Indie duo Sylvan Esso are back with a new song titled ‘What If’, their first new single in two years. Watch the video for the new track, which is just 90 seconds long, below.
So far, the track isn’t available on any streaming services, only on YouTube as well as the band’s social media pages. “Stay tuned for more info coming soon,” a press release states.
The band – which consists of Mountain Man’s Amelia Meath and Megafaun’s Nick Sanborn – released their previous single , ‘PARAD(w/m)E’, in 2018. Their most recent album was 2017’s What Now. A few months ago, they put out the live album and concert film WITH. Back in May, they appeared in an episode of This Must Be the Gig, where they hinted at new music.
The Regrettes have shared a new single called ‘I Love Us’, alongside an accompanying animated video directed by Luis Hindman. Check it out below.
The track marks the LA indie rock band’s second single of 2020, following the quarantine anthem ‘What Am I Gonna Do Today?’. In a statement, frontwoman Lydia Night explained: “‘I Love Us’ to me represents great change and growth for The Regrettes. This song showcases the kinds of risks and genre-bending I hope to accomplish moving forward with our third album.”
She added: “While writing this song, I officially decided to let go of having any preconceived idea for what a song I’m writing needs to be like. It was me deciding to finally stop trying to stay within a box or stick to what’s comfortable genre-wise and just allow myself to have fun and not stress about it being ‘cool’ or ‘rock’ enough. I’m so inspired by artists like Charli XCX, The 1975, St Vincent, Brockhampton and much more. However, I never would let myself get a little weird by combining the elements from those artists that I love with the type of raw rock and power pop I normally write.”
The Regrettes’ most recent studio album was How Do You Love?, released in the summer of 2019.
The National’s Matt Berninger has unveiled a new solo single titled ‘Distant Axis’. It’s taken from his upcoming album, Serpentine Prison, due out on October 2nd via Book Records, a new imprint he created with the record’s producer, Booker T. Jones. Check out the new track below, along with a music video directed by Berninger and his brother, Tom.
‘Distant Axis’ is a collaboration with The Walkmen’s Walter Martin. In a statement, Berninger explained: “I met Walter Martin fifteen years ago when The National opened for The Walkmen on a tour of shitty clubs in the American Southeast. On that tour I learned a lot about how to be in a band without ruining your life. I also learned a lot about Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. Walt and I have stayed friends and about three years ago we started passing ideas back and forth. ‘Distant Axis’ started from a sketch Walt sent me named ‘Savannah’. I think it’s about falling out of touch with someone or something you once thought would be there forever.”
Serpentine Prison will feature guest appearances from Andrew Bird, The National’s Scott Devendorf, The Walkmen’s Matt Barrick, Menomena’s Brent Knopf, and more.
Temples of Youth, a DIY dream-pop band, have released their latest filmic-like, dreamy song Silver Cross. The song marks the ending of the ‘trio’ which also includes songs Suburbia and Rose Tinted. Like a lot of their discography, Silver Cross is the perfect track for lovers of shoegaze music.
Boogrov, an exciting music producer out of Russia, has released his album Свет, just yesterday. The album comes two years after his thirteen-track album Define. It features many meteoric-like beats and atmospheric sounds, at times reminding us of musicians like Jamie xx and Pixelord, while still maintaining the euphonious, warm, textured sound we have come to love from Boogrov.
With Boogrov’s album released, we are eager to see what is next for him in the upcoming months.
On 26th June, stop-motion artist Cressa Maeve Beer uploaded a short film. Coming Outfeatures Godzilla beginning to notice something about their child, Little Godzilla (Godzilla’s offspring from 1994’s Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla). Little Godzilla comes out as trans, and the King of the Monsters sees and celebrates his daughter’s wonderful personhood. The short is warm and affectionate, openly affirming of transgender youth and wrapped in the brilliant guise of Toho’s icon. It also took the internet by storm.
As of July 2020, Coming Out has over 30,000 views on YouTube, over 21,000 retweets on Twitter, and has been viewed over 32,000 times on Instagram. It even garnered the attention of the official Godzilla channels, with both Legendary Pictures and Toho’s Official Godzilla Twitter account retweeting the film.
Our Culture is proud to present this interview with Cressa, who kindly sat down with us to talk about her film, how she got into stop-motion, and the importance of trans-affirming content.
Cressa, thank you so much for talking to Our Culture! Please introduce yourself for our readers.
It’s an absolute pleasure! Hi Our Culture readers, I’m Cressa. I’m a stop motion animator and video producer, with work ranging from music videos, documentaries, and brand campaigns, to PSAs screening in front of your film at your local Alamo Drafthouse. I like tea, books, and I never grew out of my dinosaur phase. With my personal art, I like creating a sunny patch for people to lay in when they need it most, and it coincides with my advocacy for the Trans community.
How did you get into stop-motion animation?
When I was little, I was obsessed with stop motion; Wallace and Gromit, Harryhausen, and this show on PBS called Long Ago and Far Away, which featured tons of stop-motion shorts from around the world. I was also very obsessed with LEGOs. I would take my parents’ VHS camcorder (an admission that probably gives away my age) and attempt to replicate the frame-by-frame shooting style to make my characters move, eventually making teeny tiny short films about Indiana Jones-esque adventures or rip-offs of comics or anime. I didn’t do much with it until maybe 2015 when I received the Godzilla figure I now use in all my shorts from NECA, and just started playing around again. I started posting what I made online and eventually was contacted by an old dear friend, Ryan Oestreich, to create pre-show bumpers for Cinepocalypse Film Festival, which prompted me to start taking this stuff more seriously. Soon I had enough experience and momentum to quit my day job and devote my time fully to my original childhood passion – an opportunity for which I’m exceedingly grateful.
Your recent stop-motion short has taken social media by storm. What was your inspiration?
The inspiration was personal. Right now everyone’s social media timelines are filled with both explicit and implicit hatred for Trans people – whether it’s this god-awful administration reversing healthcare rights or moving to discriminate in housing, or a certain famous children’s author using her platform to further vilify women. In response, I wanted to put art out into the world that was tender and positive. Since I’m a Trans woman myself, I also wanted to make something that I personally would want in my feed. I’m happy it resonated with so many others, and not just solely within my community – the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and I’m receiving emails and DMs from strangers (cis and Trans both) who were personally touched by it or wanted to share their own story. I even had a kid who had been questioning their identity for a few years tell me that my short was what made them feel comfortable enough to come out to their parents – that leaves me speechless.
And actually, there’s a second piece of inspiration: my dad, who I lost relatively recently. He was the one who introduced me to Godzilla when I was little, and then our last conversation ended up being my coming out to him as Transgender. He was suffering from dementia, but in that conversation, his mind somehow pushed through, and his response was one of love and support. Not a day goes by where I don’t want him to see me now, as the real me, so this short is in a way dedicated to his memory.
Godzilla says “trans rights!”
How does it feel having official Godzilla channels (like Legendary’s twitter) sharing the short?
It leaves me sick with joy, and I wish I could go back in time and show this to the sad, scared child I used to be. Godzilla’s original creators, Toho, haven’t ever really taken a stance on anything LGBTQIAP+ related, so to have them not only support a Trans story from a Trans creator, but to share it far and wide during this time feels like real recognition – I suppose what it means to feel ‘seen’. When you also consider how toxic the Western/English fanbase can be, this was pretty bold.
But on the flip side of the coin, it’s easy for a big company to share a video on social media and hashtag support for a marginalized community – it’s another thing for that company, especially one in entertainment, to make it a point to start hiring or including Queer and Trans artists/actors/directors/characters/etc. So I’m beyond grateful, but I’m also hoping it’s only a first step and not the full extent.
What has Godzilla been for you?
I fear it’ll sound too vague or dramatic when I say that Godzilla has helped me survive multiple times. When I was little, watching all of the ‘vs.’ movies, Godzilla was a protector, a mythological symbol of resilience, a force of strength that would endure when nothing else could. As I got older, I learned more about the monster’s origins as a walking metaphor for nuclear holocaust, and how that metaphor has evolved to mean something different depending on which film in the 30+ catalogue you watch: climate activist, anti-bully, force of nature, allegory for Fukushima, alpha predator, superhero, supervillain, on and on and on. But for me personally, Godzilla will be the strength that I wish I had. It’s silly, but the ending of 1995’s Godzilla vs Destoroyah really affected me when I first saw it: Godzilla is melting down, but continues to fight until a final roar of defiance – only to be reborn, silhouetted on the horizon. The moment was beautiful to me: the idea that your old self can burn down, but then you can rise back up again anew.
Over the series’ 60+ year history, Godzilla has always been a tool to address cultural and social changes. How does it feel to contribute to that rich legacy?
Well, first of all, I’m exceedingly flattered that a short animation of monster action figures can be considered a contribution to a legacy! It’s like having someone you’ve admired your whole life turn to you and say “I’m a fan of yours in return” – it’s validating and empowering. Moreover, Godzilla was never gendered in Japan, but the English translations masculinized everything from the get-go – and, culturally, we in the US seem stuck in a false binary view of gender that defaults male. In a very conscious way, my short softly prods at that notion. So if I am contributing anything to Godzilla’s legacy, I hope it’s in a way that’s expanding viewpoints and opening hearts. Godzilla means something different to everyone, and that should actually mean everyone.
Godzilla lovingly embraces his daughter.
What’s next for you on the horizon?
I’m raising money for Black Trans causes, I have a big list here: https://linktr.ee/beeragon. Viral videos of Trans acceptance aside, we’re in the midst of a cultural revolution, and Black Trans lives are still the most attacked and persecuted just for existing. The first steps to cultural and societal reform is economic reform – providing equity and resources that aren’t just about survival, but thriving.
How can our readers follow/see your work?
I’m most active on Instagram and Twitter, where my handle is @beeragon and then I have a website that houses more of my non stop motion work: beeragon.org
We cannot thank Cressa enough for this interview. We ask our readers to check out Coming Out, and to support the causes that Cressa has highlighted.
Open Mike Eagle has released a new song called ‘Neighborhood Protection Spell (Lana Del Biden Nem)’. The new track arrives with a visual directed and edited by Ryan Calavano. Check it out below.
“When I wrote this song the world was not on fire yet,” the rapper said in a statement about the track. “I had felt subtle attacks on Blackness from Joe Biden and other public figures. Notions that were harmful about authenticity. Notions that called our behavioral and consumption choices into question without any reference to the historical context that they are couched in. I made this song as a spell to ward off subtle social attacks at Blackness. I put a lot in it to make sure it works.”
Open Mike Eagle released his most recent studio album, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, back in 2017. Last week, Mike launched his own podcast network, Stony Island Audio.
100 gecs’ abrasive 2019 debut LP stuck out as such a jarringly singular DIY project from experimental pop duo Laura Les and Dylan Brady that it was hard to imagine any guest features being laid on top of it. The group’s hyperactive, maximalist approach already functioned much like a remix album, stitching together elements of bubblegum pop, metalcore, indie rock, and hip-hop and then throwing them all in a high-speed blender. So when 100 gecs announced their new, star-studded remix album, one had to wonder: would it be an attempt to make some of the songs off 1000 gecs appeal to a larger crowd, or would it serve as a vehicle to crank up their already whiplash-inducing sound to… well, a 1000?
The answer, of course, is a bit of both. Though, unsurprisingly, accessibility is never the goal here as much as it is an occasional side-effect, with Les and Brady aiming for just pure fun – whether it comes in the form of the catchy-as-hell ‘ringtone’ remix featuring Charli XCX, Kero Kero Bonito, and Rico Nasty or the playful, adrenaline-fuelling ‘stupid horse’ remix with GFOTY and Count Baldor, which kicks off with the sound of an actual horse. Elswhere, ‘xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx’ has been turned into a full-on Eurodance banger, complete with a tongue-in-cheek Pitbull impression courtesy of Estonian rapper Tommy and sweet AutoTuned vocals from Hannah Diamond. The pop singer is one of the many PC Music affiliates who appear on the album, including label head A.G. Cook, who lends a polished, glossy sheen to opener ‘money machine’, a perfect introduction to an album that mostly runs as a more polished yet equally chaotic and rapturous version of its predecessor.
These collaborations are far for surprising – Brady recently co-produced much of Charli XCX’s quarantine album, how i’m feeling now – and in that sense, 1000 gecs & The Tree of Clues highlights the participatory culture that permeates the hyperpop scene. But the duo aren’t afraid to go the extra mile and serve up something that seems to have come from an entirely different universe, like the stand-out ‘hand crushed by a mallet’, which enlists Fall Out Boy’s own Patrick Stump as well as Chiodos’ Craig Owens and singer-songwriter Nicole Dollanganger to deliver a fiery remix that does emo revival better than most emo acts of the 2010s.
The track’s unrelenting fusion of screamo and electronic music is the first real sign that 100 gecs’ wild-eyed adventurousness hasn’t gone anywhere. If much of first half of the album hints towards a less ear-piercing – but never conventional – direction, the second half is stacked with rougher remixes that are mostly varied enough to warrant their inclusion here. The umru remix of ‘ringtone’ drifts through constantly-mutating percussion before ending with a slowed-down guitar solo, while the ‘745 sticky’ remix featuring Canadian noise pop duo Black Dresses takes the crown for the most nightmarish track on the album. The previously amorphous ‘gecgecgec’, meanwhile, has been transformed into a fleshed-out blend of hip-hop and melodic indie pop featuring Lil West and Tony Velour that boasts one of the record’s more wrenching hooks.
Unfortunately, some of the remixes in the second half don’t quite stack up to the ones in the first, including the 99jakes remix of ‘xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx’ or the N0thanky0u-assisted ‘hand crushed by a mallet’; the Dorian Electra-featuring ‘gec 2 Ü’ is one notable exception. None of the remixes are bad, though – unless you already weren’t a fan of 100 gecs, in which case you probably have no reason to listen to this – and the fact that the album is hardly meant to be listened to from start to finish mostly invalidates that criticism. Similarly, the two live tracks and previously unreleased cuts are best seen as bonus tracks more than any kind of coherent ending to the album.
The new tracks in question, ‘toothless’ and ‘came to my show’, serve as reminders – not that they really were necessary – that the power of 100 gecs’ music rests on the duo’s originality more than any guest feature. Despite the blood-pumping pop-punk energy of ‘toothless’, though, it’s the heartfelt sincerity of ‘came to my show’ that stands out the most, a full-hearted display of affection that dismantles any wrongful assumption that gecs’ music is “post-ironic”. It would have made for the perfect closer, but then again, if Laura Les and Dylan Brady were aiming for perfection, nothing on 1000 gecs & The Tree of Clues would be quite as good as it is.
Joey Bada$$ has dropped The Light Pack, featuring three new songs: ‘The Light’, ‘No Explanation’ feat. Pusha T, and ‘Shine’. Below, listen to the tracks and check out the music video for ‘The Light’, directed by Kerby Jean-Raymond & Levi Turner.
“It’s been 3 long years, so how bout 3 new songs for your Mind, Body & Soul?” the rapper wrote on Twitter. “LOVE to you ALL.”
He later added: “Don’t call it an EP, I hate that. It’s 3 songs, bundled together.”
The Light Pack marks the first new solo material from Bada$$ since 2017’s acclaimed All-Amerikkkan Bada$$. In 2019, he put out a collaboration with Kirk Knight called ‘Gazzliona’.
Drake and DJ Khaled have teamed up on two new songs, ‘Pop Star’ and ‘Greece’. The collaborative tracks are taken from DJ Khaled’s upcoming 12th studio album, Khaled Khaled. Check them out below.
This is not the first time the Miami producer and hip-hop superstar have joined forces – they first worked together all the way back in 2011 on the chart-topping single ‘I’m on One’. Their most recent collaboration was ‘To the Max’ in 2017.
DJ Khaled’s most recent album, Father of Asahd, dropped in 2019. Drake recently followed up 2018’s Scorpion with Dark Lane Demo Tapes, which included the No. 1 single ‘Toosie Slide’ but failed to reach the top of the album charts, ending his nine-album No. 1 streak on Billboard.
