We’ve all been there. You’re itching to get out and make some music that matters to you—but music is not cheap, and you’re dead broke. When thinking about starting a band and cash is not your friend, you might feel you’re all out of options.
However, making music doesn’t mean spending too much cash right away. There are easy, cheap ways to get started, such as busking, street performing, or just starting a garage band. It’s easy to find a way to get yourself playing music without breaking the bank!
Here’s how to start a band for dirt cheap and still have a complete musical set-up:
Drums
Of all the instruments you are likely to lose most of your money on, the drums will undoubtedly get you—but there are ways to save your bucks. Some bands even find a way to get down to a single drum and a pair of sticks.
If you’ve ever spent time around the subways in any big city, you may come across a bucket drummer. This instrument is precisely as it sounds! Can’t afford a bass drum? A big bucket or empty oil drum could do the work. Need a cymbal? Why spend your last dollar when a trashcan lid can do the work for you?
The only thing that most bucket drummers will still bring along is a snare. Save your bucks, and keep looking for any of the best snare drums to complete your bucket set.
Vocals
Getting vocals going is your most vital free resource, and it might cost you just the price of a pen and notepad!
Try and make up for your lack of budget by showing off your singing talent and letting your creative energy flow wherever you are. A microphone can cost you less than $100, but for now, you might want to see how you can fare without one.
There are plenty of free lessons on YouTube for those favoring a melodic touch, and for those that not blessed with an angelic singing voice, try working on your lyrics instead. Make up for your lack of fancy gear with memorable words that stick in the brain of your future fans.
Guitar
To close off your band, you’ll need someone on guitar. While this feels like it could cost you big bucks, there’s the right way to do it, and then there’s the cheap way.
Guitar enthusiasts will tell you that a cheap guitar is not worth the money. With just a little more saving, you can afford something that will sound good and last the test of time. These naysayers are right—but don’t listen to them! Your dirt cheap band needs to get off the ground first.
The best piece of advice, focus on acoustic. Digging through every flea market, garage sale, and online marketplace, you’re bound to find something for less than $20. It might not stay in tune, but it’s all you need to build to something better for your first band.
Conclusion
When looking back through musical success stories, you’ll find endless examples of people who started from nowhere. That busker on the subway, the punk band stuffed in a garage—many of the great started from very little. Money might make the world go around, but you should never let it get in your way!
Online gambling is flourishing and ever-growing: currently evaluated at $75 billion, the global market of online gambling is expected to triple by 2030 and continue its growth into the decade to follow. Hundreds of online casinos pop up on the market annually, bringing lots of new opportunities, such as live casino games, mixed realities, provably fair gambling, crypto payments, and more.
Both renowned sites – PolskieKasynoHEX.org/, Vulkan Vegas, Energy Casino, etc. – and aspiring ones are fighting for the place under the sun. Speaking of which, for a true gambling aficionado with a tad of entrepreneurial spirit, it’s never too late to start an online casino business and beat the competition with an innovative approach and top-notch services.
What exactly should you do? Seems like Anna Rosak, a gambling expert from KasynoHEX, knows some crucial factors to creating a successful online casino business. Without further ado, let’s jump on it.
Preliminary Research
You have to research the market through and through before taking action. Here are the basic things to check:
Status of online gambling in the country of registration.
Licenses you are going to get and countries you are going to cater to.
Software providers you are going to incorporate.
Bonuses, VIP offers, tournaments, affiliate programs, and other marketing tricks to attract customers.
Payment providers.
The research may take weeks or even months, but you can’t move further without it.
Gambling License
If you’re willing to operate in a regulated market, which is the only legal way to act, then you will have to find out the types of countries you are going to cater to:
Countries allowing third-party casinos.
Countries with a full/partial monopoly on online gambling.
Countries prohibiting some forms of online gambling.
Countries with an unregulated online gambling market.
Based on this, you can understand what licenses you need. There are over a dozen popular license issues – the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority, the Kahnawake Gambling Commission, the Government of Curacao, etc. – each one with a unique set of licensing rules, license duration, and price.
At this point, you should also think of whether you want to get your software verified by a testing agency – for example, eCOGRA – and thus get some extra trust from customers. Or you can jump on the bandwagon of blockchain-based casinos. In this case, you won’t need any external testing since all the gambling history will be stored in a blockchain and everyone will be able to verify the fairness of the outcomes of his games.
Games and Software Providers
Some casinos focus on a single software provider, but that’s not the way to go for a new site. The more games and software providers you can offer, the better. In addition to slots, which is an absolute must for any casino, it’s highly recommended to include all popular table games, card games, wheel games, and maybe some less popular games for those hunting for non-conventional experiences.
Not all brands are equal, though: Microgaming, Evolution Gaming, NetEnt, and Playtech are arguably the four leading brands that most players would like to see at an online casino. The rest brands are kind of less important than those top-4, so keep this in mind.
Perks for Players: Bonuses, VIP Offers, Tournaments, and Elaborated T&C Webpage
Without a shadow of a doubt, you won’t be able to pull it off without providing welcome bonuses and deposit bonuses. Online gamblers are pampered, and they want at least a decent registration bonus to continue, especially from a new and unexplored casino.
The two bonuses that will help you stand out and get more attention are:
No-deposit bonus – a small reward granted for the very fact of signing up for your casino.
No-wagering bonus – a reward that can be cashed out without completing the wagering.
On that note, any bonus with a low wagering requirement would do. Low wagering is key to attracting players, and it might even be better to not offer the bonus at all than apply exorbitant wagering to it. 35x might be the reasonable maximum, but 20x or 10x would look much spicier.
Secure Payments
To lure players into depositing real money into their accounts, you have to open as many payment gateways as possible, including traditional wire transfers, credit & debit cards (VISA, MasterCard, and Amex), electronic and mobile wallets (Neteller, Skrill, Interac, PayPal, Trustly, etc.), prepaid cards (Paysafecard, Neosurf, Astropay, etc.), and cryptocurrencies. Both deposit and withdrawals should be free of charge, instant, and with reasonable minimum and maximum cashout limits, preferably $10 or $20.
The Bottom Line
Creating an online casino is a challenge itself, and creating an in-demand one is even harder. However, being determined, patient, and entrepreneurial, you can overcome all the obstacles to attain your goal. Good luck in your endeavors!
Experiencing the havoc generally associated with a super busy day can leave you feeling exhausted, so it’s absolutely vital that you can take the time to relax and unwind when you finally return to the comfort of your home. Fortunately, figuring out how you can master the art of relaxation so that you can avoid becoming emotionally and physically overwhelmed doesn’t have to be as difficult as you might initially imagine, as there are several simple steps that you can follow today to start relieving some pressure in no time at all. So, if you’re interested in learning more, then keep on reading!
Cook Yourself A Tasty Meal
One of the best ways to chill out and unwind after a long and stressful day is to cook yourself a tasty meal. Choosing to avoid eating so that you can instead just slump into bed or onto the sofa will make you feel far worse than you already do, as you need a healthy, balanced meal to provide you with the energy and nutrients needed for your mind and body to thrive. No matter even if you have the lowest energy levels or least amount of time, there’s always a tasty recipe online or even on a cooking show that will suit your wants and needs which you can follow with ease! Identify a cuisine or dish that you know you would enjoy, as this activity should be about meeting your own expectations rather than attempting to seek approval from elsewhere. You could choose to prepare a big bowl of hearty chilli, or even whip up a quick batch of chicken curry or noodle soup, it’s totally your choice! Cooking can be such a therapeutic activity, as it can be a real stress reliever that will help you to relax and unwind no matter how stressful your day has been.
Get Comfortable!
When your meal is bubbling away nicely, it’s time to make sure you can get as comfortable as can be to maximize your relaxation efforts. Start by getting changed into the comfiest loungewear that you own, as a pair of sweatpants and a fluffy jumper will make you feel as though you are wrapped up in a warm hug rather than the discomfort and irritation you can expect to experience when wearing skinny jeans or something similar. Don’t forget a pair of super soft winter socks or some slippers to keep your feet warm, as this can make masses of difference when you’re laying down attempting to unwind during the colder months. Set up your sofa or bed with a variety of extra pillows and blankets that you can utilize to form the most comfortable and inviting space ever, and you will no doubt begin to feel relaxed and stress free before you know it!
Learning how to relax and unwind after a particularly busy day has never been such a simple task when you can take the time to utilize some of the excellent ideas that have been carefully described above!
The most popular song content in Europe, Eurovision, will be making its return on the 10th of May. Many countries, alongside the current odd favourites, Ukraine will be participating in hopes of winning the coveted prize that lets them host the content in the subsequent year.
With the ongoing invasion and conflict with Russia, it’s been a challenging year for the people of Ukraine. However, on a positive note and a statement of solidarity, a powerful song by Kalush Orchestra, a rap band, is being favoured to win the competition, with odds hailing them as clear winners even before the contest starts.
The last time the country won the contest was in 2016 with a politically-driven piece by Jamala named ‘1944.’ They hosted the contest the following year in the Capital, Kyiv.
Italy
Italy is one of the most beloved countries in the song contest, having won it last year with their top-rated rock band Måneskin. The country which is now hosting the contest will also be among the favourites with their new song by Mahmood & Blanco. They are beloved in their home country and one to please the crowds in Europe with their catchy tune Brividi.
Sweden
Sweden has won the contest a total of six times, lately in 2015 with their piece ‘Heroes’ by Måns Zelmerlöw, a Pop-singer who last released an album in 2019 named Time, peaking 18th in the top 30 charts in Sweden. The Swedish are known for producing great songwriters and singers and have rarely disappointed within the contest and are looking to cause a wave of excitement in 2022 again with their song ‘Hold Me Closer’ by Cornelia Jakobs. The song itself has over 1.8 million streams on YouTube alone and has been heralded by music fans as a “beautiful” piece bringing out goosebumps with each play.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is no joke when it comes to winning the contest, but sadly the last time they’ve won, most contestants were still in school or weren’t even born — that was in 1997 with Katrina and the Waves with their song ‘Love Shine a Light.’
Now United Kingdom’s Eurovision odds are exciting, first because they are in the top five to win, having finished dead last the prior year. Their song by Sam Ryder, a musician notably known for his songs such as Tiny Riot and Whirlwind, will be entering the contest with SPACE MAN. This song already has over 2 million streams on YouTube and will surely fetch the UK a positive result in the competition.
Best of the Rest
Other countries like Spain, Poland and Greece will also look to compete for the top spot. But in all honesty, this will unlikely challenge any of the favourites, especially Ukraine, with the current political climate and understandable stance that Europe is standing with to send Russia a message about how they feel about their aggression on Ukraine.
Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Miya Folick has shared ‘Oh God’, her first new music in three years. Lifted from a forthcoming EP due for release on Nettwerk, the track was co-produced and co-written with Mike Malchicoff. Check out a video for it, directed by TK with creative direction by Sportscar, below.
“‘Oh God’ is that moment of sudden remorse/panic/fear: when you put your palm to your forehead and wonder what you have done with your life,” Folick explained in a statement. “You know that something needs to change, and for the first time, you’re willing to try anything.”
Miya Folick’s debut album, Premonitions, arrived in 2018. Last year, she shared a cover of Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’.
Hayley Williams has announced a new emo-themed podcast as part of BBC Sounds’ Back to Back series. Everything Is Emo will delve into the history of the genre from its origins to the present day, including a first-hand account of fronting Paramore, one of the most popular bands to emerge from the scene. You can listen to the first episode of the 20-part series here.
Speaking about the project in a statement, Williams said:
Not long ago, people started calling me a “veteran” of my scene and of the music industry. It sounds so funny to me because most of the time I still feel like a fan. The serious truth is I have, in fact, grown up in this scene for the last two decades. I guess that’s a pretty long time. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to publicly nerd out about bands and songs that make my favourite subgenre feel like home to me. And while it will be fun to take some trips down memory lane, I’m just as excited, if not more, to play music from new artists I’m discovering all the time.
Everything is Emo is meant to feel like a conversation with other fans of the genre, young and (ahem) old. There’s going to be plenty of interaction, which I hope will feel somewhat reminiscent of the message boards and forums I used to frequent as a teenage scene kid.
More than anything, I hope music fans and artists alike will be psyched to hear a highly considered spectrum of “EMO” in all its forms. And yeah, of course you’ll hear some Paramore.
Last year, Williams released her most recent solo LP, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. She recently joined Billie Eilish to perform Paramore’s ‘Misery Business’ at Coachella.
William Basinski is an esteemed documenter of gloom. In his earlier works like The Disintegration Loops or Melancholia, he repurposed his personal archive of tape loops, lingering on the breakdown of sounds lost in time. The Disintegration Loops, which records a gradual deterioration of looped tapes, was finished on the rooftop of a Brooklyn apartment on September 11th, 2001. The album’s bleak, slowly collapsing sound became emblematic of the harrowing future which followed 9/11. Consequently, the project found a cultural relevance rare for an ambient album. Yet Basinski’s body of work is far more varied than the pure moroseness he’s often associated with. In their new work “ . . . on reflection ”, Basinski and his collaborator Janek Schaefer, the avant-garde composer and a fellow master of repurposing bygone sounds, return to ideas of retrospection with results that prove unexpectedly bittersweet.
“ . . . on reflection ” is a minimalist assembly of sounds extracted from both Basinski and Schaefer’s musical archives. The album, crafted long-distance between L.A. and London over an eight-year span, structures around fragmented piano melodies. Over the course of five tracks (essentially one piece broken into five movements), the piano glides along, more romantic and less atonal than typical Basinski projects. The melodies themselves are unstable, with no coherent structure. Yet they remain central to the track: an omnipresent voice. In the background, a variety of disparate field recordings waft in and out. They simmer quietly, sometimes gaining prominence and rising to the same volume as the piano. The sounds range from gentle birdsongs to the roar of vehicular engines. Basinski and Schaefer use field recordings to situate the spaceless sound of the heavily reverbed piano in transient physical environments. Sounds recorded over a long span of time in an array of distinct places merge into one work based around the tension between unity and disconnect.
However, unlike with The Disintegration Loops, the re-interpretation of a personal music archive doesn’t result in a bleak portrait. Basinski and Schaefer produce a tranquil ambient work, reminiscent of new age artists like Yutaka Hirose. Unlike recent Basinski albums like Lamentations or On Time Out of Time, there’s an ease to “ . . . on reflection ” and its archival sounds. On those previous records, the music’s spacelessness feels burdensome. Bassy reverberations echo endlessly into a sphere of infinite disquiet. With “ . . . on reflection ”, Basinski and Schaefer situate their archival sounds in soothing environments; the persistent call of bird tweets almost feels cliché in its pleasantness. Ultimately, the timelessness of the music isn’t a gateway to existential doom but, rather, to something more peaceful and meditative.
“ . . . on reflection ” is dedicated to Harold Budd, the seminal ambient artist (though he’d reject the category of “ambient”) and pianist. Budd’s influence on Basinski and Schaefer is undeniable. “ . . . on reflection ” shares a similar approach to soft, piano melodies: notes soaked with reverb, until the space of their recording feels abstract. The album is a humble tribute to a master who passed away a year and a half ago and also a spiritual exercise, prompting us to find pleasure in becoming unbound from space and time.
Siv Jakobsen has returned with a new single called ‘Most of the Time’. It marks the Norwegian singer-songwriter’s first new material since the release of her sophomore LP A Temporary Soothing in 2020. Listen to it below.
“Most of the Time’ is about not being able to forget a particularly difficult relationship from my past,” Jakobsen explained in a press release. “When left undealt with, the memories seemed to heighten in my sleep, in my subconscious, day and night, almost as if I was being haunted. It’s about how our past affects our future, how it can affect our personalities morphing into someone slightly different. Being back in this place again after such a long time was a much greater shock to my system than I would have ever thought it could be, and it forced me to unbox a lot of things I thought I had safely stored away in the back corners of my mind. In the end, it’s about reminding myself that I am feeling better now, most of the time.”
Future has dropped his new album, I Never Liked You. His ninth solo album following 2020’s High Off Life, the record spans 16 tracks and features guest appearances from Kanye West, Drake, Young Thug, Tems, EST Gee, Gunna, and Kodak Black. “I’m putting myself out there, sharing my lifestyle with the world,” Future said in a GQ cover story. “Sharing my lifestyle with the world. Sharing my pain with the world. Sharing my ups, sharing my downs with the entire universe. I believe in the energy of the universe and manifestation. That’s why I’m giving myself, because I’m willing to correct myself. I don’t want to just… be wrong. I’m willing to give you all of me, so you can tell me how to build on me, and make me a better me.”
Tomberlin, i don’t know who needs to hear this...
i don’t know who needs to hear this... is the sophomore album by Tomberlin, following her 2018 debut At Weddings and 2020’s Projections EP. Out now via Saddle Creek, the 11-track LP includes the advance singles ‘happy accident’, ‘idkwntht’, ‘tap’, and ‘sunstruck’. “My first record, I made it without knowing I was making it,” she said in press materials. “I was writing songs to process stuff from my personal life as it was happening, and then suddenly everything was happening really fast. Record label, tour, press, all this momentum and a lot of advice about my career, which, you know, I never even expected to have. So I think when I started to write the second record, I felt a lot of pressure to make it sound collected and profound, almost like a book—chapters, a narrative, everything nicely wrapped up.” Read our track-by-track interview with Tomberlin.
Let’s Eat Grandma, the project of Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth, are back with their third album, Two Ribbons, out today via Transgressive. The follow-up to 2018’s I’m All Ears was co-produced with David Wrench and includes the previously released singles ‘Happy New Year’, ‘Hall of Mirrors’, ‘Levitation’, and the title track. The LP grapples with feelings of grief and uncertainty following the death of Hollingworth’s boyfriend, the electronic musician Billy Clayton, as well as the changing nature of the duo’s relationship. Read our review of the album.
Melody’s Echo Chamber has released her third album, Emotional Eternal, via Domino. Like 2018’s Bon Voyage, the LP was initially recorded in the outskirts of Stockholm with Reine Fiske Fredrik Swahn of The Amazing. The singles ‘Looking Backward’, ‘Alma’, ‘Personal Message’ preceded the record. “I hope the record has that uplifting quality,” Melody Prochet said in a statement. “I wanted to be more grounded and mindful through the process. I guided the sessions with simplicity—a contrast with the maximalism of Bon Voyage and the wilderness of my delusions. I made some big and impactful decisions and changes to my life. It took me to where it is peaceful, and I think the record reflects this. It’s more direct.” Read about the inspirations behind the album in our interview with Melody’s Echo Chamber.
Girlpool – the Los Angeles–based duo of Avery Tucker and Harmony Tividad – have followed up 2019’s What Chaos Is Imaginary with a new album called Forgiveness. Out now via ANTI-, the record was previewed with the tracks ‘Dragging My Life Into a Dream’, ‘Faultline’ and ‘Lie Love Lullaby’. “A lot of my songs on this record are about relationship dynamics where I experienced frustration and pain, and struggling to hold a lot of complexity in my emotions,” Tucker said in press materials. “Writing Forgiveness helped me fit all those pieces into an acceptance: that my fate pushes me exactly where I need to go.” Tividad added: “A lot of life feels like unavoidable experiences to me. To me, Forgiveness is about accepting that concept. It’s about forgiving reality for having to be exactly what it is all the time.”
Kelly Lee Owens has returned with her third album, titled LP.8, out now via Smalltown Supersound. Following 2020’s Inner Song, the British producer’s latest is a collaboration with noise artist Lasse Marhaug, who is known for his work with Merzbow, Sunn O))), and Jenny Hval. It includes the previously unveiled songs ‘Sonic 8’, ‘Olga’, and ‘One’. “For me, 8 meant completion — an album that will ripple infinitely with me personally,” Owens explained in a press release. Read our review of the album.
Lou Roy’s debut album, Pure Chaos, has arrived via Balloon Machine Records. Co-produced with Sarah Tudzin of illuminati hotties, the record was promoted with the singles ‘Valkyrie’, ‘Uppercut’, ‘Down Since ’07’, and ‘U.D.I.D’. Speaking about the process behind the album, Roy said in our Artist Spotlight interview: “Acknowledging the trauma and giving it its moment of attention, that was important. But the way that I was writing about it, it didn’t end there. I always make it into a joke because it’s easier for me to process – acknowledge it in full, but then also kind of wink at it and make it a joke. Because that gives me my power again. If I can make fun of it a little bit and just be silly, it empowers me and it makes it easier to deal with and grapple with.”
Canadian-Serbian artist Dana Gavanski has issued her sophomore full-length, When It Comes, via Flemish Eye. The album follows 2020’s Yesterday Is Gone and was preceded by the singles ‘Letting Go’, ‘Under the Sky’, and ‘Indigo Highway’, and ‘I Kiss the Night’. “In many ways this record feels like it is my first,” Gavanski explained in a press statement. “When I could use my voice, I had to focus so there is an urgency and greater emotional trajectory than before… it’s very connected to vocal presence, which extended into an existential questioning of my connection to music. It felt like a battle at times, which I frequently lost.”
Toro y Moi has returned with a new record called Mahal. It marks Chaz Bear’s seventh LP under the moniker and first for his new label home Dead Oceans. Completed mostly last year in his Oakland studio, the album features the tracks ‘Déjà Vu’, ‘The Loop’, and ‘Postman’ as well as collaborations with Sofie Royer, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Neilson, Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo, and the Mattson 2. “I wanted to make a record that featured more musicians on it than any other record of mine,” Bear explained in a press release. “To have them live on that record feels grounded, bringing a communal perspective to the table.”
Kehlani has put out her new album, Blue Water Road, via Atlantic. The follow-up to 2020’s It Was Good Until It Wasn’t is executive produced by Pop Wansel of production duo Pop & Oak and includes the early singles ‘Altar’ and Little Story’. “Blue water road is a destination in my mind,” Kehlani said in a press release. “I’m giving everyone access. It’s an emotional journey, a sexual journey, and a spiritual journey. To me, the album is like a glass house. It’s light, transparent, and the sun is shining right through it.”
Röyksopp – the Norwegian electronic duo of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland – have a new record out titled Profound Mysteries, their first since 2014. Billed as “an expanded creative universe and a prodigious conceptual project,” it features the previously released singles ‘(Nothing But) Ashes…’, ‘The Ladder’, ‘Impossible’, ‘This Time, This Place’, and ‘Breathe’. Guests on the album include Alison Goldfrapp, Beki Mari, Susanne Sundfør, Pixx, and more. “As human beings, what we don’t know vastly overshadows what we do know,” Röyksopp said in a statement. “As teenagers, we would discuss our own fascination and preoccupation with the infinite and the impossible – the most profound mysteries of life.”
Hey, ily! have dropped their debut full-length, Psychokinetic Love Songs, via Lonely Ghost Records. The follow-up to last year’s Internet, Breath EP was led by the single ‘Intrusive Thoughts Always’. Speaking to Brooklyn Vegan about the track, the Billings, Montana band said: “We wanted this song, as the first full band song on the album, to perfectly encapsulate the personality of the rest of the album. Catchy choruses, pummeling drums, and bizarre left turns. We’ve always wanted to write a thrash metal song, so with this song we thought: why not just put a thrash metal song in the middle of this seemingly regular emo song? That thought perfectly wraps up our process when writing this album. What would it sound like if we took out the traditional emo songwriting rules?”
Bloc Party have issued their latest album, Alpha Games, via Infectious/BMG. The band’s sixth LP and first since 2016’s Hymns was produced by Nick Launay and Adam Greenspan. Ahead of its release, Bloc Party shared a series of singles, including ‘If We Get Caught’, ‘Sex Magik’, ‘The Girls Are Fighting’, and ‘Traps’. “These last few years have felt like a morally bankrupt time,” Kele Okereke said in press materials. “It really felt like we were in an episode of House of Cards. That definitely bled into what I wanted to say. I feel like in all of the songs on this record there are people in extreme situations, making extreme choices; that’s what I wanted to capture. But what happens to our humanity when we prioritise success at all costs?”
Other albums out today:
Miranda Lambert, Palomino; MJ Lenderman, Boat Songs; Mall Girl, Superstar; William Basinski & Janek Schaefer, “ . . . on reflection “; Willie Nelson, A Beautiful Time; Julie Doiron & Dany Placard, Julie & Dany; Frog Eyes, The Bees; Rammstein, Zelt; Organ Tapes, 唱着那无人问津的歌谣 / Chang Zhe Na Wu Ren Wen Jin De Ge Yao; KMRU & Aho Ssan, Limen; Action Bronson, Cocodrillo Turbo; Dälek, Precipice; Sofi Tukker, Wet Tennis; Lola Kirke, Lady for Sale; Coach Party, Nothing Is Real; Loose Fit, Social Graces; Chelsea Jade, Soft Spot; Shilpa Ray, Portrait of a Lady.
Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth have described their bond growing up as “telepathic.” The pair have been friends since kindergarten, where they shared a mutual appreciation for each other’s drawings; in the videos for their dark yet playfully adventurous debut as Let’s Eat Grandma, 2016’s I, Gemini – released when they were barely 17 years old – they even went as far as to portray themselves as twins. The framing of their visuals shifted around 2018’s I’m All Ears, a landmark of modern experimental pop, but the confidence the music projected on tracks like the SOPHIE-produced ‘Hot Pink’ still served as a demonstration of their unity. As uninhibited and innovative as their work could be, it exhibited a level of defiance and control that’s rare in any genre. But things changed following the release of the album. Hollingworth’s boyfriend, the musician Bryan Clayton, died of a rare form of bone cancer in March 2019. And, as they prepared for their US tour, which was eventually canceled, they realized their relationship was starting to fray. There was nothing childlike or metaphysical about it; as they noted in more thanone profile, they no longer finished each other’s sentences.
And so the duo that’s always been inseparable started writing separately for the first time. The growing distance between them proved to be somewhat necessary, but it doesn’t become immediately clear; Let’s Eat Grandma’s third album, Two Ribbons, opens with the reflective and celebratory ‘Happy New Year’, which augments their sparkling brand of synth-pop with the sound of actual fireworks. They make it seem like acceptance has already been reached: “It’s okay/ To say what you wanna say/ And that we’ve grown in different ways.” But it’s not until the record progresses that their individual personalities begin to shine through. Though the sequencing and production cleverly make the whole thing sound like a conversation between close friends, the separation also allows them to express themselves with greater vulnerability as well as maturity.
In songs written from Walton’s perspective, the bathroom becomes a private space of intense emotion and discovery. On ‘Levitation’, she describes having a breakdown on the bathroom floor and finding “a piece of something glittering inside the drain,” while on ‘Hall of Mirrors’, her secrets are laid out before her on the bathroom walls. Her tone becomes accusatory on the devastating ‘Insect Loop’: “You never noticed,” she tells her friend, and the floor suddenly turns to glass. “Dunk my head in the bathtub and scream underwater/ ‘Cause maybe I thought you didn’t care.” When Hollingworth confronts death on the piercing ‘Watching You Go’, not even a Moroder-style instrumental can mask the disorienting feelings of rage and shame; as the mix hollows out in time for her to sing the titular line, the effect is all the more harrowing. The songs feel distinct but attest to LEG’s ability to convey a range of emotions through glimmering synth-pop, blurring line between confusion and elation, hope and despair.
As a result, the duo’s approach is generally more focused, intimate, and direct, but no less dynamic. A song like ‘Insect Loop’, with its waves of guitar recalling the hazy psychedelia of I’m All Ears’‘Cool & Collected’, pushes the tension and uncertainty outward rather than caving in. They find new and thoughtful ways of evoking the changing nature of their bond – they might not be finishing each other’s sentences anymore, but words aren’t always enough, let alone necessary: on the instrumental ‘In the Cemetary’, they’re comfortable sitting with the emptiness of grief, if only for a brief moment. Two Ribbons might lack the thrilling unpredictability of the band’s last two albums, but the way it gradually transitions from exuberant synth-pop to stripped-down compositions feels natural and earned.
While the songwriting on acoustic cuts like ‘Sunday’ and ‘Strange Conversations’ is not as compelling or layered than previous tracks, they touch on themes of love and heartbreak with a tenderness and simplicity that the rest of the record can only yearn for. It all culminates in the title track, which brings no resolution, only acceptance – though a different sort than the one that elevates ‘Happy New Year’. Whereas ‘Insect Loop’ ended on a hopeful note (“Why don’t we sit by the water and watch our drawings wash away/ Just the friends we are today/ And know that that’s enough”), ‘Two Ribbons’ directly contradicts that sentiment. “I’m not brave,” Hollingworth admits, knowing she can’t change the inevitable. It’s both freeing and disarming in its transparency – her voice quivers, but it also dances and soars; she senses an impending solitude, but feels irrevocably entwined with others. Together, they seek no answers, simply welcoming the tides as they come.
Future has dropped his new album,
i don’t know who needs to hear this...
Let’s Eat Grandma, the project of Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth, are back with their third album, 
Melody’s Echo Chamber has released her third album, 
Girlpool – the Los Angeles–based duo of Avery Tucker and Harmony Tividad – have followed up 2019’s What Chaos Is Imaginary with a new album called 
Kelly Lee Owens has returned with her third album, titled 
Lou Roy’s debut album,
Canadian-Serbian artist Dana Gavanski has issued her sophomore full-length, 
Toro y Moi has returned with a new record called 
Röyksopp – the Norwegian electronic duo of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland – have a new record out titled 
Hey, ily! have dropped their debut full-length, 
Bloc Party have issued their latest album, 
