The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 8 April

NEW ALICE IN CHAINS DOCUMENTARY
Alice In Chains have a new album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, out on 27 May. It seems the seminal grunge metallers have found their sense of humour, as evidenced by the album title, and a new short documentary produced by the band, which surfaced online last week. Done in the 'mockumentary' style, with more than a casual nod to This Is Spinal Tap, the video follows Alan Poole McLard, a film studies professor, who attempts to make a film about the band. The film features cameos from Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, and Duff McKagan (ex Guns 'N' Roses). 

KILLING JOKE'S EPIC SINGLES BOXSET
Full details have now emerged about the comprehensive singles box-set from seminal post-punk band Killing Joke, which is slated for release on 29 April. The Singles Collection 1979-2012 features every Killing Joke track ever released as a single, including classics such as Eighties and Love Like Blood, and more recent singles such as European Super State. There is also a rarities disc with tracks recorded for soundtracks, B-sides and unreleased sessions.

The deluxe box-set edition comes in a hand-numbered hinged-lid 'cigar box' with retrospective artwork for every release, a 32-page book of rare photos, archive notes, and band commentary, and a poster designed and personally signed by long-time Killing Joke artist Mike Coles. It also contains an aluminium screw-top branded cigar tube containing the original wrappers of cigars smoked by Jaz Coleman & Paul Raven during the recording of the Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell album. Pre-order the collection here.

JAMES BLAKE VS. THE INTERNET
In an interview published by The Guardian, post-dubstep crooner James Blake reveals his dissatisfaction with the way music is distributed and published. Asked whether he thinks fans will download his new album Overgrown illegally, he responds: "Why wouldn't you? My label [Universal] is hoping that... you'll do the right thing and click the 'Buy' button. You should see what they're doing online just to get people to look at the 'Buy' button. I'm starting not to care, to be honest. Things are changing."

Blake also makes a doom-laden prediction about the music business as a whole: "The ship isn't just going down. There are people trapped inside, bashing on the windows trying to get out," says the 24-year old Londoner. He describes pre-sales of his album as "hideous," saying: "Everyone's waiting for it to leak." iTunes also gets it in the neck: "When you buy an album on iTunes you're renting music rather than buying it; you're getting the equivalent of an IOU," says Blake. Read the interview in full here.

NEW MUSIC: CANNIBAL OX, BRANDT BRAUER FRICK X MOUSE ON MARS, BISHOP NEHRU, THE ASPHODELLS X DANIEL AVERY, BALAM ACAB
Def Jux hip-hop stars Cannibal Ox have returned with three new tracks, despite the fact that their Kickstarter to fund their new album failed to reach its target. They release a new 3-track single called Gotham (Ox City) on 16 April. 

Mouse On Mars have remixed a track by Brandt Brauer Frick, featuring Jamie Lidell. The original is taken from Brandt Bauer Frick's recent album Miami (reviewed here). Nearly all traces of the organic, soulful original are transmogrified into slick, electronic weirdness by the German duo.

Young rapper Bishop Nehru is just 16 years old, but he's already displaying phenomenal talent on his debut mixtape Nehruvia, which sees the youngster rhyming over beats by DOOM, Dilla, Premier and Madlib. On the track below, he lays down some smooth verses over a jazzy DOOM beat. Download Nehruvia for free here.

Daniel Avery, resident house and techno supremo at London superclub Fabric, has remixed a track from Andrew Weatherall and Timothy J. Fairplay's album Ruled by Passion, Destroyed by Lust (reviewed here), as The Asphodells. The remix is taken from The Asphodells' Record Store Day release, which also features a remix of an Asphodells tracks by Wooden Shjips. We recently interviewed the artists formely known as Lord Sabre – read the piece here.

Finally, this week saw the release of two early, rare tracks by Tri-Angle's celebrated ethereal R&B producer Balam Acab. The tracks are taken from the session that produced Wander/Wonder, his debut album for the label. Self-Titled Magazine, who are hosting the tracks, report that Balam Acab will be going back into the studio this month to work on new material.

NEW VIDEOS: OMD, THE NATIONAL, CAT POWER, THE BESNARD LAKES, JOHNNY JEWEL'S SYMMETRY
Synth-pop legends OMD have timed their comeback perfectly, riding a wave of popularity for the 80s synth sound – this week saw the release of new album English Electric, reuniting core members Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys. As a teaser, they've uploaded the following animation, soundtracked by one of the album's interludes.

The National return with new album Trouble Will Find Me next month, and today they've unveiled the video for lead single Demons – a dark, melancholy confection with a soaring, string-backed climax. Simply gorgeous, it bodes well for the album.

Cat Power's new video sees the singer dancing merrily around Manhattan. It's the second video to be taken from last year's album Sun. 

The Besnard Lakes are returning soon with their new and decidedly oddly named album Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO.  The first track to be unveiled is People of the Sticks. In interview with The Quietus, the band's Jake Lasek confirmed that the new material features just as much audio manipulation and sound processing as their last album: "Even when I was a kid working on a four-track, everything I put into it was treated," he says. "I love the idea of being able to take a sound and making something that is different from what it's supposed to be and putting a new twist on it."

Our last video of the day comes to you courtesy of the multi-talented Johnny Jewel, label-head at Italians Do It Better, and producer of Glass Candy and Chromatics (amongst others). One of his many projects is Symmetry, conceived as "a conceptual tangent" linking his work with Glass Candy, Chromatics and the Italians Do It Better stable, as he says on his Soundcloud page. Some of the tracks from last year's Symmetry release Themes From An Imaginary Film date back to 2008, collecting work Jewel created before finding fame as the producer behind much of the Drive soundtrack. Now a new video has emerged for the final track from ...Imaginary Film. You can download the album as a single track from Jewel's Soundcloud. 

ON TOUR: BLACK SABBATH
This just in – metal originators Black Sabbath have announced a Scottish date for their upcoming reunion tour. The band will play new venue The Hydro in Glasgow on 16 December, before playing Manchester Arena on 18 December. Anticipation continues to build for their new, Rick Rubin-produced album 13.

FUSELAB
In July, Fuselab comes to Edinburgh's Summerhall. Conceived by the organisers of the Edinburgh Science Festival, which celebrated its 25-year anniversary this year, the project hopes to find 80 (count 'em!) innovative and creative minds aged between 16 and 20 to plan the future in a hypothetical, as yet uninhabited, world.

Throwing away the political machinations, laws, rules and traditions of Earth to envision a completely new community founded on principles of sustainability and innovation, it is an opportunity for aspiring scientists, thinkers and makers to get involved in a new speculative project, and imagine a different and better future for mankind. So basically, it's like joining the Science Division in Starfleet. YES!

In a series of workshops, skills sessions, talks and games, selected candidates will collaborate to design, prototype and test ideas, products and scenarios. Applications for Fuselab are now open, and 16-20 year old innovators are invited to apply here before Wednesday 8 May 2013.

LUNICE HITS THE BOILER ROOM WITH MYKKI BLANCO & FLATBUSH ZOMBIES
In one of the best Boiler Room sessions we've seen in a while, Hudson Mohawke's TNGHT partner-in-crime Lunice delivered a stunning 45-minute set, featuring guest vocals from Mykki Blanco and rising NYC hip-hop crew Flatbush Zombies. Watch the performance in full below, or grab a download of the mix over at The Fader.