Blog: The 405

The reissuing of an album is always a dubious decision. There's always a concern that the drive is partially financial, and less about a desire to celebrate the music in question. The reissue of Fleetwood Mac's seminal album Rumours , by way of example, garnered a little scepticism. They certainly pandered to the enthusiasts with the gleaming gatefold vinyl, knowing that fans would be a sucker for its triple disk. The price tag was hefty and no doubt made the benefactors a quick and easy buck. It's not all gloom though, there probably aren't that many of the original [...]

After my previous article defending Kanye West in spite of all his tactless nonsense, it's going to sound a lot like I've got a throbbing hard-on for the guy... well, hell, I guess I might. He's pretty bloody awesome in such a myriad of ways I couldn't even list them on all my digits (including toes). Kanye's musical prowess – ignore everything else for a minute – is unparalleled. As a rapper, he basically turned the genre of hip-hop on it's head almost single-handedly; his back catalogue is diamond encrusted, it's a golden lecture on how to dominate [...]

Thurston Moore's first band formation since the breakup of Sonic Youth has resulted in Chelsea Light Moving - and he's wasted no time in releasing their eponymous debut LP that we reviewed here . Photographer Eleonora Collini was on hand to photograph their show at Village Underground in London as part of their European-wide tour. Moore and co are to play the Yoko Ono curated Meltdown Festival this week on June 19th in a special improv performance.

Just returned from Porto after a great trip to the second Optimus Primavera Sound and thought get together this review while it's all fresh in my mind! With the massive success of the Barcelona Primavera the organisers have taken the risky move of booking a sister festival in neighbouring Portugal a week later. But how was it I hear you shout? Well… I arrived on Wednesday to weather that pretty much resembled England, but after a meat, cheese and octopus fondue, things were definitely [...]

Like any decent label, R&S Records continues to evolve with the times judging by the signings of the past two years - and this includes London-based duo Cloud Boat . Debut LP Book of Hours is one of our favourite releases of the year to date, a haunting, minimal and truly immersive experience that takes some of the elements of James Blake's sound but runs off to the darkened woods to create a soundscape of its own world. We had a chat with Sam Ricketts and Tom Clarke of Cloud [...]

Stone Island have released a glimpse of their upcoming Fall/Winter 2013 collection, with casual but smart streetwear and sportswear, as you'd expect from the Italian label. Military-inspired jackets and coats cover t-shirts and jumpers, and the collection boasts earthy tones of browns and deep reds, with a couple of jackets taking a unique spin on deep, subtle patterns. Matching footwear rounds off the styles in the lookbook. So get ready to wrap up in style, with the entirety of the collection available in stores and online soon. Head here [...]

Can you sit still for three minutes? Probably not, which is how the Misunderstanding Focus series of photographs came about. The photographs, by Ryuta Iida and Yoshihisa Tanaka (also known as Nerhol), are taken while subjects try to sit as still as possible for three minutes. Photographs are then stacked and cut out, which gives the final product the distorted, paintstroke effect you can see. Pretty cool, right?

Who fancies a game of lucky dip? Once again, we've made a handy playlist of the best stuff that gets sent in each month. If we took actual, physical submissions, and not just links, we would need an absolutely huge malbox. Go on, guess how many songs we picked for this one. You probably guessed incorrectly - it's a whopping 36 submissions this month (and let's not even begin to talk about the stuff we left out). Less of an 'in case you missed it' round-up, and more of an 'in case you've been living under a rock for the [...]

• The 405 - 405 Submission Playlist: Best of May 2013

From the shores of Australia and the shards of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control and Rat Columns, Lace Curtain emerge. Though they're usually drenched in post-punk and garage, members Mikey Young, Dave West and James Vinciguerra have towelled off, and are staring at something wholly new on the horizon with their brand new EP, Falling/Running . Swells of analogue delay pitted against a grooving, boho drum machine; opener 'Falling (II)' has you smiling into the rearview mirror and realising that the back of your hair looks great long, but only when the sides [...]

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Welcome to the 405 UK Gig Guide. We've selected the five best shows happening this week in the UK that we think you should check out. If you have any events you think we should cover next week, let us know by dropping us an email at events@thefourohfive.com . This week's gig guide features the likes of Slow Club, Austra and Lanterns on the Lake. Gig 1 Gig 2 [...]

• Austra - Painful Like

This week's top videos come from AlunaGeorge, These New Puritans, Fyfe, A-Trak and a 405 Exclusive by Spring Offensive. Expect swimming pools, basketballs and beauty. We've tried to make it easier for you to enjoy our weekly roundup by putting all the videos into one handy playlist. You can still pick and choose which video to watch, but if you fancy watching our favourite videos back-to-back, this is the best way to do it! We recommend selecting the HD option, making it fullscreen and relaxing in a comfy chair.

Welcome to the latest edition of '405 Extra'. As usual we have a killer playlist for you, top 5 tracks of the week (based on listens), all our 405tv videos, and much more! You can listen to The 405 Playlist #128 by clicking here , or below. Welcome to the 'Top 5 Tracks of the [...]

Welcome to The 405 Podcast: Each week we plan to immerse your ears with intoxicating and exciting new music from bands and artists we've recently discovered. Hosted by Arielle Free and Stephen Kelly expect witticisms, extreme intelligence and unfounded music knowledge... ahem. Another jam packed podcast brought to you by Arielle Free and Stephen Kelly. This week expect needs no introduction just glorious good music blended with the perfect amount of insane debate and music chat. Arielle Free and Stephen Kelly can be found on [...]

• The 405 - New Music Podcast 12 w Steve & Arielle

The works of American artist Jonas Wood are works of unification. Working in oil, gouache, pencil and/or acrylic in a style that is heavily influenced by contemporary American life, his paintings combine the characteristic elements of cubism, pop art, abstraction and surrealism. This is not to say you need a degree in Art History to understand the confusing number of 'isms' in the art world that have had an effect on his style. Qualities of well-known artists, from Picasso and Kandinsky to Edward Hopper and Stuart Davis, all emerge from the two-dimensional objects painted [...]

Living and working in Stockholm, photographer Viktor Gårdsäter 's latest series explores human mortality and the constraints of our existence that depends wholly on the ceaseless passing of time. Centered on the idea of life and death, " Balloon Man’s Last Walk " is assembled as a fashion shoot, the subject adorned in tweed jackets, bow ties and cashmere sweaters. And yet through his direct stare of experience, the series conveys a fragile honesty that is more often than not captured in personal family albums. [...]

Not too much is known about E.M.M.A save for her brief association with Sully, her contribution to Keysound's This is How We Roll compilation and her 2012 debut release Rainbow Dust part II , the first record out on the label arm of London party crew Wavey Tones. 'Jahovia', her first 7" (and release full stop) on Dusk & Blackdown's Keysound imprint, released on July 1st with an album forthcoming later in the month, sees the London via Liverpool producer collaborate with Double Trouble's Rebel MC, refixing his classic, early 90s breaks [...]

• Dusk + Blackdown - E.m.m.a. ft Rebel MC - Jahovia (E.m.m.a. & Wil LV dub mix) - LDN038b

The past year has been a big one for CHVRCHES . The Scottish electro-pop band, consisting of Iain Cook, Martin Doherty, and Lauren Mayberry, shared their first track, 'Lies', just a year ago and are now selling out a headlining tour across the US and UK. With only their Recover EP release under their belt, CHVRCHES announced their debut LP, The Bones Of What You Believe , due out late September. And that's not all. The band also shared the official video for 'Gun', the first single off the new album. The single drops [...]

Well before the actual festival takes place at the end of August, Rough Trade are set to release a 2CD compilation of material from some of the acts scheduled to appear at End of the Road 2013. The 34-track set will feature songs from Sigur Rós, Angel Olsen, Belle & Sebastian, Night Beds, Efterklang and Savages, among plenty of others. The festival itself takes place at the Larmer Tree Gardens in North Dorset from August 30th to September 1st, and the full tracklist of the compilation is as follows: [...]

This week, I've mostly been thinking about new things. It's mid-June, but I would much rather it was mid-September so I could go to college again. Such a thing didn't work out for me last year: I tried two different courses and didn't find enough merit in either to devote three years to either of them. I've been working in a slow-moving office job since February, and I finish in August. I'm feeling very conflicted; I know I'm not where I want to be, but at the same time, I'm not sure where that is. Thankfully, there are parts of [...]

• arwitman - Pray for Me, Fragile
• The 405 - New Music Friday: 14th June 2013