Bill Fay, 1970s cult singer-songwriter, amassed a significant following over his 40 year silence. At the time of his early albums, Fay received very little commercial success and was eventually dropped from his label in the 1970’s. In the meantime, he has accumulated such fans as Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Nick Cave. “Who Is Sender”, out via Dead Oceans, is Fay’s second release in 45 years on the heels of his 2012 return album “Life is People”. The album features Bills quintessential humanist vision and unusual, melancholic piano-guitar arrangements.

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This is writer Alex Garland’s directorial debut, following his acclaimed screenplays Never Let Me Go and 28 Days Later. Slick, stylish and slow-burning, Ex Machina pits sexy robot Alicia Vikander against nerdy coder Domhnall Gleeson at the behest of the alcoholic robot engineer Oscar Isaac. Fans of UK sci-fi TV show “Black Mirror” may notice similar casting, feel and themes tackled here. With its futurist philosophy and a dramatic yet open-ended culmination, Ex Machina accumulates high praise across the board.

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Actress, model and fashion icon Chloë Sevigny has been known for her effortless cool since the 90s. Beginning with her career at Sassy magazine and her appearances in Sonic Youth and Lemonhead music videos, Sevigny’s title as 90s “it girl” culminated with her role in Larry Clark’s 98 film Kids’s. Her effortless style has landed Sevigny in magazines world wide and in countless fashion brand collaborations, alongside her non-stop acting career in films like Boys Don’t Cry, American Psycho and The Brown Bunny. Sevigny’s new self-titled book curates moments from her days as a high school skater-punk, her life in New York and present tenure as fashion icon. Chloë Sevigny, out April 21 via Rizzoli, features both a foreword by Sonic Youth punk legend Kim Gordon and afterword by actress Natasha Lyonne.

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In celebration of Record Store Day on April 18, Sub Pop will release an exclusive (and very limited) self-titled LP from Koes Barat, the Alan Bishop-led tribute to the legendary 60/70s Indonesian pop group Koes Bersaudara (or Koes Plus). Enamored with the ballads and garage-rock of the once-subversive band – Koes Bersaudara’s Beatles covers once got them arrested by the conservative government – Bishop spent less than a week in the studio jamming with a backing band to produce this catchy and sincerely enjoyable record, complete with original lyrics.

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Brisbane indie classics The Apartments, formed by acclaimed singer-songwriter and guitarist Peter Milton Walsh, have reissued an expanded edition of their 1985 reunion album and first full LP, “the evening visits… and stays for years” via Captured Tracks. In anticipation, the band released a new film-noir video by Donat Talhiraj for their lonesome classic “All the Birthdays”. Walsh also curated a 16-track playlist of songs he loves and that have shaped his music, complete with annotations.

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“Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.” – Václav Havel

Soko and Ariel Pink’s terribly creative and extremely well-executed parody video couldn’t prove testament to this better. Directed and produced by Soko herself, the video accompanies her new album “My Dreams Dictate My Reality,” which features Ariel on both “Lovetrap” and “Monster Love.”

›› ISSUE Feature: Interview and fashion shoot with Soko.

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A smart homage to 1980s horror movies, It Follows is a refreshing contribution to 2015 cinema from writer and director David Robert Mitchell. Maika Monroe turns in a great performance as a teenager in a supernatural, claustrophobic fight for her life after having sex with her new date. Monroe, supporting actor Keir Gilchrist and the rest of the young cast of It Follows are showcased for future stardom. The film’s Sofia Coppola-esque hues set to an appropriately haunting soundtrack intensify an incredibly anxious storyline. Using scant special effects and a sparse script, Mitchell creates one of the sharpest and most indelible horror movies of recent years.

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In celebration of its twentieth anniversary, “Exactitudes” reemerges in an expanded reprint of its cherished original. Rotterdam-based photographer Ari Versluis and profiler Ellie Uyttenbroek first conceived “Exactitudes” (“exact” + “attitudes”) by noting the rhetoric and social coding embedded in the distinct wardrobes of various social groups. Since 1994, the pair has systematically documented group identities on city streets around the world. Each group member is photographed against a white background, resulting in an empirical study of individuality meeting volitional conformity. In this, “Exactitudes” effectively coalesces and subverts traditional street photography and documentary. Critic and photographer Gil Blank calls it, “August Sander and Eugène Atget turned on their heads by Bernd and Hilla Becher.” With no credence given to street environment, the photographs examine the purpose of an individual wearer exclusively as it pertains to their commitment to a social category. For this twentieth-anniversary edition, Versluis and Uyttenbroek have produced 19 new series taken from Rotterdam, St. Petersburg, Zurich, Milan, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, Casablanca, Praia (Cabo Verde), New York, Bordeaux, London and Paris.

Published by nai010