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Charli XCX Announces New Documentary ‘Charli XCX: Alone Together’

Charli XCX: Alone Together, the new documentary about the creation of the singer’s lockdown album how i’m feeling now, is coming to cinemas and VOD on January 28. The film, which premiered at SXSW back in March, is the feature-length directorial debut from Bradley & Pablo, best known for creating music videos for Harry Styles, Rosalía, and Lil Nas X. It was produced by Charli with Snoot Entertainment and Dangerous Baby Productions.

“With almost a year of editing over 5000 clips from different cameras and formats condensed into 107 minutes, Charli XCX: Alone Together is a love letter to her fans who are the co-stars of the movie,” a description for the film reads.

Charli XCX’s next album, CRASH, is set to arrive on March 18, 2022.

Nisa Unveils New Single ‘The Savior’

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New York City-based artist Nisa has shared ‘The Savior’, the final preview of her upcoming EP Time to Plant TearsGive it a listen below.

“‘The Savior’ is a trumpet call from within beckoning me to stop prioritizing others’ needs over my own, especially when it comes to making choices that affect me first,” Nisa explained in a statement. “It’s a reminder of the grounding nature of focus when the illusion of control starts to fade.”

Time To Plant Tears, the follow-up to Nisa’s debut EP Guilt Trip, is out December 2. It includes the previously released tracks ‘St James Gate’ and ‘Cold’.

Gordi Covers Dolly Parton’s ‘Grass Is Blue’

Gordi, aka Sophie Payten, has shared a cover of Dolly Parton’s 1999 track ‘Grass is Blue’. “I wanted to cover it because Dolly funded the Moderna vaccine and is an all round queen,” she wrote on Twitter. Check out the cover, alongside a video directed by Triana Hernandez, below.

Gordi released her second album, Our Two Skins, in the summer of 2020. Earlier this year, she teamed up with Alex Lahey on the track ‘Dino’s’. Check out our Artist Spotlight feature with Gordi.

Style in Gaming: A Beginner’s Guide

The culture of video games has made the jump to mainstream. There are a variety of explanations for this. First, the video games themselves have become digitally enhanced with elevated graphics and gaming techniques. Second, the availability of social networking sites means gamers are now able to connect with one another, developing their skills and forming niche fanbases.

Still, not all ‘gaming’ looks alike. Today, there are two core industries that fit under the umbrella term: casino gaming and video gaming. Casinos have been around for almost five hundred years, with many popular games from poker to slots developing slowly over time (or in the last century, in the latter case).

This long and storied history is reflected in the diversity of online casino games offered by companies such as Betway, which includes dozens of game options along with live variations. Like the rise of video games, casino gaming has a culture that’s unique to the industry, including major events that draw in thousands of viewers and celebrity pros.

Even fashion can be viewed as a unique characteristic of gaming. Though casinos tend to have a much more extravagant reputation than the arena of screaming eSports fans now associated with video gaming, this might not always be the case.

The Monte Carlo Effect

Generally, the first thing people think of when someone mentions casinos is Las Vegas, but the concept of gaming goes back millennia. Some historians estimate a primitive version of casinos may have been found in Greece during 500 BC, hinting that the earliest gamers wore chiton, himation, and chlamys. Think: white flowy fabrics with royal red accents.

The first physical casino that’s still in operation dates back to 1630 and is on the Grand Canal in Venice. At the time, Italy was the center of fashion as the Renaissance took hold; as such early iterations of modern casino fashion favored romantic draping and heavily structured silhouettes for men and women.

Since then, casino culture has been through several changes and revivals. Its heyday belongs to the Wild West, where card games were considered the primary source of entertainment for lonely frontiersmen. An outfit during this era was not complete without the wide-brimmed cowboy hat. To better accommodate the dusty weather, players would adorn themselves with cowboy vests, leather chaps, and boots.

Today, casino culture has transitioned to be associated with upper-class lifestyles, at least in Europe where casinos like the Monte Carlo command attention. In such cases, there’s no expense spared. Think: Givenchy and Dior, as well as other high-fashion brands.

Big Retail in eSports

Many people might imagine video gamers wearing similar outfits to online casino gamers, where comfort is king. In this case, sweatpants and t-shirts are all a player needs before logging on for hours-long stretches of gaming.

As video games have grown in popularity, however, the video game industry has developed a particular dress code. Though the general public are happy to imagine a couch potato, video gamers, much like their casino counterparts, have historically been pioneers with specialized, niche interests outside of popular entertainment.

As such, many opt for casual attire with a dash of vibrant colors or wear top brands. Some gamers even opt for semi-glamorous looks when it’s time for a major tournament. However, most modern video gaming fashion focuses on merchandise from popular teams like NRG, Fnatic, or Team Liquid.

In the case of Fnatic, one of their latest deals was with Gucci, which slashes the idea that retail video gaming merch has to be casual. Another big-name deal that went through last year was with League of Legends, whose developers collaborated with Louis Vuitton to create a special line of gaming clothes.

But fashion in video gaming doesn’t just come down to gamers. Instead, some of the most popular video game franchises, from Final Fantasy to League of Legends, are also incredibly impactful in the fashion world based on what characters wear.

How Kate Middleton Inspired and Invigorated the Jewelry Market

Kate Middleton, or the Duchess of Cambridge as she’s more formally known, has become a bona fide fashion icon, and it appears her ability to shape a trend now also passes to the jewelry market. 

It’s taken a while for Kate to capture the attention of the general public, but over the course of her relationship with the likely future King of England, Prince William, she’s managed to win over the press, which in turn has led her to be treated with far more dignity and praise than Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle.

Kate Middleton reportedly first attracted the attention of William, when she was walking the catwalk at a university fashion show, and therefore it’s perhaps less of a surprise that she’s now something of a fashion guru.

Whatever garment Kate chooses to wear, invariably, it’s a look that fashion outlets try to market, and this then leads to the general public looking to mimic her accordingly. Now it seems her fashion choices extend to accessories.

Kate took to wearing personalized jewelry, and one exceptionally high-quality initial necklace drew adoring attention from the media and then the masses. The item was a $1400 piece that was inscribed with the names of their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

As well as the names, the necklace included three diamonds and was made with 9-karat gold. She has previously worn other items of personalized jewelry, including an initial necklace, on a tour of Scotland and previously, also been seen wearing a different gold initial engraved necklace. It’s clear, she is a big fan of statement jewelry that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also has a deeper meaning. 

This has led to an upsurge in sales of similar items, and other celebrities have similarly assisted in making personalized jewelry a hugely popular option. The likes of Rihanna, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift have all been seen wearing such items, some more subtle than others like a crown ring.

The significant upturn has further aided the push in sales of personalized jewelry in online jewelry sales. This avenue of the market has become hugely popular, and is an excellent way for shoppers to access a far larger market than they may have in their vicinity.

The cost of items bought online is regularly lower than on the high street, and it’s now a regular activity for those who like to shop more generally online.

However, shopping for jewelry online isn’t without its potential pitfalls, and as such, we’d suggest you follow some essential instructions in this field to avoid disappointment.

Tips for Shopping for Jewelry Online

Shopping for jewelry online is a little different from other areas of e-commerce activity, in so much as there are additional actions and issues you need to be aware of.

Firstly do your research, be very mindful when it comes to shopping for jewelry, especially if the site you are visiting isn’t a well-known one. Most leading high street brands have an online presence though; in all likelihood, you’ll find more reasonably priced items than those that are exclusively online. 

Secondly, when you are checking out potential online jewelers, you should pay close attention to their shipping and returns policies. As you will sometimes be purchasing very expensive items, you’ll want to be sure of the manner in which these are delivered and where the liability for this lies. Additionally, you should look for a store that offers you the chance to return an item if it’s not to your liking.

It’s also critical that the item comes with some form of appraisal or certification that backs up the quality of the items in question. This is what you’d want from a physical jeweler and is doubly important when it comes to buying online, mainly because the recourse you might seek will be more problematic when dealing with an entity that may not be in your neighborhood.

As you are buying jewelry without being able to try it on, you’ll want the online store to have a good selection of sizes and the relevant information to help ensure that the fit will be appropriate for you or, indeed, the individual you may be buying the piece for.

The Beauty of Personalized Jewelry 

Once you’ve selected an online store that you feel meets these standards, you can now make the most of the great deals you can get on top-quality, personalized jewelry. As a gift, this type of present is perfect on so many levels.

You have the opportunity to surprise a loved one with a delicate item of upscale jewelry that has the added benefit of saying something very personal to them. It shows the recipient that you are not only giving them a beautiful gift from an aesthetic point of view but also a piece that has a value that goes beyond the carat of the gold or the quality of a gemstone.

Kate Middleton’s fascination with personalized jewelry has helped to bring the market to the masses, and stores online and physical now have the broadest range of options they’ve ever had for this type of item of jewelry. 

All of this plays in your favor when you start your search for the ideal piece for you or your loved one.

Album Review: Silk Sonic, ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’

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What do you get when you combine the retro-pop genius of Bruno Mars with the neo-soul, rap and R&B of Anderson .Paak? The question might never have been considered until the two artists teamed up to become Silk Sonic – and the answer, in the form of their debut album An Evening With Silk Sonic, is full-blown 70s revival. 

Granted, this isn’t an unexpected move from Mars, whose previous release, 2016’s 24K Magic, is an acrobatics display of reverse-engineered 90s R&B. .Paak’s projects, however, are more firmly grounded in the 21st century, meaning that what emerges from the two halves of Silk Sonic is far more than the sum of its parts. An Evening With Silk Sonic is a commitment to pastiche, blending disco and R&B with 70s funk and 60s soul. At the core of this album is a kind of opulent nostalgia, veering very deliberately into cheesiness, but always with the aim of helping listeners to revel in the music rather than turn away from it. What Mars and .Paak have created, then, is an exercise in indulgence.

This becomes clear from the opening track, as acapella harmonies and kick drum thrusts give way to a sweeping brass section while synthesizers and strings jostle for attention. Renowned bassist Bootsy Collins introduces himself here as “blaster of the universe” and reappears throughout the record to offer morsels of wisdom; his very position as the album’s ‘host’ grants Silk Sonic’s entire project instant validation. 

The artists, however, don’t appear to require any reassurance. ‘Leave the Door Open’, the first single, is a tribute to soul, complete with rippling keys, an ambling beat, and playful flickers of glockenspiel that hover behind Mars’ exquisite, billowing falsetto. It is to his credit that he can carry the earnestness of lines such as “Every word that I say is coming straight from the heart” into those affirming, “If you’re hungry, girl I got filets.” Such is the power of confident vocal delivery, and .Paak follows suit amid a skidding beat in ‘Fly As Me’ as he immortalises his superstar status. “Don’t need a spatula, everything catered, extra flavor,” he gleefully half-raps. “Go ahead, sprinkle some truffle on your mashed potatoes.” This is comedy refined by charisma; these absurd declarations land because Mars and .Paak make you want them to. As the call-and-response bridge of this track suggests, An Evening With Silk Sonic is a record that compels its listeners to devote themselves entirely to the world of funk and sentimentality that it so painstakingly produces. And if this succeeds, everything – including some ridiculous writing – begins to feel effortless.

Though the pace slows in ‘After Last Night’, the nostalgia only intensifies. Mingling harmonies as well as sumptuous bass, courtesy of Thundercat, create an old-school disco feel. After Collins drops in to accentuate the steaminess of the track (“Normally I don’t stutter, but you d-d-d-d-do it to me,” he confesses) it finds intensity in the bridge with grittier guitar riffs and some spectacular ad libs. What might seem sickly, then, is impressively crafted. ‘Smokin Out the Window’ trades devotion for bitterness, stealing in with a smattering of ominous strings before funk is reinstated by a slick beat and ever-seductive bass. The lyrics may be yet more laughable (“Must’ve spent thirty-five, forty-five thousand up in Tiffany’s,” Mars begins, while .Paak simply wails, “Oh, no!”) but the track demands surrender to its infectious energy.

The rest of the record extends this glorious offer of escape. ‘Put on a Smile’ chronicles heartache by channeling 70s R&B, with frantic drums dispersing into melancholy keys and airy strings that foreground a particularly brilliant vocal performance from Mars. ‘777’, meanwhile, sees the pair’s hedonistic tendencies provide another dose of inspiration: buzzing guitar crumples into sounds reminiscent of an ascending aircraft as .Paak proclaims, “Moonwalk to the money like I’m Mike Jack,” before beckoning an exuberant brass section. There is no shortage of luxury here.

Even in between ostentatious descriptions of gambling and champagne, the record’s extravagance remains. The swirling strings of ‘Skate’ and dreamy, soaring key changes across the final track, ‘Blast Off’, only further a sense of whimsical recollection. “Wе’re up so high, we’d be fools to look down,” Mars professes, but as the album closes, this very realisation cues a descent back to Earth – and back to the present. Perhaps Silk Sonic’s retro utopia was never destined for permanence, but it certainly makes a lasting impression. 

Keeley Forsyth Announces New Album ‘Limbs’, Unveils Video for New Song

Keeley Forsyth has announced her second album, Limbs, which is set for release on February 25 via The Leaf Label. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the lead single ‘Bring Me Water’, which is accompanied by a video starring Forsyth and dancer Calvin Richardson and directed and edited by Ross Downes. Check it out below.

“The world I wanted to create needed to be anchored firmly in reality,” Keeley Forsyth explained in a press statement. “At the same time the music needed to open free, poetic spheres for the listener, allowing room for their own associations. Limbs that marked out traces of time, in motion rather than static, allowing me to inhabit and flesh out the daily drama of existence precisely. Staying close to reality was something I learned from Antonin Artaud and Pina Bausch.”

Of ‘Bring Me Water’, she added: “The song picks up where ‘Start Again’, the final track on Debris, left off. It comes from a similar place, approached at a different angle, with the line ‘let me begin again’ central to that. It plots a journey from a place of darkness, but marks the point at which we choose to grow. Bring me water. Give me light. These are the basic things required to start that process.”

Limbs will follow Forsyth’s 2020 debut Debris.

Limbs Cover Artwork:

Limbs Tracklist:

1. Fires
2. Bring Me Water
3. Limbs
4. Land Animal
5. Blindfolded
6. Wash
7. Silence
8. I Stand Alone

Sweeping Promises Sign to Sub Pop, Share New Single ‘Pain Without a Touch’

Sweeping Promises – the post-punk outfit led by Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug with live touring drummer Spenser Gralla – have announced their signing to Sub Pop with a new single called ‘Pain Without a Touch’. It’s the band’s first new music since the release of their 2020 debut Hunger for a Way Outwhich came out on Feel It Records (which remains the band’s label in North America). Check it out below, along with Sweeping Promises’ newly announced tour dates.

Sweeping Promises 2022 Tour Dates:

Wed Feb 23 – Nashville, TN – Third Man Records (Blue Room)
Thu Feb 24 – Bloomington, IN  – The Bishop
Wed May 18 – Antwerp, BE – Het Bos
Thu May 19 – Liege, BE – KulturA
Fri May 20 – Amsterdam, NL – London Calling
Sat May 21 – Groningen, NL – Vera
Tue May 24 – Brighton, UK –  Hope & Ruin
Wed May 25 – Bristol, UK – The Exchange
Thu May 26 – Glasgow, UK – Hug & Pint
Fri May 27 – Leeds, UK – Hyde Park Book Club
Sun May 29 – Manchester, UK – YES (Basement)
Mon May 30 – Birmingham, UK – The Hare and Hounds
Tue May 31 – Portsmouth, UK – Wedgewood Rooms
Wed Jun 1 – Lille, FR – La Bulle Café
Thu Jun 2 – Luxembourg, LX – Rotondes
Fri Jun 3 – Kreuzlingen, CH – Horst
Mon Jun 6 – Caen, FR – Portobello Rock Club
Tue Jun 7 – Paris, FR – Supersonic
Thu Jun 9 – Cologne, DE – Bumann & Sohn
Fri Jun 10 – Berlin, DE – Urban Spree
Sat Jun 11 – Mannheim, DE – Maifeld Derby

Deserta Releases New Song ‘Goodbye Vista’

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Deserta has released his latest single, ‘Goodbye Vista’, taken from his upcoming album Every Moment, Everything You NeedThe track follows previous offering ‘I’m So Tired’, which landed on our Best New Songs list. Listen to ‘Goodbye Vista’ below.

“While writing this album I tried to balance the idea of putting myself out there a little more with the consideration that these songs would need to be performed live, loud and with a full band,” Deserta’s Matthew Doty said in a statement about the new song. “The vocal melodies are some of the most vulnerable performance-wise, but the chorus just wasn’t the same without that lift.”

Every Moment, Everything You Need is out February 25 via Felte.

Beirut Unveils Previously Unreleased Song ‘So Slowly’

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Beirut has unveiled the previously unreleased song ‘So Slowly’, which is set to appear on the forthcoming album Artifacts. The double LP compiles unreleased tracks, early works, EPs, and B-sides tracing the project’s evolution and is out January 28 via frontman Zach Condon’s own Pompeii Records. Give a listen to ‘So Slowly’ below.

“I had a few years where all I wanted to play was the Wurlitzer for some reason. I actually first wrote this song on a white baby grand piano that was surprisingly cheap,” Condon explained in a press release. “Apparently white pianos lost their popularity as a status symbol in the thick carpeted living rooms of the 70s. I was particularly proud of the conch shell ‘brass section’ I arranged behind the first vocal parts, using a self-made horn from a huge conch shell my parents had picked up in Key West when they were still young and wild, before me and my brothers were born.” He continued:

After I dropped out of high school, I began work at a local frame shop building antique gilded frames for all the galleries in town. And when I found out how the shells were used as early brass instruments, I took it to the frame shop to consider how to make it playable. In a moment of inspiration I proceeded to belt sand off the end of the shell, then drilled out the rough shape of a trumpet mouthpiece into the spiralled opening. It worked out better than I had imagined. I had used the shell for the opening piece of ‘The Flying Club Cup’ already, but decided to take it to the next level on this song, letting out every sound I could conceive of it making and stacking it up to resemble rough harmonies. I’d like to think this may be the first song to contain melodies done on both a prepared piano and a conch shell. I never knew where to place this song until now.