Keith Richards has shared a cover of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground’s ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’. It’s part of the upcoming compilation The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, which features renditions of Lou Reed and Velvet Underground songs from artists including Angel Olsen, the Afghan Whigs, Joan Jett, Lucinda Williams, Rufus Wainwright, Rosanne Cash, and Ricky Lee Jones. Listen to Richards’ take on ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ below.
In a press release, Richards said: “To me, Lou stood out. The real deal! Something important to American music and to ALL MUSIC! I miss him and his dog.”
Out April 20 via Light in the Attic, The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed was produced by Bill Bentley, who had a close working relationship with Reed for over 25 years. “There are many moments when Lou Reed’s soul still rushes through me like a warm wind on a motionless day,” Bentley wrote. “It might be a certain chord I hear, a word spoken with his distinct New York accent, or even just a glancing memory of the way he smiled when he was happy followed by a restrained cackle which assured all was right in Reed’s world… His spirit is there, undiminished with a worldly peaceful wisdom he had never quit seeking.”
The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed Cover Artwork:
The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed Tracklist:
1. Keith Richards – I’m Waiting For The Man
2. Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen – I Can’t Stand It
3. Rufus Wainwright – Perfect Day
4. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – I’m So Free
5. Bobby Rush – Sally Can’t Dance
6. Rickie Lee Jones – Walk on the Wild Side
7. The Afghan Whigs – I Love You, Suzanne
8. Mary Gauthier – Coney Island Baby
9. Lucinda Williams – Legendary Hearts
10. Automatic – New Sensations
11. Rosanne Cash – Magician
12. Brogan Bentley – The Power Of The Heart
Empress Of has shared a new single, ‘Preciosa’, taken from her upcoming album For Your Consideration. It follows previous offerings ‘Kiss Me’ (featuring Rina Sawayama), ‘What’s Love’ (featuring MUNA), and ‘Femenine’. Give it a listen below.
For Your Consideration is due for release on March 22 via Giant Music. It follows 2020’s I’m Your Empress Of as well as 2022’s Save Me EP.
As Nietzsche once said: “Without music, life would be a mistake”. Though we’re not sure of the implications this has for the hearing impaired – the spirit of the message – that art gives lives meaning persists. Music reaches us in every part of our lives, and the entertainment industry is no different. It isn’t something many of us think about, but the forms of music used in the myriad forms of this landscape vary greatly. Here, we explore these forms and the reasoning behind the modifications they employ.
The Base Form
The purest form of music is that in its original and recorded states. These are performances where the artist’s vision can be captured and delivered without compromise. From going to live performances to putting on a vinyl, playing an MP3, or streaming on Spotify, society regards this form of interaction with music as the most direct and the freest from interference.
Music in Movies and TV
When moving into a visual medium, music is taken from the forefront and placed in the backseat. Rather than being the entire driving force, the music in movies and TV serves to augment what happens on screen. Here, it captures elements like the character’s mood or the emotion of the setting.
In movies and TV, traditional recorded music is usually heavily modified when it appears on screen. Often, we’ll hear the chorus or the most evocative part of a song before it fades out.
There are also elements like leitmotifs or smaller created tracks which apply an original feel to the on-screen action. Similar approaches are found in original orchestral or band tracks, which can tie closer to the film’s theme and message than already existing music borrowed from an exterior source.
Music in Other Sectors
Music in iGaming can find itself in an interesting place highly dependent on the type of game. Slot games online offer a range of examples here, both in original and licensed music. Original slot titles like Tiki Fruits and Wolf Gold use shorter original tracks to help players remain engaged in their themes. On the other hand, there are titles like The Goonies and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which adapt tracks from their namesakes to build a stronger connection to the original property.
Similarly, Youtube and other social media videos may rely on short or repetitive instrumentals. This is perfect for longer forms like YouTube videos and slot games, where a person might be consuming the media for long periods of time. Also, the lack of lyrics may help users be able to focus on the content and not get distracted. Depending on the platform, this can be a piece of public domain music or something more original and paid for by the creators.
One of the strengths of music lies in its flexibility, and it’s this flexibility that makes it useful in other forms of media. Whether looking at movies, TV, or games, there’s a lot of room for exploration and experimentation. Flexibility gives artists room to explore and profit, it gives us more of what we love, and perhaps just as importantly, it helps us justify the price tag of our EarPods.
Mannequin Pussy are back with their new album, I Got Heaven, out now via Epitaph. The follow-up to 2019’s Patience and 2021’s Perfect EP was produced by John Congleton and features the advance tracks ‘Nothing Like’, ‘I Don’t Know You’, ‘Sometimes’, and the title track. “There’s just so much constantly going on that feels intentionally evil that trying to make something beautiful feels like a radical act,” Marisa Dabice said in a statement. “The ethos of this band has always been to bring people together.” She added, “We’re supposed to be living in the freest era ever so what it means to be a young person in this society is the freedom to challenge these systems that have been put on to us. It makes sense to ask, what ultimately am I living for? What is it that makes me want to live?” Read our inspirations interview with Mannequin Pussy.
Yard Act have released their sophomore album, Where’s My Utopia?, via Island. Gorillaz’s Remi Kabaka Jr. co-produced the follow-up to 2022’s The Overload, which was preceded by the singles ‘When the Laughter Stops’, ‘Dream Job’, ‘Petroleum’, and ‘We Make Hits’. “In 200 years time, no-one will know what Yard Act is and what Where’s My Utopia? was, but I read in Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being that making things is a service to the universe, to explore and give and just put it out there,” frontman James Smith reflected. “You can commit to the idea that we’re just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and that’s fine. But for whatever reason, we’ve obviously tapped into this emotional web that exists above it all. And for me creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.”
Faye Webster has come out with a new LP, Underdressed at the Symphony, out now via Secretly Canadian. The follow-up to 2021’s I Know I’m Funny Haha includes the previously shared songs ‘But Not Kiss’, ‘Lifetime’, ‘Feeling Good Today’, and the Lil Yachty collaboration ‘Lego Ring’. The title of the album was inspired by Webster attending a performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, buying a ticket at the last possible second. “Going to the symphony was almost like therapy for me,” she explained. “I was quite literally underdressed at the symphony because I would just decide at the last moment that that’s what I wanted to do. I got to leave what I felt like was kind of a shitty time in my life and be in this different world for a minute. I liked that I didn’t feel like I belonged.”
Pissed Jeans have returned with Half Divorced, their first album since 2017’s Why Love Now, out now via Sub Pop. Ahead of its release, the Philadelphia punks previewed the LP with the singles ‘Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt’, ‘Moving On’, and ‘Cling to a Poisoned Dream’. “Half Divorced has an aggression within it, in terms of saying, I don’t want this reality,” frontman Matt Korvette explained in a statement. “There’s a power in being able to say, I realize you want me to pay attention to these things, but I’m telling you that they don’t matter. I’m already looking elsewhere.” He added, “We’re not the kind of band that bangs out a new record every two years. Pissed Jeans is truly like an art project for us, which is what makes it so fun.”
Liam Gallagher & John Squire,Liam Gallagher & John Squire
Liam Gallagher and John Squire have joined forces for a collaborative self-titled album. Featuring the early singles ‘Just Another Rainbow’ and ‘Mars to Liverpool’, the LP was produced by Greg Kurstin, who also played bass on it. “I can’t wait for people to hear the album. I think the people that are into The Stone Roses and Oasis and that kinda thing, I think they’ll fucking love it,” Gallagher said in a press statement. “It’s spiritual, it’s crucial.” Squire added: “I like the way that in some parts, it’s quite melancholic and it can make you well up, but there are other parts that are kind of irreverent, rude or crude. There’s a little bit of everything in there, I think it’s a really good mix. I had a hunch that we’d sound good together, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be such a good fit.”
Sheer Mag have dropped their third album and first for Third Man Records, Playing Favorites. The follow-up to 2019’s A Distant Call was preceded by the singles ‘All Lined Up’, ‘Moonstruck’, and the title track. Introducing the LP, vocalist Tina Halladay said in a statement: “Those first few records felt like a personal coming out party; they felt like they were an introduction to me and my life story. With these new songs, I feel like I’m finally able to move past that—there are parts on this record that I couldn’t imagine being able to sing ten, five, or even three years ago.”
Schoolboy Q has dropped his latest project, Blue Lips. The 18-track album, which follows 2019’s Crash Talk, features guest spots from Rico Nasty, Devin Malik, Lance Skiiiwalker, AzChike, Freddie Gibbs, Ab-Soul, Jozzy, and Childish Major. A trailer for the record highlighted several dictionary definitions of the album title: “speechless, especially as the temporary result of shock or some strong emotion,” “(of a person or mood) shocked, speechless, or embarrassed,” “a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something,” and “become fully aware of (something) as a fact; understand clearly.”
Coco – the project of Maia Friedman (Dirty Projectors), Oliver Hill (Pavo Pavo), and Dan Molad (Lucius) – have released 2, the follow-up to their 2021 self-titled debut. They previewed the LP with the singles ‘Mythological Man’, ‘Do This Right’, and ‘Moodrings’. “When we started, we were all either single or in old relationships, living in different places, with different haircuts, priorities and perspectives,” the band shared in a statement. “Though it’s only been a few years, the band has seen us through fundamental transformations in each of our lives, which we are fortunate enough to process together.”
Another Sky have unveiled their new album, Beach Day, via Republic/Fiction. It features the previously unveiled singles ‘Psychopath’, ‘A Feeling’, ‘Burn the Way’, and ‘Uh Oh!’. “We thought we’d finished our second record back in 2019 when we released I Slept on the Floor. But time is a complicated beast,” vocalist Catrin Vincent said in a statement. “And in the depths of lockdown, a completely new vision arose, one that we all knew we needed to follow instead. That vision was Beach Day. It’s a story about moving through personal winters and finding the light. It’s about acknowledging your whole self; your shadow side, your anger, your sadness… and learning to love those parts of yourself in order to move through it. We hope you can hear the beginnings of transformation in it.”
Other albums out today:
Jahari Massamba Unit, YHWH Is LOVE; Bruce Hornsby & yMusic, Deep Sea Vents; Everything Everything, Mountainhead; Kaiser Chiefs, Easy Eighth Album; Bruce Dickinson, The Mandrake Project; Squarepusher, Dostrotime; Ben Frost, Scope Neglect; Beans, Boots N Cats; Sheherazaad, Qasr; Jacob Collier, Djesse Vol. 4; Tyla, Tyla; Gulfer, Third Wind; STRFKR, Parallel Realms; Late Bloomer, Another One Again; Teens in Trouble, What’s Mine; Savak, Flavors of Paradise; Ministry, Hopiumforthemasses; Brittany Davis, Image Issues; New Years Day, Half Black Heart; Daniel Romano’s Outfit, Too Hot to Sleep; Amaro Freitas, Y’Y; Big Big Train, The Likes of Us; Nils Frahm, Day; Staś Czekalski, Przygody.
Years & Years’ Olly Alexander has put out his debut solo single, ‘Dizzy’. Co-written and produced by Danny L Harle, the song will also be representing the UK at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. Check it out below.
“We started off with the word ‘Dizzy’ because it just popped into my head and I liked it,” Olly Alexander said in a statement. “I was thinking about fun things that could make you dizzy and I remember saying ‘dizzy from your kisses’ so we built the song around that.”
“Danny and I believe music should transport you somewhere magical and we wanted to describe this magical place in the song; a place of beautiful gardens, eternal flowers and time turning endlessly in an ecstatic loop,” he continued. “We took the feeling of Dizziness and put that into the production, so there’s a lot of undulating arpeggios, lilting harmonies, and counter rhythms in the backing vocals. The song is about feeling such an intense swell of emotion for someone they totally turn your world upside down and inside out, we were inspired by a lot of music we love from the 80’s like Stock Aitken and Waterman, Erasure, Adamski and of course Pet Shop Boys.”
White Reaper have shared a cover of the Sound’s ‘I Can’t Escape Myself’, the opening track on the English band’s 1980 debut album Jeopardy. Listen to it below.
“We wanted to put something out and we didn’t have an album yet so we covered a song that we love,” guitarist Tony Esposito said in a statement (via Stereogum). “We’ve done this before and we’ll probably do it again. The Sound is a really great band and you should check them out if you’re unfamiliar.”
“The sounds we made sound so much like The Sound, you’re gonna have trouble differentiating our sounds from The Sound’s sounds,” guitarist Hunter Thompson added.
twenty one pilots have announced their seventh album, Clancy, which comes out on May 17 via Fueled By Ramen. The Columbus duo’s follow-up to 2021’s Scaled and Icy continues the multi-album narrative that started with 2015’s Blurryface and continued with 2018’s Trench. It’s led by the single ‘Overcompensate’, which you can check out below, along with the album cover and tracklist.
Clancy Cover Artwork:
Clancy Tracklist:
1. Overcompensate
2. Next Semester
3. Midwest Indigo
4. Routines In The Night
5. Backslide
6. Vignette
7. The Craving (Jenna’s Version)
8. Lavish
9. Navigating
10. Snap Back
11. Oldies Station
12. At the Risk Of Feeling Dumb
13. Paladin Strait
Cardi B has dropped a new song, ‘Like What (Freestyle)’, which samples Missy Elliott’s 1999 Da Real World single ‘She’s a Bitch’. It arrives with a music video directed by Offset. Check it out below.
‘Like What (Freestyle)’ marks Cardi B’s first new music since she collaborated with Megan Thee Stallion for ‘Bongos’ in September. Last year, she also joined Latto on ‘Put It On Da Floor Again’, FendiDa Rappa on ‘Point Me 2’, and Offset on ‘Jealousy’.
Miley Cyrus has shared a new song, ‘Doctor (Work It Out)’, which was produced by Pharrell. The single arrives with a Jacob Bixenman–directed video, which you can check out below.
In an interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, the artists revealed that ‘Doctor (Work It Out)’ dates all the way back to 2012. “We just knew it was early,” Williams said. “You just never know. And there’s a moment where you feel like you feel the stickiness in something, but you may feel that the environment is not ready for it.”
The track arrives a month after Cyrus won her first Grammy Awards, snagging Best Pop Solo Performance and Record of the Year for ‘Flowers’, the lead single from last year’s Endless Summer Vacation. “We just believe so much in timing and in everything happening when it’s supposed to,” Cyrus added. “And around the Grammys, Pharrell and I were talking about putting the song out, and it just felt like it was so serendipitous, and there were so many alignments and so many moments that made me know that now was the perfect time. And then sometimes things in our past make more sense in our present than they ever did then. And so this song, I think the nature, the celebration, the feeling, especially with the video, the joy, the dancing, the letting go, it’s what this song really always needed.”
Spoiler alert – online slots are the most popular casino games in New Jersey online casinos. The Garden State is home to online slots in land-based and online casinos. It became the second state after Delaware in the US to legalize online gambling in 2013.
Soon after what became known as ‘Black Friday’ in the US, when the Feds shut down almost all online gambling sites, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (NJCCC), established in 1977, decided to allow online gambling sites to operate within its state borders. Along with Delaware, the New Jersey online gambling scene set a precedent for other states in the country to open online casinos, sports, and/or poker sites.
From here, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) took on the responsibility of approving online casinos using special rules that placed online casino game servers inside land-based gambling establishments.
As if this wasn’t enough to reassure internet casino players they are in good hands, New Jersey also has The Technical Services Bureau (TSB). This service tests all state land-based and online casino games to ensure the casinos deliver fair results. What more could you ask for when it comes to gaming integrity?
New Jersey citizens have a competitive selection of transparent and trustworthy online casinos at their fingertips.
One point we particularly like about the New Jersey gambling industry is that any public member can access its Monthly Gross Revenue Reports via the NJ government website. We can use these reports to analyze which games are the most popularly played in casinos in the state.
How to judge the most popular online casino game in New Jersey
The reports on the New Jersey government website go back to 2016. Each year has 12 monthly reports from January to December. However, for this research, we want to look at recent trends. This tells us what’s trending in the here and now.
Online Slots Rank Top
The majority of online casinos across the globe will likely lead to the same conclusion. Online slots are the most played games.
In New Jersey, the January 2024 stats are out, and online slots show that slot machine wins for the month were at $ 36,308,288. Compared to Table and Other Games and Poker Win, which came in at $ 21,334,793, slots paid out $ 14,973,495 above. Now, how can we claim that slots are more popular than table games just by looking at the winnings?
Admittedly, it is a loose connection at best. We need to also look at the Drop/Handle figures. This is money spent on a game or used to deposit to an online casino to play a certain game, like slots or table games. In land-based casinos, it is the number of chips swapped. The Drop/Handle for slot games in January 2024 was $ 88,406,021 compared to $ 22,208,607 for Table and Other Games.
Looking at these stats, the difference in wins between slots and table games is 70.18% in favor of slots games. As for the Drop/Handle, the percentages overwhelming weigh in favor of slots by 268.07% more than table games. Hence, it is reasonable to say that slots are the most popular games in New Jersey.
If you were wondering about multi-player poker, the figures are so low that they don’t come into the conversation.
Table Game RTPs Vs. Slot RTPs
Another reason we can say slots are more popular than table games in New Jersey is the RTPs. RTP is the theoretical return to player or the percentage amount you can expect to win back over time. You can look at this as the opposite of the house edge. The house edge shows the percentage the casino can expect to profit from a game.
Online slots generally come in at 96% on average. However, table games like Blackjack are as high as 99.5%. One of the highest-paying blackjack games is hosted in the Evolution live casino provider’s live dealer studio. New Jersey online casinos like BetMGM and DraftKings use this software provider to give players live streams of a physical blackjack table and a real-life dealer that delivers real-time results. The Blackjack A B C D games have a house edge of only 0.41%. That’s an RTP of 99.59%.
Most Baccarat games come with a house edge of 2.29% to 1.01% and an RTP of 98.71% to 98.99%. As for Roulette, it depends on whether you play American or European/French Roulette. American Roulette’s house edge is 5.26%, while European/French roulette games have a 2.7% house edge. That’s a 94.74% RTP versus a 97.3% RTP.
It might seem strange that many players prefer online slots, considering the RTPs are lower than most table games. How can the majority of gamblers justify playing online slots when table games offer better percentages?
The most likely reason is that slots are more appealing to the masses. There are hundreds of themes to choose from. Plus, each game comes with different bonus features and reel mechanics. Although the principle of every slot is similar, the sheer variety of entertainment they offer is more entertaining to New Jerseyite when compared to table games.
Mannequin Pussy are back with their new album, 
Faye Webster
Pissed Jeans
Liam Gallagher and John Squire have joined forces for a collaborative self-titled album. Featuring the early singles 
Sheer Mag
Schoolboy Q has dropped his latest project, Blue Lips. The 18-track album, which follows 2019’s Crash Talk, features guest spots from Rico Nasty, Devin Malik, Lance Skiiiwalker, AzChike, Freddie Gibbs, Ab-Soul, Jozzy, and Childish Major. A trailer for the record highlighted several dictionary definitions of the album title: “speechless, especially as the temporary result of shock or some strong emotion,” “(of a person or mood) shocked, speechless, or embarrassed,” “a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something,” and “become fully aware of (something) as a fact; understand clearly.”
Coco – the project of 
Another Sky have unveiled their new album, 
