Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) Collaboration

This is an event not to be missed! The duo have written new a score for Carl Theodor Dreyers classic 1928 film 'The Passion Of Joan Of Arc'.

The film will be screened at Bristols Colston Hall on Friday May 7th 2010, accompanied by a live performance of the score. Charles Hazlewood will conduct the eclectic group, including Utley and Gregory, consisting of six electric guitars, members of the Monteverdi Choir, harp, percussion, horns and keyboards.

'The Passion Of Joan Of Arc' is long regarded as a masterpiece of silent cinema that has influenced generations of film makers, the film chronicles Joan’s trial, imprisonment, torture and execution, all told using Joan’s own words taken from trial transcripts discovered in 1924.

Here is a short documentary by Rick Holbrook following the progress of the project. Film Clips courtesy of Artificial Eye.

Collaborate online with Indaba

Fancy collaborating online with an in browser sequencer?

Get involve here

Hidden Gems

Nice to see our music turning up in unexpected places....

Philadelphia 2008 from Josh on Vimeo.

and on Amazon Listmania too!

Matthew Ellwood AFW Artist in Residence

Matthew Ellwood is our resident artist. He has done the artwork for the Scissors Compilation and the up and coming designs for the Paper and Stone Complilations. He also did the artwork for Throwing Snow's first EP (AFW001). He is undoubtedly a top chap!

The Tower of Newcastle' is the third in a series of paintings. Inspired by the Tower of Babel and the tale it has to tell. A Metropolis of colossus stature and reputation, a wonder of the world, and yet still it fell. Worn down by the sands of time to little more than a myth. The use of Babylon as a metaphor for all that is denied, repressed, and feared in Western culture. Mankind’s primal fears of slavery, sex, violence, and madness are expressed in its horror of the city as a place of sin and tyranny. Confronting the myth of the “metropolis of eternal apocalypse” exposes the psychology of urban culture and civilization's deep shadows.

However if the painting was to depict its true meaning then its appreciation by the public would surely be diminished. Its sale would be impossible and therefore its appearance remains pleasing. In this way the artist perpetuated the story of babylon. If this mean nothing to you and you fail to grasp the meaning yet still like the finish painting, then the artist has accomplished his objective.

Optica Festival

Optica is an International Audio/Video Festival run by literally the nicest people on the planet.

They have such a love of community and creative endevours.

Last year Throwing Snow played in the Madrid event alongside Ultre (of Audiobulb fame) and he was welcomed and looked after by Lar Petterson and Jose Ramon Gonzalez Saiz and the rest of the Optica crew, friendships were born instantly.

I'd love to start an Optica in the UK as there is such a shared ethos. Any offers of help out there?

www.opticafestival.com 

Wiki Labels

The great thing about the internet is that you can make things happen. There seems to be a conflict fought between two waring factions, top down/force fed marketing and bottom up/word of mouth ways of finding out about new things.
This seems ridiculous to me, harnessing the collective tastes and opinions of people can massively influence the output of a label and therefore it's marketing strategy. It can act like a feedback loop, constantly refining itself until everybody is exposed to quality music which is mutually beneficial for both parties.

So in that spirit of collaboration and community, we would like to openly invite anybody interested in the future of music to help us out. It doesn't matter whether it's big or small or even if it's a throw away comment to a friend about a new band you heard on AFW.

So here's something for starters:
1. Is there a musician you know out there that deserves to be heard? Tell us about them
2. Do you know a venue that might want to put on one of our artists?
3. Let us know if there is an interesting new music site or application
4. Tell us what you'd like to hear
5. Help us out with new ideas for the industry
6. Tell your friends about us and check us out once in a while
7. Get collaborating!

It's a wiki label world...

RadioClouds - The map of music evolution?

Matas Petrikas has written a visual radio application that shows a users social graph while listening to tracks from her network. Try it out and read up on how easy it is to write apps like RadioClouds. The source is available.http://radioclouds.com