R.E.M. news

Check out some cool activities surrounding R.E.M.'s new album, also in stores tomorrow...

R.E.M. is gearing up to roll out the "Collapse Into Now" Film Project, a selection of films accompanying each song on the band's Warner Bros. release, directed by notable artists and filmmakers and personally curated by singer Michael Stipe. Directors include Oscar-nominated actor James Franco, filmmaker/photographer/conceptual artist Sam Taylor-Wood, and Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles. A full list of directors is below.

The films will be unveiled for viewing at broadcast and web outlets over the course of the next several weeks.

In its four-star review, Rolling Stone calls "Collapse Into Now" - "a portrait of full-grown artists who reached the top long ago but decided to stick together and ride out the decades. You can hear a lot of shared history in the music, but you can also hear conflict, confusion, doubt, exactly the kind of recipe that R.E.M. thrive on." Spin finds the band "refreshed and refueled for a new alt-rock reckoning."
 

In related news, the band announced a remix project last month in conjunction with "Collapse" tune “It Happened Today.” Fans have the opportunity to remix the entirety of the song from the ground up by distributing the raw source for the song as both a Garageband file for Apple Macintosh computers, or as raw stem audio files for other platforms. Album producer Jacknife Lee prepared both sets of files, which delivers the song in its "raw" state with no reverb, mixing, or effects.

Users who visit the band’s website, www.remhq.com, can download all 16 tracks Lee used to create the song, including vocals by Michael Stipe and Mike Mills, as well as those by special guests Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and The Hidden Cameras’ Joel Gibb, plus Peter Buck’s guitar and mandolin, Mills’ signature bass, and brass ensemble tracks from Bonerama. After creating their own versions of the song, fans are invited to submit their remixes on the band’s website to share with the members of R.E.M. and other fans around the world.

 

“It Happened Today” is currently available on iTunes as an “Instant Download” track for those who pre-order Collapse Into Now. The first U.S. single from the album, “Mine Smell Like Honey,” is currently available for purchase from all digital retailers. Visit R.E.M.’s YouTube channel for lyric videos for several tracks on Collapse Into Now at http://www.youtube.com/user/remhq.

R.E.M. Collapse Into Now Film Project
Directors

1) DISCOVERER
Directors: Michael Stipe and
Lynda Stipe

2) ALL THE BEST
Director: James Herbert

3) ÜBERLIN
Director: Sam Taylor-Wood

4) OH MY HEART
Director: Jem Cohen

5) IT HAPPENED TODAY
Director: Tom Gilroy

6) EVERY DAY IS YOURS TO
WIN
Directors: Jim McKay, Chris Moukarbel
and Valerie Veatch

7) MINE SMELL LIKE HONEY
Director: Dominic DeJoseph

8) WALK IT BACK
Director: Sophie Calle

9) ALLIGATOR_AVIATOR_AUTOPILOT_ANTIMATTER
Director: Lance Bangs

10) THAT SOMEONE IS YOU
Director: James Franco

11) ME, MARLON BRANDO,
MARLON BRANDO AND I
Director: Albert Maysles
& Bradley Kaplan

12) BLUE
Director: James Franco
 

For more info, go to: www.remhq.com