London singer-songwriter Rose Gray has unveiled a cover of Saint Etienne’s ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’. It comes with an accompanying music video directed by GOODHOUSE. Check it out below.
“Saint Etienne is my favourite band,” Gray said in a press release. “I’ve fallen in love with their music. ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’ was originally released in 1991, when the UK 90s dance scene was just being born. It’s an era of music I am fascinated by; I wasn’t born but maybe somehow through my mother’s eyes I partied to it. This song entwines dance music, 60s samples and incredible melody and melancholy. The break beat, orchestra 60s samples similar to Burt Bacharach and the spoken word melody of Sarah Cracknell – are all magic to me. I wanted to cover this song because it feels like an ode to this incredible era for UK dance music. I want to bring back this sound but … 2020 style!”
Speaking about the video, Gray added: “I wanted to create a video that captured mid lockdown, being at home, being weird in a little flat. My best friend was housesitting at this beautiful quirky flat in Covent Garden. the walls bright yellow, 360 views of London town. We filmed all day, I danced around and ate loads of pasta. The original concept came from my favourite film, ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ with beautiful Sophia Loren. The ‘Today’ part of the film Loren’s character spends days lounging around at her penthouse flat, looking after her cat. Hopefully it brings a bit of joy to the world in this bizarre time.”
Rose Gray’s cover of ‘Nothing Can Stop Us Now’ follows on from her recent single, ‘Same Cloud’.
Stevie Nicks has shared her first new music in six years, ‘Show Them the Way’. Produced by Greg Kurstin, the track features Dave Grohl on drums and Dave Stewart on guitar. A music video directed by Cameron Crow is set to come out later today. For now, listen to the track below, along with a stripped-back acoustic version.
‘Show Them the Way’ includes references to Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and John F. Kennedy. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Nicks revealed that the new song was inspired by a dream she had in the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election where she was playing a political benefit concert in the Hamptons. It was only this year that she decided to record the track, seeing it as a hopeful balm during this “very strange and dangerous time.”
In 2014, Nicks released the LP 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault. A companion live album and concert film to that album is set for release on October 30th.
Bakermat, a Dutch DJ and music producer, today released his latest ten-track album The Ringmaster. The album features several big tracks including the highly-streamed ‘Baianá’ which has over 100 million streams and features on the popular football game FIFA 21. To talk about his past, the album, and the impact COVID-19 has had on his album, he joined us for an interview.
Hi, how are you?
I’m doing very well!
Give us an insight into how your journey into music production began?
I started out pretty young, making electro music and posting it on blogs. I did it purely for fun and never really intended to make a career out of it. It’s really cool though that it turned into something I can make a living off now!
With COVID-19 affecting touring for many artists, what has been the most significant thing you’ve missed since not being able to perform?
Well I really just miss the excitement, my life is quite relaxed and regular right now, which is great, but I do miss the travel, going to places that surprise me and meeting strange people. Also performing is something that’s really necessary for an artist to connect with his fans in real life. Comments and likes are nice, but nothing beats partying together in a crowded room or festival.
You’ve had quite the success with ‘Baianá,’ reaching over 100 million streams via Spotify alone and now being included on FIFA 21, what inspired the song and what do you think made it such a success?
I tour a lot in Brazil, and with every trip I appreciate the culture more and more, especially the music. At one point my brother in law sent me this piece of music from traditional Brazilian choir Barbatuques, and I fell in love with it straight away. I think combining the traditional choir with chords and saxophone is what makes the track stand out and successful.
In terms of The Ringmaster, what is the ideas and themes that hold the album together?
Well the main strength of the album is the diversity. As a producer I really love making songs in different styles and genres, whilst still maintaining my own sound. Because I make everything myself, it will always sound like ‘Bakermat’. In this album I go from sad ballads to high tempo rock to dancefloor house. And even though the tracks are different, they really fit together!
Your song ‘Bad Dreams’ leads the forthcoming album The Ringmaster, how did meaning for the song come about?
My music is usually very happy, but life doesn’t just consist of happy moments, it also consists of sad ones. I wanted to make a tune that’s sad for once, because it broadens your spectrum as an artist. The lyrics by 7Chariot really moved me and I thought this was the perfect opportunity for me to produce a sad ballad kinda song when I first heard it.
Did you find any difficulties creating the album, especially with the impact of COVID-19?
Actually, everything that’s going on at the moment with COVID made it a bit easier because I didn’t have a time-consuming tour. I had all the time in the world at home to finish everything. So, it definitely sped up the process!
Having produced for quite a few years, how has the process changed over time? Do you find new techniques more reliable, and do you feel you have more freedom now with the vaster knowledge gained over time?
The more I got to know about producing, the simpler I work. For example, I used to use a ton of effects and complex techniques, but I now know that these are usually unnecessary. It’s all about the basic stuff in the end. Also, as you get more experienced you’re way more aware of what specific thing you’re really good at, and what you suck at. I really only focus on the things I’m really good at now!
Finally, what do you hope to achieve with the album, is there a set goal?
I hope for the music to become a soundtrack in special moments in someone’s life. I want my music to comfort people during rough times, and cheer people during happy times. I want someone to get that feeling in their chest when they hear the first couple of notes. Most of all; it should make people feel something.
Clairo has teamed up with Jake Passmore of the London-based indie outfit SCORS for a cover of the Strokes’ ‘I’ll Try Anything Once’. Check out their lo-fi rendition of the band’s 2006 B-side below.
‘I’ll Try Anything Once’ served as the demo for the Strokes’ ‘You Only Live Once’, the opening track of their 2005 album First Impressions of Earth. It was then released as a B-side to the band’s ‘Heart in a Cage’ single. Listen to the original below.
070 Shake was the musical guest on Wednesday night’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Performing outside surrounded by rock formations and two actors dressed up like blue alien creatures, the G.O.O.D. Music artist played a previously unreleased song called ‘History’, as well as her Modus Vivendi track ‘Guilty Conscience’. Check out her performance below.
Modus Vivendi, Shake’s debut studio album, came out in January and made our Best Albums of the Year (So Far) list. In July, Tame Impala unveiled a new remix of ‘Guilty Conscience’.
In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on October 9th, 2020:
Touché Amoré, Lament
Touché Amoré have come through with their fifth studio album and first in over four years, Lament, out now via Epitaph. Produced alongside Ross Robinson (Slipknot, Korn, At The Drive-In), the album was described by a press release as “the light at the end of the tunnel” following years of “working through darkness.” The whole album is accompanied by visuals animated by guitarist Nick Steinhardt, while a deluxe physical edition of the LP also includes a 72-page art book. Featuring the singles ‘Limelight’ and ‘I’ll Be Your Host’, Lament follows the band’s 2016 album Stage Four.
METZ,Atlas Vending
METZ have returned with their fourth studio album, Atlas Vending, via Sub Pop. Containing 10 tracks, the new album was recorded at Machines with Magnets in Rhode Island and was co-produced by Ben Greenberg (Uniform) and engineered and and mixed by Seth Manchester (Daughters, Lingua Ignota, The Body). As METZ’s Alex Edkins explains, the new album is “about leaving a bad situation behind. About overcoming obstacles that once held you back, rising above, and looking to a better future. The title refers to immersing yourself fully into what you love and using it as a sanctuary from negativity and a catalyst for change.” He added: “Our goal is to remain in flux, to grow in a natural and gradual way. We’ve always been wary to not overthink or intellectualize the music we love but also not satisfied until we’ve accomplished something that pushes us forward.”
Future Islands,As Long As You Are
Future Islands are back with their sixth studio album, As Long As You Are, out now via 4AD. Following 2017’s The Far Field, it marks the first album by the band to include a fourth member, drummer Mike Lowry, in addition to the three-piece lineup featuring frontman Samuel T. Herring, William Cashion, and Gerrit Welmers. The band also handled some of the production for the first time in a their decade-and-a-half-long career, working alongside producer and engineer Steve Wright at Baltimore’s Wrightway Studios. The album includes the previously released singles ‘Moonlight’, Thrill’, and ‘For Sure’.
Mary Lattimore,Silver Ladders
Los Angeles-based harpist Mary Lattimore has released her new album, Silver Ladders, via Ghostly International. The follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Hundreds of Days, the 7-track LP was recorded with over nine days at Slowdive’s Neil Halstead’s studio stationed on an old airfield. There, the two artists reformed three existing demos and improvised the remaining four songs. “Neil has this poster of a surfer in his studio and I’d look at it each day, looking at the sunlight glinting on the dark wave,” Lattimore said in a statement. “In these songs I like the contrast between the dark lows and the glittering highs. The gloom and the glimmer, the opposites, a lively surfing town in the winter turned kinda rainy and empty and quiet.”
Other albums out today:
Andy Bell, The View From Halfway Down; Dizzee Rascal, E3 AF; Travis, 10 Songs; Mina Tindle, Sister; Sun Ra Arkestra, Swirling.
Online betting is not a new thing these days since you would find hundreds of options when it comes to betting on any of the events of popular sports games. In the last two decades, betting on the internet has witnessed some profound changes and development. Since the widespread usage of smartphones, the last few years have proved pinnacle for sports betting. The sports betting market is valued at around $85 billion recently and soon it going to reach $100 billion in the next few years. New changes and prominent additions are carried out in the sports betting world every year. Recently the addition of eSport in the betting industry has made a new menu for the punters.
eSports and Betting
All these years, punters have been wagering on traditional sports like basketball, horse racing, but modern tech has opened a totally new concept of eSports. Just like any other sports game, tournaments and competitions are organized where professional gamers take participation. Such competitions have also attracted many viewers (fans of the games) across the world. Seeing the opportunity, many sportsbooks started offering bets on such eSports tournaments and events. Now, most of the popular sports betting apps and sites offer to bet on major eSports events and this is really a new thing for punters as well as gamers across the world.
New Customers (Gamers) Are Attracted to the Betting Industry
Sports betting platforms, whether online or offline, have been offering bets on sports games for many years and that is why it has gained the crowd of sports games. But with eSports, more and more gamers could incline to eSports betting which eventually would be a totally new customer-base for the already established sports betting industry.
On game streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube, gamers earn hefty money from the fans who like to watch the live gaming of the professionals. This is one of the things that has encouraged the popularity of eSport. People who don’t even play the game would also be watching and wagering money on such events of their interest. So, eSport has surely attracted a new market of the customers toward the sports betting industry.
New Sports Betting Menu for Old Punters
It is obvious that eSports has brought market of gamers to sports betting but it has also brought a new thing of excitement for old punters. As we said, there are lots of options for sports games at betting sites, but still, it wasn’t enough for some bettors who were looking for an even more exciting and fresh concept. So, the punters who were seeking new options in sports betting have accepted eSport with open arms. The tips, odds, strategies, and many other things in games like basketball, football, and soccer but these things totally change in eSport betting.
So, the old punters have got a new option to place bets on and this has surely risen the excitement. A new dedicated section of eSport has been added to all the prominent online sports betting platforms which also has different offers and bonus offers.
More Excitement, More Risks, and More Study
Because the eSport industry is a new arrival and there are not many big names yet in the field, it is hard to make predictions and wagering on a particular player or event. Well, there are quite a few players in the eSport industry that could be said Kobe or Ronaldo of their field so punters can make a prediction but still more research is required to bet your money safely.
Online sportsbooks offer odds and important tips along with a place to bet on eSports events. A punter has to analyze the odds in a different way from the other sport games. This is risky as it is new but there is excitement freshness for the bettors so, it has become fashion or the latest trend among them.
More Chances of Beating Bookmakers
Aforementioned information state that eSport is a relatively new sports industry and that is why online betting sites may find it difficult to set offer for eSport tournaments that are going. So, if a bettor knows various significant things about the eSports events, games, players, and the teams then, the chances of beating bookmakers are really high. So, this new addition to the sports betting industry can be a rewarding option for the bettors with equipped knowledge.
Anything Can Happen in the Game
Just like any other sports, players and teams are offered as favorite and underdog in eSport betting as well. But here, the chances of winning of outsiders are comparatively higher than favorites since anything could happen here. The recent study on the history of eSport has shown that there are more chances of outsiders to win in eSport than any other sports. So, this again leads to our previous where bookmakers find it difficult to predict winners and the punters have more chances of win the bet.
More Games More Bets
In any other sports game, it is impossible to conduct multiple games in a day but in the field of eSports, multiple games can happen in a single day. The gameplay is usually of an hour or two and when there is no physical fatigue of the players, multiple games can be happened played in a day. So, punters can bet in larger numbers.
There are so many ways to work on your personal fashion and style. But if you are keen to try and appear cool and relaxed, there are many things you can consider to make this a little easier. As it happens, it is always possible to do this, and as long as you are happy to work on it a little you should find that you can do so fairly easily. In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the major considerations to think about as you try to turn your style into a cool and relaxed one.
The Right Pair Of Jeans
If you are going for a relaxed style, finding the right pair of jeans really is going to be most of it. As long as you have that, you can pretty much put whatever you want with them, and that is going to be an acceptable, relaxed outfit. This is going to work for all but the most formal of occasions, when you might not want to be too relaxed anyway! It’s definitely worth shopping around for a good pair of jeans, or even a few to have in your wardrobe at any one time.
Comfy Footwear
A clear signal that you have a relaxed style is often going to come across in the footwear you have on. If you are wearing a pair of Air Jordan low sneakers, then people are going to know that you are going for the relaxed look, so that is something that you might want to consider. With the relaxed fit and a matching t-shirt from illCurrency you will feel extra comfortable. Even if you don’t have that exact pair, you should aim to find a pair of shoes that are comfy, as that is going to be the most important thing of all. Not only will you look cooler, you will feel so much more relaxed day after day.
Go Sports Luxe
There is something of a trend at the moment of the so-called sports luxe mode. This is where you are essentially wearing sportswear, but slightly upgraded so that it’s good enough to wear in other scenarios too. If you choose to wear this type of apparel, you are going to find that it helps you to be really comfortable and relaxed, while also looking fit and healthy. If you are looking to have a nice figure, then these clothes can often help with that aspect of your appearance too.
Carry Yourself Confidently
You can get away with wearing pretty much anything if you carry yourself with enough confidence. As such, this is something that you should work on as well. A big part of looking cool and relaxed in whatever clothes you are wearing is ensuring that you have this level of confidence. With that, you can pretty much put on whatever you like, and you will be able to pull it off as a genuine outfit. Bear that in mind, and start to carry yourself with greater confidence today.
Early in 2016, 16-year-old Belgian singer Ellie Blanche Delvaux, aka Blanche, auditioned for The Voice Belgique with a show-stopping rendition of Adele’s ‘Daydreamer’. Husky and powerful, her voice seriously impressed the judges. She went on to compete for team Cats on Trees and made it all the way to the live shows. That same year, she was selected to represent Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing the brooding electro-pop track ‘City Lights’, she surprised audiences with a refreshingly understated performance and achieved fourth place. The track became a big hit in Belgium and spread throughout Europe, leading to Blanche being awarded a European Border Breakers Award in 2018. This is no small feat, as the EBBA, which annually highlights the success of ten emerging artists who have reached audiences outside their own countries, has previously been awarded to the likes of Dua Lipa, Years and Years, MØ, Hozier, and Christine and the Queens. Now, Blanche has come through with her much-awaited debut album, Empire, a compelling indie-pop offering, featuring a varied array of shimmering, hook-filled tracks expressing a deep swirl of emotions. Wrapped in gossamer synths and lush electronic production, the album’s vibrant, digital soundscapes are the perfect sonic environment for Blanche’s mesmerising vocals to really take off.
We caught up with Blanche for this edition of our Artist Spotlight series, where we showcase up-and-coming artists and give them a chance to talk about their music.
When did you first fall in love with music?
I live in quite an artistic family because I have an older brother who is a singer and plays piano and my mum is a painter who also plays piano and is an architect. It’s the surrounding I’ve grown up in, it was just always artistic. When I was younger, I was just like, ‘My brother is making music and he’s almost ten years older than me’, and when you’re small like that, you just kind of copy an older figure. At the beginning I was like, ‘Oh he makes music, I’ll make music also then!’ And every little child was looking at Disney Channel – it’s my generation, you know? Hannah Montana and stuff like that. So all these things made me like music.
Who would be on your dream festival line-up?
James Blake, Lorde, SOAK, Beach House, Kings of Convenience, Lana Del Rey, Alt J Christine and the Queens, Feu! Chaton, Lapsley, Radiohead, Jacques Brel and I have to say One Direction because I was such a huge fan a few years ago and I never had the occasion to see them in concert. Then Banks and Adele. That’s it, that’s my list!
Who are a few of your influences?
Well, all of the above! But also, a band who really inspired me when I was like 14/15, who helped me find confidence in my voice was London Grammar because I really was completely obsessed with them. When I recorded ‘City Lights’, we went to record it with Tim Bran in London with the producer that worked with them, so I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy’. It was really one of the bands to get me started in a certain type of music.
How have your experiences on The Voice and Eurovision shaped you?
Well, I don’t know exactly how to answer. What I know is that it definitely made me realise and see how I deal with stress or unreal situations. Being in Eurovision when you’re 17… It’s really hard to realise that it’s Eurovision, this big thing and connect that with reality. It’s strange and it made me realise that I have a sort of problem with connecting to reality, to be in the moment, where I put some distance between myself and things that are happening to me and it’s something I have to fix – so that’s maybe a small negative that I learned.
Obviously, there are a lot of positive things because The Voice was more of an adventure and a fun experience. Maybe I gained some self-confidence because I had a lot of nice comments and nice messages and I could see that people were touched by my music and I realised that there was something in me that people felt really strong things. I was like, ‘That’s really nice, I wanna use that’, and because on The Voice you get a lot of feedback from the judges and the public and everything, it just helped me realise what I should focus on.
In Eurovision, it’s the same kind of thing where you’re showcasing yourself and your music and people are automatically telling you what they think about it, and so you get a lot of reactions and then you realise that people are liking your music and your personality. I’m an honest person, but sometimes it’s hard to be really be yourself in these kinds of situations and The Voice and Eurovision helped me to find a way into who I really am.
What was the inspiration behind your latest album Empire?
It’s always hard because there are so many things in art that you cannot explain and it’s funny, because I’ve been talking with some friends who make movies and stuff, and we always get asked, “Why did you choose this title or this image at this moment”, and sometimes you can’t answer because it’s just it’s your feelings that make you do things. So it’s hard to answer this question because I have a lot of things to say, but in the end in music and in art a lot of things just come from your soul.
I think for sure what inspired me the most for this album, really simply, is people and their lives, their feelings and their history. You know this big mystery of life we have people not really knowing what it’s all about – but trying. Meeting new people, creating connections and how you’re affected by that, how you deal with it, how you build yourself as a person and what you learn… I have a big focus in the album on honesty and authenticity and sincerity with yourself and with others. For me, the most important thing is authenticity; it’s the only way for me tor me to really get somewhere and I talk a lot about that in my music. It makes me so sad to see a lot of people being fake, faking the way they live, not at all doing what they want and they’re lying to themselves and to others. So many people convince themselves that they’re better off alone, that they don’t need people and I put a big focus on the album on like creating people who try to really find how they feel deep down and just help themselves through others… What I mean is really meet new people, create connections and try to move like that in life… And to not lie to themselves and try to always face their truth.
Sometimes I talk about other people because it’s not really a problem I have – I’m always facing my truth, but I talk a lot about pressure, questions I have in life regarding music or other things, how I deal with all that, how sometimes its really hard and how I feel. I obviously talk a lot about love because this is one of the most important things as well for me. It’s a super strong feeling and everybody knows what it feels like and this is a subject that I have a lot of things to say about because I experience a lot because I’m a really sensitive and I can fall in love really fast and feel really strong things so it really inspires me. Yeah and I talk about the pain and the hurt. I guess… That’s it! (Laughs).
I also got to work with a lot of people. I would go to London and then I would go to someone’s studio and then meet them and then we’d write songs together. Rich Cooper and François Gustin, the producers of the album – just grateful that I met them because they helped me so much and they really brought what I was missing in our old songs and made it into something coherent. Without them, I wouldn’t have made an album that I’m proud of.
What did you do during lockdown?
Well, honestly it was really not so good. Like I said I have a problem with connecting to reality – I know it sounds strange but it’s a really huge thing so I can’t explain it in a few words but… It really blocked me on a lot of things. It really got me frozen and before the pandemic I was really getting a lot of energy and ambition and I wanted to achieve a lot of things because I knew that the album was gonna be released in a few months and I wanted to be 100% ready for my first album and the release party and festivals and stuff. I was in a super good energy cycle let’s say and I was really doing a lot and feeling amazing and then there was this lockdown thing and really I tried to keep a positive attitude but at some point it got really hard and yeah, I got quite sad and I lost a lot of confidence in the project and stuff… But at the end when I released the album, I was super happy to see all the reactions finally and it was so strange as I was waiting so long to release the album and then it was released in such strange conditions. Yeah, it wasn’t amazing, you know, but in the end, the album is there and people who are listening to it are feeling things and honestly that’s the most important thing. And now I’m way better, I went on holiday and got back into rehearsals and everything is going good again. In the end I did a lot of interviews on the phone talking to a lot of newspapers in Belgium and stuff so that was cool.
We all hope that 2021 goes a bit better than 2020! What are your hopes for next year?
Well, my hopes are that I can play some concerts and being on stage, singing songs from this project I’ve worked on for years now. To be able to share it with people in a room and at festivals because at festivals a lot of people can discover your music. That’s probably the most important thing, to tour now. I would love to be the first act for an artist I really liked, that would be amazing.
What’s up next now that your album is out?
I’ve just moved out from my parent’s place – it’s the first time I’m living with friends. I really want to make the Empire album live more now and try to share a bit more about how I created it with people that follow me and to just work on more music, try to focus on what I want to share and write new things. I’m now able to play my songs on piano which is something new for me, I would like to improve that and… Oh yeah! I have another thing! I’m doing a 3 month course, it’s like a performing course, but it’s not only for singing, it’s for dance and acting movement and stuff. I’ll have that every day for three months and I’m super excited because it could really improve me… It’s called… I’m not sure how to translate into English but… ‘Play in Full Presence’, it’s like so you can really BE there when you perform and be fully there. And it’s really what I’m missing, it’s exactly what I need.
This is the Kit, the folk-rock project of Kate Stables, has shared a new song called ‘Was Magician’. It’s taken from their upcoming album Off Off On, which is out October 23 via Rough Trade Records. Check it out below, alongside an accompanying live video.
According to a press release, ‘Was Magician’ was partially inspired by the works of the beloved sci-fi/fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin. “Often it’s children who have underestimated powers,” Stables said in a statement. “They have an understanding and wisdom about things that we think beyond their abilities. People like Greta Thunberg — the young people who we have borrowed the earth from and who we have to give it back to.”
The follow-up to 2017’s Moonshine Freeze, Off Off On was recorded with Josh Kaufman of Bonny Light Horseman and Muzz. It includes the previously release singles ‘This Is What You Did’ and ‘Coming To Get You Nowhere’.
Touché Amoré
METZ
Future Islands
Los Angeles-based harpist 
