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The Visitor is this year’s little film that could. It's based on a true story in which two very unlikely paths cross in the megalopolis that is NYC.  A middle aged and bored Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins/Six Feet Under) comes home one day to find two new residents in his apartment: Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian man, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend. Learning that they're victims of a real estate scam, he befriends them and allows them to stay.

Moved by this, Tarek, a drummer, insists on teaching Walter to play the African drum. The instrument captures Walter's spirit and so begins a friendship between the two men. The differences in culture, age and temperament disappear.

In what can only be described as a dark twist, Tarek is pulled up by the NYPD on the Metro after returning with Walter from a lunchtime drum circle practice. Tarek is arrested as an undocumented citizen and held for deportation. As the situation moves from bad to worse Walter departs his sedentiary existence and enters the brutal world of immigration deportation policy and detention centers.

What's interesting in this film, apart from the inside look at immigration policy and it's systemic deployment after 9/11, is the film's sophisticated and special use of music. As the central characters get to know each other through playing music, both of the characters undertake a transformation. Music is used as a method to communicate and as a way to cross language and emotional barriers. The score to the film is created by Polish born Jan A.P. Kaczmarek and lends the film a soft and gentle side to the harsh realities undergoing Tarek. But the director Tom McCarthy (Station Agent/The Wire) doesn't stop there, in using “Je'Nwi Teni” (Don't Gag Me) by Fela Kuti as their drum practice song and as the only song in the film, the director is more than judicious with his use of music and therefore makes its use all the more powerful. Somehow the use of this song reminds us of why we all share the same planet.

Here's a guy who puts his money where his mouth is. We're going to write more on Adam Freeland and his Marine Parade empire very soon, including the forthcoming Evil 9 album and Adam's own eagerly anticipated new LP. But then we saw this video and knew we had to get this track out. Amnesty commissioned Mr. Freeland for their powerful tailor-made for the movies campaign. Currently being run as a preview in UK movie theaters, it's unlikely you'll see it in a US theater. In a world where music is being used more and more to market products - it looks like using music to market a message is catching on.

Adam recently played Coachella in a cape so its only fitting his latest endeavor is so heroic. Here's an exclusive download of the track he wrote for the campaign courtesy of Mr. Freeland.

Exclusive Download: Adam Freeland - Burn the Clock

The wait is over. This weekend sees the Los Angeles premiere of graffiti documentary, Bomb It.   Anyone who considers themselves a hip-hop head or a street culture aficionado will need to see this. Running from June 6th-12th (click full interview link for all screening details), Bomb It is a study on graffiti and urban artwork, taking us from early cave paintings to its explosion in the late 70s and early 80s on the streets and subway cars of New York, eventually landing in galleries and influencing all aspects of pop culture.

Using interviews with artists around the world and footage of the artists in action, director Jon Reiss uses the film to take on the question of "what is public space and how should it be used to benefit the public?" Reiss shot Bomb It on five continents and immortalized some graffiti legends including Taki 183 (who's credited with being one of the first taggers in NYC), Stay High 149, T-Kid and Cope (NY), Cornbread (Philly), Revok (Seventh Letter crew), Mear One, and the prolific Shepard Fairey.

CLICK HERE for full story and interview with the film's music supervisor David Garcia.

What do the film "Predator" and the new Ratatat LP (simply titled "LP3", coming out this July) have in common?  Apparently more than just both being amazing.  E*Vax aka Evan Mast aka one half of Ratatat has put together a video for the song "Mirando" off the forthcoming album.  As one of the fans in the comments section so eloquently put it: "Holy shit! Ratatat + Predator clips = the greatest fucking video I've ever seen!!!".  We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

We've all been waiting for the third studio album from acclaimed electronic maestros and club bangers Booka Shade. We've been anticipating this record for so long that we even bought the live album and the accompanying DVD. (Yes, we at SEEN do buy music.) The release of ‘Movements Tour Edition’ with a new live DVD, "We Came To Dance", a show filmed at Belgium’s Pukkelpop Festival, kept us in good standing while we waited on the new album.

Their Coachella performance this year was hot. Having seen them in smaller venues it was nice to know they can rock out their giant hooks on huge festival stages. With their big sound and their big visuals it's clear why they often self refer to the cinematic feel and look of their sound. That might be why they've ended up in as many commercials and television shows as they have.  Check out the above EPK for the new album where they also mention Eike König as a "very important for the visual side of Booka Shade".

The album, called "The Sun & The Neon Light", comes out on Get Physical.  Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.