Rina Sawayama appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (May 19) to perform her new single ‘This Hell’, which arrived earlier this week. Watch it below.
‘This Hell’ is the lead single off Sawayama’s forthcoming album Hold the Girl. The follow-up to her debut SAWAYAMA is set for release on September 2.
If Every Bad was proof of anything, it’s that nobody summons catharsis like Porridge Radio. Most bands treat it like a final destination, the all-consuming feeling a collection of music has to arrive at if it’s to serve any kind of grand purpose. But for the Bright-based four-piece, led by Dana Margolin, it’s more like a ceaseless wave, by turns perplexing and purifying as it spins out into something no less unpredictable than the chaos it’s supposed to upend. With their sophomore album, which arrived just days after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, Porridge Radio seemed to have mastered their dynamic capabilities after years of putting out understated, introspective indie rock. Two years later, having reached what’s surely the purest form of collective release with the climactic mantra of 2020’s ‘Lilac’, you might expect them to have shifted their focus entirely. Either its torrent of hope was enough to sweep away all the uncertainty, or the time had come to consider a different path altogether.
Judging from the feverish emotions that Margolin obsesses over on Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky, that’s not what ended up happening. Instead, the band seems more acutely aware of their unique ability to turn a crescendo into not just a source of uplift but its own disorienting journey. Rather than wallowing in self-pity and despair, they do what they do best – try turning it into a mantra – and, without any expectation that this effort will bear its fruit, lean into it with more intention than before. You get why stadium acts like Coldplay and pop stars like Charli XCX were influences during the making of the album – sonically as well as spiritually, it reaches for the same kind of ambition, but emotionally it keeps spiraling inward, not letting itself be elevated by anything other than what’s truly at the core. “I want one feeling all the time/I don’t want to feel a thing,” Margolin howls on ‘Birthday Party’, encapsulating the band’s ethos.
This contrast leads to an album that’s every bit as captivating and even more fully-realized than Every Bad. You’ll still hear the word “bad” all over it as Margolin interrogates her self-image, but you also have a lead single and opening track defiantly titled ‘Back to the Radio’ and a transcendent moment in ‘U Can Be Happy If U Want To’ that revolves around the word “back,” one of many instances where repetition both intensifies and strips a lyric of its original meaning. Of course, it’s only a few tracks earlier that Margolin sings “I don’t wanna be loved” approximately a hundred times, so the ideal of happiness looks pretty unattainable. “I don’t believe in anything,” she declares, the sentiment echoed by her bandmates as they join along – and the transformative power of a rousing anthem is clearly no exception. “Do you remember when we all fell apart?/ At the end of last year,” she asks at the start of ‘End of Last Year’, a self-described “love song for my bandmates and for myself,” before admitting, “I always break my own heart.” This penchant for destruction only becomes more pronounced as the song swells towards its conclusion: “Do you know/ You break everything you touch?”
But for all its unwavering tension, the nature of Porridge Radio’s songwriting remains triumphantly open-ended, and the album sees the band embracing this quality with a sense of curiosity and purpose. It’s perhaps why they sound more at ease tackling quieter songs like ‘Flowers’ and the title track, which are as vulnerable but more well-defined and evocative than their earlier work, less reliant on anticipating the next massive sing-along. For Margolin, the first two components of the album’s title represent joy (Waterslide) and fear (Diving Board), and Porridge Radio are as comfortable resting as they are pushing against that in-between space, whether it’s rife with conflict or defined by nothingness. The ladder is the most important metaphor, encompassing the lens through which Margolin processes the most universal and ordinary and uncontainable feelings: endlessness. Can we experience catharsis without fully being released from fear and pain? To answer the question, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky suggests, would be to break the spell. You can take a shot and see what happens, though – after all, what’s broken can only stay that way for so long.
Vangelis, the Oscar-winning composer best known for scoring Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire, and many other films, has died. According to the Associated Press, the musician died in a hospital in France. Vangelis was 79 years old.
Born Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou in the Greek coastal town of Agria, Vangelis grew up in Athens and showed an interest in music as early as age 4. In 1963, he formed a band called Forminx, and became a writer and producer for hire when the group split in 1966. After moving to Paris, he found success in the prog-rock outfit Aphrodite’s Child, which he founded with other Greek expats and sold over 2 million copies before disbanding in 1972. Having turned down an invitation to replace Rick Wakeman as the keyboard player in Yes, Vangelis continued composing for films and began releasing solo albums. He moved to London and signed a deal with RCA Records, and his 1976 LP Albedo 0.39 was used to soundtrack Carl Sagan’s popular TV series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. He later teamed up with Yes singer Jon Anderson, with whom he released several records under the name Jon and Vangelis.
Vangelis’ work for Chariots of Fire earned him an Oscar for Best Original Score. The soundtrack album also topped the Billboard 200 albums chart in April 1982, while the theme has often featured at the Olympic Games. Vangelis then worked on the score for Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner, which is celebrated as one of the most influential albums in the history of electronic music. Vangelis’ final studio album, Juno to Jupiter, came out in September 2021 via Decca.
Eulogizing the composer on Twitter, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece’s prime minister, wrote: “Vangelis Papathanassíou is no longer with us. For the whole world, the sad news suggests that the world of music has lost the international Vangelis. The pioneer of electronic sound, the Oscars, the Myth and the great hits. For us Greeks, however, knowing that his second name was Odysseus, means that he began his long journey in the Chariots of Fire. From there he will always send us his notes.”
“Vangelis Papathanassíou was a great Greek composer who excelled at a global level,” Nikos Dendias, the foreign minister of Greece, tweeted. “We say goodbye with a big ‘thank you’ for what he offered to Music, Culture and Greece.”
The list of footballers with contracts expiring this summer is a list of some of the biggest names in the sport. It’s normal for one or two stars to run down their contracts every year, but 2022 looks to be a bumper year for free transfers.
Kylian Mbappé, Paul Pogba, Paulo Dybala, Franck Kessié, Antonio Rüdiger, and Ousmane Dembèlè are just some of the big names looking for a new club ahead of next season. A number of talented young players will be available for free come the end of the season, and smart teams around Europe will be eyeing the likes of Boubacar Kamara, Noussair Mazraoui and André Onana.
Of course, free transfers aren’t really free. The money that doesn’t get spent on transfer fees tends to end up being spent on bonuses and agent fees instead, with a player’s wage usually inflated when they join on a free transfer. Bearing this in mind, it’s easy to see why players run down their contracts. They get to wait for teams to pitch to them, rather than accepting whichever move their club decides to sanction.
However, that doesn’t explain why this summer sees a veritable smorgasbord of free agents. Some, like Pogba, are just players whose time at their club has reached a natural end. Others, like Mbappé, have enough star power that they have the freedom to take their time, knowing that every club in Europe will come knocking as his contract expires. Wherever the Paris Saint-Germain forward ends up, it’ll shorten the odds of success for his side on sites like Betdaq.
However, for most, the expiration of their contract is simply a knock-on effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. Club finances were hit hard, with a fall in matchday income particularly painful as games took place behind closed doors across the world.
This meant that clubs went into transfer windows with smaller budgets and less spending power. Clubs would have reasonably expected to offload squad players, like Mohamed Elneny at Arsenal, or Divock Origi at Liverpool, for a decent fee.
However, the lack of spending in the market meant that it was no longer viable for teams to accept bids for these players. The fees that they would have received wouldn’t have been enough to cover the cost of losing the player from the squad, and bringing in a replacement.
The same is true for young talents. Before the pandemic, Marseille would have looked to cash in on the talent of Kamara, and Ajax would have looked to do the same with Mazraoui. However, the bids just haven’t come in at a level that would justify the clubs selling the players and looking to replace them.
As such, clubs have largely been happy to hold off on less urgent aspects of their recruitment until a point where there’s more money in the transfer market. This has been the best outcome for all parties, with players happy to run down their contracts. 2022 is a bumper year for these free transfers.
Most contracts at the top level of football are signed for three or four years, and so a large batch of contracts signed before the pandemic will be expiring this summer. Although football has largely returned to normal, the longer term effects of the pandemic continue to be felt.
It’s likely that 2023 will also see a notable number of free agents, although not to the same extent as this year. With the transfer market returning to normal, squad players are likely to move on this summer, and teams may once again be able to cash in on big talents. As such, 2022 will be the year of the free agent, before normal service resumes.
For most of the 20th century, action heroes absolutely dominated the silver screen. Every weekend, there would be a new type of hero to amaze and delight audiences. Sadly, as the years progressed, there has been a slight dip in the popularity of action heroes with audiences feeling fatigued over the same old formula repeated with different actors.
Despite this dip, it seems that there is a slight resurgence coming with highly anticipated big blockbuster films coming out within the next couple of months such as Top Gun Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion and Shazam: Fury of the Gods. All of these stand out for featuring familiar and memorable action heroes leading to the question of whether action heroes are due a comeback in cinema.
The question will finally be answered in this deep dive into action heroes throughout cinema’s short history, as well as looking towards the future of action movies.
From the early inception of cinema until the late 1960s, the Wild West was the biggest genre that almost always guaranteed a box office hit. Naturally, audiences loved the thrills of the Wild West showcasing the battles between good and evil, but the biggest factor that drew them in was the familiar action hero.
Characters such as Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name and John Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn (or any of the similar gruff cowboys he played) were arguably some of the first action heroes and continued to remain iconic decades later. These earlier action heroes kickstarted the filmmaking trend of creating memorable characters and heroes with longevity that are fondly remembered even now.
Unfortunately, it seems that the Wild West hero in cinema declined in popularity by the end of the 1970s, but this could soon change as there looks to be a Wild West revival coming within the next few years. One thing that is clear is early cinema’s Wild West action heroes clearly set the groundwork for the Golden Age of action heroes.
Inspired by the Wild West heroes of the previous decades, the 1980s elevated the scope of the action films being produced and was clearly the Golden Age of Hollywood action heroes. John Rambo, Axel Foley, John McClane and Indiana Jones were just some of the few iconic action characters that came out in the blockbuster films from the 1980s.
There’s no denying that this was the peak of action heroes in cinema as there were dozens coming out each month through movies and each with their own unique charms. These heroes even inspired different aspects of popular culture decades later as Indiana Jones influenced video games such as Uncharted and even iGaming with Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead.
This reign of popular action heroes continued throughout the 1990s but many started to see a decline towards the end of the decade. Despite this, there were still some stand-out characters with Ethan Hunt and James Bond but there was a clear shift in what the audience wanted. Evidentially, what audiences wanted was not the box-standard action hero that films were churning out as they wanted something more refreshing.
At the turn of the century, people’s attitudes were changing and longing for something different. The typical action hero was no longer relatable as audiences did not want some cookie-cutter, flawless hero. This led to grittier and darker action films throughout the 2000s awakening a new type of action star.
The typical action star throughout the 2000s was often someone conflicted and forced to commit some horrendous acts – but was justified in doing so, essentially leading to action heroes such as The Bride from Kill Bill, Alice from Resident Evil and Selene from Underworld.
It’s debatable if these heroes are neutrally good but they each provide something different to audiences that feels more balanced and varied. The Bride from Kill Bill goes on a rampage in the name of revenge but the film shows the suffering and turmoil that the character goes through giving the audience a reason to sympathise with her.
One thing that is clear is the fact that these movies have had to change along with the developing attitudes at the time. An action hero from the 1960s would struggle to resonate with new audiences in today’s society and it’s only through fond memories that these heroes continue to be iconic. The typical action hero from the 1960s has had to evolve and adapt to fit in with modern audiences.
In spite of this fact, there are some traditional action films such as The Expendables and Escape Plan which contain many familiar action stars from the golden era of action heroes. Whilst these films are not pioneering, they resonate with audiences as they have both been box office successes.
It’s a fair conclusion that action heroes never really went away but just had to be reshaped like most topics throughout history. Despite this, there are still a small number of traditional action heroes cropping up in recent films but these pale in comparison to the newly adapted heroes.
Ultimately, there does not need to be a comeback in cinema, as action heroes have just been redesigned to fit in with contemporary audiences. There are many different types of action heroes in modern cinema but at the end of the day, they all serve the same purpose of making a film memorable for audiences
Gang of Youths stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night (May 18) to deliver a performance of ‘Forbearance’. Watch it below.
‘forbearance’ is taken from Gang of Youths’ latest album, angel in realtime.. The Australian band is currently on a North America in support of the LP. They previously played tracks from the album on Colbert and Fallon.
La Luz have today released a new single called ‘Endless Afternoon’. According to the band’s Shana Cleveland, the song is a “California lullaby. The melody for this song came to me while I was hiking in the hills above the Yuba River. About the sweetness found in slow days close to home.” Check it out below.
‘Endless Afternoon’ is the A-side of a physical 7” that will include the track ‘San Fernando Shadow Blues’, which arrives digitally on June 14 via Hardly Art. The 7″ will be released on July 7. La Luz’s self-titled record came out last year.
Spielbergs have announced their new album Vestli, which will be out on August 19 via Big Scary Monsters. To accompany the announcement, the Norwegian band has shared two new songs, ‘Get Lost’ and ‘When They Come For Me’. Take a listen below.
Commenting on ‘When They Come For Me’, guitarist Mads Baklien said in a statement: “Sometimes I feel like I am right on the verge of going crazy. It’s like I don’t recognise myself in what I say and do. And sometimes I feel like one day, inevitably everything will come crashing down.”
Of the album, he added:
The songs on Vestli are all more or less about a feeling that there is no way to go. No escape. You are dealing with issues in your mind, regrets, shame, fear, should haves and could haves. No way out. Maybe you don’t like who you are or who you have become. You are stuck with being you. You are dealing with a lot of pressure and noise in your everyday life, and all you want to do sometimes is just to leave everything behind and find a quiet place somewhere to start a new life. But you can’t. You have commitments and responsibilities. You’re going nowhere. And now on top of everything, the entire world seems like an out-of-control aeroplane with a bunch of f***ing nuts behind the wheel. And there is no way out. You carry the place you grew up inside you your whole life, for good or bad. Vestli is the name of the suburban borough in the north-eastern part of Oslo where both Stian and I grew up. You can leave Vestli but Vestli never leaves you.
Vestli Cover Artwork:
Vestli Tracklist:
1. The New Year’s Resolution
2. When They Come For Me
3. Every Living Creature
4. Go!
5. Kano GM
6. There Is No Way Out
7. Goodbye
8. Me and My Friends
9. Brother of Mine
10. Get Lost
11. George McFly
12. You Can Be Yourself With Me
New Orleans no-wave punks Special Interest have returned with a new single, ‘(Herman’s) House’, their first for Rough Trade Records. It comes with a video directed by Special Interest and Juicebox Burton alongside vocalist Alli Logout. Watch and listen below.
‘(Herman’s) House’ is inspired by the story of Herman Wallace, one of three Black revolutionaries who were held for more than four decades in solitary confinement while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary. “Despite the sadistic torture they endured, they continued their fight towards Black liberation behind the prison walls,” Logout and Maria Elena said in a statement. “This song bears witness to our wonder and desire to dismantle the oppressive systems that hinder our possibilities towards true liberation, to annihilate, to destroy and to rebuild with one another. It’s a battle cry for dreamers who persist in spite of and because. This song moves us and it grooves us towards this end, may we go forward but not by ourselves.”
A limited edition 7” will be available on July 15, inspired by the original 1970s Rough Trade designs and sold for the original Rough Trade 7” price point of 85p. The B-side features a cover of Amanda Lear’s ‘Follow Me’.
Jemima Coulter has shared a new song, ‘Dancing With Lara’, which is lifted from their forthcoming debut album Grace After a Party. It follows lead single ‘SST’, and you can hear it below.
“‘Dancing With Lara’ is a painting of wandering around the streets of Marseille and simultaneously thinking about people far away,” Coulter explained in a statement. “It finds me reminiscing about the feeling of freedom that existed, a feeling that I dreamt about a lot, moving around with no plan only to be part. That feeling and longing for a kind of existence like that, which I don’t think can be real, seems to be one of the only things that really lingers in my brain.”
Grace After a Party comes out July 29 via Hand In Hive.
Quick Access
Our Culture
Helpful
© 2025 Our Culture Mag Limited. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 2/1/2025) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 2/1/2025). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Our Culture Mag Limited.
