Search Results for: grimes

Last week Erykah Badu and Nas dropped their cinematic collaboration called This Bitter Land, composed to be featured in the movie The Land. Now Grimes is getting in on the movie action, releasing a dark new cut called Medieval Warfare, set to feature in the forthcoming Suicide Squad movie.

The song leans back towards her electronic roots, opening with a busy percussion sample and overlaid with a threatening hook that builds into a vintage Grimes chorus: sneering yet anthemic.

Unfortunately a verse and a chorus are all that has been released of the track on the internet world thus-far, much like the Mark Ronson, Action Bronson and Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys fame) snippet released yesterday, but it’s enough to make us very excited about how the rest of the song will turn out. Listen below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErBWGL5TYZg

Speaking to Zane Lowe after the preview, the singer noted that she was a fearful of entering the film scoring world because “everyone who has done it has hated it and brutally recommended against it…when you’re doing something that every second is costing hundreds of thousands of dollars…there’s no room for chill vibes.”

However, despite reservations about the film industry, the singer noted that when she got the call she was openly weeping, assuring listeners that she was “very, very stoked.”

Medieval Warfare joins a growing list of exclusive releases set to be featured on the Suicide Squad soundtrack, with the likes of Skrillex, Panic! At The Disco and Kevin Gates being some of the names featured in the list.

See the full track listing for the soundtrack below.

1. Purple Lamborghini – Skrillex & Rick Ross
2. Sucker For Pain – Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa & Imagine Dragons (with Logic, Ty Dolla $ign & X Ambassadors)
3. Heathens – Twenty One Pilots
4. Standing In The Rain – Action Bronson & Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys) (ft. Mark Ronson)
5. Gangsta – Kehlani
6. Know Better – Kevin Gates
7. You Don’t Own Me – Grace (ft. G-Eazy)
8. Without Me – Eminem
9. Wreak Havoc – Skylar Grey
10. Medieval Warfare – Grimes
11. Bohemian Rhapsody – Panic! At The Disco
12. Slippin’ Into Darkness – War
13. Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival
14. I Started A Joke– ConfidentialMX (feat. Becky Hanson)

Image: Factmag

Canadian producer Grimes brought her neon surreality to this week’s episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where she performed Flesh Without Blood. Introduced by Fallon, he pointed out that as writer and producer, she is as the sole creator of her own work. Accompanied by dancers and a hectic lighting show, Grimes took to the stage with a smile and her sticker covered Stratocaster.

Grimes’ performance showcased her guitar playing skills, having turned her attention to the instrument whil writing for Art Angels, on which the single appeared. Putting on an energetic show, the singer bounced between her vocal duties, strumming and synths. She even joined her dancers for an interlude before dropping her synth line at full throttle.

Her appearance comes just a few weeks before Grimes heads out on a US tour, where she will be opening for Florence + The Machine. She is also scheduled to appear at a number of festivals, including Lollapalooza, Hangout, Sasquatch, Outside Lands and FYF. Recent interviews have also suggested that Grimes has begun work on the follow up release to Art Angels. Describing the material she is working on as “more chill vibes, downtempos, synth-y shit” compared to her last album, but she has assured fans that it won’t be as boring as it sounds.

Image: DIY

Grimes dropped by Annie Mac’s BBC Radio 1 show yesterday to perform a 30 minute set which also saw her cover Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria.

The Canadian instrumentalist performed two tracks from her newly released Art Angels album before she dropped in the cover which she has regularly done over the years during her own gigs.

The intimate performance was backed by just her friend HANA in the studio as Flesh Without Blood was aired first before she ripped into REALiTi, and ended the short session with her cover of the classic Schubert song.

The pop star also had time to have a brief chat in between with Mac where she discussed everything from her voice, her upcoming plans and her song writing processes. She admitted beforehand that she was unwell but that her voice would hold out for the session.

“Sometimes in my show I go from screaming to singing a little bit of Schubert but I should be fine,” she joked.

She then explained the differences in how she recorded her latest album as opposed to 2012’s Visions.

“It took me about a year to finish this one… I didn’t eat or see daylight during Visions to help the creative process. But this time when I went into the studio I was going to do that again but then I realised I was really hungry, and tired.”

Recently, Grimes has been in the news when she spoke out against the music industry and detailed her own experiences in what she described as a “hostile environment” for women.

“I’ve been in numerous situations where male producers would literally be like, ‘We won’t finish the song unless you come back to my hotel room,'” she told Rolling Stone.

“If I was younger or in a more financially desperate situation, maybe I would have done that. I don’t think there are few female producers because women aren’t interested. It’s difficult for women to get in.”

You can also read our review of Grime’s live show here.

Image: Village Voice

In a recent interview, Canadian producer Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) spoke to Rolling Stone about her recent album and her position as a female producer in the music industry. Touching on her influences and inspiration for Art Angels, and her talents as a multi-instrumentalist, the interview also mentioned Grimes’ outspoken views on sexism within the industry.

Asked to comment on the recent lawsuit between Kesha and Dr Luke, as a woman in music, Boucher declined to speak in depth on such a complex case. But she commented, “I will say that I’ve been in numerous situations where male producers would literally be like, ‘We won’t finish the song unless you come back to my hotel room.’ If I was younger or in a more financially desperate situation, maybe I would have done that.”

It’s not that I don’t want to know about Grimes’ return to making music, or which tattoo she now regrets, I really do. But I also want to say, hold up?! There is nothing about that statement that is okay. There is nothing about that situation – in any context, any industry or involving any two people – that is okay. Boucher may not wish to be the poster girl for sexism in music, and rightly so. But is this a moment for ‘moving swiftly on…’?

As recent events involving Kesha, Amber Coffman, and many others have shown, speaking out against these issues is not simple. Grimes is later quoted as describing her fame in terms of, “You’re successful, but you’re not successful enough that you can afford to totally piss off the fans.” Hovering at this juncture in her career, a certain reticence to become publicly involved in a naming and shaming game is understandable. As an artist, Grimes has been consistently vocal and clear in her disgust at the sexism inherent in the music industry.

She continued her comments with, “I don’t think there are few female producers because women aren’t interested. It’s difficult for women to get in. It’s a pretty hostile environment.” But the most worrying aspect of this environment is the apparent network that has so far seemingly shielded the industry from scrutiny or outcry.

As more and more women open up about these kinds of experiences, you have to wonder who is protecting the perpetrators. With artists and producer held accountable to management and record labels, no one person should be helpless against blackmail or harassment. However, at the cost of product and profit, the industry still appears to turn a blind eye.

The current culture does little to protect anyone; victims can, at best, attempt to sever ties with those who abused them, and watch as offenders find success in an industry that allowed their offences to pass. We can hope that such experiences as Grimes may have met with have been addressed, even if not publicly.

It is not enough to hope that women who find themselves in that situation will rely on strength of character alone. They should be able to rely on the industry at large to take a zero tolerance approach to any one person taking this kind of advantage in what is, after all, a professional environment like any other.

Image: FADER

In a match made in some kind of geeky heaven, Grimes will become the first ever musician to headline a comic convention.

The world first is happening at The Philadelphia Wizard World Comic Con in June, and is being billed as the New Music Concert Series – aka first ever music concert series to tie in with a comic convention. Grimes (Claire Boucher) will headline the event with support from recent tour mate Hana.

Thinking about the shape of comic cons (much more than simply comics as it turns out, featuring things like television show discussion panels and celebrity meet-and-greets), it is actually kind of a wonder that no one has thought to include live music as part of the experience before. Other promoters must be kicking themselves that they didn’t beat Wizard World to it.

In a statement sent to Billboard, COO of Wizard World Randy Malinoff said that, “Wizard World Comic Con already presents the best in celebrity meet and greets, movies, television, science fiction and comics and we believe that including music is the next logical progression to provide a great experience for our fans… These live music events are a key component to the continued growth of our brand.”

With Boucher already discussing her follow up to 2015’s Art Angels, there are murmurs that Grimes will be road testing new music at the convention. However, it would hardly be unexpected if she also used the opportunity to launch a comic. After all, she as well as being an experimental pop extraordinaire, her self-created Art Angels artwork is just the most recent evidence of the fact that Grimes has some mad visual art skills to.

The tie-in shows are set to continue with New York singer and songwriter Melanie Martinez, though there is not a date or location specified for her performance as of yet. Your move, literally every other convention.

Image: Amy Heycock for Howl & Echoes. See the full gallery here.

Grimes, aka Claire Boucher, has always stood up for herself and the people around her. Refusing to accept the bullshit that is sometimes peddled in the music industry, she has accumulated a mass, cult-like following around the world thanks to her real as fuck persona- and her awesome music. As she has gone along in her career, she has only become more outspoken, and now serves as a source of inspiration for many people all over the world.

She was just here in Australia for St Jerome’s Laneway Festival and a string of sideshows, and is now set to head to the UK to continue her Art Angels tour, so ahead of that, she gave an interview with TimeOff, and it’s one of her most real interviews yet.

She was asked about everything from asserting herself in all the roles she plays in her career (writer, singer, producer, video director and more), what it meant for her career to be so openly feminist, and the way she sees the music industry working, Grimes’ frank discussion paints a picture of a woman fed up with the way her world works so much she literally doesn’t care anymore. She is now the master of her surroundings, and she is prepare to call out anything and everything.

Interestingly, Grimes also weighed in on the ongoing saga that is the legal battle surrounding Kesha and her recording contract. Having had her request for an injunction denied last week, the world has opened their proverbial hearts to her and have poured out lots and lots of support as she now has to remain in her contract with Sony Music and create another six albums alongside Dr Luke, her producer who she accuses of various degrees of abuse.

“You shouldn’t be allowed to sign a human being, regardless of what the allegations are or what anyone said or did. It’s basically like slavery. She should be allowed to record [with other people]. It’s a deeply fucked situation.”

You can check out the whole interview here. It is definitely worth your time, even if just for the fact that Grimes states Beyoncé as the greatest pop star of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2EJMd7ZN7w

Image by Amy Heycock for Howl & Echoes. See our full gallery here.