Josie and the Pussycats, the comic-based musical comedy that follows an all-girl band and their run-ins with the music industry, is getting a soundtrack vinyl reissue. It is set to be out September 26th via Mondo and the score is almost entirely filled with tracks by the fictional band. The frontwoman of rock band Letters to Cleo, Kay Hanley, provided the vocals for every Josie and the Pussycats song.
Mondo, Alamo Drafthouse, and Birth.Movies.Death. will also co-host a reissue celebration at Los Angeles’ Ace Hotel which will include a film screening, appearances by co-directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, and a Josie and the Pussycats set by Hanley. There will be merchandise also sold at the event: leopard-print vinyl records, a 7” record featuring DuJour songs (the film’s featured boy band), and a 12-page booklet featuring behind-the-scenes photos.
Stevie Nicks has come out with a new song titled “You’re Hand I Will Never Let It Go” and it will appear in the film The Book of Henry. The song has a new lyric video, which can be watched below. The song was written by Doveman’s Thomas Barlett and Guster’s Ryan Miller. The Book of Henry is an independent drama starring Naomi Watts and Maddie Ziegler and premieres June 16th. The single is the first solo work Nicks has released since her 2014 album 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault.
Alan Palomo, aka Neon Indian, has scored his first film, an upcoming sci-fi movie named Everything Beautiful Is Far Away. It is directed by Pete Ohs, who has also directed videos for Best Coast and Wavves, and stars Julia Garner and Joseph Cross. The film, according to a press release, is about “a trio—a guy, his robot head companion and a determined young woman—who traverse a planet in search of a mythical lake.” Palomo’s score can be heard in a new film teaser; watch it below. Everything Beautiful Is Far Away will premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 21st.
Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has scored a new film by Lynne Ramsay, named You Were Never Really Here. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as a war veteran who saves women from sex traffickers, and is based on the novella by Jonathan Ames. The film premiered recently at the Cannes Film Festival. Watch a clip featuring music composed by Greenwood below. Greenwood previously collaborated with Ramsay on the film We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Jonathan Demme, the acclaimed director, died today due to complications from esophageal cancer. In the hours following his death, Tom Hanks (Philadelphia) and Meryl Streep (Ricki and the Flash) paid tribute to the filmmaker. David Byrne has written a eulogy for Demme, who directed Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense. Byrne starts, “I met Jonathan in the ’80s when Talking Heads were touring a show that he would eventually film and turn into Stop Making Sense. While touring, I thought the show had turned out well and might hold up as a movie, and a mutual friend introduced us.” He continues with praise for Demme’s Melvin and Handle With Care, as well as his “love of ordinary people.” Byrne continues on Demme’s Talking Heads documentary:
Stop Making Sense was character driven too. Jonathan’s skill was to see the show almost as a theatrical ensemble piece, in which the characters and their quirks would be introduced to the audience, and you’d get to know the band as people, each with their distinct personalities. They became your friends, in a sense. I was too focused on the music, the staging and the lighting to see how important his focus on character was—it made the movies something different and special. Jonathan was also incredibly generous during the editing and mixing. He and producer Gary Goetzman made us in the band feel included; they wanted to hear what we had to say. That inclusion was hugely inspirational for me. Though I had directed music videos before, this mentoring of Jonathan’s emboldened me to try making a feature film.
David Lynch will return as his role as agent Gordon Cole in “Twin Peaks” revival from Showtime as Gizmodo points out. Lynch is dressed in Cole’s trademark suit and earpiece as he eats a donut in the teaser. Watch it below. The new “Twin Peaks” will premiere in early-mid 2017.
Solange released her brilliant new album A Seat at the Table last week. In a documentary called A Seat at the Table, Beginning Stages, she shares footage of the creation of the album. Watch it below. Solange says the film is “a look at the early days of jam sessions, experimentation, and the exploring of sounds and ideas for the album.” It shows Solange working on early versions of “Don’t Touch My Hair,” “Mad,” “Don’t You Wait,” “Where Do We Go,” and more. Sampha, Kwes, Kindness, Sean Nicholas Savage, Patrick Wimberly, Solange’s son Julez, and more make appearances. Find a statement from Solange about the film.
“A Seat At The Table, Beginning Stages” is a look at the early days of jam sessions, experimentation, and the exploring of sounds and ideas for the album.
While some of the jam sessions featured did not make the album, they helped to create and identify the sonic tone, and the early lyrics and concepts I wrote for the project.
This video is broken up into 3 different parts. The first and second parts happened in Long Island and New Orleans where I first started to jam and collaborate on ideas with the incredible artists and musicians featured (as well as some other incredible artist and musicians who are not shown here). A lot of these days would just start with me singing a melody or someone playing a synth part or bass line, and would transition into an hour long jam.
The third part is me taking all of these jams to New Iberia, LA with just my engineers and creating the actual song structures, building the sounds, and writing the lyrics and melodies.
I later took these songs to Los Angeles to work with Raphael Saadiq to help amplify the production, as well as record the vocals alongside Troy Johnson. When I look back at the beginning stages, I remember the powerful energy that set the tone, and that I’m so grateful followed us everywhere during the creation of this record.
