Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner and Crying’s Ryan Galloway have teamed up for a surprise new quarantine project called BUMPER. Announced just yesterday, the duo’s first EP, titled pop songs, is out today (September 4). Listen to the project in its entirety below.
Though Zauner and Galloway live just blocks away from each other in New York City, they haven’t seen each other in person since the COVID-19 pandemic began earlier this year. They made pop songs entirely online, sharing tracks back and forth via email.
ANOHNI has shared a new track called ‘R.N.C. 2020’, a protest song inspired by last week’s Republican National Convention. Listen to it below.
“What’s really happening?” the artist wrote in a statement to The Guardian. “Toxic levels of corruption and collusion are devouring the US. Christian extremists want to turn the country into a religious state straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale.” About the track in particular, she said: “The sound of this track ‘R.N.C. 2020′ is pretty rough. The loop is from a concert I did at a club in New York City in my early 20s. So that’s me screaming in the past… for the present. Can you visualize a different path forward? We All have to focus on this now, with everything we’ve got.”
Vania is one of the most exciting, humble artists to come into the indie scene in the past year. Vania’s first release Surrender marked her on the map as the name to watch; now with her second song Wonder released, she joined us for an interview to talk about it.
Firstly, how are you, what have you been up to during quarantine?
I’m doing ok, definitely been on a rollercoaster of productivity and emotions since quarantine started! In the beginning, I was just excited that I had so much time on my hands to make music with no distractions or social obligations. I’d wake up and be at the computer until it was time to go to sleep. Burned out pretty fast doing that. I’m still adjusting but getting the hang of balancing self-care with productivity. Taking walks, stepping away from electronics. Nature grounds me so I need to go say hello to the trees more often.
Wonder marks your second single, did anything change in the process of making this single compared to Surrender?
Usually, I’ll write, record, and produce at the same time, which is how my first single Surrender came to be. With Wonder, I’d had the lyrics and the melodies laid out, but it needed a home production-wise. I didn’t know at first what I’d wanted for it sonically, so it was a collaborative effort getting it to the finish line.
For the song, you worked alongside Elliot Jacobson, the co-producer of the song, how does the collaboration begin on a song like Wonder?
It was a ton of back and forth, bouncing around ideas. A producer named Julian Tobon reimagined the chords and helped direct the vibe. I fleshed out which sounds I’d wanted, and recorded the synths and basses at home. When I handed the production to Elliot, it had almost no drums; there was only a part in the bridge that I called the “Phil Collins” drum. At the time I was pretty set on that being the only beat in the whole song, but he tested out a few ideas (grateful for that) and it finally clicked. There are so many magical parts he constructed, one of my favs being that he made my backing vocals sound like weird ghosts.
Your songs are very personal and explore your nostalgia of time spent at an eating disorder treatment center, what influenced your decision to craft something so emotional and close to you?
This was actually the first time I’d written explicitly about my eating disorder. It was a few years into recovery and I was having a really hard time with the mind/ body battles. I was doing what I had to do to stay physically healthy, but I was struggling with disordered thinking. In therapy you’re asked, what do these thoughts serve? What are you craving? For me, it was that recovery was getting hard and I wanted the comfort of being cared for. So I let myself feel nostalgic about the times I’d spent at treatment centers, where I was incredibly held and I didn’t have to worry about feeding myself. Other people were doing that for me. I thought it would be triggering to write about, but it actually made me realize how far I’d come; I could sit with those thoughts, ride them out and not act on old coping behaviors. Although the lyrics are coming from a darker place on the recovery spectrum, I hope to balance it out with dialogue like this. And maybe it can make someone going through a difficult time in their recovery feel less alone.
With the song now released, what do you feel is next for you as an artist?
I shot a music video for Wonder with my twin sis, Christa, that I can’t wait to share. Some more singles for my project are getting prepped for release and then I have a few features coming out that I’m really excited for! Other than that, I plan on continuing the balancing act and navigating the new norm of life in 2020.
Thanks a ton to you, Modestas, and to Our Culture for supporting my project and giving me the chance to speak more about Wonder!
Glad you enjoyed us and congratulations on the release!
In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on September 4th, 2020:
Big Sean, Detroit 2
Big Sean is back with his first album in three years, Detroit 2, out now via G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings. The Detroit rapper’s follow-up to 2017’s I Decided. features contributions from Travis Scott, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Diddy, Young Thug, Anderson .Paak, Post Malone, Wale, and more. It also includes three songs called ‘Story’, which feature Dave Chappelle, Erykah Badu, and Stevie Wonder respectively, as well as the previously unveiled collaboration with the late Nipsey Hussle, ‘Deep Reverence’. The project is a successor to Sean’s critically acclaimed 2012 mixtape, Detroit, which came shortly after his debut LP Finally Famous.
Bill Callahan, Gold Record
Bill Callahan has come through with his seventh studio album, Gold Record, via Drag City. Marking the songwriter’s follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest, his first album in six years, the 10-track LP was written while Callahan was touring in support of his last album and was recorded with a band that included guitarist Matt Kinsey and bassist Jaime Zurverza. All but one song from the album had already been unveiled; every Monday up until the record’s release, Callahan shared one song from the album, which also includes a reworking of Smog’s ‘Let’s Move to the Country’, from the 1999 album Knock Knock.
Lomelda, Hannah
Lomelda, the project led by singer-songwriter Hannah Read, have released their fourth studio album, Hannah, via Double Double Whammy. Following last year’s M for Empathy, which was recorded in its entirety during a weekend trip back to her hometown in Texas, their latest was recorded three different times before it was ready to be released. Containing 14 tracks, it was produced by Hannah and her brother Tommy Read at his studio in Silsbee, TX and includes the previously released singles ‘Wonder’, ‘It’s Infinite’, and ‘Hannah Sun’.
Throwing Muses, Sun Racket
Throwing Muses have returned with their first new album in seven years, Sun Racket, out now via Fire Records. It marks the Boston trio’s 10th album and follows 2013’s Purgatory/Paradise. “All it asked of us was to commingle two completely disparate sonic vocabularies: one heavy noise, the other delicate music box,” Kristin Hersh said in a press release. “Turns out we didn’t have to do much. Sun Racket knew what it was doing and pushed us aside, which is always best. After 30 years of playing together, we trust each other implicitly but we trust the music more.”
Other albums out today:
Tricky, Fall To Pieces; Hannah Georgas, All That Emotion; Corey Flood, Hanging Garden; Barely Civil, I’ll Figure This Out; Patti Smith and Soundwalk Collective, Peradam; Hurts, Faith.
Even when adorned with lavish, grand instrumentation, the raw intensity of Angel Olsen’s voice always remains at the center of her music. She proved as much with last year’s All Mirrors, perhaps her most sonically ambitious effort yet, in which she was accompanied by a 12-piece string section while sticking to her deeply introspective songwriting approach. But Olsen actually started working on the album entirely on her own, recording at Phil Elverum’s Catholic-church-turned-studio in Anacortes, Washington – it was only months later that the idea for an expansive version came about. The singer-songwriter originally considered putting out both versions at the same time, but thought it “more interesting when people can listen back to stuff later that’s the original version, versus it all being compared at once,” as she told Rolling Stone last year.
It turned out to be a pertinent statement – one of the most interesting aspects of Whole New Mess is not so much the nakedness of the instrumentals but the way the passage of time seems to have distorted the meaning of the songs themselves. Dealing with the dissolution of a romantic relationship as well as her own struggles with addiction, Olsen’s lyrics often directly engage with the notion of time and how it inevitably causes a shift in perspective. On the opening track of the record, one of two previously unheard compositions that also serves as the title track, she makes a note to herself: “When it all fades to black, I’ll be gettin’ back on track/ Back to my own head, cleared out, ’til the time comes.” There’s a stark vulnerability in her delivery as that promise transforms into an expression of self-confidence: “I think I’ll really do the change,” she repeats as the song draws to a close.
Stripped-back recordings – including Olsen’s own early work, from 2010’s Strange Cacti EP to 2012’s Half Way Home – are often described as having diaristic qualities, but Whole New Mess feels more like taking a peek at an old diary and seeing how those confessions have taken on a new resonance. “Took a while, but I made it through/ If I could show you the hell I’d been to,” she sings on ‘(Summer Song)’. ‘What It Is’, a propulsive cut that was previously sequenced right in the middle of the record, now acts as the closer, which may or may not be a conscious decision: “Knowing that you love someone/ Doesn’t mean you ever were in love,” she sings, as if that observation has only gained more legitimacy over time.
If Olsen’s voice sounded breathtaking on All Mirrors, here each minute detail is amplified to make it feel like every word is as intimate in its physicality as a breath, one that rises and falls as it reacts to feeling. On Whole New Mess, the extent to which these songs are really about grappling with loneliness becomes all the more palpable. You can hear it in the way she sings that she’s “hiding out inside my head” on ‘Lark Song’, a dramatic highlight on All Mirrors that still remains a stand-out here; she returns to the same idea on the visceral ‘Impasse (Working for the Name)’ (“I’m just livin’ in my head”). One might have expected these songs in particular to not work in a quieter context, simply because of how much heft they carried on All Mirrors – but the alternate framing enhances those elements that might have otherwise been lost. In fact, on a purely emotional level, this version may even outshine its predecessor. What’s certain is that WholeNew Mess is much more than just a collection of demos – it stands as a testament to the way our perspective on art, just like life, is constantly shifting.
Yes, you read that right – Scottish alt-rock titans Biffy Clyro have covered Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s hit single, ‘WAP’. The band debuted their take on the song during a recent performance at BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge. You can watch their cover below.
Of course, frontman Simon Neil tweaks the original’s raunchy lyrics, which now include lines such as “If you’re not wet as Biffy, then your riffin’ game weak” and “If you don’t riff, then you can’t Biff/ You can’t hurt my feelings because I like this.”
Big Sean has revealed the tracklist for his upcoming album, Detroit 2, which comes out this Friday, September 4. It’s set to feature appearances from Travis Scott, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Diddy, Young Thug, Anderson .Paak, Post Malone, Wale, and more. It also includes three songs called ‘Story’, which feature Dave Chappelle, Erykah Badu, and Stevie Wonder respectively, as well as the previously unveiled collaboration with the late Nipsey Hussle, ‘Deep Reverence’. Check out the full tracklist below.
The rapper has also shared a preview of his joint track with Jhené Aiko and Ty Dolla $ign, titled ‘Body Language’. Find that below as well.
Touché Amoré have shared a new single from their upcoming album, Lament. It’s called ‘I’ll Be Your Host’, and you can listen to it below.
“‘I’ll Be Your Host’ is a song about the overwhelming nervousness I get when someone approaches me and talks to me about their dead loved ones,” singer Jeremy Bolm explained in a statement. “I feel horrible because I 100-percent understand why they’re sharing it with me. It’s hard having to stomach tragic story after tragic story while sometimes being asked advice when I absolutely don’t have the answers.”
Bring Me the Horizon have released a new song featuring Yungblud called ‘Obey’. The single is taken from BMTH’s upcoming series of Posthuman EPs. Check it out below.
“‘Obey’ is a soaring ode about how, as a society, oppression has been so normalized in our DNA that we can’t even see it anymore,” frontman Oli Sykes said in a press release. “We consider ourselves free, but only because the chains are invisible, and we are controlled in ways we don’t even want to think about. They tell us how to live with a smile on their face, like shit ain’t f**ked up, inform us of tragic statistics like it’s nothing… it’s a weird world.”
Yungblud added: “We are being told to conform to a completely outdated idea that we don’t relate to or even understand. They teach us to turn against each other and to fight against our differences rather than embrace and celebrate them. They try to keep us divided because it makes us weaker. Robots follow robots, because they feel nothing at all. But what they don’t realize is that to us, to be different is to be free, and a world of f**king love and equality is a world we want to be part of. We will rise above the hate and the diversion. We will fight for the world we want to be a part of. We will not obey.”
Previously, Bring Me the Horizon shared the single ‘Parasite Eve’. No release date has yet been announced for the upcoming EPs.
Hot Chip have announced they will be curating the latest entry in the Late Night Tales compilation series. The 19-track mix comes out October 2nd, and will feature four new songs from the group, as well as mixed tracks by Fever Ray, Nils Frahm, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Suzanne Kraft, and more. The English electronic outfit have also now shared one of their cuts, a cover of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Candy Says’. Listen to it below, and scroll down for the album’s cover artwork, tracklist, and trailer.
“I think we all had slightly different understandings of what a Late Night Tales compilation might consist of; varying interpretations of the brief,” Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor said in a statement. “For some the mix might be what you’d want to listen to as your late night continues, after a night out. For others maybe it suggested a selection of music for listening to as you drift off to sleep; then again it could just be music evocative of night time, or concerned with its traditionally “darker” moods.”
He continued: “We’ve put together a mix of music which ties all of these ideas together and represents some of our favourite music new and old, some of it directly influential on Hot Chip and some of it music we have discovered and loved, been surprised by and connected to. There are three new songs of ours which we’re really proud of, and which I think connect naturally with the nocturnal world the compilation speaks of, and a cover of “Candy Says” which is one of the first songs the very early version of Hot Chip played when we were still at school.”
Last year, Hot Chip released their seventh studio LP, A Bath Full of Ecstasy. The last instalment of Late Night Tales came out over a year ago, and was curated by Floating Points.
Late Night Tales: Hot Chip Cover Artwork:
Late Night Tales Tracklist:
1. Christina Vantzou – “At Dawn”
2. Hot Chip – “Nothing’s Changed” (Exclusive track)
3. Rhythm & Sound feat. Cornell Campbell – “King In My Empire”
4. Pale Blue – “Have You Passed Through This Night”
5. Suzanne Kraft – “Femme Cosmic”
6. Fever Ray – “To The Moon And Back”
7. PlanningToRock – “Much To Touch”
8. Charlotte Adigery – “1,618”
9. Mike Salta – “Hey Moloko”
0. Matthew Bourne – “Somewhere I Have Never Travelled”
11. Hot Chip – “Candy Says” (Velvet Underground cover version – Exclusive track)
12. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – “Who I Am & Why I Am Where”
13. About Group – “The Long Miles”
14. Beatrice Dillon –”Workaround Two”
15. Hot Chip – “Worlds Within Worlds” (Exclusive track)
16. Daniel Blumberg – “The Bomb”
17. Nils Frahm – “Ode”
18. Hot Chip – “None Of These Things” (Exclusive track)
19. Neil Taylor – “Finnegans Wake” excerpt (Exclusive track)
Big Sean
