Industrial Strength: Inside Track – Aug 22, 2013

How Eminem’s Survival appeared on a video game

Eminem’s first new music in over two years, Survival, can be heard on eminem.com, and will see light of day on the Call Of Duty: Ghosts video game in November, rather than the album he’s working on at the moment. The Call of Duty franchise is the video game sector’s biggest: it has over 100 million players around the world and Black Ops 2 made $1 billion in 15 days. Last week Survival got a world premiere in a live, multiplayer event spectacular broadcast which gave a glimpse of the game including a video appearance of the rapper. More at their site.

Eminem had appeared in previous Call Of Duty releases. In March, his manager had rung up the music division at games maker Activision Blizzard and invited them to Detroit to hear some tracks he’d made for his album. One of the tracks was Survival, which the games executives had lyrics which would fit their game – “This is survival of the fittest / This is do or die / This is winner takes it all, so take it all.” But Activision also wanted a more anthemic piece of music, and Eminem recorded five different versions for them to pick.

Dan Sultan works with Kings of Leon producer

Determined to make an album different from his two previous ones, Dan Sultan journeyed to Nashville. He’s working with producer Jacquire King who’s helmed records by Kings Of Leon, Of Monsters and Men, Tom Waits, Norah Jones and Modest Mouse. Sessions at Blackbird Studios are heading to a more “rock” feel. “When you’re in the best studio in the world with one of the best producers in the world, you know you’re making a real record,” Sultan posted. Last year Sultan had to split from long time collaborator Scott Wilson to get his creative juices flowing again. The album is due mid-2014. In the meantime, he’ll preview some of the new material in a stripped back format during his Back To Basics solo shows October 12 to November 17.

Dead In A Second do Girls In Town as Amphlett tribute

Sydney band Dead In A Second were in the studios in April working on their follow up EP to last year’s Maretimo when news came through that Chrissy Amphlett had passed. Guitarist / producer Tristan ‘Trizo’ Bouillaut was devastated: it was after seeing The Divinyls on TV and being mesmerised, that he taught himself to play and form bands. Recording on the EP stopped, Bouillaut decided then and there to cut Boys In Town and rename it Girls In Town with a few lyrical tweaks. By July they had got the green light from the band and its publisher. All proceeds are donated to MS and breast cancer research. Bouillaut says, “I felt I could do more than just buy a pen or put some loose change into a bucket at the shopping centre. Personally, this is the least I can do to help. I feel honoured to be able to tribute Chrissy! After all she gave her incredible music to the world for years. This is my thank you to her.”

Ngaire explains Lamentations

The title and conceptual design of Ngaire’s much acclaimed debut album Lamentations (“the act of lamenting”) comes from the two sources of inspiration. One was Dido’s Lament written by English Baroque composer Henry Purcell performed in his opera Dido And Aeneas, one of the PNG-born Sydney based performer’s all-time favourite pieces The other was the Biblical and poetic Book of Lamentations mourning the destructive fall of Jerusalem. Both fitted into her sense of melancholia. In real life, she suffered spinal fractures in a car accident the day before recording began, while a close relative died on the final day of sessions. The aesthetic for Lamentations was realised in a tiny Tokyo bar with Japan-based collaborator and pianist Aaron Choulai and later in Sydney with producer and bassist Tim Curnick. Through September, Ngaire goes on the road to translate the album live.

Melbourne bands launch The D-Files compilation

Thirteen Melbourne bands teamed up to put together an online compilation album called The D-Files to showcase their music. It will be a free download from Bandcamp. Shannon Juvan of The Battery Kids admits the idea came after they were asked to pay to be included on promo compilations. “It gave us the chance to put some great Melbourne music out there, but a good networking exercise for us to get to know us better.” Other bands featured are Damn Terran, The Pretty Littles, La Bastard, Shoot The Sun, The Harlots, Seri Vida, Yard Apes, Digger and The Pussycat, Euphoriacs, Hounds Hounds Hounds, San Gras and Midnight Woolf.