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Talkhouse

Josh Frank is a critically acclaimed artist, entrepreneur, writer, producer, director and composer. whose current focus is spearheading his latest original project, <a href="https://www.silentsynced.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Silents Synced</a>, an independent series where Frank remasters classic silent films with contemporary music. The latest iteration of this is Silents Synced Presents: A Woman of the World vs. Pearl Jam, a reinvention of the lost 1925 classic, re-soundtracked entirely to Pearl Jam&#8217;s Vs. and Vitalogym, which premieres in U.S. cinemas on November 7. Frank is the author of Fool The World: The Oral History of the Band Called Pixies and In Heaven Everything Is Fine – The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers. Other books include his novel, The Good Inn, co-written with Black Francis of the Pixies, and Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Strangest Movie Never Made, which was nominated for an Eisner Award. His list of notable works also includes authorized adaptations of Werner Hergoz’s Stroszek, Mark Vonnegut&#8217;s The Eden Express and The Jonathan Richman Musical. Over the past decade, Frank has collaborated with some of the most innovative figures in music, film, and the arts, including Black Francis, David Lynch and Harold Ramis. He also runs the <a href="http://www.bluestarliteaustin.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Starlite Mini-Urban Drive-In</a>, which he founded in 2009, in Austin, Texas.

Josh Frank

Film

If It Weren’t for the Werner Herzog(s)

Beijing duo Gong Gong Gong 工工工’s raucous debut LP, Phantom Rhythm 幽靈節奏, was recorded live in a room, on open-reel tape, with little more than vocalist and guitarist Tom Ng’s 60-year-old Italian pawn shop guitar and bassist Joshua Frank’s 1970s imitation P-bass. The minimalist group created a drummer-less sound that was more than the sum of its parts, inspired by back-porch blues, Sahelian guitar music, New York no-wave, Cantonese lion dance percussion, and, seemingly most incongruously, techno.
On Phantom Rhythm Remixed, Gong Gong Gong bring to life a concept they’ve planned since the release of their acclaimed debut, curating their favorite China-connected electronic music producers to remix Phantom Rhythm in its entirety. The globe-spanning collaboration features Yu Su (Vancouver/Kaifeng), Zaliva-D, Simon Frank, Howie Lee (Beijing), Mong Tong, Scattered Purgatory (Taipei), Knopha (Xiamen), Wu Zhuoling (Chengdu), Angel Wei (Copenhagen), and P.E. (Brooklyn). The LP will be released by Wharf Cat Records in collaboration with Beijing’s bié Records.

Gong Gong Gong

Music

Best of 2021: Gong Gong Gong Got Inspired By Yu Su This Year