Though each album marks a subtle self-reinvention, Sharon Van Etten’s body of work unites around an allegiance to sincerity. Her albums chronicle changing emotional states, with music performing the daunting task of excavating and broadcasting emotional truths. While her musical sensibilities have shifted dramatically across her six albums, this fundamental essence remains unchanged. The evolution of Van Etten’s sound extends from BecauseI Was in Love’s minimalist folk arrangements sung with heartbreaking immediacy to Remind Me Tomorrow’s turn to explosive and emotive rock anthems. On We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, Van Etten’s latest, she taps into contemporary woes, both individual and collective. We’ve Been Going… is distinctly a pandemic-era album, built from the almost universal spirit of early quarantine reflection. Through Van Etten’s songwriting, private and public spheres collide, exploring the human response to endings and conflicts. Over the course of ten songs, Van Etten narrates stories about interactions with feelings of inevitable doom (both large and small scale), uncovering flashes of hope amidst the rubble.
We’ve Been Going…’s songs navigate a variety of relationships, casting Van Etten in numerous roles: individual, partner, lover, mother, political body, etc. The tracklist assembles different conversations united by shared feelings of uncertainty. Van Etten’s songwriting is blunter than ever here, often taking the form of urgent pleas and unpretentious declarations. At times, her more lyrical writing runs into staid metaphors. She’s often unweaving a relationship between darkness and light: a cliché that benefits from Van Etten’s ultimate rejection of those very binaries. Ultimately, We’ve Been Going… proposes a spiritual ambivalence, avoiding absolutes and thriving in the mush of uncertainty.
The songs on We’ve Been Going… are always moving. ‘Darkness Fades’ begins as a stripped-back acoustic piece à la early Van Etten, then gradually builds layer-by-layer into an intricately-produced rock rouser. An abrupt transition at the halfway point of ‘Born’ propels the song into something thunderous and incendiary. The constant evolution imbues the songs with excitement, though it’s hardly unpredictable. Most songs here escalate and settle into eruptive climaxes, Van Etten belting over dense tracks of guitar and drums. She repeats simple phrases (“I couldn’t feel anything” on ‘Anything’ or “Baby don’t turn your back to me” on ‘Headspace’) with absolute ferocity. Many of these visceral rock moments are irresistible. ‘Mistakes’ is a high-energy earworm, built on simple songwriting and bouncy bass grooves (it’s the album’s equivalent of Remind Me Tomorrow’s ‘Hands’, and it even shares the same spot on the tracklist). Still, the album’s redundant structuring sometimes restricts the full impact of the songs’ cathartic resonance. This lends a rejuvenating effect to ‘Darkish’, a rare piece on the tracklist that lingers on a sustained moment of raw intimacy.
Even in a field of blaring drums and distorted guitars, Van Etten’s voice remains the centerpiece. As always, she’s a master of close harmony. Yet We’ve Been Going… also reveals a more aggressive potential to her vocals. She’s often roaring the choruses of her songs. It’s a major deviation from the old Van Etten, who’d fill her music with delicate griefs and longings. Her voice was beautiful and subdued, as if worn down by unspeakable pain. On We’ve Been Going…, she taps into a new confidence first exhibited on Remind Me Tomorrow. As Van Etten furthers her ascension into the figure of a rockstar, she’s still a first-rate chronicler of heartbreak, yet it’s a different form of heartbreak altogether. Obstacles no longer feel insurmountable. Hope glimmers in the potentials of human connection. In the end, We’ve Been Going… proposes songwriting as a tool to broach difficult dialogues in an era of alienation and foster connectivity when everything seems to be ending. It might sound heavy-handed on paper, but it’s entirely sincere from Van Etten’s lips.
WVKR is the radio station of Poughkeepsie’s Vassar College. College radio, unencumbered by the dreary homogenization that afflicts most of the radio dial, is a dependable, welcome resource for expansive, interesting music and talk. WVKR’s dedication to eclectic programming is passionate, achieved via a mixture of rotating student DJs and more long-running shows drawn from the greater, non-student community. The WVKR listener can avail oneself of—to name a scattered few–garage rock, polkas, reggae, Bollywood, lounge. Pipes ’n Pizzazz showcases organ music. Voices Beyond the Wall is a prison outreach show. It is an aural grab bag.
This eclecticism, according to WVKR’s general manager, Chloe Richards—a Vassar student who also hosts her own program of show tunes—is “very intentional. One of our principles to allow new shows onto WVKR is that they’re unique and uplift voices that aren’t normally heard on radio. We don’t play any top-40. Students come with some of the craziest suggestions of music that I’ve ever heard of in my life! But we love to have it.”
And the DJs are as varied as the station’s broad-ranging musical palate. “We have community members that have had shows for thirty years and can teach us so much. And then we have 18-year-olds who just got out of high school and are freshmen in college and they’re also having shows”—a student roster that undergoes a “big overhaul” every four years.
Pete Clark has helmed the Orphanage of Rock & Roll since 1995. “WVKR is the type of radio station that’s increasingly unique these days,” Clark states. “Commercial-free, listener supported, free-form unicorn. The format changes every several hours, with a vast array of radio formats and shows you just won’t hear anywhere else. Everybody you hear on the air is an unpaid volunteer, not doing a show for profit, but out of passion.”
Vassar student Amy Huang co-hosts The Treehouse with two others. “We play indie music (mostly rock and folk) by women and non-binary artists, particularly artists of color. All three of us are women or non-binary people of color and it was important to us to focus on voices that have been traditionally underrepresented on the radio (this is also why we try to focus on newer artists who are up-and-coming or undiscovered).”
WVKR—like Vassar, like the country as a whole—was disrupted by Covid, but, according to Chloe Richards, the station is now on a more even keel: Most of the students DJs are working live and “probably a little more than half of our community members are coming into the station to do live shows… we’re trying to have as much live radio as possible.”
“There’s something special,” Amy Huang concludes, “about finding a song that speaks to you and then getting to share it with your friends. It’s like asking, ‘This song means something to me. Does it mean something to you too?’”
To start with, the internet and technological advancement has made a couple of things less popular. Streaming services have made DVD’s far less popular for example, and there are a number of reasons why. In this article, we will be exploring the reasons why online casinos may be putting a dent in real life casino’s popularity. There are now also new types of casinos like this list of new sweeps cash casinos if you study gambling review sites.
COVID-19A– Growth Spurt for Online Casinos
Although the pandemic card is becoming a little overstated, there is no denying that the pandemic has infiltrated the world of casinos in the same way it infiltrated everything else. Online gaming took centre stage when the pandemic changed the world as we know it back in March 2020. A CAGR of 11.94% is predicted for the online gaming industry between 2021 and 2016.
In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, more people resorted to the internet to deal with the many crises which the pandemic brought into fruition. Consumers’ portrayed an increased interest in online gambling following the resulting limitations placed on land based casinos due to lockdowns. While land-based casinos had to forcefully shut their doors, online casinos soared through the charts.
Bonuses
The popularity of online casinos is not entirely dependent on the pandemic however, as online casinos have been on a very steady rise since before the pandemic. One of the most redeeming factors which sets online casinos apart from land-based casinos is the bonus features which online casinos have to offer. The first and most attractive being the welcome bonus. As the name implies, this bonus is granted to all newcomers; and the reward is far more valuable than the welcome drink you might score upon entering a land-based casino.
Bonus Codes
Another attractive bonus which you can expect to come across when gambling at an online casino is the bonus code. A redeeming site that offers such bonuses is Slots.lv. The trusted basketballinsiders selection of slots lv bonus codes has all the information you will need to understand how these bonus codes work. To capitalise from the Slots.lv Welcome Bonus, you must keep putting money into the game until you can cash out.
Having a wagering requirement of 35X, the bonus amount and your initial deposit must be wagered 35 times and once.As a result, your money will be held hostage until the bonus’s wagering requirements are satisfied. As a result of your deposit, you will have a Locked Balance, as well as a Bonus Balance.
Reload Bonus
After you have signed up to an online casino you can expect to receive more than just a welcome bonus. Online casinos love to make sure that their customers are benefitting throughout the process. When you reload your account, you will also be rewarded with benefits. Whether it’s a deposit made at any time or on a specified day of the week, an offer for a bonus might be made while you are topping up. Land-casinos would not be able to match this kind of offer in any way.
Cashback Bonus
Cashback is a form of compensation for the money you lose. It is often enough paid back in the form of bonus money, and it may cover a specific period of losses or the total amount of losses incurred every week. Given that most in-land casinos do not even offer bonuses to begin with, this kind of incentive cannot be implemented.
The Limits of Time and Space
Traditional casinos confine you to a single location where you may test your luck and put your bets. With online casinos, people can play from anywhere in the globe, defying the borders of time and space. Playing from literally any location, including your house, work, the airport, a restaurant, and so on, whenever and wherever you choose sounds like a valid reason for its increasing popularity. Whether you’re at home or on the go, you can always play. You can open up your preferred online casino app whenever you choose, even if it’s in the early hours of the morning, while you’re trying out an unusual workout or in the late hours of the night. You may bet whenever and wherever you choose since you are not constrained by time or space.
Variety of Games to Choose From
To find out that your favourite game isn’t available at a casino is a disappointment, especially after having to get out of bed, dress up and travel all the way there. Depending on the size of the casino, you are limited to the games they have to offer. Because they don’t require any physical location, online casinos may host an infinite number of games. Having a look at the casino’s website or app will tell you exactly what games they have to offer. You’ll have a lot of fun trying out all of these different games, and you’ll have a better chance of winning if you do well. It’s also much more convenient since you can start playing the game you choose right away, without having to wait for someone else to finish their turn.
Some games cross the line, blurring the distinction between the two. As we get older, our perception of games changes, and the way we play them evolves. Here are some games that changed the way we play forever. Whether it’s because they introduced new concepts to gaming or simply because they were a lot of fun, these titles have had a profound impact on how we interact with digital entertainment.
Card games
Card gamesare a dime a dozen, but few have had the impact of Magic: The Gathering. First released in 1993, Magic popularized the collectible card game genre and has had a lasting impact on gaming culture. The game is deceptively simple: players use mana (which is generated by land cards) to summon creatures and cast spells in an attempt to reduce their opponent’s life total to zero.
What makes Magic so special is the depth of its strategic possibilities. With over 20 years of expansions, the game now contains over 10,000 different cards, each with their own unique effects. Players have to choose a type of deck based on the land e.g., island (blue), mountains (red), forests (green), swamps (black) and plains (white), then carefully construct decks of 60 cards and choose the right mix of creatures, spells, and lands in order to be successful.
The game has inspired many imitators of Magic Cards, but none have managed to capture the same magic (pun intended). Magic: The Gathering is a true original, and its influence can still be felt today.
First-person shooters
First-person shooters(FPS) are some of the most popular games around, and they owe a lot to id Software’s Doom. Released in 1993, Doom popularized the use of 3D graphics in video games and introduced many of the conventions that we now take for granted in FPS games.
Doom was not the first FPS game, but it was the first to get it right. Previous games in the genre had been hampered by slow, clunky controls and poor graphics. Doom managed to achieve fast, fluid gameplay and impressive visuals for its time. It also featured a level of violence and gore that was previously unmatched in video games.
While Doom might not be as relevant today as it was 20 years ago, it’s still an important part of gaming history. Without Doom, we might not have the Halo franchise, Call of Duty, or even Fortnite.
Online casino games
Online casino games have been around for over 20 years, but they came into their own in the early 2000s. The rise of broadband internet connections and powerful home computers made it possible for people to gamble online from the comfort of their own homes.
Online casinos offer a wide variety of games, including slots, poker, blackjack, and roulette. They also provide an immersive and convenient way to gamble that is unmatched by traditional brick-and-mortar casinos.
The popularity of online gambling has only continued to grow in recent years. In 2018, the global online gambling market was worth over $50 billion, and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Strategy games
The strategy game genre has been around for a long time, but it was popularized by Blizzard’s StarCraft. First released in 1998, StarCraft took the basic mechanics of existing strategy games and added new elements that made it more accessible to a wider audience.
StarCraft is a real-time strategy game, which means that players have to make decisions and take actions in real-time. This can be a daunting task for newcomers, but Blizzard did a great job of easing players into the game with a gradual difficulty curve. The game also featured an engaging story about three warring factions, which helped to add some context to the player’s actions.
Defining your budget is the first task you need to approach when you are planning your wedding. The average wedding cost in the UK lies between £20,000 and £35,000. Considering the average UK salary of £38,131 for a full-time position, it is fair to say that couples can spend the equivalent of one year of wages on their weddings.
Understandably, your wedding is a magical moment in your life. But there is no need to go overboard with your budget to create unforgettable memories. Can couples get married for less without compromising the emotional journey of the marriage? The answer is yes. From a moissanite engagement ring to budget photos, here are some of the preferred planning tips and wedding choices that couples on a budget can make:
Beautiful jewellery to fit your budget
If you are looking for a reputable jewellery retailer at a competitive price, you may want to check James Allen reviews. Since its launch in 2006, JamesAllen.com has been transforming the jewellery buying experience for customers. Couples can find a vast range of options and designs to fit their budget. Online sellers can be a source of worry for jewellery buyers. Therefore, it is important to research the reputation of the business before committing to purchase and ensure you can receive the best customer experience.
Yet, the bottom line is that you can save money without sacrificing quality.
How big should the party be?
The pandemic has affected wedding parties, forcing couples to get married with a smaller party. The number of guests remained capped at 15 and then 30 until July 2021. Yet, couples who managed to avoid the pandemic restrictions invited between 70 and 105 guests to celebrate the big day with them. Considering the cost of catering, venue, favours, and invitations, it is no surprise that couples spend so much on their wedding.
Yet, a small ceremony can be just as romantic. Indeed, eloping is an intimate way to get married without worrying about the guest list. Couples can choose to elope abroad or in the country, cutting down their budget while still creating magical memories. Eloping is also a fantastic choice for couples who are not tempted by a traditional wedding style or who don’t want long-term planning. You can plan to elope and get married in as little as a month, which is a lot faster than traditional wedding plans!
Creating memories
A wedding photographer is non-negotiable if you wish professional-quality photos. As sophisticated as a smartphone camera can be, there is no denying that a selfie stick can’t replace the eye and experience of a photographer for the day.
But inviting a photographer to capture your wedding photos can also be done on a budget. Some couples choose to have their portraits taken before the wedding, so they don’t have to worry about budgeting for photography services for an entire day.
Alternatively, you can request only a few photos of your vows rather than capturing the entire wedding party. Adding photo booths and props to the venue decor can encourage your guests to take pictures and share their memories on social media.
Many couples are concerned about keeping wedding costs down. Strategic choices, such as your jewellery and the party size, can completely transform your budget. Are weddings less magical when they don’t cost the earth? You decide.
It would come as little surprise to see Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah picking up more individual awards after the year he’s having, and the Egyptian added to his ever-growing tally with a second Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year award.
Salah has been on fire for Jürgen Klopp’s side this season, with 44 goal contributions in as many games at the time of writing, and while the Africa Cup of Nations might have hampered his progress slightly, he still looks on course to win the Golden Boot for a third time – adding to his two consecutive victories in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the latter of which he shared with Liverpool colleague Sadio Mané and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Salah beat Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne to the award, with West Ham United’s Declan Rice coming third. Salah took home 48% of the votes, with Chelsea striker Sam Kerr receiving the women’s award. Both won their respective awards by a landslide and were praised by FWA chair Carrie Brown, who said: “The fact they have won by such convincing margins underlines just how impressive they have been this season.
“As well as their performances on the pitch, they are leaders and standard bearers of excellence at their clubs and respective leagues. Both Mo and Sam have been outstanding this season, breaking records for both club and country.”
With the Premier League title race looking like it will go right down to the final day, both Liverpool and Manchester City will need to be almost perfect to clinch the league come the end of the month, with the sports betting odds proving increasingly tough to call a winner.
Indeed, Liverpool are still on course to complete a famous quadruple – adding to the League Cup they won in February with the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League. But if they are to go all the way this season, they’ll need their ‘Egyptian King’ to be on top form.
Since suffering a slight dip in goals when he lost the AFCON final and then failed to qualify for the World Cup with Egypt, Salah burst back into life with a brace at home against Manchester United to remind those outside Anfield just how dangerous he can really be.
The versatility of the winger, who has also occupied more central positions as a false nine, has meant he can provide goals as well as score them, as Salah earned his 14th assist this season as Liverpool eased past Villarreal in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
This is arguably Salah in his most complete stage. At 29, he’s a far cry from the player we saw struggle at Chelsea and has been a revelation since returning to England in 2017. His first season may have seen a higher return of goals but the way in which he’s scored them this season and the importance of goals in big moments are what have separated him from the pack and earnt recognition from football writers this season.
Flying Lotus has shared the title song for They Call Me Magic, the new Apple TV+ documentary series about Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Listen to it below.
Flying Lotus released his most recent album was 2019’s Flamagra, following it up with Flamagra (Instrumentals). Last year, he shared his score for the Netflix show Yasuke.
Lady Gaga has shared the music video for ‘Hold My Hand’, her new song from the upcoming movie Top Gun: Maverick. The clip was helmed by director Joe Kosinski and features Lady Gaga along with scenery from the film. Watch it below.
Top Gun: Maverick is set to hit theaters on Friday, May 27.
Arcade Fire, who just released their new album WE, have announced a world tour that will take them across Europe and North America this year. Feist will support the band on their European shows, while Beck will open the North American dates with what a press release calls a “special acoustic performance.” Check out the group’s full itinerary below.
Tickets for all tour dates go on sale to the public beginning Friday, May 13 at 10am local time. Thanks to Arcade Fire’s partnership with PLUS1, £1/€1/$1 per ticket will go to KANPE, which provides support to the most vulnerable communities in Haiti.
Arcade Fire 2022 Tour Dates:
Aug 30 Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena *
Sep 2 Birmingham, England – Utilita Arena Birmingham *
Sep 3 Manchester, England – AO Arena *
Sep 5 Glasgow, Scotland – OVO Hydro *
Sep 8 London, England – The O2 *
Sep 11 Lille, France – Zenith *
Sep 12 Antwerp, Belgium – Sportpaleis *
Sep 14 Cologne, Germany – Lanxess Arena *
Sep 15 Paris, France – Accor Arena *
Sep 17 Milan, Italy – Mediolanum Forum *
Sep 18 Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle *
Sep 21 Madrid, Spain – WiZink Center *
Sep 22 Lisbon, Portugal – Campo Pequeno *
Sep 23 Lisbon, Portugal – Campo Pequeno *
Sep 25 Bordeaux, France – Arkea Arena *
Sep 26 Nantes, France – Zenith de Nantes *
Sep 28 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome *
Sep 29 Berlin, Germany – Mercedes-Benz Arena *
Oct 1 Warsaw, Poland – COS Torwar *
Oct 28 Washington, DC – The Anthem ^
Nov 1 Camden, NJ – Waterfront Music Pavilion ^
Nov 4 Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center ^
Nov 8 Boston, MA – MGM Fenway Music Hall ^
Nov 10 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena ^
Nov 12 Chicago, IL – United Center ^
Nov 13 Minneapolis, MN – The Armory ^
Nov 16 Los Angeles, CA – The Kia Forum ^
Nov 19 San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium ^
Nov 22 Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena ^
Nov 25 Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena ^
Nov 27 Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place ^
Dec 1 Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena ^
* with special guest Feist
^ with special guest Beck (acoustic)
Arcade Fire are back with a new album, WE, out now via Columbia Records. Nigel Godrich, Win Butler, and Régine Chassagne produced the LP, which was recorded in multiple locales including New Orleans, El Paso, and Mount Desert Island. According to Butler, it marks “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever.” Clocking in at 40 minutes, the record is divided into two sides: Side ‘I’ explores “the fear and loneliness of isolation,” while Side ‘WE’ enters on “the joy and power of reconnection.” It is the final Arcade Fire album to feature multi-instrumentalist Will Butler, who left the band in 2021 shortly after its completion. The singles ‘The Lightning I, II’ and ‘Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)’ preceded the record. Read our review of WE.
Sharon Van Etten, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong
Sharon Van Etten has released the follow-up to 2019’s Remind Me Tomorrow. Out now via Jagjaguwar, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrongwas co-produced by Daniel Knowles and features Van Etten’s touring band of Jorge Balbi on drums, Devon Hoff on bass, and live musical director Charley Damski on synthesizers and guitars. Van Etten’s recent singles ‘Porta’ and ‘Used To It’ do not appear on the LP; in fact, there were no advance tracks leading up to the album’s release. “I wanted to approach this release differently, to engage my fans in an intentional way, in an effort to present the album as a whole body of work,” Van Etten said in press materials. “These 10 songs are designed to be listened to in order, at once, so that a much larger story of hope, loss, longing and resilience can be told.”
Bad Bunny has returned with a new album called Un Verano Sin Ti. The follow-up to 2020’s El Último Tour del Mundo includes 23 tracks and features guest spots from Rauw Alejandro, Bomba Estéreo, Buscabulla, the Marias, and more. It was co-produced by Tainy and MAG, alongside his longtime engineer Beto “La Paciencia.” The Puerto Rican star began teasing the project back in January, confirming the LP through an online ad that listed his Bugatti for $3.5 million.
Warpaint have unveiled their first full-length album in six years. Radiate Like This follows 2016’s Heads Up and includes the previously shared tracks ‘Champion’, ‘Stevie’, and ‘Hips’. After completing foundational tracking sessions with co-producer Sam Petts-Davies (Thom Yorke, Frank Ocean, Skullcrusher), the band’s four members separated due to the pandemic and recorded each of their parts individually. “Making this album was a labor of love,” Warpaint said in a press release. “It is the joyous culmination of four musical minds over the course of a few wild and heart-opening years. We’re thrilled to finally share it with you.”
Belle and Sebastian have released A Bit of Previous, their 9th album and first in seven years, via Matador. The follow-up to 2015’s Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance was recorded in the group’s hometown of Glasgow after their plans to fly to Los Angeles in spring 2020 were scrapped due to COVID-19. “We did it together, us and the city,” frontman Stuart Murdoch said in a press statement. “This record was the first ‘full’ LP recording for B&S in Glasgow since Fold Your Hands Child, 1999. We clocked in every morning, we played our songs, we wrote together, we tried new things, we took the proverbial lump of clay, and we threw it every day.” The album includes the singles ‘Young and Stupid’, ‘If They’re Shooting At You’, ‘Unnecessary Drama’, and ‘Talk to Me Talk to Me’.
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have dropped their latest LP, Endless Rooms, via Sub Pop. After exchanging ideas remotely during Australia’s lockdowns, the band’s five members were able to decamp to a mud-brick house built by the Russo family built in the ’70s (featured on the album cover) to record the album, which they self-produced alongside Matt Duffy. Inspired by the acoustics of the space, Endless Rooms features field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind. “It’s almost an anti-concept album,” the band explained in press materials. “The Endless Rooms of the title reflects our love of creating worlds in our songs. We treat each of them as a bare room to be built up with infinite possibilities.” The tracks ‘Dive Deep’, ‘The Way It Shatters’, ‘Tidal River’, and ‘My Echo’ previewed the record.
The Words You Spoke Still Move Me is the debut full-length by Ellevator, the Hamilton, Ontario-based trio of frontwoman Nabi Sue Bersche, guitarist Tyler Bersche, and bassist/keyboardist Elliott Gwynne. Out now via Arts & Crafts, the album follows their 2018 debut self-titled EP and was produced by former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla. “There’s a freedom in the way that he produces and comes up with ideas,” Nabi Sue Bersche said in our Artist Spotlight interview. “I didn’t really know what he was going to suggest next, but it didn’t make me feel too on my toes and impulsive. I knew he was going to get the job done and I knew it was going to be great. There was so much trust there from the beginning. But he was also very willing to experiment, and it worked.”
Sigrid has followed up 2019’s Sucker Punch with her second album, How to Let Go. The Norwegian pop artist wrote the LP at a time when she was contemplating her life in Norway and her life outside of Norway. “They’re two different things,” she explained in press materials. “The chill girl who loves to ski and hike and cook versus the other part of me that’s like ‘let’s go out’, or let’s play massive shows, go on stage and not be scared of anything. I used to be so shy as a kid but then when I’m on stage at Glastonbury for example I love losing myself in it.” She added: “The concept of ‘how to let go’ is the thread that runs through the album and through my life – just letting go of things you say, of people that have hurt you, or situations where I have been stupid. Life is about letting go and moving on. It sounds so simple, but it never is.”
The Ibeyi twins – Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz – have released their third studio album, Spell 31, via XL. Spanning 10 tracks, the follow-up to 2017’s Ash was written, produced, and recorded by Ibeyi, who worked with longtime collaborator Richard Russell. The LP features appearances from Jorja Smith, Pa Salieu, and BERWYN, who appears on a reimagining of Black Flag’s ‘Rise Above’. “It’s a new chapter,” Naomi Diaz said of the album in an interview with The Guardian. “It’s the most balanced between us.”
Sadurn – the Philadelphia four-piece led by vocalist/guitarist Genevieve DeGroot – have issued their debut LP, Radiator, via Run for Cover Records. Following two self-released EPs, Sadurn and Ther and Gleam, the album was made in the band’s makeshift recording studio during the pandemic. “The whole project up to that point had been so lo-fi, so close to the source and unproduced,” DeGroot explained in a press release. “I wanted the band and the new recordings to still have that to some extent. We’re all so close and we were living in this cabin for two weeks making this thing, I think it was sort of the special circumstances that lent themselves to the way the album turned out.” Sadurn previewed the record with the tracks ‘snake’, ‘golden arm’, and ‘icepick’.
Kumoyo Island, the final LP by Japanese psych-rockers Kikagaku Moyo, is out today via their own Guruguru Brain label. Following 2018’s Masana Temples, the band recorded their fifth studio album at Tsubame Studios in Asakusabashi, Tokyo, where they cut their earliest material. “We have come to the conclusion that because we have truly achieved our core mission as a band, we would love to end this project on the highest note possible,” the group wrote on social media. “Since first starting as a music collective on the streets of Tokyo in 2012, we never, ever imagined being able to play all over the world for our amazing audiences. It is all because of you that this was ever possible…and to this we are eternally grateful.”
Brooklyn dance-punk outfit !!! have shared their ninth studio album, Let It Be Blue, via Warp. The follow-up to 2019’s Wallop features production from Patrick For as well as guest appearances by Sink Ya Teeth’s Maria Uzor, Angelica Garcia, and Meah Pace. “On this record we were looking for basic minimal arrangements – sub-bass, drums and vocals mostly – and that approach is what finally let us support the vocal parts in a way that worked,” the band said, commenting on the single ‘Storm Around the World’. “The final piece was the beat that our producer Patrick Ford made that felt somewhere between programmed, sampled and played, a blurriness that is another feature of this album, Let it be Blue, which was mostly built on computers but doesn’t always sound or feel that way.”
Other albums out today:
Sunflower Bean, Headful of Sugar; Jack Harlow, Come Home The Kids Miss You; Hater, Sincere; Pink Mountaintops, Peacock Pools; Saâda Bonaire, 1992; Otoboke Beaver, Super Champon; Soft Cell,*Happiness Not Included; Yawners, Duplo; Praise, All in a Dream; Terror, Pain into Power; Simple Plan, Harder Than It Looks; Hüma Utku, The Psychologist; Three Days Grace, Explosions; Halestorm, Back From the Dead; Adrian Copeland, If This Were My Body; Puppy, Pure Evil; Suki Waterhouse, I Can’t Let Go; C Duncan, Alluvium; Daou, Sanctuary; flor, Future Shine; Serpente, Dias da Aranha; Maria Chiara Argirò, Forest City.