A film on Janis Joplin has been long awaited. Rumours of biopics have circulated throughout the past decade, but for now, get ready for an Amy Berg-directed documentary, eponymously titled Janis. The doco is slated for world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
It’s now been announced that fellow artist Cat Power will be narrating the tumultuous story of the folk rock legend. The film is said to describe Joplin’ life through a series of hard-hitting letters, which will be narrated by Power, real name Charlyn or Chan Marshall.
Though quiet on the musical music front as of late, Marshall’s constantly evolving musical stylings have secured her a place in the annals of musical history. Blending folk, blues, rock and electronica, her career has been diverse and dense.
Her evolution into the songstress of today has involved turbulent times, similar to that of Joplin. It’s no wonder that she was picked by Berg for the role, with the director describing Power as delivering a ‘beautiful, introspective voice of Janis by reading her letters’.
Janis should be headed to a theatre near you, in the near future.
UK’s top betting site, William Hill, has suspended further betting on the identity of the next James Bond theme singer, after a customer asked to place a bet of $15,000 on Radiohead.
With customers able to place bets on a range of artists, from Sam Smith to Coldplay, who arguably have a more ‘Bond-esque’ sound, it strikes as unusual that a customer holds so much faith in Radiohead.
William Hill spokesman, Rupert Adams, expressed his confusion over the incident to NME, claiming that ‘there seems to be all kind of rumours and the plot has had more twists and turns than a classic Bond tale, but surely nobody risks $15,000 on a hunch’.
Suspicions of insider knowledge prompted William Hill to pull the bet off their website, after a turbulent day that saw a surge in bets on Ellie Goulding that morning, shortly followed by an insane spike in Radiohead bookings later on. While the band originally had odds at 10/1, they rocketed up to 6/4 after the unexplained surge.
While it is yet to be confirmed whether Radiohead is producing the next theme, director Sam Mendez has stated that the song has already been written and recorded, and will be announced soon.
While we wait, have a listen to Adele’s take on the theme song, for Skyfall.
https://youtu.be/7HKoqNJtMTQ
UK folk band, Foals, have dropped a new interactive video for track Mountain at My Gates. Directed by Nabil (who you may remember from his work with Frank Ocean and The Weeknd), the track uses GoPro’s new spherical camera mount to allow viewers to rotate the camera as they watch, using the A/W/S/D keys on their keyboard.
Videos grow more and more creative by the day. From the Jack White to Bjork and everyone in between, now, more than ever, have songs been accompanied by expansive and astounding short films. Virtual reality in this sense is a really interesting, exciting way to bring life to such a great track – one which I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of in the future.
The video shows the band playing while surrounded by a flock of birds, which can be be viewed from any angle at all – you choose your own adventure.
It’s an addictive new approach to music videos, and certainly one that will attract multiple re-watches from viewers.
Foals will be releasing their highly anticipated new album What Went Down on August 28, and they’ll be visiting us for a very special headline performance at Falls Music & Arts Festival over the New Years period.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_EIE5f2t6M&w=560&h=315]
What Went Down tracklisting:
What Went Down
Mountain At My Gates
Birch Tree
Give It All
Albatross
Snake Oil
Night Swimmers
London Thunder
Lonely Hunter
A Knife In The Ocean