Bon Iver have today unveiled their new SABLE, EP, marking the band’s first new collection in over five years. To accompany the release, they’ve also shared music videos for ‘THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS’ and ‘AWARDS SEASON’. The visuals were directed by Erinn Springer, who also helmed the previously released visual for ‘S P E Y S I D E’. Watch and listen below.
Justin Vernon produced SABLE, at his April Base studio in Wisconsin with Jim-E Stack. The EP features contributions from pedal steel player Greg Leisz, multi-instrumentalist Michael Lewis, trumpeter Trever Hagen, synth player Eli Teplin, string arranger Rob Moose, and more.
Japandroids have released their fourth and final LP, Fate & Alcohol, via ANTI-. The Vancouver duo co-produced the follow-up to 2017’s Near to the Wild Heart of Life with longtime collaborator Jesse Gander. “On our last record, we wanted to broaden the definition of a Japandroids song and purposely left our demos quite open and malleable so that we had more flexibility to experiment in the studio,” Brian King said in a statement. “At the time, this approach was new and exciting and inspired us to be bolder, to take more chances. We were aiming for a more cinematic take on our signature sound. This time, we made certain that every song ripped in our jam space before Jesse ever heard it.” Read our review of Fate & Alcohol.
Porridge Radio, Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me
Porridge Radio have returned with a new album called Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me. The follow-up to 2022’s Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky was produced by Dom Monks and recorded in Frome, England. “It feels like the first time we’ve made something,” bandleader Dana Margolin reflected. “It captured something about our friendship as a band and the way that we have learnt to play together. It’s taught me so much. Following your gut to the nth point, trusting your friends and their loyalty, trusting yourself to be able to fight with people properly and still come back together. How I want to live is how I want to make records, because making records is my life because my work is my play is my job is my life. It all ties together in this thing, and there are ways to do this that might not kill me.”
Christopher Owens, I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair
Former Girls frontman Christopher Owens is back with his first new album in seven years, I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair. Since releasing Vante with his band Curls in 2017, Owens has dealt with a bad motorcycle accident, experiences with homelessness, and the 2020 death of his former Girls partner Chet “JR” White. In a press release, he described I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair as “a record about a journey back to the centre of myself.” He continued: “In the second half of the Bible, Jesus asks ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ Lately I’ve found it interesting to ask it in a different way. ‘What shall it profit a man, if he lose his whole world, and gain back his soul?’ And I think the answer would have to be something like — The Kingdom of Heaven.”
Kelly Lee Owens has issued her fourth studio album, Dreamstate. The follow-up to 2022’s LP.8 is out now 18 via dh2, an electronic imprint of the Dirty Hit label spearheaded by the 1975’s George Daniel, and it features producer-writer credits from Bicep, Tom Rowlands of the Chemical Brothers, and Daniel himself. Ahead of its release, Owens shared the singles ‘Higher’, ‘Sunshine’, ‘Love You Got’, and ‘Ballad (In the End)’.
High Vis have dropped their sophomore LP, Guided Tour. The follow-up to 2022’s Blending was recorded across a few weeks at Holy Mountain Studios in London with producer Jonah Falco and engineer Stanley Gravett. The London punks previewed the full-length, which stretches their blend of hardcore, post-punk, and jangly indie, with the singles ‘Mob DLA’, ‘Mind’s a Lie’, ‘Drop Me Out’, and the title track.
Heavy Lifting, the first MC5 album in 53 years, has been released via EarMusic. The 13-track LP features guitar and vocals from the late Wayne Kramer, who passed away in February at age 75. Kramer co-wrote 12 of the album’s songs with Oakland singer-songwriter Brad Brooks and enlisted guests including Tom Morello, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, William DuVall, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, and the late MC5 drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson. The band’s last album was 1971’s High Time.
Boston post-emo band Karate are back with their first album since 2004’s Pockets. Out now via Numero Group, Make It Fit includes the previously released songs ‘Defendants’, ‘Silence, Sound’, and ‘Around the Dial’. The trio laid down the record with longtime collaborator Andy Hong in Nashville this past January. Hong also mixed the LP, and Geoff Farina added guitars and vocals at his home studio and Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio.
Jordana has followed up 2022’s Face the Wall with a new album called Lively Premonition. Featuring the early singles ‘Anything for You’, ‘We Get By’, ‘Like a Dog’, and ‘Raver Girl’, the LP was made over the course of 2023 with producer Emmett Kai. “It’s about the cycle of love, heartbreak, lust, party-going, self acceptance, connections, and rediscovering yourself over and over again,” Jordana explained. She added, “The whole record is this mixed bag of tricks with plenty of cheeky lyrical and instrumental decisions. We’re taking tons of risks here.”
Silverbacks have put out their third LP, which is called Easy Being a Winner. The follow-up to 2022’s Archive Material was preceded by the singles ‘Selling Shovels’, ‘Something I Know’, and ‘Giving Away an Inch Of’. As with their previous two albums, Silverbacks laid down the new record with Daniel Fox (Gilla Band) at Sonic Studios in Stoneybatter, Dublin. “Now that Easy Being a Winner is coming out, I feel I can more confidently say who we are,” vocalist Kilian O’Kelly shared. “We’re indie rock. And this album sounds even more like the indie rock I imagined for our band all those years ago.”
W. H. Lung have a new album out today, via Melodic, titled Every Inch of Earth Pulsates. The follow-up to 2021’s Vanities was previewed by the tracks ‘How to Walk’, ‘Bloom and Fade’, and ‘The Painting of the Bay’. It finds the Mancunian synthpop outfit working with Ross Orton (MIA, Arctic Monkeys, Working Men’s Club). “Ross is the Sheffield Steve Albini,” singer Joseph Evans remarked in press materials. “He’s the king of not overthinking it and trusting the process of the art of recording songs. He was always there to stop us fucking around with cerebral stuff and get it down.”
Machine Girl are back with a new LP titled MG Ultra. It marks the New York City electronic hardcore duo’s first album in four years, following U-Void Synthesizer, as well as their debut for new label home Future Classic. According to a press release, the record “playfully institutionalizes the battle against alienation, dysmorphia, estrangement, commodification, and the gentrification of the mind through a complex sonic narrative.” It was preceded by the tracks ‘Motherfather’, ‘Until I Die’, and ‘Psychic Attack’.
Brooklyn-based outfit Office Culture have unveiled their fourth album, Enough, via Ruination Records. Along with the band’s core lineup of singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Winston Cook-Wilson, bassist Charlie Kaplan, and guitarist Ryan El-Solh (Scree), the record features contributions from fellow Ruination artists Alena Spanger, The Bird Calls (Sam Sodomsky), and Jackie West, as well as guitarist Dan Knishkowy (Adeline Hotel), harpist Rebecca El-Saleh (Kitba), keyboardist Frank Meadows (Fust, Tomberlin), Little Mystery’s Ivy Meissner and Julian Cubillos, and many more.
Hildegard – the collaborative project of Montreal-based artists and multi-instrumentalists Ouri and Helena Deland – have followed up their 2021 self-titled album Jour 1596, out now via Chivi Chivi. The record took shape during yearly week-long retreats in rural Quebec; while the pair’s debut came together over just eight days, the new LP was composed over 1596 days. It features contributions from Zach Frampton on piano, Christopher Edmondson on saxophone, Phil Melanson on drums, and Benja on guitar.
Other albums out today:
Yeat, LIFESTYLE; Kylie Minogue, Tension II; Tim Heidecker, Slipping Away; Andrew Bird & Madison Cunningham, Cunningham Bird; Nap Eyes, The Neon Gate; Hemlock Ernst, Studying Absence; Confidence Man, 3AM LA LA LA; Oliver Coates, Throb, Shiver, Arrow of Time; Phantogram, Memory of a Day; Roy Hargrove, Crisol: Grande-Terre; Shower Curtain, words from a wishing well; Rubblebucket, Year of the Banana; Lisel, The Vanishing Point; Karl Blau, Vultures of Love; NET GALA, GALAPAGGOT; Bear Hands, The Key to What; Lin-Manuel Miranda & Eisa Davis, Warriors; Lechuga Zafiro, Desde los Oídos de un Sapo; Joy Oladokun, Observations From a Crowded Room; Jake Shimabukuro & Mick Fleetwood, Blues Experience; Boney James, Slow Burn; Alex E. Chávez, Sonorous Present; Maven Grace, Surface With a Smile; Sissi Rada, Demeter in Aexone.
Don Heffington, a beloved Los Angeles musician who died of leukemia in 2021, is the subject of a new tribute album called Tonight I’ll Go Down Swingin’: A Tribute to Don Heffington, which is out today. It features interpretations of Heffington’s songs by Fiona Apple, Victoria Williams, Dave Alvin, John C. Reilly, the Watkins Family Hour, Inara George, Buddy Miller, and many more. The record was co-produced by Sheldon Gomberg and longtime Fiona Apple collaborator Sebastian Steinberg. Listen to Apple’s take on ‘Lately’, from Heffington’s 2016 album Contemporary Abstractions in Folk Song & Dance, and check out the full compilation below.
Gladie, the Philadelphia band led by Augusta Koch, have dropped a new song called ‘Digging a Pond’. The track was recorded as part of Weathervane Music’s Open Sessions series at Miner Street Recordings. Check it out below.
Australian singer-songwriter Gordi (aka Sophie Payten) and SOAK (aka Northern Irish folk musician Bridie Monds-Watson) have announced a new collaborative EP, Lunch at Dune. It arrives on November 15, and the title track, co-produced by Brad Cook, is out today. Check it out via the accompanying video below.
“I was sitting at the kitchen table of an Airbnb in East London in the last week of February in 2020,” Payten recalled in a press release. “It was cold and dark outside, and the streets were unnervingly silent. Refreshing my Twitter feed every 2 minutes to see which country had closed its borders, I wondered if I’d be able to get home, as the panic around the pandemic was swirling. I sat in the crippling uncertainty for a minute, and began to write. The next day I finished what became ‘Lunch at Dune’ in a small studio in Camden in the northern part of London.”
“The song is about feeling like there is something insurmountable in front of you and the only way through is perspective,” Payten continued. “In ‘Lunch at Dune’, I’m trying to give that perspective to someone I love.”
Monds-Watson added: “As a longtime fan of Gordi I was so hyped when she reached out to ask me to sing on this track. Something I’ve always found mesmerizing about her work is that each song feels like its own little universe. I think ‘Lunch at dune’ is a great example of this, a world of its own. I was less hype when Sophie asked me to jump in the freezing Irish sea at the start of winter for the video but I obliged and have since returned to my normal skin tone.”
ROSÉ has teamed up with Bruno Mars for ‘APT’, the first preview of her debut album rosie. Mars, Cirkut, Omer Fedi, and Rogét Chahayed produced the track, which arrives with a music video directed by Daniel Ramos and Mars. Watch and listen below.
“‘APT’ is actually my favorite Korean drinking game that I play with my friends back home,” ROSÉ explained in a statement. “It’s so simple, puts a smile on your face, and breaks the ice at any party. One night in the studio I taught my crew how to play the game. Everyone was fascinated, especially when I started the chant, so we played around with it and I said we should make a song out of it… and after Bruno joined the track, the rest became history!”
FKA twigs has released ‘Perfect Stranger’, the second single from her forthcoming album, EUSEXUA. It arrives on the heels of the title track, which came out last month. twigs co-produced ‘Perfect Strangers’ with Stargate, Koreless, and Ojivolta, with additional production from Stuart Price. It comes with an accompanying visual directed by Jordan Hemingway and featuring cameos from Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Yves Tumor. Check it out below.
The former members of One Direction have shared a joint statement following the passing of Liam Payne, who died Wednesday after reportedly jumping from his hotel balcony in Buenos.
“We’re completely devastated by the news of Liam’s passing,” Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik — the latter of whom left from the group in 2015 — said. “In time, and when everyone is able to, there will be more to say. But for now, we will take some time to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly.”
“The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever,” they added. “For now, our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the fans who loved him alongside us. We will miss him terribly. We love you Liam.”
Styles, Tomlinson, and Malik also issued statements on their own social media accounts. “His greatest joy was making other people happy, and it was an honour to be alongside him as he did it,” Styles wrote. “Liam lived wide open, with his heart on his sleeve, he had an energy for life that was infectious. He was warm, supportive, and incredibly loving. The years we spent together will forever remain among the most cherished years of my life. I will miss him always, my lovely friend. My heart breaks for Karen, Geoff, Nicola and Ruth, his son Bear, and all those around the world who knew and loved him, as I did.”
In his tribute, Tomlinson called Payne “a positive, funny, and kind soul” and “the most vital part of One Direction.” Writing directly to Payne, he wrote, “I’m so grateful that we got even closer since the band, speaking on the phone for hours, reminiscing about all the thousands of amazing memories we had together is a luxury I thought I’d have with you for life. I would have loved to share the stage with you again but it wasn’t to be. I wish I got chance to say goodbye and tell you one more time how much I loved you. Payno, my boy, one of my best friends, my brother, I love you mate. Sleep well.”
Malik wrote, “When it came to the music Liam, you were the most qualified in every sense. … I lost a brother when you left us and can’t explain to you what I’d give to just give you a hug one last time and say goodbye to you properly and tell you that I loved and respected you dearly.”
Over the past few years, online casino platforms such as the famed Vulkan Casino have become more popular as the gambling industry has shifted towards them. The beauty of playing gambling games over the Internet is that you only need a computer or mobile device with an active data bundle or Wi-Fi connection.
However, that’s not the only reason why Internet gambling platforms are more popular than their land-based counterparts. Read on to discover why players are inclined to play in iGaming lobbies rather than commute to in-person gambling venues.
Accessibility and Flexibility
For sure, one of the most significant benefits of iGaming platforms over land-based venues is convenience, as they are more accessible and flexible. Since digital platforms are available 24 hours a day, players can play the games they enjoy the most at will. You don’t have to use a PC either; these platforms are cross-device compatible, meaning you can play on any smartphone or tablet. As a result, casino websites are ideal for quick gaming sessions, so you can easily hop in and out of gaming action after a few quick rounds.
Diverse Game Options at Your Fingertips
As a rule, digital casinos have a wider selection of games than land-based establishments due to unlimited virtual space. Popular game types include:
Slot machines;
Poker;
Blackjack;
Roulette;
Live dealer games.
Modern iGaming platforms are also ideal for novices and experienced gamblers because players can quickly switch between games and access demo versions to practice before betting with real money. So, you can easily try a new game to learn the ins and outs and figure out whether it is your cup of tea without spending cash. On the other hand, brick-and-mortar casinos don’t have anything like demo games or free-to-play rounds.
Bonuses and Promotions
For the most part, the promotions you will find in catalogs of digital casinos are usually far more lucrative than what you’ll find in a brick-and-mortar lobby. Land-based casino sites offer minimal promotions, many of which are typically available for high rollers who spend a lot of money.
On the flip side, Internet casino sites will offer many bonus deals that will be sent your way from day one. They include:
Matched deposit deals;
No deposit offers;
Reload bonuses;
Free spins;
Loyalty rewards;
Seasonal promotions;
Cashbacks;
Lower Costs and Higher Payouts
Online casinos have lower costs compared to land-based casinos. For instance, there are no real estate and other operational costs such as power and water. Therefore, they can afford to offer better odds to players since they have incurred fewer expenses in their Internet gambling operations.
Looking at slot machines, for example, the ones available on the web typically have an average RTP of 95%, whereas land-based versions usually range between 85 and 90%. As a result, your chances of turning your wagers into profit are so much better when you play online, especially in games that do not require any skill whatsoever.
Moroever, with online casino gaming, players won’t encounter costs such as travel and accommodation as they can enjoy themselves from the comfort of their homes or wherever they are. On top of that, iGaming platforms have lower minimum bet requirements than what you’ll find in a physical lobby. Thus, you can participate in the offerings even with smaller budgets. This makes online casinos very appealing and offers good value for the money, even for low rollers.
Privacy and Security
In a world that is embracing privacy, digital casinos, especially cryptocurrency platforms, are miles ahead of their brick-and-mortar peers. They allow players to engage in gambling without revealing their identity, as is the case with most traditional casinos. The advanced safety of blockchain technologies enables a more secure and discreet, ensuring a safe and enjoyable gaming experience.
Technological Advancements
The use of technology has improved iGaming platforms and the way people play games online. Other characteristics introduced through the use of technology include live dealer games and mobile platforms, along with virtual and augmented reality. These technologies make digital casinos more engaging and advanced than ever.
Play the Convenient Way at Online Casinos!
The days when gamblers had to drive or fly for hours to get to a brick-and-mortar venue only to end up standing in lines waiting for the next empty table are now long gone and forgotten. Thanks to online casino sites, players can easily access games of chance remotely at any time and from any location.
This convenience has made online gambling the go-to for many casino enthusiasts as it is easy to access and available at any time, unlike their land-based counterparts. Better still, online players enjoy a wider variety of games, better bonus deals, and a higher return-to-player ratio.
Fashion is as complicated as it is important. Even for people who don’t much care about it – and, in many ways, especially for them – fashion is much of how we outwardly express ourselves as we navigate the world, how others sees us, as well as how we see ourselves.
This is even more crucial for trans and gender-fluid people, for whom their gender identity and/or its expression is both key and an often-challenged by society aspect of their lives. Of course, many trans, gender-fluid, and other queer people can and do follow the same fashion trends as straight cis people.
However, here we will take a look at gender-fluid fashion, in particular, and what that gender fluidity means, how it is expressed, how it is utilized, and how it has developed over the years to where it is today.
What is gender fluidity?
First and foremost, let’s define the key term here. As Harvard puts it:
“Gender fluidity refers to change over time in a person’s gender expression or gender identity, or both. That change might be in expression, but not identity, or in identity, but not expression. Or both expression and identity might change together.“
In other words, a gender-fluid person may or may not be trans. They are often non-binary, but even that isn’t a must as “non-binary” and “gender-fluid” aren’t necessarily synonymous with each other. Instead, gender fluidity simply refers to one’s movement back and forth, across, and beyond traditional gender norms.
For fashion, this isn’t really anything new. Much of fashion can be described as “gender-fluid” even when it wasn’t trying to present itself as such. In fact, a great deal of the greatest fashion leaps and trends have been done precisely thanks to one designer daring to look beyond the constraints of the gender norms of the society they lived in.
This is especially true today, in the Western world, as both millennials and Gen Z people are rapidly challenging and breaking down the imposed and imaginary societal boundaries set by their predecessors.
In other words – no you don’t need to go to a gay bar or try dating onthis trans app to find people wearing gender-fluid clothing, as countless people from all walks of life do so today. What’s more, gender fluidity in fashion goes back far beyond the last couple of generations.
Gender fluidity in fashion throughout history
If you ask people, many would tell you that “women have always worn skirts and dresses, and men have always worn trousers.” Movies and pop-culture certainly haven’t helped with that myth, but suffice it to say that it’s very much incorrect.
These things have obviously gone differently in different cultures and throughout the different ages, but even just in the West, clothing was quite gender-neutral prior to the feudal times of the Middle Ages. For thousands of years before that, clothing was a reflection of status rather than gender, and for those without status, it was purely utilitarian.
It was the feudal market that brought gender clothing and gendered fashion. As soon as – and little by little even before that – the Renaissance started approaching, designers and artisans started looking for ways to bend the gendered fashion norms around them. Or, to make them “fluid,” one might say.
Naturally, with the emergence of the feminist movement in the mid 19th century and especially throughout the 20th century, the fluidity of gendered fashion began flowing incredibly rapidly, albeit mostly just for women’s fashion at first. In the span of just a few decades, women’s fashion moved all the way from corsets to cargos, while men remained stuck with the same old fashion choices.
Gender fluidity in fashion today
Nowadays, men’s fashion is slowly starting to do its part too and is slowly breaking the norms that had gripped it for centuries. There is a lot of catching up to do, but gender fluid fashion is flowing more and more between the two traditional gender norms and people are slowly getting used to not only women wearing pants but people wearing whatever they feel like wearing.
Or, at least we’re getting there. Most of the newer and more “out there” gender-fluid fashion trends are still usually only seen on the runways, on the media, or in queer bars and clubs. However, there are certain types of gender-fluid fashion that are pretty well-established in the mainstream already. The big ones are:
1. Suits
Initially meant for men only, today suits of virtually every kind are entirely gender-neutral. Instead of strictly representing masculinity, suits today represent sophistication, style, power and status. As such, men, women, and non-binary people alike can wear suits freely and feel perfectly fine in their clothes.
2. Denim jeans and jackets
Denim is genderless and has been genderless for quite some time. There used to be some gender norms for jeans – and, to an extent, there still are – but both baggy jeans for women and tight jeans for men are quite normal nowadays.
3. Sneakers
Another fashion piece that used to be mostly meant for men, sneakers today absolutely are for everyone. What’s more, like denim, the various designs, types, and colors of sneakers have also become almost entirely genderless, allowing all people to wear whatever they want.
4. Oversized clothes
Conventional gendered fashion dictates that broad shoulders and narrow waists are the norm for men while emphasized hips and waists are the norm for women. All of this flies out the window with the modern oversized clothes trend, however. Women, men, and gender-fluid people alike can look however they want and feel perfectly comfortable in their identity by wearing baggy and/or slightly oversized clothes, making this the perfect gender-fluid fashion trend.
Overall, “gender-fluid fashion” can be any trend that either directly breaks and challenges the traditional gender norms (as was the case when women first started wearing suits and other men’s clothing items) or any trend that circumvents traditional gendered fashion (as is the case with oversized clothes). It is curious, however, to see what the next big gender fluid fashion trend is going to be.