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Are hybrid & electric cars becoming a fashion statement?

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Are hybrid & electric cars becoming a fashion statement?

Hybrid and electric cars have been around for some time now, but they’ve recently gained traction as more people start to realise the importance of sustainable transportation. However, it’s not just the environmental benefits of hybrid and electric cars that have caught people’s attention. The rising popularity of these cars has led some to ask: are hybrid and electric cars becoming a fashion statement? In this article, we’ll explore this trend and look at how cars like the Honda HR-V are contributing to this shift in perception.

What is a Fashion Statement?

First, let’s define what we mean by a fashion statement. A fashion statement is an item or trend that is adopted by a group of people, not necessarily for its practical benefits, but rather as a way to signal a certain lifestyle or social status. Fashion statements can be anything from clothing to accessories, and they’re often associated with luxury and exclusivity.

In recent years, hybrid and electric cars have started to be seen as a fashion statement, with more and more people choosing these cars as a way to signal their commitment to sustainability and environmentalism.

Why Are Hybrid and Electric Cars Becoming a Fashion Statement?

There are several reasons why hybrid and electric cars are becoming a fashion statement. Here are a few:

Environmental Awareness: With growing awareness of the impact of climate change, more and more people are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Hybrid and electric cars offer a way to do this, and they’re seen as a statement of environmental awareness.

Status Symbol: Hybrid and electric cars are often associated with luxury and exclusivity, and owning one is seen as a status symbol. For some people, driving a hybrid or electric car is a way to show that they have the means to invest in sustainable transportation.

Innovation: Hybrid and electric cars are relatively new technologies, and they’re often associated with innovation and progress. Driving one of these cars can be seen as a way to signal that you’re on the cutting edge of technology.

The Honda HR-V and the Rise of Hybrid and Electric Cars

The Honda HR-V is one example of a hybrid car that’s contributing to the rise of sustainable transportation as a fashion statement. The HR-V is a crossover SUV that comes with a hybrid powertrain, which combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor to provide better fuel efficiency and lower emissions.

The HR-V’s sleek design and impressive fuel economy make it an attractive option for people looking to make a statement with their car. It’s also a practical choice for those who want a car that’s both stylish and environmentally friendly.

Other Examples of Hybrid and Electric Cars as Fashion Statements

The Honda HR-V is just one example of a hybrid or electric car that’s become a fashion statement. Here are a few more:

Tesla Model S: The Tesla Model S is one of the most iconic electric cars on the market. It’s often associated with luxury and exclusivity, and it’s become a status symbol for many.

BMW i8: The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car that’s known for its futuristic design and impressive performance. It’s often seen as a statement of innovation and progress.

Toyota Prius: The Toyota Prius was one of the first hybrid cars to become popular, and it’s still a favourite among environmentally conscious drivers. It’s become a symbol of environmental awareness and practicality.

Conclusion

Hybrid and electric cars are definitely becoming a fashion statement. They’re no longer just a practical choice for environmentally conscious drivers; they’re also a way to signal a commitment to sustainability and a statement of social status. With cars like the Honda HR-V leading the way, it’s clear that sustainable transportation is becoming a trend that’s here to stay.

Jenny Owen Youngs Releases New Song ‘dusk’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Jenny Owen Youngs Releases New Song ‘dusk’

Jenny Owen Youngs has unveiled the new track ‘dusk’ (featuring John Mark Nelson & Tancred), lifted from her upcoming ambient album from the forest floor. Listen to it below.

“Dusk is transitional, a liminal period that carries us over the threshold from light into darkness,” Youngs reflected in a statement. “This song began in collaboration with Jess Abbott, who makes alternative music by turns crunchy and delicate, under the name Tancred. We sat in our home studio lit by just candles and a low-watt Edison bulb, Jess with a guitalele and me with a baritone guitar. I love these two instruments in combination because they somehow, despite having so much in common (they’re both fretted, six-stringed instruments, both tuned with the same relative intervals between strings), together sound like two opposite ends of a spectrum, the baritone strange in its low rumbling, the guitalele nimble and light as it’s plucked. This is a song for the hour when the sun sinks below the treeline, a song for the incredible blue glow of a sky falling dark.”

from the forest floor will be released on May 5. Youngs previously shared the lead single ‘sunrise mtn’.

Tanlines Share Video for New Song ‘The Big Mess’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Tanlines Share Video for New Song ‘The Big Mess’

Tanlines have released ‘The Big Mess’, the title track from their forthcoming album. Following the previously shared singles ‘Outer Banks’ and ‘Burns Effect’, the song comes paired with a video directed by the band’s Eric Emm. Watch and listen below.

“‘The Big Mess’ begins with the line, ‘It’s been a long time…’ As the album opener, it’s a winky-sad nod to our long absence along with a statement of purpose, catching up like no time has passed at all,” Emm explained in a statement. “‘The Big Mess’ as an idea and album unifier represents not only the evolution of our lives and partnership but also stands for both our (Tanlines-branded) work and its core identity—a colorful and signature melange of influences and ideas. Thoughtful, fun, serious, and sad all at the same time. A big mess.”

“The video, too, shares these characteristics,” Emm continued. “Partly inspired by my 6-year-old who splatter painted our white kitchen while I snuck off to work on the album leaving him ‘painting at his easel for a few minutes,’ and expanding into an homage to the Fender Splattercaster I play in Tanlines (the video’s colors are based on the guitar). The video features us in full rock duo mode in our winky-sad take on an idea that *someone already did*—equal parts Jackson Pollock and Nickelodeon.”

The Big Mess arrives May 19 on Merge.

Hannah Jadagu Shares Video for New Song ‘Admit It’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Hannah Jadagu Shares Video for New Song ‘Admit It’

Hannah Jadagu has shared a new single, ‘Admit It’, alongside an accompanying video. It’s taken from her forthcoming debut LP Aperture, which has already been previewed with the tracks ‘Say It Now’, ‘What You Did’, and ‘Warning Sign’. Check out the song below.

“‘Admit It’ is centered around being there for someone you typically lean on,” Jadagu explained in a statement. “It’s about the value of a certain strength and support that can come from family. I wanted that same idea to come across in the production of the song, which is inspired by music I listened to during my childhood.”

Aperture is due out on May 19 via Sub Pop.

Alaska Reid Unveils New Single ‘She Wonders’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Alaska Reid Unveils New Single ‘She Wonders’

Alaska Reid has released ‘She Wonders’, the second offering from her forthcoming album  Disenchanter. Check it out below.

“Personalities of touring artists are like nesting dolls. People reveal different elements of themselves to fans, the touring group, the rest of the band, and so on,” Reid said of ‘She Wonders’ in a press release. “I grew up playing a shit-ton of dive bars, just me and my guitar. I wanted the song to reflect how psychologically exhausting it is, treating the chorus like an inner monologue cornered by how lonely and uncool live indie music can feel.”

Disenchanter, which was co-produced by A. G. Cook, is slated for release on July 14 via Luminelle. It was led by the single ‘Back to This’. Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Alaska Reid.

Album Review: Everything But the Girl, ‘Fuse’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Album Review: Everything But the Girl, ‘Fuse’

What does the dancefloor look and feel like on Fuse, Everything But the Girl’s first album in 24 years? The answer isn’t always clear. On opener and lead single ‘Nothing Left to Lose’, which buzzes with urgency more than any hint of nostalgia, it serves as a vast backdrop to the apocalypse and a vehicle for pathos: “Kiss me while the world decays/ Kiss me while the music plays.” On ‘No One Knows We’re Dancing’, it’s a sort of imagined space that threads the stories of different characters in the same hypnotic loop, as told from the perspective of a man shut out from the world. And what about the weary and desolate ‘Interior Space’, which finds Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn evoking an “alien place” inside one’s own mind? Could that be taking place inside the dancefloor, too, in the darkness surrounded by strangers?

Everything But the Girl make mesmerizing, carefully crafted songs that are easy to slip into and identify with, but the beauty is almost always what’s bristling beneath the surface, or what’s just out of view. You can trace Fuse’s emotional trajectory by simply skimming through the tracklist – the apparent defiance of early singles ‘Run a Red Light’ and ‘Caution to the Wind’ precedes the wistfulness of ‘When You Mess Up’ and ‘Lost’. But spend time with ‘Run a Red Light’ and you’ll find that the familiar need for escape (“Forget the losers, forget the morning, put a tune on, put your feet up”) underlies a deeper longing for something ineffable, but captured in the fractured melancholy of the piano-led instrumental. ‘Caution to the Wind’ ups the tempo, reaching for the celestial in light of Thorn’s imagery; but the more she sings of home, the more its steady, comforting groove feels like a cycle that keeps the hidden fire inside burning. “Let me in, let me in, let me in,” Thorn pleads, even though it sounds like she’s already there.

There’s barely any reminiscing here – as the writing flits between observational and introspective, it remains locked in the present, wary of veering into sentimentality but still awash with emotion. And even as they pick up more or less where they left off with 1999’s Temperamental, what’s more impressive is that the duo finds new ways of expressing it. Not only does the album begin with an admission of vulnerability – “I need a thicker skin/ This pain keeps getting in” – but Thorn allows it to seep into her vocals, an imperfect tremble left exposed as the music softens. To that effect, they also make the refreshing choice of manipulating her voice, which you can hear warped and eroded on songs like ‘When You Mess Up’ and ‘Interior Space’. Far from diminishing their impact, the experimentation creates a stronger alignment between Thorn’s presence and the woozy, haunting soundscapes it occupies.

Instead of signaling a triumphant comeback, the songs on Fuse favor a mindful, organic directness that can feel especially poignant. The messages aren’t simple, exactly, but nor are they too esoteric or obfuscated. “I hate people who give me advice,” Thorn sings self-consciously on ‘When You Mess Up’, after giving some of her best: “Have a drink, talk too loud/ Be a fool in the crowd/ But forgive yourself.” ‘Lost’ tackles grief by naming all the ways it displaces you, the day-to-day losses that echo down from the big one. The weight of it can hit you anywhere, anytime, so the song doesn’t give us those details. But on ‘Karaoke’, the final track, the setting is clearly laid out. The singer observes and then joins the crowd at a karaoke bar, just like one would on the dancefloor, losing herself in a moment before her voice rises back up. “Do you see me?/ I’m standing in the light/ Are we feeling something?” she wonders, not trapped but revitalized. For all that’s lost, it’s a sense of purpose they hold on to.

Mega Bog Shares Video for New Song ‘Cactus People’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Mega Bog Shares Video for New Song ‘Cactus People’

Mega Bog has shared a new single from her upcoming album End of Everything, which arrives May 19 on Mexican Summer. This one’s called ‘Cactus People’, and it follows the previously released tracks ‘The Clown’ and ‘Love Is’. Check out its accompanying video below.

“This song is a transparent call to practice addressing what lies at the feared feet of abandonment,” Erin Birgy explained in a statement. “All of a sudden I realized I was running away, with a black widow bite, collapsing on a trail several hours out of town, alone. Reacting to something inevitable, something I desired even, and taking notes of images arising while pitting emotionality against logic. At the time they felt like enemies, but somewhere in there was a seed wailing, ‘just watch yourself unfold.’”

Of the video, she added: “While making the video for ‘Cactus People,’ similar thrills and fears had me run to Greece, where I watched old patterns rear their noses once more, but with a brazen clarity – geographically, surrounded by new and inspiring friends, all with that ancient, echoing reminder of the stones we were born to bear, who we’ll have to embrace as company to find any peace throughout this life.”

Foo Fighters Announce New Album ‘But Here We Are’, Share New Song ‘Rescued’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Foo Fighters Announce New Album ‘But Here We Are’, Share New Song ‘Rescued’

Foo Fighters have announced But Here We Are, their first album since the death of Taylor Hawkins. Produced by longtime collaborator Greg Kurstin and the band, the follow-up to 2021’s Medicine at Midnight is out June 2 (via Roswell Records/Columbia Records), and its lead single, ‘Rescued’, is out today. Check it out below.

According to a press release, But Here We Are is “a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family” and “a brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters endured over the last year.” Hawkins passed away last year while on tour with the band in Bogotá, Colombia.

But Here We Are Cover Artwork:

But Here We Are Tracklist:

1. Rescued
2. Under You
3. Hearing Voices
4. But Here We Are
5. The Glass
6. Nothing At All
7. Show Me How
8. Beyond Me
9. The Teacher
10. Rest

Alabaster DePlume Shares New Single ‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Alabaster DePlume Shares New Single ‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’

Alabaster DePlume has released a new single, ‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’, via International Anthem. Featuring Rozi Plain on bass, Momoko Gill on drums, and Conrad Singh on guitar, the track marks the composer’s first new music since the release of GOLD last year. Check it out below.

“Even this very second, passing your eyes over these words, is a victory,” DePlume reflected in a statement about the song. “Breathing, you are victorious. Childishly standing with my flag and my anthem of ‘I’m alive’ I’m victorious. See inside, how you have your own permission, to be. Celebrated or not by others, in one moment, always, or never. You know you are here and you know this is a victory. We can always be more ourselves, and we can always be less so. But there is no ceremony we must wait for, no test, no judgement, before we can sing our victory anthem.”

‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’ will be available as a 7” flexi disc on May 19, with artwork from Raimund Wongand, and will be accompanied by a digital-only B-side called ‘Child Playing in the Forbidden Ruins’.

Watch the Walkmen Perform ‘The Rat’ on ‘Colbert’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Watch the Walkmen Perform ‘The Rat’ on ‘Colbert’

The Walkmen made their first public performance in 10 years on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night (April 18), where they played ‘The Rat’ from 2004’s Bows and Arrows. Check it out below.

“Ever since we started the Walkmen, we’ve done everything by the seat of our pants. We don’t ‘plan’ much,” the band wrote in a statement. “So during our Zoom ‘planning’ meeting, we decided the best way to play together for the very first time would be on national television without a single rehearsal. It will be the first time we all have played together in 10 years. I guess there will be a soundcheck but we don’t even know if this equipment works.”

The Walkmen’s 2023 reunion tour kicks off on April 24 at New York’s Webster Hall and includes dates in Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

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