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Albums Out Today: Bruce Springsteen, Christine and the Queens, Nas, Heather Trost, and More

In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on November 11, 2022:


Bruce Springsteen, Only the Strong Survive

Bruce Springsteen has released a new covers album, Only the Strong Survive, which sees him taking on soul music classics from catalogues such as Motown, Gamble, and Huff and Stax. The LP was recorded with the E Street Horns and features guest vocals from Sam Moore. “I’ve taken my inspiration from Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, the Iceman Jerry Butler, Diana Ross, Dobie Gray and Scott Walker, among many others,” Springsteen explained in a statement. “I’ve tried to do justice to them all – and to the fabulous writers of this glorious music. My goal is for the modern audience to experience its beauty and joy, just as I have since I first heard it. I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved making it.”


Christine and the Queens, Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue)

Christine and the Queens’ third album, Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue), has arrived. It finds the French synth-pop artist operating under a new alias, Redcar, following Christine and the Queens’ 2018 album Chris and 2020’s La vita nuova EP. In a message about the album, he said: “Love – this uninterrupted conversation/ Love, the real kind/ In the assent of perfume you experienced together/ You are no longer separate.” Ahead of its release, the LP was previewed with the singles ‘rien dire’, ‘Je the vois enfin’, and ‘la chanson du chevalier’. Read our review of Redcar les adorables étoiles.


Nas, King’s Disease III 

Nas has dropped the third installment of his King’s Disease series. He first teased the project on his 2021 album Magic, when he rapped on the track ‘Ugly’: “I’m on offense every day until I see the love/ KD3 on the way, this just to feed the buzz.” Spanning 17 tracks, the album was produced by Hit-Boy and executive produced by Nas and Hit-Boy. The rapper-producer duo’s King’s Disease collaboration began in August 2020, with the first installment earning Nas the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.


Heather Trost, Desert Flowers

Desert Flowers is the third solo record by Heather Trost, following 2020’s Petrichor and 2017’s Agistri. As with her previous albums, the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist recorded the new LP with her partner and A Hawk & A Hacksaw collaborator, Jeremy Barnes, primarily at their home studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Maybe these songs are a bit like desert flowers, pushing their way towards the sun, and in turn searching and pushing roots deep into the ground for water,” she remarked in press materials. “As above, so below, the light and the dark, extroverted and introverted, color and monochrome.”


Hyd, Clearing

Hyd, the moniker of interdisciplinary artist and PC Music associate Hayden Dunham, has come through with their debut full-length, Clearing. Following Hyd’s self-titled EP, the album features collaborations with the late SOPHIE, A. G. Cook, Caroline Polachek, Jónsi, Danny L Harle, EASYFUN, and Ö, and was teased with the singles ‘Afar’, ‘So Clear’, ‘Breaking Ground’, and ‘Fallen Angel’. It was largely written on the volcanic island of Lanzarote in Spain, drawing inspiration from the natural ecosystem to explore themes of destruction, rebuilding, germination, and emergence.


Breanna Barbara, Nothin’ But Time

Breanna Barbara has returned with her sophomore LP, Nothin’ But Time, out now via Fuzz Club. Arriving six years after her last full-length outing, Mirage Dreams, the album was recorded with producer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes) and features contributions from Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather), Tall Juan, Derry DeBorja (Jason Isbell), and Champagne Superchillin’s Ben Trimble and Charles Garmendia. “I wanted to make a record that reflected what was going on in the world and outside of myself, while exploring my sound more,” Barbara explained in press materials.


Gold Panda, The Work

UK producer Derwin Dicker, who records as Gold Panda, has issued his first new solo album in six years. The Work is out now via City Slang, and it includes the advance singles ‘I’ve Felt Better (Than I Do Now)’, ‘The Corner’, and ‘The Dream’. ”I get more comfortable with the music I make as Gold Panda now,” Dicker said of the record in a press statement. “I always wanted to do the ‘cool’ music, but I can only make the music I make, I suppose. I think that’s why I find making club music hard – I don’t spend enough time in them. I don’t know where I fit in, and maybe that’s good.”


Soul Blind, Feel It All Around

Soul Blind have put out their new album, Feel It All Around, via Other People Records. The follow-up to the alt-grunge band’s 2021 EP Third Chain was produced by Will Yip. “The overall theme is to step outside your comfort zone, feeling the uneasy-ness all around you,” vocalist/bassist Cen explained in press materials. “After a blemish on your soul and a mental setback, the only way out is to fall out of old habits and do things differently than you normally would. There’s nothing that can bring back those moments you were used to, and realizing that and using it as a stepping stool to a new and better version of you. If you always come down to what you know, you’ll never feel the new.”


Bill Nace, Through a Room

Bill Nace has dropped a new LP, Through a Room, today via Drag City. It follows the Philadelphia guitarist’s 2020 record Both and employs that album’s looped-and-screwed approach, weaving guitar plus tapes, hurdy-gurdy, doughnut pipe, quelle est belle, and taishōgoto into the compositional process. It was recorded and edited in Philadelphia during the summer of 2021 with engineer and co-producer Cooper Crain, while the cover artwork was created by Daniel Higgs. The singles ‘The Giant’, ‘E:E’, and ‘Boil First’ preceded the record.


Drowse, Wane Into It

Drowse, the musical project of Portland musician Kyle Bates, has followed up his self-recorded 2019 LP Light Mirror with a new full-length, Wane Into It, via The Flenser. The album was mastered by Nicholas Wilbur and includes collaborations with Midwide’s Madeline Johnston, Sprain’s Alex Kent, and Lula Asplund. The cover artwork features photography by Nicholas Wilbur. Ahead of its release, Drowse unveiled the songs ‘Untrue in Headphones’, ‘Mystery Pt. 2’, and ‘Three Faces (Cyanoacrylate)’,


Other albums out today:

S.C.A.B., S.C.A.B.; Duval Timothy, Meeting With A Judas Tree; more eaze, Strawberry Season; L.S. Dunes, Past Lives; Sarathy Korwar, KALAKDream Unending, Songs of Salvation; Dumb, Pray 4 Tomorrow; Richie Culver, I was born by the sea; Homeboy Sandman, Still Champion; FaltyDL, A Nurse to My Patience; Smut, How The Light Felt; Plaid, Feorm Falorx; Smidley, Here Comes the Devil; Vision Board, Lyrics Born; Colin Stetson, Chimæra I; Nicolas Bougaïeff, Begin Within; Larkin Poe, Blood Harmony; Paul Maroon & Jenny Lin, 13 Short Piano PiecesJeb Loy Nichols, The United States of the Broken HeartedBalka Sound, Balka Sound; Julieta Venegas, Tu Historia; 99LETTERS, Kaibou Zukan; Jambinai, Apparition; Ernest Hood, Back to the Woodlands; Sweet Cobra, Threes; Wau Wau Collectif, Mariage; Lotus Eater, Plasma; Tony Shhnow, Plug Motivation; Christina Vantzou, No. 5; Delivery, Forever Giving Handshakes; Carl Oesterhelt, The Dualistic Principle; Louis Tomlinson, Faith in the Future;

What Is A Seedbox And How Do You Use One?

If you use torrents to download files regularly, then you might have noticed that this method is not quite perfect. When you share these files you have to use “seeds,” which uses your bandwidth, and if you are doing it without a VPN, you also have to share your IP address.

That is why Seedboxes are made; to avoid both of these problems. So, you should use a Seedbox coupled with Torrenting VPNs to stay safe and save your bandwidth while torrenting.

Let’s get into the details of what Seedboxes are and why you need one.

What Is a Seedbox?

Seedboxes are virtual servers that are optimized to do torrenting. They usually contain only torrenting programs in them and offer fast internet. So, instead of using your computer, you do all your torrenting and downloading files on a web server.

This allows you to seed data without consuming your internet and even using it on your pc. Moreover, a seedbox keeps your IP address unseen as your device never directly downloads or uploads any file.

How You Use Seedboxes

Nowadays, you can find seed providers online. Exact guidelines differ, but most of the seedboxes operate in a similar way. You will get an email including a URL link and your account information after you sign up for a seedbox supplier.

An online browser may be used to access more than one seedbox. When you first log in, you will get an option to install one from many torrent software.

To start a torrent, find a torrent file on your system and drag it into the torrent software. Even with the window closed, the seedbox will proceed to torrent the opened file.

You can save the file available on seedbox to your PC after the downloading completes. FTP software is used to download files or you can download them directly from your web browser.

Seedbox Pros and Cons

Seedboxes are not mandatory for torrenting. A VPN can offer privacy at a lesser cost. Here are some pros & cons of seedboxes.

Pros

Here are some reasons why you should consider getting a seedbox.

Mask The IP Address

Your IP address is concealed by a seedbox. If someone wants to find who is trying to access a certain torrent, the only thing they will see is a seedbox address, not the actual one. Your seedbox supplier can see your IP address. However, many providers have zero-log policies.

Offer Super Speed

Seedboxes are built to produce fast speeds for both seeding and downloading rates. Many internet service providers don’t give particularly fast upload speed, yet seedboxes don’t experience this issue. This is especially helpful if you intend to keep your upload ratio high.

Allows You to Seed With Your Computer From Far

A seedbox enables you to seed the files without demanding any work from your system. This is perfect if you desire to seed files regularly but don’t like to leave your computer on the whole time. It is also handy if you don’t like your seed consuming your bandwidth.

Allows You to Seed Without Storage Space

Sometimes, people delete the files that they might normally seed in order to save storage capacity on their devices. A seedbox permits you to erase files from your computer while still seeding them.

Cons

Here are a few reasons why using seedboxes is not popular.

Still Need To Download Files Through Seedbox

When you get a file downloaded into a seedbox, you have to download it once more to your computer in order to use the specific file. This tells us that irrespective of how quick a seedbox is, it doesn’t provide a faster download rate overall. Some seedboxes also enable you to stream multimedia files. However, this service is not always available.

Public Trackers Support Missing From Some

Some seedboxes prohibit using public torrent sites. This is because public torrent servers are frequently monitored for illegal actions. If a seedbox does not allow the tracker you’re currently using, it’s not hard to find a suitable private substitute.

Don’t Usually Offer Unlimited Space

The majority of seedboxes don’t offer infinite storage capacity. As a result, you can lose access to your data if you do not make an offline file of them.

More Costly Than VPNs

Seedboxes are often more costly than VPNs. Nevertheless, if you torrent frequently and seek the extra features, a seedbox may be worth the cost. A VPN, on the other hand, provides affordable privacy and is ideal for all forms of online browsing.

Seedbox Or VPN: What to Get?

Because both help you mask your IP address, seedboxes are frequently used instead of VPNs. However, these are two quite distinct items and mostly used for downloading, streaming etc. A seedbox is a storage location for torrenting programs and their data files. Your traffic passes through an extra server using a VPN, however, all torrenting is always done on your machine.

Seedboxes are solely used for torrenting purposes, but a VPN may conceal data flowing into and out of your computer.

VPNs may be preferable for torrenting as they provide encryption. This is a service that not every seedbox provides, which means that your ISP may be aware of the content you’re downloading when you download something from a seedbox. A VPN also includes various servers, giving you the option of alternative IP addresses, and enabling you to employ a VPN to circumvent location limitations.

Many torrent clients favor seedboxes as they give an adequate amount of privacy while also providing additional features. Seedboxes also help you to torrent quicker, but VPNs might probably make torrenting a little slower.

It’s worth mentioning that you can utilize both a VPN and a seedbox simultaneously. Most seedboxes also are offered with a VPN.

Are Seedboxes Really Worth Spending Money?

Seedboxes are important torrenting tools; however, you can definitely torrent without them. A VPN is a supposed better choice if all you want to do is stay private. VPNs are less expensive, enabling you to evade geo-restrictions, and are effective for all forms of internet traffic.

However, it is entirely dependent on the fact that how frequently you use torrents. Torrenting from your own computer consumes bandwidth and disk space, and the device has to be on in order to seed. Seedboxes eliminate all these disquiets, and the price you pay may be worth it all if you do frequent torrenting.

O. Release Debut Single ‘OGO’

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O., the South London duo of sax player Joseph Henwood and drummer Tash Keary, have released their debut single, ‘OGO’, via Speedy Wunderground. Check out the track, produced by the label’s own Dan Carey, below.

“We wrote OGO in a soundcheck in Oslo, whilst on tour supporting black midi,” Henwood explained in a press release. “It had hit minus 5 outside so we started jamming something fast to try and keep our hands warm. Playing live is a really big part of O., so we loved the Speedy Wunderground approach of recording one track in one day, holding off on major edits, and we are not even listening to the track until it’s released. It’s just the two of us on the single (as it is live) with Dan Carey and Adele Phillips helping us recreate that gig feeling in the studio.”

Watch the 1975 Perform ‘I’m in Love With You’ on ‘Fallon’

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The 1975 stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (November 10) to perform their single ‘I’m in Love With You’. Check it out below.

The 1975 are currently touring in support of their latest album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language. In addition to ‘I’m in Love With You’, it includes the advance singles ‘All I Need to Hear’, ‘Happiness’, and ‘Part of the Band’. Last month, they appeared on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, where they performed a cover of Take That’s ‘A Million Love Songs’.

BROCKHAMPTON Share New Single ‘The Ending’

BROCKHAMPTON have shared another single from their final album, The Family. Following last week’s ‘Big Pussy’, ‘The Ending’ was produced by Boylife and is once again led by Kevin Abstract. The track arrives with an accompanying video directed by Joshuah Melnick, which you can check out below.

The Family is set to drop on November 17 via Question Everything/RCA Records.

Rihanna Shares New ‘Black Panther’ Song ‘Born Again’

Rihanna has shared her second single for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. Following last month’s ‘Lift Me Up’, ‘Born Again’ was written by The-Dream, who also wrote Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Birthday Cake’. Listen to it below.

‘Lift Me Up’, which marked Rihanna’s first new song as a lead artist in six years, was co-written with Tems, producer Ludwig Göransson, and director Ryan Coogler. The track was later accompanied by a music video directed by Autumn Durald Arkapaw.

Earlier this week, Rihanna held the fourth iteration of her Savage X Fenty lingerie fashion show. Anitta, Burna Boy, Don Toliver, and Maxwell performed on the program, which featured appearances from Johnny Depp, Taraji P. Henson, Taylour Paige, Simu Liu, and Bella Poarch, among other models.

A follow-up to Rihanna’s 2016 album Anti- has yet to be announced. In September, the singer announced that she would perform the Super Bowl halftime show.

Country Westerns Share Video for New Single ‘Money on the Table’

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Country Westerns have released a new song, ‘Money on the Table’. Produced by Matt Sweeney, the track arrives with an accompanying video directed by Miranda Zipse. Check it out below.

“‘No money left on the table’ was Matt Sweeney’s mantra while making our new record,” vocalist Joseph Plunket said of the song in a statement. “Instead of crass commercialism or economic concerns, I took it to mean every song needed to be perfectly minted and we tried to comply. We came in with a lot of material ready to record but I still spent a lot of sleepless nights writing and rewriting between sessions. ‘Money on the Table’ is an ancient riff I’ve been kicking around for a decade-plus but never quite nailed it down.

“After a long day in the studio, I felt something was missing from the record as a whole and I went home, tackled the riff and wrote the lyrics in one sitting,” he continued. “We recorded the next morning in two takes. Even Sweeney agreed there was nothing left on the table.”

Iggy Pop Details New Album ‘Every Loser’

Iggy Pop has announced his new album, Every Loser. It’s scheduled for release on January 6 via Atlantic Records and producer Andrew Watt’s Gold Tooth Records. The follow-up to 2019’s Free will feature the previously shared single ‘Frenzy’, as well as contributions from the late Taylor Hawkins, Blink-182’s Travis Barker, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan, Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard, Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro and Eric Avery, and more. Check out the album’s tracklist and artwork by Raymond Pettibon below.

“I’m the guy with no shirt who rocks; Andrew and Gold Tooth get that, and we made a record together the old-fashioned way,” Iggy Pop said in a press release. “The players are guys I’ve known since they were kids and the music will beat the shit out of you.”

Andrew Watt added: “Iggy Pop is a fucking icon. A true original. The guy invented the stage dive…. I still can’t believe he let me make a record with him. I am honored. It doesn’t get cooler. This album was created to be played as loud as your stereo will go…. Turn it up and hold on…”

Every Loser Cover Artwork:

Every Loser Tracklist:

1. Frenzy
2. Strung Out Johnny
3. New Atlantis
4. Modern Day Rip Off
5. Morning Show
6. The News for Andy
7. Neo Punk
8. All the Way Down
9. Comments
10. My Animus Interlude
11. The Regency

Suspension of Disbelief as a Skill for Enjoying Film

Our love for films may be eternal, but that doesn’t mean they’re always easy to appreciate. The older we get, the more patterns become obvious, and more cliches and inaccuracies stick in our minds.

If this gets to us, there can be moments where lines or actions can drag us out of the experience, and make us laugh or scoff. As a remedy, we need to suspend our disbelief, but this always isn’t easy.

What is Suspension of Disbelief?

For anyone not aware of the term, suspension of disbelief refers to how we overlook parts of the media that are obviously wrong in favour of continuing to enjoy the plot.

Sometimes these moments involve components only an expert in a specific field could pick out, but other times they revolve around contradictions directly stated earlier in the movie. The varied nature of these deliberate or accidental oversights can be completely ignorable or frustrating, depending on the viewer.

The Good and Bad

Lucy, released in 2014, started with a great example of a terrible plot point. One of the film’s key lines claims that ‘most people only use around 10% of their brain’. To anyone who has even a passing understanding of the brain, we know that this is hilariously wrong. For psychologists, students, and people who paid attention to biology, this could make the entire following film eye-rolling terrible, as based on a widespread misconception.

Better examples where we can suspend disbelief centre around the main character having unusual levels of high luck. Consider when a character goes to a casino to play something like craps, for example. The odds of the player continuously winning on a 3 or 11 or 2 or 12 bet are low, but they’re still within the realm of realism. These are just odds, and odds can be beaten, so we tend to have an easier time accepting this scenario.

How do we Address a Suspension of Disbelief?

This is the question many of us face in the age of comic book films, where spectacle takes a front seat and science and good decisions are left behind. Ultimately, if something silly affects you deeply on a level, it’s impossible to overlook. There is a straightforward trick, however, that can help. In fan culture, this is called a headcanon, but the term can apply to all other viewers too.

A headcanon is the way you can add your own details into a world that explains what the writers or filmmakers overlooked or didn’t care about. For something like an entry in the MCU, for example, we can get by by thinking of their universe as one where the laws of physics are fundamentally different. In martial arts films, we can see their worlds as ones where the human body tires ten times slower than it does in real life, and so on. It might require relegating every film to a kind of science fiction in this way, but if it helps, it helps.

Margo Price Shares New Single ‘Lydia’

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Margo Price has shared a new single, ‘Lydia’, taken from her upcoming album Strays. The track follows earlier offerings ‘Been to the Mountain’ and ‘Change of Heart’. Check it out below, along with a live performance video.

Discussing the new song, Price explained in a press release:

I wrote ‘Lydia’ in one sitting in a tiny hotel room after walking around the city of Vancouver one day. I was jet lagged and feeling really depressed, hopeless, but instead of taking a nap, I picked up the guitar and the words just flowed out all in one quick moment. I hit record on my phone to make a demo and sort of blacked out or went into this meditative state, and boom – eight minutes later, I had this song. It’s one of the only songs I’ve ever written that doesn’t have any real melody or even rhyme, but somehow it still works. Songs like that are rare and don’t come often.

It was inspired by a cacophony of things. There was a women’s health clinic and a methadone clinic with a needle exchange right outside of our venue. I was looking into the eyes of the people I passed and thinking about their stories and really being a conduit for pain.

The song feels like a premonition now, with women’s rights being stripped and all the abortion bans happening. When I listen back, I hear what might go through a woman’s mind when she has a difficult decision to make about her body, her choices and her future.

Strays will be released on January 13.