The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 22 May

THE CLASH UNVEIL 5-ALBUM BOX SET
The Clash are in many ways the quintissential punk band - raw, politicised, and with a dedicated army of followers who worship every note they have ever played. But they are also more than just a punk band - unlike the Sex Pistols and many other first-wave luminaries, who imploded soon after they peaked, The Clash continued to make strong, angry music for years after the era of punk had faded, gaining currency and critical acclaim with mainstream rock fans, and spearheading grassroots political initiatives such as Rock Against Racism.

Just over ten years on from the passing of front-man Joe Strummer, the band's surviving members have unveiled details of a new limited edition five-album box set, containing the classic run of albums The Clash (1977), Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978), London Calling (1979), Sandinista! (1980) and Combat Rock (1982). 

The band's guitarist Mick Jones, now a celebrated producer for bands such as The Libertines, has remastered all five albums from the original reels, and unearthed rare alternate takes and unreleased material from the Clash vaults. Uniquely, the new release will be packaged in a box modelled on an 80s 'boom box.' The band are also set to release a new 'greatest hits' package, The Clash Hits Back, containing 32 classic tracks. The release date for the hits package and the box-set is set for 9 September. Pre-orders are available now from the band's website.

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2013: PROGRAMMES ANNOUNCED FOR MADE IN SCOTLAND, ASSEMBLY ROOMS
The 'Made in Scotland' festival, part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has unveiled its program of events spanning the length and breadth of comedy, theatre, music and performance created in Scotland. Funded by Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government's Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund, the Made in Scotland strand at the Fringe is now in its fifth year, and is including musical events for the first time.

As well as a raft of new work and exclusive performances, the people behind Òran Mór's A Play, A Pie and a Pint series will also be hosting a series of debates and discussions with leading Scottish arts practitioners. Highlights of this year's programme include some Skinny favourites: AJ Taudevin and Kieran Hurley's Chalk Farm will be premièred in a new production from theatre company ThickSkin; Scottish Dance Theatre will be producing Fleur Darkin's Innocence and Victor Quijada's Second Coming; music and theatre extravaganza Whatever Gets You Through The Night is revived at The Queen's Hall; and there will be music from jazz violinist Alex Yellowlees, singer-songwriter Amy Duncan, the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, SAY Award-nominated singer Karine Polwart, and The Black Diamond Express. For details and dates, visit the Edinburgh Fringe website.

The Assembly Rooms, one of the key venues in the Fringe pantheon, have also revealed details of their 2013 programme: theatre highlights include God Bless Liz Lochhead, a new play about the Scots Makar's ground-breaking adaptation of Tartuffe; and a new comedy by Keir McAllister, Hindsight. Their music programme has a strong selection of traditional Scottish music and modern folk with performances from Breabach, Capercaillie, Roddy Woomble and a host of others; stand-ups announced so far include Ardal O'Hanlon, Jerry Sadowitz (bringing his astounding card tricks and close-up magic show back to the Fringe), Scott Capurro, Tony Law and Zoe Lyons; while a new spoken word strand welcomes Ben Fogle, George Galloway, Jon Ronson, and Liz Lochhead herself. Details and tickets here.

Finally, applications are now open for the 2013 Fringe Comedy Academy. The free, five-week course, which helps aspiring comics finesse their live shows and learn new comedic techniques from established professionals, runs in Edinburgh from 15 June to 6 July, and is open to applications from aspiring comedians aged 18 to 25. Susan Morrison, comedian and co-ordinator of this year's course, commented: "I’m always amazed by the talent on show at the academy. Past graduates have gone on to make a real mark on the comedy circuit and win national competitions. Demand is high and, with only sixteen spaces on the course, it’s important to get your applications in early." To apply, visit the Edinburgh Fringe website before 31 May. We interviewed last year's winning entrants here.

SCOTTISH OPERA ANNOUNCE 2013/14 PROGRAMME
In other arts news, the 2013/14 programme for the Scottish Opera has been unveiled this week, with 14 productions, including a UK première. The 2013/14 season will also see the grand re-opening of Glasgow's Theatre Royal, celebrated by a new production of Madama Butterfly. Other highlights include Sir Thomas Allen and Simon Higlett's new production of Don Giovanni, Renaud Doucet and André Barbe's new production of Don Pasquale, and a revival of Dominic Hill’s 2005 production of Verdi’s Macbeth. Kally Lloyd-Jones’ Herald Angel Award-winning production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Seven Deadly Sins also gets a revival at the Fringe. Featured singers include Lisa Milne, Susan Gritton, Peter Kalman and Jose Ferrero.

Scottish Opera’s General Director Alex Reedijk said: "I really am proud of the depth of quality and the breadth and variety of appeal that we are offering with this season: we’ll be taking audiences from 17th century Venice to the war-torn Balkans and the smoky 1960s jazz bars of America’s Deep South. With so much on offer, I hope people will find much to enjoy and that many may be tempted to try opera for the first time." For more details on the new season and the subsequent national touring productions, visit the Scottish Opera website.

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WELCOMES BONG JOON-HO
The Korean film-maker behind 2006 breakout horror hit The Host, Bong Joon-ho releases his first English-language film, Snowpiercer later this year – and it has just been announced that he will head up EIFF's jury for the International Film prize, won last year by Mao Mao for Here, Then. Joining Joon-ho will be Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer, and film critic Siobhan Synnot. 

EIFF's director Chris Fujiwara commented: "It’s a huge honour for our Festival to have Bong Joon-ho, one of the greatest filmmakers, as the Chair of the Jury of our International Feature Film Competition. We’re also honoured and delighted that he will be joined by Natalie Dormer, a brilliant and prolific performer, and Siobhan Synnot, one of Scotland’s leading voices for film culture." 

The two countries in focus at this year's festival are Korea and Sweden, with screenings from directors O Muel, Ryoo Seung-wan and Park Chan-wook from Korea, and Mikael Marcimain, Måns Månsson and Mauritz Stiller from Sweden. For more info about this year's EIFF, visit its website.

NEW MUSIC: THE ICARUS LINE, MADLIB, ZEBRA KATZ, THE JET AGE OF TOMORROW, HOLY OTHER X FORT ROMEAU
The Icarus Line, angry LA rock veterans, have hit out against the musical culture of 2013. The band's Joe Cardamone ranted: "Rock’n’roll has been turned into this, like, Motley Crue charade, a parade of fucking dicks. It’s the 80s again. It’s crazy how everything I love has been driven back into the underground. That’s where we came from, and that’s where we’ve ended up, and anything else good is back down there too." Lucky, then, that the band have a new album out, Slave Vows, on 1 July – listen to a trailer below.

A new track from Stones Throw co-founder Madlib surfaced this week. The Mad March is taken from a forthcoming limited edition 7", Rock Konducta, which pays homage to the Zambian musical form known as Zamrock. The project may lead to further collaborations – hip-hop website website Rappcats reports that Madlib is considering taking Mos Def to Zambia to record a Zamrock-inspired album for his Madlib Invazion label. The single is out on 7 June.

Zebra Katz, the New York-based rapper, fashion icon and performance artist, dropped his new mixtape this week – Drklng, the follow-up to last year's critically adored Ima Read, is available to stream from his Soundcloud page, and features a very special guest appearance from Busta Rhymes. 

The Jet Age of Tomorrow is a new project from Tyler the Creator's Odd Future camp, featuring Matt Martians (of The Internet) and Hal Williams (aka Pyramid Vritra), alongside collaborators Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, Hodgy Beats, Mac Miller, Kilo Kish, and SBTRKT. The first track to be revealed is ON!

Finally, Fort Romeau has unveiled his louche house remix of Holy Other's Held, the title track from his 2012 album of the same name (reviewed here). London's Fort Romeau reconfigures Manchester's Holy Other as slick, smooth vocal house, maintaining the dark edge that makes HO so appealing. 

WATCH: QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE UNVEIL 15 MINUTE ANIMATION FOR ...LIKE CLOCKWORK
Following the online release of short animated clips to accompany snippets of new songs from their much-anticipated seventh studio album ...Like Clockwork, Queens of the Stone Age this week revealed a fully-animated 15-minute film featuring songs from the new album, and animation by cover designer Boneface and animator Liam Brazier. The album is slated for a 4 June release.  

ON TOUR: TEXAS IS THE REASON, FILTER
NYC indie veterans Texas Is The Reason are undertaking a farewell tour of the UK, in support of their recently released retrospective collection Do You Know Who You Are? The band play Glasgow's Classic Grand on 2 August and Manchester's Academy on 3 August, before moving on to play their last ever UK show in London.  

Another seminal 90s US band currently on tour are Filter, who are currently offering a free download of the track We Hate It When You Get What You Want over at their site. The band's new album The Sun Comes Out Tonight is slated for a 4 June release. Filter play Edinburgh's Liquid Room on 26 August. Watch a short documentary clip about the making of their new album below.

NEW VIDEOS: CONGO NATTY, DIRTY BEACHES, ACTION BRONSON, LANTERNS ON THE LAKE
Ragga jungle legend Congo Natty's new LP for Big Dada is out 1 July – this week he unveiled the video for lead single UK All Stars, featuring vocals from dancehall superstars General Levy, Top Cat, Colonel, Tippa Irie, Tenor Fly, Daddy Freddy and Sweetie Irie.  

Lo-fi rocker Dirty Beaches also has a new video out this week – taken from recently-released album Drifters / Love Is The Devil, the video for Casion Lisboa feature snatches of live performance and street scenes. 

Chef-turned-rapper Action Bronson's new video features a cameo from RIFF RAFF, the rapper who inspired James Franco's gangsta rappa chearacter in Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers. It's taken from Saab Stories, a collaborative album by Action Bronson, due out in June.

Last but not least, gorgeous dream-pop band Lanterns on the Lake have a new single out – Another Tale From An English Town is now available from iTunes.