With post modern music as it is, it can sometimes feel like the more experimental artists among us are driven simply by the need to make their next work weirder than the last one. That certainly seems to be one of the drivers for the infamous New York composer/producer, Chris Ianuzzi, who’s got the “weird for the sake of weird” market cornered. With his latest experiental/ambient/techno/noisecore/post punk/IDM/whatever-other-genre-he-could-jam-in-there track and video, “Edge of the Earth,” that driver is certainly out in full force.
Ianuzzi, like many experimental producers, first and foremost loves his science. Listening to almost any of his work, it’s obvious he likes to tinker and has played with so many production methods over the course of his discography, it almost beggars belief. In his most recent piecemeal released album, Maze, he worked heavily within Dolby Atmos production, creating spine-tingling results with the tracks like “Sweet Over Time,” “Hunger” and the multiple award-winning “Lonesome Highway Superstar.”
After an interstitial foray into a sort of post punk/industrial/trap territory with the relatively chilled out “Silent Sea,” “Edge of the Earth” sees Ianuzzi back on his po-mo shit with an almost untrackable non-format to his composition. With an intro that sounds like the sonic equivalent of a lava lamp and serves only to lull the listener into a false sense of security, Ianuzzi unleashes experimental hell from a seemingly arbitrary point as the first segment of the track rolls out, sounding like a nightmare version of Ross’s “sound” from Friends, before a ghost of a beat is established to sort of reign in the eerie, howled lyrics and runaway synths. Even the beat structure doesn’t linger anywhere for too long, however, so don’t get used to the offset breakbeat or dead techno drums as they start and stop just as randomly as anything else in this track. The effect is, indeed, as if a mad scientist on acid invaded and took out the DJ at a cybergoth rave. Difficult to make sense of whilst not on acid? Yes. Easy to appreciate the genius of the composition? Also yes.
In case the audio for “Edge of the Earth” wasn’t trippy enough, Chris Ianuzzi continued his experimentation with AI animation for the video. Using Stable Diffusion and Deforum AI3D Animation Pipeline, Ianuzzi collaborated with film artists Ethem Serkan Sökmen and illke to create this stop motion-effect video that bends reality even further and is a perfect compliment to the track. It takes the audience on a journey through a multitude of worlds and sort of creates a story out of the madness of the track. Don’t read too much into the possible symbolism, however; it’s likely more often Dadaist in nature than viewers may realize, according to Ianuzzi.
The Lemons in the Edge of The Earth cover were made because I was playing with ideas with the the program Dall-e. Someone walked by and said, “you should try adding Lemmings.” I thought she said “Lemons.” Whoops. I really liked the result. We had to put lemons in the video too.
Humor aside, the song and video are not without their meanings, as Ianuzzi almost always puts some form of political or social statement into his work.
The song and video are inspired by the state of our planet with regards to the political as well as the natural atmospheric conditions that we are living in. It all looks like the apocalypse, almost biblical at times. It’s difficult not to feel this when watching the news.
Structure masked as chaos, social consciousness out of Dadaist and Surrealist art, it’s all business as usual in the visionary mind of Chris Ianuzzi. It’s important to stop and appreciate work like his, especially in the pop-soaked EDM world, as this is this kind of stuff that pushes music forward. To that end, if nothing else, “Edge of the Earth” is a look into and a commentary on where artists can now go with AI and other advancing tools. The “Edge of the Earth” might not be a literal edge, but a perception boundary that we are now pushing through with these expanded capabilities. Only time – and artists like Ianuzzi – will tell.
“Edge of the Earth” is out now can can be streamed with the rest of his discography on Chris Ianuzzi’s Spotify page. Check out his YouTube as well for more trippy and poignant videos.
OddKidOut has a knack for elevating anything he touches. His latest release is him at his finest, taking his talents to bitbird once again for a new EP, WEIGHTLESS.
A prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, OddKidOut has remained a paragon of electronic production expertise since debuting his project in 2016. WEIGHTLESS is a virtuosic, taking his sound to new heights across four impressive tracks. Each song is a fluid, heartfelt journey that captivates through mesmerizing sound design.
The first of a pair of new singles is “APOLOGIES,” a collaboration Cecilia Gault. The airy track is the perfect midpoint of WEIGHTLESS, giving us a quick respite before closing out with “CLOUDY STORIES,” his high-profile collaboration with San Holo and artemis orion. Led by the latter’s shimmering vocal performance, the triple-threat collab is a stunning fusion of the bitbird founder’s soaring sound and OddKidOut’s clean drum programming.
“The best part about making [“CLOUDY STORIES”] with San and Artemis was that it just came organically,” says OddKidOut. “San and I were hanging one night at my crib and we came up with the demo for the track after just jamming, no intention of even making a full song together. But when we brought artemis into it, she rounded the idea out and ‘CLOUDY STORIES’ was born. We recorded almost all of the track in my house, and we tried to capture what some of our introspective thoughts looked like. It’s a true representation of how our surroundings inspired us.”
The Killers brought a fan on stage to play drums with them during their Reading Festival 2023 set. Watch clips for the moment below.
The fan, named Ozzy, was holding up a sign, asking to play drums with them, which has no become a tradition during The Killers set.
“We have one large stipulation,” frontman Brandon Flowers asked Ozzy, before letting him on stage. “Let me see your face? I like your sign but where are you from? You’re from the UK. Let the kid up.” According to Flowers, the drummer is from “just outside of Bath”. Ozzy donned a Cristiano Ronaldo jersey and kept the tempo at a slower pace for the band, while Flowers urged him to go faster.
“Go faster,” Flowers said, before joking, “More cocaine than marijuana”. The crowd approved of the moment, chanting Ozzy’s name as he left the stage.
Earlier this month (August 16), the band issued an apology after inviting a Russian fan onstage to play drums during a concert in Georgia. There has been a long history of tension between Georgia and Russia, after the latter invaded the country in 2008.
The Killers wrote in a statement: “Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone! We have a longstanding tradition of inviting people to play drums and it seemed from the stage that the initial response from the crowd indicated that they were okay with tonight’s audience participation member coming onstage with us.
“We recognize that a comment, meant to suggest that all of the Killers’ audience and fans are ‘brothers and sisters’ could be misconstrued. We did not mean to upset anyone and we apologize. We stand with you and hope to return soon.”
The Killers are set to headline Leeds Festival tomorrow (August 27).
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading & Leeds 2023.
Renowned techno tandem ARTBAT are back with “Coming Home,” a heartfelt collaboration with John Martin that functions as an uplifting message of hope and togetherness for their homeland.
The emotive track, which landed the day after Ukrainian Independence Day, features poignant lyrics and passionate, rhythmic beats. Rooted in the themes of safety, strength and resilience as the Russo-Ukrainian war rages on, “Coming Home” explores the concept of home amid turbulent times.
It’s a particularly profound moment for ARTBAT, who tap into their frame of mind by virtue of Martin’s soul-stirring vocal performance.
“This Friday we will release one of the most emotional and heartfelt projects we have every [sic] worked on,” ARTBAT said on social media. “A release that is very close to our heart and mind.”
“Ukraine’s strength lies in its people,” the prolific duo added. “On this day, let us reflect on our past, cherish our present and work towards building a better future.”
ARTBAT have had a typically busy year, with recent performances around the globe in Croatia, Poland, Istanbul, London and many more. They’re currently gearing up shows at Zamna Barcelona, Reworks Festival in Greece and David Guetta and MORTEN’s “Future Rave” residency in Ibiza.
You can listen to “Coming Home” below and stream the new collaboration here.
Twin DJ sensations FiNE, known for their Progressive Afro House beats, have collaborated with Lizwi to drop their maiden single “The Light” on the MoBlack label.
This track artfully blends Progressive Afro House with traditional African rhythms, a fusion of the diverse musical roots of the FiNE twins and Lizwi, paying homage to their collective South African heritage. Originating from Johannesburg and raised in Botswana, these twins have a music style deeply influenced by their multicultural journey spanning South Africa, Botswana, Israel, and Australia. Their global interactions resonate in their distinctive Afro-centric sound, reflecting their upbringing in both DJ sets and original outputs. “The Light” is a taste of all those regions in one, organic rhythms, a hypnotic progression and a universal dance-a-bility that hooks you without even trying.
Holly Humberstone brought out Arlo Parks during her Reading Festival 2023 set today (August 26). Watch a clip of the moment below.
READ MORE: Reading Festival 2023 liveblog: all of the weekend’s action as it happens
The pair performed a surprise duet of Humberstone’s ‘Room Service’, a track from her upcoming debut album ‘Paint My Bedroom Black‘ which is set for release on October 13.
Recently speaking of the slow strumming track, Humberstone said that she wrote it “a little while ago when I’d just started touring full time” adding that she’d found herself stressed out at the time even while having fun.
“I was really missing home and my friends,” she said. “I felt like I was watching them live out their lives from a phone screen, like I was being left behind.”
Meanwhile, rapper Lil Tjay played a surprise Leeds set earlier today, after arriving too late for his performance yesterday. The American rapper was due on the Main Stage West yesterday (August 25) between 4.35PM – 5.10PM, but the festival has put out a statement on screens to say they were unsure of his whereabouts. “Unfortunately, Lil Tjay hasn’t arrived on site and we haven’t been able to contact him. We hope he will arrive soon,” the message read.
Today, however, the rapper made up for it with a midday set. “Reading set times for Lil Tjay remain the same,” the twin festival’s official X/Twitter account wrote of his upcoming appearance on the sister site.
Elsewhere at Reading Festival last night (August 25), headliner Sam Fender charmed the audience with a performance worthy of a five-star rating from NME. NME‘s Andrew Trendell wrote of the performance: “Fender, an artist dealing solely in reality and singing straight to the heart to the young crowd with the world at their feet, makes that seem all the more possible. He’s a mirror to this audience, and that’s why belongs on this stage more than anyone.”
Reading is headlined tonight by The 1975 and The Killers, while Leeds will see performances from Sam Fender and Foals.
Visit here for the latest NME news, reviews, interviews, photos and more action from Reading & Leeds 2023.
John Summit is throwing more gas on the fire after the release of his undisputed song of the summer, “Where You Are.”
Titled “Fade Out,” Summit’s latest release marks the producer’s first original since his Hayla-assisted hit. Though he’s been previewing it in his DJ sets throughout the summer, he dropped the news on fans that the track would be arriving with less than a week’s notice, perhaps a reflection that he continues to remain undaunted even by the prospect of filling his own increasingly large shoes.
A collaboration with MKLA, “Fade Out” boasts the singalong-style qualities that have come to define Summit’s meteoric rise. The “Side By Side” songstress delivers on her part with angelic falsettos, a memorable hook and thoughtful, introspective verses. Meanwhile, Summit’s production melds his characteristically churning grooves with his own adaptation of a tremolo-style chorus, which adds something distinctly fresh and untapped to his recent discography.
The new single notably also marks the end of an era for Summit’s Off The Grid Records imprint in its current form.
Following a public dispute with an electronic music events promoter who laid claim to the “Off The Grid” moniker back in 2015, Summit ultimately agreed to rebrand his label, a process which appears to now be in progress.
Summit’s next move will see him making his festival headlining debut in his hometown of Chicago at ARC over Labor Day Weekend. The house music star features on a massive lineup alongside Black Coffee, Tale of Us, Peggy Gou, Fatboy Slim, Hot Since 82, Adam Beyer and many more.
Yard Act have spoken to NME about introducing some impressive choreography into their live show and plans for new material. Watch our full interview from Reading 2023 above.
READ MORE: Reading Festival 2023 liveblog: all of the weekend’s action as it happens
Long before the festival’s opening day ended with a party-heavy co-headline set from Foals and an emotional closing show from Sam Fender, the band opened the main stage with a raucous early afternoon gig – re-enacting the choreography from the video to recent single ‘Trench Coat Museum‘, culminating in frontman James Smith being carried away.
We met the band backstage shortly afterwards for an interview, before bassist Ryan Needham took lead of the conversation by discussing the etymology of everyone’s surnames.
“I always felt it meant ‘need food’, like ‘you need some ham’,” he said of his own. “It means ‘need home’.”
Guitarist Sam Shipstone meanwhile, claimed that his originates from coming “from a really bad line of boat builders” before the band pondered if drummer Jay Russell’s surname was simple from the sound of “people knocking about in the bushes”.
After that, we got to talking about Reading, Leeds, Japan, and what’s next.
Yard Act at Reading 2023. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
NME: Hello Yard Act. You guys went to Leeds Festival as punters in your youth, so you must appreciate the spiritual importance of being here?
Needham: “Yeah, massively. It’s wild. Although I was from the North, Reading was my first festival. It was in 2002, I watched Pulp and The Strokes.”
Shipstone: “2002 was your first festival? And mine was 2001. That amazes me. I went the year they burned Leeds Festival to the ground. 2001 – look it up! It was our Woodstock ’99.”
Opening the main stage is no mean feat, but you smashed it. You had quite a lot of moshers for an early day set.
Smith: “We’re always grateful to the moshers. They bring the set to life, it gives us energy to feed off. Everyone was having a great time. We had a great time, it was really cool.”
Reading thread: first show- Yard Act had no clue who they were. went just to check out main stage. fuckingnincreduble. got jumpscared by fake statues. may be one of new fav bands. pic.twitter.com/s0EoQDFDp1
We had a great time, especially during new single ‘Trench Coat Museum’. You really scared some people when your mannequins came to life and turned out to be dancers…
Smith: “Yeah! We’ve figured out how to make inanimate objects come to life and dance for a brief period.”
Shipstone: “I really love that we’ve got professional dancers who imagine that they’ll be onstage dancing, but we’ve just got them stood bone still for 20 minutes. Can you imagine thinking that you were going to be doing that as a professional dancer?”
Smith: “It’s quite a good flex, because they get paid the same but then we don’t utilise their skills. The power is in when you strike, not how much you strike. I don’t know if that’s technically true. Actually, one punch could kill a man.”
Needham: “I stand very still when I’m playing bass.”
Smith: “Yeah, but when you put your foot on the monitor everyone notices it.”
And James, how would you describe the experience of ‘pulling a Beyoncé’ on the main stage of Reading?
Smith: “What’s she done?”
That was a compliment for your amazing choreography…
Smith: “Oh yeah, she dances! I thought I was about to be told that I’d ripped somebody off again. ‘Oh, they’re just like Beyoncé now – not an original idea in their heads! Have you started having dancers and doing dances now, because I think you’ll find Beyoncé has already done that!’
“I got really into it. I’ve never done a choreographed dance before, and I think I’ve found a new hobby. That and playing the saxophone are the two things I’m going to practice and get better at.”
Needham: “Was it nice being carried by the dancers?”
Smith: “Yeah! It was really nice.”
Needham: “It looked amazing. Christ-like.”
So on the next album, are you going to go full Lady Gaga – pyro, dancers, the works?
Smith: “Yeah. I’m not into pyro. We found out how much it costs, basically.”
Last time we spoke you suggested that album Number Two was within touching distance of being finished?
Smith: “Yeah! It’s got a gospel choir, string section, flutes, everything on it. It’s finished.”
When do you think we can hear the next taster of it?
Smith: “I believe some time between the beginning of September and the end of next summer. Maybe October.”
That’s pretty non-stop. Do you have a holiday planned?
Needham: “We have a holiday in Jay’s house. He’s built a studio, so that’s our holiday.”
Smith: “You’ve been on holiday without me to Jay’s house?”
Needham: “Yeah, we’ve just been doing stuff without you.”
Smith: “I know you do. I just blank it out. We went to Japan for a week as a holiday after we played a gig there. We used the gigs as an excuse to pay for the flights out of our own pockets. We’re a business now – a partnership in Yard Act Ltd. After that we just had a week in Tokyo and it was gorgeous: neon everywhere, one of the busiest cities in the world.”
From Tokyo to Reading, how are you going to spend the rest of your day?
Smith: “We’ve just seen Last Dinner Party, they were really good.”
Shipstone: “Wet Leg, Loyle Carner, Sam Fender, Foals. Yeah, it’s a great time.”
Needham: “We can see The Killers on Sunday at Leeds. We’re doing a silent disco on Sunday so we’ve got an afternoon off then we’ll go watch The Killers.”
Smith: “I think ‘Sam’s Town’ is one of the greatest records ever made.”
ISOxo and Ninajirachi have shored up a blissed-out hard dance anthem with their new collaboration, “SHYPOP.”
Throughout his meteoric rise, ISOxo has always maintained a reputation for being a switchblade in the ever-evolving world of bass music. With his latest bout he’s veered heavily into hard dance territory, spiking the tempo to over 160 BPM and taking us on a frenetic ride underpinned by biting, bass-heavy kicks and hyped-up vocal ad-libs.
Meanwhile, the track’s melodic contrast is undoubtedly spearheaded by Australian triple-threat artist Ninajirachi. The producer, DJ and songwriter hasn’t hesitated to meld her shimmering synths and dynamic vocal range with an adrenaline-inducing sense of urgency on prior tracks like “Dracodraco” and more, and the distinct combination is once again working in her favor.
Together, the two debuted “SHYPOP” in the peak of summer, riling up a massive audience at this year’s HARD Summer in Los Angeles, where Ninajirachi appeared as a surprise guest.
Imagine Dragons took to the Main Stage West at Leeds Festival 2023 on Friday (August 25) for a headlining set on Friday stacked with their biggest hits – see their full setlist below.
READ MORE: Reading Festival 2023 liveblog: all of the weekend’s action as it happens
As the second headliners of Leeds on August 25, Imagine Dragons blazed through 15 tracks comprised of hits and crowd favourites, making sure they made the most of the time they were given.
Dan Reynolds and co. kicked off their Leeds set with ‘My Life’, before following with a gauntlet of hits including ‘Believer’, ‘It’s Time’, ‘I’m So Sorry’, ‘Thunder’ and more.
Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons performs on Day 1 of Leeds Festival 2023. Credit: Katja Ogrin/Redferns
The latter half of their set saw them churn out their biggest hits to date – ‘Enemy’, ‘Bad Liar’, ‘Demons’, ‘Bones’ and ‘Radioactive’ before closing out their set with ‘Walking the Wire’.
While the set was littered with hits, it wasn’t with slight controversy as frontman Dan Reynolds – per a report from the BBC – said it was good to be back at Reading, where they will perform on Sunday, instead of Leeds. However, they seemingly recovered quickly as they went on with the rest of their set.
See fan-shot footage of Imagine Dragons at Leeds Festival 2023 below.
Imagine Dragons performando “Demons” no Leeds Festival!
— Pedro | Higher Ground, pls?🤞 (@FireBreatherBR1) August 25, 2023
Imagine Dragons’ Leeds Festival 2023 setlist was:
‘My Life’
‘Believer’
‘It’s Time’
‘I’m So Sorry’
‘Birds’
‘Thunder’
‘Follow You’
‘Natural’
‘Whatever It Takes’
‘Enemy’
‘Bad Liar’
‘Demons’
‘Bones’
‘Radioactive’
‘Walking The Wire’
Elsewhere at Reading Festival last night (August 25), headliner Sam Fender charmed the audience with a performance worthy of a five-star rating from NME. NME‘s Andrew Trendell wrote of the performance: “Fender, an artist dealing solely in reality and singing straight to the heart to the young crowd with the world at their feet, makes that seem all the more possible. He’s a mirror to this audience, and that’s why belongs on this stage more than anyone.”
Visit here for the latest NME news, reviews, interviews, photos and more action from Reading & Leeds 2023.
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