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What Should I Do if My Cosmetology Licence Is Expired?

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What Should I Do if My Cosmetology Licence Is Expired?

After starting your journey in cosmetology, your knowledge and skills will keep you competitive, but that’s not everything you need to stay at the top of your game. You will also want to renew your licence on time so it doesn’t expire. Still, it’s easy to forget to do this when trying to balance personal responsibilities, your job, and maybe even professional development efforts.

But remember that working with an expired cosmetology licence will have serious consequences. From hefty fines to the suspension of your licence, these repercussions aren’t something you want to experience at all. And while they vary in severity from one state to the other, they will obviously ruin your work experience.

Read this post to the end to learn more about working with invalid cosmetology licences and what you can do if yours has expired.

First, What Happens if You Work With an Expired Licence?

An expired cosmetology licence, at the most basic level, simply means you no longer meet the state’s requirements to continue with your practice. In many states, professionals are required to take continuing education (CE) courses torenew cosmetology licenses, in addition to paying a renewal fee before a predetermined deadline.

Failing to meet such requirements results in the expiration of your licence. This means you are no longer allowed to continue offering your services until you’ve fixed the licensing issue. Deciding to ignore this obligation makes you an easy target for serious penalties that range from fines to suspension or even revocation of your licence.

So, Then, What Should You Do If Your Licence Expires?

Now that you know there are nasty consequences of continuing to operate as a licensed cosmetologist even after your licence expires, you must be wondering what to do if your licence has expired for whatever reason. Here are the steps you should take in this regard:

1. Stop Practising

The most important thing to do as soon as you realise your licence has expired is to stop offering your services immediately. This will often require you to come up with creative explanations to cancel appointments with your customers. The good thing is that if your licence just expired recently, the renewal process won’t be complicated, thus you will be back in service in no time.

2. Determine How Far You Are Past the Renewal Deadline

Renewing your licence after it has expired can be a straightforward or complicated process, depending on how long past the renewal deadline you are. Less than one year past the renewal deadline is the optimal situation here, since all you need is, more than likely, a reinstatement application and paying the required fees.

Crank this up to one year or more, and you may have to reapply for your licence, often without taking exams. If you ignore the licence renewal for more than five years, it’s more than likely you will have to reapply for the licence and even retake your exam.

That’s why it’s so important to understand how deep you are in this mess. On the positive side of it all, these processes aren’t as exacting as they may sound at first, so don’t be afraid of reapplying.

3. Prepare the Necessary Information and Forms

After determining the additional requirements for renewing your licence based on how long it has been expired or inactive, you’ll need to gather all the information and forms required during the renewal or reapplication process. Some of the particulars you want to have with you include your licence number, application forms, and the required fees.

Of course, your state’s licensing board website is the best source of information on the exact forms and information you need during the reinstatement process. Still, you can trust information from state-recognised education providers like RocketCert.

4. Submit Your Application and Fees

At this point, you have practically everything you need for the reinstatement process. Now, all that will be remaining is submitting your application and paying the reapplication fees. You may have to meet a couple of prerequisites before sending your application, so follow the guidelines on the licensing board’s website to ensure you don’t miss anything.

After completing this step, all you have to do now is wait. In most cases, the reinstatement process takes just a couple of weeks to a few months. Cases are different, so some patience is needed here. If you feel like it’s taking too long, you can always contact the licensing board.

Avoid the Trouble of an Expired Cosmetology Licence

The easiest way to steer clear of the consequences of practising with an expired licence is to ensure your licence doesn’t expire in the first place. This is a straightforward process that only requires you to track important dates and deadlines to avoid lapses.

If you hate continuing your education since it feels like all CE courses out here are complex, we have a fantastic solution for you. Consider investing in an expertly written and fully narrated course from a top provider like RocketCert. This not only makes the process of meeting your CE requirements easier, but it also helps you understand the content much better.

Book Review: Godzilla the First 70 Years

Patrick Galvan
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Book Review: Godzilla the First 70 Years

At the end of Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla (1954), a forlorn scientist named Dr. Serizawa ventures to the bottom of Tokyo Bay and unleashes the Oxygen Destroyer, a doomsday machine he unwittingly invented and has heretofore kept secret from the world. While fearful that “the politicians of the world” will turn his discovery into the latest Cold War superweapon, the scientist has agreed to use it just once. A monster called Godzilla has burned Tokyo to the ground, and Serizawa’s invention is the only thing that might stop the menace. After activating his device, he cuts his air and support lines—ensuring the Oxygen Destroyer is never remade—and Godzilla is disintegrated first into a skeleton and then into nothing. In the aftermath, another scientist, played by that wonderful actor Takashi Shimura, issues a warning. Believing Godzilla to have been awakened by H-bomb tests in the Pacific, he states, “If nuclear testing continues, then someday, somewhere in the world, another Godzilla may appear.”

As is documented in Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski’s new book Godzilla: The First 70 Years, screenwriter Takeo Murata wrote this monologue not “thinking about a sequel.” Nevertheless, the movie’s impressive turnout (9.6 million in attendance) paved the way to a quick follow-up—Motoyoshi Oda’s Godzilla Raids Again (1955)—and, beginning in the ‘60s, more pictures starring the monster. In the course of its seven-decade history, Godzilla has appeared in entries ranging from witty satires to anti-pollution polemics; the character has been a villain, an ally of convenience, and a bona fide superhero. It has found admirers worldwide, including among Hollywood talents such as Guillermo del Toro. And in 2024, Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One (2023) took home the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Godzilla holds the record for the longest-running film franchise; such a rich and complex legacy warrants a detailed study, which now arrives in the form of Ryfle and Godziszewski’s tome.

Godzilla: The First 70 Years is the latest contribution its authors have made to English language knowledge about the movies under discussion. Both separately wrote info-packed books in the 1990s, and together they penned the 2017 biography Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. And that is to say nothing of their numerous articles, audio commentaries, interviews, etc. that have afforded western moviegoers a deeper appreciation for the films and the people behind them. Now comes this 432-page volume covering the Japanese series from its inception to the present day, chock-full of research and gorgeous behind-the-scenes photographs.

The book opens with a pair of introductions: the first by American filmmaker (and known fan of the series) John Carpenter, the second by Japanese actress Megumi Odaka, who played the psychic Miki Saegusa in six Godzilla movies between 1989-1995. Odaka’s introduction is delightfully substantial, consuming the better part of two pages as she recounts her experiences and provides insight into the men who directed her. (“[Takao] Okawara’s style was very masculine, but his work also reminded me that women’s characters are equally important.”) From here, Ryfle and Godziszewski group the movies into five sections and take us through the history one title at a time. This easy-to-navigate approach accommodates a variety of reading choices: one can read straight to the end or open a particular chapter to learn about a specific movie. As always, the authors do a wonderful job articulating the challenges endured by the filmmakers and delivering fantastic information. (Among the highlights is an unfilmed alternate denouement for 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla—completely unrelated to the movie’s infamous “double ending” myth.)

In what marks a departure from their previous writings, Ryfle and Godziszewski stray from making critical comments—not a flaw per se, merely a difference. While I admittedly missed the duo’s flair for analysis, the research and the plethora of quotes from cast and crew members make for an informative read—one that has helped fill gaps in previous genre studies. The late Kensho Yamashita, for instance, directed just one entry, 1994’s Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, and his few English language interviews were conducted more than three decades ago. Thanks to this book, we now have access to numerous translated statements from Yamashita and gain a more complete understanding of his goals when making the ‘94 movie. Some anecdotes might prove surprising (suit actor Haruo Nakajima preferred Godzilla Raids Again to its predecessor “at least for my acting”) while others touch the heart: Momoko Kochi, who played the heroine in the original movie, recalls that scriptwriter Kazuki Omori wanted her to reprise the part in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) “no matter what.”

In tackling a franchise as complex as Godzilla’s, Ryfle and Godziszewski appropriately dedicate numerous sidebars and sub-chapters to topics such as urban legends, alternate cuts, and the process of building monster suits. The book also features a pair of guest essays by biographer Erik Homenick and set reporter Norman England. Homenick has spent years documenting the life and works of composer Akira Ifukube, and here delivers an erudite piece on the 1954 Godzilla score. And England, who covered the Millennium Godzilla movies (1999-2004) for various publications, offers a personal account of still photographer Takashi Nakao, one of the unsung heroes of Godzilla lore, based on his experiences interacting with him on Shusuke Kaneko’s Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-out Attack (2001). (My correspondence with England confirmed that several of the book’s making-of photos for the Millennium films were taken by him and are appearing in print for the first time.)

On the negative side, the book’s copy would’ve benefited from an additional round of editing. Within its pages exist the occasional typo (a misspelling of director Atsushi Takahashi’s name), grammatical error (“an Godzilla attraction” [sic]), and incorrect word choice (Dr. Serizawa is described as Momoko Kochi’s “fiancée”). There are also a few instances of sloppy writing. When director Masaaki Tezuka remembers receiving the offer to helm Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000), he’s quoted: “I discussed it with my wife and decided to accept.” A nice anecdote that’s promptly—in the very next line—followed by a third-person description repeating that same information with similar wording: “[E]ven when offered the opportunity to direct […] he consulted his wife before accepting.”

Lastly, while Godzilla: The First 70 Years is a wealth of research regarding the Japanese movies, some consumers might be disappointed by the lack of coverage for the series’s Hollywood remakes. Whatever one’s feelings about Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla (1998) or the ongoing MonsterVerse saga from Legendary Pictures, they are part of the franchise—and integral ones at that, having more than once influenced the course of the Japanese series. Ryfle and Godziszewski fleetingly note their impact, but it’s unfortunate the American films do not receive the full-fledged treatment granted to their Japanese counterparts.

All in all, though, Godzilla: The First 70 Years marks another splendid achievement from the finest English-speaking historians to tackle the Japanese monster. In many ways, this book represents the sort of project I’ve wanted from these writers for some time. Steve Ryfle’s Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of “The Big G” and Ed Godziszewski’s The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla remain go-to texts for genre enthusiasts, and for years I’ve hoped for updated editions wherein they documented their knowledge of the post-’90s movies. This new tome, available from Abrams Books, has answered that call and will be of tremendous value to casual and dedicated readers alike. It is also a must-own for contemporary researchers, those who’ve followed in the authors’ footsteps in preserving the legacy of these movies and the artists who made them.

The Intersection of Sculpture and Trophy Design in Contemporary Art

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The Intersection of Sculpture and Trophy Design in Contemporary Art

When you think of a trophy, you might picture a classic golden cup or a shiny plaque. But in today’s world, those old ideas are getting a modern shake-up.

Artists and designers are borrowing big ideas from sculpture, turning awards into eye-catching pieces you’d want to display even if you didn’t win them.

Let’s take a closer look at how contemporary art techniques are changing the game, making trophies more exciting than ever before.

How Sculpture and Trophy Design Meet: Three Game-Changers

Modern trophy design is no longer just about metal and marble. It’s about creativity, storytelling, and pushing boundaries.

Here are three ways sculpture is changing the trophy game:

  • Unconventional Materials: Designers are stepping outside the usual bronze and wood. According to current trends in trophy production steps, there’s a big shift toward using glass, resin, and even recycled metals.

    This move brings new textures, colors, and shapes that make each award totally unique.

  • Custom-Made for Each Event: Forget “one-size-fits-all.” Now, artists work closely with organizers to create custom trophies that tell a story about the event or the winner’s journey.

    This creative process often involves sketching, modeling, and turning wild ideas into real objects that blend sculpture and practical award design.

  • From Award to Art: Today’s trophies are designed to be just as impressive on a mantel as in an art gallery.

    With bold shapes and modern finishes, some have become coveted collector’s items, blurring the line between sporting prizes and serious sculpture.

Why the Shift? Art, Recognition, and Expression

Trophies as Storytellers

Modern trophies aren’t just for showing off a win, they’re about expressing what that win means. Artists are now asked to create pieces that say something about the champion, the event, or even the times we live in.

By borrowing from sculpture, these trophies pack a big punch when it comes to emotion and storytelling. A well-designed award can spark conversation, invite admiration, and stand as a reminder of a special moment.

The Artist’s Touch

What really sets today’s trophies apart is the artist’s influence. Traditional trophies were all about making identical copies, but now, designers want each piece to stand out. They bring in sculptors, mix new materials, and let creativity lead the way.

As Trophy.com describes in their rundown of trophy production steps, this innovative approach has led to a 40% rise in custom trophy requests in just the last decade. This is a clear sign that more people want something personal and artful, instead of something you could find in any old gym display case.

How It’s Done: A Behind-the-Scenes Look

Creating today’s sculptural trophies involves more than just picking out a pleasing shape and sleek metal. Designers start with sketches and 3D models. Sometimes using computer software and a good old pencil and paper.

Next, they select materials that fit the vision, whether that’s colored resin, molten glass, or brushed aluminum. Each step is handled with even more care than traditional mass production.

Special molds are made for unique shapes.

Some parts are hand-cast like a sculpture, while others might be laser-cut for sharp details. Artists handle the finishing touches, sanding, polishing, or painting until the trophy feels like a one-of-a-kind artwork.

Where Sculptural Trophies Shine

Here are three places where modern trophies make a real impact:

  • Award Shows and Festivals: Forget the boring gold cups. Film, music, and tech events now hand out awards that guests can’t stop talking about—and winners proudly display their favorite art.
  • Sports Leagues: Custom-made trophies make championships memorable. When teams take home something bold and unique, it celebrates their journey in a way old-school awards can’t match.
  • Corporate Recognition: Businesses use artist-designed trophies to honor top performers, mark milestones, or celebrate creative ideas. These trophies stand out in offices, sparking inspiration every day.

A New Era for Trophies: Art You Can Win

Contemporary trophy design goes beyond tradition, blending art, storytelling, and innovation. By embracing sculptural techniques, unique materials, and custom artistry, today’s trophies turn every award into a meaningful keepsake.

These creative pieces capture the essence of the achievement and celebrate the winner’s journey. As art and recognition come together, trophies become lasting symbols of celebration, creativity, and the impact of modern design.

Day and Night: Why Face Creams Are Essential to a Holistic Skincare Routine

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Day and Night: Why Face Creams Are Essential to a Holistic Skincare Routine

In a world overflowing with serums, acids, mists, and masks, one staple remains timeless in every skincare ritual: the face cream. Whether you’re a minimalist or a self-declared skincare connoisseur, the right cream, used consistently, can make all the difference. 

If you’ve ever found yourself searching for the best face creams for your skincare goals, chances are you’ve encountered a dizzying array of products promising hydration, repair, glow, or anti-aging magic. But what sets a great cream apart from the rest? And why does it matter whether you use it during the day or at night? 

Let’s dive into the science, ritual, and art of daily moisturization, because a simple jar of cream might just be the most powerful tool on your shelf. 

Why Moisturizing Matters 

Moisturizers are more than just a final step,they serve as the skin’s daily shield and nightly repair blanket. Their core purpose is to hydrate, protect, and balance the skin’s natural barrier, which is constantly under stress from the environment, UV exposure, pollution, makeup, and even stress or poor sleep. 

Without sufficient moisture, the skin becomes more prone to irritation, flakiness, dullness, and premature signs of aging. A well,formulated cream supports skin resilience while sealing in the benefits of other treatments in your routine. 

Day Creams: Your Skin’s Daily Defense 

What They Do: 

Day creams are designed to prepare your skin for everything it will encounter during the day. These include environmental aggressors like sun, wind, and pollution, as well as the drying effects of indoor heating or air conditioning. 

Key Characteristics: 

  • Lightweight texture: Absorbs easily and works well under makeup. 
  • Protective ingredients: Often include antioxidants (like vitamin C or E), humectants (such as hyaluronic acid), and emollients that create a subtle barrier. 
  • SPF (ideally): Some formulas incorporate sun protection, helping shield your skin from harmful UV rays. 

Why It Matters: 

Skipping your morning cream can leave your skin vulnerable to dehydration and oxidative stress. Over time, this accelerates the appearance of fine lines and a dull complexion. A good day cream doesn’t just hydrate, it actively defends. 

Night Creams: The Silent Repairers 

What They Do: 

At night, your skin enters repair mode. Blood flow increases, cellular turnover speeds up, and the skin becomes more receptive to active ingredients. Night creams are richer and more intensive because they support this regenerative cycle. 

Key Characteristics: 

  • Thicker textures: Designed to deeply nourish and form a hydrating veil. 
  • Restorative ingredients: Peptides, ceramides, collagen boosters, and botanical extracts often appear in these formulas. 
  • No SPF: Unlike day creams, night formulas focus on nourishment, not protection. 

Why It Matters: 

A dedicated night cream allows your skin to heal, recharge, and wake up with a plumper, smoother appearance. It complements your body’s natural rhythms and helps lock in the results of serums or treatments used beforehand.  

How to Maximize the Benefits of Your Creams 

Using a face cream seems straightforward, but a few small habits can elevate its effectiveness: 

  • Apply to damp skin: Moisturizing right after cleansing helps seal in water. 
  • Don’t skip the neck: The neck and décolleté show signs of aging too,treat them like an extension of your face. 
  • Layer smartly: Apply your cream after serums but before oils or sunscreens. 
  • Massage it in: Use gentle upward strokes to stimulate circulation and lymphatic drainage.

Matching Creams to Your Skin’s Needs 

Not all creams are created equal. Consider these tips when choosing yours: 

  • Dry skin: Look for creams with ceramides, shea butter, and squalane. 
  • Oily or acne prone skin: Choose lightweight, non-comedogenic formulas with niacinamide or green tea extract. 
  • Sensitive skin: Fragrance-free, soothing creams with ingredients like centella asiatica or panthenol are ideal. 
  • Mature skin: Opt for anti-aging creams enriched with peptides, retinol (for night), and antioxidants. 

Your skin may also change with seasons or lifestyle shifts. What works in summer might not work in winter, so be open to adjusting your routine.

Digital in Stone: Exploring TJ Chen’s Interfaces

Abbie Wilson
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Digital in Stone: Exploring TJ Chen’s Interfaces

Digital screens are everywhere, constantly generating information that disappears the moment you put your device down. The barrage feels unrelenting, like a fast, all-consuming current that washes over you — rarely inviting pause or reflection.

In Interfaces, a thought-provoking ongoing series, London-based designer and artist TJ (Tianju) Chen disengages from this digital current and translates it into permanence. By engraving digital interfaces — emails, menus, cursors, pop-ups — into stone, one of the oldest and most enduring materials we know, Chen creates a meditative tension between the fleeting nature of digital life and the physical weight of being in the real world.

Interfaces gives form to the ghostly traces of our screen-based lives — moments that are otherwise gone in a blink — and allows us to hold them, to feel their density, to experience something tactile. Glowing pixels and mobile layouts are stilled, frozen forever in stone. Chen’s process celebrates the overlooked architecture of our digital routines, elevating the mundane into quiet icons of contemplation.

interface_icons_18, Stone Engraved, 2024

By rendering digital interactions — usually weightless, untouchable — as sculptural artefacts, Chen invites us to confront the irony of the screen: an interface that feels immaterial, yet is made from solid glass or plastic. This subtle reminder of materiality reframes how we think about the surfaces that mediate our daily experience.

More than that, Chen’s work draws deeply from his background in both design and engineering. He explores the tensions, hopes, and contradictions of technology as something that promises to enhance human ability while often reducing it to a scroll. While clearly skeptical of the digital commodities that sell us distraction as delight, Chen investigates the deeper systems that shape how we access, consume, and interpret information.

In Interfaces, that inquiry takes on a poetic tension: between the built-in obsolescence of digital tools and the geological time of carved stone. Each slab becomes a time capsule. Some capture the skeletal shape of an email inbox — a space we all know intimately but rarely think of as cultural artefact. Familiar icons, folders, and text are cast like shadows into dark stone, stripped of their animated fluidity yet imbued with quiet significance. Others focus on the humble cursor — a flickering guide in our daily digital choreography. Here, it becomes sculptural, an anchor of presence and motion in a space without body.

interface_inbox20240914
Stone Engraved
17 x 15 x 2 mm
2024

These stone pieces act like tactile fossils — elegant, tomb-like reflections that confront the ways digital interfaces shape how we think, what we see, and what we value. Interfaces are designed to refresh constantly, to be replaced, to keep us moving. Chen reverses that dynamic. He invites us to stop. To think. To feel a kind of nostalgia for the solid, the durable, the real.

Interfaces is also a new kind of archive — one that walks the line between memory and imagination. The works preserve the logic and visual grammar of contemporary digital communication, but their permanence raises deeper questions: What will remain of this era when the screens go dark? What physical traces will be left of our culture, our stories?

2_cursors_linearMovement, Stone Engraved, 42 x 4 x 3 cm, 2024
2_cursors_circularMovement, Stone Engraved, 17.5 x 8 x 2 cm, 2024

Chen’s choice of stone isn’t incidental. It’s loaded with meaning. Stone has carried human memory for millennia — through monuments, inscriptions, ruins. By inserting digital ephemera into this lineage, Chen positions our screen lives not as throwaway experiences, but as worthy of reverence and reflection. What we usually dismiss as temporary, he treats as significant.

From the conceptual to the material, Interfaces blurs boundaries. The sharp carvings echo the clean lines of interface design. The cold weight of stone plays against the electromagnetic haze of digital space. These formal juxtapositions ask viewers to come closer, to touch, to consider what we so often scroll past without a second thought.

Chen’s dual training as designer and engineer is central to the work. His technical precision enables a critique of digital culture that is not just theoretical, but tactile. He reflects on the systems — tools, platforms, environments — that extend our capabilities but also flatten our attention, wrapping his concerns into the meaning embedded in each piece.

interface_icons_4, Stone Engraved, 2024
interface_inbox20240920, Stone Engraved, 30 x 19 x 2 cm, 2024

His creative and technical practices intertwine. Chen has exhibited internationally — including at Getxophoto (Spain), Milan Design Week, London Design Festival, and the International Body of Art, London. Beyond the art world, he’s worked with companies like Nothing Tech and Postler Ferguson as a Creative Technologist. His educational foundation — a Master’s from the Royal College of Art and a Bachelor of Engineering from the China Academy of Art — continues to shape the conceptual and material depth of his work.

Interfaces isn’t just an archive of digital forms. It’s a meditation on how we live with and through the screen. By treating the cursor as a human trace — a record of motion, of presence, of time — Chen reminds us that behind every interaction is a person, navigating the blur of modern life. In carving these ephemeral gestures into stone, he honors a distinctly modern mode of being.

This project lands powerfully in our moment. We live inside interfaces. We enact ourselves digitally, every day. Chen’s work asks the essential question: what will future generations see when they look back? What will remain of us, once the glow is gone?

TJ Chen’s Interfaces is a poetic and critical lens on our time — bridging the ancient with the digital, the permanent with the fleeting. It turns the hidden frameworks of our digital lives into solid bookmarks — quiet witnesses to an age defined by speed, interaction, and never-ending change.

Through Interfaces, Chen urges us to reclaim our digital world as something more than utility — something cultural, something worthy of preservation. In translating flickering pixels into weight and form, he gives us the chance to hold the present in our hands — and remember it.

8 Albums Out Today to Listen To: Justin Bieber, Clipse, Wet Leg, and More

Konstantinos Pappis
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8 Albums Out Today to Listen To: Justin Bieber, Clipse, Wet Leg, and More

In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on July 11, 2025:

Justin Bieber, SWAG

SWAG Main ArtJustin Bieber has surprise-released a new album: SWAG boasts guests spots from Dijon, Lil B, Sexyy Red, Druski, Gunna, Cash Cobain, 2 Chainz, and more. Last year, it was reported that Mk.gee was in the studio with the pop singer, and he contributes production on the record, along with Carter Lang, Dylan Wiggins, Daniel Caesar, Dijon, Daniel Chetrit, Eddie Benjamin, Knox Fortune, and more. Tobias Jesso Jr. co-wrote several songs on the LP, which follows 2021’s Justice. It spans 21 tracks, and before you say it, the penultimate one is called ‘TOO LONG’.

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Clipse, Let God Sort Em Out

Clipse, Let God Sort Em OutClipse’s first LP in 16 years, Let God Sort Em Out, has arrived. Entirely produced by Pharrell, the 13-track record features the early single ‘Ace Trumpets’ as well as guest spots from Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, the Creator, John Legend, Nas, and more, reprising the duo’s vivid lyricism and meticulous flow while offering surprising glimpses of vulnerability. Recording was split between a studio in Virginia and the Louis Vuitton headquarters in Paris, France.

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Wet Leg, moisturizer

moisturizer CoverOn the first song of their sophomore album, Wet Leg reevaluate: being in love isn’t a feeling you “kinda like.” It’s an emergency that makes you sound ravenous, maniacal, silly, and melodramatic, all adjectives that describe moisturizer even as the band maintain their deadpan humour and off-beat aesthetic. Yet the record, once again produced by Dan Carey, softens into and soaks up its pleasures and contradictions, the way it can appear fantastical even as the sobering reality kicks in. What ‘Being in Love’ describes as “some kind of fucked up trip” is just “happy comatose,” which isn’t a bad slogan for moisturizer. Apply gently; it just might do you good. Read the full review.

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Gina Birch, Trouble

Gina Birch, TroubleTwo years after her first solo album, 2023’s I Play My Bass Loud, the legendary Raincoats co-founder is back with a new album called Trouble. Flexing toward experimental R&B and psychedelic pop, the record is appropriately rambunctious and off-beat. “It’s a bit out there, a bit off the tracks, and I always like to go there,” Birch commented in press materials. “I unofficially subtitled the album ‘Trouble I’ve Caused and Trouble I’m In’, so the songs are based around that feeling—that dangerous place to be.” It was previewed by the singles ‘Doom Monger’ and ‘Causing Trouble Again’.

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Sister., Two Birds

Sister.Sister., Two Birds, the second album by the Brooklyn-based indie band Sister., is as disarming as it is revivifying in its intimacy. Singer-songwriters Hannah Pruzinsky and Ceci Sturman, who met as college roommates, stopped living together for the first time in nine years while making the record; the band is rounded out by James Chrisman and Florist/Told Slant’s Felix Walworth. “I feel like the theme of most of our conversations at that time, at least from my perspective, was a lot of fear about growing apart,” Hannah Pruzinsky shared in our Artist Spotlight interview. “I think we both shared that, and it was a really sad time because this was our normal. Living together seemed to somehow in our brains solidify the emotional relationship in a way. But I think the songwriting then was a way to distill some hope from that fear; it felt like a reassurance over time and a way to come through it with hope.”

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Goon, Dream 3

Goon, Dream 3Goon have released a striking new album, Dream 3, via Born Losers. During the making of the album, bandleader Kenny Becker’s marriage ended, and the songs he had written took on a heart-wrenching resonance. “I began this record so excited,” he explained. “The songwriting was less scripted, letting me loosen up the reins a little and follow whatever idea seemed most interesting. It started off as a really joyful recording process. Then came the most devastating time of my life.” Of the lead single ‘Closer to’, for instance, he noted: “I had written ‘next one is a big one’ thinking it could be a cool thing for someone else to hear, when in fact I, unknowingly, was the one who needed to brace myself and truly had no idea my life was about to change.”

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Matt Jencik & Midwife, Never Die

Matt Jencik & Midwife, Never DieMidwife’s Madeline Johnston and Matt Jencik (Don Caballero, Slint) have teamed up for a hauntingly elegiac collaborative album titled Never Die. After a number of ambient-heavy instrumental records, Jencik challenged himself to write songs with prominent vocal parts, initially working alone in his basement and recording directly to a four-track cassette. Drawn to Johnston’s minimalist rendering of vast emotions, he invited her to be the vessel for his reflections on mortality, her voice serving as a guiding light on Never Die. “Even though I was not the songwriter on this project, the work falls in line with all the themes that Midwife explores,” Johnston shared. “Each song tells a story, an experience documented and preserved, like a moment trapped in a snow globe.”

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The Swell Season, Forward

The Swell Season, ForwardThe Swell Season, the Oscar-winning duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, have returned with their their first new album in 16 years. Forward was produced by Sturla Mio Thorisson and features eight songs, including the early singles ‘Stuck in Reverse’ and ‘Factory Street Bells’. “After our whirlwind that led up to the Oscars and after, we were so busy and with that came a pressure that neither of us particularly wanted, and ultimately we kind of drifted in the middle of all of that hard work and celebration. We remained good friends, helping on each other’s records, keeping up with each other’s families. While touring my last record, I realized I just missed her. I remember calling Markéta and saying, ‘Do you feel like doing some gigs?’” Hansard explained. “From there the idea was to do a little recording and not put any pressure on it, just see what happens, and suddenly we found ourselves making a record.”

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Other albums out today: 

Open Mike Eagle, Neighborhood Gods Unlimited; Florence Road, Fall Back; Gwenno, Utopia; Ava Mendoza, gabby fluke-mogul, & Carolina Pérez, Mama Killa; Burna Boy, No Sign of Weakness; Mal Blum, The Villain; Rip Van Winkle, Blasphemy; Barry Can’t Swim, Loner; Africa Express, Africa Express Presents… Bahidorá; Aho Ssan & Resina, Ego Death; Allo Darlin, Bright Nights; GIVĒON, BELOVED; Nina Cobham, Basis of a Pinky Promise; Mike Polizze, Around Sound; Ólafur & Talos, A Dawning; Aunt Katrina, This Heat Is Slowly Killing Me; Half Japanese, Adventure; Worlds Worst, American Muscle; Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson, & Carlos Niño, Openness Trio; World’s First Cinema, Something of Wonder; Horror Movie Marathon, DISCOUNT DEATH MASK; Mark Stewart, The Fateful Symmetry; Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits; Calva Louise, Edge of the Abyss.

Korn’s Munky Announces New Venera Album Featuring FKA twigs, Chelsea Wolfe, and Dis Fig

Konstantinos Pappis
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Korn’s Munky Announces New Venera Album Featuring FKA twigs, Chelsea Wolfe, and Dis Fig

Venera – the duo of Korn guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer and composer/filmmaker Chris Hunt – have announced their second album, Exinfinite. The follow-up to their 2023 self-titled debut comes out September 12 via PAN, and it boasts guest appearances from FKA twigs, Chelsea Wolfe, and Dis Fig. The imposing lead single ‘Tear’ is out now alongside a video directed by EFFIXX with Samanta García. Check it out below.

Exinfinite Cover Artwork:

Exinfinite Cover Artwork

Exinfinite Tracklist:

1. Tear
2. Flatline
3. All Midnights [feat. Chelsea Wolfe]
4. Asteroxylon
5. End Uncovered [feat. Dis Fig]
6. uuu773
7. Caroline [feat. FKA twigs]
8. meridians
9. decreation

Deftones Announce New Album ‘private music’, Share New Single ‘my mind is a mountain’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Deftones Announce New Album ‘private music’, Share New Single ‘my mind is a mountain’

Deftones have announced their 10th studio album, private music. The follow-up to 2020’s Ohms is set for release on August 22. Check out the grueling first single, ‘my mind is a mountain’, below, along with the album cover and tracklist.

The band co-produced their new LP with Nick Raskulinecz, who worked with them on 2010’s Diamond Eyes and 2012’s Koi No Yokan. It was recorded in multiple locations across California, including Malibu and Joshua Tree, as well as in Nashville.

private music Cover Artwork:

private music Cover Artwork

private music Tracklist:

1. my mind is a mountain
2. locked club
3. ecdysis
4. infinite source
5. souvenir
6. cXz
7. i think about you all the time
8. milk of the madonna
9. cut hands
10. ~metal dream
11. departing the body

Can You Play Call of Duty on Mac? Alternatives & Minimum Requirements

Prince Addams
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Can You Play Call of Duty on Mac? Alternatives & Minimum Requirements

If you love first-person shooter games, there’s no way you don’t love Call of Duty. Since its release in 2003, it has been one of the most sought-after shooting games in the world of gaming. Every Windows user probably has the game installed on their PCs. On the other hand, some don’t have it easy — Mac owners. Until this day, they ask if they can play Call of Duty on Mac. 

Stay until the end of the article and find the answer to the ultimate question.

Is It Possible to Play Call of Duty on Mac?

Mac users might want to grab a pail to catch their tears. Because EaseUs says that Call of Duty is still not available natively on Mac. According to the article, the developers of the games still haven’t designed an environment where the game will be compatible with a Mac. More than 20 years later, and still nothing.

Similarly, CloudDeck explains that Call of Duty games like Black Ops are not available on the Apple device because of two factors. First, the market size is way smaller compared to Windows. That means it’s less profitable. Second, the technical considerations are complex. That means more work for developers.

Even so, there are still ways for users to play Call of Duty on Mac. But be prepared to exert extra effort.

Workarounds to Play Call of Duty on Mac

Yes, some Call of Duty titles once ran on earlier versions of Mac. But newer models are not compatible with the game. To play, here are a few options to consider:

  • Cloud Gaming Services

Cloud gaming services do not require installing Windows on a Mac. With only a stable internet, players can stream Call of Duty games. Some choices are Boosteroid, Xbox Cloud Gaming, or CloudDeck.

  • Parallels Desktop

Parallels allows gamers to run Windows OS on a Mac. It works like a launcher to operate a virtual environment.

  • Boot Camp

Boot Camp lets Mac users boot Windows OS natively.

Ideal System Requirements

Based on Steam, the minimum system specs to play Call of Duty are:

  • OS: Windows 10 – 64 Bit (latest update)
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 or Intel Core i5-6600 or Intel Arc A580

Also, SetApp says that the MacBook Pro 14 (M3 Pro) is ideal for mid-range gaming. For your reference, here are the basic specs of the device:

  • GPU: Apple M3 Pro (14-core GPU)
  • CPU: Apple M3 Pro (11-core CPU)
  • Storage: 512GB SSD
  • RAM: 18GB

Mac Alternatives for Call of Duty

  • Nova Drift
  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
  • Sniper Elite 4

Operation Wrap-Up

With several alternatives to consider, users would never feel like Mac does not directly support the game. A perfect setup will allow gamers to play Call of Duty on Mac. Now go out there, soldier!

Can You Play Sims 4 on Mac? Alternatives & Minimum Requirements

Prince Addams
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Can You Play Sims 4 on Mac? Alternatives & Minimum Requirements

Life simulation games don’t get more iconic than The Sims 4. It’s an alternate world for those who want to escape reality through gaming. With Sims, players will have the freedom to create stories, build houses, and live the Sims’ lives. In other words, it’s an outlet for many people. While it’s known that the game works on Windows, others are asking if they can play Sims 4 on Mac.

Well, read the article and find out!

Is It Possible to Play The Sims 4 on Mac?

According to MacKeeper, users can definitely play The Sims 4 on Mac devices. However, they have to ensure that they meet the required Mac system requirements. Otherwise, players will struggle to download the game or encounter poor performance when playing.

Based on the guide from EA Help, the Mac system requirements to run the game are categorized as follows:

Minimum Mac System Requirements

  • macOS X 10.15 (Catalina) or later
  • CPU – Intel Core i3-3225 3.53 GHz or better
  • Graphics Card – Support for Metal. Intel HD 4000 (Integrated graphics) or better
  • Hard Drive – 26GB of free space
  • RAM – 4GB

Recommended Mac System Requirements

  • macOS X 10.15 (Catalina) or later
  • CPU – Intel Core i5 better
  • Graphics Card – Intel HD and Iris Graphics from the HD 4000 series or newer.
  • Hard Drive – 51GB of free space
  • RAM – 8GB

Similarly, users won’t need to install Boot Camp or Parallels since Sims 4 can run natively on Mac. At the same time, the Mac version essentially provides the same experience as on Windows. But, of course, it’s nice to manage expectations depending on the device’s specs.

Where to Download The Sims 4 on Mac

The safest and most direct download options include:

  • Origin – Go to the Origin Website of the game and hit download.
  • EA App – Create an EA account and download the game.
  • Steam – It’s Mac-compatible and often on sale.

As of writing, the base game of The Sims 4 is free. However, players can also purchase expansions and games to unlock additional features.

Mac Alternatives for The Sims 4

If Sims 4 isn’t living up to the dream, then these similar games might do the magic:

  • Paralives (Soon to launch)
  • House Flipper
  • RimWorld
  • Cities: Skylines

Simmer’s Wrap-Up

The Sims 4 on Mac is a perfect combination. A match made in heaven. The game runs smoothly on the Apple device. Just make sure that the system requirements are met. With a Mac, the only Windows that matter are the ones needed for a house — pun intended.

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