The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 15 May

LORD QUAS WINS AWARD FOR 'EXCELLENCE IN MASONRY' FROM CITY OF L.A.
Lord Quas, aka Quasimoto – the animated 'bad character' alter-ego of LA beat scene producer and Stones Throw stalwart Madlib – has been given official recognition from the City of Los Angeles for "continued excellence in masonry." An announcement on the Stones Throw website confirms that this is a real story, even providing a copy of the official certificate given to the fictional character (who is not, we can assure you, a 'mason'). 

"While city governments around the U.S. allow themselves to be burdened with matters of fiscal crisis, crumbling infrastructure and school attendance, out here in the Golden State, one elected city council has shown they’re a cut above the rest," say Stones Throw. "The document is signed by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and all thirteen members of the city council, including Eric Garcetti, and a bunch of other ones we never heard of ‘til now."

Quasimoto's third album, Yessir Whatever, is officially released on 18 June, and features rare and unreleased cuts from Madlib's Lord Quas recording sessions. The digital tracks are available now, along with pre-orders. 

NEW MUSIC: HOLY GHOST!, ALUNAGEORGE X DIRTY PROJECTORS, BICEP X SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, MAYA JANE COLES, DISCLOSURE X BAAUER, JONWAYNE
DFA’s Holy Ghost! are hard at work on the follow-up to their self-titled 2011 debut – this week the duo unveiled the first single from the new album, an upfront cut titled Dumb Disco Ideas. The album's title and release date are yet to be announced. 

Much-hyped ethereal R&B duo AlunaGeorge have remixed the Dirty Projectors track The Socialites, transforming it into a smooth, soulful, sexy club cut. AlunaGeorge release their debut album, Body Music, on 1 July.

Bicep are teaming up with Simian Mobile Disco for a new 12" entitled Sacrifice. With a decidedly techno feel to its epic 9 minuteshe, the title track from the release is now streaming on Bicep’s SoundCloud page. The release hits shops on 24 June. Pre-order the vinyl here.

Techno/deep house maven Maya Jane Coles releases her much-anticipated debut Comfort on 28 June. She has revealed the first track from the album, Everything, featuring vocals from Karin Park. Tricky and Miss Kittin are confirmed as guests on the album. 

Baauer is quite possibly regretting the popularity of Harlem Shake, the trap track which spawned a million YouTube clips, and sees him creeping up on a million followers on SoundCloud. In March, the New York Times reported that two rappers are suing him over the alleged use of uncleared samples in the track. But he’s still releasing quality tracks and remixes, after being brought into Diplo’s Mad Decent family. His most recent dancefloor destroyer reconstructs Disclosure's You as a hyperactive, explosive series of mega-drops. 

And finally, Stones Throw are back in your news feed for the second time today – emcee/producer Jonwayne has put together a free mixtape of ambient tracks, entitled Daytime Naps. "For a couple of years I have started to embrace daytime napping again," he comments. "Back in the day it was just something we did, but I feel that if you have a schedule that allows it you shouldn't feel out of touch with the act of passing out on a couch or going back to bed altogether. It leaves more time in the night for creation and contemplation, which I feel we all need. I don't know if this should be a soundtrack to your afternoon conks, but I'm positive it's mine." Download it here.

NEW VIDEOS: CSS, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, THE PICTISH TRAIL, MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER, GLENN JONES
Brazilian noise-pop gang CSS have a new video out this week – Hangover is taken from the album Planta, produced by TV on the Radio's David Sitek, and out 10 June. The video was choreographed by Toni Basil, who worked on the video for Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads.

Queens Of The Stone Age continue their media assault in the run-up to the release of ...Like Clockwork – the latest video to be unleashed by the band is a gory animated clip accompanying the track Kalopsia – a term which describes 'a condition wherein things appear more beautiful than they are.' The band also performed two tracks on Later..with Jools Holland this week – see the videos below. 

Johnny Lynch, aka The Pictish Trail, this week unveiled the new video for Wait Until, from his recently-released EP of the same name. The EP was released on postcard, with download codes included. The track is one of the standouts from Secret Soundz Vol. 2 (reviewed here). Lynch plays Glasgow's West End Festival on 9 June, and Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms on 24 Aug, as well as appearing at the Glastonbury Festival. 

Melody's Echo Chamber, the band put together by French chanteuse Melody Prochet and produced by Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, have this week released the video for Some Time Alone, Alone, taken from her self-titled debut album.  

Glenn Jones, one of the foremost exponents of 'American primitivism' – a form of avant garde, handpicked blues – has released a video this week, for Across The Tappan Zee, featuring vocals from Laura Baird. It's taken from his album My Garden State, which is out now.

FESTIVAL WATCH: GLASTONBURY, INSIDER FESTIVAL
A quick roundup of festival news:

Glastonbury (26-30 Jun) has announced the lineup for its Glade Area stages, welcoming Simian Mobile Disco, Boys Noize, Stanton Warriors, Elite Force, Robyn Hitchcock, and Eat Static among others. Details here.

The Insider Festival (21-23 Jun), taking place in Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands, announced its impressive bill this week – they welcome Matthew Herbert, Miaoux Miaoux, Washington Irving, Black Diamond Express, Duncan Harvey, Sparrow & The Workshop, Stealing Sheep, Hector Bizerk, Randolph's Leap and others. Details and tickets here, and watch the preview video for the festival below.

RETURN OF THE HOLOGRAM RAPPERS
Following on from 2012's post-mortem appearance from rapper 2Pac at Coachella Festival, a new hologramatic lineup of dead hip-hop stars has been announced for this year's Rock The Bells Festival, taking place in Southern California. Joining the bill from beyond the grave will be Eazy-E, who will join Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for an exclusive performance, and the Wu-Tang Clan's Ol' Dirty Bastard, who will join his Wu-mates on stage for an eerie, macabre reunion. Dying is starting to look like a canny career move for rap stars, with the added attention it brings to their posthumous careers. Rumours that beleaguered rapper Rick Ross and others are considering death as an option for their next round of promos are probably unfounded...

JAY-Z: I GOT 99 PROBLEMS BUT A GRANDFATHER PARADOX AIN'T ONE
As if the news that ODB and Eazy-E are to be resurrected from the grave wasn't weird enough, this week brings more strange news from the world of hip-hop – Jay-Z has been mucking about with the TARDIS, if this photo, posted on the New York Public Library's blog, is to be believed. The picture quickly started trending on BuzzFeed and Reddit, with users speculating that Jay-Z is either a time traveller or a vampire. The comment posted on the photo by the Library staff says: "Does the man on the right remind you of someone? Perhaps it was his great-grandfather taking a break in Harlem in 1939..." Decide for yourself – here's the picture in question.

EXTENDED S.H.I.E.L.D. TRAILER
Earlier in the week, we showed you a 30-second clip of the new Joss Whedon-helmed TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which has just been picked up for broadcast by ABC. This morning, a full 3-minute trailer appeared online, with more dialogue, a closer look at Agent Coulson forming his team, and stronger suggestions that one member of the team may be Luke Cage, aka Power Man.