ON THE RECORD:Jim Carroll on music
MAN OF THE week? That would be Tupac Shakur, or, rather, his 2D image.
The highlight of last weekend’s Coachella festival in the Californian desert didn’t turn out to be Radiohead, David Guetta, Bon Iver or any of the other highly paid acts on the bill. Instead, everyone who was there or watching via an online stream was talking about the eeriely realistic visual projection of the rapper, who was shot dead in Las Vegas in 1996.
Thanks to an old Victorian visual effect called Pepper’s Ghost, which was first used in an 1862 performance of a Charles Dickens novella, Tupac appeared onstage at Coachella alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre to perform Hail Mary and 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted.
Perhaps, though, the man of the week accolade on this occasion can be shared with Dr Dre. While the rapper and producer has not released a scintilla of new music since 1999’s 2001, he has made many millions flogging his Beats By Dr Dre headphones. It turns out that it was Dre’s idea to create a Tupac projection and he approached the Digital Domain tech company about the idea in 2011. The virtual Tupac is estimated to have cost $100,000-$400,000.
The fact that all involved managed to keep it a surprise until the actual reveal meant there was a massive reaction to Tupac’s “appearance” onstage.
Such a buzz has led to widespread speculation about a tour and Tupac could well be coming to a shed (or field) near you.
We’re sure many promoters are currently dreaming of what other dead stars they can resurrect for world tours by projecting their images onto a sheet of Mylar plastic.
Still, given the number of spurious and dodgy posthumous releases dead acts get lumbered with, a hologram may actually turn out to be quite tasteful.
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NEW MUSIC:
IDIOT WIND
Formerly knowns as Hajen and Jaw Lesson, Swedish singer Amanda Bergman takes her new name from Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and her musical cues from some tantalising folk-pop corners. Tours with The Tallest Man On Earth and a superb EP (co-produced by said tall fellow, who is also her husband) for the Hast label have helped to set things up for Bergman. Idiotwind.se
KATHARINE PHILIPPA
Portadown-born singer and composer Katharine Philippa is already making sounds to swoon to, with the debut Fallen EP from the Queen's University student full of sparse, graceful, elegant wonder. The beautiful, mimimal, soulful For the One I Love augurs well for the future. Playing the Great Northern Songbook night at Belfast's Ulster Hall on May 22. Katharinephilippa.com
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
One listen to Sweater Weather and you too may want to move to this Los Angeles’ band’s ’hood. The group, who join a growing list of LA acts (Haim, No, etc) currently vying for our affections, are maintaining a low profile, but expect that to change in the coming months, especially with tunes such as this and Female Robbery.
Soundcloud.com/theneighbourhood
NOW PLAYING
The Spook of the Thirteenth LockThe Brutal Here Now (Transduction) Thumping second album from the Dublin band sees them adding more layers to their winning rocktradonica.
BahamasBarchords (Brushfire) Canadian singer-songwriter and Feist accomplice Afie Jurvanen plays it cool, breezy and tropical with his second album of laid-back, melancholic pop.
3:33Live from the Grove (Parallel Thought) Deep, dark and dastardly Shadow beats from the act or artists known as 3:33. One for the hip-hop heads in the audience.
HaimForever (Self release) One of the most darling pop tunes of 2012 so far, from the LA women who wowed all and sundry at SXSW.
UV PopNo Songs Tomorrow (Sacred Bones) Welcome reissue of John White's 1982 debut album, one of the most exciting documents from that era's post-punk Sheffield sound protaganists.
