been replaced by rapping about doing them, while the beats have evolved into a hybrid of slowed-down samples, chopped vocal stabs and mutated 808 drums. Unfortunately the documentary fails to mention one of the central figures in the online rap community, Lil' B The Based God, whose work with Clams Casino helped to define the sound. Nonetheless, it's another fascinating look inside an emergent new paradigm in rap.

TRAILERS: GAME OF THRONES SEASON 3, I DREAM OF WIRES
It's still a while off, and we have AMC's excellent zombie thriller The Walking Dead to keep us going in the meantime, but we're already hugely excited about season three of swords, monsters and sexy-romp-themed series Game of Thrones. Here's a teaser for the season, which airs in the UK on 1 April. You can watch more teasers at the Sky Atlantic website. 

Finally, here's a trailer for a new documentary entitled I Dream of Wires: Hardcore Edition, about the resurgence of the modular synthesiser. Featuring interviews with synth luminaries Gary Numan, Carl Craig, Vince Clarke, Trent Reznor and Factory Floor's Dominic Butler, it looks like a thrilling investigation of both classic and modern synth-pop, and the machines that made it.