What we learned today
That's yer lot from me – it's been a pleasure. Gwilym and Lanre will be with you tomorrow.
Here are today's lessons:
- Game Of Thrones might have gone too far this time
- A terrible haircut can be turned into an asset if you're about to be cast as an enigmatic villain
- Giorgio Moroder was understandably reluctant to go topless in Arnie's vicinity
- And The Wu-Tang Clan could do with an intervention from ACAS
If it allows for a repeat of something like this, let's hope they offer their services pronto. Night.
More hypnotic electronic roughage
Here's a new podcast/mix from Hotflush boss Scuba, showcasing his new EP alongside complementary tracks by Boddika & Joy Orbison, Paul Woolford and FKA Twigs.
Meanwhile, Jamie xx has liberated his new track Girl – it's the one James Blake played on his Radio 1 takeover the other month, crediting it to Simon Tallywhacker, the card.
Tonight's TV
On your home entertainment television systems tonight: New Worlds, Allotment challenges, dirty businesses, Israeli thrillers and sarcastic football managers.
Sky Arts 1 also has a chat with Coldplay remixer Giorgio Moroder, which you can watch a clip from here.
But if none of that appeals, there's also this:
It's no Party House, that's all I'm saying.
Joker in the pack
There was a time when I thought Bristol producer Joker and his 'purple wow sound' were the future of music. But his long-delayed 2011 album The Vision was a bit of a misfire, relying too heavily on regulation dubstep drops and grating vocals. However, over the weekend he shared a sturdy track called Digital Mainframe, which bodes well for the follow-up.
And here's some more chunky electronica courtesy of primitive house looper Huerco S and his remix of the Blondes track Wire.
How to footwork – properly
Last year, we tried to tell you how to dance to the breakneck sounds of Chicago footwork. As the moves are ridiculously rapid and intricate, it was pretty difficult to convey in one little gif and a few brief instructions.
Luckily, Chicago footworkers King Charles and Pause Eddie are here to show you how it should be done. Hernias ahoy!
Salvo of Malvo
So at this juncture, let's just take some time to contemplate the wisdom of Lorne Malvo – the best enigmatic, leather-gloved, half-smiling, aphorism-spouting TV villain since The Shadow Line's Gatehouse.
If you haven't seen the first episode of Fargo yet, go and watch it now, then join us back here.
Here's Billy Bob Thornton on how he alighted on Malvo's distinctive look.
I got a bad haircut that I couldn't do anything with. It wouldn't comb over. It wouldn't act right, you know? I was looking at myself in the mirror thinking, 'God, what a disaster.' … I said, 'Hang on a second. This looks like mid-to-late '60s L.A. rock. This looks like the bass player for the Buffalo Springfield. … So once I put that big coat on and that turtleneck and those bangs and that beard, it's like I was a bass player in a country-rock band in '67 in L.A.… Bangs are innocent. They're clean-cut. I had bangs when I was in high school. So to have a guy who is this ruthless to have bangs I just thought, 'What a great irony.' So I decided to just go with that instead of fixing it.
Clan wars
Let's bring you up to date on the Wu-Tang Clan feud.
The group were supposed to release their new album, A Better Tomorrow, to coincide with their 20th anniversary last year. Obviously that didn't happen, with RZA seeming to lay the blame at Raekwon's door for not turning up to recording sessions.
Last week he followed up by confirming that Raekwon doesn't feature on the album:
Maybe creatively, we on different paths
Raekwon hit back at length in a caustic Rolling Stone interview.
My thing is, yeah, he’s right, we’re on different pages when it comes to being creative because RZA, you’re not in the field no more.
When asked what he thought of Keep Watch, the first sighter from A Better Tomorrow, he didn't mince his words.
I hate it. I hate it. I don’t hate shit, but I hate that fuckin’ record. It ain’t the gunpowder that my brothers are spitting; it’s the production. And I ain’t shitting on the producer because he’s one of our soldiers. But if it ain’t where it need to be… It’s 20 years later. We talkin 'bout a whole new generation is sitting here representin' and making fiery shit and you telling me that we comin out with some mediocre shit? That ain’t part of our plan.
He's got a point, though, hasn't he?
As a result, Raekwon claimed to be on strike from Wu-Tang duties.
It’s the same as being an athlete. I don’t give a fuck if it’s Kobe Bryant or Kevin Durant. They will not touch the floor if their managers or lawyers are saying, "Listen, shit ain’t right." So therefore, I’m in a limbo situation. So yeah, you’re right. I am on strike.
At which point RZA's language really does begin to take on the bizarre tone of an industrial dispute.
[Raekwon] gave me his demands, which we presented to the company. If they can be reached, they can be reached. If they can't, they can't. And if they can't, then we got to reevaluate what we're going to do.
Where's ACAS when you need them? Let's hope they can get this sorted out as the Clan really aren't the same without Raekwon.
Not sure this will help, but what I want to know from you, Guide Daily readers, is: who's the best, most indispensable member of the Wu-Tang Clan? Comment or tweet, providing video evidence with your vote, and we'll count em up later.
Tuesday tune injection
Some more excellent music coming your way, not least from the indefatigable Four Tet who posted four new tracks to Soundcloud last week. KHLHI is the pick of the bunch, a really glorious soulful house groover.
You can stream Pixies' new album Indie Cindy on the Guardian site now, but there's also a bonus track doing the rounds that's arguably as good as anything on the main record.
Here's a new track from hotly-tipped weirdo rapper Young Thug. Apparently there's a version featuring Drake to be released at a later date.
And finally, here's a Dan Auerbach mix of Lana Del Rey's new song West Coast. It's not appreciably different from the version we posted last week, but it's a good opportunity to tell you that we've got a fascinating interview with Dan's band The Black Keys coming up in the Guide on Saturday.
Hardcore – you know the score
This ought to blow away the cobwebs: a new tune from Cali hardcore punks Trash Talk.
They've done one of those pointlessly enigmatic album trailers as well.
We can tell you that the album will come out on Odd Future's label on May 26 in the UK, and it features cameos from Ratking's Wiki and south London's very own King Krule.
Updated
Do look back into the sun
Here's what we know so far about the latest mooted Libertines reunion.
1. Pete Doherty did an interview with a Hebrew language website last week in which he said The Libertines had been offered a gig in Hyde Park.
2. There is a currently a map of Hyde Park on The Libertines' Facebook page.
3. There are plenty of gaps in the British Summer Time Hyde Park festival schedule, with only the Black Sabbath and Tom Jones days announced so far.
4. Pete needs the money. He always needs the money.
5. Carl is unlikely to get an offer for his new band The Jackals to headline a major London park anytime soon.
6. Gary would surely be up for it too.
7. The Libertines have form with reforming, playing Reading Festival in 2010. It was a bit of shambles, but then that's what they do.
8. All old bands these days are in a perpetual state of reforming because it's the only way their members can maintain public interest in anything else they're doing.
Our verdict: get yer trilbies out!
Speed of sound
The other week, Future told us that he could bang out a hit record in 25 minutes. Now Sia Furler has upped the stakes, claiming she wrote Rihanna's Diamonds in 14 minutes.
That's nothing, though. Last year, Tom Fletcher of McFly wrote a song in five minutes:
Today's Thrones debrief
Game Of Thrones rose to new levels of wrongness last night – and we don't just mean Aiden Gillen's accent. If you didn't watch last the episode and wish to avoid all episode spoilers, it's probably best to turn off the internet today – it's all anyone's talking about.
Margaret Lyons of Vulture called it a "new low for the deeply violent series".
Scott Meslow of The Week called it "wrongheaded and baffling".
Here's what Sarah Hughes had to say on the Guardian's episode blog.
And more thoughtful stuff from Sonia Saraiya of The AV Club.
Naturally, the episode's director Alex Graves stepped up to defend himself and explain why he'd changed crucial aspects of the scene from how it appeared in George RR Martin's books.
And finally George RR Martin himself weighed in.
A controversy too far for the controversy-chasing series? Unlikely.
While you were Eastering
Welcome back to the Guide Daily! While you were away rolling painted eggs down hills, lots of strange things happened in the world of popular music.
First, Boy George joined Black Lips:
Then Jonathan Ross joined Arcade Fire:
And finally Coldplay got remixed by Giorgio Moroder: