Rapidly becoming a household name, Kodak To Graph is one of the most vibrant young producers around at the present moment. On his latest track, Rakshasa (a Hindu term for an unrighteous spirit – or man-eater) which features the vocal talents of Rakshasa, he experiments with splicing up numerous samples, all that ultimately inject a real life and energy into the composition. In terms of what Kodak To Graph is achieving at the moment, there are few doing it better.

The solo project of Austrian native Philipp Szalay, Farewell Dear Ghost has been bubbling away under the surface for little under two years, perfecting his art and readying the release of his debut single Cool Blood, and it doesn’t disappoint. Having played a smattering of live shows as a three piece (featuring Günther Paulitsch and Lukas Schneeberger), this single will surely open them up to a far wider audience. An epic, brooding affair, that’s as bold and dynamic as it is intimate; it’s a love song at heart and a wonderfully over the top introduction to Farewell Dear Ghost. Check out Cool Blood below, and keep up with Szalay via Facebook.

Smoke bombs, broken windows, smashed glass, suffocation, burning… all sounds like something from Breaking News right? I can happily inform to you there is no BOMBSITIT over here, but the discovery of the hauntingly transient work from the artist Pauline Nadal.

There is something very tantalising, yet unnerving about a material that is intangible, and it’s this ephemeral feeling that Nadal encapsulates in her films of light and pigmented smoke. The solemn pace and lavering formations that it creates is obviously something she is fascinated by. She plays in derelict spaces to showcase this simple yet effective use of materials.

Smoke typically being a substance riddled in negative connotations, Nadal shows us it can be something of beauty. Her smoke paintings her not really paintings at all; but with film on her side she is making the impossible, possible. Smoke sculpture? Now that’s something I’d like to see.

Pauline Nadal will be showing her work alongside the music of LAW in CiTR Live #002 on the 30^th of May.

To see more of her work, click HERE.

Be sure to not miss the exciting sensory fusions next Thursday.

Mixed gender duos are all the rage at the moment, from Purity Ring, to Beach House, not forgetting Alunageorge, there’s no doubting that two-pieces are ‘cool’. Asher Levitas (formerly of Old Apparatus) and Norwegian musician and vocalist Linn Carin Dirdal have added their name to an ever growing list of musical duos, with the formation of their new outfit, Saa. Their newest track, Your Sword Is My Silence, is a resplendent, atmospheric affair, pirouetting cautiously through sleek, over-emphasised vocals and a pronounced rhythm section. Never quite giving in to it’s Cocteau Twins inspiration, and unfurling into an epic anthem, Saa prefer to toy with the minimal and the spacious beauty that they conjure up.

Your Sword Is Your Silence is out 8 July on prestigious London label Left Blank.

With their debut track Umbrella having cemented their position as one of the most exciting acts to come from the North East in recent years, South Shields quartet Arbeia look set to take the rest of the UK by storm. Dukkha, a Buddhist term for anxiety, continues their growth and encapsulates the energy and painstaking attention to detail that forms such a pivotal part of their live performances. Jerky Foals-esque guitars paired with epic, soaring vocals and a healthy dose of early 00′s American pop-punk, makes Dukkha an invigorating and engrossing listen, and is sure to form the foundations of further success for Arbeia. Check it out below, and be sure to get there early for their show at Evolution Emerging this Saturday, 7.45 at The Cumberland Arms.

Nashville ten piece (yes, you heard that right, TEN) Mind Not The Timid continue their stake to the throne of epic, Arcade Fire brand indie with their newest track The White Oak. Taken from their forthcoming album Beacons, it’s a wonderfully expansive violin led number, that’s equally as likely to cause a singalong as it is to simply stop people in their tracks in absolute awe. Beacons is rapidly becoming one of my most hotly anticipated releases of the year. Check out The White Oak below.

With our second live showcase just around the corner, we thought we’d give any of you who haven’t bought a ticket yet the chance to win a pair!

This month we’re back at the Bussey Building in Peckham pairing a different visual artist with each musician, expect to be bombarded by friendly people, kaleidoscopic visuals and exciting music.

TO WIN

All you have to do to enter is follow @CrackInTheRoad on twitter and then retweet our competition tweet here. Good luck!

Follow @crackintheroad

You can get a taste of what CitR LIVE entails from the video of last month’s event below.

Check out this month’s acts below, side by side with the visual artists we’ve paired them with.

Facebook event: http://on.fb.me/12SSFlE

LAW (Debut London Show) – PAULINE NADAL
PHORIA – CHARLOTTE COUSINS
PALE – WILL KENDRICK
FUNK ETHICS – JOE EVANS

RESIDENT DJs

EDMONDSON
MATT GREIG
MUTE

9.00-LATE
£5

BUSSEY BUILDING: PECKHAM

18+

Having impressed with her previous track Gravity, future Canadian pop sensation a k u a is beginning to find her feet. With support from several top music blogs, her newest track Told You So is sure to push her music to an even wider audience, especially with the release of a Twin Shadow produced EP out later in the year. Centred around an almost tribal-esque beat with her choppy vocals layered expertly over the top, a k u a is one of 2013′s hottest talents.

Returning for a second time, Brainchild Festival has announced this year’s line-up and it looks like a fucking masterpiece. See it in all it’s glory below.

Taking place from Friday 5^th to Sunday 7^th of July, Brainchild is a not-for-profit festival where many of the acts will be playing for free in support of the organiser’s ethos. Hotly tipped artists and Crack In The Road favourites, including Moko and Jamie Isaac, litter the line-up.

“We want to build a community that brings together emerging artists, poets, filmmakers and musicians in a forum of progressive ideas.” the organisers announced today “Really, this festival is a story of young people and their conviction to empower themselves, despite the media’s constant assertion that they are all just looking for a free ride.”

Once again some of the folk here at Crack In The Road played a hand in helping make this year’s festival even more mind blowing, working alongside the glorious Students For Happiness, Steez, Audio Doughnuts & Frozen Thumb.

Tickets are £58 for the full weekend and available here. See you there?

LIVE

King Krule / Benin City / 9mary
United Vibrations / Jamie Isaac / My Panda Shall Fly

Filthy Boy / Moko / Haraket / Southpaw

Nomad Soul Collective / Valve Control / Ben Hayes
Yancey Boys / Theo Bass / The Majestic / Psylus

Sascha Keable / Rakiki Music / Cholombian / Thidius Risk

Marie Naffah / Martyna Baker / Bagel Project / Adam Blake
Jerkcurb / The Energy / MVC / Oscar Lawrence / We Are Goose
Big Beat Manifesto / Audio Doughnuts Live Showcase / EZRA / CIRUS

Cisza + Indea / Kirk Spencer

With more to come..

DJ’s

Brotherhood Soundsystem / Orgy Banton / Riffs / MWJ

Deft / Debian Blak / DA-10 / Tuesday Born / Ghost Circula

The Attic Project / Beau / Chesslo Junior / Real

Manni Dee / Pedaller B2B Loxton / Small_Talk
Late Lunch & Audio Doughnuts DJ’s

POETRY 

Bridget Minamore / Zia Ahmed / Jodi Ann Bickley / Rosie Knight

Deanna Rodger / Jack Rooke / Harry Baker / Poejazzi / Cecilia Knapp

Steez Poets Showcase Tom Sanders / Zena Agha / Tim & Rory

Sean Mahoney / Deanna Rodger / Tristram Fane Saunders

THEATRE

Wind Up Collective presents ‘Black Pudding’ / ‘Far Away’ directed by Zoe Hunter Gordon (written by Caryl Churchill) / ‘Pink’ by Tania Clarke

‘Gender The Elephant by Bethan Kitchen

Vanessa Kisuule presents ‘One Last Thing’

FILM

Raoul Martinez’s ‘Creating Freedom’ / Chemical Brothers’ ‘Don’t Think’ plus Q&A with Director Adam Smith

TALKS

Louisa Young on ‘Culture of the Heart’ / The Post-Feminism Panel

+ much, much more

(Including an afternoon of talks curated by Students for Happiness organisation)

OTHER

The Note Well / STEEZ Café / Brainchild’s Graffiti Wall / Installations from Brainchild resident artists

Digital photo collages and physical layer edits. 70’s stock images made kaleidoscopic and bizarre. Stacked up swirls of coloured paper make up almost the innards, like a cross section of a landscape, within lace smothered Victorian portraits; creating a third dimension in a two dimensional context.

Emir also works within the art group ‘Manufaktura’ and ‘Art of Asfalt’ collective that brought together artists from the republics of Ex-Yugoslavia.

http://esh.ba/