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Torres and Fruit Bats Announce New EP, Share New Single ‘Married for Love’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Torres and Fruit Bats Announce New EP, Share New Single ‘Married for Love’

Torres and Fruit Bats have announced a joint EP, A Decoration, which arrives August 9 via their shared label home, Merge. Check out the new single ‘Married for Love’ below.

In a statement, Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson shared:

I’ve been a fan of the music of Torres for a long time, so when [Merge co-founder] Mac [McCaughan] suggested it to me, I jumped at the chance. The whole recording process wound up being done totally remotely with each of us on our respective coasts—it was like assembling a cross-continental jigsaw puzzle in the ether.

Mackenzie and I worked on this in a breezy way where all ideas and sounds were fair game. We each brought a few sketches into the initial ideas pile and treated them in a way like we were doing remixes of each other’s songs. There were no wrong answers. The back and forth continued until the music was in a totally different place from where it began.

Sometimes when you do collaborative projects, it ends up just sounding like an amalgam of the two artists. This process assured that the final EP kinda sounds like nothing either of us has ever done—it’s a collection of wishful love chants, patiently unfolding fuzzy loops, danceable ambience, and pleas to the universe.

Commenting on the first single, Torres said: “The recording we’re releasing is synthy, but the demo was darker and had no acoustic instruments on it. I sent it to him and he turned it into what he described as a Quaker chant. He made it softer and added these beautiful harmonies, something you could almost imagine hearing in a church as opposed to the nightclubby vibe I had going.”

Torres and Fruit Bats both released their latest albums last year: What an Enormous Room and A River Running to Your Heart, respectively.

A Decoration Cover Artwork:

A Decoration Tracklist: 

1. A Decoration
2. Still Want More
3. The Fox
4. Married for Love
5. In the Old Style
6. Pink Triangle

The Japanese House Releases New Song ‘:)’

Konstantinos Pappis
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The Japanese House Releases New Song ‘:)’

The Japanese House, the project of Amber Bain, has returned with a new song titled ‘:)’. Bain produced the song herself alongside George Daniel of the 1975 and Chloe Kraemer. It arrives ahead of a run of dates supporting Maggie Rogers as well as her own North American headline tour. Listen to it below.

“‘Smiley Face’ is a song I wrote when I was very excited about talking to someone off a dating app,” Bain explained in a statement. “She lived in Detroit, and I was fantasising about flying to meet her. I was in a session at the time for someone else’s stuff, but I couldn’t help this song spilling out of me, I was in some sort of frenzy. Turns out I did buy the plane tickets, now we’re engaged.”

‘:)’ marks the Japanese House’s first release since last year’s In the End It Always Does.

Album Review: The Decemberists, ‘As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Album Review: The Decemberists, ‘As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again’

“Break it all so we can build again,” Colin Meloy sings on ‘Joan in the Garden’, the closing track on the Decemberists’ new album, though taking the lyric out of context – it’s preceded by the typically archaic couplet “Oh holy whore androgyne/ Come and sunder the stop signs” – seems rather disingenuous. The last lines of the song also serve as the album’s title, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, which is a broad mantra that critics will take as a reference on the band’s anachronistic approach. It’s true that the Decemberists don’t exactly break new ground on their first release in six years – which is also the first on their own label YABB Records after nearly two decades with Capitol – but it feels less like a return to the band’s roots than a journey through their sizable discography, leaning into their proggier tendencies while focusing on concise yet lushly detailed songcraft. It easily registers as their best effort in at least a decade.

Well, easily, but maybe not so quickly – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is the Decemberists’ longest-ever project, a double album split into four thematic parts. ‘Joan in the Garden’, which accompanied the record’s announcement, stretches over 19 minutes. Ambition has always been one of the band’s distinctive traits, so fans may find it oddly familiar, but what makes the record such an enjoyable listen is how invigorated Meloy and company sound. There’s a vibrant theatricality to these songs that the band usually reserves for their more conceptual offerings. ‘America Made Me’, the only song reflecting on what Meloy calls “Americanism in 2024” on a record that mostly foregoes the political underpinnings of 2018’s I’ll Be Your Girl, is jaunty yet fittingly charged by boisterous drums and subtle dissonance. Even when veering towards doom (of a more literary kind) on ‘Don’t Go to the Woods’, Meloy’s delivery is shot through with tender emotion, while opener ‘Burial Ground’ is upbeat in a way that makes its humour – “This world’s all wrong, so let’s go where we belong/ Pack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground” – sound a little less fatalistic.

What’s changed, clearly, isn’t the subject matter of the band’s songs but the tone they strike, which is less wearied and angry than in the recent past. Like the structure of the album, which sees them reuniting with Tucker Martine after the John Congleton-produced I’ll Be Your Girl, it’s tightly balanced. Along with ‘Burial Ground’, buoying the first quarter of the record is the salsa-leaning ‘Oh No!’ and the radiant ‘Long White Veil’, which shimmers with touches of pedal steel and Jenny Conlee’s backing vocals. As is so often the case in the Decemberists’ songs, the hooks aren’t predictable so much as harbingers of the inevitable, and ‘Long White Veil’ stands among their most memorable: “I married her, I carried her/ On the very same day I buried her.”

After the album’s opening run, the songs are just as tuneful though gradually more stripped-back, from the John Prine-inspired ‘William Fitzwilliam’ to the ‘The Black Maria’, which features a gorgeous brass section. There’s a sweetness the band seems to commit to, even when the music bows its head. But the biggest shift is a lyrical one, and it begins with ‘All I Want Is You’: “Don’t want stunning wordplay,” Meloy sings, freely undercutting the playfulness and verbosity of everything that’s come before to home in on the sincerity of its titular line. He doesn’t sound tired, exactly, just unpretentious and somewhat burdened by the weight of language, a sentiment that recurs in ‘Never Satisfied’. This retreat into a more direct, feelings-forward style makes the swirling, hallucinatory excess of ‘Joan in the Garden’ feel like not only a jarring finale, but a kind of resurrection. It swirls in intensity, disintegrates, then storms back to life, but what renders it unique in the Decemberists’ catalogue isn’t just its epic runtime, but how far they really diverge from their signature sound in that ambient middle section, which harbours the kind of wild inspiration that keeps a band pushing forward. There might only be that glimpse of it here, but the journey has been as rewarding as ever, so you’ll want to come back.

The Softies Announce First New Album in 24 Years

Konstantinos Pappis
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The Softies Announce First New Album in 24 Years

The Softies, the duo of Tiger Trap’s Rose Melberg and Pretty Face’s Jen Sbragia, have announced their first new album in 24 years. It’s called The Bed I Made, and it arrives August 23 via Father/Daughter. Check out the lead single ‘I Said What I Said’ below, along with the album’s cover art and tracklist.

“Over the course of our 30 year friendship there were bound to be experiences that would befall us both, sometimes at the same time, sometimes years apart,” the duo said in a press release. “‘I Said What I Said’ is a song that encapsulates a shared desire for escape, a push towards forward momentum and unapologetic self-forgiveness for not always being able to speak the truth.”

The Bed I Made Cover Artwork:

The Bed I Made Tracklist:

1. Go Back In Time
2. I Said What I Said
3. To You From Me
4. Tiny Flame
5. When I Started Loving You
6. Just Someone
7. California Highway 99
8. Dial Tone
9. The Bed I Made
10. 23rd Birthday
11. Sigh Sigh Sigh
12. Heaphones
13. Foot Path
14. Don’t Fall Apart

WHY? Share Video for New Song ‘G-dzillah G’dolah’

Konstantinos Pappis
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WHY? Share Video for New Song ‘G-dzillah G’dolah’

WHY? have previewed their upcoming album, The Well I Fell Into, with a new single called ‘G-dzillah G’dolah’. The track, which follows lead single ‘The Letters, Etc.’, is accompanied by a Scott Fredette-directed video. Watch and listen below.

“Here, we come to a moment of doubt about the doubt,” the band’s Yoni Wolf explained in a statement. “In an airplane, flying to meet his love after not seeing her for some time, our guy feels small and helpless at the prospect of the impending engagement. In her absence, he has reconstructed her into a towering monster within his affections; a G-dzillah G’dolah— the ultimate God shadow baddie. He assures her that when they see each other, they will ‘make it right,’ but it’s clear he’s only grasping at tatters of the past. He can feel it, she’s slipping away. He’s supremely intimidated and hates himself for losing her in the first place. The song is entirely spoken from thirty thousand feet up in anticipation of the meeting, so as listeners we are left without resolution or report after the fact.”

The Well I Fell Into arrives August 2 on WHY?’s own Waterlines label.

Jordana Shares New Single ‘We Get By’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Jordana Shares New Single ‘We Get By’

Jordana is back with a new single, ‘We Get By’. The track was produced by Emmett Kai and comes with an Otium-directed video, which you can check out below.

‘We Get By’ is about true love,” Jordana said in a statement. “It’s about leaving any materialistic things behind and basking in the appreciation of the truest loving from a pure ground zero — whether that be with yourself or with someone else. We could leave everything we have and still be happy.”

Jordana released her most recent album, Face the Wall, in 2022. She followed it up with the I’m Doing Well, Thanks for Asking EP later that year.

Crack Cloud Release New Single ‘The Medium’

Konstantinos Pappis
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0
Crack Cloud Release New Single ‘The Medium’

Crack Cloud have released a new song, ‘The Medium’, alongside an accompanying video. It’s taken from the Canadian art-punks’ upcoming LP Red Mile, which was led by the single ‘Blue Kite’. Check it out below.

Red Mile, the follow-up to 2022’s Tough Baby, is set to arrive on July 26 via Jagjaguwar.

15 Types of Bras Every Women Should Own

Our Culture Mag & Partners
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15 Types of Bras Every Women Should Own

A bra, like a modal racer bralette, is an essential garment that every woman owns. Whether you are fill or large chested or small chested, you need a few bras. Every woman would want to wear a sexy bra every day. There are different types of bras that you can own and wear on different occasions without losing your sexy.

  1. The T-shirt bra

Also known as the workhorse bra, this is a standard type that every woman needs. It is supportive, smooth, and goes with almost everything. It is a go-to bra for a lot of women.

  1. The wireless bra

This type does not have underwires. However, it is still very supportive because of underbands. A wireless bra can be padded or non-padded. It is a comfortable everyday wear bra that anyone can pull off.

  1. The push-up bra

This is a bra with padding that helps push the breasts up. However, there are some designs that offer the push-up effect without the padding, which are great for ladies with larger breasts that need some push-up.

  1. Padded bra

This is an ideal bra option for any woman that wants or needs a little boost in their boobs. There are different types of padding that you can choose from. Even if you have a big bust, you can wear a padded bra that gives you a natural look.

  1. Bralette

This is a creative combination of a standard bra and a cropped-top. This kind of bra is usually non-padded and does not have an under wire. It can also be a slip-on or come with feature clasps, depending on the design. This type of bra is comfortable but offers less support that traditional ones.

Strapless bra

This is a bra without the shoulder straps. Instead of the straps, this bra usually has silicone lining or a band that helps it fit snugly and stay up. Fuller chested ladies can wear strapless bras with an under wire or wider bad for more support.

  1. Front-open bra

This is a type of bra with a front-clasp instead of the standard back-clasp. It is one of the easiest bras to wear because you don’t have to struggle to close the clasp. The design is also unique.

  1. Halter bra

This type goes well under halter tops. A halter bra is designed with a single long strap that goes around the back of the neck. It is usually low cut to wear under shorts with deep necklines.

  1. Cage bra

This is a sexy bra that comes with several bra straps in the bra’s front and back, hence the term “cage.” Every woman can wear this type of bra as it is designed for all sizes of breasts. It goes well with sheet tops and backless dresses.

  1. Convertible bra

This is a multi-tasking bra that works well with different attires. It is basically designed like a T-shirt bra with straps that can be detached. So, you can remove or reconfigure the straps to match different necklines.

  1. Plunge bra

This type looks so much like a T-shirt or bra without straps. However, it has a deeper v-cut that stretches down the middle. This makes it an ideal choice of bra for low-cut tops.

  1. Minimizer bra

This is a bra designed for ladies with larger breasts. It is designed to minimize the projection of the bust, hence the term “minimizer.”

  1. Raceback bra

This bra usually comes with straps that cope up to the neck, much like a halter bra. However, it also features a join mid-back that then divides into two straps hooking to the band. It resembles a sports bra.

  1. Sports bra

This bra is designed for working out. There are two types of training bras; the compression and encapsulation. A sports bra is designed to hold the breasts firmly to minimize movement when working out.

9. Bandeau bra

This is a bra made of high-spandex fabric strip. It does not have any built-in cups or an underwire. It’s like a corset for the breasts. A bandeau bra is ideal for smaller breasted women.

Conclusion

The type of bra you wear will depend on the size of your breasts, the type of comfort you need, and the outfit you want to wear. You can check out some fashion tips for guidelines on how you should pair your bras with your outfits. Your overall style can also influence your choice.

Navigating the World of Clean Label Supplements: What Consumers Should Know

Our Culture Mag & Partners
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Navigating the World of Clean Label Supplements: What Consumers Should Know

In today’s health-conscious world, consumers are increasingly turning to clean label supplements to support their fitness and wellness goals. These supplements are known for their transparency in ingredients, avoiding artificial additives, fillers, and other undesirable substances. When choosing clean label supplements like NutraBio Whey Proteins, consumers can expect products that prioritize purity and effectiveness. These supplements often feature natural ingredients sourced responsibly, aiming to enhance performance and recovery without compromising on quality. Understanding the nuances of clean label supplements empowers consumers to make informed choices, ensuring they receive products aligned with their health objectives.

Definition of Clean Label: Clean label supplements adhere to strict standards regarding ingredient transparency and purity. They typically avoid synthetic additives and prioritize natural ingredients sourced responsibly.

Benefits of Clean Label Supplements: These supplements are favored for their minimal processing and absence of artificial ingredients, which may appeal to consumers seeking more natural health solutions.

Common Ingredients in Clean Label Supplements: Ingredients commonly found in clean label supplements include organic proteins, plant-based extracts, and vitamins derived from natural sources.

Certifications and Quality Standards: Look for certifications like USDA Organic and third-party testing to verify the purity and authenticity of clean label supplements.

Transparency in Labeling: Clean label supplements often provide detailed ingredient lists, nutritional information, and sourcing practices to enhance transparency and consumer trust.

Performance and Effectiveness: Despite their natural focus, clean label supplements are designed to deliver effective results, supporting various health goals from muscle recovery to immune support.

Consumer Education: Educating consumers about the benefits of clean label supplements empowers them to make informed choices aligned with their health and ethical values.

Market Trends and Demand: The growing demand for clean label supplements reflects broader consumer preferences for transparency, sustainability, and health-conscious products.

Choosing the Right Supplements: When selecting clean label supplements like NutraBio Whey Proteins, consider factors such as ingredient sourcing, manufacturing processes, and product certifications.

Integration into Lifestyle: Clean label supplements can complement a holistic approach to health and wellness, supporting active lifestyles and dietary preferences.

NutraBio is dedicated to providing high-quality, clean label supplements that support health and wellness goals. Their products, including NutraBio Whey Proteins, are crafted with natural ingredients and undergo rigorous testing to ensure purity and efficacy. With a commitment to transparency and customer satisfaction, NutraBio strives to empower individuals on their journey to better health through superior nutrition.

Efterklang Share New Single ‘Animated Heart’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Efterklang Share New Single ‘Animated Heart’

Efterklang have dropped a new single, ‘Animated Heart’, lifted from their forthcoming record Things We Have In Common. Following previous cuts ‘Getting Reminders’ (featuring Beirut’s Zach Condon on trumpet) and ‘Plant’ (featuring Mabe Fratti on cello and vocals), the track features Sønderjysk Pigekor (South Denmark Girls’ Choir). Check out a video for it below.

“This piece originated in my little studio in Lisbon,” vocalist Casper Clausen said of ‘Animated Heart’ in a statement. “In the early stages of the process, I shared numerous sketches with the others, and this one stood out. As we began to develop it further, we often played it together with the girls’ choir, Sønderjysk Pigekor, from our hometown. Their addition brought a whole gospel vibe to the track, which I found incredibly appealing. I was struck by how their voices seemed to lift the composition into another realm, creating a sense of expansiveness that no instrument or single voice could achieve. I’m singing about being alone, clinging to the stone, kissing oneself to the bone, deep in the heart of the soul.”

The accompanying visual was directed by Søren Lynggaard and the band’s Rasmus Stolberg. Stolberg commented: “The video is an homage to the choir who are featured on ‘Animated Heart’ and have given us so many unforgettable musical memories. Inspired by the scenes of ticket lines in Jem Cohen’s Fugazi documentary, we met with the choir to film the video on May 29, 2024. We are honoured to have the choir featured in the song and video, and we are inspired by the hope they bring for the future.”

Things We Have In Common comes out September 27 via City Slang.

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