Arlo Parks appeared on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge for a cover of Billie Eilish’s latest single ‘my future‘. Check out her performance below.
Earlier this month, Miley Cyrus also offered her own rendition of the same song as part of Live Lounge Month, though she took quite a different approach to the track. Parks also recently joined Phoebe Bridgers for a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ for BBC Radio 1’s Piano Sessions and teamed up with MICHELLE for a new version of ‘SUNRISE’. So far in 2020, she’s unveiled the singles ‘Eugene’, ‘Black Dog’, and ‘Hurt’.
For a group bent on subverting the expectations of what it means to be a rock band by spreading the message of love and kindness, IDLES’ music sure does sound like the equivalent of getting hit in the face. That was certainly the case with their relentlessly ferocious 2017 debut, Brutalism, and their sound lost none of its visceral impact with the release of its critically acclaimed follow-up, Joy as an Act of Resistance, a year later, even as it saw frontman Joe Talbot and company wearing their heart more prominently on their sleeves. Continuing to embrace vulnerability and self-acceptance as they expand their sound and build their reach, the cover artwork for their brand new album, Ultra Mono, out now via Partisan, seems to embody the bracing energy of the group, that in-your-face directness that gives it much of its appeal, while also underlining the approach they’ve taken when it comes to dealing with haters they’ve picked up along the way: as Talbot deadpans towards the end of the album, “Fuck you, I’m a lover.”
For the latest instalment of our Behind the Artwork series, we interviewed Russell Oliver about meeting Joe Talbot, how their political differences inspired their first collaboration for the single ‘Mercedes Marxist’, and the process of creating the cover artwork for Ultra Mono.
Your first collaboration with IDLES was for ‘Mercedes Marxist’. How did that come about?
I had met Joe a few years before IDLES released their debut album Brutalism. Soon after, he would often mention that he had been keeping me in mind for future IDLES projects, as he was impressed by the paintings I had been producing. Joe would later conceive of a charity project wherein each track from the band’s second album, Joy as an Act of Resistance, would be assigned an artist to produce an original artwork to be auctioned-off with all proceeds going to The Samaritans. The artworks would also be reproduced in the limited edition deluxe LP as double-sided prints. Even though ‘Mercedes Marxist’ was dropped from the album before release, my contribution was included in both the charity auction and deluxe LP. Later, ‘Mercedes Marxist’ would be released as a single featuring a censored version of my painting due to its use of copyright/trademarked corporate logos, I believe.
You’ve mentioned that you and Joe Talbot have some political differences, which is part of what makes ‘Mercedes Marxist’ interesting. How did the discussions you had with Joe inform your approach to the painting?
On meeting, Joe and I quickly realised that we were (and remain) on opposite sides of the political spectrum – with Joe firmly on the Left, and myself of the Right. There has never been any animosity when discussing issues of the day, and even though we often disagree – we enjoy the conversation. Perhaps that’s why Joe asked me to produce a painting for ‘Mercedes Marxist’ as the song, Joe had explained, expressed his inner turmoil as a “lapsed Marxist” and anti-capitalist, who, on occasion, engages in frivolous consumerism – specifically his unquenchable thirst for expensive trainers. Joe left any concept for the painting completely in my hands. I could produce anything I saw fit – total artistic freedom. As IDLES often like to play with clichés lyrically, my finished painting employed Marxist cliché poster-boy Che Guevara, mixed with the screaming and melting Nazi face from the climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark – a portrayal of ideological meltdown, green with shame-induced sickness and of capital (money). The background “revolutionary” red and green clash in opposition (as on the colour wheel). The eyes became the titular Mercedes insignia, and Che’s beret sported a Nike and Apple corporate skull and crossbones configuration in a clash of ideology, principals and values.
‘Mercedes Marxist’ artwork.
Working with IDLES again on Ultra Mono, what were some of the initial ideas for the album’s cover artwork, and how did they evolve over time?
The concept for Ultra Mono‘s cover art was entirely Joe’s. He’d assured me many times that he wanted an album cover from me, and knowing that I’m a versatile painter, also perceived that I could deliver something radically different stylistically from the ‘Mercedes Marxist’ work. Joe knew exactly what he wanted – a shirtless guy, arms by his sides, defenceless, being hit in the face by a bright candy-pink ball – but could I “do it in the style of Italian master Caravaggio?” – and that remained the brief throughout.
How do you feel that the painting relates to the themes of the album as a whole?
The painting – or the concept behind the painting – relates to Joe and the band’s ideal of unconditional love and acceptance for all, including their critics, or political opposition, or for other bands who may have positioned themselves as “rivals” or adversarial. The large pink ball (Joe’s favourite colour) represents this unstoppable and unavoidable ideal of love and acceptance colliding forcefully with such an opponent – to “Kill Them With Kindness” (Track 5 on Ultra Mono).
Could you talk us through the process of actually making the painting? Did you have to make any significant changes before it reached its final form?
With the concept understood, I had to first collect source material to work from which included boxers being punched, for facial impact reference, and guys taking a football to the face, and many balls and spheres for light references. The first problem I encountered was, that when Joe had said “ball” he hadn’t specified a huge ball, and I had presumed by ball he’d meant football-sized ball. I’d already sketched the scene on to the canvas but luckily thought to consult Joe before going ahead with the oil paint. “Ah” he said, “the ball needs to be much, much bigger – taking up most of the canvas,…sorry” – so it was back to the drawing board, because increasing the size of the ball dramatically changes the physics or dynamics of the impact on it’s “victim”.
I also anticipated that too much pink ball would be visually uninteresting and so I sort to have that dominant space interrupted by having the “victim’s” arm raised across the ball, as he’s knocked back off balance. I used a footballer heading a football, arms raised for balance, and combined that with another footballer taking a hard and fast football to the face. I also had my twin brother Ryan pose identically and under strong lighting in the Caravaggio style, so I could fill in the blanks anatomically, as the footballers were not shirtless, and also to achieve the required lighting conditions.
I devoted myself solely to the painting for over a month of toil with the brush, solving unforeseen problems along the way, as is quite normal. When I thought I had finished, I messaged Joe a photo – one problem – the ball was a far too dark, hot pink for his liking, and so I had to repaint the ball completely, which seemed a daunting task. In the end though the ball worked out much better than the first attempt. Joe still tweaked the colour in post for the album cover – I don’t think he’d have been completely satisfied unless he’d mixed the paint himself – He was after something very specific that only he could pinpoint.
I see some similarities between this work and your painting ‘The Flight/The Fall’, except that ‘Ultra Mono’ focuses closely on the moment of impact. Do you see those two pieces as being in any way related?
They’re defiantly depictions of conflict and collision, a single moment captured in the midst of fracas. When seen together, they seem to inform one another, because they depict different stages of a vanquishing, separated by mere seconds. I had been keeping Joe updated with each painting coming out of my studio, and when I showed him ‘The Flight/The Fall’ he immediately said that the painting wasn’t a million miles from what he had in mind for the album that would become Ultra Mono. Also, ‘The Flight/The Fall’ probably convinced Joe that I could pull-off what he envisioned.
‘The Flight/ The Fall’
What would you say you’ve learned from this experience, both creatively and when it comes to working with artists in a different field?
I had a fairly tight deadline to meet, but I work best under pressure – you have to solve problems on the fly and really knuckle down – you have to “live and breathe” the painting, it’s a bit like a dream. Painting the album cover for Ultra Mono was a great experience. It’s a joy to be tasked with bringing another talented artist’s vision to life, especially for a friend, and an honour to be given that responsibility. What’s fantastic about producing an album cover for a hugely popular band, as an artist, is that my painting is going to be seen infinitely more widely than any of my previous work and in print form at least, be owned and hopefully enjoyed by thousands and thousands of people around the world – that’s a real buzz.
Tame Impala have released a remix of their Slow Rush track ‘Borderline’ by Devonté Hynes aka Blood Orange. Hynes recruited Porches’ Aaron Maine to play drums on his rendition of the song, which adds new layers of guitar, bass, and synths. Check it out below.
Earlier this week, Tame Impala appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon! to perform ‘Borderline’. Back in August, Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden shared a remix of ‘Is It True’.
Last year, the two artists performed the track live together at a concert in Oklahoma City. “Pushin’ past the limit, trippin’ on hallucinogenics / My cigarette burnt my finger ’cause I forgot I lit it / Drunken in Seattle, two more Xans, and without a paddle / I don’t remember your face, or your hair, or your name, or your smile / ‘Cause I just couldn’t open up, I’m always shiftin’,” they sing in unison.
Sometime in the near future, Lana Del Rey is set to release her Jack Antonoff-assisted follow-up to Norman Fucking Rockwell!, titled Chemtrails Over the Country Club. Back in July, she unveiled the spoken word poetry album Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass.
The Smashing Pumpkins have shared two new songs, ‘Confessions of a Dopamine Addict’ and ‘Wrath’. Both tracks are taken from Billy Corgan and co.’s upcoming album CYR, set for release on November 27 via Sumerian. Check them out below.
The group previously shared the songs ‘The Colour of Love’ and the title track. CYR marks the follow-up to 2018’s SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN. In addition to the new album, The Smashing Pumpkins have also created an accompanying animated series called In Ashes, the first episode of which debuts today (September 25) at noon ET.
Bruce Springsteen has released a new song called ‘Ghosts’, taken from his upcoming album Letter to You. It arrives with an accompanying Thom Zimny-directed music video which combines footage of the E Street Band tracking ‘Letter To You’ in-studio along with archival snapshots of Springsteen’s earliest years as a musician. Check it out below.
“’Ghosts’ is about the beauty and joy of being in a band and the pain of losing one another to illness and time,” Springsteen said in a press release. “’Ghosts’ tries to speak to the spirit of the music itself, something none of us owns but can only discover and share together. In the E Street Band it resides in our collective soul, powered by the heart.”
Letter to You is out October 23 via Columbia. ‘Ghosts’ serves as the second preview from the album, following the title track.
Luminous Kid, the indie/ bedroom pop project of singer-songwriter and photographer Olof Grind, has released his second single, ‘A Restless Heart Would Rather Float in Space’. Written under the northern lights in Norway, it arrives with an accompanying underwater video directed and edited by Grind himself. Check it out below.
“I wrote the song while I was living in a cabin at the end of a gravel road facing a fjord. It was just me and my painter friend,” Grind explains in a statement. “We left our phones back home to be able to fully merge with nature without any distractions. We wanted to access something close to complete isolation. Since we were staying above the polar circle, the sun didn’t rise above the horizon once for our entire stay, but the nights were all bright green and red from aurora borealis.”
The single follows the previously released ‘The Gutter of Our Ecstasy’. Read our interview with Olof Grind, where he discusses his debut single as well as shooting the cover artwork for Phoebe Bridgers’Punisher.
Pixies have returned with a new song called ‘Hear Me Out’. Taken from the sessions for 2019’s Beneath the Eyrie, the track will appear on a 12″ vinyl single along with a cover of T-Rex’s ‘Mambo Sun’, out October 16 via Pixies Recording/BMG. Check it out below, alongside a video directed by Maximilla Lukacs and filmed in Taos, New Mexico.
The video stars Paz Lenchantin, who currently holds down Kim Deal’s old bass/vocals position in the group, as well as Henry Hopper. “Hear Me Out” is about things not turning out the way we hoped, but knowing that it’s going to be ok regardless,” Lenchantin said in a statement. “Black [Francis] started the melody phrases on an old organ. I loved it right away, so he asked me to take a pass at the lyrics. The song has an evocative melody that inspired the lyrics to come out straight away.”
Early this year, Pixies put out an album of demos from Beneath the Eyrie.
Travis Scott has shared a new song featuring Young Thug and M.I.A. called ‘Franchise’, out now via Cactus Jack/Epic. Produced by Chase B, the track arrives with an accompanying music video directed by Scott and White Trash Tyler and filmed on location at Michael Jordan’s Chicago area mansion. Check it out below.
Speaking about linking up with M.I.A. for the song, Scott said in an interview with Zane Zowe: “She reached out to me for something for her album and we tracked it in London. She’s just one of my favorite artists as humans.”
He added: “When I finished the song, I couldn’t think of nobody else that I could probably just maybe like, body this shit. You know what I’m saying? Body this shit like as hard as like anyone else, any other rapper, any other artists. And just that presence, man. We ain’t felt this presence in a long time. I’m just trying to get this gig shit like right man. We got to get better, right? You know what I’m saying? Like all of this, the energy man, music, beats, raps, God! Everything, she’s the illest of all time.”
The cover artwork for ‘Franchise’, which you can check out below, was designed by George Condo, who created a series of paintings for Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Michael Kiwanuka has won the 2020 Mercury Prize for his self-titled third album. One of our best albums of 2019, KIWANUKA won over albums by Charli XCX, Laura Marling, Dua Lipa, Porridge Radio, and others.
“I’m over the moon, so so excited,” he said on receiving the prize. “This [prize] is for art, for music, for albums – it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do, so to win a Mercury is a dream come true… It’s blown my mind.”
Asked why he decided to give the record his name, he said he had experienced “imposter syndrome … it was taking things away from the experience of doing my dream job. So I made a decision when I was making this album that I wanted to be myself, enjoy it, and not hold back, and show myself as clear as I can be.”
The winner was decided by a 12-strong panel, which included musicians Anna Calvi, Jorja Smith, Jamie Cullum and Supergrass’ Gaz Coombes; broadcasters Annie Mac, Danielle Perry and Gemma Cairney; journalists Phil Alexander, Tshepo Mokoena and Will Hodgkinson; and industry figures Jeff Smith and Mike Walsh.
Kiwanuka had previously been nominated for his albums Home Again and Love and Hate, which were released in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
