SoundBites: Day of the Dead, Sami Yusuf, Natural Born Killers

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead's fans have reason themselves to be grateful with the release of Day Of The Dead, a mammoth collection paying tribute to the American rockers.

The five-disc, 59-track collection has been put together by brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, and features a wealth of popular indie artists including Kurt Vile, The War on Drugs, Courtney Barnett, Wilco and Unknown Mortal Orchestra performing Dead covers.

More than 60 artists appear on the album, which took four years to record.

All profits go to help the fight against Aids through the Red Hot Organisation.

Day of the Dead is out on digital and CD format, with a limited edition vinyl box set due later this year.

The man once referred to as "perhaps the most famous British Muslim in the world" (pre-Zayn Malik perhaps) is on his way to our shores.

Sami Yusuf, founder of the genre "Spiritique" - a blend of oriental and occidental sounds, will perform his first New Zealand gig at the Auckland Town Hall on July 10.

He's a United Nations World Food Programme Ambassador against Hunger, and according to publicity once performed to an audience of 250,000 in Istanbul.

Yusuf sings in English, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Azeri, Malay and Urdu and he's backed by a range of classical and ethnic instruments. Tickets from $65 at Ticketmaster.

Revisit a classic

Oliver Stone had already shown a knack for matching movies with music by the time Natural Born Killers came around. Think Platoon (Adagio For Strings, White Rabbit, Tracks Of My Tears) and, of course, The Doors. The NBK album and film were released in 1994.

The soundtrack, put together by Trent Reznor, combines dialogue snippets and new and classic music to create a disturbing atmosphere suitable for its serial killer theme.

Artists include Leonard Cohen, Cowboy Junkies, Bob Dylan and Dr Dre.

Its mash-up of Jane's Addiction's Ted, Just Admit It and Diamanda Galas' I Put A Spell On You is a must-listen moment.