Dry Cleaning made their US TV debut last night (November 19), performing ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch it below.
‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ appears on Dry Cleaning’s debut album, New Long Leg, released back in April via 4AD. They’ve since played a ‘Tiny Desk (Home) Concert’ for NPR and shared the tracks ‘Bug Eggs’ and ‘Tony Speaks!’, recorded during the sessions for the LP. The band will wrap up their sold-out fall North American tour tonight (November 20) with a show at Brooklyn’s Market Hotel, and are set to embark on a series of European shows in January 2022 before their UK and Ireland tour.
Thank You Thank You, the project of Tyler Bussey (of Strange Ranger, Self Defense Family, and formerly The World Is a Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid to Die), has shared two new songs. ‘Undiminished Life’ and ‘Look Alive’ feature contributions from Bussey’s former TWIABP bandmates Katie Dvorak and Chris Teti, Jodi’s Nick Levine, Nina Keith, Really From’s Matt Hull, and Blue Ranger’s Evan Marré. Listen to the tracks below.
“It’s crazy how long I’ve worked on this song, because my voice doesn’t even sound like that anymore,” Bussey said of ‘Undiminished Life’ in a statement. “When I wrote this song about growing up and reckoning with all that’s lost and all that’s gained as time passes and things change, I had no idea that the recording process would take so long or so completely mirror that theme.”
Keith Allison, the singer, songwriter, and musician who was a member of Paul Revere & the Raiders, has died. Allison died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Sherman Oaks, a family spokesperson has confirmed. He was 79.
In addition to performing with the Raiders from 1968 to 1975, the Texas native also contributed to albums by the Monkees, including their self-titled 1966 debut, 1967’s Headquarters and 1968 Head. He also played guitar and harmonica on Sonny & Cher’s ‘The Beat Goes On’, which was recorded in 1966. A year later, he signed to Columbia Records and released the album Keith Allison in Action, produced by Gary Usher. Over the years, he worked with the likes of Roy Orbison, the Righteous Brothers, Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Rick Nelson, The Crickets, The Beach Boys, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, and Johnny Rivers.
Allison also devoted his time to acting, playing Captain James J. White in Gods and Generals (2003) and appearing on episodes of Blossom, 7th Heaven, and The Love Boat. He continued to perform into the 21st century, becoming a longtime member of the Waddy Watchel Band and playing bass in Jerry Lee Lewis’ 2007 record Last Man Standing. He played guitar and sang with the Crickets during their final performance in 2016.
“It is with deep sadness [we] announce the passing of Keith Allison,” Paul Revere & the Raiders wrote in a statement. “We all here in the Raider family are terribly heartbroken. Keith will always be a Raider. Our love goes out to Keith’s wife Tina, son Ryeland, daughters Allison and Brenda, and all the grandchildren. Keith was a friend to all, and everyone loved Keith. His presence will be strongly missed.”
It’s safe to say that online casino is a concept that a lot of people find exciting. This is especially true when it comes to young and tech-savvy people. If you are one of those people, but you don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to online casino games, you’ve come to the right place. Today we are going to talk about the most fun games beginner players can play at an online casino. Here are the 3 games you should definitely play if you are a new casino player.
Slot Games
Slot games are, without question, the go-to option for many inexperienced and experienced casino players. However, why are slot games so good for beginners? It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about regular slots or video slots, these games are simple and easy to learn. They also provide the player with amazing and exciting themes. New players who decide to play slots are able to win valuable prizes, regardless of the fact that they don’t have impressive skills. This is the main reason why slot games are perfect for beginners.
Texas Hold ‘Em
New players who want to try something a little bit different should definitely consider playing Texas Hold ‘Em. This variation of poker is the most popular one today and there are plenty of reasons for this. The two most important ones are its simplicity and excitement. The game is easy to learn and players can earn valuable prizes. Also, considering that this game is played online, beginner players don’t have to worry about whether or not they’re showing their tell. This is one of the best card games for new casino players.
Craps
If playing slots and card games isn’t your cup of tea, then you should definitely try playing craps. Have you ever seen a Hollywood movie about a casino? If you have, then you’ve definitely seen a scene where a person throws a pair of dice across a table while saying something like – come on, mom needs new shoes. Well, this game is called craps and it’s all about luck. The players at the table bet on the outcome of the pair of dice and that’s about it. Therefore, if you want to test your luck and maybe win valuable prizes, this game is for you. Online casino games can be a lot of fun, but you have to be careful and play responsibly.
Kavinsky has returned with ‘Renegade’, his first new song in eight years. The French producer worked with Victor Le Masne and Justice’s Gaspard Augé on the track, which was co-written by and features vocals from Cautious Clay. Check out its Alexandre Courtès-directed video below.
According to a press release, ‘Renegade’ will appear on Kavinsky’s upcoming full-length Reborn, which will follow 2013’s Outrun.
“Sorry that I’ve been slow/ You know it takes a little time for me to show/ How I really feel,” Courtney Barnett sings on her latest LP, Things Take Time, Take Time, a callback to its predecessor, 2018’s Tell Me How You Really Feel. You might have already guessed as much from the title of the new album, but she really does mean it: the line appears on the very last track on the record. It’s not a surprising admission, but she makes up for her tentativeness with a simple yet inviting proposition: “Won’t you meet me somewhere in the middle?”
If you’ve stuck around to this point, you’ve probably already agreed to take her up on that offer. True to its name, Things Take Time, Take Time unravels with the patient deliberation that only a trusted friend would have to endure, but once you settle into its narcotic flow, the rewards are plentiful. Barnett begins by looking out her window in Melbourne, Australia, cycling through a series of wry observations on the lead single ‘Rae Street’; its removed nature may be initially alarming, but her memorable hooks and apparent earnestness are enough to draw you in until she starts to open up more. For a songwriter whose masterful debut, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, earned her a reputation for turning the minutiae of everyday life into a source of profundity, here her goal seems to simply be to pay attention, perhaps asking you, if anything at all, to do the same. Sometimes her insights are interesting, sometimes less so, and that’s okay. “Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you,” she sang on her debut; even more so than her previous album, Things Take Time is proof that sometimes, you just have to take her word for it.
That line from Sometimes I Sit anticipated the relatively lukewarm reception to Tell Me How You Really Feel, a richer if less consistently captivating set of songs that brought a new weightiness to Barnett’s biting lyrical approach. With the exception of a few lines from ‘Rae Street’, (“Hope and prayers, though well-meaning, they don’t mean a thing/ Unless we see some change/ I think I’ll change my sheets today”), the new album doesn’t aim for the same kind of ferocity, but it does continue the thread of her searching for the right words to express herself. This time, however, that struggle seems to revolve less around her art and the pressures of fame than her own personal relationships, making way for a more unburdened kind of vulnerability that shines through its rough-hewn arrangements. It is at once upbeat and reserved, existing at its own pace while still yearning for connection.
Barnett has always been an empathetic storyteller, but Things Take Time, Take Time might be her most generous collection to date. It’s this quality that animates the record’s strong middle run: on ‘Before You Gotta Go’, she breezily intimates her need to offer some words of affection before the inevitable end of a relationship, and the song is as entrancing as its subject matter: “You’re always on my mind.” Her own perspective is almost entirely absent on ‘Turning Green’, in which she sings, “I want you to tell me everything/ Tell me everything/ I’ve never seen you so happy.” Instead of disclosing all the details, she and musical collaborator Stella Mozgawa give the song enough space for her to channel whatever sentiments come up in the form of an expressive, exuberant guitar solo. It’s one of the few moments on the record where she allows the simplicity of the song to take its course; the following ‘Take It Day by Day’ packs a few compelling ideas into its two-minute runtime, but cuts itself short before her words of advice can really be cherished.
Throughout Things Take Time, Barnett exhibits a sense of gratitude that makes her sound genuine even when she doesn’t have something remarkable or poignant to say. When the instrumental works in her favour, like on the enveloping ‘Here’s the Thing’, the feelings naturally reverberate. Elsewhere, her self-awareness can turn a trite sentiment into a potent one, like when she promises someone they’ll “scream self-righteously” as they watch the world burn (“Sorta self-righteous, my heart of gold,” she once sang). Unlike many of her contemporaries, she doesn’t need to rely on a parasocial relationship to capture the listener’s attention or earn their trust. But that doesn’t drive her away from emotional honesty, which is ultimately what makes the album’s least exciting moments resonate. “Oh no, I am really gonna miss you,” she repeats on ‘Splendour’, casually, as if the realization hasn’t quite struck her yet. But give it time, and it might deepen into a strange kind of nostalgia.
Mark Wilkinson, better known to drum and bass fanatics simply as Wilkinson, is a prominent name in the dance music world. Mark has released a flurry of triumphant tracks, including Afterglow, which peaked at number one on the UK dance charts and has over 100 million streams on Spotify alone.
With many new projects coming, Wilkinson joined us for an interview to talk about his latest album and his brand new single, Used to This.
Firstly, how are you, and how is the music world treating you?
I’m good thanks and yes the music world is treating me well all things considered in these rather crazy times we’re now living in! I get to do something I love every day, so I’m very grateful and aware just how fortunate I am.
Not long ago, you launched your label, Sleepless Music label. How did the idea for it come about, and what do you hope to achieve with it being one of the most prominent artists in the electronic music sphere?
Yes we launched in Feb and we’ve worked really hard this year to release music we are passionate about. I used to co-own CYN Music many, many years ago with Cyantific and Snap Clicker so running a label has always been in my DNA. It just felt like the right time to do it again, this time with Sleepless Music. We want to build something special and work with a handful of artists we believe in. It’s not about putting the label front and centre, it’s about putting the artists first. Giving them fair deals and a bespoke service. I really enjoy the A&R process of finding new talent and helping them take their music to the next level. I find it very rewarding. We’ve put music out now from myself, Krakota, Audioscribe, Montell2099 and K Motionz. And we’re only just getting started!
You’ve had a great year in terms of releases. Do you have a favourite track you’ve released this year?
Ah thanks. I just try and stay consistent and am sitting on so much new music it’s hard to not release records every few months. Not sure if I have a favourite but I’m really excited by my new single Used To This. It features Issey Cross who’s an amazing new talent and I’ve wanted to make something rolling, with a sweet vocal sound for a while now, so it just came together really organically.
You’ve announced your third studio album, Cognition. What is the theme of the album, and how will it differ from your previous work sonically?
Yes it drops this Feb and I actually feel like its my best album to date. It’s been two years in the making and the theme is really about the Cognitive process, hence the title. I think its reflected in the artwork as well. I want people to really feel my music when they hear it. It’s a sensory thing. I’ve got the usual club bangers on there, plus more musical and deep moments and I’ve been really lucky to work with some incredible writers, artists and a couple of my new favourite producers. I’m just excited to get it out there now!
Do you have any specific tracks from the album that you feel have escalated your production skills further?
Well I’d like to think the whole album is a step up. That’s what I try to aim for on each project. I always want to better my song-writing, my ideas and my sonics on each record. That’s the plan anyway!
With 2022 around the corner, you have the album releasing and a massive show at the Brixton Academy in February. Do you have any other big potential releases or shows that you can tease us with?
Ah yes Brixton is going to be amazing. I’ve done Brixton twice before and it kind of feels like my London home now. But yes there’s a lot confirmed for next year, not only myself but also Sleepless. We basically try to never take our foot off the gas. So expect tours, festivals, lots of releases and much more.
Finally, what advice would you give up and coming music producers looking to succeed in the music industry?
As cliché as it sounds… just be yourself. Be true to what you love. I think social media has its pros of course, but I also believe social media can make you compare too much and make you lose sight of what is natural and organic. Spend less time trying to get ‘likes’ and more time honing your craft. This is a marathon not a sprint. And remember to enjoy the journey because the destination is a myth.
Cassandra Jenkins has today released (An Overview on) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, a collection of alternate takes and outtakes culled from the sessions for her sophomore album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature. It includes the new song ‘American Spirits’, which the singer-songwriter shared earlier this month, as well as first takes of ‘Hailey’ and ‘New Bikini’, the latter of which has also gotten the video treatment. Below, listen to the full album and watch the ‘New Bikini (First Take)’ video, which Jenkins made with longtime visual collaborator Wyndham Boylen-Garnett.
Cassandra Jenkins shared the following statement on the new release:
It’s been exactly two years since I wrote the songs that make up An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, and making (An Overview on) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature gave me the chance to revisit their origins, and step back to appreciate just how many twists and turns my life has taken since then, inside and outside of the songs. I love hearing where they started, the ideas that Josh Kaufman and I tried and discarded, and the fragments of audio left in the wings of the cutting room floor.
Right now I’m on tour playing these songs with a band for the first time, and allowing them to shift again and take on new life as we play them and meet people who connected with my music over the course of the past year. Every show feels like a miracle– for so many reasons, I thought my life as a touring musician was over, and it’s hard to believe I’m here, traveling from city to city as I make my way back to the island in Norway where the seeds of my record were planted. These songs are so personal, and they continue to change as my life changes. They pushed me further into the unknown, and it’s as terrifying and beautiful as ever.
Talking about the video for ‘New Bikini (First Take)’, she added:
I shot the video to accompany “New Bikini (First Take)” in upstate New York, where I spent much of my childhood swimming in local watering holes, where the uneven ground, sharp rocks, mud, and leeches never deterred me. One great irony of “New Bikini,” is that last year I became very ill from coming into contact with contaminated water shortly after writing the song, which led to a latent fear of swimming in streams and glens. When it came time to shoot this video last month, Wyndham (Garnett) suggested filming at a swimming hole, which meant facing and overcoming my fears. And so, in revisiting this song, and moving through discomfort, I found myself in the process of healing my wounds, once again, at the edge of the water.
Companion, the Fort Collins, Colorado-based project of identical twin sisters Sophia and Jo Babb, have released their debut single. ‘How Could I Have Known’ is out today alongside an accompanying video directed by Jo and shot by Rahul Chakraborty. Watch and listen below.
“I started writing ‘How Could I Have Known’ at the beginning of my first autumn in northern Colorado,” Sophia Babb explained in a press release. “I quickly learned that fall is a fleeting, beautifully short time in the mountains. It takes just a few blustery days for all the yellow aspen leaves to give way to bare trees, snowfall, and early sunsets. At the time, I was engaged to my now husband. He was dealing with some concerning medical issues, and I developed an over-awareness of how quickly I could never see him again. Having lost family members without warning in the past, I became anxiously aware that just as soon as he came into my life, he could leave it, too. Though this thought, at its core, is a very scary one, when I looked beyond the fear of losing something I held so dearly, I could see the incredible gift it is to have something to hold dear in the first place. I showed Jo the beginnings of the song, and we finished it together in an afternoon.”
Chakraborty added of the video: “We came to Fort Collins with some wardrobe, a camera and lenses. We filmed with an anamorphic lens and lit our scenes with mostly raw, natural lighting and our set became the whole city. It was a wonderful time spent with best friends and incredible music.”
Adele‘s much-anticipated new album 30 has arrived via Columbia. Inspired by her divorce from ex-husband Simon Konecki, the album marks the singer-songwriter’s first full-length release in six years and includes the previously released single ‘Easy on Me’. Adele also previewed tracks from the record in a CBS special earlier this month and teased the song ‘Hold On’ in a holiday-themed Amazon commercial. 30 features contributions from frequent collaborators Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Shellback, and Tobias Jesso Jr, as well as new collaborators Inflo and Ludwig Göransson.
Converge have released a new LP, Bloomoon: I, a collaborative effort featuring Chelsea Wolfe, her bandmate/writing partner Ben Chisolm, and Cave In vocalist/guitarist Stephen Brodsky. “We wanted to do something grander than the typical four-piece Converge music,” Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon said of the record, which is out now via Epitaph and includes the previously shared singles ‘Blood Moon’ and ‘Coil’. “Our dynamics are pushing and pulling in all different directions on this record, and I find that to be creatively rewarding.” Wolfe added, “The project stretched my vocals in new ways. It’s so different than what I normally sing over that I was able to open up and be vulnerable with my vocals.”
Ovlov – the Connecticut band comprised of Steve Hartlett on vocals and guitar, Morgan Luzzi on guitar, Theo Hartlett on drums, and Jon Hartlett on bass – are back with a new album titled Buds. Out now via Exploding in Sound, the follow-up to 2018’s TRU features contributions from Smile Machine’s Jordyn Blakely, Dig Nitty’s Erin McGrath, and Ringo Deathstarr’s Alex Gehring, and includes the early singles ‘Eat More’, ‘Land of Steve-O’, and ‘The Wishing Well’. Talking about Buds in an interview with The FADER, Steve Hartlett said, “If we were going to [make another album], we were going to go into it in many different ways from the previous two as far as our efforts in recording, our efforts in songwriting, the actual takes we get, just everything we wanted to try just a little bit harder.”
Mr Twin Sister have released their latest LP, Al Mundo Azul. The New York quartet’s fourth full-length album and first since 2018’s Salt was previewed by the songs ‘Beezle’, ‘Ballarino’, ‘Diary’, ‘Expressions’, and ‘Polvo’. “We wanted to flip stylistic switches to their opposite positions,” the group’s Gabel D’Amico said of the album in press materials. “Immediacy over complexity, alien sounds over natural ones, loose playing over perfect takes. A bright record to come after all the nighttime music we’ve made.”
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have reunited for a new collaborative album, which arrives 14 years after their previous effort, Raising Sand. Out today via Warner Music, Raise the Roofis largely a covers record, featuring 12 new recordings of songs by Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, The Everly Brothers, Anne Briggs, and more. It was produced by T Bone Burnett and includes contributions from drummer Jay Bellerose, guitarists Marc Ribot, David Hidalgo, Bill Frisell, and Buddy Miller, bassists Dennis Crouch and Viktor Krauss, and pedal steel guitarist Russ Pahl, among others. “We wanted it to move,” Krauss said of the LP. “We brought other people in, other personalities within the band, and coming back together again in the studio brought a new intimacy to the harmonies.”
Quitter is the sophomore full-length from Weakened Friends, the Portland, Maine trio Weakened Friends of vocalist/guitarist Sonia Sturino, bassist, Annie Hoffman, and drummer Adam Hand. Out now via Big Scary Monsters/Don Giovanni Records, the album was preceded by the singles ‘Tunnels’ and the title track and follows the band’s 2018 debut Common Blah. According to a press release, it centers around the theme of quitting music and “getting a real job.”
British electronic producer Holy Other has followed up his 2012 record Held with a new one titledLieve. Featuring the advance tracks ‘Shudder’, ‘Groundless’, and the title track, the 10-song LP is “an album about L(i)eaving, coming to terms with the past, and trying to live in the present,” according to a press release. Recorded throughout 2020 in the northwest of England, the album emerged from the producer’s stay in Bidston Observatory on the Wirral, a cavernous space built from wooden domes. It features vocals from NYX’s Sian O’Gorman, violin from Simmy Singh, and saxophone from Daniel Thorne.
Body/Heat, the duo of Kim Gordon and Bill Nace, have released a new collaborative record with experimental musician Aaron Dilloway. Body/Dilloway/Head’s self-titled album is out now via Three Lobed, following Body/Head’s 2018 album The Switch. “One of the things I like most about playing improvised music and especially in Body/Head with Bill is the constantly exhilarating freedom and surprise about what is going to happen at any given moment,” Gordon explained in a statement. “Making this record with Aaron Dilloway, who I have always admired so much, added in another layer of unknown and another way of giving up control. Aaron took our sounds / music as a source and had ‘his way with it’ so to speak, crushing whatever narrative that existed in order to enter into it and making something different than what we would have done as Body/Head.”
Ovlov
Mr Twin Sister
Robert Plant
Quitter
British electronic producer 
Body/Heat