Omar Apollo has announced his debut album, Ivory, which arrives April 8 via Warner. The new single ‘Invincible’, a collaboration with Daniel Caesar, comes with an accompanying video directed by Stillz. Check it out below.
‘Invincible’ follows Omar’s collaborative track with Kali Uchis, ‘Bad Life’, which came out in November. He previously shared the track ‘Go Away’ and a cover of the Mamas and the Papas’ ‘California Dreamin’’.
Ivory Cover Artwork:
The most impressive thing a band can do on their debut is arrive fully formed, but Black Country, New Road were already way ahead. With most of the material on last year’s For the first time already familiar to fans prior to its release, the London ensemble were quick to distance themslves from what they framed as simply a collection of the first songs they wrote together – as thrilling and acclaimed as it was – and set their eyes on the future, promising an exciting new direction that would better represent their ethos as a band. Besides, the idea of arriving “fully formed” barely applies to a group that treats both form and meaning as endlessly malleable: the studio versions of songs the band had played live sounded markedly different on the first album, while ‘Basketball Shoes’, a track originally written long before the release of their debut and a centrepiece of their live shows, takes a whole new resonance as the closing track on their sophomore LP – and not just because what was known as a song, um, about Charli XCX now includes no real mention of her.
The shocking news, announced just days before the album’s release, that vocalist Isaac Wood will no longer be a member of Black Country, New Road, only further confirms that whatever version of themselves the group wanted to bring forward on Ants From Up There is as impermanent as it is true. You can picture a dozen critics frantically restructuring their reviews following this turn of events, because how could you ignore the reality of the situation when the narrative of the album centers around self-mythologizing the end of something, and when so much of the band’s evolution as a whole can be traced in Wood’s quivering vocal presence? I mean, the whole thing opens with the line: “And though England is mine, I must leave it all behind.” Luckily, the record is a breathtaking and remarkable work that triumphs on its own terms, running on the fuel of feverish devotion and despair that’s echoed in the band’s organic arrangements, which are more dynamic and as intricate as ever. We simply don’t have the word space to put it in context.
For most bands, pushing your sound forward is a matter of bringing in a different set of influences, and you can hear that happening on Ants From Up There. Straying even further from the wave of post-punk revival that they were lumped into, the album builds on their debut’s fusion of jazz, klezmer, and post-rock while interlacing them with bits of chamber pop, modern classical, midwestern emo, and a heavy dose of early aughts indie – more reminiscent of Bright Eyes or Modest Mouse than the other band they’ve professed to being obsessed with, Arcade Fire, though there’s some of that in the immediate, thundering choruses of songs like ‘Chaos Space Marine’ and ‘Good Will Hunting’. But no band can apply their improvisational insticts to transform those familiar touchpoints into their own logic like Black Country, New Road – and besides, the most important shift here is not one of sound as much as scope and scale. (Wood’s lyrics may be ambiguous, but in his time as the frontman of the band, their album titles have been pretty straightforward.)
With a nearly one-hour runtime, Ants From Up There has the space it needs to unfurl in all its joyful, challenging, and at times discordant beauty. Compared to the meticulousness of For the first time, the band also sounds more open to discovering where it takes them; and if that means sacrificing some of the music’s electric charge for a greater sense of freedom, they prove time and time again they know what to do with it. The aforementioned ‘Basketball Shoes’, which stretches out to 12 minutes, is just one of the songs that could be described as a centerpiece. After the album’s first two surprises – the brief ‘Intro’ of sax and violin and the anachronistic pop of ‘Chaos Space Marine’ – the group charges into the slow-burning ‘Concorde’, which introduces one of the album’s two main lyrical motifs (the other, perhaps less narratively significant one being Billie Eilish) and ends in swirling cacophony. It’s followed immediately by ‘Bread Song’, a track that makes domestic anxieties sound as enormous and intimate as they can feel.
This is an album that bears its weight by operating within extremes. Black Country, New Road are known in part for their wry humour, but the vulnerability – even sentimentality – that pervades Ants From Up There is what makes it a bold and devastating statement. Specific references stand alongside abstract imagery, while the pristine warmth of the arrangements counteracts their unconventional structure. More than anything, though, the crippling self-doubt that Wood sings of comes into contrast with the growing conviction in his vocals, the turbulent axis around which many of the songs here revolve – even as each member of the group (which will carry on as a six-piece) develops a voice that sounds even more distinct and vital against a backbone of pensive, at times riotous guitars. Whenever the band reaches momentous heights that hint towards a climactic finale, as in the phenomenal final stretch of songs, they brace themselves for another one, as if not quite ready to turn the engine off. By the end, it seems, clarity becomes synonymous with futility. Nothing is permanent and nothing stays the same – but Ants From Up There shines through the tension and darkness that surrounds its moment, channeling it into a sweeping, grand epic we can look up to for years to come.
Caroline Polachek has released a new song called ‘Billions’. The track, co-produced by Polachek and Danny L Harle and featuring London’s Trinity Boys & Girls Choir, comes with a video co-directed by Polachek and Matt Copson. Check it out below.
“The overabundance of this world overwhelms me,” Polachek said of ‘Billions’ in a statement. “Sometimes it seems like ultimate tragedy, the earth being pillaged and destroyed for it. Sometimes it seems pre-human, beyond morality, sublime. I don’t pick sides, I just live here, with you. How does it feel, being so rich?”
The new single will be part of a 7″ vinyl with a B-side featuring a rework of Polachek’s recent Oneohtrix Point Never collaboration ‘Long Road Home’, which you can also hear below. Since releasing her 2021 single ‘Bunny Is a Rider’, Caroline Polachek has teamed up with Christine and Charli XCX for ‘New Shapes’ and joined Murkage Dave on ‘Awful Things’.
More often than not, people tend to be more concentrated on the variety of games offered by an online casino or if they have free cash bonuses. With that, the manner of deposit and withdrawal processes matter before anything else when selecting a casino. The thrill brought by casino sites will subside if you have to wait for a few more days to withdraw your winnings. You would like to look for fast payout casinos for that reason and ensure secure access to your winnings.
Engaging with instant payout casinos aces up your sleeve, so you can have possession of a bunch of money to invest in bets. It is mainly because they usually permit withdrawal of funds within the next 24 hours to their players. It’s completely different from slow payout casinos, which generally take several weeks or months to process a withdrawal request. Taking it into consideration, it makes you wonder why dealing with fast payout online casinos in Australia matter at all. Does it genuinely give a more significant advantage to players given speed?
Fast payout casinos are gaming dens that indispensably prioritize the prompt and efficient processing of player withdrawal requests. As a competitive positioning strategy, casinos often associate themselves as fast-paying casinos to light players’ fire. This type of casino has a minuscule pending timescale to none and can transfer your cash in its entirety.
A clear indication that a casino has exceptional internal processes and control regarding withdrawal response is its ability to process requests with the slightest delay. It’s indisputable that playing at online casinos is quite risky. Therefore, assuring the players with quick payouts can make them more laid back and doubtless about their gaming involvement. For further elaboration of the benefits of fast payout casinos, let’s dive into the following details:
Various factors determine if the withdrawal process of a casino is speeding up or slowing down. The foremost factor has relevance to the online casino itself. Do they have enough staff to cater to the day-to-day operations and the concerns of the players? In fast payout casinos and significant online casinos, the segregation of duties is well-defined as they assign teams according to deposits, payouts, and withdrawals. Still, it may be the other way around for smaller online casinos.
The withdrawal method applied is another issue to take into consideration. Some ways have slower processing than others, so there will be additional time for the whole transaction if a player chooses it. One more factor that slows the process is the unawareness of a player about wagering requirements and the lowest deposit amounts. They can easily miss it out since these conditions laid out by fast payout casinos are written in small print most of the time.
To abolish your worries and doubts away, find the most trustworthy payment processor to guarantee a reliable process while you’re having a good time. Let yourself be engrossed in the exhilarating experience effectuated by casino sites, especially now that the future of fast payout casinos is brighter ahead because some payment methods are slowly adopting cryptocurrency payment systems!
Experienced, creative professionals with in-demand skills are getting paid better each year. After the economic slump and hiring freeze of 2020 and 2021, the job market is finally picking up speed starting in 2022. If you have experience in the creative field like design, user experience modelling, arts, or fine arts, there is a high possibility you could land your dream job pretty soon.
Countries like the United States and Canada are already hiring creative professionals for several excellent job roles in high paying positions. If moving to a new country is something you are looking at, you should get help on immigrating to Canada and consider the job opportunities there. While moving to a new country isn’t always a piece of cake, one of the first things to consider is the job market and roles that fit your skill sets.
Let us help you with some high paying career options for creative people in 2022.
Creative Director:
Creative Directors are primarily responsible for managing the end-to-end creative process and ensuring quality control and production requirements. They manage and lead large creative teams and actively direct all team members in the advertising, marketing, and production processes for online, TV, PR, and media channels. They are also responsible for ensuring brand voice, tonality, and content is uniform across all streams.
Most large brands require experienced creative directors with a minimum of 8 years of experience in the field. Creative directors with suitable expertise and education backing their skills get approximately $140,000 per annum with a host of benefits and take home incentives. A strong background in video content creation and editing or copywriting is usually one of the most basic requirements for this job position.
Creative Directors have extremely transferrable job roles and are in excellent positions to shift from their home country to another. Depending on the years of experience and the fields worked, getting a higher salary jump and better benefits is possible.
Front-end web developers are responsible for bringing cohesive structure to UX, digital marketing, design, and ideas. These professionals must write comprehensive code for mobile and web-based applications, develop appealing user experiences, and control and manage the web development process across multiple channels. This job role is collaborative, so most web developers need proven track records of team building, cross-group work experience, and several soft skills.
Besides communication skills, front-end web developers also need to be wizards at HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and sometimes jQuery. Most brands also prefer hiring someone with experience in Adobe Creative Suite and content management systems. The average salary for this position is $95,000 and more.
Front-end Web Developers are not specific to any field and have a lot of scope to move between cities or countries. Developer job opportunities in countries like the US, Canada, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and more are excellent.
PR Directors excel at creating go-to-market public relations strategies, overseeing the budgets, developing and managing large PR teams, and ensuring implementation of all PR initiatives. PR Directors ensure uniformity in the brand voice, manage all positive and negative associations with the brand, and help in improving the overall business or company image in front of the consumers and general public.
Public Relations Directors are also responsible for arranging interviews with celebrities, bringing them on board as the face of the brand for marketing activities, using influencers to create a positive buzz, dealing with sensitive issues surrounding the brand, and dealing with the brand reputation. The approximate salary of a PR Director is $100,000 for someone with experience working in large companies.
With the onset of so many opportunities being opened in different countries, most PR Directors also have a lot of scope to shift. The job is applicable across several large fields and geographies. If you plan to shift, you should try to get the legalities and paperwork done as soon as possible, so you can hunt for accommodation and employment in the new country. It is also good to ensure you look towards selling your current house, fix claims for housing disrepair, and start winding down the entire household. Doing this will help save a lot of time and money in the long term.
Other jobs also have an excellent scope of work and high salaries like UX Designers, Art Directors, Interactive Art Directors, Brand Managers, Mobile Designers, Advertising Directors, and more. Most of these jobs are highly transferrable and can be sought in different countries with a better chance of employment, standard of living, and salaries.
Fleet Foxes have announced a headlining tour in support of their 2020 album Shore. Set to kick off on June 27, the tour will mark the band’s return to live shows since 2018 and spans North America, the UK, and Europe. It will feature Robin Pecknold joined by multi-instrumentalists Skyler Skjelset, Casey Wescott, Christian Wargo, and Morgan Henderson. Tickets go on sale on Friday, February 18. Check out the full list of dates and a tour trailer below.
Fleet Foxes 2022 Tour Dates:
Jun 27 – Salt Lake City, UT – Sandy Amphitheater
Jun 28 – Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom
Jul 1 – Dallas, TX – The Factory in Deep Ellum
Jul 2 – Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall
Jul 3 – Austin, TX – Moody Amphitheater
Jul 5 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Federal Theatre
Jul 6 – San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheater
Jul 8 – Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theatre
Jul 9 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl
Jul 10 – Berkeley, CA – The Greek Theatre
Jul 12 – Portland, OR – McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater
Jul 15 – Seattle, WA – King County’s Marymoor Park
Jul 29 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater
Jul 30 – Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy
Jul 31 – Pelham, TN – The Caverns
Aug 2 – Minneapolis, MN – Surly Brewing Festival Field
Aug 3 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed
Aug 5 – Detroit, MI – Masonic Temple Theatre
Aug 6 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
Aug 9 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Aug 10 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion
Aug 12 – Philadelphia, PA – The Mann Center
Aug 13 – New York, NY – Forest Hills Stadium
Aug 26 – London, UK – All Points East
Aug 28 – Dublin, IE – National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks
Aug 30 – Edinburgh, UK – Usher Hall
Aug 31 – Glasgow, UK – O2 Academy Glasgow
Sep 2 – Wiltshire, UK – End of the Road Festival
Sep 3 – Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo Manchester
Sep 5 – Paris, FR – Salle Pleyel
Sep 6 – Antwerp, BE – De Roma
Sep 7 – Brussels, BE – Ancienne Belgique
Sep 9 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
Sep 10 – Utrecht, NL – Tivoli Vredenburg (Ronda)
Sep 11 – Berlin, BE – Columbiahalle
The Beths have dropped a new single called ‘A Real Thing’. Their first new song since the release of their 2020 LP Jump Rope Gazers, the track arrives ahead of the group’s upcoming UK tour. Check out a video for it below.
“‘A Real Thing’ is a kind of anxiety dream. It’s a bit muddled, a bit frantic, a bit sinister,” lead singer Liz Stokes explained in a press release. “It’s what came out of my guitar in late 2020, post NZ election (and U.S. election). I was limply reaching for optimism about the future, but was really just marinating in dread.”
Maria BC has announced their debut album, Hyaline, which comes out May 27 via Father/Daughter (US) and Fear of Missing Out Records (UK). Today’s announcement comes with the release of a new single called ‘The Only Thing’, alongside an accompanying video. Check it out below.
The Ohio-born, Oakland, CA-based artist recorded Hyaline in their untreated apartment when they used to live in Brooklyn, using tracks recorded directly into their phone and audio samples collected over the years alongside ethereal guitars and minimal percussion.
‘The Only Thing’ is “about allowing yourself to be seen fully by another person. When you find they aren’t afraid, you realize you shouldn’t be either,” Maria BC explained in a statement. “It took me a bunch of tries to finish the arrangement for this one. It felt too sparse, while the song is about that full, effervescent, sun-is-coming-up feeling of new love. I spent several weeks adding parts and scrapping them — you know, getting nowhere. Then, at some point, I realized the refrain of another song I was working on had the same chord progression as ‘The Only Thing’ refrain. I turned that into a kind of counter-melody, Liz Fraser style, and I think it tied the whole thing together.”
Hyaline will follow Maria BC’s debut EP Devil’s Rain.
Hyaline Cover Artwork:
Hyaline Tracklist:
1. No Reason
2. April
3. The Only Thing
4. ROF
5. Keepsakes
6. Rerun
7. ***
8. Betelgeuse
9. The Big Train
10. Good Before
11. Hyaline
Father John Misty has shared a new single, ‘Q4’, taken from his upcoming fifth album Chloë and the Next 20th Century. It arrives today alongside a video directed by Grant James, with title design by Rafa Orrico and animation by Cossa. Check it out below.
The follow-up to 2018’s God’s Favorite Customer is due for release on April 8 via Sub Pop. Father John Misty announced the LP back in January with the single ‘Funny Girl’, which landed on our Best New Songs series. On April 14, the singer-songwriter will celebrate the release of Chloë and the Next 20th Century with a pair of performances presented by Rough Trade and Rockefeller Center at the Rainbow Room in NYC.
Kathleen Frances has released a new single called ‘Boy’. It’s the third single from her forthcoming debut EP Through the Blue, following ‘Shout Love’ and ‘Grown’. Give it a listen below.
“This one took me ages to write,” Frances explained in a statement. “I was really hurting from a breakup. I just wasn’t ready to go there. I had a few nice ideas but nothing that felt right. It was all too surface level. I had to find what I really felt about it deep down, underneath the feelings of betrayal and bruised ego. I had to figure out what I really wanted from this person now.”
“Things change, people change,” Frances continued. “It’s sad but it’s also hopeful, it allows you to take stock and figure out what you really want. With this song, I was attempting to get the balance right between cathartic sadness and self assuredness.”
Through the Blue is due out on March 2. Last month, Frances shared a cover of Electric Youth and College’s ‘A Real Hero’ as part of Secretly Canadian’s 25 year anniversary celebrations.
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